Shyam of Curtin Mauritius

Advances in machine learning (ML) have revolutionized the way we monitor and study marine environments. This talk will present recent developments in the application of ML in marine monitoring applications, with a focus on fisheries management and passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammals. Through computer vision techniques, we explore automated approaches for assessing key biological indicators, such as carapace length measurements in fisheries, enabling scalable and efficient data collection. Meanwhile, in the realm of machine listening, passive acoustic monitoring systems enhanced with deep learning models are improving our ability to detect and classify marine mammal vocalizations, contributing to conservation and impact assessment efforts.

By leveraging ML-driven automation, these approaches address long-standing challenges in marine research, including labor-intensive data collection, observer variability, and the need for real-time or near-real-time monitoring. The talk will highlight some of my recent projects, key findings, and future directions, underscoring the role of artificial intelligence in advancing marine science and resource management.

Biography:

Dr. Shyam Madhusudhana is a Research Scientist at Curtin Mauritius and manages the Centre of Ocean and Earth Sciences & Technology (COEST), an offshore unit of Curtin University's (Australia) Centre for Marine Science & Technology (CMST). His two-decade long professional career comprises experience in both industry and academia and spans across four continents, with recent engagements at Cornell University (K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, USA) and the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (India).

Dr. Madhusudhana's research interests, though broadly multidisciplinary, are tied to topics in acoustics, scientific computing, and machine learning (computer vision, machine listening). He has worked on projects funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR; USA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA; USA), Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW; Australia), National Geographic Society, and by big-tech and petroleum industries. He has published peer-reviewed articles on a variety of science and engineering topics, including three book chapters, and has refereed manuscripts for over thirteen international journals.

Dr. Madhusudhana is a senior member of IEEE and serves as the VP of Technical Activities for the IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society. He is a member of the Steering Committee for IEEE Data Descriptions journal, and an editor for the special issue (titled Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Marine Mammal Research) of Marine Mammal Science. He is the IEEE OES Chair for the Student Poster Competition and the Summer School programs at OCEANS conferences.

Address:Croatia