Lab Earns Competition Prize; Physics Duo Wins Kudos

Dr. Gagan Wig and two members of his neuroimaging lab in the Center for Vital Longevity at The University of Texas at Dallas recently were named among five winners of a competition sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that seeks to advance solutions for accurate, innovative and representative early prediction of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

The PREPARE (Pioneering Research for Early Prediction of Alzheimer's and Related Dementias EUREKA) Challenge is a project of the NIH's National Institute on Aging that is designed to foster novel approaches to early Alzheimer's disease detection via advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning and computing ecosystems.

Wig, along with research scientist Micaela Chan MS'12, PhD'16 and cognition and neuroscience doctoral student Ziwei Zhang, assembled a neuroimaging dataset focused on quantifying the organization of functional brain networks in adults of various ages and dementia severity.

"Recent work has demonstrated that brain network patterns differ on the basis of both age and Alzheimer's dementia severity," Wig said. "Certain changes in functional brain network organization among healthy individuals are prognostic of the disease. Building on published work from last year, we are hoping our resting-state functional MRI [fMRI] dataset yields progress in pinpointing brain connectivity patterns that are most relevant to Alzheimer's disease and identifying novel biomarkers of disease risk."

To assemble the dataset, the team vetted and extensively processed a large database of brain scans, and then measured connectivity relationships between 502 brain regions on 807 patients from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, an NIH project with more than 60 clinical sites in the U.S. and Canada.

The PREPARE Challenge features three phases that build on each other; the second phase, focusing on algorithms and approaches, is now underway. Wig's lab received a $20,000 fourth-place prize for its work on the first phase of the challenge. Submissions were judged on rigor, innovation, usability and ability to address current biases.

"We are excited to share this data with the broader scientific community so that they can join in our efforts toward developing neuroimaging-based markers of Alzheimer's disease," Wig said. "This is an important step toward not only identifying individuals who may be most at risk for the disease, but also for improving the success of interventional trials."

Physics Duo Honored for Lab Excellence

Dr. Jason Slinker, professor of physics, and David Taylor, physics laboratory manager, at The University of Texas at Dallas are team recipients of the American Physical Society's (APS) 2025 Jonathan F. Reichert & Barbara Wolff-Reichert Award for Excellence in Advanced Laboratory Instruction.

The award recognizes an individual or a team who has taught, developed and sustained an exemplary advanced undergraduate physics laboratory course or courses for at least four years at a U.S. institution. Slinker and Taylor will receive the award, which includes $5,000, in March at the APS Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, California.

The pair received the award "for continuous physical measurement laboratory improvements, leveraging industrial and academic partnerships that enable innovative and diversified independent student projects, and giving rise to practical skill sets yielding outstanding student outcomes."

Slinker is the faculty mentor for the UTD chapter of the Society of Physics Students. He teaches introductory mechanics courses in physics, as well as a capstone laboratory class on physical measurements. His lectures, which often include demonstrations, can pack a large lecture hall with more than 250 students.

Taylor, who has a bachelor's degree in physics from UT Arlington and extensive experience as an engineer, machinist and toolmaker, is responsible for developing and maintaining lab equipment in research and teaching labs in the Department of Physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (NSM).

Both Taylor and Slinker joined UT Dallas in 2010 and have been recognized previously for professional excellence. Taylor earned the 2018 UT System Regents' Outstanding Employee Award and the inaugural NSM Dean's Award for Excellence in 2013. Slinker received a 2014 Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award and the 2022 Provost's Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring.

Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty, students and staff. To submit items for consideration, contact your school's communications manager.

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