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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for August
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CS Colloquium: Jonathan May (ISI) - The Machine Learning of Machine Translation
Mon, Aug 24, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jonathan May, ISI
Talk Title: The Machine Learning of Machine Translation
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Automatic language translation was one of the earliest applications proposed for computers but, despite over 60 years of research, quality has only risen to the level of everyday usefulness within the last decade. The recent successes of machine translation have been fueled by the availability of large amounts of data, the ever-increasing performance of computing hardware, and developments in learning methodologies and evaluation metrics. In this lecture I will give an overview of modern statistical machine translation systems with particular focus on algorithms and metrics, including my own work on the development of a ranking-based approach to parameter optimization.
Host: CS Department
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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CS Colloquium: Ning Wang (ICT) - Modeling Socially Intelligent Behavior for Virtual Humans and Robots
Thu, Aug 27, 2015 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ning Wang, ICT
Talk Title: Modeling Socially Intelligent Behavior for Virtual Humans and Robots
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Reeves and Nass' Media Equation states that people tend to treat computers and other media as if they are real humans. When a computer asks a user about itself, the user will give a more positive response than when a different computer asks the same question. The Media Equation has had profound implications on the design of human-computer interactions, particularly on embodied virtual agents, who in most cases are created to fulfill functions that human social actors try to fulfill, e.g. tutor, therapist, soldier, etc. My research explores how the Media Equation applies to the design of virtual humans and human-robot interactions. In my talk, I will discuss how to model conversational tactics and nonverbal behaviors for virtual agents and robots who fulfill the role of tutors, conversational partners and teammates, and how these socially intelligent behaviors facilitate learning, develop rapport and build trust in human-agent and human-robot interactions.
Host: CS Department
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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CS Colloquium: Lucas Joppa (Microsoft Research) - What we Know and Dont Know About Earths Biodiversity
Thu, Aug 27, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lucas Joppa, Microsoft Research
Talk Title: What we Know and Dont Know About Earths Biodiversity
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: What we know about Earths biodiversity has filled plenty of books, but what we dont know could fill libraries. Closing the gap between what we know and dont know will dictate how successful we are at conserving the ecological systems we all depend upon. I will discuss how statistics, computation, crowd sourcing, and emerging technologies will help us understand questions ranging from how many species there are on earth to how fast they are going extinct, all from a practical conservation point of view.
Biography: Lucas Joppa is a scientist at Microsoft Research, where he leads the a conservation science research programme and facilitates Microsofts partnership with the IUCN Red List. He works across the science, policy, and tools and technology space with a focus on conserving ecological systems. Lucas is an ecologist by background, with a PhD from Duke University, and has broad research interests in predictive environmental modeling, model driven data collection, and using technology to monitor environmental processes. He is a fellow at the University of Kents Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, an Honorary Conservation Fellow at the Zoological Society of London, the Advisor on Science and Innovation to UNEP WCMC and serves in various other advisory roles to international environmental organisations.
Host: Teamcore Group
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
