EECS Optical Micrograph

Research in MIT’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Department is, arguably, the future.

EECS researchers are designing revolutionary new ways to make chips and using living cells’ electronic properties to develop clinical applications. They are designing a new scheme for quantum money (and doing away with cash altogether) and gaining understanding of human languages through statistical language learning. They are producing transformative knowledge that will affect daily lives this year—and in the future.

So reading the recent EECS newsletter might be a smart way to start 2010. Here are a few places to begin:

• One-Size-Fits-All Wireless Video
• Climbing the Tower of Babel: Advances in Unsupervised Multilingual Learning
• Quantum Money
• EECS Alums: Major Players and Thinkers
  • Ron Dror PhD ’02
  • Valencia Joyner ’98, SM ’99
  • Jon Kleinberg, PhD ’96
  • Bart Stuck, ’68, SM ’69, EE  ’70, PhD ’72

Posted in Alumni in the News, Research Tagged: alumni life, computers, Engineering ]]> http://sliceofmit.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/eecs-research-transforming-the-future%e2%80%93now/feed/ 0 nancyds EECS Optical Micrograph http://sliceofmit.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/geeks-measurements/ http://sliceofmit.wordpress.com/2009/12/31/geeks-measurements/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:31:08 +0000 nancyds http://sliceofmit.wordpress.com/?p=4985 ]]>

In Wired’s GeekDad column, you can learn about geeky measurements, introduced with the tale of MIT’s legendary Smoot marks.

11 Ways Geeks Measure the World includes milliwheatons, a sum of 500 Twitter fans based on Star Trek Next Generation actor Wil Wheaton’s burgeoning Twitter fanscape.

Don’t miss Warhols (fame duration), Hyneman (mustache density), and more.

Members of the MIT community have a history of transforming visual effects. Herbert Kalmus (1903) and MIT Physics Professor Daniel Comstock codeveloped Technicolor (yes, it was named after MIT) and Bill Warner ’80 created the Avid digital editing system. And now Eliot Mack SM ’96 hopes to add his name to the list. His portable Previzion system enables accurate matching of live-action foregrounds and computer-generated backgrounds so directors can see beyond a green screen at how the final shot will look. Watch video of the technology in action.

To add backgrounds in post-production, technicians have to know exact camera positions and lens optical parameters used during filming. Currently, visual tracking involves 3,000-pound cranes fitted with rotary measuring devices that lack complete accuracy. Mack's invention puts Intersense optical-inertial and Airtrack inertial sensors onto the camera itself, which precisely record necessary data and eliminate the need to manually figure out tracking info.

While green-screen technology is not new (meteorologists swear by it), creating live photorealistic images with it is. Current technology has problems accounting for motion tracking, image resolution, focusing and defocusing background shots, and capturing lens adjustment calibrations, which are crucial for post-production work. Mack has refined his technology to automatically generate camera tracking data and to not miss a single strand of hair against the backdrop. “Essentially, we’re recreating the world on the fly,” he says. So far, it’s been used on the television show V, the upcoming Tim Burton movie Alice in Wonderland, and the Knight Rider made-for-TV movie.

How does it work?
Consider the typical FX process. A show is recorded against a green screen, then digitized and loaded into a computer. An artist keys out the green, then another team manually identifies all the camera tracking and calibration points, which can take days for just one shot (a special-effects-laden movie would contain hundreds or thousands of such shots). Next, a team fills in the background, and yet another artist composites all the images together, all of which can take weeks or months. Mack’s invention can, with simpler backgrounds (like those usually found in TV), generate final-quality output in real time that just needs to be edited, scored, and distributed. Post-production time can still be cut by weeks for more complex scenes by fixing any lighting issues on set and using the tracking data Previzion generates (see photo caption).

Innovation is nothing new to Mack, who helped create the Roomba and developed Previzion with some of his former iRobot colleagues. They engineered a prototype and showed it at trade shows, using feedback to systematically improve the technology. “Previzion is a wild enough departure that people won’t believe it until they see it,” he says. “Many people don’t know it’s possible yet.” Which is why he spends much of his time visiting sound stages to demo his product. Technical teams have to feel confident with the technology, and schedule it into future productions. But Mack thinks in about five years, his hard work will have paid off—to the point where it will be rare to film against a green screen without a real-time image behind it.

Could a product like Previzion, though, mean fewer jobs for LA professionals? Mack doesn’t think so since it’s less likely work would be outsourced, which is often the case now. And, the business could actually grow. “I think the special effects and motion picture industries could be bigger than they are now,” he says. He believes less sophisticated entertainment, such as webisodes and soap operas, could be transformed so that a higher-quality output becomes standard. “If you give very powerful tools to very creative people, they can do some pretty amazing things,” he says.

To those who don’t look under the hood of web sites, Drupal may be a foreign concept. In fact, this open source content management system (CMS) is sweeping the web landscape because of its flexibility, fast evolution, and focus on growing a community of users. In fact, MIT’s Information Services and Technology (IS&T) group and a growing number of other MIT departments are choosing Drupal as their CMS of choice.

In a fall talk hosted by Sustainability at MIT, Drupal founder Dries Buytaert relates a synopsis of his life with Drupal. From its inception during Buytaert’s typical geek undergraduate days in Antwerp in 1999, to the upcoming release of Drupal 7, Buytaert places a particular emphasis on the community that has been created by the nature of an open source product. Drupal is “software to build websites with” intended for anyone to modify and improve then redistribute to its users.

“Drupal is a ‘Do-ocracy’, meaning the stuff that gets into Drupal 7 is the stuff that people like you actually worked on,” says Buytaert. Watch the MIT World video of Buytaert’s talk….you might wind up at the next Drupalcon—April in San Francisco.

Tom Imrich, left, will testpilot a new Boeing aircraft.

Tom Imrich’69, SM ‘71 graced the December cover of Boeing’s house magazine, Frontiers, as a copilot for a new aircraft, the 747-8 Freighter. Imrich, a senior test pilot, will begin flying the 747  in 2010 as part of a massive test flight operation also involving the 787 Dreamliner and, with the U.S. Navy, a new P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft.

Being a test pilot at Boeing means working with engineers throughout the design development. “A first flight will always be interesting and exciting,” but not exciting in a dangerous sense,  Imrich told Frontiers. “It’s very rare and few and far between that you find something that doesn’t go as planned.”

Find out more in an alumni profile about Imrich’s career and how he got involved in the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at MIT.

Sunbeams inside St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City (© Owen Franken).

Curious about Owen Franken? See more of his work via the Franken Photo of the Week category, learn more in this profile, read a What Matters opinion column he wrote called “Life in Brownian Motion,” or visit his Web site. And, view his exhibition, A Photography Retrospective, through early January 2010 at the Gallery at Vivid Solutions, 2208 Martin Luther King Ave. SE, Washington, DC.

Guest Blogger: Steve Lustig ’93

As they approached graduation, Omprakash Gnawali ’01 , SM ’02 and Hesky Fisher ’02 talked about starting a non-profit organization to help out children in Omprakash’s native Nepal. With the help of a social worker in Nepal and some other interested friends at MIT, the Nepalese Children’s Education Fund (NCEF) was born. As Omprakash explains, “We gathered a group of students who wanted to stop talking and start doing.”

Volunteers distribute educational materials.

Today NCEF is a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop the potential of disadvantaged Nepalese children through education. NCEF identifies children unable to pursue education because of the economic situation of their families. Students are provided with tuition, textbooks and supplies to enroll in school. Our dedicated network of volunteers in Nepal meet regularly with the children and their parents to monitor the progress of the student through school. We dedicate our resources to each child until they complete their high school education. NCEF is sponsoring over 60 students this year, making a major impact on their lives and those of their families. Why focus on education, when there are a variety of needs waiting to be met? Omprakash comments, “Most people that I know who have been successful in leading a life with some basic human dignity have been able to do so through education.”

As MIT students, the first thing they did was set up a website for the charity. At the time they laughed that this was a very nerdy way to start a charity. However, it very quickly began to pay off. While they recruited and raised funds among friends and family and even found a board member by posting in the Tech Review, it was through the web site that most people found NCEF. It didn’t take long before they started getting contacted by people across the U.S. and the world wanting to get involved.

As the founding members of NCEF were graduating and moved far from each other, it became clear that the organization existed as a distributed entity with the web site at its center. Most records are kept directly on the web site—transparency is an important aspect. Members collaborate over email and phone conferences as there is no paid staff or office, which allows more of the money to be spent directly on funding the childrens’ education. Many members…

Learn how alumni and students help today…

Many members have worked together for years before ever meeting in person, although they do make an effort to meet when visiting cities where other members live.

Co-founder, board member, and current MIT student Atul Pokharel PhD ’12 considers the effort to be worthwhile and successful: “First, an increasing number of children are applying for NCEF scholarships. This shows that what we are offering is still needed. Second, donors continue to support us. This shows that our supporters are still interested in what we are doing. It also shows that they trust us. Third, we are trying our approach in new areas. This indicates that we are still eager to help more children. Most importantly, inspiring new members are still joining our teams in Nepal and here [in the U.S.] . We are attracting talent.”

MIT alumni continue to play a significant role in the organization. Past board members include John Leffingwell ’01, Christopher Blanc ’93, Susan Buchman ’01, and Owen Ozier ’99, SM ’99. Current NCEF board member Steven Lustig ’93 first learned about NCEF through a short mention of the organization in Technology Review’s classnotes several years ago. MIT alumni Amrit Pant ’98, SM ‘98 and John Perry SM ’01, PhD ’07 currently also serve as board members for the organization. Jay Shrestha ’03 is actively involved as well. NCEF is always looking for people who share a similar passion for education and development. There are many ways to get involved: volunteering the time on planning, operation, logistics, fundraising activities as well as financially supporting the organization. We would love to hear from you. For more information, visit NCEF online.

Click photo to check out a video clip of MIT associate professor Erik Demaine from the show.

Between the Folds, part of PBS’ Independent Lens series, spotlights ten masters of the art and science of origami, including MIT associate professor Erik Demaine and Brian Chan ’02, SM ’04, PhD ’09. Works from those featured on the program range from minimalist designs to paper caricatures reminiscent of Daumier and Picasso to creations using advanced computations. The result is a look at how the creativity inherent in origami blurs the lines between art and science.

Check your local listings for air times.

The show’s Web site also offers a history of origami and a Match the Folds game to see if you can discern the finished product from a fold pattern.

Visionary Engineer, Harold Edgerton, an MIT Museum exhibit showcasing MIT’s new digital collection of works by Harold “Doc” Edgerton, is the literal tip of the iceberg. Edgerton, the renowned MIT professor, inventor and engineer, may be best known for transforming the stroboscope into a tool that could stop action and show the world in photos and films how a milk drop splashes, how a hummingbird flies, and how bombs explode. At the museum, you can see films, original artifacts, plus plus a new ‘piddler’ machine built for this exhibition.

Drop of milk captured by Doc Edgerton.

The rest of the iceberg is the vast digital repository of his work now available online. The Edgerton Digital Collections (EDC) project makes 22,000 still images, 150 films and video, and thousands of pages of hand written notes available online. Check the galleries for iconic images, learn about his techniques, and review his notebooks.

On TechTV, you can see what formations milk takes on when it is dropped in a slow motion film by Edgerton, who died, still teaching as a professor emeritus at age 87, in 1990. This 78-video collection also includes slow-motion explosions of two-ton BlockBuster bombs and sand dollars burying themselves in the ocean floor.

Edgeron’s biography shows a man in motion. In 1927, Edgerton earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering, and in 1931, he earned his PhD. His doctoral dissertation included a high-speed motion picture of a motor in motion, made with a mercury-arc stroboscope. Edgerton soon developed and improved strobes and used them to freeze objects in motion in both still photographs and ultra-high-speed movies. He worked with photojournalists, entertainers, and, at the request of the military, he developed a nighttime aerial reconnaissance photography system that was used in WWII. He published many articles in National Geographic magazine including, “Hummingbirds in Action,” in 1947. The article contained high-speed photographs that illustrated for the first time the wing movement and flight patterns of these tiny birds. He worked with Jacques-Yves Cousteau, building underwater flashes and cameras and then acoustic devices that measured distances underwater, which were used  to locate an H-bomb off the coast of Spain. And he did much, much more.

The one thing I’ll miss most about college is the fact that dorm life is like one giant slumber party – you get to live (sans over protective parents…hi mom!) with your best friends (sleep/eat/study/party) and there is very little alone time, if you choose. Middle of the night quandry? Forget the telephone – just go next door. Need a study buddy? Great, everyone is in the lounge writing papers. Dinner time? Baker Dining – together. Gym? Round up the troops. Funny youtube video that you *have* to share? Forget email lists, just carry your laptop into the hall. Birthday? Why wait until the birth-day? Midnight is the more appropriate time to celebrate.

Or so I thought, until it was 12:22am on my birthday and I had not been summoned by friends. No knock on my door, no “showering” (did that always go on at MIT? Anyway, my friends know better), not even an instant message. A bit downtrodden, I decided it wasn’t a big deal, and that we’d just celebrate tomorrow as planned. But I wanted to say goodnight to everyone, so I slipped out of my room to scamper down to the lounge. I was greeted by a never ending supply of paper, each with a different word of the lyrics to one of my favorite songs. And then…well…see for yourself.