Dr. Puneeth Kumar Bolugallu Padmayya, a graduate student in the Department of Computer and Information Science at Alcorn State University, won first place in the graduate poster presentation at the ninth annual LSUS Regional Student Scholars Forum at Louisiana State University – Shreveport.
Padmayya presented his research, “Optimizing Forensic Workflows: Crime Scene Documentation with Image Stitching Software.”
His research streamlines how police departments and autopsy agencies deliver crime scene analyses to the court system.
The project stitches deconstructed images into a virtual tour. It also takes hand-drawn blueprints and makes them into digital sketches. Flags in yellow and red are superimposed over the virtual tour. Clicking them allows the user to access relevant files from each point in the crime scene location, including audio, video, photos, and notes from law enforcement and forensic experts.
About his research, Padmayya explains, “Whenever we take photos, we take them 90 degrees to each other, four photos. We make that as a virtual tool from the entry point to the exit point of the crime scene. In each frame, we incorporate the evidence — the videos, the audio, the notes taken — as well as the Google Map. Whenever a judge or a legal prosecutor sees it, they need not correlate by looking at this page, that page, this photo, that video.”
He came to Alcorn in 2022 after completing his undergraduate studies in surgery medicine at Father Muller Medical College in Mangaluru University and his Doctor of Medicine in Forensic Medicine at Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute in Bengaluru, India.
He credits his professors and the College of Arts and Sciences dean as instrumental to his success.
“Alcorn gives us an edge in getting a degree in computer and information science where I can study databases and AI, which I have already worked on in two autopsy projects,” Padmayya said.
“I really appreciate and thank Dr. [Ping] Zhang and Dr. Babu Patlolla, our dean, for giving me an opportunity. They have pushed me, and because of them, I’m in this position now. They pushed me to do all the research work and conferences. Without them, I don’t think it would have been possible.”
“Puneeth is a very talented graduate student,” said Dr. Ping Zhang, professor and chairperson of the Department of Math and Computer Science. “During his computer and information science graduate program studies at Alcorn State University, he has represented the Math and Computer Science Department and presented several presentations of his research work at national or regional conferences. He has been working at the University Math and Computer Science Center, helping our undergraduate students learn mathematics and computer science knowledge and skills. I hope he has a good future in his career endeavors.”
Padmayya will graduate in the upcoming commencement ceremony slated for May 11. After graduation, he hopes to establish himself as an asset for companies looking for individuals who can bridge the gap between medicine and IT.
Each year, the LSUS Regional Student Scholars Forum invites graduate and undergraduate students from universities in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas to present research and creative work in the following categories — Arts and Humanities, Health Sciences, Business, Social Sciences, Education, and STEM Disciplines. After oral and poster presentations, awards are given for the best graduate and undergraduate submissions. Research awards are sponsored by the LSUS Foundation.
