A Vision in Quality

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (03/04/2026) — Since his arrival to the department in fall 2024, ISyE Assistant Professor Shancong Mou has continued to impress with his work and collaborative efforts that make an impact on his field of research, as well as the department.

One such example took place in Honolulu, Hawaii in October 2025 - the 3rd workshop on Vision-based InduStrial InspectiON (VISION’25), which is co-hosted with the International Conference on Computer Vision (ICCV).

With previous workshops taking place in Vancouver, Canada and Milan, Italy, the workshop website explains that the workshop is designed and organized to “provide a platform for the exchange of scholarly innovations and emerging practical challenges in Vision-based Industrial Inspection. . . . this workshop aims to bring together researchers from the interdisciplinary research communities related to computer vision-based inspection; and connect researchers and industry practitioners to synergize recent research progress and current needs in industrial practice.”

Mou not only serves as Chair and organizer of the VISION’25 workshop, but is also its co-founder for the VISION workshop series.

“It all started when I was still in graduate school. Through an industry collaboration between Apple and my advisor’s lab, we realized there was very limited communication between industry and academia around this research area. We felt that a workshop could help bridge this gap. At the time, I was just a grad student working on this topic, and, encouraged by my advisor Prof. Shi and Dr. Meng Cao from Apple, I worked with several Apple researchers and Prof. Shi to co-organize the first workshop.” Mou reflects.

He continues to see a need for collaboration between industry and academia, so to have the workshop take place every year, Mou works with his fellow organizers to coordinate the paper review process and content of the workshop.

Since the advent of this conference, Mou has had greater opportunities to share his work, as well as grow his network. However, “volunteering to build a platform for a space where researchers and industry can come together is really important and rewarding,” he explains.

Workshop Keynote presenters include researchers from Texas A&M, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Apple, Roboflow, and Medtronic. Additionally, a panel discussion, submitted paper talks, and a poster session all provide a wide range of ideas and research presented by established companies and startups, and various academic institutions.

“My research is related to industrial AI, and I am highly motivated by these real problems. It is also a great opportunity to meet industry professionals and learn about the important problems that they have and care about to the broader research community.”

Mou has continued to make a great impact on the department through his consistent outreach, but he has also found great reward as the Chair and co-founder of VISION.