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Ruzena Bajcsy
American computer scientist From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Ruzena Bajcsy (born 28 May 1933) is an American engineer and computer scientist who specializes in robotics. She is professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California, Berkeley,[1] where she is also director emerita of CITRIS (the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society).
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She was previously professor and chair of computer science and engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where she was the founding director of the University of Pennsylvania's General Robotics and Active Sensory Perception (GRASP) 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. She supervised at least 26 doctoral students at the University of Pennsylvania.[2]
She was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 2005.[3]
She is the mother of computer-science professor Klara Nahrstedt.[4][5]
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Early life
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Bajcsy was born on 28 May 1933 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (in today's Slovakia) to a Jewish family. Although her family was initially spared from Nazi concentration camps due to her father's work as a civil engineer, most of her adult relatives were killed by the Nazis in late 1944. Bajcsy and her sister, the only survivors in the immediate family, were supported as war orphans by the Red Cross; Bajcsy was later raised in orphanages and in foster care. Her experiences during and after World War II deeply influenced her resilience and determination. Living under Communist rule in Czechoslovakia presented additional challenges, as access to higher education and professional opportunities was often dictated by political affiliations. A strong student in mathematics, she was drawn to its logical structure and problem-solving nature. However, she chose to study electrical engineering at Slovak University of Technology, as pursuing a career in mathematics at the time primarily led to teaching positions, which required a commitment to Marxist-Leninist ideology that she was unwilling to provide.[6]
Despite systemic barriers, Bajcsy excelled in her studies, navigating both gender biases in STEM fields and political pressures. She became increasingly interested in the challenge of making machines perceive and interpret their surroundings, a problem that had profound implications for fields ranging from robotics to medical imaging. At the time, early computer vision systems struggled with rigid, passive image processing methods, making them ineffective for real-world applications. Bajcsy recognized that human perception was inherently active, meaning people move, adjust their viewpoints, and interact with their environments to better understand them. She sought to translate this concept into computing by developing active perception, a framework where machines could change their viewpoints, adjust their sensors, and interact with objects dynamically to improve their understanding.[7]
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Education
She obtained 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.[2]
In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia.[8] From 2003 to 2005, 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.[9] In 2012, she received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and KTH, The Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden.[10]
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Innovations and Contributions
Bajcsy’s research has significantly influenced the development of robotic perception and control systems. In 1978, she founded the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception (GRASP) Lab at the University of Pennsylvania.[11] Under her leadership, the GRASP Lab became a leading center for robotics research, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration among engineers, computer scientists, and cognitive scientists. One of Bajcsy’s most notable contributions is the concept of "active perception," which emphasizes the importance of a robot’s movements in acquiring and interpreting sensory information.[12] This approach marked a departure from passive perception models, enabling more efficient and adaptive robotic systems. Her work in this area has been foundational for advancements in computer vision and AI. In addition to active perception, Bajcsy has made significant contributions to medical imaging, particularly in the development of elastic matching algorithms. These algorithms allow for the alignment of different medical images, facilitating more accurate diagnoses and treatment planning.[13]
Impact and Legacy
Bajcsy’s innovations have had a profound impact on both academia and industry. The principles of active perception have been integrated into various robotic systems, enhancing their ability to interact with and adapt to dynamic environments.[14] Her work in medical imaging has improved the precision of diagnostic tools, benefiting patient care. Beyond her research contributions, Bajcsy has been a trailblazer for women in engineering and computer science. As one of the few women in her field during the early stages of her career, she has been an advocate for diversity and inclusion in STEM disciplines.[15] Her mentorship has inspired many students, particularly women, to pursue careers in technology and engineering.
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Writings
Scholia has a profile for Ruzena Bajcsy (Q10959).
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.[citation needed]
Current Relevance
Bajcsy’s innovations remain highly relevant today. The concept of active perception continues to influence the design of autonomous systems, including self-driving cars and drones.[16] Her contributions to medical imaging are still utilized in contemporary diagnostic techniques. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary research model she established at the GRASP Lab serves as a template for collaborative efforts in robotics and AI research worldwide.
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Current research
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.[17]
Memberships
Bajcsy is a member of the National Academy of Engineering[18] and the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine[19] as well as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM),[20] the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,[21] the American Association for Artificial Intelligence,[22] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[23]
Awards
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Bajcsy received the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)/Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Allen Newell Award in 2001, the ACM Distinguished Service Award in 2003, and the Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award in 2003.
Bajcsy's most current research has helped her gain recognition from The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Ruzena 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. Additionally, she was the winner of the 2009 ABIE Award for Technical Leadership from the Anita Borg Institute.[24]
Bajcsy has been named by the IEEE Board of Directors the recipient of the 2013 IEEE Robotics and Automation Award for her contributions in the field of robotics and automation with the following citation: "For contributions to computer vision, the active perception paradigm, and medical robotics".[25]
Bajcsy is featured in the Notable Women in Computing cards.[26]
Bajcsy received the Order of the White Double Cross form the president of Slovakia Zuzana Čaputová, Second Class, on 20 September 2022, for extraordinary spreading of the good name of the Slovak Republic abroad.[27]
References
External links
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