Ashok Veeraraghavan, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), has been named a Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers).

The designation is the highest honor conferred by the IEEE on its members. Veeraraghavan was recognized for his contributions to computational photography and computer vision.

He earned his Ph.D. in ECE from the University of Maryland in 2008 and joined the Rice faculty in 2011. He was promoted to associate professor in 2017 and professor in 2020.

Veeraraghavan heads the Rice Computational Imaging Lab, devoted to imaging and vision technology. His lab focuses on solving challenging problems in imaging and vision by co-designing sensors and optics. Veeraraghavan is co-inventor of FlatCam, a thin sensor chip that replaces lenses in a traditional camera with a mask placed directly on top of an image sensor along with associated machine learning algorithms for image reconstruction.

This lens-less imaging design results in compact, inexpensive, high-resolution imaging devices with numerous applications in microscopy, in-vivo imaging, drone/robotic vision systems and others.

His lab is working on projects in computational sensing for neuro-imaging and imaging for personalized health. The lab is funded through grants from NSF, NIH, DARPA, ONR and industrial sponsors.

The IEEE has more than 400,000 members in more than 160 countries.

Author: XAYMARA GARZA