A laboratory for image processing and analysis is being established to train undergraduates in electrical engineering, computer science and the natural sciences in the analysis of natural images and scientific data. The lab consists of three networked computer workstations with specialized equipment and software for the acquisition and processing of digital images from photographs and video sources. This enables students to gain practical programming experience with scientific imaging topics like photometrics, two-dimensional signal processing, statistical pattern recognition, machine vision and parallel algorithms for multidimensional data processing and storage; these topics prepare students to apply and write software for increasingly important computer applications like biomedical imaging, remote sensing, robotics, and scientific visualization. To support the specialized hardware faculty are preparing a workbook of graded exercises based on a set of high-quality public domain image processing packages and data sets; this software and workbook can be freely disseminated, and run on a single inexpensive personal computer.NSF grant funds are being matched with funds from non-federal sources.
