Yeh earns NSF CAREER Award
07-31-2026
Raymond A. Yeh, professor in Purdue University's Department of Computer Science, earned an NSF CAREER Award (Photo by Brian Powell Photography)
Raymond A. Yeh, assistant professor in Purdue University's Department of Computer Science, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career (CAREER) Award to advance research that will make computer vision systems more transparent, maintainable and accountable.
The award, titled “Data-centric Capabilities for Vision Models,” supports Yeh's research into a new class of data-centric computer vision models that maintain explicit connections to the data used to train them.
Modern computer vision has rapidly transformed how computers understand, generate and edit images. However, today's AI systems are typically built on large, complex models that make it difficult to understand why they produce certain outputs, trace those behaviors back to training data or adapt them as conditions change.
Yeh's research aims to address those challenges by designing models that are directly connected to their underlying training data, making AI systems easier to interpret, update and control while improving their safety and long-term maintainability.
"We hope to build the next generation of AI and machine learning systems that are easier to maintain, attribute and have a more direct connection to the underlying training data," Yeh said.
The project builds on ongoing research in Yeh's lab, where he and his students develop robust computer vision systems for image understanding, generation and reasoning. Preliminary results from the project have already been recognized by the research community, with a foundational paper accepted as a highlight at the 2026 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR). The funding will support graduate student researchers and help expand the project's impact into larger-scale computer vision applications.
"The CAREER Award is not only a grant, but also a recognition of our lab's work thus far, and I am really grateful to have received it," Yeh said.
The next phase of the project will focus on scaling the model designs for practical computer vision applications spanning both perception and image generation while continuing to improve their interpretability and maintainability.
Yeh said the research is driven by graduate students in Purdue Computer Science, with high-performance computing support provided by Purdue's Research Computing (RCAC).
The NSF CAREER Award is the National Science Foundation's premier award for early-career faculty. It recognizes researchers who demonstrate the potential to lead impactful research while integrating education and mentoring into their academic careers.
About the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University
Founded in 1962, the Department of Computer Science was created to be an innovative base of knowledge in the emerging field of computing as the first degree-awarding program in the United States. The department continues to advance the computer science industry through research. U.S. News & World Report ranks the department No. 16 and No. 19 overall in undergraduate and graduate computer science, respectively. Graduates of the program are able to solve complex and challenging problems in many fields. Our consistent success in an ever-changing landscape is reflected in the record undergraduate enrollment, increased faculty hiring, innovative research projects, and the creation of new academic programs. Learn more at cs.purdue.edu.