Education:

Ph.D. Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, 2005.

M.S. Computer Science and Engineering, University of South Florida, 2000.

Research Interests:

My research is rooted in Computer Vision, Image Processing, Pattern Recognition, and Artificial Intelligence.

The main research themes are:

(1) Biometrics (Face Recognition and Sketch Recognition).

(2) Medical Imaging (Elasticity Imaging of Biological Tissues -- Elastography).

(3) Non-rigid Motion Analysis (Finite Element Modeling).

(4) Robust Algorithms for Inverse Problems.

I am interested in a wide range of topics that are beyond the traditional boundaries of

computer vision and artificial intelligence, especially those of an interdisciplinary nature.

For example, I have been working on projects that are related to biomedical imaging,

soft tissue elastography, breast cancer detection, human computer interaction,

face and gesture recognition, multimedia database, as well as computer science education.

Research Collaborators:

University of South Florida:

Check out the Image Analysis Research Lab and the peoples that I have worked with,

Dr. Goldgof, Dr. Sarkar, Dr. Hall, Dr. Kasturi, and many graduate students.

NEOUCOM:

Dr. Brodell, Dermatology.

Dr. Mostow, Dermatology.

Dr. Vinyard, Skeletal Biology.

University of Binghamton, New York:

Dr. Yin, Computer Vision and Graphics.

YSU:

Prof. McCullough, Forensic Art.

Dr. Marie, Tissue Property Mechanics.

Dr. Andrews, Scientific Visualization.

Dr. Ellyson, Cognitive Psychology.

Refereed Journal Publications:

Y. Zhang, R. T. Brodell, E. N. Mostow, C. J. Vinyard, and H. Marie,

In Vivo Skin Elastography with High Definition Optical Videos,

Skin Research and Technology,

vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 271-282, 2009.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and L. V. Tsap,

A Sensitivity Analysis Method and Its Application in Physics-Based Nonrigid Motion Modeling,

Image and Vision Computing (Elsevier),

vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 262-273, 2007.

Y. Zhang, L. O. Hall, D. B. Goldgof, and S. Sarkar,

A Constrained Genetic Approach for Computing Material Property of Elastic Objects,

IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation,

vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 341-357, 2006.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and L. V. Tsap,

A Modeling Approach for Burn Scar Assessment Using Natural Features and Elastic Property,

IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging,

vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 1325-1329, 2004.

Refereed Conference Publications:

H. A. Al Nizami, J. P. Adkins-Hill, Y. Zhang, J. R. Sullins, C. McCullough, S. Canavan, and L. Yin,

A Biometric Database with Rotating Head Videos and Hand-drawn Face Sketches,

IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS09),

Washington DC, September 28-30, 2009.

(Accepted, to appear).

J. P. Adkins-Hill, J. M. Fortunato, Y. Zhang, and J. R. Sullins,

An Empirical Comparison of High Definition Video and Regular Video in Optical Flow Computation,

The19th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR08),

Tampa, Florida, December 4-6, 2008.

Y. Zhang, C. McCullough, J. R. Sullins, and C. R. Ross,

Human and Computer Evaluations of Face Sketches with Implications for Forensic Investigations,

IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS08),

Washington DC, September 29 - October 1, 2008.

(Best Paper Award).

J. Blackann, Y. Zhang, R. T. Brodell, and H. Marie,

Optical Skin Elastography, A Case Study of Seborrheic Keratoses,

The 7th International Conference on Ultrasonic Measurement and Imaging of Tissue Elasticity,

Austin, Texas, October 27-30, 2008.

Y. Zhang, R. W. Kramer, and R. G. Barr,

Improving Elasticity Imaging Using an Adaptive Smoothness Prior,

6th International Conference on the Ultrasonic Measurement and Imaging of Tissue Elasticity,

Santa Fe, New Mexico, November, 2007.

S. J. Canavan, M. P. Kozak, Y. Zhang, J. R. Sullins, M. A. Shreve, and D. B. Goldgof,

Face Recognition by Multi-Frame Fusion of Rotating Heads in Videos,

IEEE International Conference on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS07),

Washington DC, September, 2007.

Y. Zhang, Y. Qiu, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and L. Li,

3D Finite Element Modeling of Nonrigid Breast Deformation for Feature Registration in X-ray and MR Images,

8th IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV '07),

Austin, Texas, Feb. 2007.

V. Manohar, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and Y. Zhang,

Facial Strain Pattern as a Soft Forensic Evidence,

8th IEEE Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision (WACV '07),

Austin, Texas, Feb. 2007.

Y. Zhang, J. R. Sullins, D. B. Goldgof, and V. Manohar,

Computing Strain Elastograms of Skin Using an Optical Flow Based Method,

5th International Conference on the Ultrasonic Measurement and Imaging of Tissue Elasticity,

Snowbird, Utah, October, 2006.

Y. Zhang, R. W. Kramer, D. B. Goldgof, and V. Manohar,

Development of a Robust Algorithm for Imaging Complex Tissue Elasticity,

5th International Conference on the Ultrasonic Measurement and Imaging of Tissue Elasticity,

Snowbird, Utah, October, 2006.

Y. Zhang, S. J. Kundu, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and L. V. Tsap,

Elastic Face, An Anatomy-Based Biometrics Beyond Visible Cue,

Proceedings of 17th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR04),

vol. 2, pp 19-22, Cambridge, UK, August, 2004.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, and S. Sarkar,

Significance of Elastic Properties in Physics-Based Nonrigid Motion Modeling,

A Numerical Sensitivity Analysis,

IEEE Workshop on Articulated and Nonrigid Motion (ANM2004),

in conjunction with CVPR2004, Washington, DC, June, 2004.

Y. Qiu, D. G. Goldgof, L. Li, S. Sarkar, Y. Zhang, and S. Anton,

Correspondence Recovering in 2-view Mammography,

IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging,

pp. 197-200, Arlington, VA, April, 2004.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, and S. Sarkar,

Towards Physically-Sound Registration Using Object-Specific Properties for Regularization,

Biomedical Image Registration (J. C. Gee, A. Maintz, and M. W. Vannier, eds.),

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, 2003.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and M. Shin,

Recovering Elastic Property of Soft Tissues Using 2D Image Sequences With Limited Range Data,

Proceedings of 16th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR02),

vol. 1, pp. 755-758, Quebec, Canada, August, 2002.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar, and L. V. Tsap,

Tracking Objects Using Recovered Physical Motion Parameters,

Proceedings of 16th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR02),

vol. 2, pp. 10-13, Quebec, Canada, August, 2002.

Y. Zhang, L. O. Hall, D. B. Goldgof, and S. Sarkar,

A Constrained Genetic Approach For Reconstructing Young's Modulus Of

Elastic Objects From Boundary Displacement Measurements,

Proceedings of the 2002 Congress on Evolutionary Computation, CEC'02,

vol. 1, pp. 1003-1008, Honolulu, Hawaii, May, 2002.

Y. Zhang, P. Powers, S, Sarkar, D. B. Goldgof, Y. Bannon, and W. Cruse,

Comprehensive Evaluation of Burn Scars and Its Impact on Quality of Life,

Society of Cosmetic Chemists Annual Scientific Seminar,

New Orleans, Louisiana, May, 2001.

Y. Zhang, D. B. Goldgof, S. Sarkar and L. V. Tsap,

Model-Based Nonrigid Motion Analysis Using Natural Feature Adaptive Mesh,

Proceedings of 15th International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR00),

vol. 3, pp. 839-843, Barceloan, Spain, September, 2000.