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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October
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USC Spatial Sciences Institute Brown Bag Talk
Tue, Oct 06, 2020 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Howard Hu, Chair, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Talk Title: The Global Burden of Disease Pollution
Abstract: This brown bag session which will be held on Tuesday October 6, 2020 from 12:30-1:30 pm PST, RSVP: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIscuqsqjksG9YnVxO91UU9hXXK-RRaSVOt
Please join the USC Spatial Sciences Institute Brown Bag talk with Dr. Howard Hu, who joined the Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, as its new chair on July 1, 2020.
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIscuqsqjksG9YnVxO91UU9hXXK-RRaSVOt
The Global Burden of Disease Project (GBD), funded for over 2 decades by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is the largest scientific collaboration in the world and now a partnership with the World Health Organization. It describes mortality and morbidity from major diseases, injuries and risk factors to health at global, national and regional levels. Examining trends from 1990 to the present and making comparisons across populations enables understanding of the changing health challenges facing people across the world in the 21st century and provides policy makers with the evidence to make key decisions as they pursue the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2017, the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health used GBD data to demonstrate that outdoor and indoor air pollution, radon, and lead were likely responsible for 3 times the annual deaths from tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV AIDS combined. In follow up, Dr. Hu and colleagues initiated the GBD Pollution, Climate and Health Initiative (GBD PCHI), which aims to expand the GBD to include additional top-priority pollutants as well as climate change.
In this talk, Dr. Hu will describe the GBD PCHI, now based at in the Keck USC Department of Preventive Medicine, with a focus on the challenge of estimating human exposure to pollutants in low and middle income countries with little data, and invite a discussion of the potential role of spatial sciences. Dr. Hu will also briefly discuss the Department of Preventive Medicine' nascent Pandemic Population Health Research Center and other collaboration opportunities.
For questions please email Ken Watson, Academic Programs Director, watsonke@usc.edu
Host: USC Spatial Sciences Institute
Location: Online - Zoom
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: USC Computer Science
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CAIS Seminar: Anna Nagurney (University of Massachusetts Amherst) - Game Theory Network Models for Disaster Relief
Wed, Oct 07, 2020 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anna Nagurney, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Talk Title: Game Theory Network Models for Disaster Relief
Series: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS) Seminar Series
Abstract: The number of disasters is growing as well as the number of people affected by them with great associated challenges for effective disaster management. In this presentation, Dr. Nagurney will describe her team's research on the development of game theory network models for disaster relief that integrate financial flows from donors as well as the logistics associated with relief item deliveries. Both Generalized Nash Equilibrium as well as Nash Equilibrium constructs will be given and the associated methodologies for the formulation, analysis, and computation to the models outlined. Case studies on Hurricane Katrina as well as the tornados that hit western Massachusetts in 2011 will be presented, which provide surprising insights of relevance to policymakers.
If time permits, Dr. Nagurney will highlight her team's additional recent work on stochastic game theory for disaster relief of relevance to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as game theory models for blood supply chains.
Register in advance for this webinar at:
https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Lm0kfXOeSZaz64kz3CNx2w
After registering, attendees will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Anna Nagurney is the John F. Smith Memorial Professor at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Director of the Virtual Center for Supernetworks, which she founded in 2001. She holds ScB, AB, ScM and PhD degrees from Brown University in Providence, RI. She is the author of 14 books, more than 200 refereed journal articles, and over 50 book chapters. She presently serves on the editorial boards of a dozen journals and two book series and is the editor of another book series. Professor Nagurney has been a Fulbrighter twice (in Austria and Italy), was a Visiting Professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and was a Distinguished Guest Visiting Professor at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. She was a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College at Oxford University during the 2016 Trinity Term and a Summer Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard in 2017 and 2018. Anna has held visiting appointments at MIT and at Brown University and was a Science Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University in 2005-2006. She has been recognized for her research on networks with the Kempe Prize from the University of Umea, the Faculty Award for Women from the US National Science Foundation, the University Medal from the University of Catania in Italy, and was elected a Fellow of the RSAI (Regional Science Association International), an INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences) Fellow, and a Network Science Society Fellow. In 2019, she became the first female recipient of the Constantin Caratheodory Prize from the International Society of Global Optimization. In 2020, she was awarded the Harold Larnder Prize from CORS (only the second female in the award's 35 year history). Anna has also been recognized with several awards for her mentorship of students and her female leadership with the WORMS Award, for example, and the Moving Spirit Award. Anna was one of 44 Women in STEM featured in the STEM Gems book as a role model for young women. Her research has garnered support from the AT&T Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation through its Bellagio Center programs, the Institute for International Education, and the National Science Foundation. She has given plenary/keynote talks and tutorials on 5 continents. She is an active member of several professional societies, including INFORMS, POMS, and RSAI and was the Omega Rho Distinguished Lecturer in 2018 and is a 2020 IFORS Distinguished Lecturer.
Anna's research focuses on network systems from transportation and logistical ones, including supply chains, to financial, economic, social networks and their integration, along with the Internet. She studies and models complex behaviors on networks with a goal towards providing frameworks and tools for understanding their structure, performance, and resilience and has contributed also to the understanding of the Braess paradox in transportation networks and the Internet. She has also been researching sustainability and quality issues with applications ranging from pharmaceutical and blood supply chains to perishable food products and fast fashion to humanitarian logistics and disaster management. She has advanced methodological tools used in game theory, network theory, equilibrium analysis, and dynamical systems. She was a Co-PI on a multi-university NSF grant with UMass Amherst as the lead: Network Innovation Through Choice, which was part of the Future Internet Architecture (FIA) program and was recently a Co-PI on an NSF EAGER grant.
Host: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS)
Location: Online Zoom Webinar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Computer Science Department
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CAIS Seminar: Meredith Gore (Michigan State University) - Wildlife Trafficking in the Anthropocene: Conservation, Crime & Communities
Wed, Oct 14, 2020 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Meredith Gore, Michigan State University
Talk Title: Wildlife Trafficking in the Anthropocene: Conservation, Crime & Communities
Series: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS) Seminar Series
Abstract: Levels of unsustainable and illegal natural resource exploitation have escalated in scope, scale, and severity. Illegal over-harvest of plant and animal species occurs around the world and poses risks to species, ecosystems, and people. Beyond the risk of species loss, overexploitation represents stolen natural resources, is associated with corruption and insecurity, human rights abuses, and regional destabilization in some of the world's most vulnerable developing nations. This presentation will discuss conservation criminology-”an interdisciplinary and applied science for understanding risks to global natural resources. Two case studies will illustrate how conservation criminology offers novel human dimensions insight about crime prevention and more responsive law enforcement in dynamic and multi-scale conservation contexts. The first case study tracks more than a decade of research on environmental insecurity, illegal logging and wildlife trafficking in Madagascar using participatory and interdisciplinary intelligence mapping. The second case study highlights illegal urban wildlife trafficking in Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo using negative space and participatory risk mapping of illicit supply chains as well as crime-place network theory and crime science. Although the presentation will focus mostly on wildlife trafficking and illegal logging, conservation criminology is applicable to other causes and consequences of environmental change, including illegal fishing and mining, invasive species, emerging infectious disease and water insecurity.
Register in advance for this webinar at:
https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J3Q9F7t_SfOF0LcL5p-KbA
After registering, attendees will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Prof. Meredith Gore is a conservation social scientist leveraging concepts of risk to enhance understanding of human-environment relationships. Her scholarship is designed to build evidence for action. The majority of her scientific inquiry can be described as convergence research on conservation issues such as wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, fishing and mining. Prof. Gore received her PhD in Natural Resource Policy and Management from Cornell University, MA in Environment and Resource Policy from George Washington University, and BA in Anthropology and Environmental Studies from Brandeis University. She is a National Academies of Sciences Jefferson Science Fellow, US Department of State Embassy Science Fellow and Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leader.
Host: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS)
Location: Online Zoom Webinar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Computer Science Department
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CAIS Seminar: Rediet Abebe (University of California, Berkeley) – Modeling the Impact of Shocks on Poverty
Wed, Oct 21, 2020 @ 01:00 AM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rediet Abebe, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Modeling the Impact of Shocks on Poverty
Series: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS) Seminar Series
Abstract: Poverty is a multifaceted and dynamic phenomena impacting billions of people worldwide. Despite its prevalence, there remains much to be understood about what makes families susceptible to experiencing economic distress. In recent years, income shocks -- which constitute unexpected expenses or interruptions to one's income flow -- have garnered increased public attention as being intricately intertwined with poverty. Despite a vast body of empirical work showing the impact of shocks on welfare, they do not play a correspondingly central role in the design of assistance programs.
In this talk, we present a mathematical and computational analysis of shocks. We pose a set of algorithmic questions about allocation of subsidies in the presence of shocks and present optimal and near-optimal solutions for various general settings. We computationally analyze the impact of shocks on poverty using a longitudinal, survey-based dataset, revealing insights about the interactions of different types of shocks. We discuss how these insights can inform the design and deployment of assistance programs and highlight new directions at this emerging interface between algorithms, public finance, and social work.
Register in advance for this webinar at:
https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EfIQ64OORgOCAzzjAnvFlQ
After registering, attendees will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Rediet Abebe is a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows and an incoming Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Abebe holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University and graduate degrees in mathematics from Harvard University and the University of Cambridge. Her research is in artificial intelligence and algorithms, with a focus on equity and justice concerns. Abebe is a co-founder and co-organizer of the multi-institutional, interdisciplinary research initiative Mechanism Design for Social Good (MD4SG). Her dissertation received the 2020 ACM SIGKDD Dissertation Award for offering the foundations of this emerging research area. Abebe's work has informed policy and practice at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the Ethiopian Ministry of Education. She has been honored in the MIT Technology Reviews' 35 Innovators Under 35 and the Bloomberg 50 list as a one to watch. Abebe also co-founded Black in AI, a non-profit organization tackling representation issues in AI. Her research is influenced by her upbringing in her hometown of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Host: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS)
Location: Online – Zoom Webinar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Computer Science Department
