Yan Cao , Assistant Professor
Yan Cao , Assistant Professor
Department
of Mathematical Sciences
University of Texas at Dallas
P.O. Box 830688, EC 35
Richardson TX
75083-0688
Tel:
(972)883-6458
Email:
yan 'dot' cao 'at' utdallas 'dot' edu
Education
Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, Brown University, 2003. Advisor: Prof. David Mumford
M. Sc. in Mathematics, University of Iowa, 1997.
B. S. in Computational Mathematics, Peking University, 1996.
Employment
2006/08-present Assistant Professor, University of Texas at Dallas, Department of Mathematical Sciences
2003/07-2006/07 Postdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, Center of Imaging Sciences
My research interests lie in the general areas of computer vision and pattern theory, especially biomedical applications. My current research is focused on shape analysis and shape models in two and three dimensions. People can recognize the same or similar shapes in any circumstance, and they have a good intuition on what is the main structure and what is the variation of a shape. We want the computer to do the same thing. There is a lot of mathematics to be done to achieve this goal. The theory in three dimensions is especially challenging. In two dimensions, the medial axis and the geometric heat equation are powerful tools, but both of these are less satisfactory in three dimensions. Understanding the geometry of three-dimensional shapes still presents many problems.
Medical image analysis, computational anatomy
Computer vision, pattern theory
Shape analysis and shape models
Geometric PDE
Graduate Research Assistant Position Available
Teaching
Math 6390: Math Methods in Image Analysis (Fall 2006, 2009)