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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for January
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Mon, Jan 09, 2012 @ 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Joseph Kerckhoff, JILA, University of Colorado and NIST
Talk Title: Emerging Quantum Optical Networks
Abstract: Economic and environmental pressures continually push information systems smaller and to operate at lower energies. As a consequence, optical technologies are increasingly utilized to connect computing devices over short distances. For similar reasons and in view of recent advances in nanophotonics, large scale electro-optical integration in processors could also be advantageous. These trends raise some fundamental hardware questions, however. For example, the energy equivalent of todayâs CMOS logic operation is a countable number of photons. How could we control a physical optical âbitâ with significant quantum noise? Can the full quantum complexity and emergent behavior of an optical network be engineered?
The stability problem is illustrated by a recent experiment in which quantum fluctuations destabilize bistability (a canonical context for digital logic) in an ultra-low energy, highly non-linear optical device. On the other hand, the emergence of a new binary switching phenomena in this device is also compelling. I will discuss a proposal for stabilizing related devices with a simple, on-chip and all-optical feedback network, utilizing a nascent theory of quantum optical circuits that resembles a non-commutative generalization of electrical circuit theory. Finally, I will describe a potential all-optical feedback network capable of stabilizing an unknown quantum superposition state without external oversight or even a regulating âclock,â demonstrating the wide scope of quantum optical control.
Biography: Joseph Kerckhoff received a B.A. in Physics and English from Williams College in 2005, graduating magna cum laude. As a graduate student in the group of Hideo Mabuchi first at the California Institute of Technology and then at Stanford University, his research focused on cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments and theoretical quantum optical control networks. Receiving his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford in June 2011, Joseph is a National Research Council postdoctoral research fellow at JILA (NIST and the U. of Colorado) working on coherent feedback systems with superconducting microwave and quantum electro-mechanical devices in the group of Konrad Lehnert.
Host: EE-Electrophysics and Physics Colloquium
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Topological Inference, Large-Scale Multiple Testing, and Random Positive Definite Matrices
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Armin Schwartzman, Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard University
Abstract: The first concerns the problem of detecting local significant regions in signals and images, where the need is to make inferences about spatial features such as smooth peaks or compact regions of unknown location rather than individual pixels or voxels. Example include detection of spikes in neuronal recordings, finding protein binding sites in CHIP-Seq genomic data and finding regions of neural activation in brain imaging. Focusing on the 1D case, I propose a topological multiple testing approach involving kernel smoothing and testing of local maxima. Theory and simulation show that global error rates are controlled asymptotically and that the optimal bandwidth corresponds to the âmatched filterâ principle, where the kernel size should be close to that of the peaks to be detected.
Addressing more generally the problem of large-scale testing under arbitrary correlation, such as in gene expression data, I will describe some of the difficulties in making inferences in this setting such as the added bias and variance in the usual false discovery rate (FDR) estimator and the variability of the observed distribution of the test statistics, calling for the so-called empirical null correction.
Finally, relating to geometry and manifold-valued data, I will present statistical tools I have developed for making inferences about eigenvalues and eigenvectors of random symmetric positive definite (PD) matrices. This problem is relevant in the analysis of Diffusion Tensor Imaging data, where the observations themselves ate 3 x 3 PD matrices. The parameter sets involved in the inference problems are subsets of Euclidean space that are either affine subspaces, polyhedral convex cones, or embedded submanifolds that are invariant under orthogonal transformation. A key tool for working with random PD matrices is the matrix log transformation, leading by the central limit theorem to what may be called a matrix-variate log-normal distribution.
Biography: Armin Schwartzman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at Harvard. He received his Ph.D. in Statistics from Stanford, working with Bradley Efron and Jonathan Taylor. He holds MS and BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and Science Education from Caltech and the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology).
Host: Information and Operations Management Department, Marshall School of Business
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
PHOTONICS AND INTEGRATED SYSTEMS SEMINAR
Thu, Jan 12, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Willie Ng, HRL Laboratories
Talk Title: Photonics for Microwave Systems and
Abstract: This seminar will describe the development and utilization of photonics technologies in microwave antenna systems and ultra-wideband signal processing. It will cover our recent work on photonic assisted analog-to-digital conversion, the characterization of jitter in mode-locked lasers, frequency-locked photonic oscillators, and the use of Si microdisk heterogeneously integrated with silica waveguides for RF-photonic filtering. In addition, it will also describe how the broadband capabilities of photonics and wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) technologies can be exploited for high dynamic range antenna remoting and true-time-delay beamforming that cover multiple microwave bands.
Biography: Dr. Willie Ng is currently a Principal Research Scientist at HRL Laboratories, Malibu, CA, a research and development company jointly owned by Boeing and General Motors. He has led the photonics effort at HRL since 1997. Under DARPA and Air Force sponsorships, he has led HRL teams that demonstrated a variety of photonic devices/subsystems designed for microwave antenna systems and ultra-wideband signal processing, including RF-photonic filtering and photonics-assisted analog-to-digital conversion. He has given many invited talks in IEEE/OSA Conferences and DARPA Symposiums, and is the author and co-author of over 100 journal articles and conference papers. He holds 20 U.S. patents in the area of photonics technology, with many pending. Cited for pioneering contributions to microwave photonics, he was one of six individuals selected to receive the Excellence in Technology Award in 2005 from the Raytheon Company. Prior to HRL, he was a Member of the Technical Staff in the Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, Calif. In the Optoelectronics Group of Dr. D. Dapkus, he developed GaInAsP/InP buried heterostructure lasers and power converters. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio), and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.) under the guidance of Prof. A. Yariv. His thesis work was on the demonstration of GaAlAs/GaAs Distributed Bragg Reflector lasers and Bragg waveguides. He is a fellow of the IEEE (Class of 2010).
Host: Viterbi School of Engineering
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Jan 13, 2012 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Shahriar Mirabbasi, University of British Columbia
Talk Title: Design Techniques for LC-Based Circuits: From Oscillators to Wireless Power Delivery Systems
Host: Hossein Hashemi
More Information: Seminar_Speaker_Mirabbasi_2012_1_13.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Munushian Keynote Lecture
Fri, Jan 20, 2012 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Andre Geim, Langworthy and Royal Society Anniversary Research Professor, The University of Manchester
Talk Title: Random Walk to Graphene
Abstract: Graphene â a single plane of carbon atoms â is probably the simplest material one can imagine. On the other hand, graphene has acquired so many superlatives to its name that people started calling it a wonder material. In this lecture, I will explain how I walked into this research area and why graphene deserves being called wonder.
Biography: Dr. Geim is with the University of Manchester. He is the Langworthy and Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professor and the Director of Manchester Centre for Mesoscience Nanotechnology. He is from the Netherlands and UK (born in Russia).
He published over 200 peer-refereed research papers, including 15 Nature and Science articles and many more in Physical Review Letters and Nature series magazines. More than 40 of the papers are cited > 100 times, with 9 of them being cited >1000 times each. According to ISIâs Essential Science IndicatorsSM, responsible for initiating two new research fronts (on graphene and on van-der-Waals adhesives). He is credited with more than 50 named and plenary lectures.
Dr. Geim won the 2000 IgNobel Prize for âlevitating frogsâ (shared with Michael Berry). He was named among âScientific American 50â in 2006; According to Thomson-Reuters, among âhottest researchersâ for 2009, 2010 and 2011. His research on superconductivity was chosen twice by AIP among 50 annual highlights (1998 & 1999). He has Honorary PhDs from Delft University, ETH Zurich & Universities of Antwerp & Manchester. He is the Hon Professor of Moscow Phys-Tech; Hon Professor of the University of Nijmegen; Hon Fellow of the Institute of Physics; Hon Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry; Corresponding Member of the Dutch Academy of Sciences; Hon Fellow of Singapore Institute of Physics; Hon Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Host: Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, EE-EP
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/munushianLocation: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 124
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/munushian
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
EE-EP/Joint Colloquium with Physics
Mon, Jan 23, 2012 @ 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Edo Waks, University of Maryland, College Park
Talk Title: Strong Light-Matter Interactions in Semiconductor Quantum Dots Coupled to Photonic Crystals
Abstract: Two dimensional photonic crystals have been recognized as a highly promising scalable platform for compact integrated photonics. Another important aspect of photonic crystals is their ability to localize and trap light to spatial volumes on the order of a cubic wavelength, resulting in extremely high electromagnetic intensities. Recently, it has been shown that by embedding a single quantum dot (QD) in the high field region of photonic crystal cavities it becomes possible to achieve strong light-matter interactions at the single photon/single atom level. These unprecedented interaction strengths open up the possibility for creating nonlinear optical effects approaching the single photon level. In addition, they can be exploited to engineer unique quantum mechanically entangled states of light and matter that enable scalable quantum networks. In this talk, I will discuss our work on coupling indium arsenide (InAs) QDs to photonic crystal structures for creating nonlinear optical interactions at low photon numbers, and for storing and transferring quantum information from QD spin to photons for quantum networking. I will describe an experimental demonstration of giant optical Stark shifts with only 10 photons of energy by using a strongly coupled cavity-QD system, as well as a recent demonstration of all-optical switching with only 150 photons of control energy. I will then describe our work on coupling QD spin to light in order to realize a quantum transistor that can exhibit the quantum mechanical property of entanglement. The quantum transistor could enable a novel class of opto-electronic devices that serve as a fundamental building block for quantum computers and quantum networks.
Biography: Edo Waks is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is also a member of the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI), a collaborative effort between the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) at Gaithersburg, dedicated to the study of quantum coherence. Waks received his B.S. and M.S. from Johns Hopkins University, and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER award as well as a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for the investigation of interactions between quantum dots and nanophotonic structures. His current work focuses on coherent control and manipulation semiconductor quantum dots, and their interactions with photonic crystal devices for creating strong atom-photon interactions.
Host: EE-EP/Joint Colloquium with Physics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Parametric Speech Production Representations for Formant Tracking and Joint Source-filter Modeling
Tue, Jan 24, 2012 @ 02:15 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Daryush Mehta, Harvard University & Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital
Talk Title: Parametric Speech Production Representations for Formant Tracking and Joint Source-filter Modeling
Abstract: We continue to see an urgent need for robust representations of the acoustic speech waveform, especially in speakers with speech and voice impairments. First, I will discuss our approach to the problem of formant and antiformant tracking, in which extended Kalman algorithms take advantage of a linearized mapping from formant frequencies and bandwidths to cepstral coefficients in an autoregressive moving average model. Second, we will explore joint source-filter models for representing sustained vowel phonation that exhibits nonstationary or asymmetric vocal fold vibration. These algorithms hold potential clinical significance for better understanding acoustic-physiological relationships observable with current imaging systems.
Biography: Daryush Mehta is a Research Associate in Electrical Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University, an Assistant Biomedical Engineer at the Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and an Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Daryush received his PhD in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology from HarvardâMIT (2010), Master's degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT (2006), and Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Florida (2003). http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~dmehta/
Host: Prof. Shri Narayanan & Dr. Michael Proctor
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Low-Complexity Equalization for Multi-scale Multi-lag OFDM Channels
Tue, Jan 24, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Zijian Tang, Research Scientist of TNO the Hague, the Netherlands
Talk Title: Low-Complexity Equalization for Multi-scale Multi-lag OFDM Channels
Abstract: We consider an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission scheme over wideband underwater acoustic channels, where the propagation paths can experience distinct Doppler effects (manifested in signal scales) and time of arrivals (manifested in delays). We capture such an effect in this paper with a multi-scale multi-lag (MSML) model, and show that the resulting frequency-domain MSML-OFDM channel is subject to inter-carrier interference (ICI), whose amount differs per subcarrier. The corresponding channel matrix can still be approximated as highly sparse, but lacks a specific structure that can optimally be exploited by those low-complexity equalizers proposed for narrowband channels. In this paper, we propose to use the conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm to equalize the channel iteratively. The suitability of the preconditioning technique, that often accompanies the CG to accelerate the convergence, is discussed for the MSML-OFDM channel. We show that in order for the preconditioner to function properly, optimal resampling is indispensable.
Biography: Zijian Tang received the MSc in electrical engineering and the PhD degree from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in 2003 and 2007, respectively. After working with Mathworks for one year, he joined the Sonar Group at Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) in 2008 as a research scientist, where the research area covers underwater acoustic communications, anti-submarine warfare, marine mammal detection etc. Since 2010, he has also been holding a (part-time) research fellow position at the Network & Circuits Group of TU Delft. Zijian Tang is the recipient of the best student paper award (honourable mention) at ICASSP 2007, and was nominated to the Simon Stevin Gezel prize in 2008.
Host: Prof. Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu, x04667
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Wed, Jan 25, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Hui Wu, University of Rochester
Talk Title: 3-D Integrated Free-Space Optical Interconnect
Host: Hossein Hashemi
More Information: Seminar_Speaker_Wu_2012_1_25.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Probing "inside" quantum collapse with solid-state qubits”
Fri, Jan 27, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alexander N. Korotkov, University of California, Riverside
Talk Title: Probing "inside" quantum collapse with solid-state qubitsâ
Abstract: We discuss what is "inside" the quantum state collapse due to measurement, and what happens if the collapse is stopped half-way. For particular setups with solid-state qubits the answer is rather simple: the qubit state changes in accordance with gradually acquired information, without loss of its purity (no decoherence). The simple theory of such measurement leads to a number of experimentally testable predictions. So far three such experiments have been realized with superconducting qubits: partial collapse, uncollapse (measurement reversal), and
persistent Rabi oscillations. These effects can be potentially useful, for example for quantum feedback and decoherence suppression.
Biography: Alexander N. Korotkov received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1991 from Moscow State University (adviser: Konstantin K. Likharev). After that he worked at Moscow State University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he also held visiting
positions at Université de la Méditerranée (Marseille, France), and at NEC Fundamental Research Lab (Tsukuba, Japan). In 2000 Alexander Korotkov joined the faculty of the University of California, Riverside, where he is a Professor of Electrical
Engineering since 2006. Research interests of Alexander Korotkov include quantum computing, quantum measurements, quantum feedback control, and nanoelectronics. He has authored 105 journal papers and 37 proceedings/book chapters, which have
over 3,000 citations (h-index of 31).
Host: Todd Brun, x0-3503
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Jan 27, 2012 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Pavan Kumar Hanumolu, Oregon State University
Talk Title: Synthesizing Accurate Clocks with Inaccurate Components
Host: Hossein Hashemi
More Information: Seminar_Speaker_kumar_2012_1_27.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Meet n’ Greet with the Mathworks
Tue, Jan 31, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anushree Chorghade and Ryan Gordon, Mathworks Inc. Natick, MA
Talk Title: Meet nâ Greet with the Mathworks
Abstract: ABSTRACT:
Mathworks is the leading developer and supplier of software for technical computing and Model-Based design. We have around 2000 people worldwide and are headquartered in Natick, MA with offices throughout the world! Drop by to know more about this great company, its work culture, and the current developments and ongoing projects. Great place to ask and get your questions answered on how you can be a part of it and contribute your knowledge and technical skills and make the professional experience worth-while.
Also get to know more exciting facts and figures from two current engineers working in the Engineering Development Group at Mathworks and their experience so far at Mathworks!
We will be collecting resumes of interested students at both the information session and career fair.
Looking for MS or PhD in Engineering (Electrical or Mechanical) or Computer Science
Biography: BIO:
After completing graduate work at USC, Anushree Chorghade and Ryan Gordon joined Mathworks as . Application Support Engineers.
They will be representing Mathworks at the 2012 USC Viterbi Career Expo.
Host: Michael Safonov
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
