a VALIANT Effort | February 2025

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Feb 27, 2025, 3:50 PM

February 2025

Friends,

Last week I attended the SPIE Medical Imaging Conference where the talk of the crowd was on science and careers.* Our work doesn’t stop at groundbreaking research—we strive to ensure that our students and faculty are equipped with the tools to translate their discoveries into real-world impact. Internships play a crucial role in this mission, providing hands-on experience that shapes the next generation of leaders in AI, technology, and beyond.

To support this transition, we have organized the VALIANT Industry and Business Workshop on Thursday, March 27th, from 3:00 – 4:00 pm in FHG 308. This session will focus on intellectual property and internships, with insights from Alan Bentley (Assistant Vice Chancellor for Technology Transfer & Intellectual Property Development) and Baxter Webb (Director, Owen Center for Entrepreneurship). Topics include disclosure procedures, IP protection, and the founder’s perspective on patents—critical knowledge for anyone entering industry.

We also recognize that research immersion is an essential steppingstone for undergraduates, particularly those joining mid-term. Through Immersion Vanderbilt, students can engage in meaningful research experiences year-round, even before enrolling in formal research credit courses. This structured approach ensures that students can contribute to impactful projects without delay while faculty gain the opportunity to assess their readiness for deeper involvement.

For students at all levels, Vanderbilt’s Career Center remains an good resource, helping to navigate career pathways and industry opportunities. If there are ways VALIANT can help you connect with industry, research, or professional development, we’d love to hear from you.

I hope to see many of you at our grand ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 27th (details below).
Best wishes,
-Bennett
* MASI Lab members pictured: Jess Samir, Elyssa McMaster, Michael Kim, Lianrui Zuo, Adam Saunders, Gaurav Rudravaram, andAravind Krishnan (clockwise from lower right).

First VALIANT Scholars Lead the Way in IP Disclosures

Innovation thrives when researchers are empowered to translate their ideas into impactful technologies. This month, VALIANT proudly recognizes Dr. Lianrui Zuo and Chenyu Gao as the first VALIANT Scholars to receive provisional patents under the VALIANT Innovation Incentive Program.

Dr. Zuo, a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt, and Gao, a third-year Ph.D. student, both specialize in medical image analysis and AI-driven solutions for healthcare. Their pioneering disclosures reflect the program’s mission: encouraging AI scholars to engage in the intellectual property process while maintaining their existing ownership and licensing rights.

Gao’s contributions include a model for predicting brain age from diffusion MRI. Zuo’s disclosures focus on generating 3D CT volumes from 2D slices for body composition analysis and extending the field of view in chest CT imaging to enhance lung cancer research. Their efforts exemplify the transformative potential of AI in medical imaging.

Both scholars emphasized the importance of bridging the gap between technical innovation and real-world application. “There is a gap between researchers, engineers, and business professionals. We need to find a language that makes our ideas accessible,” Gao noted. Zuo echoed this sentiment, adding, “Publishing is just one path—disclosure and patents open new doors for our research to make a broader impact.”

Reflecting on the process, Zuo highlighted the ease of working with Vanderbilt’s CTTC. “Everything was so clear and smooth—I would never have thought to file a disclosure myself without the support of VALIANT and CTTC,” he said. Gao emphasized the broader value of the experience, stating, “This process taught me that research doesn’t stop at publication—understanding intellectual property and working with experts outside our field is key to making a lasting impact.”

The VALIANT Innovation Incentive Program, in partnership with Vanderbilt’s Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC), provides scholars with guidance and financial incentives for completing the disclosure process. As the program grows, it will continue to support AI scholars in transforming their research into real-world innovations.

Alumni Lookout

This story from the internship field is brought to us by Yamin Li, a PhD student in Professor Catie Chang’s Neurdy Lab at Vanderbilt. 
Yamin’s work focuses on translating EEG signals into fMRI using deep learning—a step toward making neuroimaging more accessible and cost-effective. Her research has already made waves, with her paper, NeuroBOLT: Resting-state EEG-to-fMRI Synthesis with Multi-dimensional Feature Mapping, being featured at NeurIPS 2024.
Yamin’s academic journey began in traditional neuroimaging, but her growing interest in deep learning and AI-driven analysis led her to Vanderbilt. She sought a lab that could integrate AI with neuroimaging, making Chang’s lab an ideal fit. “I wanted to build AI tools that fuse or translate between different neuroimaging modalities, and Vanderbilt provided the perfect environment for that,” she shared.
Her work in EEG-fMRI translation has been shaped by transformer models—a shift she embraced after attending NeurIPS and seeing how AI methods were evolving. She describes her research as “building bridges” between highly accessible EEG and more detailed but expensive fMRI, ultimately enabling better neuroimaging insights for a broader population.
Beyond her research, Yamin’s dedication to advancing AI in neuroimaging has led her to a highly competitive summer research internship at Meta’s Reality Labs, where she will work on multimodal representation learning. She credits networking at NeurIPS for opening doors, noting that “conversations at conferences can lead to unexpected opportunities.”
Yamin highlights the strong medical AI research community and the collaborative environment of Vanderbilt that has supported her growth. She also fondly recalls the scenery outside Featheringill Hall in the snow, a favorite spot on campus. For those considering Vanderbilt, Yamin offers this advice: “If you’re interested in AI for medical applications, you’ll find incredible support and opportunities here.” Outside of work, she enjoys exploring restaurants near campus, like Barcelona Wine Bar, and trying boba tea from different places.

VALIANT Ventures

Our scientists are breaking new ground:

Grand Opening of VALIANT

Join us to celebrate this exciting milestone and explore the future of immersive AI translation. Please register here.
  • Date: Thursday, March 27th, 2025
  • Time: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Ribbon Cutting and Remarks, Provost Cybele Raver and Dean Krish Roy at 2:00 pm)
  • Location: Featheringill (FGH/Jacobs Hall) 385

We look forward to celebrating with you!

 

AI in Imaging

The HRLB Lab participated in the Electronic Imaging 2025 conference in San Francisco. Their paper, “ExtremeMETA: High-Speed Lightweight Image Segmentation Model by Remodeling Multi-Channel Metamaterial Imagers,” was selected for the prestigious EI2025 Highlights Session, selected from top 8% of accepted paper. VALIANT scholar Yuechen Yang presented her research paper at the conference. Additionally, VALIANT alumnus Dr. Quan Liu received the Charles E. Ives Journal Award for his outstanding publication during his PhD journey at Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt Students Excel at SPIE Medical Imaging Conference

  • Adam Saunders, Gaurav Rudravaram, Muyang Li, and Yitian Long each individually received the prestigious  Robert F. Wagner All-Conference Best Student Paper Finalist award.
  • Jongyeon Yoon received the best paper award in image processing.
  • Adam Saunders earned runner-up in the 3-minute poster competition sponsored by the Journal of Medical Imaging.

Val-entines

VALIANT Attempt worked to knit our community together with the first (in hopefully a long strand) of crochet+AI events.

AI Days

We look forward to connecting next week (March 5-6, 2025) at AI Days led by the Data Science Institute (DSI). Our VALIANT sessions present “AI-two ways” with dueling perspectives from collaborators on the same project.

VALIANT Applied AI in Industry and Business Workshop

Save the date: March 27th from 3-4 pm. Join representatives from the Center for Entrepreneurship(Owen School of Business) and Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC) for key tips on navigating intellectual property, disclosures, and internships. Register here

Alchemists’ Corner

We have a lot going on right now. Here is what has hit Scopusfrom our community since last month.

 

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