Logo: University of Southern California

Events Calendar



Select a calendar:



Filter April Events by Event Type:



Events for April 02, 2015

  • CS Colloquium: Guy van den Broeck (KU Leuven) - Scalable Inference and Learning for High-Level Probabilistic Models

    Thu, Apr 02, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Guy van den Broeck, KU Leuven

    Talk Title: Scalable Inference and Learning for High-Level Probabilistic Models

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Probabilistic graphical models are pervasive in AI and machine learning. A recent push, however, is towards more high-level representations of uncertainty, such as probabilistic programs, probabilistic databases, and statistical relational models. This move is akin to going from hardware circuits to a full-fledged programming language, and poses key challenges for inference and learning. For instance, we encounter a fundamental limitation of classical learning algorithms: they make strong independence assumptions about the entities in the data (e.g., images, web pages, patients, etc.). These assumptions fail to hold in a global view of the data, where all entities are related. We also encounter a limitation of existing reasoning algorithms, which fail to scale to large, densely connected graphical models, consisting of millions of interrelated entities.

    In this talk, I present my research on efficient algorithms for high-level probabilistic models, called lifted inference and learning algorithms. I begin by introducing the key principles behind exact lifted inference, namely to exploit symmetry and exchangeability in the model. Next, I discuss the strengths and limitations of lifting. Building on results from database theory and counting complexity, I identify classes of tractable models, and classes where high-level reasoning is fundamentally hard. I conclude by showing the practical embodiment of these ideas, in the form of approximate inference and learning algorithms that scale up to big data and big models.

    The lecture will be available to stream HERE

    Biography: Guy Van den Broeck graduated summa cum laude with a Ph.D. in Computer Science from KU Leuven, Belgium, in 2013. He was a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA and KU Leuven. His research interests are broadly in machine learning, artificial intelligence, knowledge representation and reasoning, and statistical relational learning. His work was awarded the ECCAI AI Dissertation Award 2014, Scientific Prize IBM Belgium for Informatics 2014, and Alcatel-Lucent Innovation Award 2009. He is the recipient of the best student paper award at ILP 2011 and a best paper honorable mention at AAAI 2014. For more information, see http://guyvandenbroeck.com

    Host: Computer Science Department

    Webcast: https://bluejeans.com/442226528

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    WebCast Link: https://bluejeans.com/442226528

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

    Add to Google CalendarDownload ICS File for OutlookDownload iCal File
  • Big Data and Data Science: Some Hype but Real Opportunities

    Big Data and Data Science: Some Hype but Real Opportunities

    Thu, Apr 02, 2015 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Big Data and Data Science: Some Hype but Real Opportunities

    IMSC Seminar – Host: Cyrus Shahabi
    April 2 - 5:00-6:00pm
    SAL-101

    Speaker: Michael Franklin, UC Berkeley Computer Science

    Abstract
    Data is all the rage across industry and across campuses. While it may be temping to dismiss the buzz as just another spin of the hype cycle, there are substantial shifts and realignments underway that are fundamentally changing how Computer Science, Statistics and virtually all subject areas will be taught, researched, and perceived as disciplines. In this talk I will give my personal perspectives on this new landscape based on experiences organizing a large, industry-engaged academic Computer Science research project (the AMPLab), in helping to establish a campus-wide Data Science research initiative (the Berkeley Institute for Data Science), and my participation on a campus task force charged with mapping out Data Science Education for all undergraduates at Berkeley. I will make the case that there are real opportunities across campus in both education and research, and that Data Science should be viewed as an emerging discipline in its own right.

    Bio
    Michael Franklin is the Thomas M. Siebel Professor of Computer Science and Chair of the Computer Science Division at the University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Franklin is also the Director of the Algorithms, Machines, and People Laboratory (AMPLab) at UC Berkeley. The AMPLab currently works with 27 industrial sponsors including founding sponsors Amazon Web Services, Google, and SAP. AMPLab is well-known for creating a number of popular systems in the Open Source Big Data ecosystem including Spark, Mesos, GraphX and MLlib, all parts of the Berkeley Data Analytics Stack (BDAS). Prof. Franklin is a co-PI and Executive Committee member for the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, part of a multi-campus initiative to advance Data Science Environments. He is an ACM Fellow, a two-time winner of the ACM SIGMOD "Test of Time" award, has several "Best Paper" awards and two CACM Research Highlights selections, and is recipient of the outstanding Advisor Award from the Computer Science Graduate Student Association at Berkeley.

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101

    WebCast Link: https://bluejeans.com/952662854

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Lizsl De Leon

    Add to Google CalendarDownload ICS File for OutlookDownload iCal File