Current Position:
Associate Professor, The Andrew & Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Institution:
Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Discipline:
Computer Science
Recognized for: Providing mathematical understanding in and practical solutions to long-standing problems in computational photography and computer vision.
Areas of Research Interest and Expertise: Computational Photography
Biography:
BSc, Mathematics and Computer Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
MSc/PhD, Computer Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Advisor: Prof. Yair Weiss)
Postdoc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (Advisor: Prof. William T. Freeman)
Senior Scientist/Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, The Weizmann Institute of Science
Professor Levin has made many innovative and ground-breaking contributions to the emerging field of computational photography, which arises from the understanding that incorporating computation into the design of imaging technologies leads to the development of novel imaging capabilities that overcome the inherent limits of traditional cameras. She seeks new practical solutions to long-standing real-world challenges, whilst attempting to study the mathematical foundations of such solutions. Much of her work is based on exploiting the statistics of natural scenes, to retrieve the lost information due to poor image processing. For example, she is known for her work on colorization of grayscale images, on the extraction of a foreground matting mask from an image, on improving the blurry images due to motion during processing or defocus of optical lenses, etc. Her recent work combining optical physics and computation has resulted in novel methods to measure the chemical decomposition of materials with an unprecedented level of accuracy, as well as creating new digital displays whose properties can be uniquely defined by the users. Professor Levin's research benefits all aspects of medical, digital, and entertainment industries as well as academic research where imaging systems are applied.
"My research focuses on computational photography—how to use computing, statistical and optics to better exploit images. For instance, I have recently looked at how light scatters and spreads in a material in order to accurately measure its chemical composition. This can be extended to evaluate pollution in the air, improve ultrasound imaging, or understand the geophysical structure of the earth layers. I have also developed new algorithms that can improve the sharpness and resolution of pictures that were taken by a shaky hand-held camera or with a bad focus.
I am deeply honored and quite excited with receiving this prestigious Blavatnik Award. Research is a team work and therefore I would like to use this opportunity to thank my students, advisors and colleagues to whom I am most indebted."
Key Publications:
Other Honors
| 2015 | M. Bruno Memorial Award from the Rothschild Foundation |
| 2013 | PAMI Young Researcher Award. Given at IEEE CVPR to outstanding computer vision researchers |
| 2013 | Krill Prize, Wolf Foundation |
| 2010 | Eurographics Young Researcher Award |
| 2009 | Pazy Memorial Award, 2009. Most outstanding BSF supported project in mathematics and computer science |
| 2009 | TR35 Young Innovator Award, MIT’s Technology Review. Recognizing exciting inventions and research by innovators under the age of 35 |
| 2009 | Alon Fellowship, Israel Council for Higher Education |
| 2008 | AI’s 10 to Watch. 10 top young researchers selected by the IEEE Intelligent Systems magazine |
| 2007 | The Sara Lee Schupf Post-Doctoral Award, Weizmann Institute |
In the Media:
New Movie Screen Allows For Glasses-Free 3-D, Eurasia Review, July 26, 2016
The Future of Photography, New Scientist, September 16, 2008
Innovators Under 35, Technology Review, 2009