Good day, Udayakumar Kanniyappan, Ph.D.. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia.

Yeah, hi. So, uh, it's a pleasure to, uh, meet you.

So I have done UH masters in physics at UH Cinders College and then later during the time I have visited Anna University, Chennai, UH, where I have where I have a chance to look at the biomedical optics lab. So I got inspired and then like I approached the professor for the PhD and then I did my PhD into 2010. And the main objective of my PhD is to UH.

Is to find the technology which could be able to detect the cancer at an earlier stage. So I have used variety of optical spectroscopy and the imaging instruments such as fluorescent spectroscopy, time resolved fluorescent spectroscopy and diffuse diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for oral and cervical cancer diagnosis. So I have used biofluids and tissues such as urine, saliva, blood and in vitro tissues and we have have carried out. Info Tissue measurements as well.

And then after my PhD, uh.

Uh, during my, uh, the end of my PhD, I got a chance to, uh, opportunity to work with the University of Maryland with Professor Yu Chen, where I got a chance to work on UH-2, uh, research projects. So one project is based on developing breast cancer endoscopic imaging device for the cancer diagnosis. So basically I have used the, I have built the endoscopic imaging device. Starting from scratch and and I have carried out like calibration.

In measurements and also I have carried out tissue measurements as well. And then I have the another project which we have collaborated with the US Food and Drug Administration, FTE and S plus with part of the work which I have carried out at the NIST as well National Institute of Science and Technology. And then later after finishing my project, then I got a chance to work with Professor Matthew de Case in University Of Montreal. Canada, where I have a chance to work with optical coherence tomographic imaging. So during my post doctor period I worked on only the near infrared presence imaging and then.

Fluorescence imaging device and later my second postdoctoral position that had started to work with optical coherence tomography imaging device for the mice and where I have a chance to obtain the Transmit Tech Experience Fellowship award.

For two years, uh, after have submitted an, uh, submitted and proposal, uh, which involved in developing a high phantom device for the, uh, uh, retinopathy of prematurity disease diagnosis. And then I have worked with the I phantom like developing the layers, tissue phantom layers where I, where I mimic the, uh, each layer to mimic the optical properties of the particular tissue in the eye regional layers. So each layers has specific thickness. So I have developed a different thickness, thickness layered multilayered phantom, which is useful for the calibration, university imaging as well As for the disease, early disease diagnosis as well. And during that period I got a chance.

An interview with Antheria Medical Device Company in Quebec City, Canada, where I have a sense to work with Patrick and as a data scientist.

Um, my, my responsibilities include.

Calibration of the device and as well as developing, uh, standard, uh, operating protocol. And that's just developing the, uh, uh, calibration, calibration charts and then like analysis of the, uh, human eye technology and then data analysis and as well as like proposing innovative statistical models to, in order to improve the, you know, pre diagnosis of the disease at an earlier stage. And that includes Alzheimer and then like, you know.

For the various eye ocular diseases such as cataract and such as like that. And then like later I got a chance to return to my country and then like I, I got a.

Work with us and a consultant during that time, as well as right now I'm, umm, currently adjunct faculty at uh, uh, Savita Medical, uh, Institute.

Thanks for sharing that, Professor. Quite an impressive journey across academia and industry with significant contributions in cancer diagnostics, imaging technologies, and data analysis.

Yeah.

Yes, please.

Professor, let me start by verifying some key expertise areas for the Assistant/Associate Professor or Professor role. May I proceed?

Let's start with your expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in healthcare, Health Informatics, or Computer Science. Can you discuss a healthcare-related AI model or application you've worked on or researched, explaining its design and practical impact?

Yes, of course, like doing my, uh, PhD time, but I had a, but I got a chance to work with the oral cancer, uh, patients data. The patient's data, meaning that, uh, I measure a fluoride excitation emission matrix, which is involved involving using the Furosem spectroscopic technique, uh, to measure tissue fluorescence for.

Data. Sorry.

Alright, Professor. Could you elaborate on how Artificial Intelligence techniques were employed to analyze this data and what outcomes or insights were derived from your approach?

Hello.

Hello, can you hear me?

Yes, Professor, I can hear you. Please continue elaborating on how AI techniques were applied to the analysis of data from your research.

Yes. So, uh, I was talking about my uh, data interpretation using AI. So which is like I measure the excitation emission matrix data, which which uses the fluorescence spectroscopic technique in measuring the human inhibitory tissues for the fluorescence emission signal for tryptophan and tyrosine and collagen various amino acid and structural protein inside the tissues. And that I can that can be used to evaluate the.

Active signatures between the normal and precancerous cancers tissues. This is the whole idea that I use. And then like I was looking for the model which machine learning model which can able to you know like able to predicting the predicted as well as the statistical diagnosis of the data. And then I come up with an there is an existing model called parallel factor analysis, which is, which is a three-dimensional data analysis technique where it uses the input as a three-dimensional.

Yeah. And then what it does is that it produced it extract the spectral fingerprints of the, uh, data that they have that they have provided. So basically like, uh.

If you, if you extract like 7 or like 5 spectral signatures, it will provide the, uh, the profile of the, uh, tissue emission at a particular, uh, emission wavelength. And it, it extracts the signature as well as like it analysis the data. So I, I have used that machine learning model to further like, you know, analysis the data using the like, you know, statistical, like a student details and further analysis. And I have come up with an.

And that can able to, uh, attain like a high sensitivity and specificity in discriminating normal, precancerous and cancerous tissues at an earlier stage. So this work is published in the Journal of Chemometrics. And you can also, uh, you know, refer in my profile in my CV so that like you can able to, you know, better look at that.

I appreciate the detailed explanation. It sounds like a sophisticated application of AI and statistical methods in healthcare. Just one follow-up: how did you evaluate the robustness of your chosen model against other potential machine learning approaches for analyzing this type of data?

Yeah, Ben. So in that paper as well, I have described like evaluate the spectral as I, as I told earlier, it evaluate the spectral signatures and then like there is a. Uh, validation, uh, which is like from, from the, uh, my side, which is like there is existing like a chemical profile of the particular protein or like amino acid presents in the literature. So if the model produces like a spectral signatures extracted from the, from my data, that is like a using the parallel factor analysis, the machine learning model. And I have that data and as well as like I have like ground truth. Data from the, uh, published literature.

And I can compare those spectral signatures you know like from from the extractor one as well as with existing the golden standard Spectra. And then where I can compare and then like if the Spectra is same, I can proceed further to this proceed in analyzing the data. And if the Spectra is not same or it produces like for example, if it produces like a 350 nanometer peak at the reference, if my data shows like you know like there is no peak at the 3:50.

Rather than it shows spike and that is called noise in data. So I I do not analyze this data. So this is how I validated the data using the existing and published standard reference data of the chemical.

Understood, Professor. It seems you've meticulously validated your approach using established spectral references, ensuring both precision and reliability. Thank you for elaborating. Now, let's shift to your ability to teach theory and laboratory courses. Could you describe a specific course you've taught or proposed, explaining how you balanced theoretical understanding with practical application in the lab?

Uh, yes, yeah. During my, uh, like, uh, before my PhD, I have taken undergraduate courses, uh, and as well as like in my, during my post doctoral, uh, period, I have, uh, taken a couple of courses as well, like in, in my, uh, journey in University of Maryland, USA. Like, uh, I want to explain about the particular topic where I have a, a chance to explain about the topic. And then I got like very depth questions. Like the topic is that presents spectroscopic technique.

I have explained like what is fluorescence and how the fluorescence technology, the evaluation is the, uh, medical field as well as like, you know, particularly in the cancer diagnosis diagnosis field. So when you talk about the fluency, it involves in optics as well as like, you know, it involves like a theoretical background like how photon excites and then emits occurs in slide and then come to the ground state. And when I was explaining and then students, one student asked the questions like, you know, is can you explain with the practical example, like, you know, how can I imagine?

You know, like where I can find the person slide or like, you know, uh, in practical, uh, life. And then I explained like in playing like CC bed in motion, like you have a quarrels and so many living organisms that emit presence at particular, uh, excitation of the, uh, light inside the tissue inside the organs. And it will like emitter like also like, you know, colorful lights. You know, for example, you can experience a Northern Lights in the, in the abroad countries where you can see in the sky, like there is a colorful light in.

Skype and as as well as like in the, you know, for example, in the, in the parties or like in cinemas, like where, where, uh, where they have, uh, you know, different colors at their dark light. They know they will have a bright light on their face and something like that. So this is all practical examples that you can witness the occurs in slight emission and that's how like I balance like, you know, I explained the theory about how the fluorescence light occurs and what is the requirement to have the fluorescence, for example, like when you.

Molecule of the acceleration light and then like it absorb it and then it emit A fluorescent light in a different wavelength. So always the fluorescent slide have, uh, different wavelength than the excitation wavelength. And uh, in practical assemble as a, as I explained, like in the, in the C, like many of the quarrels and then many of the mirrors that emits fluorescent slide upon, you know, incident on a certain excitation wavelength and as the certain practical like many. Newman the traffic night traffic lights like the in the highways, like where you can shine light, you can.

Shine a particular light which excites the.

Able to see the high reflecting light coming back to, uh, direct drivers about the like parry cats and so many stuffs like that. Even like, uh, when the workers working at the light in the, in the street, in the highways to, I know, like there for the road making roads or something like that. They were as black. They wear address in such a way that it, it got the reflectors in normal light. You don't see that like brightness, but during, when you shine a light on that, you will see like high.

Like high intensity light that notify the opposite party that you know someone is working on that. So you have to be very careful in driving in that area.

Thank you for sharing such insightful details, Professor. It’s evident you bring theory to life with relatable, real-world examples, helping students grasp complex concepts effectively. As a follow-up: how do you assess students in these theory and laboratory courses to ensure they truly understand both the concepts and practical applications?

That's an very interesting question. You know, you know, like as always, like, uh, we, we teach like, as I always mentioned that like I can when I was teaching and also during the teaching, like, you know, I can take like, for example, one topic and then explain to the students. And then, uh, initially, like I will start the topic within practical example. Like I, I will, I, I won't get into the topic directly like during my start of the class. Or the session. So I start the topic with the practical example and then like I make the students.

Getting like very interested because when I, when, when you mention about the practical examples and then they're very interested. And then I explained the concept and then I explained like in the board. And then the after like 5 or 10 minutes I have, I always have a couple of questions like, and I can, I'll ask the questions to students like, you know, what is the, you know, where, what is the concept and something like that, you know, follow up question with about my theory. And then like, you know, when the student I, I don't expect student to answer it properly, but. I wanted like some answer from like what they understood and then like if they have any misunderstanding while they are explaining it, and then I stop them and then I'll explain it like further and detailing about the, the right way of, you know, like expanding these things and about the concept as well in practical examples, like in practical as always, like I gave the practical examples like while talking theory classes. So it would be very useful for them like when they, when they, when they explained the theoretical classes within practical example so they can correlate.

Very better and then they understand the concept better. And at the end of the class, I'll give a little summary of like what I took the class and what is the take home points and also ask like couple of questions. And also. And I asked the students like whether they have any questions or doubt from them in the during the last 10 minutes of the class so that I can able to like summarize my class and as well as like answer the questions. And if they have like more questions, I'll ask them to like follow up like during my in my.

In my cabin so that like you know, normal class service won't be disturbed as well as like the doubt from the particular students will also be clarified that will improve the effectiveness of the teaching in theoretical and practical classes.

It’s excellent to hear you focus not only on engaging students with practical examples but also on thoroughly addressing their misconceptions and encouraging follow-ups outside of class. Your approach to balancing open interaction and structured teaching seems quite effective. Let’s move to your experience in student evaluation and exam duties. How do you ensure fairness and consistency when grading assessments or exams?

Always one should follow the like a standard protocol, analyzing the paper that then then only can, uh, you know, like achieve the fairness and consistency. So when you realize that like students, theoretical classes, data or like practical sessions, like I always have the answer for the questions like that, I already prepared. Like, you know, when you prepare the question and then like students done the exams. And then like also during the meantime, I also prepare the like key. The answers for those questions as well as and also key points to be addressed.

Where the fairness and consistency is like always, uh.

Their address, the particular key points, uh, in the, in the answer sheet that I have with my as a key. And then if the, if that is present in the paper, and I'll, I'll, I'll evaluate like based on that, uh, key that I have. And then I'll create depending on that standard key that I have.

I can able to provide them like once they have a dispute and then I already have my answer sheet like you know, as I told you, like the key sheet that I have. So I can like if they have like they have, you know, like if they, if they come to me and then like I can explain or like I can make a, a scanned copy of Nike and then like I can provide to the committee or whatever they have, you know, they someone who, who evaluates me like how they, how they, how they handled and then I explained them how they handled your answer sheet.

Thank you, Professor. Your approach to creating a structured key for assessment appears to establish clear criteria and promotes fairness. For consistency, how do you handle borderline cases or disputes in grading?

About the borderline or, uh, disputing, uh, trading like, for example, like, you know, umm.

Just on my answers and then like I'll explain to them. And that's the that's the way like the ensure the fairness and also like the consistency.

Understood, Professor. Your transparency and willingness to provide documentation for disputes reflect a commendable commitment to fairness. Thank you for detailing your approach. Let’s discuss your ability to guide student projects and research. Can you share an example where you successfully mentored a student in completing a challenging research project? How did you support and guide them?

Sorry to interrupt, we're down to the last 5 minutes.

OK. So yeah for guiding them project like I already this is not new to me because during my post doctoral experience in University of Maryland and as less my postdoctoral experience at University of in.

Montreal, Canada I have guided students from PhD students as well as like master students like for the internship and I always like had like a bunch of like 5 to 6 years of experience in getting the students like you know, when they come for the internship or like either either students from like APKC to to do the part of work with me. So it is very they are very innovative and they are very curious as well. So that's how like you have to manage them like about the curiosity without.

Uh, their curiosity, do not disturb the, the work or like, cause like any accidents in the lab, so that you have to make sure that stitching the standard operating procedure for the, every instrument so that, uh, it ensures the safety of that person as well as like the safety of their other lab members as well as the, the environment as well. And also like, you can guide them often, like they have often they have like many doubts, like in a day, like, you know, I can, I'll like time to time I'll address them like.

And if they can, if they have, if they have like busy with my work, I lost them like like follow with me like in an hour or two. So that like, you know, they can, I can clarify that because like, if they have doubt and I have to explain them otherwise, like they could not able to move forward because they are new to the field. They don't know what to do. And, and to to compensate these time period that I taught them like I better thought. And also I have to do my performing work, right. I can. So after that doubts are cleared or something like that. So if they, if they have, I know like to do more.

Like in an immediate manner.

Work I'll spend on my evenings like in the evening time to do my work and then like to make sure that I did performed on that day very well as well as like I taught the students or like I expect the students so that they make them to finish the project in a very good, good manner.

Thank you, Professor. Your approach to structured mentorship, balancing student guidance with your own research responsibilities, reflects dedication to fostering their academic growth while ensuring productivity. Let's now discuss your communication and structured teaching approach. How would you adapt your teaching methods for students at varying levels of comprehension in a diverse classroom?

It's the approach to electric. It's a quite simple and I follow the very structured way. And so when I enter into the class, as I told you, like, you know, like to address the students like weight of background. So I'll explain them with the first I come up the class and then I'll introduce myself. And then also like I'll come up with a practical examples or these. So a little bit of like a kind of a story and science oriented practical example. And then like I will slowly.

Entered into the topic and then I slowly the second stage, I'll slowly enter into the concept. And then third time I'll enter into the definition or like some principles and then like I'll expand it with the practical example. And then I'll ask questions and and then later part of my I always have my later part of the class, like 5 to 10 minutes to address the questions or like to address any issues in, you know, like understanding concept as well as if they if, if they have any like. Kind of like improvements that I needed to perform. Sorry.

Uh, needed to perform that. I can do it, uh, with them as well.

Thank you, Professor. Your systematic approach to adapting content while fostering interaction shows a well-considered commitment to inclusivity and engagement. Lastly, regarding research publications in reputed journals, can you briefly outline your most notable recent publication and the significance of its contributions to your field?

Oh yes, so I have published a journal like.

In during my post doctoral research period, so I have a applied for a pair US patent with the device that I have developed for the breast cancer endoscopic imaging device. So I have applied for the US pattern. So I have took the initiative like my PA took initiative and I have returned the all the theoretical and the part in the US pattern and we applied it. Unfortunately it is not granted but it is published in online. So that that is the experience of myself like to. Having the you know, applying for the patent experience as well as like I have published like very.

Very good journals like reputed journal in Journal of Biomedical Optics which is also in QT based journals and also Journal of Chemometrics is a QN ranking journal. I have published like 15 international recognized peer reviewed journal and all the publication is indexing.

Umm, inside indexed journals and as well as I have a a presented myself in the in the conference international conference like such as like a photonics based in USA where like where the all the scientists will gather around. So I have very various experience with publishing myself like in the journal as well as in the promoting my work in the conference as well.

Your extensive publication record and contributions to international conferences highlight your strong commitment to advancing research in your field, Professor. Thank you for sharing. Would you like to proceed with the next section, or shall we conclude at this point?

Yep, just a minute, just a minute.

Take your time, Professor. Let me know when you're ready.

OK.

OK. Yeah, please.

So, yeah, so that's how like, uh, that's my international profile actually. Like I think I have explained like my uh, uh, reputation in publishing in journals as well as in publishing, uh, uh, research work in the international conferences as well.

Alright, Professor. Shall we continue, or would you like to bring the session to a close?

Yes, Professor, you’ve provided a thorough overview of your achievements. It’s clear you have a robust research and academic background. Let’s move to your experience with industry projects or consultancy. Could you describe a specific industry-based project or consultancy role you’ve undertaken? How did you contribute to solving real-world challenges?

So that's a very, very good question because like in industry like so since I have expertise in fabricating tissue, mimicking phantoms and I got an opportunity with the industry to lead the project based on the I phantom, which which meaning that like developing an eye phantom, which is like developing using the external materials to mimic the real eye. For example, if you have an eye, the eye contains like peoples and then like they have lanes and then they have. The bitterness medium and also as they have a retina.

Layers and so you need to mimic those multilayered retinal retinal tissue layers in external way. So I took the project and I let the project and then the the company as well like asked asked about my, you know, like they wanted to establish the.

Facility to develop those phantoms like including the instrumentation. So I proposed that I developed the budget and I proposed them like this all the instrument needed for you know to proceed to proceed like to make fabricate those.

Uh, kind of like a project manager and then like, you know, I, I have often like schedule a meeting with them like 2 weeks or monthly once. And then I received like what they have developed kind of a prototype. And then, I, uh, you know, bring them in and then I test the model in the, in the device that we have. And then like, if they have any concern and they're like, you know, the improvements always they'll be there. So I will, I will tell them like this, all the things that I need to like correct it for that. And then they will work on it and then they will bring back that other prototype. So this, this.

Uh, tissue phantoms. And then I gave the proposal and gave the drawings as well and models and then methodology, how one can approach and how 1 can be able to achieve stage by stage. And also what are the instrument needed? And unfortunately, like they couldn't be able to provide the instrument, but we collab and in that company, we collaborated with external universities where they have all the facilities and then we outsource those projects to the, to the university, but. In that case as well, I let the project and as the project.

How like, uh, you know, like, uh, involved in that. This is, uh, the I phantom is a practical example because like, uh, in real world, uh, the device needs the calibration, uh, standard calibration tool. So far, uh, like there is no standard calibration tool available to characterize the device. You know, there are a bunch of many different techniques available there. None of them are standardized. So we were, I was involved in like developing those. Phantom models so that I can able to calibrate the imaging device so that like it verifies that.

It is very safe to use the device on the human eye.

Yeah, There's one thing that I can highlight because like last time, like, uh, in last year, I have applied for the American query, uh, uh, fellowship and, uh, I have submitted my proposal with an professor in Netherland. He's like Professor Sridhar Manohar. He's the director of the Multimodality Imaging Center in Netherland University 20. I have collaborated with him and then like I wrote a proposal for the Mercury. And then last year, uh, February, the results came out and, uh. Unfortunately, my proposal is not.

Thank you for sharing, Professor. Your leadership in developing a high-impact project like the eye phantom demonstrates your ability to bridge research with tangible industry applications. It’s commendable how you structured collaborations and ensured quality control throughout the process. We’ve now covered all key skills for this interview. Is there anything else you’d like to address or highlight before we conclude?