Dr. Hector Santos-Villalobos
Director of MARCI Lab
Multi-Modal Analytics, Reasoning, & Computational Imaging Laboratory
Our North Star
Connecting artificial vision-language intelligence with real-world challenges and scientific applications for measurable and expedited impact.
Faculty
PhD Students
Glory Ademola
2025 - Present
Karim Chmayssani
2023 - Present
David Cornett
2024 - Present
Clay Leach
2024 - Present
Dylan Lewis
2024 - Present
Kyle Musgrove
2023 - Present
Michael Villarreal
2024 - Present
Calvin Wetzel
2024 - Present
Master's Students
Mikolaj Jakowski
2024 - Present
Robert King
2025 - Present
Mridula Venkatasamy
2025 - Present
Undergrad Students
Alex Chen
2025 - Present
Langalibalele Lunga
2025 - Present
Projects
Project
Athletic Facial ID
Area
Computer Vision (Identification)Developing a robust facial recognition model for player identification across multiple camera feeds in high-speed sports environments, handling motion blur, varying image quality, and long-distance capture.
Project
Driver ID
Area
IdentificationDeveloping a multi-modal model for driver identification to ensure verification and enhance security using multimodal sensor data.
Project
Early Alzheimer's Disease Detection
Area
Medical (Neurology)Developing a multi-modal model to early detect Alzheimer's in patients using data such as MRIs, cognitive scores, etc.
Project
Early Development Inspired Learning
Area
Deep LearningDeveloping a novel deep learning model inspired by early development science principles, focusing on constraining and leveraging sample similarity during training to improve neural network performance.
Project
Fern Spore Classification
Area
Biology (Botanical Image Analysis)Developing a robust model for the classification and segmentation of fern spores. Identifying distinguishing morphological characteristics.
Project
Low-Compute Methods for Representation Learning
Area
Representation LearningInvestigating representation learning with low-resolution images and efficient training methods for representation learning.
Project
Pulmonary Nodule Detection
Area
Medical (Pulmonology)Developing advanced models for early detection of lung nodules using Computed tomography (CT) images.
Project
Pose Estimation for Athlete Performance Analytics
Area
Pose EstimationDeveloping a lightweight pose estimation model to be used in applications that provide performance analytics for athletes.
Project
Post Traumatic Brain Injury Behavior Analysis
Area
Pose EstimationDeveloping a lightweight pose estimation model to detect and analyze unique behavioral patterns in swine following induced mild traumatic brain surgery, aimed at understanding cognitive and motor deficits associated with mild traumatic brain injury.
Project
Reinforcement Learning for Non-RL
Area
Deep LearningDeveloping reinforcement learning techniques to improve training efficiency and performance for non-reinforcement learning models.
Project
Surgical Drain Classification
Area
Medical (Oncology)Developing an accurate, robust model for classifying the liquid within a surgical drain.
Contact us
If you would like to reach out, please email: hsantosv@utk.edu
Last updated Oct 15 '25