Komogortsev lands National Science Foundation CAREER grant

By Kristina Kenney
University News Service
November 14, 2012

A Texas State University professor has received a five-year CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation for his project, “Secure and Trustworthy Ocular Biometrics.”

Oleg Komogortsev, principle investigator and assistant professor of computer science, has been awarded more than $500,000 for the project, which will focus on ensuring the security of information exchange in the cyberworld.

The project aims to develop and validate a novel, highly counterfeit-resistant method for identity recognition using a multimodal ocular biometrics approach based on iris, unique characteristics of the eye and complex eye movement patterns. The work will address long-standing questions related to the role biometric identification plays in the resistance to terrorist attacks, variability and the stability of ocular traits.

The long-term goal for the work is to develop a secure and accurate ocular biometrics approach that can be applied generally across the entire human population, thus significantly improving network security.

The NSF’s CAREER award is highly competitive and supports scholars early in their academic careers dedicated to stimulating the discovery process in which the excitement of research is enhanced by inspired teaching and enthusiastic learning.

Professor Larry Price acted as a consultant on the project.