Nam Nguyen

4-5pm, Dec 17 2020

https://stonybrook.zoom.us/j/94214254415?pwd=K1VoQml4cFdlVW51VW41dWtid2tJdz09



The molecular mechanisms and functions in complex biological systems
currently remain elusive. Recent high-throughput techniques, such as
next-generation sequencing, have generated a wide variety of
multiomics datasets that enable the identification of biological
functions and mechanisms via multiple facets. However, integrating
these large-scale multiomics data and discovering functional insights
are, nevertheless, challenging tasks. To address these challenges,
machine learning has been broadly applied to analyze multiomics. In
particular, multiview learning is more effective than previous
integrative methods for learning data's heterogeneity and revealing
cross-talk patterns. Although it has been applied to various contexts,
such as computer vision and speech recognition, multiview learning has
not yet been widely applied to biological data--specifically,
multiomics data. Therefore, we have developed a framework called
multiview empirical risk minimization (MV-ERM) for unifying multiview
learning methods (Nguyen, et al., PLoS Computational Biology, 2020).
MV-ERM enables potential applications to understand multiomics
including genomics, transcriptomics, and epigenomics, in an aim to
discover the functional and mechanistic interpretations across omics.
Based on MV-ERM, we have developed the following methods:
ManiNetCluster, Varmole and ECMarker.



(1) ManiNetCluster (Nguyen, et al., BMC Genomics, 2019) is a manifold
learning method which simultaneously aligns and clusters gene networks
(e.g., co-expression) to systematically reveal the links of genomic
function between different phenotypes. Specifically, ManiNetCluster
employs manifold alignment to uncover and match local and non-linear
structures among networks, and identifies cross-network functional
links. We demonstrated that ManiNetCluster better aligns the
orthologous genes from their developmental expression profiles across
model organisms than state-of-the-art methods. This indicates the
potential non-linear interactions of evolutionarily conserved genes
across species in development. Furthermore, we applied ManiNetCluster
to time series transcriptome data measured in the green alga
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to discover the genomic functions linking
various metabolic processes between the light and dark periods of a
diurnally cycling culture;



(2) Varmole (Nguyen, et al., Bioinformatics, 2020) is an interpretable
deep learning method that simultaneously reveals genomic functions and
mechanisms while predicting phenotype from genotype. In particular,
Varmole embeds multi-omic networks into a deep neural network
architecture and prioritizes variants, genes and regulatory linkages
via biological drop-connect without needing prior feature selections.
With an application to schizophonia, we demonstrate that Varmole
provides an effective alternative for recent statistical methods that
associate functional omic data (e.g. gene expression) with genotype
and phenotype and that link variants to individual genes in population
studies such as genome-wide association study;



(3) ECMarker (Jin*, Nguyen*, et al., Bioinformatics, 2020) is an
interpretable and scalable machine learning model that predicts gene
expression biomarkers for disease phenotypes and simultaneously
reveals underlying regulatory mechanisms. Particularly, ECMarker is
built on the integration of semi- and discriminative- restricted
Boltzmann machines, a neural network model for classification allowing
lateral connections at the input gene layer. With application to the
gene expression data of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients,
we found that ECMarker not only achieved a relatively high accuracy
for predicting cancer stages but also identified the biomarker genes
and gene networks implying the regulatory mechanisms in lung cancer
development.



Finally, we propose a novel multiview learning method, Malignomics, to
predict phenotypes from heterogeneous multi-omic features. Malignomics
will first align multi-omic features by deep manifold alignment onto a
common latent space, better predicting nonlinear relationships across
omics. This deep alignment aims to preserve both global consistency
and local smoothness across omics and reveal higher-order nonlinear
interactions (i.e., manifolds) among cross-omic features. Second, it
uses these manifold structures to regularize the classifiers for
predicting phenotypes. This manifold-regularization allows
highlighting cross-omic feature manifolds and prioritizing the
features and interactions for the phenotypes. The prioritized
multi-omic features will further reveal underlying phenotypic
functions and mechanisms and thus enhance the biological
interpretation of Malignomics. We will apply Malignomics to
multi-omics data in neuropsychiatric disorders, and prioritize gene
regulatory networks linking risk variants, regulatory elements, and
genes for the disorders. We will also compare Malignomics with the
state-of-the-arts, and investigate how the manifold regulation will
potentially improve understanding of multi-omics functions and
predicting diseases.
Abstract: Visual generation is a fundamental problem in computer vision and graphics, with applications ranging from 3D capture to image and video synthesis. Despite rapid progress in neural rendering and generative models, efficiency remains a key bottleneck: high-quality 3D reconstruction often relies on dense multi-view supervision; high-fidelity 3D synthesis requires costly optimization, training, and rendering; and modern image and video generators require substantial computation as the number of tokens grows rapidly for high-resolution generation. This dissertation focuses on efficient visual generation by improving sample efficiency in 3D reconstruction, representation efficiency in 3D generation, and computational efficiency in image and video synthesis. First, we improve the sample efficiency of neural implicit surface reconstruction. We integrate multi-view stereo probability volumes as a geometric regularizer, enabling high-quality sparse-view reconstruction from as few as three input images. Next, we introduce an explicit 3D representation for 3D generation, built from multi-view depth and RGB images with 3D Gaussian features. This design allows the model to use 2D generative priors while enforcing multi-view consistency through epipolar attention. We then address the computational bottleneck in image and video synthesis with importance-based token merging. Our method uses importance signals available during generation to preserve critical information while merging redundant tokens. Finally, we enable efficient mixed-resolution diffusion transformers via phase-aligned attention. This approach stabilizes attention under mixed-resolution token grids and unlocks high-fidelity image and video generation at reduced cost. Taken together, these contributions reduce the data requirements, representational overhead, and computational demands, thereby providing a foundation for high-quality, scalable, and efficient visual generation.

Speaker: Haoyu Wu

Location: NCS 120

Description:

As artificial intelligence and data science reshape the global information landscape, libraries are emerging as key players in both technological innovation and ethical stewardship. This international Zoom discussion brings together library professionals and educators from the U.S., Philippines, and Hong Kong to explore how institutions are integrating AI and data into their pedagogy and services.

Panelists will share concrete examples from their own libraries--ranging from data literacy initiatives to increasing discoverability. The conversation will also examine regional trends in librarianship, spotlighting how institutions in Asia are navigating the evolving role of data and AI.

Join us for a global conversation that highlights the transformative potential of libraries as hubs for innovation and critical inquiry in the age of AI.

Register for this free Zoom panel.

Panelists:

Ahmad Pratama is a Faculty Member and Associate Librarian at Stony Brook University Libraries, where he is working to build a comprehensive, campus-wide data literacy program within the Libraries. As the Data Literacies Lead, his work focuses on empowering students, faculty, and staff to critically and ethically engage with data and AI, including the development of a credit-bearing course in Critical Data & AI Literacies supported by an EDGE Fund Award from the Provost's Office. Previously, Dr. Pratama served as an Associate Professor of Information Technology, and his research and teaching explore the intersections of technology, policy, and society with a focus on data, AI, and innovation in higher education.

Dan Anthony Dorado is a full-time faculty member at the U.P. School of Library and Information Studies, where he teaches information technology, management and marketing, research methodology, and quantitative research. He was also the director of the Diliman Learning Resource Center under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Before that, he was an Information Specialist at the College of Engineering Library, in charge of the System and Network Administration and The Learning Commons. He completed his master's degree at the Technology Management Center in U.P. Diliman and is currently pursuing his PhD in Data Science. As a member of Sync.Bio.Optics laboratory and the Publics, Archives, and Data (PANDA) Lab, his research specialization covers Computational Methods, Open Education, Critical Data Studies, and Radical Statistics.

Ryun LEE is Associate University Librarian at The Chinese University of Hong Kong Library, leading Digital Initiatives and Library IT and Systems. He drives digital innovation through emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence to enhance services, streamline operations, and support CUHK's mission in research, education, and knowledge advancement. With a background in cataloging and digital repository development, Ryun leads projects in digitization, OCR, data visualization, text and network analysis, GIS, and digital scholarship. He actively promotes knowledge graph applications in Hong Kong studies and oversees efforts to digitize and preserve resources related to Hong Kong and Southern China. His recent work focuses on creating seamless digital experiences and developing data-driven infrastructure. He is currently exploring AI-driven approaches to digitization workflows and entity extraction, aiming to improve access, discovery, and long-term preservation of library materials.

CSE 600 Talk: Haibin Ling - Computer Vision Research and Applications


Abstract: Having been intensively studied over half a decade, computer vision has evolved as a broad research area and become mature in many applications. In this talk, we will summarize our work in computer vision in both core vision topics and application-oriented ones. In particular, for core vision problems, we will report studies on visual tracking, visual matching and visual detection; for applications, we will describe our work on medical image analysis, intelligent transportation, smart projector systems and preliminary work on material property prediction.

Bio: Haibin Ling received the BS and MS degrees from Peking University in 1997 and 2000, respectively, and the PhD degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2006. From 2000 to 2001, he was an assistant researcher at Microsoft Research Asia. From 2006 to 2007, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist at the University of California Los Angeles. In 2007, he joined Siemens Corporate Research as a research scientist. From 2008 to 2019, he worked as a faculty member of Temple University. In fall 2019, he joined the Department of Computer Science of Stony Brook University where he is currently a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor. His research interests include computer vision, augmented reality, medical image analysis, and human computer interaction. He received the Best Student Paper Award at the ACM UIST in 2003, and the NSF CAREER Award in 2014. He serves as Associate Editor for several journals including IEEE Trans. on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), Pattern Recognition (PR), and Computer Vision and Image Understanding (CVIU). He has served or will serve as Area Chair for CVPR 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020.

You are cordially invited to attend the biweekly Brookhaven AI Mixer (BAM). BAM includes one short talk on AI research happening at BNL, followed by an open mixer. The first half hour will consist of presentations that will be available via ZOOM, and the second half hour will be for in person only networking.

We meet every other Tuesday at noon in CDSD's Training Room (building 725, room 2-124) to learn about interesting AI methods and applications, engage with potential collaborators, prepare for pending FASST funding calls, and build a community of AI for Science at BNL.

In addition to our speaker, we will have a number of CDS staff in attendance with expertise in AI methods and applications including image analysis, foundation models development, and inverse problem solving.

AI-Driven Physics-Informed Phase Retrieval from a Single X-ray

Abstract: X-ray phase-contrast imaging enables the visualization of weakly absorbing or low-contrast structures and plays an important role in materials, biological, and energy research. Conventional X-ray holography and phase-retrieval techniques typically require multiple intensity measurements acquired at different propagation distances to recover phase information, increasing acquisition time, radiation dose, and experimental complexity. In this work, we present an AI-driven, physics-informed approach for phase retrieval using only a single X-ray intensity measurement. The method adapted a generative neural network as an inverse reconstruction engine, with physical models of X-ray wave propagation embedded directly into the optimization process. This allows phase and absorption information to be recovered from a single hologram without relying on paired, unpaired, or simulated training datasets. By combining physical constraints with self-supervised AI reconstruction, the approach achieves stable and quantitative results across a wide range of imaging conditions. The results demonstrate how physics-informed AI can reduce experimental requirements and enable data-efficient, automated phase retrieval for next-generation X-ray imaging workflows.

Biography: Xiaogang Yang is a computational scientist in the Data Analysis & Workflow Integration group at NSLS-II, focusing on AI development for X-ray imaging, data analysis, and automated workflows. He earned his PhD from Delft University of Technology, completed his postdoctoral research at Argonne National Laboratory, and previously held a tenured position at PETRA III (DESY).

Location: CDS, Bldg. 725, Training Room

Join ZoomGov Meeting: https://bnl.zoomgov.com/j/1604383624?pwd=ffQ5cUPNxTI7nzClKQO6cnsNbhF9Vf.1

Meeting ID: 160 438 3624
Passcode: 558449

Please Note: Due to a funding shortfall, we are for the time being no longer able to provide pizza and sodas for these events. We will have coffee though, and all are of course welcome to bring their lunch.

As artificial intelligence continues to transform higher education and the world beyond, how are students engaging with this change? Join us for a student-led discussion that explores how AI is influencing academic integrity, learning practices, and students' perspectives on its role in future workplaces.

Our panelists will share their experiences and reflections on questions such as:
1. What counts as appropriate and inappropriate use of AI in coursework?
2. How do faculty approach AI and talk about its implications in class?
3. What does AI mean for students' learning and ethical decision-making?
4. How are students building their understanding of AI tools and their potential uses in professional contexts?

This conversation offers an authentic look at how students are navigating the promises and challenges of AI--both in their studies and as they look ahead to applying these technologies responsibly in their fields.

Register here.


Place:  https://stonybrook.zoom.us/j/99167126152?pwd=TFpEYzM0aFhiOFJxSFJEb1JSS3YyQT09  

Time: 3 PM EST - Dec, 16th, 2020 

Abstract: 

Shadows provide useful cues to analyze visual scenes but also hamper many computer vision algorithms such as image segmentation, object detection, or tracking. For those reasons, shadow detection and shadow removal have been well-studied in computer vision.

Early work on shadow detection and removal focused on physical illumination models of shadows. These methods can express, identify, and remove shadows in a physically plausible manner. However, these models are often hard to optimize and are slow during inference due to their reliance on hand-designed image features. Recently, deep-learning approaches have achieved breakthroughs in performance for both shadow detection and removal. They learn to extract useful features through training while being extremely efficient during inference. However, these models are data-dependent, opaque, and ignore the physical aspects of shadows. Thus they often lack generalization and produce inconsistent results.

We propose incorporating physical illumination constraints of shadows into deep-learning models. These constraints force the networks to more closely follow the physics of shadows, enabling them to systematically and realistically modify shadows in images. For shadow detection, we present a novel Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) based model where the generator learns to generate images with realistic attenuated shadows that can be used to train a shadow detector. For shadow removal, we propose a method that uses deep-networks to estimate the unknown parameters of a shadow image formation model that removes shadows. The system outputs high-quality shadow-free images with little or no image artifacts and achieves state-of-the-art performance in shadow removal when trained on a fully-supervised setting. Moreover, the system is easy to train and constrain since the shadow removal mapping is strictly defined by the simplified illumination model with interpretable parameters. Thus, it can be trained even with a much weaker form of supervision signal. In particular, we show that we can use two sets of patches, shadow and shadow-free, to train our shadow decomposition framework via an adversarial system. These patches are cropped from the shadow images themselves.
Therefore, this is the first deep-learning method for shadow removal that can be trained without any shadow-free images, providing an alternative solution to the paired data dependency issue. The advantage of this training scheme is even more pronounced when tested on a novel domain such as video shadow removal where the method can be fine-tuned on a testing video with only the shadow masks generated by a pre-trained shadow detector and further improves shadow removal results.