Chuck Cho

Accomplished machine learning engineer with extensive experience in applied ML (computer vision, speech/language/multimodal, and ranking/recommendation). Proven track record of AI/ML research, prototyping, and productionization. Strong ability to manage senior-level relationships and cross-functional teams.

Meta Facebook, Bellevue, WA (2020 - present)

• Delivered a next-gen content understanding model for all incoming videos on Facebook/Instagram which is trained on billion-scale data and outperforms the previous production model by >15% mAP.
• Developed new ML-based approaches to detecting and mitigating scraping activities on Meta platforms with 98% precision.
• Led Search Engine Results Page (SERP) optimization for Facebook Groups, and drove 3.5M user (DAU) gain.

Axon, Seattle, WA, Dextro, NY, NY (2015 - 2020)

• Led development of AI-empowered products for the law enforcement domain, including topic classification for body-worn camera footage, speech-to-text service, and acoustic event classification.
• Managed and coached a team of 7 Ph.D. ML researchers. Established external collaborations with MIT CSAIL and AI ethics scholars.
• Delivered video classification system including designing video-specific classifier models, model fusion schemes, and evaluation pipeline. Won a video analytics project for LAPD.

SRI International, Princeton, NJ (2009 - 2015)

• Implemented and delivered Improvised Explosive Device detection systems using EO/IR videos, hyperspectral SWIR sensors, and coded aperture snapshot imagery. A resulting Night Eagle system helped save hundreds of lives.

IBM Semiconductor Research and Development Center, East Fishkill, NY (2005 - 2009)

• Led and developed Design for Manufacturing (DfM) methodologies and process-induced variability modeling in advanced Silicon technologies from 90nm to 45nm. Authored >20 technical papers and >10 patents.

Remote Sensing and Estimation Group, Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, MA (2002 - 2005)

• As a graduate research assistant, developed an ML-based solution to extract underlying physical parameters from raw weather satellite imagery data.

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA (Spring 2002)

Teaching assistant for graduate-level discrete-time signal processing course.

MIT Information Systems, Cambridge, MA (2001 - 2005)

Working as an Athena consultant. Researched/answered student and faculty questions regarding the use of software on MIT's campus-wide computer network.

Lab. for Information and Decision Systems, MIT, Cambridge, MA (1999 - 2002)

Analyzed the performance of a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) based automated target recognition (ATR) system under the supervision of Professor Jeffrey Shapiro.

Multimedia Processing and Communication Lab., Korea University, Seoul, Korea (1997)

Assisted in the development of the algorithms for a digital image stabilizer as an undergraduate research assistant, funded by Samsung Electronic Corporation.

POSCO, Kwangyang, Korea (1997)

Supported a research team engaged in installing and managing new communication networks for factory automation.

Owner / maintainer of video-caffe at github, a fork of Caffe that can handle video and Nd-convolution/pooling.

Imaging / Computer Vision

• Choongyeun Cho, Benjamin Antin, Sanchit Arora, Shwan Ashrafi, Peilin Duan, Dang The Huynh, Lee James, Hang Tuan Nguyen, Mojtaba Solgi, Cuong Van Than, Large-Scale Video Classification with Feature Space Augmentation coupled with Learned Label Relations and Ensembling, ECCV The 2nd Workshop on YouTube-8M Large-Scale Video Understanding, Sep 2018
• Sanchit Arora, Chuck Cho, Paul Fitzpatrick, Francois Scharffe, Towards Ontology Driven Learning Of Visual Concept Detectors, CoRR, May 2016
• Sehoon Lim, Choongyeun Cho, and Sek Chai, Forensic Detection System Using Video-Stabilized Coded Aperture Snapshot Spectral Camera, IEEE International Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security 2015 (Accepted), Apr 2015
• Sehoon Lim, Choongyeun Cho, Aveek Das, and Sek Chai, Coded Aperture Snapshot Imaging Based Spectral Classification, Computational Optical Sensing and Imaging (COSI) 2014 (Accepted), Jun 2014
• Sehoon Lim, David C. Berends, Choongyeun Cho, Aveek K. Das, Michael Isnardi, Sek Chai, Forensic Prescreening System Using Coded Aperture Snapshot Spectral Imager, SPIE Multisensor, Multisource Information Fusion Conference 2014, May 2014

Process variability modeling / design-for-yield (DFY)

• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik D. Kim, and Jonghae Kim, In-Situ and At-Speed Modeling and Characterization of Logic Interconnect Device Considering Front-End/Back-End Interaction, Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits and RF Systems (SiRF) 2009, Jan 2009
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, and Jonghae Kim, Cell Broadband Engine Performance and Yield Benchmark in 65nm SOI CMOS with Spatial, Temporal and Parametric Process Variability Model, IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (ASSCC) 2008, Nov 2008
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, and Daihyun Lim, Early Prediction of Product Performance and Yield Via Technology Benchmark, IBM Technical Exchange Conference (IBM-TEC) 2008, Oct 2008
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Daihyun Lim, and Sangyeun Cho, Early Prediction of Product Performance and Yield Via Technology Benchmark, IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) 2008, Sep 2008
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, and Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Design-Technology Interaction From Data-Mining Perspective, IBM Academy of Technology Conference on Analog Design, Technology, Models, and Tools 2008, May 2008
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, and Choongyeun Cho, The Process Variability of a V-band LC-VCO in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE RFIC Symposium 2008, June 2008
• Daeik Kim, Choongyeun Cho, and Jonghae Kim, Scalable Statistical Measurement and Estimation of a mm-Wave CML Static Divider Sensitivity in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE RFIC Symposium 2008, June 2008
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Daihyun Lim, Sangyeun Cho, and Robert Trzcinski, Decomposition and Analysis of Process Variability Using Constrained Principal Component Analysis, IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, Vol. 21, No. 1, Feb 2008
• Choongyeun Cho, Linking Product and Manufacturing Via a Statistical Framework, invited seminar at Communication Technologies Department Seminar (IBM T.J. Watson Research Center), July 2007
• Daihyun Lim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Daeik Kim, Choongyeun Cho, and Duane Boning, Performance and Yield Optimization of mm-Wave PLL Front-End in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE RFIC Symposium 2007, June 2007 Page(s):525 - 528
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, and Robert Trzcinski, Statistical Framework for Technology-Model-Circuit Co-Design and Convergence, ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC) 2007, 4-8 June 2007 Page(s):503 - 508
• Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Daihyun Lim, Sangyeun Cho, and Robert Trzcinski, A Data-Driven Statistical Approach to Analyzing Process Variation in 65nm SOI Technology, International Symposium on Quality Electronic Design (ISQED) 2007, March 2007 Page(s):699 - 702
• Daihyun Lim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Choongyeun Cho, Daeik Kim, Robert Trzcinski, and Duane Boning, Performance Variability of a 90GHz Static CML Frequency Divider in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2007, Feb. 2007 Page(s):542 - 621
• Daeik Kim, Choongyeun Cho, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Robert Trzcinski, and David Ahlgren, CMOS Mixed-Signal Circuit Process Variation Sensitivity Characterization for Yield Improvement, IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) 2006, Sept. 2006 Page(s):365 - 368

Circuit

• Daeik D. Kim, Jonghae Kim, Choongyeun Cho, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Mahender Kumar, Woo-Hyeong Lee, Ken Rim, An Array of Four Complementary LC-VCOs with 51.4% W-band coverage in 32nm SOI CMOS Technology, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2009, Feb 2009
• Daeik D. Kim, Choongyeun Cho, and Jonghae Kim, A 5 GHz 11-Stage CML VCO with 40% Frequency Tuning in 0.13um SOI CMOS, Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits and RF Systems (SiRF) 2009, Jan 2009
• Daeik D. Kim, Choongyeun Cho, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, and Daihyun Lim, A Low-Power mmWave CML Prescaler in 65nm SOI CMOS Technology (invited), IEEE Compound Semiconductor IC Symposium (CSICS) 2008, Oct 2008
• Daeik Kim, Choongyeun Cho, Jonghae Kim, and Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Wideband mmWave CML Static Divider in 65nm SOI CMOS Technology (invited), IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) 2008, Sep 2008
• Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Daeik Kim, Sungjae Lee, Chuck Cho, and Jonghae Kim, FET layout optimization and variability in mmWave VCO and CML dividers in SOI CMOS, IBM Academy of Technology Conference on Analog Design, Technology, Models, and Tools 2008, May 2008
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Choongyeun Cho, and Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Analog Performance Benchmark in Nanometer CMOS, IBM Academy of Technology Conference on Analog Design, Technology, Models, and Tools 2008, May 2008
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, and Choongyeun Cho, A 80GHz Complementary LC-VCO with 8.2GHz Frequency Tuning in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, in preparation
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim and Choongyeun Cho, Analog Parallelism in Ring-based VCOs, ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (DAC) 2008, June 2008
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, and Choongyeun Cho, 65nm SOI CMOS SoC Technology for Low-Power mmWave and RF Platform, Silicon Monolithic Integrated Circuits and RF Systems (SiRF) 2008, Feb 2008 (Invited)
• Daeik D. Kim, Jonghae Kim, and Choongyeun Cho, A 94GHz Locking Hysteresis-Assisted and Tunable CML Static Divider in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2008, Feb. 2008 Page(s):460 - 628
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Choongyeun Cho, and Daihyun Lim, A GHz-Digital Clock Jitters in Time and Frequency, IEEE Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference (ASSCC) 2007, Nov 2007
• Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Victor Karam, Calvin Plett, Choongyeun Cho, and Robert Trzcinski, A 1.2V 15.6mW 81GHz 2:1 Static CML Frequency Divider with a Band-Pass Load in a 90nm SOI CMOS Technology, IEEE Compound Semiconductor IC Symposium (CSICS) 2007, 14-17 Oct. 2007 Page(s):1 - 4
• Jeong-Il Kim, Byunghoo Jung, Dimitrios Peroulis, Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, and Choongyeun Cho, Integrated Inductor Actively Engaging Metal Filling Rules, IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) 2007, 16-19 Sep. 2007
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Choongyeun Cho, Daihyun Lim, Weipeng Li, and Robert Trzcinski, A 75GHz PLL Front-End Integration in 65nm SOI CMOS Technology, IEEE Symposium on VLSI Circuits 2007, 14-16 June 2007 Page(s):174 - 175
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Choongyeun Cho, Daihyun Lim, Robert Trzcinski, Mahender Kumar, Christine Norris, and David Alhgren, A 70GHz Manufacturable Complementary LC-VCO with 6.14GHz Tuning Range in 65nm SOI CMOS, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) 2007, Feb. 2007 Page(s):540 - 620

Device / technology

• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Choongyeun Cho, Robert Trzcinski, Mahender Kumar, and Christine Norris, Symmetric Vertical Parallel Plate Capacitors for On-chip RF Circuits in 65nm SOI Technology, IEEE Electron Device Letters (EDL), July 2007 Page(s):616 - 618
• Daeik Kim, Jonghae Kim, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, Choongyeun Cho, Robert Trzcinski, Sungjae Lee, Mahender Kumar, Christine Norris, Jae-Sung Rieh, Greg Freeman, and David Ahlgren, Manufacturable Parasitic-Aware Circuit-Level FETs in 65-nm SOI CMOS Technology, IEEE Electron Device Letters (EDL), June 2007 Page(s):520 - 522
• Sungjae Lee, Jonghae Kim, Daeik Kim, Basanth Jagannathan, Choongyeun Cho, Jim Johnson, Brian Dufrene, Noah Zamdmer, Lawrence Wagner, Richard Williams, David Fried, Ken Rim, John Pekarik, Scott Springer, Jean-Olivier Plouchart, and Greg Freeman, SOI CMOS Technology with 360GHz fT NFET, 260GHz fT PFET, and Record Circuit Performance for Millimeter-Wave Digital and Analog System-on-Chip Applications, IEEE Symposium on VLSI Technology 2007, 12-14 June 2007 Page(s):54 - 55

Remote sensing / detection and estimation

• William Blackwell, Laura Bickmeier, Fred Chen, Choongyeun Cho, Christopher Gittins, Laura Jairam, David Staelin, Retrieval of Atmospheric Temperature and Moisture Profiles from Cloudy Infrared and Microwave Sounding Data using Stochastic Methods, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, in preparation
• Choongyeun Cho and David Staelin, Stochastic Cloud Clearing of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Hyperspectral Infrared Radiances (AIRS), Optical Society of America (OSA) Hyperspectral Imaging and Sounding of the Environment (HISE) 2007
• William Blackwell, Frederick Chen, Choongyeun Cho, and David Staelin, Combined Microwave and Hyperspectral Infrared Retrievals of Atmospheric Profiles in the Presence of Clouds using Nonlinear Stochastic Methods, Optical Society of America (OSA) Hyperspectral Imaging and Sounding of the Environment (HISE) 2007
• Choongyeun Cho and David Staelin, Cloud Clearing of Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Hyperspectral Infrared Radiances Using Stochastic Methods, Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR), Vol. 111, April 2006
• Choongyeun Cho, Anomaly Compensation and Cloud Clearing of AIRS Hyperspectral Data, invited seminar at the meeting of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) Boston Section, August 2005
• Choongyeun Cho and David Staelin, Stochastic Cloud Clearing of Hyperspectral Radiances Observed by the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) on the Aqua Satellite, American Meteorological Society (AMS) Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography (2004)
• Chen-Peng Yeang, Choongyeun Cho, and Jeffrey Shapiro, Toward Target Recognition from Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery Using Electromagnetics-based Signatures, International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) Optical Engineering, Volume 42, Issue 7, July 2003, Page(s):2129 - 2149
• Choongyeun Cho, Chen-Peng Yeang, and Jeffrey Shapiro, Analytic Performance Bounds on SAR-Image Target Recognition using Physics-Based Signatures, Proceedings of SPIE, Volume 4382, August 2001, Page(s):416 - 428

16 patents issued, including:

• Striped on-chip inductor
• Transitioning digital integrated circuit from standby mode to active mode via backgate charge transfer
• Internal charge transfer for circuits
• Circuit structures and methods with BEOL layer(s) configured to block electromagnetic interference
• Structure for symmetrical capacitor
• Random number generator with random sampling
• Apparatus and method for recycling and reusing charge in an electronic circuit

• Linking Product and Manufacturing Via a Statistical Framework, presented at Communication Technologies Department Seminar at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center seminar, July 2007.
• Anomaly Compensation and Cloud Clearing of AIRS Hyperspectral Data (ppt), presented to the meeting of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) Boston Section, August 2005.

• Formerly served as a webmaster and system administrator of MIT Korean Graduate Students Association from 1999 to 2001.
• Programming experience in shell, C/C++, Java, Matlab, SAS, XML/HTML/PHP/CSS, SQL, Perl, Tcl/Tk; Proficiency in the Unix system administration.
• Web design / web server administration since 1995. I designed and maintained several websites including cycho.org, and kncchurch.org.

• A recipient of a fellowship from the Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS).
• GitHub account: cycho
• Kaggle account: chuckcho

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2005
  S.M. and Ph.D. in the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• Korea University, Seoul, Korea, 1998
  B.S. in Electronics Engineering.