Professor Ioannis Kakadiaris is a Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen University Professor of computer science, electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering at the University. He joined UH in August 1997 after a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
“When I graduated from University of Pennsylvania, the main criterion I used for selecting among my faculty offers was the research opportunities,” Kakadiaris said. “One of the main attractions for the UH is its location. The city of Houston … offered me and continues to offer me tremendous research opportunities.”
Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Kakadiaris completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Athens in Greece and his master’s at Northeastern University. Kakadiaris said he noticed one major difference between universities in Greece and universities in America.
“Every country has its own educational system,” he said. “If we focus on the comparison of the university system, the main difference is attendance and homework. Attending classes at Greek universities is optional and there are no homework or midterms. Thus, in my opinion, students in American universities receive more opportunities through homework, programming assignments and midterms to deepen their learning and apply what they have learned in a variety of situations.”
Kakadiaris is the founder and director of the Computational Biomedicine Lab.
“Research in the lab is motivated by fundamental open problems in computer vision, image analysis, machine learning and pattern recognition with an emphasis on applications that address some of society’s greatest challenges,” he said.
Kakadiaris has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the NSF Early Career Award and the UH Computer Science Excellence Research Award. However, he says his greatest achievements are the research accomplishments of his labs and his mentees, who are high school, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students.
“I am honored to interact with them: to teach and to learn,” Kakadiaris said. “This is one of the most gratifying aspects of my profession.”
Two of Kakadiaris’ former mentees had positive words to say about him.
“I owe a lot to the mentorship I received from Professor Kakadiaris during my four years in his lab,” said alumnus Musodiq Bello, a senior software engineer with GE Healthcare. “I remember him as very involved with his students, advising us not only about academic strategies, but also about professional success tips that would help to propel our careers. In short, he was not just an academic mentor, but a life coach.”
Deepak Chittajallu, who works as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, agreed.
“Professor Kakadiaris has a great personality, is very approachable and is an extremely good mentor and scientist. He played a pivotal role in turning me from a young and curious undergrad at the beginning of my master’s program to a seasoned scientist at the end of my Ph.D. He motivated me by introducing me to a range of interesting research problems and allowed me the freedom to find my area of interest rather than forcing things on me,” Chittajallu said. “Overall, he has been a great mentor and has played an invaluable role in shaping me as a scientist.”
Kakadiaris had a final word of advice for all UH students.
“(Students should) learn from all the faculty, regardless if they take classes with them or not,” he said. “We’re here for the students.”
