SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for September
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Paul Rosenbloom: On Computing: The Fourth Great Scientific Domain
Tue, Sep 11, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Paul Rosenbloom,
Talk Title: On Computing: The Fourth Great Scientific Domain
Abstract: This talk introduces two broad themes about computing: (1) that it amounts to what can be termed a great scientific domain, on a par with the physical, life and social sciences; and (2) that much about its structure, content, richness and potential can be understood in terms of its multidisciplinary relationships with these other great domains (and itself). The intent is to advance a new way of thinking about computing and its nature as a scientific discipline, while broadening our perspectives on what computing is and what it can become.
Host: Dr. Gaurav Sukhatme
More Info: http://www.cs.usc.edu/calendar/csevents.asp?date=9%2F11%2F2012
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jacob Beal
Event Link: http://www.cs.usc.edu/calendar/csevents.asp?date=9%2F11%2F2012
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USC CS Theory Seminar Series
Thu, Sep 13, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arash Saber Tehrani,
Talk Title: Arash Saber Tehrani, Message-Passing Algorithms and Improved LP Decoding
Series: USC CS Theory
Abstract: Message-Passing Algorithms and Improved LP Decoding By Sanjeev Arora, Constantinos Daskalakis, and David Steurer
(http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dsteurer/lpdecode.pdf)
By Arash Saber Tehrani: I will discuss the results of the paper above, where the authors prove the best known performance guarantee for the LP decoding. Further, if I have time, Arash will connect the LP decoding problem to compressed sensing through the bridge introduced
in:
http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~dimakis/DV_Allerton2009_final_arxiv.pdf
and show that the same guarantee is valid for compressed sensing as shown in
http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~dimakis/KSDH11_isit.pdf
and a current project that me and Alex are working on. Note that the above result leads to an explicit construction for measurement matrices which can be checked to be ``good'' efficiently.
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Host: Dr. Shanghua Teng
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jacob Beal
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Prof. Hal Daume III: Complex Predictions need not be Slow
Mon, Sep 17, 2012 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Hal Daume III,
Talk Title: Complex Predictions need not be Slow
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Abstract: Classic algorithms for predicting structured data (eg., graphs, trees, etc.) or rankings rely on expensive (sometimes intractable) inference at test time. In this talk, I'll discuss several recent approaches that enable computationally efficient (eg., linear-time) prediction at test time. These approaches fall in the category of learning algorithms that explicitly optimize a speed/accuracy trade-off, or optimize accuracy under a fixed computational budget. This is joint work with: Jason Eisner, Lise Getoor, Jiarong Jiang, He He, Adam Teichert, Tim Vieira, Jay Pujara and Lidan Wang.
Host: Fei Sha
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jacob Beal
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Enter the Dragon: The SpaceX COTS Missions
Tue, Sep 25, 2012 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Andrew Howard, SpaceX
Talk Title: Enter the Dragon: The SpaceX COTS Missions
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: In May 2012, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft berthed with the International Space Station, thus completing the second of two demonstrations missions for NASA and opening the door to regular commercial resupply services to the ISS. In this talk, I will describe the COTS demonstration missions and the technologies that made them possible, including the Falcon 9 launcher, Dragon spacecraft and DragonEye proximity navigation system.
Equally important, I will discuss some of the organizational, cultural and contractual changes that are allowing companies like SpaceX to deliver -- at a radically reduced cost -- services that have previously been the exclusive preserve of national governments.
Biography: Dr. Howard is Senior Guidance, Navigation and Control Engineer at Space Exploration Technologies and designer of the DragonEye proximity navigation system. Previously, he was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he worked on vision-based navigation for a wide variety of projects, including Boston Dynamics' BigDog and the DARPA Crusher UGCV. Prior to joining JPL, Dr. Howard was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California Robotics Research Laboratory. Dr. Howard is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, with a degree in theoretical physics and PhD in computer science.
Host: Gaurav Sukhatme
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
