Sargur N. Srihari

Sargur N. Srihari is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, with adjunct appointments in Biostatistics and Electrical Engineering. He concurrently holds the Satish Dhawan Visiting Chair Professorship at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Previously, he served as the Rukmini Gopalakrishnachar Chair Professor at IISc (2018) and was a visiting professor at the University of Bari, Italy.

His research focuses on artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and probabilistic graphical models, with applications in document analysis, computational forensics, and handwriting recognition. He founded the Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR) in 1991, pioneering systems for handwritten address interpretation and forensic evidence analysis that are globally utilized.

His publications emphasize deep learning architectures, explainable AI, and applications in forensics and healthcare, with trends toward attention mechanisms, Bayesian methods, and hybrid feature learning for pattern recognition tasks.

Scientific Awards:

• Outstanding Achievements Award, IAPR/ICDAR (2011)
• Distinguished Alumnus, Ohio State University (1999)
• Fellow, International Association for Pattern Recognition (1996)
• Life Fellow, IEEE (1995)
• Fellow, IETE, India (1992)
• Excellence in Graduate Mentoring Award, University at Buffalo (2018)

He has advised 40 doctoral students and secured sustained funding, including 20+ years of support from the US Postal Service for CEDAR. His grants enabled breakthroughs in postal automation and forensic testimony standards.

He established CEDAR as a leading lab for document analysis, developed forensic software used worldwide, and co-founded major conferences (ICDAR, ICFHR, IWCF).