John Rattray ‘11
A graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County as a Meyerhoff Scholar in Computer Engineering, John is a Ph.D. Candidate at Johns Hopkins University in Computer Engineering.
A 2011 graduate of Concordia Preparatory School, John Rattray is now in his third year as a Ph.D. candidate studying Computer Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. His research is designing a wearable monitoring system for individuals suffering from traumatic brain injury, in a coma, to determine the likelihood that they will improve. It may seem that the patients are not moving, but they are. “This device will record a non-bias assessment of their movement to determine how severe their coma is and will help doctors determine treatment protocols for individual patients.”
He is also working on two other projects: “One of my other areas of research is neuromorphic engineering, which is an area of research focused on mimicking biological systems using electrical systems. My work has been in developing data-driven models to autonomously determine saliency in a visual scene. Saliency is the quality of objects to stand out in a scene from their neighbors and immediately grab our attention—an albino cat amongst black cats would be very salient. To develop these models we use cameras that, instead of being frame based like all traditional cameras, focus only on changes in light intensity, more similar to how biological systems acquire and process visual information.
“The last research project that I am working on is designing a micro-scale imager for the use of brain fluorescence imaging. These imagers are small enough to be implanted in the brain and with the help of other collaborators, the goal is to power these small devices wirelessly to eliminate the need for any connection through the skull. The purpose of these devices would be to monitor brain function in a minimally invasive way to better determine how signals propagate through the brain to better allow us to preempt neurological disorders and create brain-machine interfaces for prostheses, etc.”
John attended Baltimore Lutheran and later Concordia Prep from sixth through twelfth grade. His parents are devoted Christians and his faith-formation was a key part of their decision. “I didn’t have to hide my faith. I was in a place where I could be open and around faculty and students who shared my beliefs.”
At BLS/CPS John excelled in every area. He was a varsity soccer player all four years and was named MVP junior and senior year. He played the saxophone in the jazz band and was Chino in the Theatre Production of “West Side Story”. He took the highest math class possible in 11th grade and took calculus at CCBC as a senior. He was named to the National Merit Scholarship program
John says he was always drawn to science and math. His father is a computer scientist. John says he was interested in computer science and engineering as a young child before he knew exactly what engineering was. In high school, he loved his science and math classes especially math and physics with Mr. Gary Barth and Ms. Rebecca Jabs. “They were great teachers and made science seem cool and fun. The teachers at BLS/CPS are passionate and excited about teaching in new ways.”
He says that Mrs. Grill in Guidance encouraged him to take higher and higher math classes. Upon graduation, he attended UMBC majoring in computer engineering as part of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. “Mrs. Grill encouraged me to pursue the program at UMBC. The goal is to encourage minorities to pursue an education in the STEM field. That experience really solidified my future as a doctorate candidate. The program encourages research into finding solutions to problems. “The program enlightened me to the process and made [engineering] relatable to me.”
Now in his third year at Hopkins, the degree John is pursuing takes five to six years to complete. He is passionate about opening his own company sometime in the future but plans to remain in academia after graduation, “There are many ways to give back by helping other students discover their path.”
Reflecting on his experience at BLS/CPS, not only were the academics first-rate, “I enjoyed my time…it is a place where I could be open about my faith. It is a culture that puts God first.”