How To Learn To Be A Better Computer Scientist

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BERKAY TOPCU

E-mail:

[email protected]

Date of Birth: 03.10.1984 University: Sabancı University,

Address: TUBITAK - BILGEM - UEKAE Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, P.O. Box: 74, 41470, Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey Orhanlı, 34956, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey

Phone: +90 262 648 1885 Marital Status:Single

GSM: +90 533 562 2965 Driver’s License:B

Education

2009 – Present Sabancı University (SU), Faculty of Engineering and Istanbul, Turkey Natural Science (FENS)

• PhD Candidate, Electronics Engineering (EE) • Current GPA: 3.81 / 4.00

• Thesis Proposal Title: Generative and Discriminative Flexible Models for 2D and 3D Landmark Extraction

o _{Thesis Advisor:}_{Assist. Prof. Hakan Erdogan}

o Thesis Proposal Committee: Assoc. Prof. Berrin Yanikoglu, Assoc. Prof. Müjdat Çetin

• Courses: Biometrics, 3D Vision, Optimization in Machine Learning, Prediction in Chain Markov Networks, Linear Systems, Numerical Methods, Biomedical Instrumentation

2007 – 2009 Sabancı University, Faculty of Engineering and Istanbul, Turkey Natural Science

• MSc, Electronics Engineering (EE) • Overall GPA: 3.62 / 4.00

• Thesis Title: Feature Extraction and Fusion Techniques for Patch-based Face Recognition

o Thesis Advisor: Assist. Prof. Hakan Erdogan

• Courses: Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning, Digital Image Processing, Medical Imaging and Image Analysis, Random Process, Detection and Estimation Theory, Vision Based Control

2002 – 2007 Sabancı University, Faculty of Engineering and Istanbul, Turkey Natural Science

• BSc, Telecommunications Engineering (TE) • Overall GPA: 3.70 / 4.00

• Graduation Project Title: Walking / Running Classification in Surveillance Videos Using Dynamic (Local Temporal) Features

• Courses: Computer Vision, Digital Speech and Audio Processing, Multimedia Communication, Wireless Communications, Digital Communications, Microcomputer Based System Design, Logic and Digital System Design, ...

1999 – 2002 Kocaeli Körfez Science High School Kocaeli, Turkey

• Science and Mathematics track • Overall GPA: 4.75 / 5.00

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Research Interests

Biometrics, Face Recognition, Fingerprint Verification

Signal Processing, Image Processing, Computer Vision

Pattern Recognition, Machine Learning

Work Experience

02.2012 - Present TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Kocaeli, Turkey Council of Turkey) - BILGEM (Center of Research for

Advanced Technologies of Informatics and Information Security) - UEKAE (National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology)

• Researcher in e-ID Program: Biometrics R&D Unit

04.2010 - 02.2012 TUBITAK - BILGEM - UEKAE Kocaeli, Turkey

• Researcher in Multimedia R&D Laboratory

2007 - Present Sabancı University (FENS) Istanbul, Turkey

• Teaching Assistant (Organizing lab sessions, teaching recitation hours, grading assignments & exams) for the following courses:

o _{Signals (ENS 211 - 3 semesters)}

o Discrete-time Signals and Systems (TE 302 - 2 semesters)

o Discrete Mathematics (MATH 204 – 1 semester)

o Differential Equations (MATH 202 – 1 semester)

o _{Calculus (MATH 101 – 1 semester)}

2006 TUBITAK - BILGEM - UEKAE Kocaeli, Turkey

• Intern in Multimedia R&D Laboratory

o Fingerprint Recognition Project

o _{Transcription of recorded audio files for use in automatic speech}

processing (as part of TREN – Turkish Recognition Engine for Distributed Applications)

2006 ERTUNÇ ENGINEERING Istanbul, Turkey

• Intern

o Drawing GSM base station plans using AutoCAD

o Preparation of GSM base station installment files, for approval of Information and Communication Technologies Authority, Istanbul

Projects

2013 - Present TUBITAK - BILGEM - UEKAE Istanbul, Turkey

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2010 - 2013 TUBITAK - BILGEM - UEKAE Istanbul, Turkey

Smart Card-based Turkish Republic National Identity Card

• Design and development of fingerprint verification system for the national electronic identity card

• Evaluation and application of biometric modules for fingerprint, finger-vein and palm-vein modalities

2010 - 2012 TUBITAK - BILGEM - UEKAE Istanbul, Turkey

Shooter Detection System

• Development of an automatic acoustic-based shooter position estimation system • Design of multi-microphone network in a special 3D geometric set-up

2007 - 2009 Sabancı University Istanbul, Turkey

Master Thesis Project – Local Appearance Based Face Recognition

• Face recognition using different dimension reduction and normalization methods • Linear - adaptive decision fusion over non-overlapping spatial blocks

2008 Sabancı University Istanbul, Turkey

Course Project - Machine Learning - CS 512 • On-line Handwritten Character Recognition

Graduation Project (Thesis) - ENS 491/492

• Walking / Running Classification in Surveillance Videos Using Dynamic Features

Course Project - Computer Vision - TE 407

• Traffic sign detection and recognition from video

Course Project - Antenna & Propagation for Wireless Communication - TE 402 • Radio channel measurement using the Agilent 89441A vector signal analyzer • Using spectrum analyzer for measurement of WLAN and GSM signals

Course Project - Microcomputer Based System Design - EL 308 • Computer-based oscilloscope

• Hardware design of a simple oscilloscope and programming by assembly language to display signal voltage levels on computer screen

Course Project - Logic and Digital System Design - CS 303 • Vending machine circuit design and implementation on FPGA

• A traffic light controller circuit design via Xilinx, simulation via ModelSim and implementation on FPGA

First Year Project - Robot Competition - PROJ 102 • Design and implementation of a Boebot mobile robot

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Skills & Languages

Programming Skills

C/C++, MATLAB, Verilog HDL, TASM (Turbo Assembly), AutoCAD

Work Environments

Windows (all versions), DOS, Unix (basic), MS Visual Studio, MS Office, LaTeX, JIRA, SVN

Languages(reading, writing and speaking)

Turkish (native), English (advanced)

Publications

Mehmet Kayaoglu, Berkay Topcu and Umut Uludag, “Standard Fingerprint Databases: Manual Minutiae Labeling and Matcher Performance Analyses”,arXiv:1305.1443 [cs.CV], May 2013.

Berkay Topcu, Mehmet Kayaoglu and Umut Uludag, “Fingerprint Phalanx-Based Score Fusion”, Proc. SIU'2013, 21. IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications, Kyrenia, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, April 2013. (in Turkish)

Berkay Topcu, Mehmet Kayaoglu, Merve K. Yildirim and Umut Uludag, “Fingerprint Matching Utilizing Non-Distal Phalanges”, Proc. ICPR'2012, 21. International Conference on Pattern Recognition, pp. 2400-2403, Tsukuba Science City, Japan, November 2012.

Erdem Unal, Mehmet Kayaoglu, Berkay Topcu, Hamza Kaya and Mehmet U. Dogan, “TUBITAK-BILGEM Shot Estimation System (SES)”, Proc. SIU'2012, 20. IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and

Communications Applications, Mugla, Turkey, April 2012. (in Turkish)

Erdem Unal, Mehmet Kayaoglu, Berkay Topcu and Mehmet U. Dogan, “An Acoustic Based Sniper Detection System Prototype”, Proc. SIU'2011, 19. IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and Communications

Applications, Antalya, Turkey, April 2011. (in Turkish)

Berkay Topcu and Hakan Erdogan, “Correlation-Based Patch Localization for Face Recognition”, Proc. SIU'2011, 19. IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications, Antalya, Turkey, April 2011. (in Turkish)

Berkay Topcu and Hakan Erdogan, “Decision Fusion for Patch-Based Face Recognition”, Proc. ICPR'2010, 20. International Conference on Pattern Recognition, pp. 1348-1351, Istanbul, Turkey, August 2010.

Berkay Topcu and Hakan Erdogan, “Novel Methods for Patch-Based Face Recognition”, Proc. SIU'2010, 18. IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications, Diyarbakir, Turkey, April 2010. (in Turkish)

Berkay Topcu and Hakan Erdogan, “Investigation of Different Dimension Reduction and Normalization Methods for Local Appearance-Based Face Recognition”, Proc. SIU'2009, 17. IEEE Conference on Signal Processing and Communications Applications, Antalya, Turkey, April 2009. (in Turkish)

Berkay Topcu and Hakan Erdogan, “Using Local Temporal Features of Bounding Boxes for Walking/Running Classification”, Proc. ICAASP'2008, 33. IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, pp. 997-1000, Las Vegas, USA, April 2008.

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Professional Activities

Student Member: IEEE

Reviewer: IET Image Processing Journal

Researcher: Biometrics Research Group, Sabancı University, 2010 - present

Researcher: VPA Lab. (Computer Vision and Pattern Analysis Laboratory), Sabancı University, 2007 - present

Demo session presentation (Automatic Speech Recognition), EMEA Intelligence Conference, Istanbul, 2011

Participant: TS ISO/IEC 15408 Common Criteria (CC) Seminar, TSE, Kocaeli, April 2012

Participant: Face Processing and Multimedia Indexing Seminar, TUBITAK - BILGEM, January 2011

Participant: Basic Quality Concepts and Corporate Culture Seminar, TUBITAK - TUSSIDE, December, 2010

Awards & Scholarships

TUBITAK-BIDEB scholarship during Master and Doctorate studies (2007 - present)

Sabancı University tuition waiver during graduate studies (2007 - present)

Honor Scholarship (full waiver) in Sabancı University during undergraduate education (2002 - 2007)

High Honor Certificates for 6 semesters and Honor Certificates for 2 semesters in undergraduate education, Sabancı University

Ranking in the %0.03 (519th) among 1.5 million applicants in the annual nationwide university entrance examination (OSS)

Social Activities & Interests

Social

o Vice President, SU IEEE Student Branch (2005 - 2007)

o Member, SU Student Union Executive Committee (2005 - 2006)

o Member, SU Sports Union (2005 - 2007)

o _{Captain, SU Handball Team (2005 - 2007)}

o Member, SU Global Interaction Club (2004 - 2007)

Hobbies

o Baglama - main instrument of traditional Anatolian music

o Soccer (playing and watching)

o FRP (fantasy role-playing) and MMO-RPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing games)

References

Available upon request.