Rate My Professor Hari Kalva

Hari Kalva, Ph.D., serves as Chair and Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), where he also directs the Multimedia Lab. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering from Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati, India, a Master’s degree in computer engineering from FAU, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Columbia University. Throughout his career at FAU, Kalva has advanced from professor to associate chair and now department chair, guiding the department through rapid growth bolstered by dynamic faculty, dedicated staff, and ambitious students. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

Kalva’s research centers on visual computing, video compression and communication, collaborative intelligence, augmented reality, and scalable technologies for applications in ecological conservation, healthcare, and public safety. His expertise encompasses standardization in audio-visual compression standards including HEVC, AVC/H.264, MPEG-2, and VVC/H.266; video coding for machines; perception-inspired video coding; low-complexity encoding; and machine learning to minimize encoder complexity and energy consumption. A prolific inventor, he is named on 73 U.S. patents and 70 international patents, several essential to standards like AVC/H.264, HEVC/H.265, VVC/H.266, and the co-developed MP4 file format; patents have been licensed through pools such as MPEG LA to manufacturers. Key publications include “The H.264 Video Coding Standard” (2006), “The VC-1 and H.264 Video Compression Standards for Broadband Video Services” (2008), and “High bit-depth medical image compression with HEVC” (2017). His innovations reduce video data transmission by up to 50 percent, enhancing access to high-quality media content, with technology transferred to firms like Mitsubishi Electric. Kalva founded Flavor Software in 2000 and Videopura, focusing on AI-driven video compression. As a U.S. delegate to ISO subcommittees, he has advised government agencies and industry on multimedia technologies and received induction into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame (2025) and election as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.