Ruzena Bajcsy
Encyclopedia
Ružena Bajcsy is an American computer scientist
who specializes in robotics
. She is Professor of Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley
,, where she is also Director Emerita of CITRIS (the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Science).
She was previously Professor (and Chair) of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
, where she was Director (and founder) of the University of Pennsylvania's General Robotics and Active Sensory Perception Laboratory, and a member of the Neurosciences Institute in the School of Medicine. She has also been head of the National Science Foundation
's Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate, with authority over a $500 million budget. At Pennsylvania, she supervised at least 26 doctoral students who received the Ph.D.
Bajcsy is a member of the National Academy of Engineering
and the National Academy of Sciences
Institute of Medicine
as well as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
, and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
.
She received a Master's and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Slovak Technical University in 1957 and 1967, and an additional Ph.D. in computer science in 1972 from Stanford University
. Her thesis was "Computer Identification of Textured Visual Scenes", and her advisor was John McCarthy
.
In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ljubljana
in Slovenia
. She has also received the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM)/Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Allen Newell Award, the ACM Distinguished Service Award, and the Computing Research Associates Distinguished Service Award in 2003. From 2003–05, she was a member of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. The November 2002 issue of Discover
named her to its list of the 50 most important women in science. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 2008.
She has written over 225 articles in journals and conference proceedings, 25 book chapters, and 66 technical reports and has been on many editorial boards.
Her current research centers on artificial intelligence
; biosystems and computational biology
; control
, intelligent systems
, and robotics
; graphics
and human-computer interaction, computer vision
; and security
.
Bajcsy's most current research has helped her gain recognition from The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Ružena Bajcsy received the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science
for her innovations in robotics and computer vision, specifically the development of improved robotic perception and the creation of better methods to analyze medical images.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
who specializes in robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
. She is Professor of Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
,, where she is also Director Emerita of CITRIS (the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Science).
She was previously Professor (and Chair) of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, where she was Director (and founder) of the University of Pennsylvania's General Robotics and Active Sensory Perception Laboratory, and a member of the Neurosciences Institute in the School of Medicine. She has also been head of the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
's Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate, with authority over a $500 million budget. At Pennsylvania, she supervised at least 26 doctoral students who received the Ph.D.
Bajcsy is a member of the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
and the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
Institute of Medicine
Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
as well as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
(ACM), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
, and the American Association for Artificial Intelligence
American Association for Artificial Intelligence
The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence or AAAI is an international, nonprofit, scientific society devoted to advancing the scientific understanding of the mechanisms underlying thought and intelligent behavior and their embodiment in machines...
.
She received a Master's and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Slovak Technical University in 1957 and 1967, and an additional Ph.D. in computer science in 1972 from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
. Her thesis was "Computer Identification of Textured Visual Scenes", and her advisor was John McCarthy
John McCarthy (computer scientist)
John McCarthy was an American computer scientist and cognitive scientist. He coined the term "artificial intelligence" , invented the Lisp programming language and was highly influential in the early development of AI.McCarthy also influenced other areas of computing such as time sharing systems...
.
In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ljubljana
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. With 64,000 enrolled graduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.-Beginnings:...
in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. She has also received the Association for Computing Machinery
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
(ACM)/Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Allen Newell Award, the ACM Distinguished Service Award, and the Computing Research Associates Distinguished Service Award in 2003. From 2003–05, she was a member of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee. The November 2002 issue of Discover
Discover (magazine)
Discover is an American science magazine that publishes articles about science for a general audience. The monthly magazine was launched in October 1980 by Time Inc. It was sold to Family Media, the owners of Health, in 1987. Walt Disney Company bought the magazine when Family Media went out of...
named her to its list of the 50 most important women in science. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 2008.
She has written over 225 articles in journals and conference proceedings, 25 book chapters, and 66 technical reports and has been on many editorial boards.
Her current research centers on artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
; biosystems and computational biology
Computational biology
Computational biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems...
; control
Control theory
Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
, intelligent systems
Intelligent Systems
is a Japanese first-party video game developer and internal team of Nintendo Co., Ltd. It has its headquarters in the Nintendo Kyoto Research Center in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture....
, and robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
; graphics
Computer graphics
Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
and human-computer interaction, computer vision
Computer vision
Computer vision is a field that includes methods for acquiring, processing, analysing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions...
; and security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
.
Bajcsy's most current research has helped her gain recognition from The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Ružena Bajcsy received the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
for her innovations in robotics and computer vision, specifically the development of improved robotic perception and the creation of better methods to analyze medical images.
External links
- Ruzena Bajcsy homepage, EECS, UC Berkeley
- CV at Robot Hall of Fame
- Dr. Ruzena Bajcsy, Visiting Committee for Advanced Technology, NIST, USA