CCICADA Seminar Series in Homeland Security-May 1, 2026
From Visual Computing to Convergence Research: Transforming the Cyber-Physical-Material Landscape with AI
Date/Time: Friday, May 1, 2026, 1:00 to 2:00 pm Online via Zoom
FEATURED SPEAKER: Zhigang Zhu, Herbert G. Kayser Professor of Computer Science, Grove School of Engineering, The City College of New York, Department of Computer Science, The CUNY Graduate Center
Join Zoom Meeting: https://rutgers.zoom.us/j/96551721042?wd=zJPGNB5CC6ZR6Huu3SBtxDXP9eAmyF.1
Abstract:
In this talk, I will trace the evolution of my laboratory from its founding as the City College Visual Computing Laboratory in 2002 to its current iteration, the CUNY Computational Vision & Convergence Laboratory (CCVCL). I will navigate the CCVCL research journey, beginning with perceptual robotics and multimodal sensing for modeling and surveillance. I will then transition to human-computer collaboration for assistive living and brain understanding, followed by human-centric cyber-physical systems, such as the Smart and Accessible Transportation Hub (SAT-Hub). Finally, I will discuss our most recent work at the intersection of Man, Machine, and Materials, highlighting our dual approach of AI for material sciences and smart materials for accessible interfaces. Throughout the presentation, I will highlight representative works from several of our graduate students and discuss how our long-standing collaborations with CCICADA and SENTRY continue to broaden our research horizons.
Bio: Dr. 
Zhigang Zhu is the Herbert G. Kayser Professor of Computer Science at The City College and The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, where he serves as the Director of the CUNY Computational Vision and Convergence Laboratory (CCVCL) and Co-Director of the Master’s Program in Data Science and Engineering. Having earned his BS, MS, and PhD in Computer Science from Tsinghua University, his distinguished career includes prior roles as an Associate Professor at Tsinghua and a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His multifaceted research spans computer vision, machine learning, multimodal sensing, and human-computer interaction, with applications in assistive technology, robotics, material sciences, transportation and urban planning. A widely recognized leader in his field, Dr. Zhu’s accolades include the Dr. Arthur I. Karshmer Award for Assistive Technology Research at CSUNAT 2026, the President’s Award for Excellence at CCNY in 2013, and the selection of his PhD thesis for the Hundred National Excellent Doctoral Theses in China in 1999; he also serves as an Associate Editor for Machine Vision and Applications (Springer).
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