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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for January 20, 2011
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Role of Technical Witness in Litigation (TWW)
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Aviation Safety and Security Program
University Calendar
This course is designed to improve the quality of technical testimony. Attorneys and experience technical witnesses teach the course to provide a balanced presentation.
Location: Aviation Safety & Security Campus
Audiences: Aviation Professionals
Contact: Harrison Wolf
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Aleksander Madry , MIT
Talk Title: Electrical Flows and Laplacian Systems: A New Tool for Graph Algorithms
Abstract: In recent years, the emergence of massive computing tasks that arise in context of web applications and networks has made the need for efficient graph algorithms more pressing than ever. In particular, it lead us to focus on reducing the running time of the algorithms to make them as fast as possible, even if it comes at a cost of reducing the quality of the returned solution. This motivates us to expand our algorithmic toolkit to include techniques capable of addressing this new challenge.
In this talk, I will describe how treating a graph as a network of resistors and relating the combinatorial properties of the graph to the electrical properties of the resulting circuit provides us with a powerful new set of tools for the above pursuit. As an illustration of their applicability, I will use these ideas to develop a new technique for approximating the maximum flow in capacitated, undirected graphs that yields the asymptotically fastest-known algorithm for this problem.
Biography: Aleksander is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at MIT, advised by Michel Goemans and Jonathan Kelner. His research focuses on algorithmic graph theory, i.e. design and analysis of very efficient (approximation) algorithms for fundamental graph problems. He also enjoys investigating topics in combinatorial optimization - especially the ones involving dealing with uncertainty.
Host: Prof. David Kempe
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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William Spitzer Lecture
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Harry Atwater, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: New Photonic Material Designs for Solar Energy Conversion
Series: William Spitzer Lecture
Abstract: Solar energy is currently enjoying substantial growth and investment, owing to worldwide sensitivity to energy security and climate change, and this has spurred basic research on light-matter interactions relevant to solar energy. Dr. Atwater will describe approaches to control of light-matter interactions leading to enhanced light-trapping and absorption, as well as increased open circuit voltage and enhanced quantum efficiency in solar photovoltaic structures. Conventionally, photovoltaic cells have a physical thickness comparable to their âoptical thicknessâ for full light absorption and photocarrier current collection. Solar cell design and material synthesis considerations are strongly dictated by this simple optical thickness requirement. Dramatically reducing the absorber layer thickness or volume confers several fundamental and practical benefits, including increased open circuit voltage and conversion efficiency, and also expansion of the scope and quality of absorber materials that are suitable for photovoltaics. He will describe light absorption in thin film and wire array solar cells that demonstrate enhanced absorption compared with conventional photovoltaic cells, and limits to enhanced absorption will be explored. Plasmonics and metamaterials design can also be exploited advantageously in photovoltaics. He will describe design approaches using metallic nanostructures to enhance the radiative emission rate and hence also the photovoltaic material quantum efficiency relative to conventional light-trapping structures. Finally, future design metamaterials for broadband resonant absorption and spectrum-splitting will be discussed.
Biography: Harry Atwater is currently Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests center around two interwoven research themes: photovoltaics and solar energy; and plasmonics and optical metamaterials. Atwater and his group have been active in photovoltaics research for more than 20 years. Recently they have created new photovoltaic devices, including the silicon wire array solar cell, and layer-transferred fabrication approaches to III-V semiconductor III-V and multijunction cells, as well as making advances in plasmonic light absorber structures for III-V compound and silicon thin films. He is an early pioneer in surface plasmon photonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001.
Host: Mork Family Dept of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/w-01-20-11.htmLocation: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/w-01-20-11.htm
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Technical Resume Workshop
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Does your resume highlight the skills that will land an interview? Learn how to create a resume that will serve as the marketing tool that will get your foot inside industry's door!
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Ukoo Flani: Pioneers of Kaya Hip Hop
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Join us for a performance by Kenyan rap group Ukoo Flani, pioneers of kaya hip hop. The performance will be followed by a discussion about the role of African youth in the development of hip hop as a global art form and the issues facing urban youth in Africa.
Ukoo Flani is an acronym for Upendo Kwote Olewenu Ombeni Funzo La Aliyetuumba Njia Iwepo, which means âlove everywhere all who seek teachings of the Creator; there is a way.â The group is composed of thirteen men from Mombasa slum neighborhoods in Kenya who have transcended religious and tribal differences to make groundbreaking music. Among the Mijikenda people of Kenyaâs coastal province, âkayaâ means homestead or temple. The young rappers have embraced the historic term to form a style of hip hop that is positive, innovative, peaceful and socially conscious.
Admission is free
Organized by Joanna Demers (Music), Patrick James (International Relations) and Francille Rusan Wilson (American Studies and Ethnicity). Co-sponsored by the USC Center for International Studies, the USC Thornton School of Music, the USC Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, the USC Office of the Vice Provost for Globalization, the USC Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics and Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA).
For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.eduLocation: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
