Biometrics, Fall 2025

Aug 21, 2025

Details

Course: COMP 388-002 / COMP 488-002 Computer Science Topics
Level: Undergraduate and Graduate
Instructor: Daniel Moreira (dmoreira1@luc.edu)

Lectures: MON and WED, 4:15 to 5:30 PM, in person at Information Commons 112
Office Hours: TUE evenings and FRI mornings, Doyle Center 310 or Zoom, by appointment
Sakai: https://sakai.luc.edu/x/wYe0XI

Overview

How do computers match a person’s fingerprints? Do they still use the same techniques proposed in the XIX century? How do computers identify people captured in a video? Do they leverage the depicted faces only, or can they use other traits such as gait or voice? How about iris recognition as portrayed in the movies? Is it really possible? What happens in the case of people who look very similar, such as identical twins? Which traits are more reliable and robust to impersonation or prone to falsification? These are some of the questions we will address in this course, whose main topic is Biometrics. In a nutshell, Biometrics is the study of techniques to identify individuals through their physical and behavioral traits, such as fingerprints, face, iris, DNA, voice, gait, etc. Our focus will be on the technical and ethical aspects of computer-aided Biometrics, discussing the issues of going from simple and benign authentication to the more problematic case of surveillance. The course will have an intense hands-on approach, with the collection of samples and implementation of fingerprint, face, and iris recognition.

Requirements to attend this course are basic programming skills (especially Python). This course and its materials are also available in Sakai.

Schedule

08/25 - Syllabus, Course details.
08/27 - Basics I, Biometrics, traits, and systems.
09/01 - Labor Day, no classes.
09/03 - Reading Activity, no sync class.
09/08 - Basics II, Biometric systems, errors, and metrics.
09/10 - 1st Coding Class, Metrics’ implementation.
09/15 - Fingerprint Recog. I, History and features.
09/17 - Fingerprint Recog. II, Acquisition and enhancement.
09/22 - Fingerprint Recog. III, Minutiae detection.
09/24 - Fingerprint Recog. IV, Data collection.
09/29 - 2nd Coding Class, Fingerprint recognition.
10/01 - Midterm Preparation, Recap, and project discussion.
10/06 - Fall Break, no classes.
10/08 - Midterm Exam, good luck.
10/13 - Face Recog. I, Why faces and faces vs. other traits.
10/15 - Face Recog. II, Acquisition and enhancement.
10/20 - Face Recog. III, Description and matching.
10/22 - Face Recog. IV, Deep learning face recognition.
10/27 - 3rd Coding Class, Face recognition.
10/29 - Iris Recog. I, Why irises and irises vs. other traits.
11/03 - Iris Recog. II, Acquisition and enhancement.
11/05 - Iris Recog. III, Description and matching.
11/10 - 4th Coding Class, Iris recognition.
11/12 - Other Traits, Alternative traits and Soft Biometrics.
11/17 - Multibiometrics, Data fusion.
11/19 - Feature Indexing, Index building and feature querying.
11/24 - 1st Invited Talk, more info soon.
11/26 - Thanksgiving, no classes.
12/01 - 2nd Invited Talk, more info soon.
12/03 - Project presentations, show time.
12/08 - Final Exam, good luck.

Important Dates

09/01 - Labor Day, no classes.
09/03 - Reading Activity, no sync class, Prof. Moreira’s plenary talk.
09/10 - 1st Coding Class, bring your laptops.
09/29 - 2nd Coding Class, bring your laptops.
10/06 - Fall Break, no classes.
10/08 - Midterm Exam.
10/27 - 3rd Coding Class, bring your laptops.
11/10 - 4th Coding Class, bring your laptops.
11/24 - 1st Invited Talk.
11/26 - Thanksgiving, no classes.
12/01 - 2nd Invited Talk.
12/03 - Project presentations.
12/08 - Final Exam.

Notebooks (for coding classes)

Online notebooks will be linked here as we move forward with the classes.

Notebook 1, link soon, Metrics’ implementation.
Notebook 2, link soon, Fingerprint recognition.
Notebook 3, link soon, Face recognition.
Notebook 4, link soon, Iris recognition.

Invited Talks

Information about the two talks will be added here as soon as they are settled.

Grading

Concept	Interval (%)	Concept	Interval (%)	Concept	Interval (%)	Concept	Interval (%)
A	[96, 100)	B+	[88, 92)	C+	[76, 80)	D+	[64, 68)
A-	[92, 96)	B	[84, 88)	C	[72, 76)	D	[60, 64)
		B-	[80, 84)	C-	[68, 72)	F	(0, 60)

Distribution

	Undergraduate (COMP 388-002)	Graduate (COMP 488-002)
Assignments (4)	40%	25%
Exams (2)	50%	40%
Project	+10% (optional and extra)	25%
Participation	10%	10%
On the News	+1% (extra, max: 4%)	+1% (extra, max: 4%)

Assignments

Assignment material will be linked here as we move forward with the classes.

Assignment 1, link soon.
Assignment 2, link soon.
Assignment 3, link soon.
Assignment 4, link soon.

Late Policy
Deduction of 10% of the maximum possible grade for each day of delay. Works late more than 9 days will be completely lost.

Exams

Midterm Exam (10/08), info soon.
Final Exam (12/08), info soon.

Project

Written report and presentation, work alone or in groups.

Possible Topics

Implementation of complete class attendance system.

Presentation attack (performance, detection, and mitigation) of fingerprint recognition.

Presentation attack of face recognition.

Presentation attack of iris recognition.

Implementation of recognition of traits other than fingerprints, face, and iris.

Presentation and implementation of state-of-the-art scientific publications.

Discussion about the ethical aspects of Biometrics and surveillance.

Participation

Class Attendance: every presence counts.
Today-I-missed Statements: every submission counts.
Grace Cards: use them to pardon class absence or late work.
Religious holidays will be honored according to the student’s faith, as stated here.

Today-I-missed Statements

After every attended class, each student will have to submit (through Sakai) a short paragraph answering one of the following:

What is your biggest question after class? OR

What was the most interesting point you learned today?

Inspired by Dr. Sandra Avila.

Grace Cards

Each student has three Grace Cards, which will allow them to avoid losing points because of class absence. They might also use their cards to excuse late-delivered assignments, as long as the delay is no greater than 9 days. The cards are not valid to dismiss or postpone exams or project-related dates. Students may use their cards at their own discretion, as long as they clearly communicate the usage to the instructor.

Life happens, be wise.

Biometrics on the News

Posted by the students and the instructor on Sakai.
Links will be added here as they appear on Sakai.

Useful Links

Links will be added here as we move forward with the classes.

References

Jain, Ross, Nandakumar, and Swearingen. Introduction to Biometrics, 2nd Edition. Springer Books, 2025.
Jain, Ross, and Nandakumar. Introduction to Biometrics. Springer Books, 2011.
Jain, Flynn, and Ross. Handbook of Biometrics. Springer Books, 2008.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students will master the theoretical foundations, key techniques, and applications of Biometrics to real-world scenarios. Their repertoire will include:

Understanding the fundamentals of Biometrics.
Developing and implementing Biometric algorithms.
Assessing the performance of Biometric systems.
Applying Biometrics to real-world applications.
Identifying the privacy and ethics issues of Biometric systems.
Being up-to-date with emerging trends in Biometrics.

Graduate students (within COMP 488-002), in particular, will acquire the following extra skills:

Reading, peer-reviewing, and writing scientific papers about Biometrics.
Conducting research in Biometrics, from the design of hypotheses, development of solutions, and comparison to existing baselines, to the design and execution of experiments.

Academic Integrity

Students must adhere to the LUC statements on academic integrity. These policies fully apply to this course. The penalty for task-wise academic misconduct is losing all the task’s points. Multiple events of misconduct will incur in failing the entire course (with an F grade). All cases of academic misconduct will be reported to the proper department offices. Lastly, students are not allowed to use AI assisted technology (such as ChatGPT) along the entirety of the course, unless explicitly authorized by the instructor.

Accommodations

Students who have disabilities and wish to request academic accommodations are advised to contact the Student Accessibility Center (SAC) at 773-508-3700 or sac@luc.edu as soon as possible. The SAC will provide accommodation letters that, once shared with the instructor, will be fully honored as per the terms of their content with no further questions and total confidentiality.

The SAC, student, and instructor will engage in an interactive process to determine how each student’s accommodations are applied to individual class sections. Students are welcome to visit the SAC on the first floor of Sullivan Center, Suite 117, to share questions or concern with one of their accessibility specialists.

Responsible Campus Partner

The instructor is a “Responsible Campus Partner” and will fully adhere to Loyola’s Title IX Sex-based Discrimination. He will also fully comply with the Illinois law of disclosing suspected instances of child abuse or neglect.

In addition to the instructor’s support, University’s resources are available to all the students who experience sexual/gender-based violence. Students in need are advised to safely contact the “Office for Equity & Compliance” (OEC) at equity@luc.edu or 773-508-7766. No student will ever be forced to file a report with the police.

Lastly, Loyola confidential advocates who can provide support and talk through options (medical, legal, etc.) are available at 773-494-3810. More information can be found at https://www.luc.edu/wellness.

Daniel Moreira

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Computer scientist with interests in (but not limited to) Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Media Forensics, and Biometrics.