ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2024
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 52,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2024 on 6,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 280+ campuses worldwide (just 5%) were selected to host the 4,000+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT SARAF HARITH SAI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2024.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Coimbatore | Coimbatore, India | Advancing SDG 10, SDG 9 & UNAI 3
" I am driven by a deep passion for leveraging technology to uplift marginalized communities and create a more just and equitable world. My work allows me to blend innovation with social impact, making a tangible difference in the lives of those who need it most. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: SignSpeak: A Real-Time Tamil Fingerspelling Translation System
This project presents a novel approach for recognizing and
translating Tamil fingerspelling using image-to-text conversion and subsequent
text-to-speech synthesis. Focusing on the Tamil Language Finger
Spelling 23 (TLFS 23) dataset, which contains 247 characters depicting
a wide array of Tamil fingerspelling gestures, we apply a multiclass classification
process to develop an effective model for accurately identifying
and transcribing images of fingerspelling into their corresponding textual
forms. Following transcription, the text is converted into spoken Tamil
through speech synthesis techniques to improve communication accessibility
for Tamil-speaking individuals. The comprehensive evaluation of
the TFLS 23 dataset supports the method’s viability and effectiveness,
significantly mitigating language barriers and enhancing communication
within the Tamil fingerspelling community.
About the Millennium Fellow
Saraf Harith Sai is an artificial intelligence student at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India. As an individual in technology, Harith has always looked into channels where technology can help in the process of uplifting marginalized communities. He is deeply passionate about community service and turned that into action during his high school days as the Secretary of the Interact Club, a subsidiary of Rotaract International, where he led many social initiatives. Through his projects, Harith looks to contribute towards the equitable society he envisions. He aligns efforts in line with the advanced UN Sustainable Development Goals—SDGs.
