PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Lawrence O’Gorman

Also known as Larry O’Gorman

Lawrence O’Gorman is a Bell Labs Fellow at Nokia Bell Labs whose research runs from document image analysis to video analytics and lightweight machine learning. In 1993, he published “The Document Spectrum for Page Layout Analysis”, and the IAPR named him a Fellow in 1996 for contributions to document analysis. A digital document watermarking method brought him an R&D 100 Award in 1996. He went on to co-found the fingerprint authentication company Veridicom, worked on security at Avaya Labs Research, and returned to Bell Labs, where his video analytics became the basis of interactive artworks such as Pixelpalooza at the Liberty Science Center. Today his focus is lightweight machine learning for mobile robots, drones and IoT.

Now at
Nokia
Badges

Timeline

  1. 1987–1989

    Early image processing papers

    He earns B.A.Sc., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Ottawa, the University of Washington and Carnegie Mellon University. In 1987, he and Arthur C. Sanderson publish a comparison of multi-resolution low- and band-pass transforms for image processing, and in 1989 he coauthors an approach to fingerprint filter design with Jeffrey V. Nickerson.

  2. 1992–1994

    RightPages and the Document Spectrum

    In 1992, he coauthors the RightPages image-based electronic library for alerting and browsing with Guy A. Story, H. V. Jagadish and others, and he guest-edits an IEEE Computer special issue on document image analysis systems with Rangachar Kasturi. In 1993, he publishes “The Document Spectrum for Page Layout Analysis” in IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, followed in 1994 by a paper on binarization and multithresholding of document images using connectivity.

  3. 1995–1996

    Watermarks and an IAPR fellowship

    In 1995, he coauthors electronic marking and identification techniques to discourage document copying with Jack Brassil, Steven H. Low and Nicholas F. Maxemchuk. In 1996, he wins an R&D 100 Award for a digital document watermarking method and the Best Industrial Paper Award at the International Conference on Pattern Recognition. The IAPR names him a Fellow at ICPR 1996 in Vienna for contributions to document analysis.

  4. By 2003

    Co-founding Veridicom

    He co-founds Veridicom, a Lucent spin-off that develops personal fingerprint authentication systems, and serves as its chief scientist. In 2003, he publishes “Innovations in fingerprint capture devices” with Xiongwu Xia in Pattern Recognition.

  5. 2004–2007

    Security research at Avaya Labs

    After Veridicom, he works at Avaya Labs Research on signal and system security, signal processing and multimedia systems. In 2004, he presents query-directed passwords for call-center customer verification with Amit Bagga and Jon Louis Bentley, and in 2007 he co-edits an IEEE TPAMI special issue on biometrics with Salil Prabhakar, Josef Kittler, Davide Maltoni and Tieniu Tan.

  6. 2010

    Return to Bell Labs

    By 2010, he is back at Bell Labs, then part of Alcatel-Lucent, as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in multimedia signal processing, and he teaches signal security as an adjunct professor of computer science at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. In April 2010, he gives a plenary talk at the 33rd IEEE Sarnoff Symposium in Princeton on digital libraries, biometrics and telepresence. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and co-author of the books Practical Algorithms for Image Analysis and Document Image Processing.

  7. 2013–2019

    Kind Cameras and interactive art

    His video analytics work underlies interactive artworks he creates with artists and universities, including Brooklyn Blooms with NYU at the World Science Festival in 2013, Pixelpalooza at the Liberty Science Center from 2014 to 2017, and Omnia Per Omnia with Sougwen Chung at Mana Contemporary Gallery in 2018. In April 2018, as a Fellow at Nokia Bell Labs, he gives a keynote at the 13th IAPR International Workshop on Document Analysis Systems in Vienna on “Kind Cameras”, which extend video analytics past security cameras to interactive cameras for fun and art. In March 2019, he speaks on smart and artistic cities through video analytics.

  8. As of October 2026

    Bell Labs Fellow at Nokia

    He is a Bell Labs Fellow at Nokia Bell Labs Research in Murray Hill, New Jersey, and his current focus is lightweight machine learning for mobile robots, drones and IoT. In 2021, he presents video analytics for gait trend measurement in fall prevention and health monitoring at the International Conference on Pattern Recognition, and in 2022 he posts a TechRxiv paper on activity analytics from fixed cameras for robot path planning.

Career

  1. NowNokiaBell Labs Fellow
  2. From 2010Bell LabsDistinguished Member of Technical Staff
  3. From 2010Polytechnic Institute of New York UniversityAdjunct professor of computer science
  4. 2004–2007Avaya
  5. VeridicomCo-founder, Chief Scientist

Education

  1. University of OttawaB.A.Sc.
  2. University of WashingtonM.S.
  3. Carnegie Mellon UniversityPh.D.

From the biography.

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Nokia. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes New York University. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  3. 23% of people shaping AI who left a university for a company later returned to a universityIncludes AT&T. We estimate that 468 of the 2,011 people shaping AI who left a university for a company (23%) later returned to a university after a median of 5 years, and 163 of 829 (20%) made the reverse round trip.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes New York University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Lawrence O’Gorman yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Conference Reception and Dinner – 33rd IEEE Sarnoff Symposium 2010 ewh.ieee.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. DBLP: Lawrence O'Gorman vldb.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Larry O'Gorman | Nokia.com nokia.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Chronological List of IAPR Fellows – International Association for Pattern Recognition iapr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. IAPR - IAPR Fellows old.iapr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. DAS 2018 – 13th IAPR International Workshop on Document Analysis Systems das2018.caa.tuwien.ac.at. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Smart and Artistic Cities, Through Video Analytics --- Including Re-Visiting Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T) 50 Years Later events.vtools.ieee.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. IEEE North Jersey Section presents MySoundscape at Toms River High School events.vtools.ieee.org. Checked 20 October 2026.