5/18/2021
Seven graduate students, including two CSL students, have been awarded 2021 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowships. The program offers University of Illinois graduate students at the M.A., M.S., or Ph.D. level the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research at the institute.
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Seven graduate students, including two CSL students, have been awarded 2021 Beckman Institute Graduate Fellowships. The program offers University of Illinois graduate students at the M.A., M.S., or Ph.D. level the opportunity to pursue interdisciplinary research at the institute.
The 2021 honorees from CSL are Evan Anderson in neuroscience and Rong “Ronny” Guo in electrical and computer engineering.
Evan Anderson is pursuing a Ph.D. in neuroscience and will work with Brad Sutton of bioengineering, Aron Barbey of psychology, and Lav Varshney of electrical and computer engineering. His research focuses on the relationship between neural architecture and human intelligence. He plans to use artificial intelligence to study how different imaging tools represent neural organization and connectivity. He’ll develop a precise characterization of the brain’s topology and flexibility and relate those factors to individual differences in intelligence.
Developing this research using Beckman’s 3 Tesla MRIs will be an important foundation for future research on a 7 Tesla MRI. The Beckman Institute is a partner in the Carle Illinois Advanced Imaging Center, which is home to a Siemens MAGNETOM Terra 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner.
Rong “Ronny” Guo is pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering. He’ll work with Zhi-Pei Liang in electrical and computer engineering, Brad Sutton and Fan Lam in bioengineering, and Florin Dolcos and Aron Barbey in psychology. His research will use the 7 Tesla MRI at the Carle Illinois Advanced Imaging Center to develop an unprecedented imaging technology: ultrafast, ultrahigh-resolution magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging for brain mapping.
His research will solve two key challenges: Designing a data acquisition scheme to capture high resolution in a feasible scan time, and optimizing the data processing scheme to obtain high-quality and robust molecular information from the data the scan acquires. He plans to use simulations, phantoms, and human subjects to evaluate the technology he develops. Once it’s been validated, it can be applied to both neuroimaging problems and clinical applications to maximize its impact. It will transform non-invasive molecular imaging by enabling a range of clinical and research.
Read the full article about all the recipients here.