ERI: Advancing Biometric Identification for Younger Children through Age-Adaptive Technology Innovations

Globally, over one billion people – many of them children – lack formal identification, leaving young children especially vulnerable to identity theft, trafficking, and gaps in healthcare. This Engineering Research Initiation project at Clarkson University addresses that critical challenge by designing and developing biometric identification technology specifically designed for infants and toddlers (ages 0–4). These age-adaptive innovations will enable reliable recognition of younger children's unique biological traits (such as fingerprints, facial features, or iris patterns) even as they rapidly grow. By providing a secure and efficient means to identify young children, the project serves the national interest by promoting the progress of science in biometric security and advancing national health and welfare through improved child safety, identity protection, and streamlined pediatric record-keeping. The project also integrates research with education: undergraduate students will participate in hands-on biometric system development, and interactive outreach events at local schools and children's museums will engage families in STEM learning. Through these efforts, this project tackles a pressing societal problem and helps cultivate a diverse new generation of engineers while increasing public awareness of child-centric biometric technologies. The project's objectives are to: 1) design age-adaptive biometric identification systems for young children (ages 0–4) across multiple modalities (facial, fingerprint, and iris recognition); 2) integrate quality-aware image capture and real-time authentication capabilities into miniaturized biometric devices to ensure high-quality data collection for this age group; 3) conduct an expanded longitudinal study with the newly developed biometric technologies to characterize how children's biometric traits evolve as they grow and to develop predictive models that keep identification accurate over time; and 4) establish privacy-compliant data collection protocols and collaborate with industry, government, and community partners (e.g., healthcare and educational organizations) to refine the technology and ensure its broad applicability. This approach will yield new knowledge on the stability and maturation of biometric traits in early childhood, along with practical age-tailored biometric tools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.