In the weeks leading up to the 2016 Alumni Awards Ceremony, we’ll be profiling each honoree in detail here on the blog. This year’s distinguished alum in the Engineering and Information Technology category is Dr. Vince Calhoun, Ph.D. ’02, electrical engineering. Dr. Calhoun is executive science officer and director of image analysis and MR research at the Mind Research Network, as well as a distinguished professor at the University of New Mexico.
Dr. Vince Calhoun first became interested in imaging technology as an undergraduate at the University of Kansas, specifically MRI and how else engineering principles could be applied to map the human body. After earning master’s degrees in both biomedical engineering and information systems from Johns Hopkins, he saw UMBC’s electrical engineering program as the next logical step, given his research interests. Today, Dr. Calhoun is executive science officer for the Mind Research Network, and a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering, biology, computer science, neurosciences, and psychiatry at the University of New Mexico. His lab develops algorithms by which scientists can study the brain through imaging and genetic data. He says one of his greatest challenges as a researcher has been translating his findings in a way that helps people, specifically those with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: “We are making great strides in developing approaches to aid in disease categorization and diagnosis, but we still have a long way to go.” Dr. Calhoun is also a five-year cancer survivor, and credits his wife, his three children, and his Christian faith (he holds a certificate in theological studies from the Seminary of the East) for helping him overcome that obstacle.
