Biometric technologies

UB Engineering has created the Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS) to foster the development of radically different biometric technologies geared toward developing applications to improve comfort, convenience, and security for personal and commercial use. The center establishes a unified biometric framework to facilitate the development of next-generation biometric systems. This framework will allow evaluation of market needs and constraints in choosing the biometric technologies best suited for a particular application. Researchers will develop new biometric technologies from proof-of-concept to product-readiness, including usability studies and educational outreach to evaluate and mitigate ethical and legal concerns.

Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, physical biometrics—such as an individual’s height, weight, shape of the iris in the eye, vein structure, and hand geometry—have become increasingly important for security applications because they cannot be easily faked. This technology will also reach to industrial and forensic applications.

CUBS leverages researchers from UB’s SEAS, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Informatics, and School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to form a multidisciplinary team to address some of our country’s most critical needs. Venu Govindaraju, professor of computer science and engineering, directs the new center.

Projects on the CUBS research agenda include:

  • Pathobiometric systems that can automatically track illnesses in livestock, such as mad cow disease, by analyzing aerial images of large cattle herds, along with other farm data
  • A state-of-the-art automated fingerprint identification system
  • Biometrics systems modeled after the methods that animals use to understand their environments

With funding from the National Science Foundation, the New York State Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research (NYSTAR), and several companies, CUBS will bridge academia and industry in designing, developing, and prototyping biometric devices for commercialization.