Member:Sitara Afzal (PK)

aicdlab
시타라 아프잘 박사후연구원 (2025년 7월)

Short Biography

I am a postdoctoral researcher with a Ph.D. in Software Engineering, specializing in computer vision, pattern recognition, and biomedical engineering. My research focuses on emotion recognition, multimodal content analysis, adaptive XR systems, and medical image analysis. I have extensive experience developing deep learning models such as CNNs, Transformers, and hybrid architectures for applications in affective computing and clinical imaging. Currently, I am advancing my research in biomedical engineering with a particular emphasis on medical imaging healthcare systems.

Personal Portfolio: https://sites.google.com/view/sitaraafzal/home

Education

  • Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea
    • Ph.D. in Software Engineering (2021–2025)
    • Thesis: Adaptive Virtual Reality System for Emotion Detection and Induction Using Multimodal Feedback and Character Animation
  • COMSATS University Islamabad, Pakistan
    • M.Sc. in Computer Science (2017–2019)
    • Thesis: A Transfer Learning Based Framework for Efficient Alzheimer’s Detection
    • B.Sc. in Computer Science (2013–2017)
    • Thesis: Multilingual text detection in natural scene images

Awards & Honors

  • Outstanding Researcher Award – Sejong University, Seoul,South Korea, 2025
  • Best Alumni Recognition – COMSATS University, Pakistan, 2021
  • 100% Scholarship for Ph.D. – Sejong University, Seoul, South Korea 2021
  • 100% Merit-Based Scholarship for MS – COMSATS University, Pakistan 2017

Research Experience

  • Research Assistant (2021–2025) – MR&I Lab, Sejong University, Seoul,South Korea
  • MS Student Supervision (2021–2022) – COMSATS University, Pakistan
  • Assistant Teacher (2018–2019) – COMSATS University,Pakistan

Key Projects

  1. Communication Service for Medical Opinion Support – NRF (2021–2024)
  2. Human-Friendly XR Technology (Phases 1–3) – IITP (2022–2024)
  3. AI-based Intelligent Content Reproduction Tool – KIAT (2022–2024)
  4. Entertainment-based VR Technology – IITP (2022)

Journal Publications

  1. Z. Ali, J. Moon, S. Gillani, S. Afzal, M. Maqsood, S. Rho. "Vision-based approach to knee osteoarthritis and Parkinson’s disease detection utilizing human gait patterns", *PeerJ Computer Science*, Vol 11, e2857, 2025.
  2. Sitara Afzal, Haseeb Ali Khan, and Jong Weon Lee. "PlantView: Integrating Deep Learning with 3D Modeling for Indoor Plant Augmentation", *Ecological Informatics*, Vol 84, 2024.
  3. Sitara Afzal, Imran Ullah Khan, Irfan Mehmood, and Jong Weon Lee. "Leveraging Augmented Reality, Semantic-Segmentation, and VANETs for Enhanced Driver's Safety Assistance", *Computers, Materials & Continua*, Vol 78, Issue 1, 2024.
  4. Sitara Afzal, Haseeb Ali Khan, Jalil Piran, and Jong Weon Lee. "A Comprehensive Survey on Affective Computing; Challenges, Trends, Applications, and Future Directions", *IEEE Access*, 2024.
  5. Hayat Ullah Khan, Sitara Afzal, and Imran Ullah Khan. "Perceptual Quality Assessment of Panoramic Stitched Contents for Immersive Applications: A Prospective Survey", *Virtual Reality and Intelligent Hardware*, Vol 4, Issue 3, 2022.
  6. Imran Ullah Khan, Sitara Afzal, and Jong Weon Lee. "Human Activity Recognition via Hybrid Deep Learning Based Model", *Sensors*, Vol 22(1), January 2022.
  7. Sitara Afzal, Imran Ullah Khan, and Jong Weon Lee. "A Transfer Learning-Based Approach to Detect Cerebral Microbleeds", *Computers, Materials & Continua*, Vol 71, 2021.
  8. Sitara Afzal, Muazzam Maqsood, Umair Khan, Irfan Mehmood, Hina Nawaz, Farhan Aadil, Oh-Young Song, and Yunyoung Nam. "Alzheimer’s Disease Techniques and Methods", *International Journal of Interactive Multimedia and Artificial Intelligence*, 2021.
  9. Sitara Afzal, Muazzam Maqsood, Irfan Mehmood, Muhammad Tabish Niaz, and Sangyin Seo. "An Efficient False-Positive Reduction System for Cerebral Microbleed Detection", *Computers, Materials & Continua*, Vol 66, Issue 3, 2021.
  10. Ayesha Jabeen, Sitara Afzal, Muazzam Maqsood, Irfan Mehmood, Sadaf Yasmeen, Muhammad Tabish Niaz, and Yunyoung Nam. "An LSTM-Based Stock Prediction for Major Stock Sector Using COVID Sentiments", *Computers, Materials and Continua*, Vol 67, Issue 1, 2021.
  11. Rehan Ashraf, Sitara Afzal, Atiq ur Rehman, Sarah Gul, Junaid Baber, Maheen Bakhtyar, Irfan Mehmood, Oh-Young Song, and Muazzam Maqsood. "Region-of-Interest Based Transfer Learning Assisted Framework for Skin Cancer Detection", *IEEE Access*, Vol 8, 2020.
  12. Hina Nawaz, Muazzam Maqsood, Sitara Afzal, Farhan Aadil, Irfan Mehmood, and Seungmin Rho. "A Deep Feature-Based Real-Time System for Alzheimer Disease Stage Detection", *Multimedia Tools and Applications*, Vol 80, 2021.
  13. Muhammad Yasir, Muhamamd Attique, Khalid Latif, Ghulam Mujtaba Chaudhary, Sitara Afzal, Kamran Ahmed, and Farhan Shahzad. "Deep Learning Assisted Business Intelligence Model for Cryptocurrency Forecasting Using Social Media Sentiment", *Journal of Enterprise Information Management*, Vol 36, Issue 3, 2023.
  14. Muhammad Yasir, Sitara Afzal, Khalid Latif, Ghulam Mujtaba Chaudhary, Nazish Yameen Malik, Farhan Shahzad, and Oh-Young Song. "An Efficient Deep Learning Based Model to Predict Interest Rate Using Twitter Sentiment", *Sustainability*, Vol 12, Issue 4, 2020.
  15. Haider Maqsood, Irfan Mehmood, Muazzam Maqsood, Muhammad Yasir, Sitara Afzal, Farhan Aadil, Mahmoud Mohamed Selim, and Khan Muhammad. "A Local and Global Event Sentiment Based Efficient Stock Exchange Forecasting using Deep Learning", *International Journal of Information Management*, Vol 50, 2020.
  16. Sitara Afzal, Muazzam Maqsood, Faria Nazir, Umair Khan, Farhan Aadil, Khalid Awan, Irfan Mehmood, and Oh-Young Song. "A Data Augmentation Based Framework to Handle Class Imbalance Problem for Alzheimer’s Stage Detection", *IEEE Access*, Vol 7, 2019.
  17. Muhammad Yasir, Mehr Yahya Durrani, Sitara Afzal, Muazzam Maqsood, Farhan Aadil, Irfan Mehmood, and Suengmin Rho. "An Intelligent Event Sentiment Based Daily Foreign Exchange Rate Forecasting System", *Applied Sciences*, Vol 9, Issue 15, 2019.

Conferences

  1. S. Afzal, H.A. Khan, S. Ali, J.W. Lee. "Virtual Reality Environment: Detecting and Inducing Emotions", *2025 IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE)*, pp. 1–4.
  2. "Assessing Emotional Induction through AI-Driven Virtual Doctor", *IEEE ICCE 2025*
  3. "Emotion-Aware Virtual Doctor: A 3D Interactive Application for Emotion Regulation", *World IT Show, 2024*
  4. "User Experience Analysis of Style Transfer in 360° Panoramic Videos", *World IT Show, 2023*
  5. "Emotion-Aware Virtual Healthcare: A 3D Model for Enhancing Emotional Well-Being", *Sejong Workshop, 2023*
  6. "PlantNet: Recognition of Plant Species Using Deep Convolutional Network", *IEEE ICCE 2022*
  7. "See-Through-Vehicle for Overtaking Activity", *IEEE ICCE 2023*
  8. "A Segmentation-less Efficient Alzheimer Detection Approach using Hybrid Image Features", *HMIS Handbook*

Patents

  1. "A Transfer Learning-Based Approach to Detect Cerebral Microbleeds", Submitted, 2021
  2. "Deep Learning-Based Indoor Plant Type Detection Method and Device", Submitted, 2022

Technical Skills

  • Languages: Python, C++
  • Frameworks: TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras
  • CV Tools: OpenCV, Pillow, Scikit-image
  • Data Tools: Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib, Seaborn
  • Database: MySQL, SQLite
  • IoT: Raspberry Pi, Arduino
  • Version Control: Git, GitHub
  • Simulation: MATLAB Simulink
  • Design Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Premier, Blender, Character Creations
  • XR Platforms: Hololens 1 & 2, Emotiv, Bio-Well

Reviewer Board Membership

  • Engineering Applications of AI
  • IEEE Access
  • Neurocomputing
  • Sensors
  • Materials
  • Sustainability
  • Scientific Reports
  • Heliyon
  • Hindawi, etc.

Contact Information

  • Postal (Visiting) Address: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Keimyung University, South Korea
  • 주소: 대구광역시 달서구 신당동 계명대학교 쉐턱관 432
  • Email: dr.afzalsitara@gmail.com
  • Phone: (+82) 10-7402-6664
  • Google Scholar: [1]
  • Scopus: [2]
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