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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for November
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Active Sequential Hypothesis Testing
Mon, Nov 01, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Tara Javidi, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Active Sequential Hypothesis Testing
Abstract: Active sequential hypothesis testing problem arises in a broad
spectrum of applications in cognition, communications, design of
experiments, and sensor management. In all of these applications, a decision
maker is responsible to take actions dynamically so as to enhance
information about an underlying phenomena of interest in a speedy manner
while accounting for the cost of communication, sensing, or data collection.
In particular, due to the sequential nature of the problem, the decision
maker relies on his current information state to constantly (re-)evaluate
the trade-off between the precision and the cost of various actions.
In this work, we first discuss active sequential hypothesis testing as a
partially observable Markov decision problem. In particular, we provide a
brief survey of the design of experiment literature and the dynamic
programming interpretation of information utility introduced by De Groot.
Using Blackwell ordering, we, then, connect this stochastic control
theoretic notion of information utility to the concept of stochastic
degradation and uncertainty reduction in information theory.
Finally, we discuss the dynamics and expected drift of log-likelihood,
entropy, and probability of error as well as their connection to
Kullback-Leibler divergence and mutual information in order to approximate
the optimal value function (i.e. the solutions to the DP). We then utilize
these value function approximations (lower bounds) to provide simple
sequential test strategies (heuristic) whose performance is numerically
compared to the optimal policies. In addition, we recover the asymptotic
optimality of a class of test strategies which includes Burnashev's coding
scheme in the context of variable-length block coding over memoryless
channels with feedback.
This is joint work with Ofer Shayevitz and Mohammad Naghshvar.
Biography: Tara Javidi studied electrical engineering at Sharif University
of Technology, Tehran, Iran from 1992 to 1996. She received the MS degrees
in electrical engineering (systems), and in applied mathematics
(stochastics) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1998 and 1999,
respectively. She received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer
science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2002.
From 2002 to 2004, she was an assistant professor at the Electrical
Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle. She joined
University of California, San Diego, in 2005, where she is currently an
associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.
Tara Javidi was a Barbour Scholar during 1999-2000 academic year and
received an NSF CAREER Award in 2004. Her research interests are in
communication networks, stochastic resource allocation, stochastic control
theory, and wireless communications.
Host: Prof. Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu, x0-4667
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. -
Seminar by Dr. Michael Fritze
Thu, Nov 04, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Michael Fritz, USC Information Sciences Institute
Talk Title: New Research Opportunities Enabled by Fabless Access to Foundry Technologies
Abstract: The tremendous progress in electronics we have experienced over the past several decades has been enabled to a large extent by fables access to advanced foundry CMOS technologies. By abstracting the details of the fabrication process into a set of âdesign rulesâ supported by accurate models, large sets of creative designers were able to access the powerful capabilities of an advanced CMOS fabrication technology. The USC-ISI âMOSISâ organization was one of the pioneers in this area through its introduction of cost-sharing access to CMOS using the âmulti-projectâ fabrication service paradigm.
It is now time to extend this paradigm of fables access to chip fabrication technologies beyond conventional CMOS. Traditional scaling approaches that have enabled âMoores Lawâ progress in the past are beginning to run out of steam. Disruptive new technologies are emerging including 3DIC, photonics, compound semiconductors, non-volatile memories and carbon electronics to name just a few. This talk will discuss the unique challenges of implementing a fables access model for these novel technologies analogous to the one being used for standard CMOS today. Some of the unique challenges in achieving such a goal along with some potential new research directions enabled by such a new foundry access model will also be discussed.
Biography: Mike Fritze obtained a PhD from Brown University in 1992. After a postdoc in the Advanced Photonics Group at Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, he joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory where he conducted research associated with enhancements to optical lithography resolution, silicon on insulator transistors, and silicon on insulator integrated optics. From 2006 to 2010 he was a DARPA program manager with initiatives in low-power electronics, micro-fabrication, and RF-Electronics. In 2010 he became Director of the Disruptive Electronics Division of the Information Sciences Institute at USC.
Host: Dr. Levi
Location: Hedco Petroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
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. -
Photonics Seminar Series
Thu, Nov 04, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Koray Aydin, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Extending the Photonics Toolbox with Plasmonic Super Absorbers and Active Optical Metamaterials
Abstract: Plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials are poised to revolutionize optical engineering by overcoming fundamental challenges in optical materials. Dr. Aydin will first introduce ultrathin plasmonic super absorbers consisting of reflective metals and transparent dielectric and enabling broadband, polarization-independent resonant light-absorption. Plasmonic super absorbers could find applications for light harvesting and photon management in photovoltaic and thermophotovoltaic cells. Then, Dr. Aydin will present the first experimental demonstration of active infrared metamaterials composed of hybrid metal-vanadium dioxide (VO2) split-ring resonators. Drastic changes in the optical properties of VO2 with the phase transition enable control over the transmission and reflection properties of nanophotonic structures. Finally, Dr. Aydin will introduce tunable, stretchable optical metamaterials that enable resonant line-width tuning and amplitude modulation of metamaterial and Fano resonances upon applying mechanical actuation to the polymeric metamaterial. This device is the first mechanically tunable metamaterial in the near infrared, where modifying the distance between coupled resonator elements drastically changes the resonance frequency by a line-width (~400 nm). At the end, Dr. Aydin will propose reconfigurable bio-sensors that relies on the active control of the metamaterial substrates for field-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy.
Biography: Koray Aydin is currently a postdoctoral research scholar in Applied Physics at California Institute of Technology. Dr. Aydinâs research in the group of Harry Atwater has focused on the experimental and theoretical investigation of active plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials and their applications in solar energy conversion and bio-sensing. He received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Department of Physics at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey under the supervision of Ekmel Ozbay. During his PhD, he investigated the novel electromagnetic phenomena, such as negative refraction, superlensing and enhanced transmission, in microwave metamaterials and photonic crystals. Dr. Aydin has authored more than 45 SCI-Index journal publications that are cited more than 1300 times. He is a member of the professional societies of OSA, APS, IEEE, MRS and SPIE and the recipient of 2007 SPIE Educational Scholarship.
Host: Prof. Povinelli, and Jing Ma
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/photonics/Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jing Ma
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/photonics/
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. -
Sparsity-Cognizant Total Least-Squares for Perturbed Compressive Sampling
Thu, Nov 04, 2010 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Geert Leus, Delft University of Technology
Talk Title: Sparsity-Cognizant Total Least-Squares for Perturbed Compressive Sampling
Abstract: Solving linear regression problems based on the total
least-squares (TLS) criterion has well-documented merits in various
applications, where perturbations appear both in the data vector as well as
in the regression matrix. However, existing TLS approaches do not account
for sparsity possibly present in the unknown vector of regression
coefficients. On the other hand, sparsity is the key attribute exploited by
modern compressive sampling and variable selection approaches to linear
regression, which include noise in the data, but do not account for
perturbations in the regression matrix. In this presentation, we fill this
gap by formulating and solving TLS optimization problems under sparsity
constraints. Near-optimum and reduced-complexity suboptimum sparse (S-) TLS
algorithms are developed to address the perturbed compressive sampling (and
the related dictionary learning) challenge, when there is a mismatch between
the true and adopted bases over which the unknown vector is sparse. The
novel S-TLS schemes also allow for perturbations in the regression matrix of
the least-absolute selection and shrinkage selection operator (Lasso), and
endow TLS approaches with ability to cope with sparse, under-determined
errors-in-variables models. Interesting generalizations can further exploit
prior knowledge on the perturbations to obtain novel weighted and structured
S-TLS solvers. Analysis and simulations demonstrate the practical impact of
S-TLS in calibrating the mismatch effects of contemporary grid-based
approaches to cognitive radio sensing, and robust direction-of-arrival
estimation using antenna arrays.
Biography: Geert Leus was born in Leuven, Belgium, in 1973. He received the
electrical engineering degree and the PhD degree in applied sciences from
the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, in June 1996 and May 2000,
respectively. He has been a Research Assistant and a Postdoctoral Fellow of
the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders, Belgium, from October 1996 till
September 2003. During that period, Geert Leus was affiliated with the
Electrical Engineering Department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Belgium. Currently, Geert Leus is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science of the Delft
University of Technology, The Netherlands. During the summer of 1998, he
visited Stanford University, and from March 2001 till May 2002 he was a
Visiting Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Minnesota. His
research interests are in the area of signal processing for communications.
Geert Leus received a 2002 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best
Paper Award and a 2005 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award. He
is the Chair of the IEEE Signal Processing for Communications Technical
Committee, and an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Signal
Processing and the EURASIP Journal on Applied Signal Processing. In the
past, he has served on the Editorial Board of the IEEE Signal Processing
Letters and the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.
Host: Prof. Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu, x0-4667
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
Fri, Nov 05, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Patrick Chiang, Oregon State
Talk Title: Sustainable Silicon:Energy-Efficient VLSI Interconnects
Host: Prof. Hashemi
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 Visiting Seminar Series 2010 - 2011 - Keynote Lecture
Wed, Nov 10, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. John L Hall, University of Colorado and National Institute of Standards and Technology
Talk Title: The Optical Frequency Comb - a new tool with remarkable applications in Science, Metrology, and Medical Diagnostics
Abstract: We easily accept the remarkable capabilities available in the Radio Frequency domain: cellphones, HiDef TV, wireless computer connections, bluetooth earphones, etc. Optical frequency waves represent the same physics as their RF siblings, but oscillate at some million-fold faster rates. So there is correspondingly more bandwidth for signals and interesting new processing ideas but, until recently, there were no optical tools with precision capabilities that even remotely approached a similar level. The avalanche of progress began in 1999 when a group at Lucent Labs demonstrated that a special type of optical fiber could give a highly nonlinear response, converting input laser wavelengths into rainbow light across the visible spectrum, and in a coherent manner. Within a few months two separate laboratories had seen the connections of three independent streams of research, and merged these âobviously unrelatedâ fields to create a new tool, the Optical Frequency Comb, a new kind of laser light with remarkable properties. Only six years later the Nobel Prize was awarded for these advances. One dramatic application is the precision testing of some fundamental & basic assumptions about physical reality: spatial symmetry and uniformity, constancy of the speed of light, and stability of the physical "constants" in our equations. Second is an exciting Medical Diagnostic application which analyzes exhaled human breath for marker molecules associated with diseases such as diabetes, asthma, cancer, and renal failure. It is important that the sensitivity is so great that sub-clinical molecular concentrations can be measured in apparently healthy subjects. For example, Carbon Monoxide was measurable only in the breath of one student -- a former smoker who had quit almost one year previously!
Biography: Hallâs credits include a number of major innovations and developments in laser frequency stabilization, high resolution and ultrasensitive laser spectroscopy, laser length and frequency standards, laser/atom cooling, quantum optics and high-precision laser-based measurements. Author of more than 230 articles in refereed journals, he also holds 11 U. S. patents, the most recent on âAirport Sniffing.â He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and of the French Légion dâhonneur, Senior Fellow Emeritus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Fellow of the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society. He was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Prof. Hänsch of Munich and Prof. Glauber of Harvard.
Host: Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering
More Info: : http://geromedia.usc.edu/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=88bce44e9f604630b940c6d58066267eLocation: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 124
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: : http://geromedia.usc.edu/Mediasite/Viewer/?peid=88bce44e9f604630b940c6d58066267e
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. -
Ming Hsieh Dept of Electrical Engineering-Systems Distinguished Lecturer Series
Thu, Nov 11, 2010 @ 04:00 PM - 05:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Andrew J. Viterbi, Presidential Chair Professor- USC, President- Viterbi Group LLC, Professor Emeritus- UCSD
Abstract: A.A. Markov proposed and developed a statistical concept which suggests that future action should depend only on the current state of the system or process. Exploitation of the statistical properties of Markov processes has produced important results in optimum linear (Wiener) filtering, with principal applications to navigation, tracking, orbit determination and even economics; and in finite-state sequence determination, with applications to information (Shannon) theory, digital communication, voice and optical character recognition, data recording, search engines, and DNA sequence analysis. Both areas will be discussed and compared, as well as the merits of any societal implications of the Markov concept.
Biography: Andrew J. Viterbi received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from USC, and is co-founder, retired vice chairman and chief technical officer of Qualcomm Incorporated. He also co-founded Linkabit Corporation, and served as professor in the Schools of Engineering at UCLA and UCSD. He is currently president of the Viterbi Group, a technical advisory and investment company, and is also Presidential Chair Professor at USC. He and his wife Erna are the naming donors of the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC.
His principal research contribution, the Viterbi Algorithm, is used in most digital cellular phones and digital satellite receivers, and in diverse fields such as magnetic recording, voice recognition and DNA sequence analysis. More recently, he has concentrated on establishing code-division-multiple-access (CDMA) as the multiple access technology of choice for cellular telephony and wireless data communications.
Viterbi has received numerous honors, including honorary doctorates from the Technion and Universities of Waterloo, Rome, and Notre Dame, as well as memberships in the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2008 he received the National Medal of Science, and was a Millennium Technology Laureate. He has also received the Marconi International Fellowship Award, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell and Claude Shannon Awards, the NEC C&C Award, the Eduard Rhein Foundation Award and the Christopher Columbus Medal. He recently received the 2010 Medal of Honor from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the highest award of that professional society.
Host: Dr. Alexander A. Sawchuk
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
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. -
Signal and Image Processing seminar
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Maurizio Omologo, Fondazione Bruno Kessler-irst, Trento, Italy
Talk Title: A Prototype of a Distant-talking Interface for Control of Interactive TV
Abstract: This talk aims to describe the goals, challenges, and main achievements of the DICIT EC project, which was coordinated by FBK-irst during the last four years.
The project addressed the development of a multi-modal user-friendly interface for control of SetTopBox, TV, and related services. The interface includes a microphone array to support distant-talking voice input with multiple active speakers. The front-end processing component feeds a chain including speech recognition, natural language understanding, and spoken dialogue management components. The resulting prototype was replicated at several sites and evaluated by 170 users. The results of this campaign showed the effectiveness of the adopted solution as well as potential for future development of real smart-space applications.
During the talk, a brief overview will also be given on the other research activities being conducted under the SHINE group of FBK-irst.
Biography: Maurizio Omologo is the head of the SHINE (Speech-acoustic scene analysis and interpretation) research unit of Fondazione Bruno Kessler-irst, Trento, Italy. He has also been teaching "Audio Signal Processing" at the University of Trento since 2001. His current research interests include Audio and Speech Processing, Acoustic Scene Analysis, and Automatic Speech Recognition, in particular for distant-talking scenarios. Between 2006 and 2009, he acted as Project Manager of the DICIT (Distant-talking Interfaces for Control of Interactive TV) European Project.
Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan
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. -
Quantifying and Achieving the Capacity of Wireless 1-Hop Network Coding — A Code-Alignment-Based Approach
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Chih-Chun Wang, Purdue University
Talk Title: Quantifying and Achieving the Capacity of Wireless 1-Hop Network Coding â A Code-Alignment-Based Approach
Abstract: One-hop wireless network coding mixes packets of multiple unicast sessions, which has drawn significant attentions in the system-level wireless networking community due to its inherent low complexity of operating within a local neighborhood. One such representative scheme is the ``XOR in the airâ scheme for the wireless cross topologies.
In this talk, we show that despite of the notorious difficulty of characterizing the capacity region of intersession network coding for general wireline networks, the problem becomes more tractable in a 1-hop wireless environment. In particular, we quantify the Shannon capacities of the ``XOR in the airâ scheme by deriving new outer and inner bounds that meet in almost all practical scenarios. The new capacity-achieving schemes are based on the concept of ``code alignment,â a new interference alignment technique in the finite field. The capacity results enable direct and comprehensive comparison of the throughput benefits of network coding and those of other competing techniques, such as cross-layer optimization and opportunistic routing. The capacity results can also be used as a benchmark for evaluating the efficiency of practical protocols.
This is a joint work with Wei-Cheng Kuo, Abdallah Khreishah (Temple University), and Ness Shroff (The OSU).
Biography: Chih-Chun Wang is currently an Assistant Professor of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Purdue University. He received the B.E. degree in E.E. from National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan in 1999, the M.S. degree in E.E., the Ph.D. degree in E.E. from Princeton University in 2002 and 2005, respectively. He worked in Comtrend Corporation, Taipei, Taiwan, as a design engineer in 2000 and spent the summer of 2004 with Flarion Technologies, New Jersey. In 2005, he held a post-doctoral researcher position in the Electrical Engineering Department of Princeton University. He joined Purdue University as an Assistant Professor in 2006. His current research interests are in the graph-theoretic and algorithmic analysis of iterative decoding and of network coding. Other research interests of his fall in the general areas of networking, optimal control, information theory, detection theory, and coding theory.
Dr. Wang received the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award in 2009.
Host: Alex Dimakis, dimakis [at] usc
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
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Azita Emami, CALTECH
Talk Title: Low Power Data Communication Circuits for Advanced Integrated Systems
Host: Prof. Hashemi
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. -
Towards High Performance III-V Semiconductor Nanowire and Tube Based Devices
Fri, Nov 12, 2010 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Xiuling Li, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Talk Title: Towards High Performance III-V Semiconductor Nanowire and Tube Based Devices
Abstract: This talk focuses on two types of III-V compound semiconductor nanotechnology building blocks and their applications in nanoelectronics and nanophotonics: nanowires and self-rolled-up tubes.
Interest in semiconductor nanowires have increased exponentially over the past decade because of their unique optical and electrical properties. Integration of semiconductor nanowire based devices has been challenging for vertical nanowire devices since ex-situ assembly techniques are required to align planar nanowire devices. I will present our discovery of a type of nanowires that is planar, self-aligned, twin-defect free, high carrier mobility, and transfer-printable. The planar nanowire growth and doping mechanism by MOCVD, as well as the device characteristics of a long channel MESFET and HEMT using such GaAs nanowire as the channel material will be analyzed.
Self-rolled-up tubes on the other hand is a relatively new platform that possesses the potential to provide a wide range of functionalities. It is formed by a combination of top-down and bottom-up approach through the self-rolling of strained thin films. This allows feasible large area assembly and integration with existing semiconductor technology, while maintaining the control of the tube size and heterojunction formation in the tube wall. I will discuss the formation process, large area assembly, and optical characterization of InxGa1-xAs/GaAs micro and nanotubes with active light emitting media incorporated in the tube wall. Device prospects of SNTs for nanophotonics will be explored.
Biography: Xiuling Li received her Ph.D. degree from the University of California at Los Angeles. She joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2007, after working at a startup company for six years. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her current research interests are in the area of nanostructured semiconductor materials and devices. She has won the NSF CAREER award (2008) and DARPA Young Faculty Award (2009). Her groupâs work on the planar nanowires has won one of the best student paper awards at the 2008 IEEE LEOS annual meeting. The micro and nanotube work has been identified as an outstanding symposium paper presented at the 2008 MRS meeting.
Host: P. Daniel Dapkus
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Eliza Aceves
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. -
CRA-W/CDC Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Nov 18, 2010 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mondira (Mandy) Pant, Intel
Talk Title: Microprocessor Power Challenges
Abstract: The relentless pursuit of microprocessor performance over the last decade has been challenged by power consumption. The talk will provide an overview of the microprocessor power trends, reviewing historical efforts to control power such as thermal throttling. Also covered will be a review of power states and how they are used to reduce power in processors. Specific techniques used in today's generation of processors to reduce power like power gating; independent voltage and frequency domains; dynamic power and frequency scaling in response to processor loading and operating system state requests; making use of wide dynamic range, will be mentioned. Further the talk will include some discussions on power delivery challenges associated with these power reduction efforts.
Biography: Dr. Mondira (Mandy) Deb Pant received her B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering from I.I.T Kharagpur, India in 1995. She picked up a MS in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA in 1997 and 2000 respectively. She joined Intel in Aug 2001 as part of the Alpha team acquisition from Compaq Computer Corporation where she worked since graduating in Aug 2000. The first couple of years she worked as the Sequential design lead on a next generation ItaniumTM microprocessor. Over the past couple of years, as a lead technologist in the area of power delivery and power management, she has been investigating and driving several issues in the power space, particularly on-chip power delivery issues, power management and power reduction on the next generation XeonTM server and ItaniumTM microprocessors at Intel. She has given several invited talks at various conferences and universities, most recently as a Keynote speaker at the GLVSI conference and is regarded as an expert in her field. In 2009, Mandy was been recognized by Mass High Tech as one of the top ten upcoming Women to Watch. To know more about her you can visit her website: www.mondirapant.com
Host: Prof. Timothy Pinkston
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 324
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. -
CENG, CS & CED/WIE Panel Discussion
Thu, Nov 18, 2010 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mondira (Mandy) Pant, Intel, and Dr. Charles Lee Isbell, Jr., Georgia Tech
Talk Title: Why Pursue Graduate School?
Abstract: This panel encourages students to pursue graduate degree(s) in computing and engineering fields at Masterâs and Ph.D. levels. It aims to inspire and prepare students to be successful in graduate school pursuits. Questions addressed by the panel include the following: Why attend grad school, and why in a computing/engineering field as opposed to some other professional field? How does a graduate degree in a computing/engineering field impact oneâs career opportunities and earning potential? 3) What is the difference between a Masters and PhD, how long do each take, and how do the possible career paths differ between the two degrees? What is exciting about doing research, and how can one find out if research is interesting to him/her? How does one get accepted into graduate school, which schools, and how to pay for it? How can one best prepare him/herself to succeed in grad school? What are the biggest challenges?
Host: Prof. Timothy Pinkston, Senior Associate Dean of Engineering
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 324
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. -
Photonics Seminar Series
Thu, Nov 18, 2010 @ 12:45 PM - 01:45 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Peter B. Catrysse, Stanford University
Talk Title: Metal optics at the nano-scale: from basic physics to integrated optoelectronic applications
Abstract: The manipulation of light is essential in many optoelectronic applications as well as in fundamental research. One of the emerging opportunities in light manipulation is the use of nanostructures. In information technology, for example, it can lead to smaller, faster information processing systems via monolithic integration of optics and electronics. In physics research, it can open up new regimes of light-matter interaction by greatly enhancing weak optical processes through highly-confined optical fields. In this talk, I present my work on the use of metallic nanostructures to control of light at deep-subwavelength scales. First, I describe my theoretical contributions to the basic physics of metal optics at the nano-scale. I demonstrate a conceptual approach for designing novel materials based on the existence of deep-subwavelength modes in metallic systems. Next, I describe my experimental contributions to the creation of ultra-compact photonic devices in optoelectronic systems. With the examples presented in this talk, I illustrate the rich set of opportunities for nano-scale metal optics research at the interface between fundamental physics and large-scale optoelectronic systems.
Biography: Dr. Peter B. Catrysse is an Engineering Research Associate in the E. L. Ginzton Laboratory at Stanford University. He holds Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He pioneered the integration of subwavelength metal optics in standard deep-submicron CMOS technology. His current work focuses on nanophotonics at the interface between basic physics and optoelectronic systems. He has authored more than 75 refereed publications and holds several US patents. Dr. Catrysse is a Brussels Hoover Fellow of the Belgian American Educational Foundation, a Fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and the recipient of a 2008 Hewlett-Packard Labs Innovation Research Award.
Host: Michelle Povinelli
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/photonics/Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jing Ma
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/photonics/
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: CRA-W/CDC Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Nov 18, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Charles Lee Isbell, Jr., Georgia Tech
Talk Title: Adaptive Drama Management: Bringing Machine Learning to Interactive Entertainment
Abstract: In recent years, there has been a growing interest in constructing rich interactive entertainment and training experiences. As these experiences have grown in complexity, there has been a corresponding growing need for the development of robust technologies to shape and modify those experiences in reaction to the actions of human participants.
When thinking about how machine learning and artificial intelligence could help, one notes that the traditional goal of AI games---to win the game---is not particularly useful; rather, the goal is to make the human player's play experience better while being consistent with the goals of the author.
In this talk, I will present our technical efforts to achieve this goal by using machine learning as a way to allow designers to specify problems in broad strokes while allowing a machine do further fine-tuning. In particular, I discuss (1) Targeted Trajectory Distribution Markov Decision Processes (TTD-MDPs), an extension of MDPs that provide variety of experience during repeated execution and (2) computational influence, an automated way of operationalizing theories of influence and persuasion from social psychology to help guide players without decreasing their feelings of autonomy. I also describe our evaluation of these techniques with both simulations and an interactive storytelling system with human subjects.
Biography: Dr. Charles Lee Isbell, Jr., received his BS in computer science in 1990 from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his PhD in 1998 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After four years at AT&T Labs, he returned to Georgia Tech as faculty at the College of Computing. Charles' research interests are varied, but recently he has been building autonomous agents that engage in life-long learning in the presence of thousands of other intelligent agents, including humans. His work has been featured in the popular media, including The New York Times and the Washington Post, as well as in technical collections, where he has won two best paper awards in this area. Charles also pursues reform in CS education. He was a developer of Threads, Georgia Tech's new structuring principle for computing curricula. Recently, he has become the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Computing.
Host: Prof. Timothy Pinkston
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
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. -
Computing with Stochastic Processors: Embracing Errors in Architecture and Design of Processors and Applications
Fri, Nov 19, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rakesh Kumar, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Talk Title: Computing with Stochastic Processors: Embracing Errors in Architecture and Design of Processors and Applications
Abstract: All of computing today relies on an abstraction where software expects the hardware to behave flawlessly for all inputs under all conditions. While the abstraction worked historically due to the relatively small magnitude of variations in hardware and environment, computing will increasingly be done with devices and circuits which are inherently stochastic or whose behavior is stochastic due to manufacturing and environmental uncertainties. For such emerging circuits/devices, the cost of maintaining the abstraction of flawless hardware will be prohibitive and we will need to fundamentally rethink the correctness contract between hardware and software. In our group, we are exploring a vision of computing systems where a) hardware and environmental variations are fully exposed to the highest layers of software in form errors, and b) hardware and software is optimized to maximize power savings afforded by relaxed correctness. We call the under-designed processors that produce stochastically correct results even under nominal conditions, stochastic processors. We call the applications that have been implemented to be adaptively error-tolerant, stochastic applications. In this talk, I will describe our recent approaches to architect and design stochastic processors and stochastic applications.
Biography: Rakesh Kumar is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He received a B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur in 2001 and a Ph.D. degree in Computer Engineering from the University of California, San Diego in September 2006. Prior to moving to Champaign in 2007, he was a visiting researcher with Microsoft Research at Redmond. His research interests are in computer architectures and programming models for emerging workloads, and computing in face of large scale errors. His research has been recognized by an Arnold O Beckman Research Award - 2009, FAA Creative Research Award - 2008, Intel Research Council Award - 2007-2009, UCSD CSE Best Dissertation Award - 2007, and an IBM PhD Fellowship 2005.
Host: Melvin A. Breuer
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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, Nov 19, 2010 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof Elad Alon, Berkeley
Talk Title: Energy-Efficient Design: From Multi-Gb/s Wireless Communications to Nano-Electro-Mechanical Relays
Host: Prof. Hashemi
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. -
Seminar by Jongseung Yoon
Tue, Nov 23, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jongseung Yoon, USC, Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Talk Title: Inorganic Semiconductor Micro/Nanomaterials and Deterministic Assembly by Transfer Printing for Unusual Format Photovoltaics
Abstract: Solar modules that involve large collections of small, ultrathin photovoltaic cells integrated on a thin sheet of plastic offer attractive features that can not be achieved with conventional approaches. In the first part of my talk, I will describe the use of ultrathin, monocrystalline silicon solar microcells generated from the bulk wafer through wet chemical etching and top-down lithographic processes as building blocks for creating unconventional photovoltaic modules enabled with massively parallel printing techniques. The resulting devices can provide many useful characteristics, including high degrees of mechanical flexibility, user-definable levels of transparency, ultra-thin form factor micro-optic concentrator designs, together with the potential for low cost and high efficiency. In the second part, I will discuss releasable epitaxial multilayer assemblies of gallium arsenide (GaAs) based compound semiconductors for their use in high performance photovoltaics. While compound semiconductors such as GaAs provide unmatched performance in photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, current methods for growing and fabricating these materials are incompatible with the most important modes of use, particularly in photovoltaics, where large quantities of material must be distributed over large areas on low cost, amorphous foreign substrates. We developed new methods that address many of these challenges, through cost effective production of high quality functional films of GaAs from thick, epitaxial assemblies formed in a single deposition sequence on a growth wafer. Specialized designs enabled separation, release and assembly of individual active layers in these stacks to create devices on various substrates, in quantities and over areas that exceed possibilities with conventional approaches.
Biography: Prof. Yoon received his B.S. degree from Seoul National University in South Korea, and Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006. Prof. Yoon has been a Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 2007. At UIUC, Prof. Yoon has worked on developing new approaches for high performance, unusual format photovoltaic and optoelectronic systems based on arrays of monocrystalline Si and GaAs and micro-transfer-printing techniques. Prof. Yoonâs research interests at USC lie in exploiting various classes of micro/nanomaterials and heterogeneously integrating them into functional devices in the manner that their electrical, optical, mechanical, and thermal properties are optimally combined together for advanced applications in energy-harvesting, photonics, electronics, as well as sensor technologies.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
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. -
Design Principles for Networked Communities
Mon, Nov 29, 2010 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Mihaela van der Schaar , University of California, Los Angeles
Talk Title: Design Principles for Networked Communities
Abstract: This research addresses the design of interactions between agents in networked communities. When the communities are composed of compliant machines, network utility maximization (NUM) and other methods can be used to achieve efficient outcomes. When the communities are composed of intelligent and self-interested agents (multimedia peer-to-peer networks, social networks, etc.), such methods are not effective and efficiency is much more difficult to achieve because the interests of the individual agents may be in conflict. This talk describes design principles to achieve efficient outcomes in such networks based on the use of incentives (rewards and punishments). Depending on the characteristics of the network, the community, and the capacity of the designer, the application of these principles may be through any of a number of various mechanisms. This talk discusses mechanisms based on social norms, direct reciprocation, and pricing.
Biography: Mihaela van der Schaar is Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at University of California, Los Angeles. Her research interests are in multimedia signal processing, multimedia networking and communication, multimedia systems, multi-user communication networks, online learning, network economics and game theory. She received in 2004 an NSF CAREER Award, in 2005 the Best Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, in 2006 the Okawa Foundation Award, in 2005, 2007 and 2008 the IBM Faculty Award, and in 2006 the Most Cited Paper Award from EURASIP: Image Communications journal. She is an IEEE Fellow. She was an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, Signal Processing Letters, Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, Signal Processing Magazine etc. She also holds 33 granted US patents and 3 ISO awards for her contributions to the MPEG video compression and streaming international standardization activities. Starting Jan. 2011, she is the editor in chief of IEEE Transactions on Multimedia. For more information about her research see: http://medianetlab.ee.ucla.edu/
Host: Professor C.-C. Jay Kuo
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.
