Scott T. Acton

Scott T. Acton is the Lawrence R. Quarles Professor and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Virginia, with a courtesy appointment in Biomedical Engineering. He leads the VIVA lab, specializing in biological image analysis, machine learning, and AI for education. His research spans medical imaging, signal processing, and computer vision.

Professor Acton holds a B.S. (Virginia Tech, 1988), M.S. (UT Austin, 1990), and Ph.D. (UT Austin, 1993) in Electrical Engineering. He has authored over 325 publications and served as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Image Processing and General Co-Chair of the IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging.

His research interests include bioimage analysis, machine learning applications, and medical imaging technologies. The VIVA lab focuses on problems like cell tracking in bacterial biofilms, gait recognition using LiDAR, and AI-driven classroom activity analysis.

• Awards: IEEE Fellow (2013), All-University Teaching Award (2009), Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer (1996).
• Courses Taught: How the iPhone Works, Digital Image Processing, Signals and Systems.
• Labs/Teams: VIVA - Virginia Image and Video Analysis lab.

Recent work emphasizes AI for education (e.g., automated classroom activity classification) and medical imaging advancements like 3D biofilm segmentation and LiDAR-based human identification. His contributions bridge engineering and healthcare, with applications in neuroscience and clinical decision support.