Education
B.S. Computer Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, July 1998.
M.S. Computer Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, May 2002.
Ph.D. Computer Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, May 2004. Dissertation: Geometric Algorithms for Leaf Sequencing Problems in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy.
Research
My research interests include (1) biomedical engineering, (2) algorithms design, analysis and implementation, and (3) computational geometry. My current research focuses on the design and development of efficient and effective computer algorithms and software for radiation oncology and interventional radiology.
Students
I am very furtunate to work with some very talented students.
Current Graduate Students:
Daniel Riofrio
Viktor Chekh
Gonzalo Cabal (co-advised with Prof. Oliver Jäkel, DKFZ.)
Dominic Maes
Ekaterina Davydenko
Past Students:
Jake Proctor, M.S. with Distinction, December 2005. Thesis: A New Algorithm for Reducing Delivery Time of Radiation Therapy (co-Advisor with Prof. Jared Saia). Jake is now with Sandia National Lab.
Rory McGuire, M.S. with Distinction, April 2007. Thesis: Automated Quality Assurance of Plain Radiographs. Rory is now with Apple Inc.
Vikrant Gaur, M.S., August 2007. Thesis: Leaf Sequencing Algorithm for Reducing the Number of MLC Apertures for Step-and-Shoot IMRT (co-Advisor with Prof. Jared Saia). Vikrant is now a senior software engineer with Rockwell Collins.
Nate Swanson, PhD with distinction, March 2009. Dissertation Title: Computer Assisted Dynamic Radiosurgery Treatment Planning. Nate was the winner of the 2008 University of New Mexico Student Award for Innovation in Informatics. Nate is now a Senior Geospatial Scientist with GeoEye Inc., doing research on satellite images.
Zhe (Alex) Chen, M.S., August 2010. Thesis: Dyanmic Photon Painting. Alex is now with Google.
Daniel Riofrio, M.S., November 2011. Thesis: Applications of Voronois Partitions in Particle Therapy.
Roy Keyes Ph.D. in Physics, Novemeber 2011
(co-advised with Prof. Michael Holzscheiter, UNM Physics)
Disseration: Charged Hadron Beam Therapy: Fast Computational Physics Methods.
Roy is not a medical physicist at the New Mexico Cancer Center.
Funding
NCI R01CA117997: "4 Dimensional IMAT Planning using Graph Algorithms", $1,239,953, June 1, 2007 - April 30, 2011, Role: Investigator. PI, Cedric Yu, Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Maryland School of Medicine. UNM Amount: $313,035.
NSF CBET-0755054: "Computer-Aided Dynamic Gamma Knife Radiosurgery Treatment Planning", $291,915, Feb 15, 2008 - Jan 31, 2011, Role: PI.
New Mexico Consortium, 1109: 3D Image Reconstruction with Minimum Radiation Exposure and its Applications to Interventional Radiology, $10,267, Feb, 2009 - May 2009, Role PI, co-PIs: Rick Chartrand, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Phil Heintz, Department of Radiology, University of New Mexico.
NSF CBET-0853157: "Computer-Aided Treatment Planning for Antiproton Therapy", $375,000, Aug 1, 2009 - July 31, 2012, Role: PI, with co-PI Michael Holzscheiter.
Amazon Web Services in Education research grant. $3,500 for using Amazon Elastic Cloud Service, Jun 1, 2010 - May 30, 2011.
Publications and Patents
Journal Articles (in chronological order):
1. D.Z. Chen, S Luan and J. Xu. Topological peeling and applications. International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications (IJCGA), Vol. 13, No. 2, April 2003, page 135-172.
2. S. Luan, D.Z. Chen, L. Zhang, X. Wu, and C.X. Yu. An Optimal Algorithm for Computing Configuration Options of One-dimensional Intensity Modulated Beams. Physics in Medicine and Biology, Vol. 48, No. 15, August 2003, page 2321-2338.
3. S. Luan, C. Wang, D.Z. Chen, X. S. Hu, S.A. Naqvi, C.L. Lee, and C.X. Yu. A new MLC segmentation algorithm/software for step-and-shoot IMRT delivery. Medical Physics, Vol. 31, No. 4, April 2004, page 695-707.
4. D.Z. Chen, X. S. Hu, S. Luan, C. Wang, and X. Wu. Geometric Algorithms for Static Leaf Sequencing Problems in Radiation Therapy. International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications (IJCGA), Vol. 14, October 2004, pp. 311-339.
5. D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, X. Wu, and C.X. Yu. Optimal Terrain Construction Problems and its application in intensity modulated radiation therapy. Algorithmica, Vol. 42, No. 3-4, June 2005, pp. 265-288.
6. D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, S.A. Naqvi, C. Wang, and C.X. Yu. Generalized Geometric Approaches for Leaf Sequencing Problems in Radiation Therapy. International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications (IJCGA), Vol. 16, No 2-3, June, 2006. 175-204.
7. D. Cao, M. Earl, S Luan and D. Shepard. Continuous Intensity Map Optimization (CIMO): A Novel Approach to Leaf Sequencing in Step and Shoot IMRT. Medical Physics, Vol 33, No. 4, 2006, pages 859-867.
8. S Luan, C. Wang, D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S.A. Naqvi, X. Wu, and C.X. Yu. An improved MLC segmentation algorithm and software for step-and-shoot IMRT delivery without tongue-and-groove error. Medical Physics, Vol 33, No. 5, 2006 pages 1199-1212.
9. C. Yu, D. Shepard, M. Earl, D. Cao, S Luan, C. Wang and D. Chen. New Developments in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy. Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment, 2006, 451-564.
10. S Luan, J. Saia and M. Young. Approximation algorithms for minimizing segments in radiation therapy. Information Professing Letters, Vol. 101, 2007, 239-244.
11. S Luan, C. Wang, D. Cao, D.Z. Chen, D.M. Shepard, and C.X. Yu. Leaf-sequencing for intensity-modulated arc therapy using graph algorithms, Medical Physics, Vol 35, No. 1, 2008, 61-69.
12. D.Z. Chen, S.X. Hu, S. Luan, C. Wang, and X. Wu. Mountain Reduction, Block Matching, and Medical Applications. International Journal of Computational Geometry and Applications (IJCGA), Vol. 18, Nos. 1-2 (April 2008), 63-106.
13. G. Tang, M.A. Earl, S. Luan, C. Wang, D. Cao, C.X. Yu, and S.A. Naqvi. Stochastic vs. deterministic kernel based superposition approaches for dose calculation of intensity-modulated arcs. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 53 (2008), 4733-4746.
14. C. Wang, S. Luan, G. Tang, D. Chen, M. Earl, C. Yu. Arc-modulated Radiation Therapy (AMRT): a single-arc form of Intensity-Modulated Arc Therapy.Physics in Medicine and Biology. Vol 53, No. 22, Nov. 2008, pages 6291-6304. Runner-up of Physics in Medicine and Biology Paper of the Year Award.
15. S. Luan, N. Swanson, and L. Ma. Dynamic Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 54 (2009), 1579-1591.
16. D. Chen, S. Luan, C. Wang. Coupled Path Planning, Region Optimization, and Applications to Intensity-Modulated Raidiation Therapy. Algorithmica, 2009, DOI 10.1007/s00453-009-9363-7.
17. N. Bansal, D. Chen, X. Hu, S. Luan, E. Misiolek, B. Schieber, C. Wang. Shape Rectangularization Problems in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. Algoirthmica, 2009, DOI 10.1007/s00453-009-9354-8.
18. G. Tang, M. Earl, S. Luan, C. Wang, S. Naqvi, M. Mohiuddin, and C. Yu. Comparing Radiation Treatments Using Intensity-Modulated Beams, Multiple Arcs and Single Arc.International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics. 2010, 76 (5), pages 1554-1562.
Peer Reviewed Conference Articles (in chronological order):
1. D.Z. Chen, S. Luan, and J. Xu. Topological peeling and implementation. Proc. 12th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computations (ISAAC), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2223, Spring Verlag page 454-466, 2001.
2. D.Z. Chen, S. Luan, and J. Xu. An Experimental Study and Comparison of Topological Peeling and Topological Walk. Proc. of the Eighth Annual International Computing and Combinatorics Conference (COCOON), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2387, Springer Verlag, page 456-466, 2002.
3. D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, X. Wu, and C.X. Yu. Optimal Terrain Construction Problems and Applications in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. Proc. of the Tenth Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA), Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 2461, Springer Verlag, page 270-283, 2002.
4. D.Z. Chen, X. S. Hu, S. Luan, C. Wang, and X. Wu. Geometric Algorithms for Static Leaf Sequencing Problems in Radiation Therapy. Proc. of 19th ACM Symposium on Computational Geometry (SoCG03), page 88-97, 2003.
5. D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, S.A. Naqvi, C. Wang, and C.X. Yu. Generalized Geometric Approaches for Leaf Sequencing Problems in Radiation Therapy. 15th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC 2004), December 2004.
6. D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, C. Wang, and X. Wu. Mountain Reduction, Block Matching, and Applications in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. Proc. 21st ACM Symp. on Computational Geometry (SoCG), pp. 35-44, 2005.
7. S. Luan, C. Wang, D.Z. Chen, and X.S. Hu. Leaf Sequencing Software for Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. 19th IEEE Symposium on Computer Based Software Systems, 2006.
8. D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, E. Misiolek, and C. Wang. Shape Rectangularization Problems in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation (ISAAC)
9. D.Z. Chen, S. Luan and C. Wang. Coupled Path Planning, Region Optimization, and Applications in Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy. Proceedings of the 16th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA), 2008.
10. R.W. Keyes, C. Romano, D. Arnold, and S. Luan. Cloud Computing as a Monte Carlo Cluster for Radiation Therapy. Proceedings of the XVth International Conference on the Use of Computers in Radiation Therapy (ICCR), 2010.
Peer Reviewed Conference Abstracts (in chronological order):
1. X. Wu, D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S. Luan, L. Zhang, and C.X. Yu. A new leaf-sequencing algorithm for intensity-modulated arc therapy. The 43rd Annual Meeting and Technical Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2001. Oral Presentation.
2. S. Luan, C. Wang, S.A. Naqvi, D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, C.L. Lee, and C.X. Yu. A New Leaf Sequencing Algorithm/Software for Step and Shoot IMRT. The 45th Annual Meeting and Technical Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2003. Oral Presentation.
3. S. Luan, C. Wang, D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, and C.X. Yu. A Study of the Impact of MLC Constraints on the Number of Segments in Step-and-Shoot IMRT Delivery. The 46th Annual Meeting and Technical Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2004. Oral Presentation.
4. S. Luan, C. Wang, D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, S.A. Naqvi,and C.X. Yu. A New MLC Segmentation Algorithm for Step and Shoot IMRT Without Tongue-and-Groove Error. The 46th Annual Meeting and Technical Exhibition of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2004. Oral Presentation.
5. C. Wang, S. Luan, D.Z. Chen, X.S. Hu, and C.X. Yu. A Generalized MLC Segmentation Algorithm for Step-and-Shoot IMRT with no Tongue-and-Groove Error. The 47th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2005. Oral Presentation.
6. K.D. Roedersheimer, D.Z. Chen, S. Luan, and L. Xing. The Impact of Multileaf Collimator Rotation in IMRT Planning. The 47th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2005. Poster Presentation.
7. S. Luan, P.H. Heintz, S.A. Sorensen, A.A. Jimenez, D.Z. Chen, K.D. Roedersheimer, G. Wong. The Effect of Collimator Rotation on IMRT Treatment Planning. The 47th Annual Meeting of American Society of Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), 2005. Poster Presentation.
8. D. Cao, M. Earl, S. Luan and D. Shepard. Continuous Intensity Map Optimization (CIMO): A Novel Leaf Sequencing Algorithm. The 48th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2006. Oral Presentation.
9. S. Luan, C. Wang, D. Cao, D. Chen, W. D'Souza, and C. Yu. Patient Breathing Motion Synchronized IMAT: A New Technique for Compensating Intra Fraction Organ Motions. The 48th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2006. Poster Presentation.
10. S. Luan, C. Wang, D. Chen, D. Cao, D. Shepard, and C. Yu. IMAT Leaf Sequencing Using Graph Algorithms. The 49th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2006. Oral Presentation.
11. P. Wilkins, S. Luan, N. Swanson, P. Heintz, and L. Ketai. A New Algorithm/Software for CT Measurement of Airway Wall Volume. The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 92nd Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, 2006. Poster Presentation.
12. S. Luan, N. Swanson, L. Ma, and K. Li. Dynamic Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. The 8th Bi-Annual Congress of International Society of Stereotactic Radiosurgery (ISRS), 2007. Oral Presentation.
13. G. Tang, M. Earl, S. Luan, C.Wang, D.Z. Chen, S. Naqvi, and C.X. Yu. Comparison of intensity-modulated radiation therapy, intensity-modulated arc therapy, and arc modulated radiation therapy. The 50th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2008. Moderated Poster.
14. G. Tang, M. Earl, S. Luan, C. Wang, D.Z. Chen, and C.X. Yu. Is dose variation crucial for single-arc radiation therapy delivery. The 50th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2008. Oral Presentation.
15. C. Wang, S. Luan, G. Tang, M. Earl, D.Z. Chen, and C.X. Yu. Arc modulated radiation therapy, a novel method for rotational radiation therapy. The 50th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2008. Poster Presentation.
16. C. Wang, S. Luan, D.Z. Chen, G. Tang and C.X. Yu. Dynamic leaf sequencing with monitor unit control. The 50th Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2008. Poster Presentation.
17. S. Luan, N. Swanson, Z. Chen, L. Ma. Treatment Planning for Dynamic Gamma Knife Radiosurgery. The 9th Bi-Annual Congress of International Society of Stereotactic Radiosurgery (ISRS), 2009. Oral Presentation.
18. D. Cao, M. Rao, F. Chen, J. Ye, S. Luan, D. Shepard. A novel approach to machine specific QA for volumetric modulated arc therapy. The 51st Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2009. Poster Presentation.
19. F. Chen, M. Rao, J. Ye, S. Luan, D. Shepard, D. Cao. Study of systemic and random errors on VMAT and IMRT plan quality and deliver accuracy. The 51st Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2009. Oral Presentation.
20. B. Fahimian, J. DeMarco, R. Keyes, S. Luan, M. Zankl, M. Holzscheiter. Antiproton Radiotherapy: Development of Physically and Biologically Optimized Monte Carlo Treatment Planning Systems for Intensity and Energy Modulated Delivery. The 51st Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2009. Oral Presentation.
21. R. Keyes,S. Luan, M. Holzscheiter. Antiproton Therapy: A simplified method to characterize and compare dose from peripheral radiation fields. The 51st Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2009. Poster Presentation.
22. D. Riofrio, R. Keyes, A. Hecht, S. Luan, M. Holzscheiter, J. DeMarco, B. Fahimian.Planning Dynamic Particle Therapy. The 51st Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2009. Poster Presentation.
23. L. Trestrail, D. Sanchez, D. Sandoval, P. Heintz, S. Luan, D. Chen. A Web-based Automated QA Analysis Program for Digital Image Tracking. The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 95th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, 2009. Oral Presentation.
24. G. Cabal, S. Luan, O Jakel. Impact of the beam angle configuration on the quality and the robustness of a particle therapy plan. Particle Therapy Cooperative Group (PTCOG), 2009. Poster Presentation.
25. G. Cabal, S. Luan, O Jakel. An algorithm for optimizing beam angle configuration in particle therapy. Particle Therapy Cooperative Group (PTCOG), 2009. Poster Presentation.
26. G Gabal, S. Luan, O Jakel. A beam angle selection algorithm for particle therapy. The 52nd Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2010. Poster Presentation.
27. D. Riofrio, G. Cabal, R. Keyes, M. Holzscheiter, J. DeMarco, O Jakel, S. Luan S. Minimizing energy change in particle therapy using Voronoi partitions. The 52nd Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2010. Poster Presentation.
28. R. Keyes, C. Romano, D. Arnold, S. Luan. Medical physics calculation in the cloud, a new paradigm for clinical computing. The 52nd Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2010. Poster Presentation.
29. Z. Chen, S. Luan, D. Riofrio, L. Ma. A study on the focusing power of dynamic photon painting. The 52nd Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2010. Finalist for the John R. Cameron YOUNG INVESTIGATOR'S COMPETITION (12 out of 198 submissions).
30. R. Keyes, A. Raynaud, D. Arnold, and S. Luan. McCloud: Toward 10 Million Monte Carlo Primaries in 5 Minutes for Clinical Use. The 53nd Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2011. Poster Presentation.
31. D. Riofrio, R. Keyes, D. Mayes, S. Luan. Simultaneousptimization of Dose and LET in Proton Therapy using Voronoi Partitions. The 53rd Annual Meeting of American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), 2011. Oral Presentation.
Patents:
1. Inventor of US Patent 7.283,611 B1: Segmentation Algorithmic Approach to Step and-Shoot Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy.
2. Inventor of US Patent: 7,466,797: Error control in Algorithmic Approach to Step-and-Shoot Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy
3. Co-Inventor of Single Arc Dose Painting: An efficient method of precision radiation therapy. International Patent Application: PCT/US08/005028. (The patent has been commericially licensed by Varian.)
4. Inventor of System and Method for using Dynamic Gamma Knife for Radiosurgery. PCT/US2009/002733 (pending). (The IP has been commericially licensed by Elekta.)
5. Inventor of A method of Enhancing Photon Beam Focusing Power for Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery Delivery. Provisional Patent filed through UNM STC. (The IP has been commericially licensed by Accuray.)
6. Co-Inventor of Method of Calculating Radiation Fluence and Energy Deposition Distributions on a Networked Virtual Computational Cluster. Provisional Patent filed through UNM STC.