Vishnu Kannan

High School Graduation Year: 2026
Sponsored by: Jay & Carol Jean Young Foundation in Memory of Columbine Victims

Vishnu Kannan is a 2-time Carson Scholar from Clarksville, MD. As a senior at River Hill High School, he is not only a leader among his peers but also an innovator in the global fields of technology and medicine. Vishnu has a passion for connecting intersecting fields to build solutions to important societal issues. He believes that innovations in mathematics and artificial intelligence can transform how diseases are diagnosed and treated – a belief that has guided his personal and professional research into artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) models that can progress the role of technology in medicine.

Becoming a Carson Scholar has motivated Vishnu even further: “I’m extremely honored and humbled to be a two-time Carson Scholar! During my first award ceremony, Dr. Carson talked about the importance of using our knowledge to impact society on a broad scale. It inspired me to focus on translating my lifelong interest in math and computer science into real-world impact.”

Vishnu works with Visilant, Inc. to build computer vision models to detect and grade cataracts from a smartphone image to guide clinical decision making. He validated his technology in a trial of over 200 patients at Aravind Eye Hospital in India—the largest eye hospital in the world. His work directly enables diagnosis of eye disease in low resource settings, improving access to eye care in low-and middle-income countries.

Additionally, Vishnu collaborates with professor Todd Coleman at Stanford University conducting research in the mathematical field of optimal transport to develop and test novel methods for generative AI.

As president of The Youth Project, Vishnu has started an initiative to teach his peers about high-level STEM topics. What started as an after-school program teaching challenging math concepts to 22 students has evolved into broader machine learning and programming courses that have reached several hundred students in Maryland.

Vishnu has partnered with the Carson Scholars Fund to make his AI/ML workshop available to all Carson Scholars to reach many more students nationally this Fall. He will be hosting a virtual workshop on November 20, 2025 at 6:30 pm EDT. If you are interested in learning more about the workshop or signing up, see the event information here.

“Partnering with the CSF to teach AI is a dream come true for me and is an incredible opportunity for me to contribute to their mission! I hope to grow this initiative to impact many thousands of people across the country.”