CSE 702: Seminar in Pattern Theory

Instructor: Jason Corso
Day and Time: TBA
Description: This seminar will focus on Grenander's Pattern Theory from a practical, contemporary perspective. Pattern Theory is the study of patterns from a representational perspective rather than a recognition one. Miller and Grenander write "Pattern theory attempts to provide an algebraic framework for describing patterns as structures regulated by rules, essentially a finite number of both local and global combinatory operations. Pattern theory takes a compositional view of the world, building more and more complex structures starting from simple ones. The basic rules for combining and building complex patterns from simpler ones are encoded via graphs and rules on transformations of these graphs." We will explore various theoretical aspects of modern pattern theory (e.g., probabilistic graphical models, grammars, matrix groups, information measures, manifolds, Markov processing and sampling) in the context of practical problems in computer vision and medical imaging. Students will be required to give one or two (depending on seminar size) prepared lectures during the semesters. Grading is S/U; letter grading is available as an option and requires a project.
Texts:
  1. Grenander and Miller, "Pattern Theory: From Representation to Inference." Oxford University Press. 2007.
  2. Grenander, "Elements of Pattern Theory." Johns Hopkins Studies in Mathematical Sciences. 1996.
PREREQUISITES: A working knowledge of computer vision, pattern recognition, and machine learning is suggested. Students are expected to know material in courses 555, 573, 574 and 672.
WEB PAGE:http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~jcorso/t/2008F_702