On Friday, April 17th, 2026, the 28th annual UW-Madison Undergraduate Symposium was held at Union South and the Discovery Building, showcasing student research from across all disciplines. The symposium serves as a crucial forum for undergraduates to present their scholarly work in a professional setting, allowing campus and community members to engage directly with the university’s brightest emerging minds.

This year, the incredible undergraduate researchers from the Molecular Imaging Technology Research Program (MITRP) wrapped up the event with an outstanding array of projects. From building AI-powered healthcare tools to advancing PET and MRI technologies, these students are actively driving the future of medical imaging and data science forward.

Here is a look at the innovative projects our MITRP students showcased:

• Atharvan Srivastava tackled the challenge of patient movement during scans by investigating a retrospective motion-correction technique for 3D Brain MRI.
• Elias Cassis & Arihan Yadav showcased a composable, multi-modal machine learning framework designed for real-time reasoning and task guidance in complex environments.
• James Milgram, Luis Parra Rodriguez, & Jake Yun developed an automated, modular framework to standardize the benchmarking of medical imaging AI foundation models.
• Tahmid Mahbub & Ibrahim Ahmadli presented ThyroAid, an impressive LLM-based chatbot validated by physicians to provide on-demand, supportive education for thyroid cancer survivors.
• Tracy He compared deep learning architectures for full-body synthetic CT generation, a vital step in advancing standalone PET workflows and reducing patient radiation exposure.
• Varsha Kumar successfully demonstrated the production of parametric PET images using the Relative Patlak Method, improving diagnostic utility without the need for immediate post-injection scanning.

Congratulations to all of our students on a phenomenal year of research, dedication, and innovation. We couldn’t be prouder of the work they are doing to push the boundaries of medical imaging.