SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April
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Faculty Candidate Lecture
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Modeling and Simulation of Complex Software Processes Ray Madachy
Research Scientist
Computer Science
USCAbstract:Quantitative modeling and simulation can be used to assess and optimize strategies for software development. With today's increasingly dynamic software projects and numerous methodologies to choose from, the ability to understand and reason about complex software processes is even more important. There are many important factors at play requiring a balance of technology, business and people considerations. Through modeling and simulation, the interrelated process factors and feedback effects can be better understood before project implementation. The tradeoffs between cost, schedule, quality and risk can be quantified as well as the conditional effects of combined strategies. In this research, system dynamics is frequently used for modeling software processes in this research. It has complemented existing techniques and opened up new areas of study. System dynamics is a continuous systems modeling approach that provides a rich and integrative framework for capturing myriad process phenomena and their relationships over time. Traditional static modeling cannot capture dynamic feedback loops and complex interacting phenomena such as process methods, resource contention, volatility, schedule pressure, slippages, communication overhead, improvement initiatives, hiring, training, etc. Simulation provides an experimental testbed for project planning, process improvement, corporate strategy and investment analysis, or business case development to improve decision making at all levels. It helps reduce risk and fosters organizational learning by making models explicit in a group setting. It can also be used for training in "flight simulation" mode, since participants can interact with executing models in real-time to see the effects of their decisions. This talk will demonstrate some executable models and summarize example research. One simple illustrative model quantifies the interrelated phenomena in Brooks's Law, demonstrating the conditions under which the law is valid, to what extent, and the essential process tradeoffs. A dynamic model of formal software reviews will also be highlighted, where data from several hundred inspections was used for model formulation and validation. It demonstrates the effects of inspections, management decision policies and can be used to optimize reviews.Business value should be considered when making software process and product decisions, but it is usually difficult to integrate the perspectives quantitatively A fielded simulation model will be described that relates the dynamics between product specifications, investment costs, schedule, software quality practices, market factors and revenue generation. It can be used to determine the appropriate balance of process activities to meet business goals and product criteria. Examples from currently funded research will also be shown. For the U.S. Army, a system dynamics model is being used to assess incremental hybrid processes and support decision-making for a very large system-of-systems. It considers changes due to external volatility and feedback from user-driven change requests, and dynamically re-estimates and allocates resources in response to the volatility. Change deferral policies and team sizes can be experimented with.A simulation tradeoff tool for NASA will be shown that models the dynamic generation and detection of defects. It also estimates effort and efficiency tradeoffs for different defect removal practices per type of defect. It enables different timings and combinations of strategies to be experimented with to optimize V&V processes.Biography:Dr. Ray Madachy is a Research Scientist with the USC Center for Software Engineering and was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Dept. Previously he was the Chief Technology Officer at Cost Xpert Group, leading the development of new software cost/schedule models and measurement tools. Before that he was Chief Scientist at C-bridge Institute, where he led consulting and training in software methodologies and economic analysis. Earlier he was Manager of the Software Engineering Process Group at Litton Systems, where he directed efforts to achieve SEI CMM Level 4. He has written over 60 publications in software process modeling, simulation and improvement; cost estimation and software metrics; value-based software engineering; and risk management. He is a co-author of the book Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II and is completing the book Software Process Dynamics. He has developed several widely-used software engineering tools, including Expert COCOMO (a knowledge-based risk assessment tool in heavy usage on the Internet), several software process dynamics analysis tools, the Litton Process Asset Library used on a daily basis, the web-based C-bridge Cost Calculator and major portions of the Cost Xpert toolset.He has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from USC, an M.S. in Systems Science from UCSD and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton. He is a senior member of IEEE and in INCOSE, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma. He is a reviewer for several refereed journals, served on conference committees including program chair, and currently serves on the program committees for the International Forum on COCOMO and Software Cost Modeling and the Software Process Workshop.Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 107
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Faculty Candidate Lecture
Tue, Apr 04, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Modeling and Simulation of Complex Software Processes Ray MadachyResearch ScientistComputer ScienceUSCAbstract:Quantitative modeling and simulation can be used to assess and optimize strategies for software development. With today's increasingly dynamic software projects and numerous methodologies to choose from, the ability to understand and reason about complex software processes is even more important. There are many important factors at play requiring a balance of technology, business and people considerations. Through modeling and simulation, the interrelated process factors and feedback effects can be better understood before project implementation. The tradeoffs between cost, schedule, quality and risk can be quantified as well as the conditional effects of combined strategies. In this research, system dynamics is frequently used for modeling software processes in this research. It has complemented existing techniques and opened up new areas of study. System dynamics is a continuous systems modeling approach that provides a rich and integrative framework for capturing myriad process phenomena and their relationships over time. Traditional static modeling cannot capture dynamic feedback loops and complex interacting phenomena such as process methods, resource contention, volatility, schedule pressure, slippages, communication overhead, improvement initiatives, hiring, training, etc. Simulation provides an experimental testbed for project planning, process improvement, corporate strategy and investment analysis, or business case development to improve decision making at all levels. It helps reduce risk and fosters organizational learning by making models explicit in a group setting. It can also be used for training in "flight simulation" mode, since participants can interact with executing models in real-time to see the effects of their decisions. This talk will demonstrate some executable models and summarize example research. One simple illustrative model quantifies the interrelated phenomena in Brooks's Law, demonstrating the conditions under which the law is valid, to what extent, and the essential process tradeoffs. A dynamic model of formal software reviews will also be highlighted, where data from several hundred inspections was used for model formulation and validation. It demonstrates the effects of inspections, management decision policies and can be used to optimize reviews.Business value should be considered when making software process and product decisions, but it is usually difficult to integrate the perspectives quantitatively A fielded simulation model will be described that relates the dynamics between product specifications, investment costs, schedule, software quality practices, market factors and revenue generation. It can be used to determine the appropriate balance of process activities to meet business goals and product criteria. Examples from currently funded research will also be shown. For the U.S. Army, a system dynamics model is being used to assess incremental hybrid processes and support decision-making for a very large system-of-systems. It considers changes due to external volatility and feedback from user-driven change requests, and dynamically re-estimates and allocates resources in response to the volatility. Change deferral policies and team sizes can be experimented with.A simulation tradeoff tool for NASA will be shown that models the dynamic generation and detection of defects. It also estimates effort and efficiency tradeoffs for different defect removal practices per type of defect. It enables different timings and combinations of strategies to be experimented with to optimize V&V processes.Biography:Dr. Ray Madachy is a Research Scientist with the USC Center for Software Engineering and was also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Dept. Previously he was the Chief Technology Officer at Cost Xpert Group, leading the development of new software cost/schedule models and measurement tools. Before that he was Chief Scientist at C-bridge Institute, where he led consulting and training in software methodologies and economic analysis. Earlier he was Manager of the Software Engineering Process Group at Litton Systems, where he directed efforts to achieve SEI CMM Level 4. He has written over 60 publications in software process modeling, simulation and improvement; cost estimation and software metrics; value-based software engineering; and risk management. He is a co-author of the book Software Cost Estimation with COCOMO II and is completing the book Software Process Dynamics. He has developed several widely-used software engineering tools, including Expert COCOMO (a knowledge-based risk assessment tool in heavy usage on the Internet), several software process dynamics analysis tools, the Litton Process Asset Library used on a daily basis, the web-based C-bridge Cost Calculator and major portions of the Cost Xpert toolset.He has a Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from USC, an M.S. in Systems Science from UCSD and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Dayton. He is a senior member of IEEE and in INCOSE, Tau Beta Pi and Pi Tau Sigma. He is a reviewer for several refereed journals, served on conference committees including program chair, and currently serves on the program committees for the International Forum on COCOMO and Software Cost Modeling and the Software Process Workshop.
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 107
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Apr 06, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"On Building Memex: Current Status"Dr. Gordon BellMicrosoft ResearchAbstractMemex is a quest to chronicle a person's life by encoding every aspect of one's communications with people and machines, what is heard and seen, and all the aspects of their physical existence. These digital memories will not only extend human memory; they will infallibly record sensor readings and machine activities not even perceived by humans. Digital memories can provide humans with better recall, improved health, faster learning, new insights, and a telling of their story to posterity that only the great used to receive. They will hopefully enhance personal reflection in the same way that internet search has enabled more research.Biography:Gordon Bell is a senior researcher in Microsoft's Media Presence Research Group - a part of the Bay Area Research Center (BARC) maintaining an interest in startup ventures. Gordon has long evangelized scalable systems starting with his interest in multiprocessors (mP) beginning in 1965 with the design of Digital's PDP-6, PDP-10's antecedent, one of the first mPs and the first timesharing computer. He continues this interest with various talks about trends in future supercomputing (see Papers… presentations, etc.) and especially clustered systems formed from cost-effective "personal computers". As Digital's VP of R&D he was responsible for the VAX Computing Environment. In 1987, he led the cross-agency group as head of NSF's Computing Directorate that made "the plan" for the National Research and Education Network (NREN) aka the Internet. When joining Microsoft in 1995, Gordon had started focusing on the use of computers and the necessity of telepresence: being there without really being there, then. "There" can be a different place, right now, or a compressed and different time (a presentation or recording of an earlier event). In 1999 this project was extended to include multimedia in the home (visit Papers… presentations, etc.). He is putting all of his atom- and electron-based bits in his local Cyberspace. It is called by MyLifeBits the successor to the Cyber All project. This includes everything he has accumulated, written, photographed, presented, and owns (e.g. CDs). In February 2005 an epiphany occurred with the realization that MyLifeBits goes beyond Vannevar Bush's "memex" and is a personal transaction processing database for everything described in June 14, 2005 SIGMOD Keynote.Refreshments will be served.Host: Leana Golubchik
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Robotics Research Symposium
Fri, Apr 07, 2006 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
You are cordially invited to a one-day symposium of robotics research featuring talks by leading experts from all over the world. The symposium will be held in HNB 100 on the USC main campus. It is open to all. No registration is required.Symposium of Robotics Research
Venue: HNB 100
Time: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Organizers: Gaurav Sukhatme & Stefan Schaal (gaurav|sschaal@usc.edu)[Details and updates at http://robotics.usc.edu/~gaurav/symp.html]Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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From Micro to Nano Robotics
Fri, Apr 07, 2006 @ 01:30 PM - 02:05 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Brad Nelson
Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH-AurichDirector of IRISRobots are currently exploring many environments that are difficult if not impossible for humans to reach, such as the edge of the solar system, the planet Mars, volcanoes on Earth, and the undersea world. The goal of these robotic explorers is to obtain knowledge about our universe and to answer fundamental questions about life and human origins. Microrobotics has entered this field by exploring life at a much smaller scale and more fundamental level. Microrobotic systems for physically exploring the structures of biological cells are being developed, and robotic motion planning strategies are being used to investigate protein folding. Microrobotic mechanisms have been used to investigate organism behaviors, such as the flight dynamics of fruit flies as well as the neurophysiology that govern many other biologically interesting behaviors. These recent research efforts and others like them illustrate how several areas of robotics research are rapidly converging to create this new discipline I refer to as BioMicroRobotics. These new directions in robotics represent only a beginning and indicate that robotics research, and biomicrorobotics in particular, has the capability of making significant contributions in the understanding of life. In moving from the micro domain to nanometric scales, completely different issues in developing nanorobotic systems and in their application arise. The second part of the talk will present recent efforts at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH-Zurich in fabricating nanometer scale robotic components. Biography:Brad Nelson is the Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH-Zürich and is the director of IRIS.
His primary research direction lies in extending robotics research into emerging areas of science and engineering. His most recent scientific contributions have been in the area of microrobotics, biomicrorobotics, and nanorobotics, including efforts in robotic micromanipulation, microassembly, MEMS (sensors and actuators), mechanical manipulation of biological cells and tissue, and NanoElectroMechanical Systems (NEMS). He has also contributed to the fields of visual servoing, force control, sensor integration, and web-based control and programming of robots.
Prof. Nelson received a B.S. (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1984, an M.S. (Mechanical Engineering) from the University of Minnesota in 1987, and the Ph.D. degree in Robotics (School of Computer Science) from Carnegie Mellon University in 1995. During these years he also worked as an engineer at Honeywell and Motorola, and served as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana, Africa. In 1995 he became Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota in 1998, and Professor at ETH in 2002.
He has been awarded a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship and is a recipient of the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, the McKnight Presidential Fellows Award, and the Bronze Tablet. He was elected as a Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Lecturer in 2003 and received the Best Conference Paper Award at the IEEE 2004 International Conference on Robotics and Automation. He was named to the 2005 "Scientific American 50," Scientific American magazine's annual list recognizing outstanding acts of leadership in science and technology from the past year.
Professor Nelson serves on or has been a member of the editorial boards of the IEEE Transaction on Robotics, the Journal of Micromechatronics and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine. He has chaired several international workshops and conferences.
He is currently the head of the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering (D-MAVT).Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Special Guest Lecturer
Tue, Apr 11, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Nonlinear Filtering and Sequential Analysis for Hidden Markov ModelsProf. B.L. Rozovsky
Professor of Mathematics and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Center for Applied Mathematical SciencesUSC I will discuss some new statistical algorithms that proved to be efficient in a range of emerging applications. These include: computer vision, target tracking in a video-stream, intrusion detection in high speed computer networks, etc.
The first part of the talk is concerned with recent progress in theory and applications of nonlinear filtering. I will argue that banks of interacting (nonlinear) Bayesian matched filters can be successfully utilized to handle dim and acutely maneuvering targets.
The potential range of applications of the developed spatial-temporal tracking algorithms includes a new generation of tracking systems for missile defense, terrestrial reconnaissance, machine vision systems, and certain medical imaging applications.
In the second part of the talk I will discuss an efficient anomaly detection system that detects denial-of-service attacks at multi-gigabit speeds with minimal detection delay for a given low false alarm rate. The proposed constant false alarm rate detector utilizes ideas of sequential statistical analysis. The algorithm is computationally simple and self-learning, it adapts well to various network loads and usage patterns. Biography:Dr. Boris Rozovsky is Professor of Mathematics and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is also Director of the USC Center for Applied Mathematical Sciences
His research interests are in the areas of stochastic systems, nonlinear filtering,
prediction and smoothing, inverse problems for randomly perturbed systems,
target tracking, intrusion detection and mathematical modeling of the Internet. He is the
author of four books in the general area of stochastic systems and more than 100 research
articles. He is a Fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics and a recipient of other awards. Refreshments will be served.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Special Guest Lecturer
Tue, Apr 11, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Nonlinear Filtering and Sequential Analysis for Hidden Markov ModelsB.L. Rozovsky
Professor of Mathematics and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Center for Applied Mathematical SciencesUSC I will discuss some new statistical algorithms that proved to be efficient in a range of emerging applications. These include: computer vision, target tracking in a video-stream, intrusion detection in high speed computer networks, etc.
The first part of the talk is concerned with recent progress in theory and applications of nonlinear filtering. I will argue that banks of interacting (nonlinear) Bayesian matched filters can be successfully utilized to handle dim and acutely maneuvering targets.
The potential range of applications of the developed spatial-temporal tracking algorithms includes a new generation of tracking systems for missile defense, terrestrial reconnaissance, machine vision systems, and certain medical imaging applications.
In the second part of the talk I will discuss an efficient anomaly detection system that detects denial-of-service attacks at multi-gigabit speeds with minimal detection delay for a given low false alarm rate. The proposed constant false alarm rate detector utilizes ideas of sequential statistical analysis. The algorithm is computationally simple and self-learning, it adapts well to various network loads and usage patterns. Biography:Dr. Boris Rozovsky is Professor of Mathematics and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is also Director of the USC Center for Applied Mathematical Sciences
His research interests are in the areas of stochastic systems, nonlinear filtering,
prediction and smoothing, inverse problems for randomly perturbed systems,
target tracking, intrusion detection and mathematical modeling of the Internet. He is the
author of four books in the general area of stochastic systems and more than 100 research
articles. He is a Fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics and a recipient of other awards. Refreshments will be served.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Special Guest Lecturer
Tue, Apr 11, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Nonlinear Filtering and Sequential Analysis for Hidden Markov ModelsB.L. RozovskyProfessor of Mathematics and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Center for Applied Mathematical SciencesUSC I will discuss some new statistical algorithms that proved to be efficient in a range of emerging applications. These include: computer vision, target tracking in a video-stream, intrusion detection in high speed computer networks, etc.
The first part of the talk is concerned with recent progress in theory and applications of nonlinear filtering. I will argue that banks of interacting (nonlinear) Bayesian matched filters can be successfully utilized to handle dim and acutely maneuvering targets.
The potential range of applications of the developed spatial-temporal tracking algorithms includes a new generation of tracking systems for missile defense, terrestrial reconnaissance, machine vision systems, and certain medical imaging applications.
In the second part of the talk I will discuss an efficient anomaly detection system that detects denial-of-service attacks at multi-gigabit speeds with minimal detection delay for a given low false alarm rate. The proposed constant false alarm rate detector utilizes ideas of sequential statistical analysis. The algorithm is computationally simple and self-learning, it adapts well to various network loads and usage patterns. Biography:Dr. Boris Rozovsky is Professor of Mathematics and Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California. He is also Director of the USC Center for Applied Mathematical Sciences
His research interests are in the areas of stochastic systems, nonlinear filtering,
prediction and smoothing, inverse problems for randomly perturbed systems,
target tracking, intrusion detection and mathematical modeling of the Internet. He is the
author of four books in the general area of stochastic systems and more than 100 research
articles. He is a Fellow of Institute of Mathematical Statistics and a recipient of other awards. Refreshments will be served.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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From Computation....to Animation!
Mon, Apr 24, 2006 @ 07:00 PM - 08:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
How does C++ code create Shrek's clothing? How does MEL scripting help Shrek skip?Unbeknownst to many, computer science is a huge part of making a 3-d animated feature film, and computer scientists/programmers are a huge asset to a studio. Saty Raghavachary, senior software engineer at DreamWorks, will discuss exactly how coding and 3-d animation interact, illustrated with clips from DreamWorks films.RSVP to siggraph@usc.edu
*A light reception will be served*Hosted by USC SIGGRAPH - http://imagine-it.org/uscsiggraph/Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 352
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
