Sargur Narasimhamurthy Srihari (May 7, 1949 – March 8, 2022) was an Indian and American computer scientist and educator who made contributions to the field of
pattern recognition
Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphic ...
. The principal impact of his work has been in handwritten address reading systems and in
computer forensics
Computer forensics (also known as computer forensic science) is a branch of digital forensic science pertaining to evidence found in computers and digital storage media. The goal of computer forensics is to examine digital media in a forensica ...
. He was a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the
University at Buffalo
The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1 ...
, Buffalo, New York, USA.
Early life and education

Srihari received undergraduate degrees in Science and in Electrical Communication Engineering from the National College of
Bangalore University
Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by Univer ...
and the
Indian Institute of Science
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is a public, deemed, research university for higher education and research in science, engineering, design, and management. It is located in Bengaluru, in the Indian state of Karnataka. The institute was ...
in
Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
respectively. He received Master's and Doctoral degrees in Computer and Information Science from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...
, Columbus.
Career
CEDAR
Srihari is the founding director of
Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition The Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR) is a research laboratory at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. The center was established with funding from the United States Postal Service and National In ...
(CEDAR) which was established with support from the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
. Work at CEDAR led to the first handwritten address interpretation system in the world, versions of which were deployed by the
Internal Revenue Service, USPS,
Australia Post
Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post ...
and UK Royal Mail. His subsequent work led to the first handwriting verification and identification system known as
CEDAR-FOX, which was granted a U.S. Patent in 2009.
Srihari had a leading role in establishing the international conferences on document analysis and recognition, frontiers of
handwriting recognition
Handwriting recognition (HWR), also known as handwritten text recognition (HTR), is the ability of a computer to receive and interpret intelligible handwritten input from sources such as paper documents, photographs, touch-screens and other dev ...
and
computational forensics Computational criminology is an interdisciplinary field which uses computing science methods to formally define criminology concepts, improve our understanding of complex phenomena, and generate solutions for related problems.
Methods
Computing sci ...
.
He also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the
National Library of Medicine
The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library.
Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. It ...
for six years.
Computational forensics
In 2002, Srihari published a landmark study establishing the individuality of handwriting. This work was cited in
Daubert standard
In United States federal law, the ''Daubert'' standard is a rule of evidence regarding the admissibility of expert witness testimony. A party may raise a ''Daubert'' motion, a special motion in limine, motion ''in limine'' raised before or during ...
and
Frye standard
The ''Frye'' standard, ''Frye'' test, or general acceptance test is a test used in United States courts to determine the admissibility of scientific evidence. It provides that expert opinion based on a scientific technique is admissible only when ...
hearings in United States courts leading to the admission of
handwriting evidence in those cases. This research work was later extended to shoe-print and fingerprint recognition as well. Srihari served on the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nat ...
Committee on Identifying the needs of the Forensic Science Community which led to a highly influential report entitled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward" published in April 2009.
Personal life
Srihari died from complications of
glioblastoma
Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is one of the most aggressive types of cancer that begin within the brain. Initially, signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality cha ...
on 8 March 2022, at the age of 72.
Awards
Srihari became an IEEE Fellow in 1995 and an IAPR Fellow in 1996. He was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievements Award of IAPR/ICDAR for 2011.
IAPR/ICDAR Awards
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References
External links
Center of Excellence for Document Analysis and Recognition
The Rise of Computational Forensics
Identifying the Needs of the Forensic Science Community
{{DEFAULTSORT:Srihari, S. N.
Year of birth missing
1940s births
2022 deaths
Ohio State University College of Engineering alumni
Indian Institute of Science alumni
University at Buffalo faculty
Indian computer scientists
Bangalore University alumni
Scientists from Bangalore