Ping Wang is a MS student majoring in Electrical Engineering (Multimedia) at USC. She is conducting directed research (DR) at MCL since the beginning of Fall 2015. We had an interview with her, talking about her research at MCL.

1. Could you please briefly introduce your research at MCL?

My research focuses on quality assessment of compressed image/video based on human’s visual perception. In this research, my group developed a Just Noticeable Difference (JND)-based image/video quality assessment metric, and conducted JND subjective test to collect data. A method to process the measured raw data is proposed afterwards, from which a human-centric quality database is constructed.

2.  Why did you choose MCL to conduct your DR?

It has to do with my major. I’m a multimedia-focusing MS student who has great passion in image/video processing and related technology. I have been taken courses in the previous three semesters yet haven’t got a taste of researching. I feel that doing a research in my cherished field is a perfect end mark for my master’s degree.

3. It’s coming to your end of DR. How would you evaluate it? Do you find it helpful for your study or future career at USC? What do you gain from this experience?

I think this short DR period at MCL is a very unforgettable experience in my whole life. Here I was provided tons of resources. It’s an amazing group where I can always find new things to learn, where each member is helpful and willing to share their experience, where everybody including Professor Kuo is working closely together and where other people’s wisdom can actually inspire me a lot. I’m pretty happy that my master’s degree is fulfilled by the valuable experience here in MCL.