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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for March
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Viterbi Keynote Lecture
Thu, Mar 01, 2012 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Sergio Verdú, Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University
Talk Title: What is Information Theory
Abstract: This wide-audience talk will address the history of Claude Shannonâs theory on the fundamental limits of data compression and data transmission through noisy channels. We will review the impact of information theory on the design of various information technologies, as well as its intersections with other fields. We will also discuss the evolving perception of information theory since its inception in 1948 among the wider scientific community.
3:00pm - Reception
4:00pm - Lecture
Biography: Sergio Verdú is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, he is the recipient of the 2007 Claude E. Shannon Award, and the 2008 IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal. He received the 2000 Frederick E. Terman Award from the American Society for Engineering Education, and a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. In 1998, Cambridge University Press published his book Multiuser Detection. His papers have received several awards, including the 1992 IEEE Donald Fink Paper Award, the Information Theory Outstanding Paper Award in both 1998 and 2012, an IEEE Information Theory Golden Jubilee Paper Award, the 2002 Leonard G. Abraham Prize Award in the field of Communications Systems, the 2007 IEEE Joint Communications/Information Theory Paper Award, and the 2009 Stephen O. Rice Prize from the IEEE Communications Society. He served as President of the IEEE Information Theory Society in 1997, and is currently Editor-in-Chief of Foundations and Trends in Communications and Information Theory.
Host: Dr. Alexander Sawchuk
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/viterbi_lecture-verdu.htmMore Information: 20120301 Verdu Print.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium and Patio
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/viterbi_lecture-verdu.htm
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, Mar 02, 2012 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Ralph Etienne-Cummings, Johns Hopkins University
Talk Title: How Do We Make Future Neurally Integrated Prosthetic Devices Speak the Same Language as the Nervous System?
Host: Hossein Hashemi
Location: Vivian Hall of Engineering (VHE) - 217
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. -
Faster and Better: Signal Processing Approaches to High Dimensional MR Neuroimaging
Mon, Mar 05, 2012 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Research Assistant Professor Justin Haldar, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Faster and Better: Signal Processing Approaches to High Dimensional MR Neuroimaging
Abstract: Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging technologies have enabled new opportunities to reveal the mysteries of the central nervous system -- its function and organization, and what goes wrong when it is injured or diseased. MR experiments are quite flexible, and the MR signal can be manipulated to noninvasively probe anatomy, physiology, and metabolism. However, while MR imaging is decades old and has already revolutionized medical imaging, current methods are still far from utilizing the full potential of the MR signal. In particular, traditional MR methods are based on the Fourier transform, and suffer from fundamental trade-offs between signal-to-noise ratio, spatial resolution, and data acquisition speed. These issues are exacerbated in high-dimensional applications, due to the curse of dimensionality.
Classical approaches to addressing these trade-offs have relied on improved imaging hardware and more efficient pulse sequences. In contrast, our work addresses the limitations of MR using relatively less-explored signal processing approaches, which have recently become practical because of increasing computational capabilities. This talk will illustrate some of our new approaches in the context of MR diffusion imaging, a powerful 6 dimensional imaging modality that can be used to characterize the microstructure and connectivity of the brain. To reconstruct three of these dimensions, we leverage an appropriate imaging model to guide the design of both data acquisition and image reconstruction, which can free us from some of the constraints of traditional Fourier imaging. For the remaining three dimensions, we describe new linear transform techniques to extract important diffusion information from reduced data, i.e., data sampled on the surface of a Fourier 2-sphere. The benefits of these approaches are illustrated in the context of microstructural and connectivity assessments of the brain and spinal cord.
Biography: Justin Haldar received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and the Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering in 2011, all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is currently a Research Assistant Professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Southern California, where he is affiliated with the Signal and Image Processing Institute, the Dana & David Dornsife Cognitive Neuroscience Imaging Center, and the Brain and Creativity Institute. His research interests include image reconstruction, signal modeling, parameter estimation, and experiment design for biomedical imaging applications, with a particular focus on magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. His work on constrained imaging has been recognized with a best student paper award at the 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging and the first-place award in the student paper competition at the 2010 international conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Weblink: http://mr.usc.edu/
Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
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. -
Approximate Message Passing and the Blessing of Dimensionality
Wed, Mar 07, 2012 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arian Maleki, Ph.D. , Rice University
Talk Title: Approximate Message Passing and the Blessing of Dimensionality
Abstract: The problem of recovering a sparse signal from an underdetermined set of linear equations is paramount in many applications such as compressed sensing, genomics, and machine learning. While significant advances have been made in this area, providing useful insights and intuitions, many important questions are still open including the fundamental performance limits of the recovery algorithms. In this talk, I present a novel sparse recovery algorithm, referred to as approximate message passing (AMP), that uses the âblessing" of large dimensions to solve the $\ell_1$- norm regularized least squares or the LASSO problem very efficiently. In particular, AMP exhibits fast convergence and relies on inexpensive iterations, which renders it suitable for solving high-dimensional problems. Moreover, AMP provides a novel theoretical framework for analyzing the fundamental performance limits of the LASSO, by converting it into a sequence of classical signal plus noise estimation problems. I will show that this new framework settles several fundamental and practically important questions such as the noise sensitivity of the LASSO.
Biography: Arian Maleki received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University under the supervision of Prof. David Donoho in 2010. He then joined the DSP group at Rice University as a postdoctoral scholar. His research interests include massive data analysis, compressed sensing, signal processing, machine learning, and optimization. He received his M.Sc. in statistics from Stanford University, and B.Sc. and M.Sc. both in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology.
Host: Professor Antonio Ortega
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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. -
CENG Seminar
Thu, Mar 08, 2012 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Daniel Sanchez, PhD Candidate, Stanford University
Talk Title: Scaling Software and Hardware for Thousand-Core Systems
Abstract: Scaling multicores to thousands of cores efficiently requires significant innovation across the software-hardware stack. On one hand, to expose ample parallelism, many applications will need to be divided in fine-grain tasks of a few thousand instructions each, and scheduled dynamically in a manner that addresses the three major difficulties of fine-grain parallelism: locality, load imbalance, and excessive overheads. On the other hand, hardware resources must scale efficiently, even as some of them are shared among thousands of threads. In particular, the memory hierarchy is hard to scale in several ways:conventional cache coherence techniques are prohibitively expensive beyond a few tens of cores, and caches cannot be easily shared among multiple threads or processes. Ideally, software should be able to configure these shared resources to provide good overall performance and quality of service (QoS) guarantees under all possible sharing scenarios.
In this talk, I will present several techniques to scale both software and hardware. First, I will describe a scheduler that uses high-level information from the programming model about parallelism, locality, and heterogeneity to perform scheduling dynamically and at fine granularity to avoid load imbalance. This fine-grain scheduler can use lightweight, flexible hardware support to keep overheads small as we scale up. Second, I will present a set of techniques that, together, enable scalable memory hierarchies that can be shared efficiently: ZCache, a cache design that achieves high associativity cheaply (e.g., 64-way associativity with the latency, energy and area of a 4-way cache) and is characterized by simple and accurate analytical models; Vantage, a cache partitioning technique that leverages the analytical guarantees of ZCache to implement scalable and efficient partitioning, enabling hundreds of threads to share the cache in a controlled manner, providing configurability and isolation; and SCD, which leverages ZCache to implement scalable cache coherence with QoS guarantees.
Biography: Daniel Sanchez is a PhD candidate in the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford University. His research focuses on large-scale multicores, specifically on scalable and dynamic fine-grain runtimes and schedulers, hardware support for scheduling, scalable and efficient memory hierarchies, and architectures with QoS guarantees. He has earned an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford, and a BS in Telecommunication Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid (UPM).
Host: Prof. Murali Annavaram
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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. -
All-optical Signal Processing of Ultra-High-Speed Serial Data Signals Exceeding 1 Tbit/s Using Optical Time lenses and Nonlinear Waveguides such as Silicon Nanowires and Highly Nonlinear Fibers
Fri, Mar 09, 2012 @ 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe, Technical University of Denmark
Talk Title: All-optical Signal Processing of Ultra-High-Speed Serial Data Signals Exceeding 1 Tbit/s Using Optical Time lenses and Nonlinear Waveguides such as Silicon Nanowires and Highly Nonlinear Fibers
Abstract: All-optical signal processing may be suitable for functionalities where many bits are processed in a few devices. This is the case where ultra-high-speed serial data signals are optically processed in one nonlinear optical waveguide. This talk will describe some recent experimental demonstrations where this has been the goal, including 640 Gbit/s wavelength conversion, 640 Gbit/s serial-to-parallel conversion, 640 Gbit/s RZ-to-NRZ format conversion and 640 Gbit/s packet switching. During the talk, it will also be shown that nonlinear silicon waveguides can indeed be used to process serial 1.28 Tbit/s serial data signals and describe various potentially energy-efficient schemes of conversion, focusing on wavelength conversion and serial-to-parallel conversion. It will also be shown that serial 1.28 Tbit/s data signals may be used to carry advanced data modulation formats and be successfully transmitted over standard fiber as well as being compatible with standard Ethernet traffic using optical time lenses.
Biography: Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe received the B.Sc. degree in physics and astronomy from the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark in 1996. In 1998 he received the International Diploma of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, UK and the M.Sc. degree from the University of Copenhagen. He received the Ph.D. degree in 2002 from the Technical University of Denmark, where he has been working since at DTU Fotonik, Department of Photonics Engineering. Since 2007 he is the group leader of the High-Speed Optical Communications group and since December 2009 he is a Professor of Photonic Communications. He is working with experimental research in the field of ultra-high-speed serial optical communications (above 1 Tbit/s) and optical signal processing. He is the recipient of a European Research Council project (SOCRATES) dealing with the connection between ultra-high-speed serial data and Ethernet networks, a project that started in October 2009. He is also heading the Danish national research council projects NOSFERATU and NANO-COM and is involved in several other national and international projects. He has authored or co-authored more than 170 peer reviewed publications.
Host: Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu, x04664
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
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. -
Random-Access High-Resolution Distributed Fiber Sensor
Fri, Mar 09, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Avinoam (Avi) Zadok, Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel
Talk Title: Random-Access High-Resolution Distributed Fiber Sensor
Abstract: Optical sensing offers an attractive solution to the societal concern for prevention of natural and human-generated threats and for efficient use of natural resources. The unprecedented properties of optical fibres make them ideal for implementing a 'nervous system' in structural health monitoring: they are small, low-cost and electrically and chemically inert. In particular, the nonlinear interaction of stimulated Brillouin scattering allows for the distributed measurement of strain and temperature with tens of km range. However, the resolution of SBS-based measurements is inherently restricted to the order of 1 m by the relatively long acoustic lifetime that is associated with the process. In this talk, I show a novel, radar-inspired technique for random-access Brillouin scattering-based sensors, making a significant step towards a real optical sensing nerve. The measurement principle relies on phase-coding of both the Brillouin pump and signal waves by a high-rate, pseudo-random bit sequence. The Brillouin interaction between the two waves is shown to be equivalent to match-filtering processes that are prevalent in radar systems. Temperature measurements with 1 cm resolution are reported. The measurement range is scalable to several km.
Biography: Dr. Avinoam (Avi) Zadok received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University, Israel in 2007 (with distinction). In between 2007-2009 he was a post-doctoral fellow with the group of Prof. Amnon Yariv at the Department of Applied Physics of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Starting in 2009, he is a senior lecturer at the School of Engineering of Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan, Israel, and a member of the Bar-Ilan Institute of Nano-Technology and Advanced Materials. Dr. Zadok's group research interests are in electro-optic devices and fiber-optic communication and signal processing.
Host: Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu, x04664
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
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. -
Munushian Seminar
Wed, Mar 14, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John Joannopoulos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Nanotechnologies for Enhanced Survivability
Abstract: Although nanotechnology is a term that is bandied about, there is a unique aspect of it that goes beyond simply making things small. The intrinsic properties of matter become size-dependent below a critical length scale of about a hundred nanometers. This potentially enables opportunities for new materials and phenomena that do not occur in nature in bulk systems. Indeed, current advances in nanotechnology could provide revolutionary advances in toxic analyte sensing, protective lightweight materials, blast mitigation strategies, multispectral night vision and communications, drug and vaccine delivery, and endoscopic surgery. An overview with highlights of important and exciting recent accomplishments involving nanoparticles and nanostructured-fibers is presented.
Biography: Professor John D. Joannopoulos is the Francis Wright Davis Professor of Physics at MIT. Heis the author or coauthor of over 550 refereed journal articles, two textbooks on Photonic Crystals, and 70 issued U.S. Patents. He is also co-founder of 4 startup companies:OmniGuide Inc., Luminus Devices, Inc., WiTricity Corporation, and Typhoon HIL, Inc.
He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow of the World Technology Network, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1976-1980), a John S. Guggenheim Fellow (1981-1982), and has been on the Thompson ISI Most Highly Cited Researchers List since 2003. Professor Joannopoulos is the recipient of the MIT School of Science Graduate Teaching Award (1991), the William Buechner Teaching Prize of the Department of Physics(1996), and the David Adler Award of the American Physical Society (1997). He is a former Divisional Associate Editor of Physical Review Letters, and former Member of the Editorial Board of Reviews of Modern Physics. Currently he is Director of the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies at MIT.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: ee.usc.edu/news/munushianLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news/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-Electrophysics Seminar
Thu, Mar 15, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Irfan Bulu, Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Talk Title: Quantum Plasmonics with Nitrogen Vacancy Centers in Diamond and, Mid-infrared Nano-photonics
Abstract: Diamond is an exciting material platform for nano-photonics and nano-plasmonics. It has a wide variety of stable color centers such as the nitrogen vacancy (NV) center, which is expected to be a crucial building block for solid state quantum information processing. As an optical material, diamond has a relatively large index contrast, a large Raman gain, and relatively large third order non-linear susceptibility, χ(3). My research aims to develop nano-photonic devices based on diamond and defect centers in diamond for applications in quantum information processing, all optical signal processing, and nonlinear photonics. In the first part of my talk, I will present our recent experimental and theoretical work on plasmonic nano-cavities for efficient, room temperature single photon sources based on NV centers in diamond. NV center is a stable single photon source even at room temperature, and exhibits long coherence times for both electronic and nuclear spins. As a result, it is a robust quantum system for applications ranging from quantum information processing to nano-scale magnetometry. These applications benefit from large single photon rates, which can be improved by the use of nano-photonic devices. I will discuss various plasmonic cavity designs and show that the emission rate, excitation rate, and collection efficiency from single NV centers can be improved significantly in an extremely small footprint device. Finally, I will discuss the future prospects for non-linear photonic devices such as Raman lasers from UV to THz frequencies, parametric oscillators, and on-chip frequency combs based on diamond.
In the second part of the talk, I will discuss our work on mid-infrared photonics. The mid-infrared (2-20 µm) is commonly referred to as the molecular fingerprint region. It is an exciting wavelength range for photonics research, with important applications in spectroscopy and gas sensing. My research aims to develop integrated on-chip photonic device platforms such as on-chip spectrometers for sensitive gas detection and spectroscopy at the mid-infrared wavelength range. A prerequisite to the realization of these applications with on-chip platforms is the development of high-Q optical cavities. We recently developed record high-Q (45,000) photonic crystal cavities on a CMOS compatible platform for trace gas sensing applications. I will discuss some of the methods that we used in order to improve the quality factors of photonic crystal cavities at mid-infrared (4.5 µm), and report the observation and origin of optical bi-stability at this wavelength range.
Biography: Dr. Bulu received his Ph.D. from the department of physics at Bilkent University for his work on photonic crystals, surface plasmons, and metamaterials. He joined Professor Loncarâs lab at Harvard University as a postdoctoral fellow. Since joining Prof. Loncarâs lab, he developed efficient room temperature single photon sources based on single nitrogen vacany centers in diamond by using plasmonic nano-cavities, demonstrated optically reconfigurable photonic crystal filters, and worked on photonic crystal cavities at mid-infrared for sensing applications. He also collaborated with Schlumberger Limited and developed photonic platforms for oil and gas exploration. His current research interests include non-linear diamond nano-photonic devices for quantum information processing applications, silicon photonics at the mid-infrared wavelengths for applications in gas sensing and spectroscopy, development of new quantum emitters such as gallium nitride nanowires with embedded quantum dots/wells, and graphene plasmonics. His research resulted in more than 40 journal publications.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: ee.usc.edu/newsLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news
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-Electrophysics Seminar
Mon, Mar 19, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Owen Miller, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: The Opto-Electronic Physics that is Breaking Solar Cell Efficiency Records, and Inverse Design as a New Computation Paradigm
Abstract: The first half of the talk will be devoted to the physics of high-efficiency solar cells. As solar cells approach fundamental efficiency limits, their internal physics transforms. Photonic considerations, instead of electronic ones, are the key to reaching the highest voltages and efficiencies. The single-junction efficiency record was stuck at 25.1% from 1990-2007; proper photon management led to Alta Deviceâs recent dramatic increase of the solar cell efficiency record to 28.3%.
The second half of the talk will introduce inverse design as a new computational paradigm in photonics. An assortment of techniques (FDTD, FEM, etc.) have enabled quick and accurate simulation of the âforward problemâ of finding fields for a given geometry. However, scientists and engineers are typically more interested in the inverse problem: for a desired functionality, what geometry is needed? Answering this question breaks from the emphasis on the forward problem and forges a new path in computational photonics. The framework of shape calculus enables one to quickly find superior, non-intuitive designs. Novel designs for optical cloaking, nano-metallic antennas, and sub-wavelength solar cell applications will be presented.
Biography: Owen Miller is a Ph.D. candidate in the Yablonovitch group at UC Berkeley. He double-majored in Electrical Engineering and Physics at the University of Virginia, where he graduated first in his class. He was a recipient of a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: ee.usc.edu/newsLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news
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. -
On the Future of High Performance Computing: How to Think for Peta and Exascale Computing
Mon, Mar 19, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Jack Dongarra, University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and University of Manchester
Talk Title: On the Future of High Performance Computing: How to Think for Peta and Exascale Computing
Series: CEI Distinguished Lecture Series in Energy Informatics
Abstract: In this talk we examine how high performance computing has changed over the last 10-year and look toward the future in terms of trends. These changes have had, and will continue to have, a major impact on our software. Some of the software and algorithm challenges have already been encountered, such as management of communication and memory hierarchies through a combination of compile-time and run-time techniques, but the increased scale of computation, depth of memory hierarchies, range of latencies, and increased run-time environment variability will make these problems much harder.
We will look at five areas of research that will have an important impact in the development of software and algorithms. We will focus on following themes: Redesign of software to fit multicore and hybrid architectures, Automatically tuned application software, Exploiting mixed precision for performance, The importance of fault tolerance, and Communication avoidance.
Refreshments will be served
Biography: Prof. Jack Dongarra holds an appointment at the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Manchester. He specializes in numerical algorithms in linear algebra, parallel computing, use of advanced-computer architectures, programming methodology, and tools for parallel computers. He was awarded the IEEE Sid Fernbach Award in 2004 for his contributions in the application of high performance computers using innovative approaches; in 2008 he was the recipient of the first IEEE Medal of Excellence in Scalable Computing; in 2010 he was the first recipient of the SIAM Special Interest Group on Supercomputing's award for Career Achievement; and in 2011 he was the recipient of the IEEE IPDPS 2011 Charles Babbage Award. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, ACM, IEEE, and SIAM and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Host: Prof. Viktor K. Prasanna
More Info: http://cei.usc.edu/newsMore Information: Jack Dongarra Flyer - PRINT.pdf
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yogesh Simmhan
Event Link: http://cei.usc.edu/news
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. -
CENG Seminar
Tue, Mar 20, 2012 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John Sartori, PhD Candidate, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Talk Title: Stochastic Computing: Embracing Errors in Architecture and Design of Processors and Applications
Abstract: All of computing today relies on an abstraction where software expects hardware to behave flawlessly for all inputs, under all conditions. While this abstraction worked well historically, due to the relatively small magnitude of variations in hardware and environment, computing will increasingly be done with devices and circuits that are inherently stochastic because of how small they are, or whose behavior is stochastic due to manufacturing and environmental uncertainties. For such emerging circuits and devices, the cost of guaranteeing correctness will be prohibitive, and we will need to fundamentally rethink the correctness contract between hardware and software. Such rethinking becomes particularly compelling considering that a significant amount of energy is wasted in guaranteeing reliability even for applications that are inherently error tolerant.
The primary goal of my research has been to revisit the correctness contract between hardware and software to enable extremely energy-efficient computing. Instead of computing machines where hardware variations are always hidden from the software behind conservative design specifications, my research advocates computing machines (stochastic processors) where (a) these variations are opportunistically exposed to the highest layers of software in the form of hardware errors, and (b) software and hardware are optimized to maximize energy savings while delivering acceptable outputs, in spite of errors. In this talk, I will describe architecture and physical design-based approaches to build and optimize stochastic processors. I will also discuss our ongoing work on building applications for such processors. As a proof of concept, I will discuss an example prototype system based on commodity hardware that exploits application-level error tolerance to maximize system efficiency. Finally, I will outline some other promising approaches to energy-efficient computing for emerging applications.
Biography: John Sartori received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering, computer science, and mathematics from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks and a M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is currently finishing a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering at UIUC. His research interests include stochastic computing, energy-efficient computing, and system architectures for emerging workloads. John's research has been recognized by a best paper award [CASES 2011] and a best paper award nomination [HPCA 2012] and has been the subject of several keynote talks and invited plenary lectures. His work has been chosen to be the cover feature for popular media sources such as BBC News and HPCWire, and has also been covered extensively by scientific press outlets such as the IEEE Spectrum and the Engineering and Technology Magazine. When not doing research, John enjoys outdoor activities in the balmy Champaign weather, playing music, and studying and discussing philosophy.
Host: Prof. Bhaskar Krishnamachari
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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. -
Adaptive Computing for a Dynamic, Data-driven World
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 @ 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Yogesh Simmhan, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California
Abstract: The pervasiveness of technology is providing the unprecedented ability to observe the physical, social and cyber worlds, and offering access to massive datasets that can be used to manage and optimize these systems. Advances in computing are democratizing access to large scale, distributed resources on Cloud platforms, on-demand. The successful fusion of data availability with computational capability has the potential for disruptive advances for society; from personalized healthcare to sustainable energy to informed policies.
As an exemplar of this fusion, this talk will explore two facets of research into computational and informatics systems that are being leveraged for the Los Angeles Smart Grid Project: (1) Adaptive computing on Clouds for dynamic data, and (2) Scalable data analytics for decision support.
The growing data deluge is both dynamic and continuous, streaming in from smart power meters and social networks. Our research examines compositional programming frameworks that can adapt to changing data flows and evolving application needs, while ensuring resilience on Cloud infrastructure. We also investigate complex event pattern detection over moving data to trigger responses such as demand curtailment in a power grid.
The overwhelming size and diversity of data require automated analysis. Machine-learnt models can help forecast power demand and adapt to changing usage profiles. Analysis of social network graphs offers additional insight into load shaping strategies. We discuss the use of Map-Reduce and its variants for large scale data analytics on Clouds to support decision making in the USC campus microgrid.
Biography: : Yogesh Simmhan is a Senior Research Associate at the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering and the Center for Energy Informatics, University of Southern California. His research focuses on adaptive programming frameworks, dynamic data management, and large scale data analytics on emerging platforms like Clouds, with the goal of building scalable, resilient software systems. Yogesh serves as a project manager in the Los Angeles Smart Grid Project where he leads research into innovative data driven architectures for the USC microgrid that will translate into optimized demand-response in the city's smart grid. Yogesh has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Indiana University and was previously with Microsoft Research.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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. -
Understanding Two Multimodally Observable Systems: Speech Production and Human-Human Dyad Interaction
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Nassos Katsamanis, Postdoctoral Research Associate/Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory/Signal and Image Processing Institute
Talk Title: Understanding Two Multimodally Observable Systems: Speech Production and Human-Human Dyad Interaction
Abstract: Speech production has been modeled at the physical level as an accurately-timed choreography performed by interacting articulators in the vocal tract, e.g., the tongue or the lips. Each of them participates in the realization of gestures that possibly overlap in time and are directly responsible for the generation of certain phoneme sequences. This abstract view of a system as the composition of multiple interacting units -each with certain constraints and different behavioral characteristics that may also entrain with one another- has also been adopted in a completely different domain, for the study of human-human dyads. Towards achieving a common goal, each of the participants is assuming a certain role and tries to fulfill the personal subgoals involved. The multimodal behavior of the dyad reflects the realization of these efforts as the participants are constrained by individual personality traits and adapt to the specifics of the interaction at each instant.
Adopting this system-based perspective (as opposed to a phenomenological approach), I will present a range of computational techniques to model and interpret the continuous multimodal observations in the two domains on the basis of the underlying, synchronously or asynchronously interacting processes. I will focus on three major subproblems: inversion, process interaction modeling and prototypical behavior estimation.
Biography: Nassos Katsamanis received the Diploma in electrical and computer engineering (with highest honors) and the Ph.D. degree from the National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece, in 2003 and 2009 respectively. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Viterbi School of Electrical Engineering in the University of Southern California, member of the Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory. His current research mainly lies in the areas of speech and multimodal signal analysis and processing aiming at the broader goal of interpretation and modeling of human behavior from audiovisual observations. Further, he is strongly interested and has been conducting research in image, acoustic and articulatory data processing for speech production modeling. In the frame of his Ph.D. studies and European and U.S. research projects, he has also worked on multimodal speech inversion, aeroacoustics for articulatory speech synthesis, speaker adaptation for non-native and children's speech recognition and multimodal fusion for audiovisual speech and sign language recognition.
More Information: Katsamanis Seminar.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
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. -
EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Wed, Mar 21, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John Teufel, NIST Boulder
Talk Title: Quantum Microwave Optomechanical Circuits
Abstract: While mechanical oscillators are the basis for ultrasensitive detection of force, mass and displacement, only recently are these systems poised to encounter the limits and possibilities afforded by quantum mechanics. Accessing the full quantum nature of a macroscopic mechanical oscillator first requires elimination of its classical, thermal motion. The flourishing field of cavity optomechanics provides a nearly ideal architecture for both preparation and detection of mechanical motion at the quantum level. We realize a microwave cavity optomechanical system by coupling the motion of an aluminum membrane to the resonance frequency of a superconducting circuit [1]. By exciting the microwave circuit below its resonance frequency, we damp and cool the membrane motion with radiation pressure forces, analogous to laser cooling of the motion of trapped ions. The microwave excitation serves not only to cool, but also to monitor the displacement of the membrane. A nearly quantum-limited, Josephson parametric amplifier is used to detect the mechanical sidebands of this microwave excitation and quantify the thermal motion as it is cooled with radiation pressure forces to its quantum ground state [2].
[1] Teufel, J. D. et al. ìCircuit cavity electromechanics in the strong-coupling regime,î Nature 471, 204ñ208 (2011).
[2] Teufel, J. D. et al. ìSideband cooling micromechanical motion to the quantum ground state,î Nature 475, 359ñ363 (2011).
Biography: Dr. John Teufel completed his Ph.D. in physics at Yale University in the group of Robert Schoelkopf while developing superconducting photon detectors. He then joined Konrad LehnertÃs group at JILA as a postdoctoral researcher, where he investigated nanomechanical resonators by coupling them to superconducting microwave circuits. He is currently a research affiliate in the quantum devices group at NIST Boulder, where he continues to use cryogenic microwave circuits to explore the quantum properties of mechanical systems.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: ee.usc.edu/newsLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news
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, Mar 23, 2012 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Yun Chiu , UT Dallas
Talk Title: Equalization Techniques for Nonlinear Analog Circuits
Host: Hossein Hashemi
More Information: Seminar_Speaker_Chiu_2012_3_23.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. -
CENG Seminar
Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Natasa Miskov-Zivanov , University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: âDynamic behavior of cell signaling networks - design and analysis of qualitative modelsâ
Abstract: One of the ultimate goals of systems biology is to be able to predict a systemâs dynamic behavior. At the same time, a greater understanding of how components interact to form integrated systems also informs and supports efforts in synthetic biology towards designing engineered biological systems. To this end, modeling and analyzing the dynamics of biological regulatory networks is a promising approach, but existing modeling methods often suffer from complexity issues and become inefficient with large networks.
In this talk, I will describe a methodology for designing and studying discrete models of cell signaling networks by utilizing engineering methods. This modeling approach allows for capturing a large network, which is otherwise hard to model and analyze using alternative approaches based on ordinary differential equations. This network can include cell stimulation and receptor signaling, signal transduction from receptors to activation of gene transcription factors, and cell response to stimulation. Although such coarser-grained models do not always include all mechanical details, they allow for very efficient studies of the system. These models help identify critical elements and connections, and provide means to test many hypotheses about the system. Specifically, I will present the model for T cell differentiation, which is critical in many immune-related pathologies. The determinants of the differentiation are not yet understood, and the analysis of the model led to new insights into this system: identification of key elements and regulation links, and the fact that relative timing on different pathways plays a crucial role in differentiation. Finally, I will also present a hardware-based approach, which allows for highly parallel model simulation and provides orders of magnitude speedup when compared to software simulation.
The methodology for discrete model design and analysis leverages the interactions between engineering and biology and will contribute to more efficient development of previously unattainable products, new strategies in medical research, and new therapies.
Biography: Natasa Miskov-Zivanov is a Research Associate in the Department of Computational and Systems Biology in the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and an Adjunct Faculty at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, in 2008 and 2005, respectively, and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, in 2003. Her research interests include applications of computational methods, algorithms and tools for systems and synthetic biology, emerging technologies, bio-nanotechnology, and cyber-physical systems.
Host: Dr. Alice Parker
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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-Electrophysics Seminar
Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Zhifeng Ren, Department of Physics, Boston College, Massachusetts
Talk Title: Nanomaterials, Physics, and Applications in Clean Energy Research
Abstract: Physics is the foundation of sciences. Materials are the building blocks of the modern technologies. A deep understanding of the physics of materials is the key to energy research. Energy demand grows more and more, but the natural sources that provide the needed energy are shrinking and also unfortunately pollute the earth. Determining how we can efficiently utilize the abundant solar energy at low cost and without pollution is our responsibility to our children.
Nanomaterials have many potential applications in energy conversion systems due to their special structural and physical properties. Such applications often require materials to be manufactured at large scale and low cost. I will first discuss the role materials play in high temperature superconductivity; then the physics and manufacturing of nanostructured bulk thermoelectric materials at large scale and their improved thermoelectric properties by a low cost ball milling and hot pressing process; followed by our most recent demonstration of solar energy conversion into electricity at low cost using the improved nanostructured thermoelectric materials; and, finally, some new concepts, including nano coaxial cables, super-absorbers, and super-electrodes for high efficiency conversion of solar energy to electricity by the solar photovoltaic effect.
Biography: Dr Zhifeng Ren is currently a professor of physics at Boston College. He obtained his PhD degree from the Institute of Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1990, master degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 1987, and bachelor degree from Sichuan Institute of Technology in 1984. He was a postdoc and then research faculty at SUNY Buffalo (1990-1999) before joining BC as an associate professor in 1999. He specializes in materials synthesis and applications especially thermoelectric materials, solar thermoelectric devices & systems, photovoltaic materials & systems, carbon nanotubes & semiconducting nanostructures, nanocomposites, bio agent delivery & bio sensors, superconductors, etc. He is a fellow of APS and AAAS, a recipient of R&D 100 award. He has published extensively, and was ranked the 49th of the top 100 Materials Scientists worldwide for the past decade 2000-2010. He has co-founded companies in the field of carbon nanotubes, thermoelectric materials, and photovoltaics.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
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. -
Munushian Seminar
Thu, Mar 29, 2012 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Barrie Gilbert, Fellow, Analog Devices Inc.
Talk Title: THE PENNY ANALOG COMPUTER
Abstract: Seventy years ago, analog computers were at the peak of their history. Today, it is commonly said that âanalog computing is a dead artâ. But the truth is that the core principles are still very much alive in a broad range of modern analog integrated circuits. Function generation, equation solving, correlation, power measurement â at frequencies ranging from sub-sonic seismic to 50 GHz â and the extraction of signal statistics â to mention just a few of such operations â are now in use in numerous IC products. Yet these ICs are tiny and truly inexpensive: many sell for not very many pennies, at as discrete-functions; some specialized nonlinear continuous-time and continuous amplitude processors â truly micro-miniature analog computers â may even represent less than one US penny in the overall cost of a large-scale IC.
This talk is in two parts. The first traces some of the vast history of âcontinuous-time computers using corresponding analogiesâ, especially those made during WW-2 years. They were often huge, filling large rooms, weighing tons, and consuming great amounts of power. Programming was tedious in the extreme, and their accuracy was not impressive. But during this passage, we quickly gravitate to the key principles of modern analog microcomputers, which are heavily reliant on the remarkable logarthmic/exponential properties of monolithic bipolar transistors.
The second part expands further on some seminal concepts, comprising the domain called âTranslinearâ design, in the hope of clearly illustrating not just the potency of the bipolar transistor in these roles, but also to demonstrate the elegant simplicity of the core cells. Several case studies of recent âpenny-level analog computersâ with significant capabilities will be presented.
Biography: Biography:Barrie Gilbert is the legendary circuit designer credited with the BJT translinear principle, which led to the development of the precision analog multiplier and numerous other circuits such as wide-range variable gain amplifiers. He has been involved with designing circuits from the days of electron tubes to present day high performance IC's, and many of his chip designs have remained in mass production for over 30 years. His original paper on the four-quadrant analog multiplier is the 5th most frequently cited in the history of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.
Barrie has received an honorary doctorate from Oregon State University, and was elected Analog Devices Fellow, Life Fellow of the IEEE, and Member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: ee.usc.edu/news/munushianLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news/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. -
Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Mar 30, 2012 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Eugenio Culurciello, Purdue University
Talk Title: Modeling the Human Visual System in Hardware
Host: Hossein Hashemi
More Information: Seminar_Speaker_eugenio_2012_3_30.pdf
Location: Vivian Hall of Engineering (VHE) - 217
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.
