CV

Summary

An electrical engineering PhD student studying medical imaging. Research focused on applying artificial intelligence tools to impute missing information from imperfect data. Strengths in analytical skills and scientific communication.

Contact Information

adam.m.saunders@vanderbilt.edu

adamsaunders97

Education

• Vanderbilt University
  August 2023 - Present
• PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering
• University of Dayton
  August 2019 - May 2023
• Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, minor in Mathematics, summa cum laude

Experience

• Research Assistant
  July 2023 - Present
  
  Vanderbilt University
• Performed medical imaging research in the Medical-image Analysis and Statistical Interpretation Lab and Vanderbilt Lab for Immersive AI Translation
• Collaborated with lab members and scientists to communicate published scientific findings
• Undergraduate Music Minister
  August 2019 - June 2023
  
  University of Dayton
• Planned and composed weekly hymns for campus Masses
• Led vocalists and instrumentalists by accompanying on piano
• SULI Intern
  June 2022 - August 2022
  
  Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Explored deep learning algorithms on an internationally-ranked supercomputer
• Performed and presented medical image processing research, winning Best Poster in Directorate at ORNL Summer Intern Symposium
• Physics Teaching Assistant
  January 2021 - May 2021
  January 2022 - May 2022
  
  University of Dayton
• Empowered over 50 students to solve difficult homework problems during multiple weekly office hours
• Assisted in the development of testing materials
• Computer Engineering Intern
  May 2021 - August 2021
  
  Defense Research Associates, Inc.
• Designed and implemented digital hardware systems to meet project needs
• Presented technical results and documentation for future deployment
• Physics Grader
  January 2020 - May 2020
  
  University of Dayton
• Evaluated exams and group work for over 50 students in a challenging mechanics course
• Encouraged students to solve difficult problems during weekly homework help sessions

Journal Publications

• Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Chenyu Gao, Lucas W. Remedios, Aravind R. Krishnan, Kurt G. Schilling, Kristin P. O’Grady, Seth A. Smith, and Bennett A. Landman. Comparison and calibration of MP2RAGE quantitative T1 values to multi-TI inversion recovery T1 values. Submitted to Magnetic Resonance Imaging. [arXiv:2409.13145]

• Chenyu Gao, Michael E. Kim, Karthik Ramadass, Praitayini Kanakaraj, Aravind R. Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Nancy R. Newlin, Ho Hin Lee, Qi Yang, Warren D. Taylor, Brian D. Boyd, Lori L. Beason-Held, Susan M. Resnick, Lisa L. Barnes, David A. Bennett, Katherine D. Van Schaik, Derek B. Archer, Timothy J. Hohman, Angela L. Jefferson, Ivana Išgum, Daniel Moyer, Yuankai Huo, Kurt G. Schilling, Lianrui Zuo, Shunxing Bao, Nazirah Mohd Khairi, Zhiyuan Li, Christos Davatzikos, Bennett A. Landman for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and the BIOCARD Study team. Brain age identification from diffusion MRI synergistically predicts neurodegenerative disease. Submitted to Imaging Neuroscience. [arXiv:2410.22454]

• Lucas W. Remedios, Han Liu, Samuel W. Remedios, Lianrui Zuo, Adam M. Saunders, Shunxing Bao, Yuankai Huo, Alvin C. Powers, John Virostko, and Bennett A. Landman. Influence of Early through Late Fusion on Pancreas Segmentation from Imperfectly Registered Multimodal MRI. Submitted to Journal of Medical Imaging. [arXiv:2409.04563]

• Elyssa M. McMaster, Nancy R. Newlin, Chloe Cho, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind R. Krishnan, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Hanliang Xu, Kurt G. Schilling, François Rheault, Laurie E. Cutting, and Bennett A. Landman. Sensitivity of quantitative diffusion MRI tractography and microstructure to anisotropic spatial sampling. Submitted to Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. [arXiv:2409.18255]

• Elyssa M. McMaster, Nancy R. Newlin, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind R. Krishnan, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Hanliang Xu, Derek B. Archer, Kurt G. Schilling, François Rheault, Laurie E. Cutting and Bennett A. Landman. Harmonized connectome resampling for variance in voxel sizes. Submitted to Magnetic Resonance Imaging. [arXiv:2408.01351]

• Ho Hin Lee*, Adam M. Saunders*, Michael E. Kim, Samuel W. Remedios, Lucas W. Remedios, Yucheng Tang, Qi Yang, Xin Yu, Shunxing Bao, Chloe Cho, Louise A. Mawn, Tonia S. Rex, Kevin L. Schey, Blake E. Dewey, Jeffrey M. Spraggins, Jerry L. Prince, Yuankai Huo, Bennett A. Landman, Super-resolution multi-contrast unbiased eye atlases with deep probabilistic refinement. Journal of Medical Imaging, 11(6), 064004 (2024). *Equal contribution. [doi:10.1117/1.JMI.11.6.064004]

• Lucas W. Remedios, Shunxing Bao, Samuel W. Remedios, Ho Hin Lee, Leon Y. Cai, Thomas Li, Ruining Deng, Nancy R. Newlin, Adam M. Saunders, Can Cui, Jia Li, Qi Liu, Ken S. Lau, Joseph T. Roland, Mary K Washington, Lori A. Coburn, Keith T. Wilson, Yuankai Huo, Bennett A. Landman. Data-driven Nucleus Subclassification on Colon H&E using Style-transferred Digital Pathology. Journal of Medical Imaging, 11(6), 067501 (2024). [doi:10.1117/1.JMI.11.6.067501]

Conference Papers

• Adam M. Saunders, Michael E. Kim, Kurt G. Schilling, John C. Gore, Bennett Papers A. Landman, and Yurui Gao. Vasculature-informed spatial smoothing of white matter functional magnetic resonance imaging. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025.

• Adam M. Saunders, Gaurav Rudravaram, Nancy R. Newlin, Michael E. Kim, John C. Gore, Bennett A. Landman, and Yurui Gao. A 4D atlas of diffusion-informed spatial smoothing windows for BOLD signal in white matter. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025.

• Elyssa McMaster, Lemuel Puglisi, Chenyu Gao, Aravind R. Krishnan, Adam M. Saunders, Daniele Ravi, Lori L. Beason-Held, Susan M. Resnick, Lianrui Zuo, Daniel Moyer, and Bennett A. Landman. A technical assessment of latent diffusion for Alzheimer’s Disease progression. SPIE Medical Imaging: Image Processing, February 2025.

• Gaurav Rudravaram, Shunxing Bao, Aravind R. Krishnan, Lucas W. Remedios, Michael E. Kim, Adam M. Saunders, Qi Liu, Ken S. Lau, Joseph T. Roland, Mary K. Washington, Lori A. Coburn, Keith T. Wilson, Yuankai Huo, and Bennett A. Landman. Identifying cellular neighborhood phenotypes differentiating normal and quiescent Crohn’s disease via MxIF. SPIE Medical Imaging: Digital and Computational Pathology, February 2025.

• Jessica Samir, Karthik Ramadass, Adam M. Saunders, Aravind Krishnan, Lucas Remedios, Elyssa McMaster, and Bennett A. Landman. The Medical Segmentation Decathlon without a doctorate. SPIE Medical Imaging: Clinical and Biomedical Imaging, February 2025.

• Aravind R. Krishnan, Yihao Liu, Kaiwen Xu, Michael E. Kim, Lucas W. Remedios, Gaurav Rudravaram, Adam M. Saunders, Bradley W. Richmond, Kim L. Sandler, Fabien Maldonado, Bennett A. Landman and Lianrui Zuo. Investigating the impact of kernel harmonization and deformable registration on inspiratory and expiratory chest CT images for people with COPD. SPIE Medical Imaging: Clinical and Biomedical Imaging, February 2025.

• Adam Saunders, Sajal Dash, Aristeidis Tsaris, and Hong-Jun Yoon. A comparison of histopathology imaging comprehension algorithms based on multiple instance learning. SPIE Medical Imaging: Digital and Computational Pathology, February 2023. [doi:10.1117/12.2654265]

Talks

• Vasculature-informed spatial smoothing of white matter functional magnetic resonance imaging. Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science Retreat, October 2024.

• Deep learning for a healthier world: Detecting and grading diabetic retinopathy. University of Dayton Honors Thesis Signature Talks at Stander Symposium, April 2023.

Abstracts

• Elyssa N. McMaster, Nancy R. Newlin, Chloe Cho, Adam M. Saunders, François Rheault, Kurt G. Schilling, and Bennett A. Landman. Sensitivity of NODDI metrics to anisotropic spatial sampling. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, May 2025.

• Adam M. Saunders, Kurt G. Schilling, Kristin P. O’Grady, Seth Smith, and Bennett A. Landman. A maximum a posteriori method for quantitative T1 mapping with uncertainty using MP2RAGE. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, May 2024.

• Hong-Jun Yoon, Adam Saunders, Folami Alamudun, Sajal Dash, Jacob Hinkle, and Aristeidis Tsaris. Ensemble learning of attention-based models for whole-slide imaging comprehension. Computational Approaches for Cancer Workshop, November 2022.

Professional Outreach

• Reviewer, Journal of Medical Imaging, 2024
• Secretary of VALIANT Attempt, Vanderbilt University, 2024

Honors and Awards

• Graduate School Travel Grant, Vanderbilt University, November 2024
• University Graduate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, July 2024
• Thomas R. Armstrong Award of Excellence for Outstanding Electrical Engineering Achievement, University of Dayton Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, May 2023
• Outstanding Collaborative Pianist, University of Dayton Department of Music, May 2023
• Dean’s List, University of Dayton, August 2019 - May 2023
• SPIE Travel Grant, February 2023
• Best Poster in Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Summer Intern Symposium, August 2022
• Honors Thesis Fellowship, University of Dayton, April 2022
• Finalist, International Science and Engineering Fair, May 2018

Skills

• Deep learning for medical imaging and data imputation using Python/PyTorch
• Adept at statistical analysis and interpretation
• Technical writing and typesetting using Microsoft Office
• Effective scientific communication and visual aid preparation
• Strong critical thinking and analytical skills