Purnima Ratilal-Makris
Professor,
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Contact
- purnima@ece.northeastern.edu
- 422 Dana
360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115
Office
- 617.373.8458
Research Focus
Remote sensing, underwater acoustics, acoustical oceanography, bioacoustics, ultrasound imaging, nonlinear scattering, wave propagation in random media, signal, image and array processing, statistical inference theory
About
Professor Ratilal-Makris has extensive experimental and theoretical experience in remote sensing with acoustics and ultrasonics. The applications include long range acoustic detection, localization, and inference of underwater vehicles, geology, fish, and other objects in the ocean; linear and nonlinear ultrasound imaging for biomedical and military applications; and imaging in multipath environments.
Professor Ratilal-Makris holds a PhD in acoustics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, 2002). She was was previously a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Ocean Engineering at MIT (2002-2004) and a Research Scientist at Singapore’s DSO National Laboratories (1994-1998). She was awarded the ONR Postdoctoral Award in Ocean Acoustics in 2002, the Bruce Lindsay Award by the Acoustical Society of America in 2006, the ONR Young Investigator (YIP) Award in 2007, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2008.
Education
- PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002
Honors & Awards
- Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
- Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award
Professional Affiliations
- Acoustical Society of America, Fellow
Research Overview
Remote sensing, underwater acoustics, acoustical oceanography, bioacoustics, ultrasound imaging, nonlinear scattering, wave propagation in random media, signal, image and array processing, statistical inference theory
Selected Research Projects
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- C. Zhu, H. Garcia, A. Kaplan, M. Schinault, N.O. Handegard, O.R. Godø, W. Huang, P. Ratilal, Detection, Localization and Classification of Multiple Mechanized Ocean Vessels over Continental-Shelf Scale Regions with Passive Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing, 10(11), 2018, 1699
- H.A. Garcia, C. Zhu, M.E. Schinault, A.I. Kaplan, N.O. Haandegard, O.R. Godø, H. Ahonen, N.C. Makris, D. Wang, W. Huang, P. Ratilal, Temporal-Spatial, Spectral and Source Level Distributions of Fin Whale Vocalisations in the Norwegian Sea Observed with a Coherent Hydrophone, ICES Journal of Marine Science, 76(1), 2018, 268-283
- D. Wang, P. Ratilal, Angular Resolution Enhancement Provided by Nonuniformly-Spaced Linear Hydrophone Arrays in Ocean Acoustic Waveguide Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing, 9(10), 2017, 1036, 1-16
- D. Wang, H.Garcia, W. Huang, D.D. Tran, A.D. Jain, D.H. Yi, Z. Gong, J.M. Jech, O.R. Godoe, N.C. Makris, P. Ratilal Vast Assembly of Vocal Marine Mammals from Diverse Species on Fish Spawning Ground, Nature, 531, 2016, 366-370
- Z. Gong, D. Tran, P. Ratilal, Comparing Passive Source Localization and Tracking Approaches With a Towed Horizontal Receiver Array in an Ocean Waveguide, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 134, 2013, 3705-3720
- M. Andrews, Z. Gong, P. Ratilal, Effects of Multiple Scattering, Attenuation and Dispersion in Waveguide Sensing of Fish, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130, 2011, 1253-1271
Jan 17, 2024
Using Massive Microphone Array To Listen to Marine Life
ECE Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris is developing a massive underwater microphone array to listen to and map marine ecosystems in real-time.
Aug 11, 2023
Ratilal-Makris To Serve on Ocean Research Advisory Panel
ECE Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris is one of 18 members selected for the newly formed Ocean Research Advisory Panel (ORAP), who will serve as advisors to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the interagency Ocean Policy Committee (OPC).
Nov 28, 2022
$1.28M NSF Award for Hydrophone Array System for Real-Time Oceanic Acoustic Monitoring
ECE Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris was awarded a $1.28 million NSF grant for “Large-Aperture 160-Element Coherent Hydrophone Array System Upgrades and Operational Readiness Testing for Real-Time Continental-Shelf Scale Ocean Acoustic Monitoring.”
Sep 20, 2022
Spring 2022 Center for Research Innovation Spark Fund Awardees
Bouve/ChE University Distinguished Professor Mansoor Amiji, ChE Assistant Professor Sara Hashmi, ECE Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris, and MIE Assistant Professor Mohsen Moghaddam are recipients of the Spring 2022 Spark Fund Awards from Northeastern’s Center for Research Innovation.
Oct 25, 2019
Makris Awarded Patent for Monitoring Marine Animals
ECE Professor Purnima Ratilal Makris was awarded a patent for “Systems and methods for monitoring and classifying marine animals based on acoustic signals”. Abstract Source: USPTO Disclosed herein are apparatus, […]
Sep 12, 2017
Ratilal-Makris Receives $710K NSF Grant
ECE Associate Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris received a $710K NSF award for the “Development of a Large-Aperture Coherent Hydrophone Array, Data Processing and Analysis Software System for Instantaneous Wide-Area Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Marine Mammals.”
Jan 30, 2017
ECE Faculty Meet With Student Advisory Board
ECE Interim Chair Miriam Leeser, Associate Chair Waleed Meleis, and Associate Professor Purnima Ratilal-Makris met with undergraduate students in the ECE Student Advisory Board to discuss their experiences in the […]
Mar 02, 2016
Whale Feeding Hotspots
ECE Associate Professor Purnima Ratilal whose research was recently featured in Nature, has shown that whales tend to group into their own species when eating in large feeding areas.
Aug 12, 2015
Monitoring Marine Mammal with POAWRS
ECE Associate Professors Purnima Makris and Gunar Schirner were awarded a $300K NSF grant for the "Development of an interim passive ocean acoustic waveguide remote sensing system for instantaneous continental-shelf scale marine mammal monitoring, localization and species classification".
Dec 07, 2014
Makris Elected Fellow of ASA
Purnima Ratilal-Makris was elected a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).