Editor’s Choice Award 🏅 Congratulations to AI Fellow Kurt Schilling! His work on preclinical diffusion MRI was selected as an Editor’s Pick in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Read more here: buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

The AI in the Classroom Faculty Seminar Series brings Vanderbilt and VUMC educators together for open, faculty-led conversations about how artificial intelligence is shaping teaching. Check out our newsletter: buff.ly/utKPGxG

Calling AI builders, researchers, and innovators! Pitch your AI research idea or demo your AI tool at Discover AI 2026. Students and postdocs are invited to showcase their projects and compete for funding and demo prizes. Full details: vu.edu/gn6ky

I Think My Student Used AI to Cheat. What Do I Do? ⚖️🤖 Faculty Seminar – March 24 @ 8:30 AM As AI tools become harder to detect and easier to access, faculty face new challenges around academic integrity. Read & Register here : buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

THRIVE-AI VALIANT is proud to be part of THRIVE-AI, a statewide initiative uniting Tennessee institutions to strengthen interdisciplinary expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Check out our newsletter: buff.ly/utKPGxG

When Code Works but the Student Didn’t Write It Faculty Seminar – March 18 @ 12 PM In technical courses, AI can generate working code in seconds. But if the solution works, how can we assess whether the student truly understands it? Read & Register here: buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

Keeping in Touch 🗓️ We’ve unified AI-related seminars and visits into a single shared calendar, making it easier for our community to discover ideas and join the conversations that spark the best new thinking. View the calendar here: buff.ly/DmsB8Bw Read more here: buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

Join us for our next VALIANT Deeper Dive seminar featuring Weifeng Yu! 📅 Tuesday, March 17 ⏰ 1:00–2:00 PM CST 💻 Virtual (Zoom) Register here: redcap.vanderbilt.edu/surveys/?s=M...

Building Tools That Translate 🔬🤖 Our VALIANT profile series highlights AI Scholar Yimeng Dou, whose work bridges hardware, algorithms, and clinical care. Read more here: buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

Discover AI 2026 🤖 Join us on April 24, 2026 for VALIANT’s Discover AI, a day of interactive demos, industry partners, and conversations designed to spark new collaborations. Read more here: buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

Using AI to Improve Student Feedback ✍️🤖 Faculty Seminar – March 6, 2026 @ 12 PM Explore how AI can support the feedback process by generating summaries, drafting comments, and suggesting improvements. Read more here: buff.ly/xZMJ6OK

Join us for Discover AI 2026 on April 24th, celebrating AI research and innovation. For updates on the schedule, registration, and student competitions, visit our website: buff.ly/j0ogp8G . Register in advance at buff.ly/nBVPC1c, as space is limited.

Alchemists’ Corner 🔬✨
Our community has been busy! Take a look at a selection of recent publications from VALIANT members indexed in Scopus since last month. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2026...

Congratulations to Can Luo on receiving the Graduate School Endowed Award – Lai Sulin Scholarship and successfully defending her dissertation, “From Reads to Variant: Method Development in Genomic Variant Detection.”🎉 Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2026...

Congratulations to Yunfei Hu on receiving the Graduate School Endowed Award – Edward Ferguson Jr. Graduate Award! 🎉 Our scientists continue to break new ground. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2026...

VALIANT’s faculty-only Spring Discussion Series creates space for candid conversations about AI’s role in teaching, assessment, and learning in today’s engineering classrooms. Check here for details: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/prog...

Join us for the next VALIANT Deeper Dive! 🧠 Harmonizing Brain MRI Across Sites Without Paired Data 🎤 Mengqi Wu (UNC–Chapel Hill) 📅 Tuesday, Feb 24 | ⏰ 1–2 PM | 💻 Virtual/Zoom Register via the QR code.

One Calendar, Many Conversations 🗓️
 We’re cutting through announcement overload by bringing AI-related seminars and visits across the school into one shared calendar (vandyaicalendar.eventcalendarapp.com). Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2026...

🌍
Congratulations to Elyssa McMaster and Michael Kim, who have received travel grants to attend and present at the SPIE Medical Imaging Conference in Vancouver. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2026...


Before laptops and cloud storage, computing at Vanderbilt meant punch cards, printout windows, and a curtained-off mainframe in the Stevenson round building. Prof. Emeritus Doug Fisher reflects on that era in our Jan Newsletter. Read more here: buff.ly/9RMyiBY

Join us for a VALIANT Deeper Dive! Distribution-Guided Multi-Tracer Brain PET Synthesis from Structural MRI with Class-Conditioned Weighted Diffusion 🎤 Minhui Yu (UNC–Chapel Hill) 📅 Tuesday, Feb 3 | ⏰ 1–2 PM | 💻 Virtual/Zoom Register via the QR code.

Our community has been busy! Check out a selection of recent publications from VALIANT members indexed in Scopus since last month. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Join us for a VALIANT Deeper Dive! Distribution-Guided Multi-Tracer Brain PET Synthesis from Structural MRI with Class-Conditioned Weighted Diffusion 🎤 Minhui Yu (UNC–Chapel Hill) 📅 Tuesday, Feb 3 | ⏰ 1–2 PM | 💻 Virtual/Zoom Register via the QR code.

Congratulations to VALIANT AI Scholar Junlin Guo, an ECE PhD student, on receiving the Tarkington Family Scholarship! His work in AI-driven archaeology, mentored by Profs. Yuankai Huo and Steve Wernke, is breaking exciting new ground. 🎉 Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

BrainHack Vanderbilt team is recruiting organizers! Help shape a hands-on event that unites researchers, students, clinicians, and coders to advance open neuroscience. Sign up here: buff.ly/sxM8n1D Read more in the newsletter: buff.ly/aMbQbCp

AI Scholars, check your email! We’re updating the 2026 resume book and exploring new ways to highlight your accomplishments for awards, fellowships, and beyond. Questions or suggestions? Reach out at [email protected]. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Congratulations to AI Scholar Elyssa McMaster on receiving a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center travel award to attend the SPIE Medical Imaging Conference! 🎉 Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

VALIANT AI Fellow Dr. Yuankai Huo's visit to the University of Liverpool aimed to enhance international collaboration in medical imaging AI. This visit also launched the Vanderbilt–Liverpool Joint Research Seed Grant. Read more here: buff.ly/biIx90H

VALIANT Reach exchange awardee Marilyn Lionts co-authored an international research paper accepted for SPIE Medical Imaging 2026. The work highlights how VALIANT Reach is building lasting global collaborations with real research impact. Read more here: buff.ly/biIx90H

Please join us for a Dissertation Defense by Can Luo (Biomedical Engineering)! 🧬 Title: From Reads to Variant: Method Development in Genomic Variant Detection 📅 Date: January 21, 2026 ⏰ Time: 1:30 PM 📍 Location: In person — Stevenson Building 4, Room 4326

VALIANT Reach returns in 2026 with a nomination-based model. AI Fellows can nominate trainees and partner institutions for short-term international research exchanges. Talk with your advisor before the January 30 nomination deadline! Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Dr. Veronique Belzil, VALIANT AI Fellow & Director of the Vanderbilt ALS Research Center, is working to prevent ALS by using patient data, stem cell and organoid models, and AI to detect early disease signals. Read more in our Dec. Newsletter: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Happy Holidays! ❄️✨

Alchemists’ Corner 🔬✨ Our community has been busy! Here’s a roundup of recent publications from our members indexed in Scopus since last month. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

The BrainHack Vanderbilt team is recruiting new organizers! Interested in joining? Sign up here: buff.ly/Vxp3Fr1 Read more in the newsletter: buff.ly/EgaUlt9

Congratulations to AI Scholar Tianyuan Yao, who successfully defended his PhD in Computer Science! Read more in our Nov Newsletter: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Prof. Maizie Zhou and her team have introduced MaskGraphene, a new framework that stitches together multiple spatial transcriptomics slices into a single, interpretable map. Read more here: buff.ly/EgaUlt9

Prof. Maizie Zhou’s Provost’s Faculty Grant is powering a new Immersion Vanderbilt cohort where students dive into integrative AI methods for cell-type transfer in spatial biology. Read more in our Nov Newsletter: buff.ly/EgaUlt9

VALIANT Attempt is hosting a 2026 Calendar Competition! Share your drawings, photos, AI-generated art, or scientific visualizations for a chance to be featured at Gallery Night. Submit your entry here: t.e2ma.net/click/c7z0om... Read more in the newsletter: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Calling All AI Scholars! 📝 We’re updating the 2026 resume book and exploring new ways to highlight your achievements for awards, fellowships, and more. Look for an email to update your info! Questions? Reach out at [email protected]. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

AI Fellow Dr. Katherine Van Schaik studies health across millennia—using radiology, molecular biology, archaeology, and history to understand disease as both biology and lived experience. Read more here: buff.ly/EgaUlt9

VALIANT Reach Scholar Chloe Scholten (Univ. of Calgary) dove into deep-learning harmonization with Vanderbilt’s MASI Lab—drafting a paper, learning Linux from scratch, and exploring how AI can improve multi-site pediatric MRI studies. Read more here: buff.ly/EgaUlt9

Alchemists’ Corner ✨ Catch up on the latest from our community! Here’s a roundup of what has been published in Scopus since last month. Read more here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Take a look at the VALIANT Ventures section in our latest newsletter to see what our scientists have been working on! Read it here: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Big thanks to Nadia Merritt, Joshua Borycz, and Shenmeng Xu from Vanderbilt Libraries! They led an engaging DeepDive with MASI and VALIANT, diving into citation metrics, research trends, and more. Read more here: buff.ly/6tm1wZN

The MASI Lab joined colleagues from across Vanderbilt at the VUIIS Retreat at the Adventure Science Center to share research highlights, spark new collaborations, and celebrate the spirit of scientific exploration beneath the dinosaurs. 👉 Read more: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

At VALIANT, archaeologist Steven Wernke and AI Fellow Yuankai Huo are combining archaeology and machine learning to uncover ancient settlements hidden across the Andes. 👉 Read more: buff.ly/6tm1wZN

VALIANT’s new community jobs mailing list connects talent with opportunities. To join or post a job, email us at [email protected]. Don't forget to check out our newsletter: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

VALIANT Attempt is hosting a 2026 Calendar Competition—submit your drawings, photos, AI art, or scientific visualizations for a chance to be featured at Gallery Night. Submit by Nov. 19: www.vanderbilt.edu/valiant/2025...

Through the VALIANT Reach Exchange Program, PhD student Adam Saunders spent a month at SCIL, Université de Sherbrooke, collaborating with François Rheault and learning from their open-source neuroimaging community. 👉 Read more: buff.ly/6tm1wZN