Biometrics, Fall 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, Grades.
- 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, Dr. Dinko Bačić.
- 11/26 - Thanksgiving, No classes.
- 12/01 - 2nd Invited Talk, Dr. Adam Czajka.
- 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.09/29 - 1st assignment due date.10/06 - Fall Break, no classes.10/08 - Midterm Exam.10/17 - 2nd assignment due date.10/27 - 3rd Coding Class, bring your laptops.11/10 - 4th Coding Class, bring your laptops.- 11/17 - 3rd assignment due date.
- 11/24 - 1st Invited Talk.
- 11/26 - Thanksgiving, no classes.
- 12/01 - 2nd Invited Talk.
- 12/03 - Project presentations.
- 12/05 - 4th assignment due date.
- 12/08 - Final Exam.
Notebooks (for coding classes)
Online notebooks will be linked here as we move forward with the classes.
- Notebook 1, Metrics’ implementation.
- Notebook 2, Fingerprint recognition.
- Notebook 3, Face recognition.
- Notebook 4, Iris recognition.
Invited Talks
 |
Dr. Dinko Bačić Associate Professor Quinlan School of Business Loyola University Chicago |
| Soon. Soon. |
 |
Dr. Adam Czajka Associate Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering University of Notre Dame |
| From Cradle to Grave Biometrics: Forensic Iris Recognition Hollywood’s favorite biometric attack often involves an eye plucked from its socket and presented on a stick to an iris camera. But… can this attack actually succeed in reality? Can we use iris patterns to recognize humans after death? And if so, how long after death is this possible? Looking at the other end of life: can we apply iris recognition for newborns? Can we learn from human experts to develop iris recognition and presentation attack detection methods that generalize well to unseen data? Can we synthesize realistically-looking irises of non-existent identities and condition these models with specific anomalies to assist forensic experts in their work? Join Adam on a fascinating biometric journey that starts at birth and ends after death. Along the way, we’ll try to find answers to the above questions, supported by the latest research advancements in forensic iris recognition. |
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, data, good answers.
- Assignment 2, data, good answers.
- Assignment 3, data.
- Assignment 4, data.
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), good answers, grades.
- Final Exam (12/08), info soon.
Project
- Written report and presentation, work alone or in groups.
- Presentations will happen on 12/03 and reports are due on the same date.
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.
Chosen Topics
| Team | Topic |
|---|---|
| Team 1 | The Impact of Being Identified Online |
| Team 2 | Ethical Implications of Biometrics and Surveillance: Balancing Security and Privacy |
| Team 3 | Ethics of Surveillance in Public Spaces |
| Team 4 | Are EMG Signals Unique Enough for Person Identification? |
| Team 5 | Technical and Ethical Implications of Subdermal Microchip Implants for Identification |
| Team 6 | Fingerprint Spoofing |
| Team 7 | Gait Recognition |
| Team 8 | Biometric Contracts: Consent Mechanisms for Biometric Data Usage |
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
Shared by the students and the instructor.
- Roblox launches new age verification system.
- YouTube will start using AI to guess your age.
- Clearview AI Fined $33 Million.
- 23andMe bankruptcy: With America’s DNA put on sale, market panic gets a new twist.
- Koalas have fingerprints almost identical to ours.
- Eye-scanning ID project launches in U.S. with six locations.
- Politician’s fingerprint ‘cloned from photos’ by hacker.
- Computer scientists are developing a ‘master’ fingerprint that could unlock your phone.
- At E.U. airports, passport stamps are out and fingerprint scans are in.
- Illegible Fingerprints.
- Suspected Charlie Kirk killer’s weapon and palm print recovered.
- Thousands Of Swedes are inserting microchips under their skin.
- Vietnam shuts down millions of bank accounts over biometric rules.
- Man arrested as facial recognition cameras launched.
- This hacker hoodie Uses surveillance camera parts to blind surveillance cameras.
- Are Biometrics the unsung hero or the ultimate villain in cybersecurity?
- Major breach found in biometrics system.
- Leave no trace: Long history of criminals mutilating their fingerprints.
- Woman uses altered finger tips to beat security.
- These hyper-realistic masks are being used to train facial recognition tech.
- Real-time biometric vetting to US Navy ships in foreign ports.
- How the NYPD’s facial recognition tool landed the wrong man in jail.
- DHS expands biometric entry-exit, CBP to photograph all non-citizens at US borders.
- Face biometrics for student nutrition programs.
- Deepfakes now outsmarting detection by mimicking heartbeats.
Useful Links
- Responsible ML datasets, used in reading activity on 09/03.
- Yale face dataset, used in the 3rd assignment.
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.