Academic Background
- Ph.D.
- Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo. December 2005. Thesis: Multiscale
Methods in Image modelling and Image Processing. Advisors: Dr. Edward Vrscay & Dr. Paul Fieguth.
Courses included Probabilistic Inference and Machine Learning, Stochastic
Processes, Wavelet and Fractal Analysis, Nonlinear Image Processing,
High-performance Image Synthesis, Colour in Computer Graphics, Asymptotic
Analysis and Perturbation Theory. First class standing.
- M.Ma.
- Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo. August 2001. Thesis: Two- and Three-Dimensional Coding Schemes for Wavelet and
Fractal-Wavelet Image Compression Advisor: Dr. Edward Vrscay.
Courses included Functional Analysis, ODEs, Numerical methods for PDEs, Pattern Recognition, Multidimensional Signal Modelling. First class standing. - B.Sc.
- Honours in Physics and Mathematics (co-op) University of Victoria, BC, First class standing "with distinction" May 1998. Honours courses included: Real & Complex Analysis, Algebra, Linear Algebra, Quantum & Particle Physics, G.R., E&M, Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics, Thermodynamics.
Research Experience
- Ph.D Research
- Addresses some issues in multiscale approaches to image modelling & processing. Primary focus is on multiscale/hierarchical modelling & sampling/annealing of porous media. Additional work has been done in the area of fractal & fractal-wavelet transforms, in particular applications unrelated to compression such as denoising, and in statistical properties of such transforms with "natural images".
- Masters Research
- Broadly concerned with the area of image compression, and in particular focused on two- and three-dimensional fractal & fractal-wavelet transforms, as well as arithmetic coding.
- Other Research
- Includes computer graphics, and fractal approximations of measures.
Major Awards & Scholarships
- NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2 years fellowship)
- TLCC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (2 years fellowship)
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship 2004/09 - 2005/08
- NSERC Post-Graduate Scholarship (B) 2002/09-2004/08
- Waterloo Graduate Incentive Award 2002/09 - 2004/08
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship 2001/09 - 2002/08
Recent Publications
- S. David Gertz, Bernhard G. Bodmann, Deborah Vela, Manos Papadakis, Ibrahim Aboshady , Paul Cherukuri,
Simon Alexander, Donald J. Kouri et. al (2007) Three-Dimensional Isotropic Wavelets For
Post-Acquisitional Extraction Of Latent Images Of Atherosclerotic Plaque Components From
Micro-Computed Tomography Of Human Coronary Arteries. Academic Radiology
- Alexander, S.K., (2006) Iterated Function Systems: Beyond Compression?
SIAM conference on Imaging Science, May 2006. Oral presentation.
- Alexander, S.K., Fieguth, P. and Vrscay, E.R. (2005) Hierarchical Modelling of Porous Media.
SIAM conference on Mathematical and Computational issues in
the Geosciences, June 2005. Oral presentation.
- Alexander, S.K. and Vrscay, E.R. (2005) Statistical properties
of domain-range block matching in fractal image coding Fractals in Engineering V June, 2005. Oral presentation.
- Alexander, S.K., Fieguth, P. and Vrscay, E.R. (2004)
Parameterized Hierarchical Annealing For Scientific Models. International
Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition, 2004. Proceedings (ICIAR
'04). (LNCS) Volume 2683. Springer. Pages 236-243. Oral presentation.
- Ian E. Bell, Simon K. Alexander. A Spectral Gamut-Mapping
Environment with Rendering Parameter Feedback. Eurographics 2004, Proceedings
(EG '04). Aug 30-Sept 3 2004. Pages 61-64 (shorts). Oral presentation.
- Alexander, S.K., Fieguth, P. and Vrscay, E.R. Hierarchical
annealing for scientific models. IEEE International Conference on Acoustics,
Speech, and Signal Processing, 2004. Proceedings. (ICASSP '04) Volume: 3,
17-21 May 2004. Pages: 33 - 36. Oral presentation.
- Alexander, S.K., Fieguth, P. and Vrscay, E.R. Image sampling by
hierarchical annealing. International Conference on Image Processing,
2003. Proceedings. (ICIP 2003) Volume: 1, 14-17 Sept. 2003 Pages: I - 249-52
vol.1. Poster presentation.
- Alexander, S.K., Fieguth, P. and Vrscay, E.R. Hierarchical
Annealing for Random Image Synthesis. Energy Minimization Methods in Computer
Vision and Pattern Recognition, EMMCVPR 2003,
Proceedings. (LNCS) Volume 2683. Springer. Pages 194-210. Poster
presentation.
- Campaigne, W., Fieguth, P., and Alexander, S.K. Frozen-State
Hierarchical Annealing. International
Conference on Image Analysis and Recognition, 2006. Proceedings (ICIAR
'06). Oral presentation.
Teaching Experience
- Lecturing
- I have taught two sections of first-year calculus for engineering students (Fall 2003, Fall 2004) at the University of Waterloo and am currently teaching Introduction to Probability and Statistics (Spring 2007) at the University of Houston.
- Teaching assistantships
- During my time at the University of Waterloo, I have held many teaching assistantships, which have included duties of both designing & holding tutorials and marking. Courses include classical mechanics, quantum theory, ODEs & PDEs, and various levels of calculus.
- Tutoring
- At various times since the second year of my undergraduate studies, I have been a tutor, primarily in mathematics and physics, at levels ranging from high school to upper division courses.
Research Interests
My research interests are fairly broad, and include signal processing (particularly image or audio), computer graphics, fractal analysis, wavelet & related transforms, computer vision, pattern recognition & classification. I am particularly intrigued by the possibilities offered by multi-disciplinary research and research groups.
Academic Service
Helped to organize and co-ordinate the Science Olympics program at the University of Victoria. Organized the Teaching Assistant orientation session for both 2003/2004 & 2004/2005 years at University of Waterloo. I have participated in seminars and research group meetings in the departments of Applied Mathematics, Systems Design Engineering (imaging group) and Computer Science (A.I. group) at the University of Waterloo.
Professional Affiliations
I hold or have held memberships in the Canadian Mathematical Society (CMS), the American Mathematical Society (AMS), the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).
Conferences & Workshops Attended
Include AMS joint meeting 2006, SIAM IS'06, ICIAR 2004, ICASSP 2004, ICIP 2003 & 2002, EMMCVPR 2003, SIAM conference on Imaging Science 2002, IMA workshop on Fractals and Multimedia (2001), MATH 2001, and RSNA 1998.
Some invited talks I have given were at University of Puerto Rico, University of Washington, Goldsmiths College (University of London), EPFL (Lausanne) , INRIA (Antibes), Louisiana State University, and Acadia University.
Work History
- August 1999 - August 2001: Consultant
-
R2 Technology, Inc., Los Altos, California (medical image analysis technology)
After returning to full time study in the fall of 1999, I have maintained a contact with my previous employer. I performed a small amount (perhaps 5 hrs/week) of consulting work for them on very flexible terms. - August 1998 - August 1999: Software Engineer
-
Advanced Development, R2 Technology, Inc.
The "Advanced Development" department was responsible for all research and algorithm development on R2's "ImageChecker" product, a software system used to identify potential cancers in digitized mammogram xray images. While working with this group I was responsible for porting and extending a large code base of numerical software, and I participated in algorithm design discussions, and implementation.
Co-op Education Work History
- May - August 1997: R2 Technology, Inc
- Los Altos, California (medical image analysis technology)
supervisor: Julian Marshall
duties: Included (optical) hardware design and systems analysis. - September - December 1996: Pacific Forestry Centre
- Victoria, BC (federal research centre)
supervisor: Donald G. Leckie, Digital Remote Sensing Group
duties: Included design and implementation of algorithms for remote sensing, scientific programming. - January - April 1996: CTF Systems, Inc.
- Port Coquitlam, BC (whole cortex MEG/EEG scanner)
supervisor: Phillip R. Kubik, lowTc group head
duties: Included analysis and modelling of low temperature superconducting circuitry. - May - August 1995: Physics Department, Camosun College
- Victoria, BC
supervisor: Dave Knapton, Department Head
duties: Included assisting in the design of high school and university level physics experiments, and course labs.
Related Experience
- Computing
- Includes programming, systems design, administration and some
hardware modification (PCB's)
- experienced scientific programmer, proficient in C, C++, Lisp.
- also experienced in Assembly, Fortran, Scheme, Perl, and others.
- special purpose languages such as Matlab, Maple, HTML, LATEX, sh, etc.
- experience with large code bases
- Research
- Skills developed during study and work include
- data acquisition and manipulation
- problem analysis and exploration
- working effectively independently or in a group
- organizing and/or leading groups
- technical writing
- oral presentation
- time management
- organization of meetings
- delegating and assuming responsibility