Rate My Professor Shishir Shah

Shishir Shah is a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Houston, where he served as chair starting in 2019, associate chair from 2016 to 2019, and director of undergraduate studies from 2010 to 2015. He earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering, M.S., and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, completing his doctorate in 1998. Prior to joining the University of Houston in 2005 as an assistant professor—where he was promoted to full professor in 2016—Shah was a faculty member at Wayne State University for two years and served as president and chief operating officer at two biotechnology startups. He has chaired the Undergraduate Committee of the Faculty Senate and served on its Executive Committee.

Shah leads the Quantitative Imaging Laboratory, focusing his research on computer vision, video analytics, human behavior understanding, machine learning, and statistical methods in image and data analysis. His applications span biometrics, person re-identification, microscope image analysis, manufacturing, homeland security, and life sciences. With over 200 publications, notable works include 'A survey of approaches and trends in person re-identification' (Bedagkar-Gala and Shah, 2014), 'End-to-end 3D face reconstruction with deep neural networks' (Dou, Shah, and Kakadiaris, 2017), and 'Intrinsic parameter calibration procedure for a (high-distortion) fish-eye lens camera with distortion model and accuracy estimation' (Shah and Aggarwal, 1996). Shah holds several patents and has commercialized technologies for cellular and genetic screening and video analytics systems. His contributions earned him Senior Member status in the National Academy of Inventors in 2023, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics’ John C. Butler Teaching Excellence Award in 2011, and the Department of Computer Science Academic Excellence Award in 2010 and 2016.