Research interests

Context-aware environments, pervasive and ubiquitous computing, novel sensor hardware, machine learning, pattern recognition and artificial intelligence. Living laboratories and technologies with applications to ubiquitous Healthcare and Embedded Health Assessment.

 

Emmanuel Munguia Tapia is a Ph.D candidate in the MIT Media Laboratory doing research with the MIT House_n group. His research effort is on developing systems that infer human activities and context from sensors placed ubiquitously in the environment and worn on the body and applying these algorithms for preventive health care in the home. Emmanuel's research interests include context-aware environments, pervasive and ubiquitous computing, novel sensor hardware, and machine learning and pattern recognition. He received his S.M from MIT in 2003 working on activity inferencing and context awareness from sensor data, and a B.S degree (with honors) in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the ESIME at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico in 2000. He has received a number of awards including the Best Graduating Engineer National Award, Mexico (2000), and the "Presea Lazaro Cardenas", one of the highest recognitions to academic excellence given by the President of Mexico (2000). He has held summer internships at Intel Research Seattle and the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratory.

Selected projects

Other  projects (Full projects list)

Selected publications  (Full CV)

E. Munguia Tapia. "Using Machine Learning for Real-time Activity Recognition and Estimation of Energy Expenditure". Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008.
[PDF] [Slides]  

J. Beaudin, S.S. Intille, E. Munguia Tapia, R. Rockinson and M. Morris, Context-Sensitive Microlearning of Foreign Language Vocabulary on a Mobile Device, in Proceedings of the European Conference on Ambient Intelligence (AmI '07). 2007: Darmstadt, Germany. To appear.
[Abstract] [PDF]

E. Munguia Tapia, S.S. Intille, and K. Larson, Portable Wireless Sensors for Object Usage Sensing in the Home: Challenges and Practicalities, in Proceedings of the European Conference on Ambient Intelligence (AmI '07). 2007: Darmstadt, Germany. To appear.
[Abstract] [PDF]

E. Munguia Tapia, S. Intille, and K. Larson, Real-Time Recognition of Physical Activities and Their Intensities Using Wireless Accelerometers and a Heart Rate Monitor, in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Wearable Computers (ISWC '07). 2007: Boston, MA.  To appear.
[Abstract] [PDF]

B. Logan, J. Healey, M. Philipose, E. Munguia Tapia, and S. Intille, A Long-Term Evaluation of Sensing Modalities for Activity Recognition, in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UBICOMP '07). 2007: Innsbruck, Austria. p. To appear.
[Abstract] [PDF]

C. R. Wren and E. Munguia-Tapia, "Toward Scalable Activity Recognition for Sensor Networks," in Proceedings of The Second International Workshop in Location and Context-Awareness (LoCA '06), vol. 3987 / 2006, M. Hazas, J. Krumm, and T. Strang, Eds. Dublin, Ireland: Springer Berlin / Heidelberg, 2006, pp. 168-185. Winner of a best presentation award.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Slides]

E. Munguia Tapia, T. Choudhury, and M. Philipose, "Building Reliable Activity Models Using Hierarchical Shrinkage and Mined Ontology," in Proceedings of PERVASIVE 2006, B. Heidelberg, Ed. Dublin, Ireland: Springer-Verlag, 2006.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Slides]

E. Munguia Tapia, S.S. Intille, L. Lopez, and K. Larson, "The Design of a Portable Kit of Wireless Sensors for Naturalistic Data Collection" in Proceedings of PERVASIVE 2006. B. Heidelberg, Ed. Dublin, Ireland: Springer-Verlag, 2006.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Slides] [Project Page1] [Project Page2] 

S. S. Intille, K. Larson, E. Munguia Tapia, J.S. Beaudin, P. Kaushik, J. Nawyn, and R. Rockinson, "Using a Live-in Laboratory for Ubiquitous Computing Research" in Proceedings of PERVASIVE 2006. B. Heidelberg, Ed. Dublin, Ireland: Springer-Verlag, 2006.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Slides] [Project Page]

E. Munguia Tapia, S. S. Intille, K. Larson, R. Rockinson, and J. Beaudin, "Tools for Ubiquitous Computing Research," in Proceedings of the International Symposium for the Realization of Ubiquitous - City. Seoul, Korea, 2006.
[Abstract] [Speech] [Slides]

S. S. Intille, K. Larson, J. Beaudin, E. Munguia Tapia, P. Kaushik, J. Nawyn, and T.J. McLeish, "The PlaceLab: a live-in laboratory for pervasive computing research (Video)," in Proceedings of Pervasive 2005 Video Program, May, 2005.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Video (334 MB DIVX AVI)] [Project Page]

A. Feldman, E. Munguia Tapia, S. Sadi, P. Maes, and C. Schmandt, "ReachMedia: On-the-move Interaction with Everyday Objects," in proceedings of The Ninth Annual IEEE International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC '05). Osaka, Japan, 2005. Best paper nominee at ISWC ‘05.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Slides]

S. S. Intille, K. Larson, J. S. Beaudin, J. Nawyn, E. Munguia Tapia, and P. Kaushik, "A living laboratory for the design and evaluation of ubiquitous computing interfaces," in Extended Abstracts of the 2005 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM Press, 2005, pp. 1941 - 1944.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Project Page] 

E. Munguia Tapia, N. Marmasse, S. S. Intille, and K. Larson, "MITes: Wireless portable sensors for studying behavior," in Proceedings of Extended Abstracts UbiComp 2004: Ubiquitous Computing, 2004.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Slides] [Project Page] 

E. Munguia Tapia, S. S. Intille, and K. Larson, "Activity Recognition in the Home Setting Using Simple and Ubiquitous Sensors," in Proceedings of PERVASIVE 2004, vol. LNCS 3001, A. Ferscha and F. Mattern, Eds. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, 2004, pp. 158-175.
[Abstract] [PDF]  [Slides] [Project Page] 

J. Beaudin, S. Intille, and E. Munguia Tapia. "Lessons Learned Using Ubiquitous Sensors for Data Collection in Real Homes". Extended Abstracts of the 2004 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM Press, 2004, pp. 1359-1362.
[Abstract] [PDF] 

S.S. Intille, E. Munguia Tapia, and L. Bao, "Real-time Physical Activity Recognition Using Multiple Wireless Accelerometers." Abstract presented at the Scientific Meeting on Objective Monitoring of Physical Activity: Closing Gaps in the Science of Accelerometry, University of North Carolina, December, 2004. Winner of a best poster award.  Abstract to appear in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise Journal.
[Slides] 

S.S. Intille, E. Munguia Tapia J. Rondoni, J. Beaudin, C. Kukla, S. Agarwal, and L. Bao, "Tools for Studying Behavior and Technology in Natural Settings," in Proceedings of UBICOMP 2003: Ubiquitous Computing, vol. LNCS 2864, A.K. Dey, A. Schmidt, and J.F.
[Abstract] [PDF] 

S. S. Intille, L. Bao, E. Munguia Tapia, and J. Rondoni, "Acquiring in Situ Training Data for Context-Aware Ubiquitous Computing Applications," in Proceedings of CHI 2004 Connect: Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: ACM Press, 2004, pp. 1-9.
[Abstract] [PDF]  

E. Munguia Tapia, S.S. Intille, J. Rebula,  S. Stoddard, " Ubiquitous Video Communication with the Perception of Eye Contact," in Proceedings of UBICOMP 2003 Video Program.
[Abstract] [PDF] [Video (MPEG v.1 AVI)] [Project Page] 

E. Munguia Tapia. "Activity Recognition in the Home Setting Using Simple and Ubiquitous Sensors". S.M. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003.
[Abstract] [PDF] 

M. Hlubinka, J. Beaudin, E. Munguia Tapia, J. S. An, AltarNation: Interface Design for Meditative Communities, CHI '02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computer systems, April 20-25, 2002, Minneapolis, MN, USA. 
[Abstract] [PDF] [Project page] [AltarNation page]

Education

Ph.D. Candidate in Media Arts and Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, present
Areas of specialization: Context-aware environments, machine learning, pattern recognition, ubiquitous healthcare and embedded health assessment
Advisors: Kent Larson and Stephen S. Intille.

S.M., Media Arts and Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003
Emphasis: Pattern recognition, machine learning, artificial intelligence. Research: Human activity recognition from sensor data.

B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
National Polytechnic Institute, 2000
Emphasis: digital and analog electronic design, electronic instrumentation, microcontrollers, microprocessors, sensors design, programming languages, networks, and control systems.

Associate of Science degree in Electronic design
CBTIS 37 Technical School, 1995

Associate of Science degree in Programming languages and Computer Networks
ECCO Technical School, 1995

Affiliations

The MIT Media Laboratory, House_n
2001- present

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories
2005

Intel Research Seattle
2004

 

Service and professional involvement

Reviewer for the following refereed conferences:

International Conference on Pervasive Computing (PERVASIVE)

International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (UBICOMP)

International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC)

International Conference on Intelligent System Design and Applications

(ISDA)

Reviewer for the following international refereed journals:

IEEE Transactions on Multimedia (TMM)

IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics - Part B (TSMC-B)

Other interests

High-tech ventures and start-ups, entrepreneurship, design of marine and fresh water aquariums, reading: my favorite writer is J.J. Benitez, best books: The Trojan Horse 1,2,3,4,5 and 6. I also enjoy traveling, specially to beautiful and natural places such as the beach and the forest. Food, particularly pizza, hamburgers and hot-dogs (Pure protein, What a pig!).

Languages

English, Spanish native speaker

"Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness." 

-Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Last modified: 09/22/2007