KeleighRomine

Keleigh Romine

Project title: Enhancing Interoperability Between Optical Fingerprint Sensors using Local Binary Patterns

Project description: I have been researching interoperability between fingerprint sensors. When gathering a fingerprint image from a device, variations can occur and could change the features in a fingerprint which intereferes with matching. This could then make it hard to distinguish if a fingerprint is genuine or imposter. It is not realistic to assume a device will always be avaiable therefore the systems need to be interoperable – able to compare fingerprints collected with a diverse set of devices.

Blog:

July 28

I cannot believe today is my last day of research. It has been a very fun experience and I am very grateful I given this opportunity. I am very thankful I had such an awesome mentor and learned so much along the way.

A challenge I faced this summer would be having to learn and work with MATLAB. It was pretty tough at first trying to get the hang of it but I used it throughout the entire summer so eventually I got used to it. It was also tough at the beginning to get settled in and learn all of the background information for the project I would be working on all summer. I will say that all of that background information is very beneficial though so I would suggest taking the time to read the numerous papers that may get handed to you at the beginning. Through out the summer I would definitely say to ask questions whenever they rise because it is alright to not know everything and you do not want that setting you back. The time here is very critical and goes by QUICK! But most importantly do not stress too much and just enjoy the experience, knowledge, and friends you will make along the way! July 21 I cannot believe we only have one more week of research!! I am excited to present and show all the work I have done this summer. This week I have been finalizing my results, making touch ups on my poster, and revising my abstract. This weeks seminar was on resumes. Normally I really enjoy the seminars because they are so relatable, but this week did not seem very helpful. I still enjoyed listening to the speaker present, she was very funny. My favorite thing I have done so far this summer is apply material that I have learned in school and worked with it in a real life issue. It was fun to work with FBI data and real fingerprints and conduct experiments with it. The hardest thing I have done this summer would probably be trying to learn matlab and get used to that program. Every day this summer I have been using it and it was hard to learn the syntax and the way things worked. I had to learn how to run different tests in it and create tables.

July 14

This past week, I have really been trying to focus on working on my poster presenation and two page poster abstract. Time is winding down and these will be due before I know it. I gave a poster presentation to my mentor on Thursday and got some very helpful feedback. She also discussed submitting our abstracts to some different conferences, which would be really exciting to get that experience and attend. I am currently working on trying to send my mentor a draft of my abstract this afternoon, so she can have some time to review it and give back feedback. This week I also attended a seminar on poster presentations. This was helpful on what to put/what not to put on my poster that I will be presenting two weeks from today. I also learned about the layout of a poster. I enjoy attending these seminars because they are so relatable. I am really excted for these upcoming next two weeks with finalizing my poster and abstract, as well as presenting.

July 7

This week for research was a relaxed one, considering the July 4th Holiday. It was nice to get Tuesday off and spend the day with family. Following the holiday, I attended another beneficial seminar. This time we presented infront of small groups on 2-3 slides on our research. It was very beneficial to get up infront of people and present in general. t was also helpful presenting infront of people who are not familiar with my research so I was able to tell if I was being clear and concise enough.

This week I have also been working on creating my poster. This hasn’t been too tough for me because I had a template to go off of and I’ve been creating slides as I go along for presentations each week. For the poster, I just used the slides I have previously created and formatted them to fit the poster well. I am still trying to gather results for my research.

June 30

This week I have been continuing to run tests and try to get better results based on different features of a fingerprint. Again this week, I presented and attended another seminar. I really enjoy presenting because I get a lot of helpful feedback from my professor. I also enjoy the seminar because they are all so relatable and benefical. This week’s seminar was about how to give a research talk. I learned about what to include and not include in presentations and slides. This week I also got the template to the poster I will be creating for the symposium at the end of July. I am really eager about making a poster and being able to get creative with it. Mistakes have contributed to my learning because this is all new to me. Before this summer, I had never done research before. With that in itself, comes a lot of mistakes. In my eyes, mistakes are a main way of learning. I have been learning a lot through the weekly presentations. My professor has been helpful in assisting me on what content is significant to discuss and show and what is not. I have been putting too much texts on my slides and that was one thing I had to be sure to improve on.

June 23

This week during my research, I continued to work on the experiment aspect of my project. It consists of running multiple tests and determining which gives the best result. I am running different tests with a variety of features and then based on the percentage I am able to tell which arebeneficial and which aren’t. Also, I attended a seminar on how to write a research paper. It was very informative and helpful in relation to what we will be doing this summer. I learned the different parts of a paper and what each of their meanings were. It was also helpful learning about an extended abstract considering we will have to write one at the end of our summer.

June 16

Some challenges I have been facing this week simply come from my lack of experience with MatLab – Matrix Laboratory is a language that expresses problems in a familiar mathematical notation. Thankfully, my lab partner has had experience with it and has been able to help me when I get stuck. Also, my professor organized an introductory tutorial on MatLab which was helpful. I just need to get more experience with it as the summer continues I will feel more comfortable and get a better hang of it. This week I also attended a seminar on Wednesday regarding National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, it was very informative. In addition to, I also had another weekly presentation. I enjoy these because I am getting more practice discussing my research topic and presenting in front of others.

June 9

The second week of research has now passed and I feel a little more relaxed and comfortable with my lab. I have gotten familiar with the tools and software I will be using to conduct my research this summer. This week I also completed my first presentation on my project. That was a little overwhelming, but the more practice I get over the summer, the better I will get. My professor gave me significant feedback which was very helpful. This is also a helpful tool in my future so I will be able to get more comfortable talking infront of others. Along with the presentation this week, I attended two seminars, one on fixed and growth mindset and the other on graduate school. I enjoy the seminars because the beneficial to my career and interesting topics.

June 2

It is now toward the end of week one and I think I would have to say I am exhausted, but excited for what all this summer has entail. I have gotten to know my professor better, as well as the students working in the same lab as me. These past few days have mainly consisted of reading and watching videos to try and gain some background knowledge of the topic I will be working on. It is only my second day in the lab and I have already learned so much. I am really looking forward to the experience I will gain in these nine weeks. I am eager about working with a new professor, getting the opportunity to explore Charlotte’s campus, and getting to know the other students.