Cris Koutsougeras

Department of Computer Science & Industrial Technology
Southeastern Louisiana University

Education:

Ph.D., August 1988, Computer Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

M.S., December 1984, Computer Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

B.S., June 1983, Electrical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens - Greece

Service:

Professor, Department Head, Computer Science & Industrial Technology, Southeastern LA University

Leader of Tulane’s DARPA Grand Challenge team and development for Team Gray’s KAT5

NASA summer faculty, Stennis Space Center, 2005

Associate Professor, full time, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Dept., Tulane University, fall 1997 - spring 2006

Associate Professor, full time, Computer Science Department, Tulane University, fall 1994 - spring 1997

Assistant Professor, full time, Computer Science Department, Tulane University, fall 1988 - spring 1994

Instructor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Cleveland State University, 1988

Teaching/Research Assistant, Computer Science Department, Case Western Reserve University, 1985-88

Teaching/Research Assistant, Computer Science Department, University of Cincinnati, 1983-85

Expertise:

Artificial Intelligence Systems (particularly subsymbolic), Neural Nets, Machine Learning, Pattern Recognition/Classification, Hardware and software design for computer interfacing, Information Technology Tools (Web), Image Processing, Robotics.

Publications

Refereed Journals:

C. Koutsougeras, Y. Liu, R. Zheng, "Event-driven Sensor Deployment Using Self Organizing Maps", Intl. Journal of Sensor Networks (IJSNet) - Special Issue on: "Coverage Problems in Sensor Networks", Vol. 3, No. 3, 2008

P. Trepagnier, J. Nagel, P. Kinney, C. Koutsougeras, M. Dooner, “KAT-5: Robust systems for autonomous vehicle navigation in challenging and unknown terrain", Journal of Field Robotics, Wiley Interscience, vl: 23, no: 8, pg: 509-526, yr: 2006, on: 1556-4967, pn: 1556-4959, March 2006.

J. F. Vassilopoulos, C. Koutsougeras, and A. Hernandez-Acquire, "On the problem of training the Coulomb Energy Network", Intl. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Tools, Vol 11, No 4, pp 475-498, Dec. 2002

Arturo Hernandez-Aguirre, C. Koutsougeras, and B. Buckles, "Sample complexity for function learning tasks through linear neural networks", Intl. Journal n Artificial Intelligence Tools, Vol 11, No 4, pp 499-512, Dec. 2002

N. G. Bourbakis, S. Mertoguno, and C. Koutsougeras, "A knowledge based expert system for automatic visual VLSI reverse engineering", IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, V32, No3, pp 428-436, May 2002

C. Koutsougeras, N. G. Bourbakis, and V. Gallardo, "Reverse engineering of real PCB level design using VERILOG HDL", Intl. Journal of Engineering Intelligent Systems, V10, No 2, pp 63-68, June 2002

N. G. Bourbakis, C. Koutsougeras, and A. Jameel, "Handwritten character recognition using low resolutions", Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, vol.10, no.10, 1998

Srikanth, R., C. Koutsougeras, and R. George, "Hybrid Charge Clustering Network: a heterogeneous neural network model", Neural, Parallel & Scientific Computations Journal, vol. 2, pp. 235-244, 1994.

Israel P., and C. Koutsougeras, "A Hybrid Electro-Optical Architecture for Classification Trees and Associative Memory Mechanisms", International Journal of Tools for Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1993.

Gumahad, A.T., N.G. Bourbakis, and C. Koutsougeras, "Recognition of typed characters using a 2-D FT for a letter driven text reading system", International Journal on Engineering Applications of AI, Vol. 6, No. 5, April 1993.


Koutsougeras, C., and P. Israel, "A Method for Parallel Search Under Higher Order Constraints", International Journal of Pattern Recognition, Vol. 7, No. 3, Sept. 1993.

Georgiou, G., and C. Koutsougeras, "Complex Domain Backpropagation", in IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems Part II: Analog and Digital Signal Processing, Vol. 39, no. 5:330-334, May 1992.

Koutsougeras, C., and G. Papadourakis, "Coupling Supervised and Unsupervised Techniques in Training Feed-Forward Nets", International Journal of Artificial Intelligence Tools, Vol. 1, no. 1, March 1992.

Koutsougeras, C., G. Georgiou and C. Papachristou, "A Feed Forward Classifier Model: Multiple Classes, Confidence Output Values, and Implementation", International Journal of Pattern Recognition and AI (IJPRAI), Vol.6, No. 4, 1992.

Israel, P., and C. Koutsougeras, "Associative Recall Based on Abstract Object Descriptions Learned from Observation: The CBM Neural Net Model", International Journal of Pattern Recognition and AI, Vol. 4, No. 2, June 1990.

Other Archives:

Koutsougeras, C., "Unsupervised Composite Networks", invited article in the Handbook of Neural Computation, published jointly by Institute of Physics Publishing and Oxford University Press, p.p. C2.3:1-C2.3:12, Oct. 1996.

Koutsougeras, C., and N. Bourbakis, "Artificial Neural and Neuromorphic Models", chapter 17 in Tools for AI, World Scientific, Singapore/New Jersey/London/Hong Kong, 1992.

Patents:

Koutsougeras, C., “Flexible Pipe Module”, in process by the Office of Technology Transfer and Business Development, Tulane University.

Bourbakis, N., Koutsougeras, C., and Gallardo, V., "Method and System for Updating Obsolescent Circuits". Succesfully underwent reviews – pending.

Conference papers (peer reviews):

Hernandez-Aguirre, Arturo and Cris Koutsougeras and Bill P. Buckles, "Sample Complexity for Function Learning Tasks through Linear Neural Networks", accepted for the Proceedings of Mexican International Conference on AI, MICAI-2002 Merida, Mexico. April 22-26, 2002

Hernandez-Aguirre Arturo, Koutsougeras Cris, and Buckles P. Bill, "On Model Selection in SLT and Linear Basis Functions", Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (ICNN-IJCNN), Washington, D.C. 1999

R. Alba-Flores, C. Koutsougeras, B. Buckles, and S. Amer, "Metadata for a Content-Based Prototype", Third IEEE Meta-Data Conference, Bethesda, Maryland, April 1999.

J. Zhang, X. Yuan, Z. Zeng, B. Buckles, C. Koutsougeras, S. Amer, "Niching in an ES/EP Context", CEC'99, Washington, DC, July 6-9, 1999.

Bill P. Buckles, Cris Koutsougeras, Saud Amer, Jer-Yee Chuang, and Xiao Yuan, "Image Decomposition Using Evolutionary Strategies," Proc. JCIS'98, Vol. II, Second Intern. Workshop on Evolutionary Algorithms, Research Triangle Park, NC, 1998, pp. 395-398.

J.F. Vassilopoulos, and Cris Koutsougeras "Refinement training schemes for the Coulomb energy network", Internat. conf. on Tools with AI, Toulouse, France, November 1996.

D. Roberts, C. Koutsougeras, R. Nudo, C. Cusick, "Modeling Sensory Representations in Brain: New Methods for Studying Functional Architecture Reveal Unique Spatial Patterns", Proc. 1st Intl. Symposium on Intelligence in Neural and Biological Systems, Washington, DC, May 1995.

N. G. Bourbakis, C. Koutsougeras and A. Jameel, "Handwriting recognition using a reduced character method and neural nets", SPIE Intl. Electronic Imaging Science & Technology Symposium, vol. VI, pp.592-601, San Jose, CA., February 5-10, 1995.

C. Koutsougeras, "Principal Components and Neural Nets", in proceedings World Congress on Neural Networks, Vol. 3, pp. 307-311, June 1994.

A. Jameel and C. Koutsougeras, "Experiments with Kohonen's Learning Vector Quantization in Handwritten Character Recognition Systems", Proceedings of the 37th Midwestern Symposium on Circuits and Systems, V1. pp 573-576 August 1994.

C. Koutsougeras and A. Jameel, Experiments with various Neural Architectures for Handwritten Character Recognition, Proceedings of the 37th Midwestern Symposium on Circuits and Systems, V1. pp 573-576 August 1994.

Koutsougeras C., and R. Srikanth, "Data transformation for learning in feed-forward neural nets", Proc. Internat. conf. on Tools with AI, pp 22-29, Boston, MA. November 1993.

Jameel, A. and C. Koutsougeras, "On features used for handwritten character recognition in a neural network environment", Proc. Internat. conf. on Tools for AI, pp 280-284 Boston, MA. November 1993.

Srikanth, R., C. Koutsougeras, and R. George, "Hybrid Kohonen Network", Proceedings 2nd International Conference on Fuzzy Theory and Technology, pp. 121-123, October 1993, Durham, NC.

Srikanth, R., F. E. Petry, and C. Koutsougeras, "Fuzzy Elastic Clustering", Proceedings International IEEE Conference on Fuzzy Systems, FUZZ-IEEE'93, March 1993, pp. 1179-1182, San Franscisco, CA.

Georgiou, G., and C. Koutsougeras, "Embedding Discriminant Directions in Backpropagation", in Proceedings of the IEEE Southeastcon '92, Birmingham AL, April 1992, vol. 2, pp. 816-818.

Georgiou, G., and C. Koutsougeras, "Embedding Domain Information in Backpropagation", in Proceedings of SPIE (International Society for Optical Engineering) Conference on Adaptive and Learning Systems, Orlando, Florida, 1992.

Srikanth, R., and C. Koutsougeras, "Pattern Classification Using the Hybrid Coulomb Energy Network", Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference on Neural Nets and parallel distributed processing, pp 159-166, April 1992, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Koutsougeras, C., and G. Papadourakis, "A Method for Training a Feed-Forward Neural Net Model While Targeting Reduced Nonlinearity", Proceedings ICTAI '91 international conference, San Jose, CA, Nov. 1991.

Israel, P., and C. Koutsougeras, "Associative Memory with Increased Storage Capacity and Retrieval Capability", 2nd Government Neural Network Applications Workshop, September 1991.

Koutsougeras, C., G. Georgiou and C. Papachristou, "Extending Athena : Multiple Classes and Confidence Output Values", Proc. Tools for Artificial Intelligence, International Conference, Washington D.C. Nov. 1990.

Israel, P., and C. Koutsougeras, "An Annealing Approach to Associative Recall in the CBM Model", International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN-90), San Diego, Ca, June 1990.

Koutsougeras, C., H. Barad and A. Martinez, "Neural Networks in Scene Analysis", Invited paper, International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Conference, Orlando FL. April 1990.

Srikanth, R., C. Koutsougeras, F. Dandashi and M. Bringman, "Test Cases : Emergent Generalizations in the Athena and the Rumelhart's Neural Net Models", Proc. of IEEE-Southeastcon, New Orleans LA, April 1990.

Abrahamson, A., C. Koutsougeras and C. Papachristou, "Handwritten Character Recognition with the Athena Model", Proc. of IEEE-Southeastcon, New Orleans LA, April 1990.

Israel, P., and C. Koutsougeras, "Associative Recall Based on Abstract Object Descriptions Learned from Observation: The CBM Neural Net Model", in Proceedings of the Tools for Artificial Intelligence International Conference, Washington D.C. Nov. 1989.

Koutsougeras, C. and C. Papachristou, "A Hybrid Architecture for the Implementation of the Athena Neural Network Model", NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics, Pasadena, Jan. 1989.

Israel, P., C. Koutsougeras and C.A. Papachristou, "The Development of an Associative Memory Model Based on a Classifier", in Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks, (IJCNN '89), June, 1989.

R. George, B. J. Geraci, R. Srikanth, and C. Koutsougeras, "A Methodical Study of the Rumelhart Model", Proc. of 5th IASTED International Conference, pp. 31-35, Honolulu, Hawaii, August 1989.

Koutsougeras, C. and C.A. Papachristou, "Training of A Neural Network Model for Pattern Classification Based on an Entropy Measure", in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Neural Networks (ICNN '88), IEEE, July 1988.

Koutsougeras, C. and C.A. Papachristou, "A Neural Network Model for Propositional Logic Functions", Computational Intelligence International Conference, Elsevier-North Holland, October 1988.

Koutsougeras, C. and C.A. Papachristou, "Learning Discrete Mappings: Athena's Approach", in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Languages for Automation (LFA '88), August 1988.

Koutsougeras, C., and C.A. Papachristou, "Data Flow Graph Partitioning to Reduce Communication Cost", 19th ACM/IEEE Microprogramming Conference (Micro-19), October 1986.

Other Publications:

C. Koutsougeras and A. Jameel, Athena: An Adaptive Neural Network, Release 1.0 for the UNIX operating system. Anonymous ftp site ftp.cs.tulane.edu, a public domain computer software on the Internet, February 1994.

Funded Research

  • NSF Research Initiation Award : "Training Applications and Implementation of a new Neural Net Model". $70,000 6/89-6/91
  • NSF REU supplement: "Progress of the Neural Nets Approach and its impact on Machine learning",  $4,000 6/90-6/91
  • A Board of Regents : "Neural Network Architectures for Signal and Image Processing".  $125,000, 6/89-6/91
  • Tulane Committee on Research :  Two Awards: $3,000 6/89 and $4,000 6/91
  • LASER-LA Board of Regents :  "Tulane-LSU-UNO Joint Colloquium on Neural Nets" $5,000 6/90-12/91
  • LA Board of Regents (BOR) : "Research and Instruction Enhancement Through Parallel Processing (Enhancement LEQSF) $140,000, 6/91-6/92.
  • NSF-EPSCOR Cluster (NSF/BOR) :  "Fault-tolerant neural networks: Design theories and applications", $78,000 for Tulane, 2/92-2/93. (Lead PI of Tulane's group in the joint USL-Tulane-LSU proposal selected in the final five proposals to represent Louisiana for the national competition for NSF funds)
  • National Institute for Global Environmental Changes (NIGEC) : "Spectral Methods for Measurement and Analysis of Environmental Parameters" $12,150, 7/92-12/92.
  • NSF : “Neural networks applications Cluster”, (extension of previous NSF grant of 92-93) : $381,809, 2/93-12/95.
  • DoE: "Collaborative Research with the Institute of Radioecological Problems (Belarus Academy of Sciences, Minsk): Fate and Transport of Radionuclides in Belarus after the Nuclear Explosion at Chernobyl", 4/94-8/95, $60,000, (with Michaelides, Ramer, and Sailor).
  • NASA : "Content Based Search Prototype" $100,000, (with B. Buckles) 4/97-6/98.
  • DoD EPSCoR/BMDO : "Processing Optical Information Using Neural Nets and Evolutionary Computation", $384,000, (with PI B. Buckles) 6/1998-5/2001.
  • NASA Goddard Space Flight Center : "Advanced Methods for Storage and Retrieval in Image Databases" $100,000, (with B. Buckles) 3/99-2/2000.
  • NIGEC : "Remote Sensing of Forest Canopy Chemistry" (Feasibility Study), $14,000, (with PI B. Buckles) July 1999-June 2000.

 

University Service

Member of the faculty of the Neuroscience Program hosted by Tulane Medical School (elected November 1994) until June 2000.

Graduate Studies Director of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, 1997-July 1999.

Director of the Computer Engineering Program since 1994.

Founder of the Center for Automation and Autonomous Complex Systems (CA2CS) (approved by the University Committee on Research on 11/16/90).

Editorial Board of the Tulane Engineering Newsletter (1989-91)

 

Graduate Supervision

Primary Advisor for completed Ph.D. Dissertations : 

Peggy Israel, "The Development of an Associative Memory Based on a Classifier", May 1990.

George Georgiou, "Parallel Distributed Processing in the Complex Domain", May 1992.

Randakrishnan Srikanth, "A Dynamic Systems Approach to Pattern Recognition", December 1992.

Akhtar Jameel, "Perspectives of Pattern Recognition and Neural networks in Handwritten Character Recognition", March 1995.

Mat Canaday, "A Computational Model of Visual Motion Perception", (co-advisor with L. Zimmerman), May 1998.

Fernando Rios-Gutierrez, "A Control Scheme Based on Decomposition to Primitive Behaviors and a Reinforcement Learning Technique", August 2000.

Primary Advisor for ongoing Ph.D. Dissertations : Paul Trepagnier

Primary Advisor for ongoing MS Theses : Christopher Vuocolo

Primary Advisor for completed honors theses : 57

Professional Activities

Representing Tulane University in the Louisiana Board of Regents - Department of Defense EPSCOR planning committee, 1993-1997.

Program Co-Chair for the IEEE Symposium on Information and Intelligent Agents (IIA), and Program Committee of the 1999 International Conference on Information, Intelligence, and Systems, Washington DC, November 1999

Guest Editor for the 1995 Special Issue, International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, published by World Scientific.

 Program Co-Chairman for the STOC-91 (ACM - Theory of Computation) international conference on Theory of Computation)

Program Chairman, organizer in charge for the IEEE International Conference on Tools for Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI), November 1994. Also, member of Organizing and Program Committee for the International Conference on Tools for Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI), 1989-93. Also, member of the Steering Committee for ICTAI'95.

 General Chairman, IEEE International Conference on Tools for Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI), Vancouver, Canada, November 2000.

Program Committee member for the 1st IEEE Symposium of Artificial Intelligence in Biotechnology, Washington DC, May, 1995.

Program Committee member for the 1996-2000 SPIE Conference on Aerospace/Defense Sensing and Controls (AeroSense) - Wavelet Applications, Orlando, FL.

IEEE certificate awards for service in the organizing committee of ICTAI, 1992 & 1995.

Awarded IEEE Golden Core Member since 1996.

Member of the Standards Committee of the IEEE Council for Neural Nets, 1989-1991.

Session Chair for the Southeastcon-90.

Collaboration in an international research team supported by the Program of Enhancement of Research Potential of the Ministry of Technology of Greece and of the European Community ESPRIT.

Reviewer for NSF and for the IEEE Transactions on Neural Nets.

Served on NSF proposal selection panels, twice in 1996.

Reviewer for the following International Conferences : Parallel Processing, and Robotics & Automation.

Book reviews: Two book reviews in  (i) Computer Architecture (Kluwer Academic), and  (ii) Theory of Computation (Harper Collins).

 

Courses Taught

  • Computer Architecture 644/444
  • Theory of Computation 362/673
  • Logic Design 240
  • Neural Nets 449/649/713 (new course developed by C. K.)
  • Data Structures 118
  • Software Design 117
  • Principles of Computer Science 600 (leveling course for graduate students entering CS from different disciplines)
  • Microcomputer Interfacing 341/641 (new course developed by C. K.)
  • Computer Engineering Lab 383 (founded by C. K.)
  • Electrical Engineering Lab 391
  • Principles of Computer Science 600
  • Primary Advisor for Computer Engineering Senior Projects
  • In charge for the initial setup and continuing operation of the Computer Engineering Lab and of the Microcomputer Interfacing Lab.
  • Senior class advisor, and senior projects supervisor for Computer Engineering students (1994-2002)