Swiss research center invites Tec graduate to collaborate

Facial recognition using artificial intelligence is a topic of growing impact in many industries, according to Luis Santiago Luévano, a PhD student at Tec de Monterrey’s State of Mexico campus.

“My research focuses on developing computer vision using artificial intelligence.

“It’s a very important new area of knowledge which is exploiting various applications within the industry,” he said.

Luis holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the State of Mexico campus, a master’s degree from the Stevens Institute of Technology in the United States, and this year will complete his PhD in Computer Science at the Tec.

Facial recognition

Luis’ research work seeks to streamline facial recognition processes.

“There are laboratories in China, England, and the United States which are working with high- and low-resolution databases for facial recognition with face masks because of the pandemic. Their focus is on accuracy and which methods are the best.

“But we focused on improving efficiency, without neglecting precision. We want to use neural networks which run on more limited hardware to lower costs,” he explained.

Luis also points out that some traditional methods require a full computer with a high-quality graphics card which therefore means it is more expensive to run applications in real time.

“Our goal is to make it more affordable. For example, our platform might cost you around 4,000 pesos to run the application for 2 or 3 security cameras in a store in real time,” he explained.

Knowledge for everyone

Luis mentions that the applications which use technology like the kind he is developing are very broad.

“These include autonomous cars, object recognition using mobile devices, image and color segmentation, and many more applications.

“It’s an area that is growing around the world and there’s a lot of attention from large companies such as Google, Facebook, and others,” he said.

Luis has collaborated with Tec professors such as Dr. Miguel González, Leonardo Chang, and Gilberto Ochoa on his research. Together with the Advanced Technologies Application Center in Cuba, they have published 5 articles.

“Our intention is to release the code repository used in my research to the public. We aren’t interested in commercialization, but rather in the democratization of knowledge”, he stressed.

“The foundation of science is transparency and continued collaboration in order to share knowledge.” - Luis Luévano

Mexico and computer vision

Throughout his academic career, Luis has met Mexican colleagues working in other countries. However, he believes that support for research is lacking in Mexico.

“If you compare the number of Mexicans working on this type of research with the number of Chinese, Japanese, Americans, or Koreans, we are a very small proportion.

“Computer vision research is very limited in Mexico. There are just a few of us. We need scientific training, which would benefit both industry and academia,” he pointed out.

From September to December of this year, Luis will continue part of his research in Switzerland, as he has been invited there by the IDIAP Research Institute

Art and science

Luis has used his time at Tec de Monterrey to not only focus on the academic side, but also on the arts. In 2020, he received the ‘Best Participant’ award from the Department of Art and Culture at the State of Mexico campus.

“Music is another passion of mine. I play guitar and bass, and I was part of the Tec’s company of musicians,” he said.

The PhD student considers this approach to be fundamental for any type of project.

“The most important thing is to be focused on a subject, and sometimes that’s difficult because there are lots of distractions.

“I recommend looking for an area in which you can develop and find out what there is to work on. In my case, I plan to dedicate myself to academia. We need to promote research in Mexico,” he concluded.

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