Dr. Heba Elgazzar recognized for innovative contribution

Associate Professor of Computer Science Dr. Heba Elgazzar earned recognition for her continued contributions to engineering and computer science in the state.  

Elgazzar won the Kentucky Commercialization Ventures (KCV) Innovative Mobile, Public Health, And Community-Oriented Technologies (IMPACT) Competition. The KCV IMPACT award aims to help move innovative ideas towards commercialization while highlighting the value of innovators from across Kentucky creating solutions relevant to Kentucky's problems.  

As a reward for winning KCV IMPACT, Elgazzar received a grant to support her innovative research work on “Innovative Emotion Detection System for Visually Impaired People Using Deep Neural Networks.”  

The proposal's primary goal is to design and implement a real-time system for use in daily communication activities for visually impaired people. This will provide a unique, important, and much-needed real-time emotion detection solution.  

The proposed system will be flexible and able to work and interface with any type of wearable camera, including camera glasses. It will also provide additional capabilities with different object detection and recognition working modes, improving accessible work and service environments. Users will also be able to select the language of the generated voice from a set of languages based on their preferences.  

“According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are globally at least 2.2 billion people who have a vision impairment,” Elgazzar said. “There is a need to design and implement a novel system for emotion detection that can help visually impaired people in daily visual communication activities.” 

Elgazzar was also elevated to the grade of senior member by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Only about one in ten IEEE members holds this prestigious grade.  

IEEE is the world's largest professional organization dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. It comprises over 425,000 members in over 160 countries and is responsible for prestigious publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities.  

“It is a great and rewarding feeling to be recognized professionally and to be among very few members of IEEE to be awarded this honor. Senior Member is the highest grade of IEEE membership for which a member can apply,” Elgazzar said. “This professional recognition makes me proud as a professor and computer scientist and engineer to achieve this significant milestone.” 

Dr. Elgazaar can be reached at h.elgazzar@moreheadstate.edu or 606-783-2412.  

To learn more about the Department of Engineering Sciences, call 606-783-2417.