Ehsan Hoque (academic)
Ehsan Hoque is an American computer scientist and academic. He is an associate professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Rochester in New York. Hoque is most known for his work in the field of artificial intelligence, particularly in utilizing AI methods to augment and enhance human capabilities. His work revolves around affective computing, speech processing, and computer vision. Education Hoque completed his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Penn State University in 2004, and then obtained a master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Memphis in 2007. Later, he completed his Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2013, where the MIT Museum highlighted his Ph.D. thesis as one of the most unconventional inventions of MIT. In 2017, he received Alumni Achievement Award from Penn State University. Career Hoque began his academic career in 2013 by joining the University of Rochester as an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department, becoming associate professor in 2020. Hoque served as the Interim Director of the Goergen Institute for Data Science at the University of Rochester between 2018 and 2019, and held the Assaro-Biggar family fellowship from 2016 to 2019. As of 2023, he serves as a board member of the National Academies Health Sciences Policy. Research Hoque holds a patent for the concept of utilizing a computer as a conversational mentor, which was introduced in 2012 and later integrated by Microsoft as "Speaker Coach" in PowerPoint. In 2019, along with colleagues, he helped establish the Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence in Parkinson's Disease Research by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) at the University of Rochester. He has authored numerous publications spanning the areas of Artificial Intelligence, human-centered computing, and medicine, including articles in peer-reviewed journals. Social skills training Hoque has worked in developing computational techniques to enable social skills training. In 2012, he developed an Automated Conversation Helper that utilized a 3D virtual character to act as an interviewer during a job interview. It offered immediate feedback on the participant's nonverbal behavior by employing advanced technology to detect facial expressions, analyze speech patterns and respond in real-time with synthesized speech and behavior. In related research, his work concluded that automated technologies, specifically those that analyze nonverbal communication and provide feedback, such as My Automated Conversation coacH (MACH), offer a personalized approach to enhancing human social interaction and have the potential to be utilized for both practical and therapeutic purposes. He and his students have expanded the research to develop Live Interactive Social Skills Assistant (LISSA) and Standardized Online Patient for Healthcare Interaction Education (SOPHIE). LISSA provides real-time feedback on smiling, eye contact, body movement and volume in real-time and has been validated to help individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. SOPHIE has been designed to train doctors to have more empathy and be explicit with information while dealing with final-stage cancer patients. Affective computing Hoque has worked on developing techniques, technologies, and theories,