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NIST Study Evaluates Effects of Race, Age, Sex on Face Recognition Software
How accurately do face recognition software tools identify people of varied sex, age and racial background? According to a new study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the answer depends on the algorithm at the heart of the system, the application that uses it and the data it’s fed — but the majority of face recognition algorithms exhibit demographic differentials. A differential means that an algorithm’s ability to match two images of the same person varies from one demographic group to another.
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CULTIVATING TRUST IN IT AND METROLOGY |
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FEATURE STORIES |
Following a multiyear effort, the agency has published the final version of the NIST Big Data Interoperability Framework, a collaboration between NIST and more than 800 experts from industry, academia, and government. Filling nine volumes, the framework is intended to guide developers on how to deploy software tools that can analyze data using any type of computing platform, be it a single laptop or the most powerful cloud-based environment. Just as important, it can allow analysts to move their work from one platform to another and substitute a more advanced algorithm without retooling the computing environment.
A new research effort at the NIST aims to address a pervasive issue in our data-driven society: a lack of fairness that sometimes turns up in the answers we get from information retrieval software. Last year, NIST launched the Fair Ranking track as part of its long-running Text Retrieval Conference (TREC), which is designed to find appropriate ways to measure the amount of bias in data and search techniques and identify strategies to eliminate it.
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STAFF SPOTLIGHT |
Ronald Boisvert
Ronald Boisvert, Chief of ITL’s Applied and Computational Mathematics Division, has been selected as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Becoming an ACM Fellow is no small feat, as the award and fellowship recognize outstanding ACM members that have demonstrated superior excellence, as evidenced by Ron’s technical, professional, and leadership contributions. In fact, being named an ACM Fellow means that Ron is in the top 1 percent of all ACM members, for his outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community. His computing accolades underpin the technologies that define the digital age and greatly impact our professional and personal lives. ACM will formally recognize Ron and the other 2019 Fellows at the annual ACM Awards Banquet, to be held in San Francisco, California, on June 20, 2020.
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ITL IN THE NEWS |
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PUBLICATIONS |
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SUCCESS STORIES |
New biometric research data — ranging from fingerprints to facial photographs and iris scans — is now available from NIST. Stripped of identifying information and created expressly for research purposes, the data is designed primarily for testing systems that verify a person’s identity before granting access — be it to another room or another country. Few available resources exist to help developers evaluate the performance of the software algorithms that form the heart of these systems, and the NIST data will help fill that gap.
NIST takes great pride in participating in various internship programs to better invite new ideas and skills to help build future generations of leaders. Our participation also helps provide hands-on research experience in applied mathematics, statistics, computer security, information access, software testing, and networking technologies to participants. The success of these programs is longstanding and well-known; our interns go on to accomplish great things.
Please visit our NIST Internship Program for more details about the internship programs and to see application deadlines. To read a real testimonial from our 2019 NICE Summer intern Rickie Grigsby, please visit our Cybersecurity Insights blog.
U of Kansas Medical
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NOTABLE QUOTES |
“You need to know your algorithm, know your data and know your use case,” said Craig Watson, a manager at NIST.
- Craig Watson, Image Group Manager, Information Technology Laboratory
"The biggest piece of advice I can give anyone interested in cybersecurity education and careers is that there is no 'best' or 'preferred' path. Everyone’s journey is going to be different and uniquely their own."
- Rickie Grigsby, Intern, Information
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