Michael Blumenstein is an Associate Professor and Dean (Research) of the Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology Group at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia where he previously served as Head of the School of Information and Communication Technology. Michael obtained his PhD in 2001 in the area of Intelligent Techniques for Handwriting Recognition from Griffith University. As part of his PhD work he proposed a novel technique for the automatic segmentation of cursive handwriting using neural-based techniques.
His current research interests include the areas of Pattern Recognition, specializing in Handwriting Recognition and Signature Verification as well Artificial Intelligence (specifically Machine learning and Neural Networks) and its applications. He has published over 80 papers in refereed conferences, journals and books in these areas. Michael has successfully secured a number of internal/nationally competitive grants to undertake research in these areas with funds exceeding $3.5 Million Dollars.
Michael has also been invited to serve on a number of Journal Editorial Boards and to act as organizing chair, program chair and committee member for a number of national/international conferences in his areas of expertise. Most recently he has been invited to serve on the program committees of the International Conference on Document Analysis and Recognition (ICDAR 2009 & 2011) and the International Conference on the Frontiers of Handwriting Recognition (ICFHR 2010) where he also serves as competition co-chair. Michael is the Gold Coast Chapter Convener of the Australian Computer Society, a Board Member of Software Queensland, and a Member of the IEEE.
In 2009 he was named as one of Australia’s Top 10 Emerging Leaders in Innovation in the Australian’s Top 100 Emerging Leaders Series supported by Microsoft.
Michael has been invited to give numerous presentations and lectures in the areas of handwriting recognition and off-line signature verification at a number of universities and research institutes around the world. He has also been invited to present as a Keynote Speaker at national and international conferences. In addition, Michael is one of the organizing members of the 4NSigComp2010 at ICFHR.