Paris Smaragdis

Paris Smaragdis is an accomplished computer scientist and currently serves as a Professor and Associate Head at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is affiliated with both the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His primary research areas include audio signal processing, machine learning, and computational audition, with a particular focus on audio source separation and machine listening.

Education and Career

Smaragdis earned his bachelor's degree in music (magna cum laude) from the Berklee College of Music in 1995, followed by a master's degree (1997) and a PhD (2001) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he worked under Professor Barry Vercoe. Before joining UIUC in 2010, he held positions at Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories and Adobe Research.

Contributions and Research

He is known for his innovative work in audio processing, particularly in developing methods for efficient audio signal separation using deep learning techniques. Smaragdis has over 40 patents and has contributed significantly to the field through various publications, including receiving multiple awards for his research work. Notably, he was recognized as one of MIT Technology Review's Top 35 Young Innovators Under 35 in 2006 and became a Fellow of the IEEE in 2015 for his contributions to audio processing technologies.1234

Leadership and Service

In addition to his teaching and research responsibilities, Smaragdis has played a vital role in academic service. He has chaired several committees within the IEEE Signal Processing Society and has been involved in developing interdisciplinary programs, such as the CS+Music undergraduate degree at UIUC. He is also the Editor-in-Chief for the ACM/IEEE Transactions on Audio, Speech, and Language Processing.235

Current Focus

His current research interests include efficient on-device audio processing and distributed learning methods, exploring the intersection of machine learning and audio technology. Smaragdis is also involved in teaching advanced courses related to audio computing and machine learning at UIUC.123