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Events for January 22, 2013
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Preparing for the Career Expo presented by the CIA
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract: This lunchtime workshop will help you successfully navigate recruiting events, hosted by representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Jinwoo Kim: A Statistical Ontology-Based Approach to Ranking for Multi-Word Search
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jinwoo Kim, USC Computer Science; Phd
Talk Title: A Statistical Ontology-Based Approach to Ranking for Multi-Word Search
Series: PhD Defense Announcements
Abstract: Title: A STATISTICAL ONTOLOGY-BASED APPROACH TO RANKING FOR MULTI-WORD SEARCH
Candidate: Jinwoo Kim
Department: Computer Science
Date: January 22nd
Time: 12:00pm
Location: SAL 222
Committee:
Dennis McLeod (chair)
Aiichiro Nakano
Larry Pryor
Abstract
Keyword search is a prominent data retrieval method for the Web, largely because the simple and efficient nature of keyword processing allows a large amount of information to be searched with fast response. However, keyword search approaches do not formally capture the clear meaning of a keyword query and fail to address the semantic relationships between keywords. As a result, the accuracy (precision and recall rate) is often unsatisfactory, and the ranking algorithms fail to properly reflect the semantic relevance of keywords.
Our research particularly focuses on increasing the accuracy of search results for multi-word search. We propose a statistical ontology-based semantic ranking algorithm based on sentence units, and a new type of query interface including wildcards. First, we allocate higher-ranking scores to keywords located in the same sentence compared with keywords located in separate sentences. While existing statistical search algorithms such as N-gram only consider sequences of adjacent keywords, our approach is able to calculate sequences of non-adjacent keywords as well as adjacent keywords.
Second, we propose a slightly different type of query interface, which considers a wildcard as an independent unit of a search query - to reflect what users are actually seeking by way of the function of query prediction based on not query data but actual Web data. Unlike current information retrieval approaches such as proximity, statistical language modeling, query prediction and query answering, our statistical ontology-based model synthesizes proximity concept and statistical approaches into a form of ontology. This ontology helps to improve web information retrieval accuracy.
We validated our methodology with a suite of experiments using the Text Retrieval Conference document collection. We focused on two-word queries in our experiments - as two-word queries are quite common. After applying our statistical ontology-based algorithm to the Nutch search engine, we compared the results with results of the original Nutch search and Google Desktop Search. The result demonstrates that our methodology has improved accuracy quite significantly.
Host: Lizsl de Leon
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 222
Audiences: Department Only
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Epstein Institute / ISE 651 Seminar Series
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Philip T. Metzger, Ph.D., Lead Research Physicist and Founder of the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) Lab, part of the Surface Systems Swamp Works, NASA Kennedy Space Center
Talk Title: "Space Colonies Now! via Commerce, Robotics, and Systems Engineering"
Series: Epstein Institute Seminar Series
Abstract: A revolution is now underway as humanity transitions from being a single planet species to a solar system species. This has been set in motion by the explosion of technologies over the 40 years since the early Moon landings of the Apollo program. Some of the key technology areas include: rocketry, robotics, additive manufacturing, chemical processing, solar power, and artificial intelligence, to name just a few. Unlike prior migrations of humanity across the continents and oceans of Earth, the first wave of space migration will be done through robotic telepresence because we are going to places that are hostile to our bodies. The continents here on Earth had been transformed before our arrival by lifeââ¬â¢s activity across billions of years, converting the barren rocks and sunlight into topsoil with vibrant ecospheres where we can live. The new generation of space telepioneers, on the other hand, will have to do that job themselves. They will do it through robotic space mining, chemical processing, and in-space manufacturing, setting up autonomous industries and converting the barren rocks and sunlight into vibrant environments where we can live. The basic technologies to do this already exist, and telepioneering the incomprehensibly vast resources of our solar system holds so much economic potential that it can be a surprisingly short time before the first biological colonists actually live beyond Earth. You might see it in your lifetime. However, the complexity of the engineering systems required to transform the solar system so quickly will require the most advanced application of systems engineering humans have ever known. The growing list of commercial space companies whose business plan it is to do this profitably is a good indicator that the time is now!
Biography: Philip T. Metzger, Ph.D. works at NASAââ¬â¢s Kennedy Space Center as the lead research physicist and founder of the Granular Mechanics and Regolith Operations (GMRO) Lab, part of the Surface Systems Swamp Works. He has worked in the space program since 1985. He was a part of the Space Shuttle launch team and later with the International Space Station Program testing and assembling spaceflight hardware. For the past 10 years, he has performed research and technology development for solar system exploration (Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.), focusing on mining and utilizing resources in space.
He earned a B.S.E. (electrical engineering) from Auburn University in 1985, a M.S. in physics from the University of Central Florida in 2000, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Central Florida in 2005. His doctoral work focused on the theoretical statistical mechanics of granular materials with applications to the mechanics of lunar and planetary soils.
Dr. Metzger was selected as the NASA Kennedy Space Center Scientist/Engineer of the Year in 2012 and was given the Silver Snoopy award by the NASA astronauts in 2011.
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
More Information: Seminar-Metzger.doc
Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - Room 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Google Information Session-CANCELLED
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
CANCELLED
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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The State of African-American, Native-American, and Latino Undergraduate Enrollment at USC Viterbi
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 @ 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
Join Paul Ledesma, Director of Undergraduate Admission, and Traci Thomas Navarro, Director of the Center for Engineering Diversity for a lively town hall discussion related to underrepresented students in the engineering admission process.
Learn about the importance of diversity in the admission process and how we can improve our processes. Paul and Traci will share insights from our previous admission cycles as well as generate discussion from you as current students.
How can we increase diversity in the Viterbi School? What important factors should we consider for this admission cycle?
The evening should prove to be an enlightening conversation benefiting the community as a whole.
Dinner and refreshments will be served.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Center for Engineering Diversity Undergraduates
Contact: Center for Engineering Diversity
