Using Neural Networks to Automate Cell Counting

Shannon Milone, Verrazano Honors Class of 2018, earned a major in Computer Science.

My name is Shannon Milone and I am a senior at the College of Staten Island. I will be receiving my computer science bachelor’s degree this spring. From my freshman year, I always thought ahead to my senior year capstone project. I was nervous to write such an in depth paper and didn’t have much of an idea on what to do research on. As semesters passed and I became more immersed in my computer science degree, I became more excited to do research. I developed better relationships with friends and my professors, became the vice president of the Computer Science Club, and gained a confidence in the field of programming. There are many paths a computer scientist can take- from cyber security to web development. I had such a difficult time choosing a faculty member to conduct research with because I found all of their topics so interesting.

Shannon presenting at the Undergraduate Research Conference

I finally decided to do research with the chairperson of the computer science department, professor Shuqun Zhang. “Convolutional Neural Networks for Automatic Cell Counting in Microscopy Images” is the name of the project. This project uses image processing and deep learning to count the number of cells in an image. A skilled technician usually does this process, but that proves costly and has the possibility for human error. This research has the potential to help with many medical processes such as the counting of cancer cells in patients. It is much more accurate and less costly than previous techniques. Since cancer is such a prominent threat today, I was so driven to participate in this research. My contributions for this project included: creating a large image dataset for network training and testing, implementing deep learning techniques in a framework called Caffe, comparing the performance of different convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in cell counting, and optimizing CNN models for automatic cell counting.

All the computer science presenters at the Conference

Conducting research taught me about different computer science topics that I was not previously exposed to. It also taught me how to work with a professional on a real world topic that can impact the lives of others. I previously thought I would want to go into a web development career path, but after being exposed to image processing techniques, I know my choices are much broader. This research opened new doors for me and allowed me to explore the power of a computer science background.

I am very thankful to the Verrazano Honors Program and The College of Staten Island for placing a heavy emphasis on undergraduate research. I am also grateful to have received the CSI Undergraduate Research Stipend.