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Events for January 21, 2020
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CS Colloquium: David Pynadath (USC ICT) - Data-Driven Modeling of Human Social Behavior with Recursive Decision-Theoretic Agents
Tue, Jan 21, 2020 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: David Pynadath, USC / ICT
Talk Title: Data-Driven Modeling of Human Social Behavior with Recursive Decision-Theoretic Agents
Abstract: Social scientists, policy makers, and other analysts have increasingly turned to multiagent social simulation as a generative methodology for representing, analyzing, and simulating human behavior. Typical agent-based social simulation methods are attractive, because they use simple, reactive rules that are directly expressible by the people seeking to use them. In contrast, AI provides algorithms for generating autonomous decisions that can match a human level of complexity, but that same complexity is a currently insurmountable obstacle to their use by AI non-experts.
At ICT, we have developed a social simulation framework, PsychSim, using decision-theoretic agents with a theory of mind (ToM) to form mental models about others and use those models to inform their own decision-making. While PsychSim's recursive Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) offer a generative and transparent approach to social simulation, they share the disadvantage of similarly complex AI languages in that much effort and, often, much error is incurred when building models in them. Fortunately, the growing availability of data about people, their perceptions, and their behaviors offers a novel opportunity for automated support to both reduce the burden and increase the accuracy of the modeling process.
In this talk, I will present algorithms we have developed and applied to two different scenarios: (1) response of an urban population to a disaster, and (2) perceptions of inequality among different national, ethnic, and religious populations. In particular, we analyze the results of applying different automated methods for identifying dynamic influence diagrams whose output matches the beliefs and behaviors that people exhibit in these two scenarios. Because no single model correctly predicted everyone's perceptions and behaviors, we had our algorithm select additional models to capture atypical cases as well. Even with a very restricted space of candidate graphs, our algorithms found multiple models consistent with many of the people in the data sets. We quantify the ambiguity in the models selected by analyzing these cases, and, because of the graphical representation, we can compare models against each other to characterize potential differences in perceptions and behaviors. The result is an automated process that not only generates models for use within multiagent social simulation, but also quantifies the degree of confidence one can place in those models.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Dr. David Pynadath is the Director for Social Simulation Research at USC ICT. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 1999. He has published papers on multiagent systems, teamwork, social simulation, human-robot interaction, explainable AI, and plan recognition. He is the co-creator and maintainer of PsychSim, the multiagent social simulation framework that was the foundation of the work to be presented. Dr. Pynadath has collaborated with partners in academia and government to apply PsychSim to drive virtual characters in interactive simulations for teaching urban stabilization operations, cross-cultural negotiation, disaster response, and avoiding risky behavior.
Host: Jon May
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 105
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cherie Carter
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Epic Games Lunch & Learn
Tue, Jan 21, 2020 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Epic Games internship program is kicking off! Join our dev team for lunch and Q&A about careers in games and get to know the team. Free food provided (while supplies last!)
Epic Games can sponsor international students. We prefer if you are proficient in C++
Computer Science - Games students are encouraged to attend! You can attend this session, or our evening session in SGM 101 (also on Gateway)
We will provide an overview of the role of animation programmers, with a focus on how they support animators and designers to build gameplay mechanics. It will include an introduction to animation features of Unreal Engine and the math and technical skills that are needed to be successful on Epic's animation engineering team.Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Viterbi CS and EE students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Tue, Jan 21, 2020 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Amr Elnashai, Vice President/Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology Transfer, University of Houston
Talk Title: Machine Learning Approaches in Modeling Complex Structural Problems
Abstract: Please see attached Abstract and a short CV.
Host: Dr. Bora Gencturk
More Information: A. Elnashai Abstract-Short CV.pdf
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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ISE 651 - Epstein Seminar
Tue, Jan 21, 2020 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Güzin Bayraksan, Associate Professor, Ohio State University
Talk Title: A Multistage Distributionally Robust Optimization Approach to Water Allocation under Climate Uncertainty
Host: Prof. Suvrajeet Sen
More Information: January 21, 2020.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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Resume Lab
Tue, Jan 21, 2020 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Work on your resume in the presence of a career advisor to get tips on the spot.
Remember to bring your laptop!
For more information about Labs & Open Forums, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Epic Games Trojan Talk
Tue, Jan 21, 2020 @ 05:30 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Coding for Games: Inside Development with Epic Games | Internship
This talk will provide an overview of the role of animation programmers, with a focus on how they support animators and designers to build gameplay mechanics. It will include an introduction to animation features of Unreal Engine and the math and technical skills that are needed to be successful on Epic's animation engineering team.
Epic Games can sponsor international students. We prefer if you are proficient in C++
Computer Science - Games students are encouraged to attend this session, or our afternoon lunch & Learn session in EEB 132 (also on Gateway)
Join us afterward to network with the Epic dev team for a variety of internship opportunities in gaming.Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
