Faculty
Yoram Bresler
Professor
112 Coordinated Science Lab, MC-228
1308 W. Main St.
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(217) 244-9660
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering Stanford University 1986
Research Statement:
My current research addresses five main areas:
1) Imaging of dynamic phenomena using magnetic resonance. This work focuses on the most challenging dynamic imaging problem -- imaging of the beating heart. New algorithms are being developed that adapt both the acquisition and reconstruction of the image to the particular subject being imaged, to overcome the inherent speed limitations of the acquisition. We have demonstrated unprecedented accelerations by a factor of 15 compared to current methods in the imaging of healthy volunteers. These methods can greatly improve the diagnosis and followup of heart disease.
2) Fast algorithms for tomographic reconstruction. New algorithms are being developed for a variety of tomographic imaging geometries, in 2D and 3D, reducing the computational cost from O(N^3) or O(N^4) to O(N^2 log N) or O(N^3 log N), respectively. These algorithms provide more than an order of magnitude acceleration for practical image sizes, and will find applications in CT scanners used in medicine, security, and biomedical research. While fundamental research on these subject is being done at the University, applied research is conducted at the startup company, InstaRecon, which I founded and for which I serve as President and CTO.
3) Imaging of dynamic phenomena using computed tomography (CT). This work focuses on the most challenging dynamic imaging problem in CT -- imaging of the beating heart. Similarly to the dynamic MRI project, the goal is to improve temporal and spatial resolution subject to the inherent instrument limitations. An additional goal, is to reduce radiation exposure. Because the imaging equations and constraints are different from MRI, the approaches used in this problem are different from those in MRI. Like the MRI project (No. 1 above), these methods can greatly improve the diagnosis and followup of heart disease.
4) Practical Compressive Sampling. This work addresses the development of theory and methods for sampling signals at less than the Nyquist rate, by using sparsity properties of their representation with respect to an appropriate basis, or in an appropriate space. Applications are being developed in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Teaching Statement:
My teaching focuses on signal processing at both the undergraduate and graduate level. I regularly teach ECE410 -- introduction to DSP, ECE420 -- DSP Lab, and ECE 513 -- Vector Space Signal Processing.
Research Interests:
- Biomedical imaging systems, inverse problems, Statistical signal and image processing
For more information:
Home Page
Honors, Recognition, and Outstanding Achievements
- NCSA Faculty Fellow (2005-2006)
- Coauthor (with S. Basu) of paper winning Young Author (Best Journal Paper) Award of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2001.
- Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor, 2001
- Associate, Center for Advnced Studies, 2001-2002
- Incomplete list of teachers ranked excellent by their students - Spring 2000
- University Scholar, 1999
- Fellow, IEEE, 1999
- Senior Xerox Award for Faculty Research 1998
- Technion (Israel Inst. of Techn.) Fellowship, 1995
- Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor, 1994
- Incomplete list of teachers ranked excellent by their students - Fall 1991
- NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1991
- Senior (Best Journal Paper) Award of the IEEE ASSP Society, 1988
- Senior (Best Journal Paper) Award of the IEEE ASSP Society, 1987
Honors, Recognition, and Outstanding Achievements for Teaching
- Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor, 2001
- Incomplete list of teachers ranked excellent by their students - Spring 2000
- "Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor'' -- 1994
- Incomplete list of teachers ranked excellent by their students - Fall 1991
Honors, Recognition, and Outstanding Achievements for Research
- NCSA Faculty Fellow, 2005-6
- Coauthor (with S. Basu) of paper winning Young Author (Best Journal Paper) Award of the IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2001.
- Associate, Center for Advnced Studies, 2001-2002
- University Scholar, 1999
- Fellow, IEEE, 1999
- Xerox Award for Faculty Research, 1998
- Technion (Israel Inst. of Tech.) Fellowship, 1995
- NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1991
- Senior (Best Journal Paper) Award of the IEEE ASSP Society, 1988
- Senior (Best Journal Paper) Award of the IEEE ASSP Society, 1987