2018 Women in Biometrics Award winner: Anne Wang, Gemalto
13 November, 2018
category: Biometrics
Anne Wang began her biometrics career over a quarter century ago as a research scientist for Cogent (now Gemalto).
“Back in the 90s, biometrics was mostly used by law enforcement. At that time, this kind of technology was not really known to the general public other than in science fiction movies,” Wang says. “But in the last 20 years, the industry has taken off and is booming.”
She’s doing work that she believes makes the world safer. She has contributed to NIST-evaluated, world renowned biometric algorithms and the design of numerous biometric matching software development kits, as well as handheld multi-modal biometric identification devices.
Wang recently led the development efforts for touchless biometric capture technology. That’s a long way from her experiences in the early days of the field.
“I just feel it is cool. When I first joined the company, the first two projects I was involved with included one project for a welfare system that used fingerprint identification to reduce fraud. The other project was for law enforcement, for police officers using an automated fingerprint identification system,” Wang says. “I had a good feeling that I was doing something that could really help.”
The technologies developed by my team make our biometrics solutions and products more accurate, more robust, more user-friendly, and faster.
Wang’s proudest accomplishment:
“The technologies developed by my team make our biometrics solutions and products more accurate, more robust, more user-friendly, and faster. My work is integrated into large scale biometrics systems of different countries and commercial products used by millions of people. I am proud that our work helps to make our community safer and serve people better.”
Wang has supported government and commercial clients OBIM (formerly the US-VISIT program), the UK Border Agency’s Visas program, and Financial Information Network & Operations Ltd. In India. She participates in NIST evaluation of Gemalto Cogent fingerprint, facial and iris algorithms as well as several biometric standards subcommittees.
As a woman in a high tech industry, Wang has had some personal challenges. “The technology is advancing very quickly, changing very quickly. So to be a research technical person in this area, you have to keep in pace with the technology advancements,” Wang says. “Meanwhile, as a mother, I certainly want to spend more time with my child. Therefore, I need to balance this technical challenge, this kind of challenge as a woman, and to work it out.”
Wang and four other winners will be honored with the Women in Biometrics Awards on November 14th in New York City. The Security Industry Association will join SecureIDNews to present the awards during one of the security industry’s most prestigious events, SIA Honors Night.
