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Prof. Paul F. Whelan

Biography

Prof. Paul F. Whelan
BEng (Hons), MEng (Limerick), PhD (Cardiff), SMIEEE, CEng, FIET
Professor of Computer Vision
Centre for Image Processing & Analysis
School of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Computing

Prof. Paul F Whelan received his B.Eng. (Hons) degree from the National Institute for Higher Education Dublin, a M.Eng. degree from the University of Limerick, and his Ph.D. (Computer Vision) from the Cardiff University (UK). During the period 1985-1990 he was employed by Industrial and Scientific Imaging Ltd and later Westinghouse (WESL), where he was involved in the research and development of high speed computer vision systems. He was appointed to the School of Electronic Engineering, Dublin City University (DCU) in 1990 and has been the Professor of Computer Vision (Personal Chair) since 2005. Prof. Whelan founded the Vision Systems Laboratory and its associated Vision Systems Group in 1990 and the Centre for Image Processing & Analysis is in 2006 and currently serves as its director. He also serves on the board of the Rince Institute (an Irish national research institute focussed on innovation in engineering technologies - a €10 million HEA-PRTLI I initiative) and is the DCU deputy coordinator and PI in the National Biophotonics & Imaging Ireland Platform [NBIPI] (a €30 million HEA-PRTLI IV initiative). He is also the Imaging Technology core coordinator for the National Biophotonics & Imaging Ireland Platform.

Prof. Whelan was also responsible for the establishment and on-going management (1995-2000) of the World Wide Web based Remote Access to Continuing Engineering Education (RACeE) initiative for the School. Prof. Whelan is also responsible for the VSG's NeatVision Project (a freely distributed image analysis and software environment for computer vision and computer aided diagnostic application development with over 1600 users worldwide). Prof. Whelan was the research convenor for the School of Electronic Engineering and a member of the Faculty of Engineering and Computing Research board (2001-2010). He is currently a member of the DCU Governing Authority (2006-2011) [Professor/Associate Professor Constituency] and is the current DCU institutional nominee on the Royal Irish Academy Committee For Engineering Sciences (2009-2013).

As well as publishing over 150 peer reviewed papers, Prof. Whelan has co-authored 2 monographs namely "Intelligent Vision Systems for Industry" (1997-Springer) and "Machine Vision Algorithms in Java: Techniques and Implementation" (2000-Springer, reprinted in 2001). He has also co-edited 3 books including "Selected Papers on Industrial Machine Vision Systems" (1994-SPIE). His research interests include image segmentation, and its associated quantitative analysis (specifically mathematical morphology, colour-texture analysis) with applications in computer/machine vision and medical imaging (specifically computer aided detection and diagnosis focusing on translational research). He is a Senior Member of the IEEE a Chartered Engineer, a member of IAPR and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). He is also a member of a range of computer vision related conference program committees and acts as a reviewer for the main computer/machine vision journals. He served on the IEE Irish centre committee (1999-2002) and as the national representative and member of the governing board (1998-2007) of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), a member of the International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS) council and the inaugural President (1998-2007) of the Irish Pattern Recognition and Classification Society.

Prof. Whelan's computer vision research programmes have been funded by Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Amdahl, Technology Systems International Ltd., European Commission: Framework IV, Accompanying Measure projects, EOLAS/British Council, DCU Research Committee, Private Donors, DCU Educational Trust, Martin Ryan Marine Science Institute (NUIG), IRCSET, Mater Hospital, Temple Street Children's Hospital, HEA/PRTLI I (RINCE), Enterprise Ireland (Applied Research Grant Scheme, Proof of Concept, Technology Development Grant, Commercialisation Plus Award), SFI (Principal Investigator & Research Frontiers Programmes), HEA/PRTLI IV (NBIPI) and the Wellcome Trust.

Prof Whelan has filed 7 patents since 2007 and has successfully licensed elements of his medical image analysis research programmes. He was also the winner of the DCU INVENT (ICT/Engineering Section) Invention Disclosure Award in 2007 & 2008.

Details

Present Position
  • Professor of Computer Vision
  • Personal Chair, School of Electronic Engineering
  • Centre for Image Processing & Analysis (Founder, Director)
  • SFI Principal Investigator (2002-2008)
  • HEA PRTLI Principal Investigator (RINCE - Research Institute for Networks and Communications Engineering (HEA-PRTLI I))
  • HEA PRTLI Principal Investigator (NBIP - National Biophotonics & Imaging Platform (HEA-PRTLI IV) ), Co-Director NBIP-DCU
  • Member of the School of Electronic Engineering
  • Member of the DCU Governing Authority (2006-) [Professor/Associate Professor Constituency]
Education
  • Ph.D., Dept. of Computing Mathematics, University of Wales, Cardiff, UK (Cardiff University)
  • M.Eng., Dept. of Electronic & Computer Engineering, University of Limerick
  • B.Eng. (1st), School of Electronic Engineering, National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin
Research Interests
  • My current focus is in the development of novel and robust shape and colour-texture based image segmentation techniques for use in computer/machine vision and computer aided detection and diagnostic applications. See research link for additional details.
  • Image segmentation, and its associated quantitative analysis.
  • 3D imaging of biological surfaces
Professional Societies
  • Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
  • The Royal Irish Academy Committee For Engineering Sciences - institutional nominee (2009-2013)
  • Chartered Engineer.
  • Senior Member IEEE.
  • Chairperson IPRCS (Irish Pattern Recognition and Classification Society) (1998-2007)
  • Member of the governing board of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) (1998-2007)
  • Member of the International Federation of Classification Societies (IFCS) council (2005-2007)
  • DCU IEEE student branch counsellor (2001-2006)
Administration Duties
  • Research Convenor (Director), School of Electronic Engineering (2001-2010)
  • Member of the Faculty of Engineering & Computing Research Committee (2001-2010)
  • Member DCU Academic Council
  • Member of the executive board of the HEA Rince Institute
  • DCU deputy coordinator and PI in the National Biophotonics & Imaging Ireland Platform
  • Imaging Technology core coordinator for the National Biophotonics & Imaging Ireland Platform
Teaching Duties
Current Research Team
  • Dr. Ovidiu Ghita (DCU Fellow)
  • Dr. John Mallon (Post Doc)
  • Dr. M. Julius Hossain (Post Doc)
  • Dr. Dana Ilea (Post Doc)
  • Dr. Tarik Chowdhury (Research Officer)
  • Dr. Aubrey Dunne (Post Doc)
  • Dr. Jacey-Lynn Minoi (Post Doc in collobration with RCSI)
  • Laura Conlan (Administrator)
  • Julia Dietlmeier (Research Assistant)
  • Sean Begley (Research Engineer)
  • Brendan Byrne (PhD Studentship)
  • Stephen O'Brien (PhD Studentship)
  • Ketheesan Thirusittampalam (PhD Studentship)
  • Tony Marrero (MEng Studentship)
  • Michele Peporte (PhD Studentship)
Former Graduate Students
  • Aubrey Dunne (2009), Calibration of Non-conventional Imaging Systems
  • Sean Begley (MEng 2009), Content Based Image Pose Manipulation
  • Dana Ilea (PhD 2008), Unsupervised Segmentation of Natural Images Based on the Adaptive Integration of Colour-Texture Descriptors
  • Dahai Yu (PhD 2008), The application of manifold based visual speech units for visual speech recognition, in conjunction with Dr. Alistair Sutherland (School of Computing)
  • Dr. Felicia Brisc (PhD 2007), Accelerated Volumetric Reconstruction From Uncalibrated Camera Views
  • Dr. Tarik Chowdhury (PhD 2006), Automatic polyp detection using curvature analysis for standard and low-dose CT (Computed Tomography) data
  • Dr. Michael Lynch (PhD 2006), Multidimensional Image Analysisof Cardiac Function in MRI
  • Dr. Robert Sadleir (PhD 2006), Enhanced Computer Assisted Detection of Polyps in CT Colonography
  • Dr. John Mallon (PhD 2005), Modelling and Removal of Distortions in Images
  • Dr. Kevin Robinson (PhD 2005), Efficient Pre-segmentation Filtering In MRCP
  • Dr. Padmapriya Nammalwar (PhD 2004), A Generic Framework For Colour Texture Segmentation
  • Tim Carew (MEng 2002), Automation of Painted Slate Inspection
  • Dr. Ovidiu Ghita (PhD 2001), A Real-time Low-cost Vision Sensor for Robotic Bin Picking
  • Dr. Derek Molloy (PhD 2000), Active meshes For Motion Tracking
  • Tommy McGowan (MEng 1997), Development of a Prototype Vision to Speech Sensory Substitution System
Former Research Staff
  • Dr. Mark Sugrue (2007-2008) - Post Doctoral Researcher, CAD-CTC
  • Dr. Tarik Chowdhury (2006-2007) - Post Doctoral Researcher, CAD-CTC
  • Dr. Kevin Robinson (2005-2008) - Post Doctoral Researcher, CAD-CTC
  • Joanne Coyle (2003) - Medical Research Co-ordinator
  • Dr. Naser Prljaca (2002-2003) - Post Doctoral Researcher, Cardiac MRI Image Analaysis