Anil K. Jain has received the prestigious BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Information and Communication Technologies for core contributions to machine learning which have unlocked “applications of far-reaching impact on society as a whole.” He shares this award with Michael I. Jordan, University of California, Berkeley, for his contributions to predictive algorithms.
Jain is a University Distinguished Professor and the Douglas E. Zongker Endowed Professor in Engineering at Michigan State University. He is a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
The Frontiers of Knowledge Awards recognize contributions of singular impact in science, technology, humanities and music, rewarding those that significantly enlarge the stock of knowledge in a discipline, open up new fields, or build bridges between disciplinary areas. The goal of the awards, established in 2008, is to celebrate and promote the value of knowledge as a global public good.
Honors are earned in eight categories including: Basic Sciences (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics); Biology and Biomedicine; Information and Communication Technologies; Climate Change and Environmental Sciences; Economics, Finance and Management; Humanities; Social Sciences; and Music and Opera. The awards are decided annually by independent committees and have secured a place among the world’s foremost awards.
Over the last four decades, Jain and Jordan have made vital contributions enabling computers to recognize patterns and generate predictions from large-dimension data sets. Their contributions have powered the advance of such transformative technologies as biometrics and artificial intelligence.
Jain’s research has focused on pattern recognition, leading to “monumental contributions” – in the words of the committee – in recognizing people through fingerprints or face ID, with technologies that are now being massively deployed in the security domain, both in criminal investigations and for accessing mobile phones and other electronic devices.
For the committee, Jain’s contributions have had a transformative impact “on everyday life,” leaving “an indelible stamp on the fabric of today’s – and tomorrow’s – information-rich society.”
“The College of Engineering is incredibly proud of Anil Jain’s extraordinary accomplishment,” said Interim Dean John Papapolymerou. “This award shines a light on the depth and breadth of his work at Michigan State University and demonstrates how transformative technologies improve our society in meaningful ways.”
Read more about why Anil Jain has been called “the father of fingerprint recognition, and one of the fathers of iris recognition.”
This story originally appeared on the College of Engineering website.