Visual understanding of human actions

Dr. Hamed Pirsiavash

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

12:00-1:00pm Friday, 27 February, 2015, ITE 325B

The aim in computer vision is to develop algorithms for computers to “see” the world as humans do. Central to this goal is understanding human behavior as an intelligent agent functioning in the visual world. For instance, in order for a robot to interact with us, it should understand our actions to produce the proper response. My work explores several directions towards computationally representing and understanding human actions.

In this talk, I will focus on detecting actions and judging their quality. First, I will describe simple grammars for modeling long-scale temporal structure in human actions. Real-world videos are typically composed of multiple action instances, where each instance is itself composed of sub-actions with variable durations and orderings. Our grammar models capture such hierarchical structure while admitting efficient, linear-time parsing algorithms for action detection. The second part of the talk will describe our algorithms for going beyond detecting actions to judging how well they are performed. Our learning-based framework provides feedback to the performer to improve the quality of his/her actions.

Host: Mohamed Younis

I am reclaiming my blackness. It’s been taken, twisted, and transformed into something I no longer recognized. It was deemed less than by the black kids, less than by the white kids, and left me navigating a space with an identity invalid.

My mom and I had a long “discussion” about the term Blackish. This began in reference to the popular TV show, but quickly went down a road that is still painful for me to revisit. In my mom’s opinion, she is black and I am blackish. I understood what she meant. I did not fit the stereotypical “black” mold. In fact, I fit the one she built for me. Predominantly white schools, a two parent household, sports, instruments, pets, private school, a car… the list goes on. These things were and continue to be my normal. Unfortunately, these things simultaneously made me “less than black”. How could that be?

My mom’s lived experiences are different. Her relationship with her dad is virtually nonexistent, she grew up in the inner city, her childhood was a low-income one. Is that what blackness is? Absentee dads? Poverty? The hood?

I’ve been ruminating on these thoughts this Black History Month. I’ve been thinking of my great-grandparents who didn’t establish themselves in a hood, but a neighborhood, with a car and a home they called their own. There were two parents and they worked hard to give their children a taste of middle-class life. They wore furs and diamonds, suits and church hats. They endured overt racism in ways I will never truly understand. Were they blackish too?

I am lost. I am exhausted at the thought of having to prove an identity that was handed to me. It covers every inch of my skin in a fantastic bronze hue. It dictates how strangers react to my face, my resume, my voice, my name. I am black. I am black first. I cannot be anything less.

“What do you say to the white kids when even the black kids say you’re not black enough for them?”

This post is an expansion of my statement in the I’m Not portion of the UMBC Women of Color Coalition’s campaign, “Telling Our Stories” project. For more information about the project and other stories, visit us on Facebook here.

About:

The Baltimore City Mayoral Fellowship is a ten week, full-time experience that places individuals in a Mayoral office or agency.  Fellows are assigned to projects that focus on a myriad of public policy issues and challenges.  Fellows complete projects under the direction of senior level government officials and are provided immediate and direct feedback. 

In addition to gaining valuable practical experience and exposure to local government, Fellows present their findings to the Mayor and cabinet and complete a written final report documenting their research and solutions.  Fellows also enjoy outings and educational events where they network with peers and experience all that Baltimore has to offer.

This is an ideal program for current students and recent graduates with an interest in public service and local government.

This year’s Fellowship will run from June 1, 2015 to August 4, 2015.

Eligibility: 

Students who have completed the equivalent of their junior year of undergraduate coursework by the start date of the Fellowship will be considered.  Applicants need not be enrolled in a graduate level program to be considered.

Apply or Learn More: 

Attached please find a flyer outlining the program.  For further information or to apply, please visit our website: mayor.baltimorecity.gov/fellowship or contact me at bcmf@baltimorecity.gov.

Application Deadline:  March 2, 2015

We’re proud to announce that the Women’s Center at UMBC and Women of Color Coalition were recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The 2014–15 AAUW Campus Action Project (CAP) grants, sponsored by Pantene’s Shine Strong campaign, fund student led projects that fight stereotypes and biases.In addition to the AAUW CAP grant, we were also awarded a $500 community project grant from BreakingGround to help support this ambitious campaign. 

Our project, called “Telling Our Stories: I’m Not/I Am,” aims to 1) raise awareness and reject stereotypes about women of color, and 2) create space for women of color voices and counternarratives. Following a series of consciousness-raising discussions over the past year, many of our students saw the need to promote visibility and community-building among WoC in order to stand in solidarity against racist and sexist microaggressions. First-year student Jahia Knobloch vividly describes the harmful impact that stereotyping can have on women of color: 

Women of color are blessed with so many gifts: our beauty, compassion, ingenuity and grace are unparalleled. But too often our gifts are ignored, with ruthless stereotypes and myths being built around our existence which casting us into either unthreatening or highly exoticized and eroticized roles.

My first realizations about what it means to be a woman of color came, as so many realizations do, because of discrimination. Around the age of fourteen, I began receiving attention from boys and men. Many of these attentions were flattering; some were offensive and others downright menacing. But some of the most memorable comments I received were from non-POC boys and men. These comments were memorable only in their flabbergasting ignorance about what being attracted to a women of color apparently means in the minds of non-POC boys and men. Some examples: “I’ve never been with a Black girl before,” “You’re so pretty because you’re mixed—you’re lucky you only got the good features of being Black,” “I love your hair, it’s so dark,” and the jaw-dropping “I love the way your dark skin looks against my white skin.” Really dude?

I came to realize that as a woman of color, you are forced by proxy to represent the exotic “other”—a taste of a world in which non-POC men dare not venture into past a certain point. Even with our own races, we can be subjugated to lesser roles because of our status as women. Yet what those who wish to make us less-than do not see is that we can be the strongest of champions: not only for ourselves, but for our people and all those who are oppressed. We are a force to be reckoned with.

For me, dismantling stereotypes is so important because it gives us as WOC a chance to show that there is no “other.” We will not be your African, Asian, Latin, Native American or interracial vacation to the dark continent. We will not be a stop on your experimental college road trip for you to regale your friends about. We will not be a tourist attraction, an item on your bucket list or a milestone. We will only be us: beautiful, intelligent and independent. We will only be as strong as we have been made to be from centuries of oppression. We will continue to carry our status as WOC not as a burden, but as a gift. We will tell our stories. We will be heard.

By launching the project with the “I’m Not” poster campaign, we hope to disrupt the misguided assumption that racialized gender stereotyping is not a problem for our campus community. Click here to see the latest posters from the campaign! 

The second phase of the project consists of creative skill-building workshops which will culminate in a “Telling Our Stories: I Am” showcase. We intend to go beyond challenging the misrepresentation of women of color and actually create a platform dedicated to their authentic self-representation. Women of Color Coalition member-at-large Bree Best explains the importance of storytelling: 

Not only does telling your story tell people who you are but It give a different perspective of how to view things. These stories are needed and you, woman of color, have the pen in your hand ready to write it.

At the end of the showcase, I don’t want the conversation of women of color telling their stories to stay stagnant. I want this to continue because there are many “untold stories” in the woman of color sphere that need to be heard. These need to be heard so that they can help heal the multigenerational hurt that women of color have accrued. I believe if we tell our stories people will understand better how to heal or not hurt us through racial interactions.

The Telling Our Stories showcase will celebrate the creative self-expression of women of color and empower them to reclaim their own narratives. The showcase will be held on Wednesday, April 29th from 6-8pm in the Commons Sports Zone. 

Be sure to like Women of Color Coalition on Facebook and follow us on Tumblr for more news and updates on the Telling Our Stories project!

Name: Clare Dowley

Internship, Co-op or Research Site: Whiting-Turner Contracting Company

Major(s)/Minor(s): Mechanical Engineering

Expected Graduation Year: May 2016

Briefly describe your internship, co-op, research, or service-learning opportunity, including your day-to-day tasks, responsibilities, and assignments.

Despite being extremely busy working over the summer, I had an amazing intern experience. Unrelated to the actual work, everyone I worked with is very nice and friendly. That makes a huge difference when coming into a new workplace. They treated me like a fellow employee instead of an intern to give all the busy work. While I did have some filing and meaningless tasks to do, I was actually given a significant amount of real work. I handled invoices daily, processing things to be paid, as well as work on the Project Completion Report, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Materials, and even some work inside the Performing Arts and Humanities Building. I even got an inside look at the other WT projects on UMBC's campus, such as the new gateway entrance and Lot 29, the new parking lot by Walker field. I am very happy with my internship and the experiences I had this summer.

Describe the process of obtaining your internship, research, or co-op opportunity.

I found this internship on UMBCWorks. I applied online over the winter break and got a call from the woman who was to become my Project Manager. She called to set up an interview for when I was back on campus for the spring semester. I came to the trailers for the interview, we talked for a bit, and then she gave me a tour of Phase 2 of the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, which was then not yet open to the public. A couple weeks later she called again to offer me a position for the summer. The resources I used to get this internship was the resume check at the Shriver Center and the database of UMBCWorks.

Which of the following resources did you use to find your current experience?

UMBCworks

What have you enjoyed the most about your position or organization/company?

I have enjoyed seeing the changes to the campus where I go to school. Having an internship with WT allowed me to have inside looks at the Performing Arts and Humanities Building as well as the new Gateway entrance project and Lot 29, the parking lot next to Walker Apartments. It has been interesting to see the changes as they happen and have the insider information.

What have you gained from your experience that you could not have gained from another opportunity?

I have gained knowledge of the construction industry. I never knew about the engineering and design side, only the labor. There are some aspects of the projects that require such detail and I did not know such things even had to be considered when designing a building. Walking around the projects with the WT employees caused me to see them from a whole new view that I would never have had walking around a building with anyone else.

What advice would you give to another student who is seeking an internship or similar experience?

I would tell others to apply to everything, especially if you're not certain what you want to do after graduation. While I still do not know for sure, I am much closer to that decision after this internship than I was before. I believe the key to that decision will be experience.

Please provide a short reflection or quote about what you liked most about your position / earning internship credit / the internship placement process.

What I liked most about my internship was the level of success with creating positive change around my campus paired with the extreme friendliness of everyone I worked with.

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Want to be the next Intern of the Week? Make sure to fill out this form and stay tuned. New interns are announced every Friday!

Wilmington, DE

Ph.D. Dissertation Proposal

MLVFS: A Scalable Storage System For Managing Big Scientific Data

Navid Golpayegani

3:00-5:00pm Tuesday 24 February 2015, ITE 346

Managing peta or exabytes of data with hundreds of millions to billions of files is a necessary first step towards an effective big data computing and collaboration environment for distributed systems. Current file system designs have focused on providing better and faster data distribution. Managing the directory structure for data discovery becomes an essential element of the scalability problems for big data systems. Recent designs are addressing the challenge of exponential growth of files. Still largely unexplored is the research for dealing with the organizational aspect of managing big data systems with hundreds of millions of files. Most file systems organize data into static directory structures making data discovery, when dealing with large data sets, hard and slow.

This thesis will propose a unique Multiview Lightweight Virtual File System (MLVFS) design to primarily deal with the data organizational management problem in big data file systems. MLVFS is capable of the dynamic generation of directory structures to create multiple views of the same data set. With multiple views, the storage system is capable of organizing available data sets by differing criteria such as location or date without the need to replicate data or use symbolic links. In ad- dition, MLVFS addresses scalability issues associated with the growth of the stored files by removing the internal metadata system and replacing it with generally avail- able external metadata information (i.e. data base servers, project compute servers, remote repositories, etc.). This thesis, moreover, proposes to add, plug in capabilities not normally found in file systems that make this system highly flexible, in terms of specifying sources of meta data information, dynamic file format streaming and other file handling features.

The performance of MLVFS will be tested in both simulated environments as well as real world environments. MLVFS will be installed on the BlueWave cluster at UMBC for simulated load testing to measure the performance for various loads. Simultaneously, stable version of MLVFS will run in real world production environ- ments such as those of the NASA MODIS instrument processing system (MODAPS). The MODAPS system will be used to show examples of real world use cases for MLVFS. Additionally, there will be other systems explored for the real world use of MLVFS, such as at NIST for research into Biomedical Image Stitching.

Committee: Drs. Milton Halem (Chair, Advisor), Yelena Yesha, Charles Nicholas, John Dorband, Daniel Duffy