Shriram Nandakumar

CONTACT
INFORMATION

420 C 56 Orivedenkatu 8 C 56c

Tampere 33720 FINLAND

shriram.nandakumar@tut.fi
+358-41-478-3127

EDUCATION

Master of Science in Information Technology

(Major: Signal Processing, Minor: Learning & Intelligent Systems)

August 14- Present

GPA: 4.3 on 5

Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Finland.

Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
(Major: Communication & Signal Processing)

Jan 09-June 10
GPA: 3.53 on 4

State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, USA

Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics & Communication)
Saranathan College of Engineering, Anna University, INDIA

June 04-May 08
1 Class, Distinction
st

PROGRAMMING
SKILLS

Strong skills: Matlab & Python.

Basic skills: Linux shell-scripting, R and C++.

RESEARCH
EXPERIENCE

Research Assistant and Thesis Worker, Audio Research Group, Department of Signal
Processing, Tampere University of Technology.
April 15 - Present
Supervisors: Pasi Pertil and Tuomas Virtanen.
Thesis Topic: Microphone array post-filtering using LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) recurrent
neural networks (RNNs) for speech enhancement.
Environment & Tools: Python, Matlab, Keras library for deep learning and TaitoTM super-cluster.
Other works: Participated in the 3rd CHiME Speech Separation and Recognition
Challenge (http://spandh.dcs.shef.ac.uk/chime_challenge/) and competed amongst 25 teams
world-wide. Tasks included running speech enhancement scripts, scoring various classifiers used
in the pipe-line and finally running Kaldi-based GMM (Gaussian Mixture Model) speech
recognizer on the enhanced data.
Teaching Assistant for the course SGN-14006: Audio and Speech Processing. Tasks included
handling weekly exercise sessions and course project guidance.

GRADUATE
COURSEWORK

TUT:
Completed:
o Signal Interpretation Methods
o Audio & Speech Processing
o Introduction to Pattern Recognition
o Analysis of Audio, Speech & Music signals
o Advanced Signal Processing
Current:
o Image and video processing
o Data-driven modelling and analysis

Shriram Nandakumar

o Machine Learning
o Computational
Diagnostics
&
Genomics
o Processing of Bio-signals
o Signal Processing Innovation Project
o Optimal Estimation & Prediction
o Medical image processing

SUNY Buffalo:
o Information Theory
o Adaptive Signal Processing
o Smart Antennas & Array signal processing
PROJECTS &
RESEARCH
EXPERIENCE

o Probability and Stochastic Processes

o MIMO Wireless Communication

Audio-based Hierarchical Classification of Bird Species (Signal Processing Innovation Project,

January 2015 to May 2015. Guide: Tuomas Virtanen)
Developing an audio-based pattern recognition system by extracting frame-level features and
training, cross-validating & testing various supervised classifiers. Aiming for much challenging
hierarchical classification after accomplishing a flat classification. (Tool: Matlab)
Graduate Course Projects:
o Application of Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) to semi-supervised separation of
instruments in polyphonic music. (Tool: Matlab)
o Separation of a mono-aural audio signal into its harmonic & percussive components using
time-frequency diffusion of spectrograms. (Tool: Matlab)
o Identification of differentially expressed genes by statistical hypothesis testing and
determination of enrichment of genes by hyper-geometric test. (Tool: R)
o Application of Naive Bayes & Logistic Regression classifiers to Hand-written Digit
Recognition.(Tool: Matlab)
o Depth of Anesthesia Assessment using Spectral Entropy Measures of EEG power spectrum.
(Tool: Matlab)
o Heart Rate Variability Analysis from raw ECG signals. (Tool: Matlab)
o Study of adaptive beamforming techniques in Direction-of-Arrival (DoA) Estimation for user
detection in CDMA. (Tool: Matlab)
Guided several students major projects on biomedical signal processing during my
teaching stint (Details under Teaching Experience).
Emotion Recognition in Speech signals
(Undergraduate Major Project, August 07 - May 08)
Worked on novel pattern-matching filters by employing genetic algorithms for training. Matchedfilter-inspired classification was done by constructing an abstract emotion-space. (Tool: Matlab)

TEACHING
EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics

Communication, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, INDIA.

&

Jan 11- July 14

(3 years & 7 months)

Students Major Projects Guided:

Mentored over 20 students on the following topics:
o Compress-sensed ECG for patient monitoring.
o Blind Source Separation.
o Entropy based measures for biomedical signal analysis.
o DSP based methods for exon identification in genomic
sequences.
Courses Taught:
o Undergraduate level
(Bachelor of Technology- Electronics & Communication)
Digital Signal Processing
Biomedical Signal Processing

Shriram Nandakumar

Spring 11,12 & 14

Spring 14

Vector Spaces & Signal Theory

Information Theory & Coding
Digital Communication
Signals and Systems
Probability & Random Processes*
Adaptive Signal Processing
Digital Communication Laboratory
*As part of an introductory communication course.
o Graduate level
Digital Signal Processing
(Master of Technology, VLSI Design)
Guest Lectures on Information Theory
(Master of Technology, Machine Learning)
ACHIEVEMENTS
&
RECOGNITIONS

WORKSHOPS,
SEMINARS &
TALKS

Spring 12 & Autumn 13

Summer 13 & Autumn 13
Spring 11,12 & 13
Autumn 11 & 12
Autumn 12
Autumn 11
Spring 13

Autumn 12
Spring 12

Consistently rated as a good teacher with the highest TEI (Teachers Effectiveness Index)
score of 95%, notches above departments average TEI (85%), throughout all the semesters.
Mentored over 20 undergraduates in their major projects.
Designed the syllabus & taught a math-intensive course on Vector Spaces & Signal Theory. This
course was aimed at preparing students for their higher studies.
Led the Signal Processing & Communication Discussion Group among faculty members at
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
Led in the development of Communication & Signals Laboratory by designing fresh
laboratory experiments.

A Short Introduction to Information Theory

June 13
An invited talk at College of Engineering, Adoor, Kerala, India, as a part of its Faculty
Development Programme.
Technical Seminar Hours
July-Nov 12
Handled a couple of interactive Reading-Out-Loud Sessions on classic papers and tutorial papers
for highly motivated students at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

Shriram Nandakumar