U.S. flag
      An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.
        Here's how you know
      Here's how you know**Official websites use .gov**
            
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
      **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            
            A **lock** (
            A locked padlock
            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Menu

      
        close

            
            
                                              About NIJ
        
                    
  
          About NIJ
      
    
          The NIJ Director
          How NIJ Is Organized
          Mission and Guiding Principles
          Research and Development Process
          Strategic Framework
          Assessments of NIJ
          Annual Reports & Reports to Congress
          Staff Directory
          Funding & Awards
        
                    
  
          Funding & Awards
      
    
          Current Funding
          Forthcoming Funding
          Expired Funding
          Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
          Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
          Fellowship & Student Programs
          Travel Scholarships
          NIJ Challenge Program
          Library & Multimedia
        
                    
  
          Library & Multimedia
      
    
          NIJ Journal
          Podcasts
          Publications Listing
          Multimedia Listing
          Rated Practices on CrimeSolutions
          Rated Programs on CrimeSolutions
          Software & Databases
          Datasets
          Patents
          Topics
        
                    
  
          Topics
      
    
          Article Listing
          Corrections
          Courts
          Crime Prevention
          Crimes
          Drugs and Crime
          Equipment and Technology
          Forensic Sciences
          Youth Justice
          Justice System Reform
          Law Enforcement
          Tribal Crime and Justice
          Victims of Crime
          Events
        
                    
  
          Events
      
    
          NIJ 2024 Research Conference
          Scheduled Events
          On-Demand Events
          Research Meetings & Workshops
          NIJ-Hosted Online Training

                            
                                About
          Contact Us
          Subscribe
          Topics A-Z
                  Share
FacebookXLinkedInRedditPinterestEmail Home
                            Funding & Awards
 Deep Multi-Factor Forensic Face Recognition
Award Information
Awardee
              Northeastern University
Award #
              2016-R2-CX-0013
Funding Category
              RESEARCH
Location
                    Boston, MA
Congressional District
              7
Status
              Closed
Funding First Awarded
              2016
Total funding (to date)
              $50,000
Original Solicitation
              NIJ FY 16 Graduate Research Fellowship in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2016, $50,000)
In forensic science, an automatic face recognition system through computer vision methods can help in narrowing down the suspects list, while the original search space could be millions of mug shot photos from the police department. A case study about Boston bombings has demonstrated that with certain face recognition techniques, the search space of the suspects can be reduced to 1/100. However, until now, there is no working face recognition system that has been accepted within the judicial system. The major issue is the unstable system performance due to internal factors, e.g., aging, and external factors, e.g., image resolution/modality, illumination, pose. Although there are substantial works proposed recently to address these negative uncertain factors, some of which achieved significant progress, especially for the deep learning methods, little has been discussed under the context of forensic science.
In this proposal, we propose a novel deep learning framework for multi-factor forensic face recognition to address the negative factors mentioned above. The technical merits of deep learning are it can well utilize large-scale training data from millions of mug shot photos, and can adapt to complex problems, e.g., “sketch-mug shot” face match, with flexible model structure. This essentially mimics the cognitive process of human being, which processes the visual information layer by layer. Our novel deep learning model is able to normalize the visual features of the face from coarse to fine, to compensate for different poses, modality, low image quality, occlusions, and noisy labels. This project is leveraged by a close collaboration with Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science for practical case study, forensic evaluation, and law enforcement training. This work could affect and benefit broad research and education community for public security. The proposed computer vision based forensic face recognition solution will facilitate narrowing down the suspects list, which not only substantially reduces the human efforts, but also improves the cross-modality face match accuracy. As a result, it will reduce the occurrence and impact of violent crimes, prevent violent crime or to assist victims. It could be broadly applied and deployed in the area where public security is concerned, i.e., transit system in subway, rail station, or airport, road monitoring system at the crossing, and surveillance system at the public facility. The outreach will strengthen interest in science and engineering careers of young scholars and cultivate the desire to perform higher level education and research.



  
Grant-Funded Publications
        
                      Dual Low-Rank Decompositions for Robust Cross-View Learning
                  Generative Zero-Shot Learning via Low-Rank Embedded Semantic Dictionary
                  Ensemble Subspace Segmentation Under Blockwise Constraints
                  Robust Multiview Data Analysis Through Collective Low Rank Subspace

  
Date Created: July 18, 2016
    
          Side navigation
  

        

  
  
              Current Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Forthcoming Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Expired Funding
    
      
            
            
            
      Awards: Listing of Funded Projects
    
      
            
            
            
      Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
    
      
            
            
            
      Fellowship & Student Programs
    
      
            
            
            
      Travel Scholarships
    
      
            
            
            
      NIJ Challenge ProgramSimilar Awards
        
                      NIJ co-sponsorship of the Center for Advanced Research in Forensic Science (CARFS)
                  Exploring Officer Patrol Behaviors Using Automated Vehicle Locator and Body-Worn Camera Data in Kansas City, Missouri
                  Community-Led Learning: A Collaborative Approach to Training and Technical Assistance for Violent Crime Problem Analyses
 Top

      National Institute of Justice

        
        
                        About NIJ
                    About NIJ
      
    
                  How NIJ Is Organized
      
    
                  NIJ Director
      
    
                  Research Disclaimer
      
    
                  Funding & Awards
                    Funding & Awards Home
      
    
                  Awards Listing
      
    
                  Current Funding
      
    
                  Guidance for Applicants and Awardees
      
    
                  Resources
                    Events
      
    
                  Podcasts
      
    
                  Publications
      
    
                  Topics
      
    
                  Multimedia
      
    
                  Reuse Policy
      
    
                  Contacts
                    Contact NIJ
      
    
                  Staff Directory
      
    
                  Submit a FOIA Request
      
    
                  File a Civil Rights ComplaintFacebook
          
                      X
          
                      YouTube
  

      810 7th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20531
      
              Secondary Footer link menu
            Accessibility
              Plain Language
              Privacy Policy
              Legal Policies and Disclaimer
              No FEAR Act
              Freedom of Information Act
              USA.gov
              Justice.gov