Shree K. Nayar is an engineer and computer scientist known for his contributions to the fields of

computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the hum ...

computational imaging Computational imaging is the process of indirectly forming images from measurements using algorithms that rely on a significant amount of computing. In contrast to traditional imaging, computational imaging systems involve a tight integration of th ...

, and

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images with the aid of computers. Today, computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. A great de ...

. He is the T. C. Chang Professor of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

in th
School of Engineering
at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Nayar co-directs the Columbia Vision and Graphics Center and is the head of the Computer Vision Laboratory (CAVE), which develops advanced imaging and computer vision systems. Nayar also serves as a director of research at

Snap Inc. Snap Inc. is an American camera and social media company, founded on September 16, 2011, by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown based in Santa Monica, California. The company developed and maintains technological products and services ...

He was elected member of the US

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 2008 and the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 2011 for his pioneering work on computational cameras and physics based computer vision.

Education and career

Nayar received a B.E. in electrical engineering from

Birla Institute of Technology Birla may refer to: * Birla family * Members of the Birla family: ** Aditya Vikram Birla ** Ananya Birla ** Basant Kumar Birla ** G. D. Birla ** K. K. Birla ** C. K. Birla ** Kumar Mangalam Birla See also * Burla (disambiguation) Burla may refer ...

in Mesra, in 1984, and an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

in Raleigh in 1986. He received a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from The Robotics Institute at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

in Pittsburgh in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. Nayar worked as a research engineer for Taylor Instruments in New Delhi in 1984. From 1986 to 1990 he was a graduate research assistant at The Robotics Institute at

. In the summer of 1989, he was a visiting researcher at

Hitachi Ltd. () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo Gr ...

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He joined the faculty of th
Computer Science Department
at

in 1991, and in 2009 he became chair of the department. Nayar also serves as a director of research at

Research

Nayar's research is in the field of

and

and focuses on the creation of novel cameras, physics based models for vision and graphics, and algorithms for image understanding. His work is motivated by applications in the fields of

machine vision Machine vision (MV) is the technology and methods used to provide imaging-based automatic inspection and analysis for such applications as automatic inspection, process control, and robot guidance, usually in industry. Machine vision refers to m ...

digital imaging Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of a digital representation of the visual characteristics of an object, such as a physical scene or the interior structure of an object. The term is often assumed to imply or include ...

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

, and human-computer interactions. Nayar developed the concept of computational cameras and is a leading researcher in the field of computational imaging and computer vision. The field of

computational photography Computational photography refers to digital image capture and processing techniques that use digital computation instead of optical processes. Computational photography can improve the capabilities of a camera, or introduce features that were no ...

is organized according to a taxonomy proposed by him. Nayar's inventions include cameras that can capture 360 degree, high dynamic range, and three-dimensional images. He demonstrated the concept of a self-powered camera that can produce video using power harvested by the light captured by the camera without requiring an external power source. His method of using assorted pixels for single-shot high dynamic range imaging has been incorporated into image sensors that are currently being used by cameras in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. In 2017, Popular Photography published a profile of Nayar that describes his impact on digital imaging and smartphone cameras. Nayar developed the

Oren–Nayar Reflectance Model The Oren–Nayar reflectance model, developed by Michael Oren and Shree K. Nayar, is a reflectivity model for diffuse reflection from surface roughness, rough surfaces. It has been shown to accurately predict the appearance of a wide range of natu ...

in collaboration with Michael Oren in 1994, which is widely used in commercial graphics rendering packages. In 2009, he created the Bigshot Camera, a kid-friendly digital camera designed for experiential learning. Workshops and programs designed around the Bigshot camera have been used to educate middle school students around the world, in particular in underserved communities. As of August 2021, he has published over 300 scientific publications, holds over 80 patents on inventions related to imaging, computer vision and robotics, his publications have been cited close to 60,000 times, and he has an h-index of 129. In March 2021, Nayar made publicly available a lecture series titled First Principles of Computer Vision.

Recognition

Nayar has received several best paper awards for his scientific publications, including the David Marr Prize in 1990 and 1995, and the

Helmholtz Prize The International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV) is a research conference sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) held every other year. It is considered to be one of the top conferences in computer vision, ...

in 2019. Early in his career, he received the National Young Investigator Award from the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

in 1991 and the Packard Fellowship from the

David and Lucile Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's death ...

in 1992. For the impact of his research, he has been honored with the NTT Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from NTT Corporation in 1994, the Appreciation Honor from

Sony Corporation , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

in 2014, the 2016 Invention Award from

Popular Science magazine ''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, inclu ...

, the PAMI Distinguished Award from

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

in 2019, and the Funai Achievement Award from the

Information Processing Society of Japan The Information Processing Society of Japan ("IPSJ") is a Japanese learned society for computing. Founded in 1960, it is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. IPSJ publishes a magazine and several professional journals mainly in Japanese, and sponsors c ...

in 2021. He has been recognized for his talents as a teacher with the Keck Engineering Teaching Excellence Award from the

W. M. Keck Foundation The W. M. Keck Foundation is an American charitable foundation supporting scientific, engineering, and medical research in the United States. It was founded in 1954 by William Myron Keck, founder and president of Superior Oil Company (now part ...

in 1995, the Columbia Great Teacher Award from the Society of Columbia Graduates in 2006, and the Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award from the Columbia Engineering Alumni Association in 2015. He received the Alumni Achievement Award from

in 2009 and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the

Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra (BIT Mesra) is a public deemed institute in Jharkhand, India. It was established in 1955 at Mesra, Ranchi, Mesra, Ranchi, by the industrialist Birla family, B. M. Birla. The institute was later headed by Ga ...

, in 2021. For his pioneering research contributions and inventions in the fields of computational imaging and computer vision, he was elected to the

in 2008, the

in 2011, and the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

in 2014.

References

External links

Shree K. Nayar’s Home PageComputer Science Department, Columbia UniversityColumbia Engineering

Columbia University

National Academy of EngineeringAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences

National Academy of InventorsNational Science FoundationDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationW. M. Keck FoundationSnap ResearchFirst Principles of Computer Vision
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayar, Shree K. Columbia University faculty Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science faculty Carnegie Mellon University alumni North Carolina State University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Living people Year of birth missing (living people)