Alumni Magazine - Summer 2008 - (Page 53) Internationally recognized for her pioneering work in affective computing, Rosalind W. Picard is passionate about helping the estimated one in 150 American children diagnosed with autism. Picard, EE 84, defines affective computing as “computing that relates to, arises from or deliberately influences emotion or other affective phenomena.” The founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, Picard is focusing her work on the use of cameras and computer-aided devices to help unravel the mysteries of autism and to give people diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder new ways to communicate and live more independently. “Right now, the technology is ripe to help enable new forms of communication for people perceived as being unable to communicate,” says Picard, a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT. Picard is the leader of the media lab’s growing effort in autism communication technology research, which covers both people with low verbal skills as well as those who have speech but may need help understanding social-emotional information. “We’re aiming across the spectrum,” she explains. “One of the things that breaks my heart is that parents sometimes say, ‘I tried this and I tried that,’ but one day they had to send their son away to a place where he could be restrained because of the outbursts.” Picard says people diagnosed with autism who hurt themselves or have outbursts and later learn to communicate verbally have indicated that these episodes never came on suddenly — despite appearances otherwise. But by using new affective computing technologies, researchers can give nonverbal people the means to communicate some of what’s going on inside since there are often early indicators — such as a rapid heartbeat or visual clues — that all is not well. Picard’s group has created a variety of tools, including a chest-mounted camera that hooks up to a laptop or video recorder to help the wearer see how well their outward expression mirrors their inner state. Other tools include a wrist-worn device a person can wear to communicate their internal physiological states to trusted individuals. Picard, who lives in Newton, Mass., has master’s and doctoral degrees, both in electrical engineering and computer science, from MIT. She’s been a faculty member at the MIT Media Lab since 1991 and also co-directs the Things That Think consortium, overseeing several million dollars of research annually, mostly from industry and government. Clients include Bank of America, Hallmark, Time, Motorola, Google and Toyota. “Say your company is trying to get healthy food products to market and test them in focus groups and people say, ‘We like this better,’ and it goes to market and flops,” Picard explains. By using technology to “read” the faces of focus group members, researchers can look at affective clues such as whether someone smacks their lips, scowls or looks uncertain. “We do this research in environments where people are comfortable with this being done and where they’re being paid for what they’re doing,” Picard says. “We’ll read their faces and their behaviors to get a more accurate picture of their experiences.” Midway through her undergraduate career at Georgia Tech, Picard grew interested in digital signal processing and computer architecture and thought, “This is really cool stuff. “I liked designing chips and learning about what was buried inside signals,” she says, noting that Georgia Tech played a major role in helping her get where she is today. “It’s always been very much a ‘you can do anything’ kind of place,” she says, adding that Tech instilled in her a sense that “you can learn anything and you can invent anything.” Over the years, Picard has served on the National Science Foundation’s division of Computers in Science and Engineering advisory committee and the Georgia Tech College of Computing advisory board. “She is certainly one of the outstanding, fairly young leaders in the whole field of computing,” observes Peter A. Freeman, dean emeritus and founding dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. “She’s very active, very innovative and just an all-around good leader.” As a member of the advisory board, Picard played a key role in helping Georgia Tech attract other top-quality faculty and students, Freeman adds. Over the years, Georgia Tech has hired several graduates from the MIT Media Lab as faculty members. Prior to completing her doctorate, Picard worked on the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where she designed very-large-scale integration chips for digital signal processing. She has authored nearly 150 peer-reviewed articles on multidimensional signal modeling, computer vision, pattern recognition, machine learning and human-computer interaction. Her book, “Affective Computing” (MIT Press, 1997), laid the groundwork for giving machines the skills of emotional intelligence. Picard and her students have a penchant for wearing clothing and “goofy” hats with electronic devices attached or sewn onto them so people will learn more about what they do. While an undergraduate, Picard was a member of the skydiving club and a selfdescribed risk taker. With a family that now includes three young boys, she’s since toned down her thrill-seeking pursuits. When not enjoying cooking, gardening and bicycling with her husband and children, Picard works tirelessly on her autism research, because of the possibilities that it may dramatically improve the lives of many people, both those with autism and those struggling with challenges common to many on the autism spectrum, such as nonverbal learning disabilities, sleep and movement disorders and epilepsy. GT Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Summer 2008 53
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