Daniel Lau

Dr. Daniel Lau is a Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky, part of the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering. He holds a Ph.D. (1999) from the University of Delaware and a B.Sc. (1995) from Purdue University. His research focuses on 3D imaging systems, spectral imaging, machine vision, and signal processing, with notable contributions to structured light technologies, blue-noise halftoning, and QR code embedding systems. Prior to academia, he worked as a DSP Engineer at Aware, Inc., and an Image and Signal Processing Engineer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Key research areas include 3D fingerprint identification, multispectral color acquisition/display, and compressive spectral imaging using novel coded apertures. His recent work emphasizes real-time 3D reconstruction, lens distortion correction, and hypergraph signal processing frameworks. Lau has pioneered methods for blue-noise sampling on non-Euclidean domains and developed algorithms for phase-measuring profilometry. His innovations in QR code embedding (e.g., Colored-QRNet) bridge machine vision and information security.

Publications span 30+ years, showing progression from early work on halftoning (green-noise models) to current advancements in AI-driven imaging systems. He leads projects funded by NSF and industry partners, focusing on applications in automotive inspection, medical imaging, and industrial automation. His lab develops both theoretical frameworks and hardware implementations, such as FPGA-based error diffusion systems.