SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for February
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Feb 02, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Adam MeyersonTitle: Randomized Online Matching Abstract:Consider the problem of assigning consultants to projects. Each consultant should be assigned a project, in such a way that the cost of these assignments is minimized. Cost could represent the travel time of the consultant to the project site, or the ability of the consultant to complete the task. This problem is an instance of the minimum-cost matching problem: one of the most important problems in computer science. Substantial previous work has lead to efficient algorithms to compute these matchings.However, the consultant-assignment problem is naturally online, in that we do not know what the list of projects will be in advance. Projects arrive one-by-one, and as each project appears we must assign a consultant. The requirement that we make assignments as we go, without prior knowledge of the list of projects, makes the problem substantially more difficult. Prior work (by Khuller, Mitchell, and Vazirani) has demonstrated that this problem is intractable if the costs are arbitrary. If the costs form a metric (satisfying symmetry and triangle inequality, for example distances along a sphere) then the best possible deterministic guarantee is that the cost of our matching is at most 2K-1 times the optimum, where K is the number of assignments.In this talk, I will describe the first randomized algorithm for the online matching problem. By using a simple randomized greedy technique combined with prior work in metric embeddings (in particular the result of Fakcharoenphol, Rao, and Talwar), I will guarantee that the cost of our matching is at most
O(log3 K) times the optimum. This talk is based on the paper "Randomized Online Algorithms for Minimum Metric Bipartite Matching" which appeared at SODA 2006, and represents joint work with Akash Nanavati and Laura Poplawski.Bio:Adam Meyerson received his PhD from Stanford University in Fall 2002, with a thesis on approximation algorithms for design of minimum-cost computer networks. He spent the 2002-2003 academic year as a postdoctoral fellow of the Center for Algorithmic Adaptation, Dissemination, and Integration (Aladdin ) at Carnegie-Mellon University. Dr. Meyerson co-organized a series of workshops on integrated logistics ,designed to bring
together researchers from computer science and operations research to discuss applications of facility location problems ranging from warehouse placement to database analysis to network design. He joined the faculty of UCLA in Fall of 2003.Location: TBA
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Thu, Feb 09, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Stefano Soatto, UCLA to lectureSubject TBA
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Tue, Feb 14, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Coordinating Autonomous AgentsProf. Pragnesh Jay Modi of Drexel
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Centennial Lectures
Fri, Feb 17, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Future of Microprocessor ArchitectureJohn Hennessy,Ph.D. President, Stanford UniversityAbstract:From the mid-1980s until just recently, microprocessor performance grew at an amazing rate of over 50% a year. This growth was driven by basic improvements in the speed of integrated circuits and by a 20-year process of exploiting increasing levels of instruction level parallelism. A set of interrelated road blocks, including limits on available instruction level parallelism and increasing inefficiency in power and transistor use arising from attempts to exploit further instruction level parallelism, are bringing this road to an end. We document these limitations and the difficulty of overcoming them. We argue that the path ahead must rely on explicit, thread-level parallelism and demonstrate the performance advantages of that approach for server applications using data from the Sun Microsystems Niagara processor.Biography:John L. Hennessy joined Stanford's faculty in 1977. He was named the Willard and Inez Kerr Bell Endowed Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1987. From 1983 to 1993, Dr. Hennessy was director of the Computer System Laboratory, a research and teaching center operated by the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science that fosters research in computer systems design. He served as chair of computer science from 1994 to 1996 and, in 1996, was named dean of the School of Engineering. As dean, he launched a five-year plan that laid the groundwork for new activities in bioengineering and biomedical engineering. In 1999, he was named provost, the university's chief academic and financial officer. As provost, he continued his efforts to foster interdisciplinary activities in the biosciences and bioengineering and oversaw improvements in faculty and staff compensation.A pioneer in computer architecture, in 1981 Dr. Hennessy drew together researchers to focus on a computer architecture known as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer), a technology that has revolutionized the computer industry by increasing performance while reducing costs. In addition to his role in the basic research, Dr. Hennessy helped transfer this technology to industry. In 1984, he cofounded MIPS Computer Systems, now MIPS Technologies, which designs microprocessors. In recent years, his research has focused on the architecture of high-performance computers.Dr. Hennessy is a recipient of the 2000 John Von Neumann Medal, the 2000 ASEE R. Lamme Medal, the 2001 Eckert Mauchly Award and the 2001 Seymour Cray Award. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.He has lectured and published widely and is the co-author of two internationally used undergraduate and graduate textbooks on computer architecture design.
Dr. Hennessy earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Villanova University and his master's and doctoral degrees in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.Refreshments will be served.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Tue, Feb 21, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Smart Cameras: From Systems-on-Chips to Peer-to-Peer NetworksProf.Wayne Wolf PrincetonAbstract:
Smart cameras perform real-time analysis of video: gesture analysis, tracking, etc. Smart cameras must execute supercomputer-class algorithms while satisfying embedded system constraints on real time and power. The Embedded Systems Group at Princeton has studied algorithms and architectures for smart cameras. WE will start with a brief introduction to smart cameras. We will then look at system-on-chip architectures that allow us to perform real-time video analysis on consumer electronics-class platforms. We will then see how single-camera systems can be generalized to multiple cameras. Building a large multi-camera system requires a distributed computing platform that satisfies real-time constraints. We will show how image analysis algorithms and distributed computing algorithms must be balanced to design a robust, scalable system. Bio:
Wayne Wolf is Professor of Electrical Engineering and affiliated faculty in Computer Science at Princeton University. Before joining Princeton, he was with AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey. He received the BS, MS, and PhD degrees from Stanford University, finishing in 1984. His research interests include VLSI systems, embedded computing, and multimedia information systems. He is the author of several textbooks. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and ACM and received the ASEE Terman Award.Location: TBD
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Feb 23, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Interfaces for Controlling Human CharactersProf. Jessica HodginsSchool of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon UniversityABSTRACTComputer animations and virtual environments both require a controllable source of motion for their characters. Most of the currently available technologies require significant training and are not useful tools for casual users. Over the past few years, we have explored several different approaches to this problem. Each solution relies on the information about natural human motion inherent in a motion capture database. For example, the user can sketch an approximate path for an animated character which is then refined by searching a graph constructed from a motion database. We can also find a natural looking motion for a particular behavior based on sparse constraints from the user (foot contact locations and timing, for example) by optimizing in a low-dimensional, behavior-specific space found from motion capture. And finally, we have developed performance animation systems that use video input of the user to build a local model of the user's motion and reproduce it on an animated character. BIOGRAPHY Jessica Hodgins is a Professor in the Robotics Institute and Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Prior to moving to CMU in 2000, she was an an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean in the College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 1989.
Her research focuses on computer graphics, animation, and robotics.
She has received a NSF Young Investigator Award, a Packard Fellowship, and a Sloan Fellowship. She was editor-in-chief of ACM Transactions on Graphics from 2000-2002 and SIGGRAPH Papers Chair in 2003.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Computer Vision for HCI and RTC Applications
Mon, Feb 27, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Dr. Zhengyou ZhangTitle:
Computer Vision for HCI and RTC ApplicationsAbstract:
We strive to advance the state of the art of computer vision, and develop flexible and robust techniques for human-computer interaction and real-time communication and collaboration. In this talk, I will provide an overview of the research projects I have been working with my colleagues in these areas. I will cover the following topics:
* Face modeling with a webcam. We have developed a model-based face modeling system. A 3D face model is built in a few minutes, and the model can be animated immediately. We have successfully built 3D face models for Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and many others.
* Eye-gaze correction for video conferencing: The lack of eye contact in desktop video teleconferencing substantially reduces the effectiveness of video contents. We describe a novel approach: Based on stereo analysis combined with rich domain knowledge (a personalized face model), we synthesize, using graphics hardware, a virtual video that maintains eye contact.
* Whiteboard Technology: While physical whiteboards are frequently used by knowledge workers, they are not perfect. The content on the board is hard to archive or share with others who are not present in the session. We have developed a set of technologies which include automatic whiteboard note taking by scanning with a web cam and by enhancing the images, automatic audio and whiteboard meeting archiving and indexing, and live meetings with enhanced whiteboard streaming.
If time allows, I will also show two more prototype systems. The first converts an ordinary screen into a touch screen. The second converts a rectangular panel (e.g., an ordinary piece of paper) into a virtual mouse, keyboard and joystick.Bio:
Zhengyou Zhang is a Senior Researcher with Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA. He is an IEEE Fellow, an Associate Editor of the "IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence" (PAMI), an Associate Editor of the "IEEE Transactions on Multimedia", an Associate Editor of the "International Journal of Computer Vision" (IJCV) and an Associate Editor of the "International Journal of Pattern Recognition and Artificial Intelligence" (IJPRAI). He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from the University of Zhejiang, China, in 1985, the M.S. in computer science from the University of Nancy, France, in 1987, the Ph.D. degree in computer science from the University of Paris XI, France, in 1990, and the Doctor of Science (Habilitation à diriger des recherches) diploma from the University of Paris XI, in 1994. He has been with INRIA (French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control) for 11 years and was a Senior Research Scientist from 1991 until he joined Microsoft Research in March 1998. In 1996-1997, he spent one-year sabbatical as an Invited Researcher at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), Kyoto, Japan. He holds guest or adjunct faculty positions at University of Southern California, Zhejiang University (China) and Institute of Automation (Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has published over 100 papers in refereed international journals and conferences, and has co-authored the following books: 3D Dynamic Scene Analysis: A Stereo Based Approach (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 1992); Epipolar Geometry in Stereo, Motion and Object Recognition (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996); Computer Vision (textbook in Chinese, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1998). He has been a member, an area chair or a program chair of the program committees for numerous international conferences. More information is available at http://research.microsoft.com/~zhang/.Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
