Hao Sun

Ph.D.
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EE:S)
University of Michigan
sunhao(at)umich(dot)edu

I obtained my Ph.D. degree from the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan in May 2015. I was coadvised by Dr. Jon-Fredrik Nielsen and Prof. Jeffrey A. Fessler, worked closely with Prof. Douglas C. Noll. My PhD research focuses are MRI pulse design and image reconstruction, and I am also interested in other imaging problems. Now I am a camera algorithm engineer at Apple.

Education:

Sep. 2010 -- May. 2010        Ph.D. in EECS: EE-System, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
•    Research interest: MRI pulse design and image reconstruction
•    Co-advised by Prof. Jon-Fredrik Nielsen and Prof. Jeffrey Fessler

Sep. 2006 -- May. 2010   B.E. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong
•    First class honor degree.

Sep.2008 -- June. 2009    Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin – Madison
•    Exchange Student.

Ph.D. Research Projects:

•    Constructing signal model, designing acquisition pulse for a new steady-state MRI sequence (STFR).
•    Proposed a greedy minimax algorithm for MRI spoke pulse design.
•    Improving 3D tailored pulse design through joint optimization of excitation k-space trajectory and RF pulse.
•    Reconstructing Bloch-Siegert B1+ map with penalized likelihood method and majorize-minimization algorithm.
•    Implementing and testing pulse sequences on an 8-channel parallel transmit system.

Publications:

Journals:

H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Strategies for Improved 3D Small-Tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging. Mag. Res. Med., 2014 Aug, 72(2) doi: 10.1002/mrm.24947. journal cover figure
H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Steady-state Functional MRI Using Spoiled Small-tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging. Mag. Res. Med. 2015 Feb;73(2):536-43. doi: 10.1002/mrm.25146
H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Steady-state Balanced SSFP-like steady-state imaging using small-tip fast recovery (STFR) with a spectral pre-winding pulse. Mag. Res. Epub 2015 Mar 29. doi: 10.1002/mrm.25682.
H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Joint design of excitation k-space trajectory and RF pulse for small-tip 3D tailored excitation in MRI. IEEE TMI, submitted.
H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Rapid inner-volume imaging in the steady-state with 3D selective excitation and small-tip fast recovery (STFR) imaging. MRM submitted.

Conferences:

1. H Sun, JA Fessler, JF Nielsen. An Analytic Description of Steady-State Imaging with Dual RF Pulses and Gradient Spoiling. In: Proc., ISMRM, 20th Annual Meeting, Melbourne, 2012, p4183.
2. H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Strategies for Improved 3D Small-Tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging. In: Proc., ISMRM, 21th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, 2013, p2362. ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award
3. H Sun, D Weller, A Chu, S Ramani, D Yoon, JF Nielsen, JA Fessler. Spoke Pulse Design in Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Greedy Minimax Algorithm. In: Proc., ISBI 2013, San Francisco, p0160.
4. JF Nielsen, H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, Steady-state Functional MRI Using Small-tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging. In: Proc., ISMRM, 21th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, 2013, p3333.
5. F Zhao, H Sun, JF Nielsen, JA Fessler, DC Noll, Balanced SSFP-Like Imaging with Simultaneous Water-Fat Separation and Band Reduction Using Small-Tip Fast Recovery, In: Proc., ISMRM, 21th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, 2013, p2403. ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award.
6. H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Small-tip Fast Recovery (STFR) imaging Using Spectrally Tailored Pulse. ISMRM 2014, p0029, ISMRM Summa Cum Laude Merit Award.
7. H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Steady-state Functional MRI Using Spoiled Small-tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging. ISMRM 2014, p0869, ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award.
8. H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Joint Design of Continuous Excitation k-space Trajectory and RF pulse for 3D Tailored Excitation. ISMRM 2014, p1438, ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award.
9. H Sun, W Grissom, JA Fessler, Regularized Estimation of Bloch-Siegert B1+ Maps in MRI, Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. on Image processing, 2014
10. H Sun, JA Fessler, DC Noll, JF Nielsen. Steady-state imaging with 3D inner volume excitation. ISMRM 2015, p2402.
11. SN Williams, H Sun , JF Nielsen, JA Fessler, DC Noll, A spectral-spatial pulse for improved signal recovery in the small-tip fast recovery (STFR) sequence, ISMRM 2015, p0919.

Working Experience:

Software Engineer Intern at Apple Inc. Media Science Group (MSG), Manager: Russ Webb, Mentor: Alexis Gatt.

Awards:

1. 2014 ISMRM Summa Cum Laude Merit Award for abstract "Small-tip Fast Recovery (STFR) imaging Using Spectrally Tailored Pulse".
2. 2014 ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award for abstract "Steady-state Functional MRI Using Spoiled Small-tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging".
3. 2014 ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award for abstract "Joint Design of Continuous Excitation k-space Trajectory and RF pulse for 3D Tailored Excitation".
4. 2013 ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award for abstract "Strategies for Improved 3D Small-Tip Fast Recovery (STFR) Imaging".
5. 2013 ISMRM Magna Cum Laude Merit Award for co-authored abstract "Balanced SSFP-Like Imaging with Simultaneous Water-Fat Separation and Band Reduction Using Small-Tip Fast Recovery".
6. 2012-2014 Rackham travel grant, University of Michigan.
7. 2008 HKU Worldwide Undergraduate Student Exchange Scholarship.
8. 2006-2007 Dean's Honor List.

Patent:

Method of MRI imaging using a spectrally designed pulse. U.S. Provisional Patent No.: 61/984,104

Software:

1. mex files for Bloch simulation: blochCim.zip
2. MATHEMATICA code for deriving unspoiled-STFR analytic equation: gstfr_derive.rar

Links:

1.Jeffrey Fessler's group
2.fMRI lab at University of Michigan

Last updated: Mar.18, 2014