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• Receptions & Special Events (11)
• Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars (36)
• Workshops & Infosessions (14)
• University Calendar (7)
• Student Activity (5)

Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for January

• Jan

  11

  EE-EP Seminar

  Fri, Jan 11, 2013 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Hamid Toliyat, Texas A&M University
  
  Talk Title: Recent Advances in Electric Machines and Power Electronics for Renewable Energy - Offshore Electric Power Grid
  
  Abstract: Power electronics is an innovative and expanding area in electrical engineering. Recent advances in high-power devices permit the control and flow of electric energy efficiently. The digital nature of power switching devices makes the control of electric power switching circuits convenient with the use of digital signal processors. Power electronics has widespread applications in today’s industries, such as in power supplies, variable speed drives, automotive, marine, etc. Implementation of adjustable speed motor drives in high impact automotive, aerospace, and electric energy applications requires a new generation of design and control strategies known as “fault tolerant design”. In fact, fault tolerance and durability play a central role in the design and development of advanced power electronic systems in such applications. This in turn calls for a modular configuration in respective magnetic and electronic architectures of modern power systems. Our progress on the design of various electric machines and power electronic converters for a variety of applications such as wave and solar energies, hybrid electric vehicles, flywheel energy storage systems, appliances etc. will be briefly presented. More specifically, our recent development on offshore power electronic system will be discussed.
  
  Biography: Dr. Toliyat is currently Raytheon endowed professor of electrical engineering. He received the prestigious Cyrill Veinott Award in Electromechanical Energy Conversion from the IEEE Power Engineering Society in 2004, Patent and Innovation Award from Texas A&M University System Office of Technology Commercialization’s in 2007, TEES Faculty Fellow Award in 2006, Distinguished Teaching Award in 2003, E.D. Brockett Professorship Award in 2002, Eugene Webb Faculty Fellow Award in 2000, and Texas A&M Select Young Investigator Award in 1999. He also received the Space Act Award from NASA in 1999, and the Schlumberger Foundation Technical Awards in 2001 and 2000.Dr. Toliyat was an Editor of IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion and was Chair of the IEEE-IAS Industrial Power Conversion Systems Department, and is a member of Sigma Xi. He is a fellow of the IEEE, the recipient of the 2008 Industrial Electronics Society Electric Machines Committee Second Best Paper Award, the recipient of the IEEE Power Engineering Society Prize Paper Awards in 1996 and 2006, and the recipient of the 2006 IEEE Industry Applications Society Transactions Third Prize Paper Award. His main research interests and experience include the analysis and design of electrical machines, variable speed drives for traction and propulsion applications, fault diagnosis of electric machinery, and sensorless variable speed drives. Dr. Toliyat has supervised more than 50 graduate students, published over 385 technical papers (over 115 papers are in IEEE Transactions), presented more than 80 invited lectures all over the world, and has 13 issued and pending US patents. He is the author of DSP-Based Electromechanical Motion Control, CRC Press, 2003, the co-editor of Handbook of Electric Motors - 2nd Edition, Marcel Dekker, 2004, and the co-author of Electric Machines – Modeling, Condition Monitoring, and Fault Diagnosis, CRC Press, Florida, 2013.
  He was the General Chair of the 2005 IEEE International Electric Machines and Drives Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Toliyat is a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
  
  
  Host: EE-Electrophysics
  
  

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

  

• Jan

  14

  Seminars in Biomedical Engineering

  Mon, Jan 14, 2013 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

  Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Behrokh Khoshnevis, Ph.D., Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering, Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering and Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Southern California
  
  Talk Title: Creation of Biomedical Technology Through Inventive Thinking
  
  Host: David D'Argenio
  
  

  Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

  

• Jan

  14

  Assane Gueye: Quantifying Network Vulnerability to Attacks: A Game Theoretic Approach

  Mon, Jan 14, 2013 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM

  Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Assane Gueye, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
  
  Talk Title: Quantifying Network Vulnerability to Attacks: A Game Theoretic Approach
  
  Series: CS Colloquium
  
  Abstract: Designing network topologies that are robust and resilient to attacks has been and continues to be an important and challenging topic in the area of communication networks. One of the main difficulties resides in quantifying the robustness of a network in the presence of an intelligent attacker who might exploit the structure of the network topology to design harmful attacks. To capture the strategic nature of the interactions between a defender and an adversary, game theoretic models have been gaining a lot of interest in the study of the security of communication networks. In a recent line of research, network blocking games have been introduced and applied to the analysis of the robustness of network topologies. A network blocking game takes as input the communication model and the topology of a network and models the strategic interactions between an adversary and the network operator as a two-player game. The Nash equilibrium strategies are then used to predict the most likely attacker's actions and the attacker's Nash equilibrium payoff serves as a quantification of the vulnerability of the network.
  
  In this talk, I will present the notion of network blocking games and show how they can be used to derive network vulnerability metrics by using a series of examples of communication models. I will also show how these metrics can be used to design networks that are robust against attacks and/or strengthen the robustness of existing networks. I will also show how the metrics can be used to identify the most critical links in a network.
  
  This is joint work with Prof. Jean C. Walrand, Prof. Venkat Anantharam (UC Berkeley), Dr. Vladimir Marbukh (NIST), and Aron Lazska (Budapest University of Technology and Economics).
  
  
  Biography: Assane Gueye is a NIST-ARRA postdoctoral researcher in the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He received his Ph.D. in Communication Engineering (March 2011) from the EECS department at the University of California, Berkeley and his MSE (September 2004) in Communication Systems from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. Assane's current research is on the application of game theoretic models to communication and cyber security. His past research includes bottleneck identification in complex network, performance evaluation of wireless cellular networks and sensor network deployment in unknown environment. Assane is currently working in join collaboration with NIST and the University of Maryland in College Park.
  
  Host: Milind Tambe
  
  

  Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Assistant to CS chair

  

• Jan

  14

  Munushian Visiting Seminar Series

  Mon, Jan 14, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Claire Gmachl, Princeton University
  
  Talk Title: “Mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Lasers”
  
  Abstract: Quantum Cascade (QC) lasers are a rapidly evolving mid-infrared and THz, semiconductor laser technology based on intersubband transitions in multiple coupled quantum wells. The lasers’ strengths are their wavelength tailorability, high performance and fascinating design potential. We will first give a brief introduction into QC lasers followed by a discussion of several recent highlights, such as the quest for high performance QC lasers, especially high efficiency and single-mode operation, and the implementation of unconventional laser schemes. We will also discuss several applications, such as field campaigns of QC laser-based sensing, and our recent work in non-invasive glucose sensing. As an example for high-performance QC lasers, we examine lasers around 5 mm wavelength. First, we focus on thorough engineering of conventional QC lasers. The quest for high power and high efficiency QC lasers requires these lasers to have a low intrinsic threshold, a high characteristic temperature, a low voltage defect, and superior heat sinking. Next, we move on to unconventional designs, and a recent innovation in how the carrier injection into QC laser active regions is described; ultra-strong coupling between injectors and active regions are required, and the importance of interface roughness scattering is documented. The resultant QC lasers are nearly 50% power efficient at cryogenic temperatures. With respect to spectral innovations, a spectrally broadband QC laser based on a ‘continuum-to-continuum’ design will be presented, which differs from conventional, artificially spectrally broadened QC lasers in that almost no trade-off needs to be made between gain-bandwidth and laser performance with respect to laser threshold and output power. When this laser is put into an external cavity, a wide, continuous single-mode tuning range of well over 400 cm-1 is achieved. Next we explore opportunities for obtaining single-mode and tunable emission without the need of dispersive gratings, such as external dispersive cavities or gratings etched into the lasers. Folded cavities, “candy-cane“-shaped lasers, and Asymmetric Mach Zehnder cavities have all shown great potential for achieving single-mode emission at reduced fabrication complexity and cost. A recent example for the versatility of QC laser design is the development of QC lasers with two optical transitions in each active region instead of the usually just single photon emission. These lasers have potential for higher power efficiency and better performance especially at the long wavelength regime of l > 12 mm. Finally, we provide a quick overview on QC laser applications and show scattering of mid-infrared light from tissue components deeper in the skin potentially for non-invasive glucose sensing. The work presented is mostly supported by MIRTHE (NSF-ERC) with smaller contributions from other sources; the work has been conducted in collaboration with many valued colleagues in our own research group and across MIRTHE.
  
  Biography: Claire Gmachl received the Ph.D. degree (sub auspicies praesidentis) in electrical engineering from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, in 1995. In 1996, she joined Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ, to work on Quantum Cascade lasers and microcavity devices. In 2003, Gmachl joined Princeton University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and adjunct faculty to PRISM; since July 2007 she is Full Professor at Princeton University, and a Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering since 2011. Her group’s research is focused on mid-infrared photonics, especially Quantum Cascade lasers and applications. Gmachl is the Director of MIRTHE, the NSF Engineering Research Center on Mid-InfraRed Technologies for Health and the Environment, established in 2006. Gmachl has authored and co-authored more than 250 publications, has given more than 100 presentations at conferences and seminars, and holds 26 patents. She has won an E-council/GEC Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012, and a Princeton University graduate mentoring award in 2009; she was an Associate Editor for Optics Express and a member of the IEEE/LEOS Board of Governors. Gmachl is a 2005 MacArthur Fellow and a member of several professional societies.
  
  Host: EE-Electrophysics
  
  

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

  

• Jan

  15

  Epstein Institute / ISE 651 Seminar Series

  Tue, Jan 15, 2013 @ 03:30 AM - 05:00 PM

  Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Tianxi Cai, Professor, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
  
  Talk Title: "Evidence Based Discovery Research with Electronic Medical Records"
  
  Series: Epstein Institute Seminar Series
  
  Abstract: One major component of modern evidence-based medicine is the use of patients’ “baseline” information for personalized treatment selection and disease management. For instance, the benefit of giving chemotherapy prior to hormone therapy with tamoxifen for postmenopausal women with lymph node- breast cancer may vary depending on the estrogen receptor (ER) status of the tumor. ER- patients benefit substantially from chemotherapy while ER+ patients do not benefit as compared to receiving tamoxifen alone. Developing individualized decision rules for disease management can be extremely useful in practice.
  
  To realize the goals of personalized medicine, significant efforts have been made on building risk prediction models and assessing subgroup-specific treatment effects or predictiveness of a new marker via traditional clinical trials or observational studies. In this talk, I will give a brief introduction on how one may construct virtual cohorts from the electronic medical records to conduct subsequent studies on personalized medicine. I will also discuss some of the recent statistical methods that can potentially be used to address questions arising from the field of personalized medicine.
  
  
  Biography: Tianxi Cai, Professor of Biostatistics, Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health
  
  Education
  Sc.D., 1999, Harvard University
  
  Research
  Dr. Cai's current research interests are mainly in the area of biomarker evaluation; model selection and validation; prediction methods; personalized medicine in disease diagnosis, prognosis and treatment; statistical inference with high dimensional data; and survival analysis.
  
  In addition to her methdological research, Dr. Cai also collaborates with the I2B2 (Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside) center on developing a scalable informatics framework that will bridge clinical research data and the vast data banks arising from basic science research in order to better understand the genetic bases of complex diseases.
  
  
  Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
  
  

  More Information: Seminar-Cai.doc

  Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - Room 100

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Georgia Lum

  

• Jan

  17

  Focused on parallel and distributed computing

  Thu, Jan 17, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: TBA, TBA
  
  Talk Title: TBA
  
  Series: EE598 Seminar Course
  
  Abstract: Weekly seminars given by researchers in academia and industry including senior doctoral students in EE, CS and ISI covering current research related to parallel and distributed computation including parallel algorithms, high performance computing, scientific computation, application specific architectures, multi-core and many-core architectures and algorithms, application acceleration, reconfigurable computing systems, data intensive systems, Big Data and cloud computing.
  
  Biography: Prerequisite: Students are expected to be familiar with basic concepts at the level of graduate level courses in Computer Engineering and Computer Science in some of these topic areas above. Ph.D. students in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Computer Science can automatically enroll. M.S. students can enroll only with permission of the instructor. To request permission send a brief mail to the instructor in text format with the subject field “EE 598”. The body of the mail (in text format) should include name, degree objective, courses taken at USC and grades obtained, prior educational background, and relevant research background, if any.
  
  Requirements for CR:
  1. Attending at least 10 seminars during the semester
  There will be a sign-in sheet and a sign-out sheet at every seminar. All students must sign-in (before 2:00pm) and sign-out (after 3:00pm). The sign-in sheet will not be available after 2:00pm, and the sign-out sheet will not be available before 3:00pm.
  
  2. Submitting a written report for at least 5 seminars
  The written report for each seminar must be 1-page single line spaced format with font size of 12 (Times) or 11 (Arial) without any figures, tables, or graphs. The report must be submitted no later than 1 week after the corresponding seminar, and must be handed only to the instructor either on the seminar times or during office hours. Late reports will not be considered.
  The report must summarize student’s own understanding of the seminar, and should contain the following:
  - Your name and submission date [1 line]
  - Title of the seminar, name of the speaker, and seminar date [1 line]
  - Background of the work (e.g., applications, prior research, etc.) [1 paragraph]
  - Highlights of the approaches presented in the seminar [1-2 paragraphs]
  - Main results presented in the seminar [1-2 paragraphs]
  - Conclusion (your own conclusion and not what was given by the speaker) [1 paragraph]
  Reviewing papers related to the topic of the seminar, and incorporating relevant findings in the
  reports (e.g., in the conclusion section) is encouraged. In such cases, make sure to clearly indicate
  the reference(s) used to derive these conclusions.
  
  Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna
  
  

  More Information: Course Announcement_EE598_Focused on parallel and distributed computing_(Spring 2013).pdf

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  View All Dates

  • Thu Jan 17, 2013
  • Thu Jan 24, 2013
  • Thu Jan 31, 2013
  • Thu Feb 7, 2013
  • Thu Feb 14, 2013
  • Thu Feb 21, 2013
  • Thu Feb 28, 2013
  • Thu Mar 7, 2013
  • Thu Mar 14, 2013
  • Thu Mar 21, 2013
  • Thu Mar 28, 2013
  • Thu Apr 4, 2013
  • Thu Apr 11, 2013
  • Thu Apr 18, 2013
  • Thu Apr 25, 2013
  • Thu May 2, 2013
  • Thu May 9, 2013

  Contact: Janice Thompson

  

• Jan

  17

  EE 598: SEMINAR 1: Data-driven Models for Dynamic Demand Response

  Thu, Jan 17, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Saima Aman, USC Viterbi PhD Student, Computer Science
  
  Talk Title: Data-driven Models for Dynamic Demand Response
  
  Series: EE598 Seminar Course
  
  Abstract: Smart Grid is the extension of the traditional electric grid with advanced technologies for communication, monitoring and control. Its goal is to gain reliability and efficiency in generation, distribution, and consumption, and ultimately achieve energy sustainability. Demand response (DR) is a key component of Smart Grid that deals with the customers reducing their electricity consumption during peak load periods when asked by the utility. The next challenge in DR research is to achieve dynamic demand response (D2R) which deals with dynamic decision making about when, by how much, and how to reduce electricity use by the consumers in response to dynamically changing conditions of generation and consumption. In Smart Grid, fine grained and rich variety of spatio-temporal data is available which can be leveraged to build data-driven models to aid decision making for D2R.
  
  Biography: Saima Aman is a Ph.D. student in Computer Science and Research Assistant at the Center for Energy Informatics, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Her current research is focused on applying data analytics to the problem of dynamic demand response in smart grids, including both direct building controls and voluntary curtailment by consumers, to achieve reliable and efficient grid operations. She received her M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa, Canada, and B.Tech. in Computer Engineering from AMU, India. She is a member of IEEE and AAAI.
  
  Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna
  
  

  More Information: Course Announcement_EE598_Focused on parallel and distributed computing_(Spring 2013).pdf

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -

  Audiences: Graduate

  Contact: Janice Thompson

  

• Jan

  17

  EE Distinguished Lecturer Series

  

  Thu, Jan 17, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Emery N. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and MIT
  
  Talk Title: The Dynamics of the Unconscious Brain Under General Anesthesia
  
  Abstract: General anesthesia is a drug-induced, reversible condition comprised of five behavioral states: unconsciousness, loss of memory, loss of pain sensation, akinesia, and hemodynamic stability with control of the stress response. The mechanisms by which anesthetic drugs induce the state of general anesthesia are considered one of the biggest mysteries of modern medicine. We use three experimental paradigms to study general anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness in humans: combined fMRI/EEG recordings, high-density EEG recordings and intracranial recordings. These studies are allowing us to establish precise neurophysiological, neuroanatomical and behavioral correlates of unconsciousness under general anesthesia. Combined with our mathematical modeling work on how anesthetics act on neural circuits to produce the state of general anesthesia we offer specific hypotheses as to how changes in level of activity in specific circuits lead to the unconscious state. Our findings suggest that the state of general anesthesia is not as mysterious as currently believed.
  
  Biography: Emery N. Brown is professor of computational neuroscience and health sciences and technology at MIT, the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing anesthesiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Brown received his B.A. from Harvard College (magna cum laude), his M.A. and Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University and his M.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brown’s methodology research develops signal processing and statistical methods to characterize how neurons in the brain represent and transmit information. His experimental research is characterizing the neurophysiology of how anesthetics act in the brain to create the state of general anesthesia. Dr. Brown is a fellow of the IEEE and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Institute of Medicine, a 2007 recipient of an NIH Director,s Pioneer Award and a 2012 recipient of an NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award.
  
  Host: Drs. Urbashi Mitra, Alice Parker
  
  More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/
  
  

  More Information: 20130117 Brown Print.pdf

  Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 124

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Estela Lopez

  Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/

  

• Jan

  17

  CS Colloquium: Katrina Ligett

  Thu, Jan 17, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

  Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Katrina Ligett, Caltech
  
  Talk Title: CS Colloquium: Katrina Ligett
  
  Series: CS Colloquium
  
  Abstract: In this talk, we consider the problem of estimating a potentially
  sensitive (individually stigmatizing) statistic on a population. In our model, individuals are concerned about their privacy, and
  experience some cost as a function of their privacy loss.
  Nevertheless, they would be willing to participate in the survey if they were compensated for their privacy cost. These cost functions are not publicly known, however, nor do we make Bayesian assumptions about their form or distribution. Individuals are rational and will misreport their costs for privacy if doing so is in their best interest. Ghosh and Roth recently showed in this setting, when costs for privacy loss may be correlated with private types, if individuals value differential privacy, no individually rational direct revelation mechanism can compute any non-trivial estimate of the population statistic. In this paper, we circumvent this impossibility result by proposing a modified notion of how individuals experience cost as a function of their privacy loss, and by giving a mechanism which does not operate by direct revelation. Instead, our mechanism has the ability to randomly approach individuals from a population and offer them a take-it-or-leave-it offer. This is intended to model the abilities of a surveyor who may stand on a street corner and approach passers-by.
  
  Joint work with Aaron Roth.
  
  Biography: Katrina Ligett has been an Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Economics at the California Institute of Technology since 2011. Prior to joining Caltech, she was a postdoctoral scholar at Cornell University, and she received her PhD in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. Katrina's research interests are in algorithms, particularly online algorithms, algorithmic game theory, and data privacy. Her research has been supported by an AT&T Labs Graduate Research Fellowship, an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Computing Innovation Fellows Postdoctoral Fellowship, and an NSF Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Fellowship.
  
  Host: Shaddin Dughmi
  
  

  More Information: LIGETT_BUYINGPRIVACY.pdf

  Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Assistant to CS chair

  

• Jan

  18

  Ph. D. Seminar

  Fri, Jan 18, 2013 @ 04:00 AM - 05:00 PM

  Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Dr. Felipe de Barros and Dr. Ketan Savla, USC-Civil and Environmental Engineering
  
  Talk Title: Research in Civil Engineering
  
  Abstract: Dr. Felipe de Barros and Dr. Ketan Savla are new hired faculty in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They will speak to faculty and graduate students about their research work.
  
  

  Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Evangeline Reyes

  

• Jan

  18

  CEE Oral Dissertation Defense

  Fri, Jan 18, 2013 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM

  Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Reza Jafakhani, CE Ph.D. Candidate
  
  Talk Title: Studies Into Vibration-Signature-Based Methods for System Identification, Damage Detection and Health Monitoring of Civil Infrastructures
  
  Abstract:
  Civil infrastructures play a vital role in human societies. Recent catastrophic events due to the deficiency, failure or malfunction of these systems, claiming many lives and resulting in substantial economic loss, have attracted extensive attention focused on reviewing and amending the design and maintenance procedures of civil infrastructures. In addition to the possible failure of structural components, long-term forms of damage due to deterioration or fatigue may also necessitate regular monitoring of civil structures. Therefore, depending on the importance, use and risk, the structure of interest needs to be equipped with inspection, monitoring and maintenance systems. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is generally associated with any engineering methodology whose aim is to detect, locate and quantify the damage in the target system. Vibration-based techniques, as the most conventional SHM approaches, acquire and analyze the structural response using a variety of sensors mounted at different locations on the structure. The main goal of the study reported herein is to investigate and compare different vibration-signature-based methods for system identification, damage detection and health monitoring of civil structures. Various well-known techniques such as finite element model updating approach and damage detection methods based on artificial neural networks are studied and evaluated. Experimental data from two case studies, a quarter-scale two-span bridge system, tested at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a 1/20 scale 4-story building equipped with smart devices of magneto-rheological (MR) damper, are used for investigation and validation purposes. Guidelines are established for the optimum selection of the dominant control parameters involved in the application of some of the robust SHM approaches for achieving reliable SHM results under realistic conditions.
  
  
  Advisor: Sami Masri
  
  
  
  

  Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Evangeline Reyes

  

• Jan

  21

  Seminars in Biomedical Engineering

  Mon, Jan 21, 2013 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

  Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Talk Title: NO SEMINAR, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Holiday)
  
  

  Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

  

• Jan

  22

  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

  

• Jan

  22

  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

  

• Jan

  22

  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 life’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 NASA’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

  

• Jan

  23

  AME - Department Seminar

  Wed, Jan 23, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

  Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Chris Hogan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota
  
  Talk Title: Nanoparticle-Vapor Association and Dissociation Reactions in the Gas Phase
  
  Abstract: The formation of nanoparticles (nucleation) in gas phase environments is of critical importance in a number of systems, including the ambient atmosphere and modern combustion engines. Unfortunately, prediction of nucleation rates is often not possible, with measured nanoparticle formation and growth rates differing from classical theoretical predictions by several orders of magnitude. In any environment, the rate of nucleation is defined as the net difference between the rate at which vapor molecules collide with and stick to growing nanoscale clusters (association) and the rate at which vapor molecules evaporate (dissociate) from such clusters. Therefore, to improve nucleation rate predictions, detailed study of association and dissociation reactions are necessary. In this talk, two new measurement systems used to examine nanoparticle-vapor molecule association and dissociation will be discussed. The first of these systems consists of a high resolution differential mobility analyzer (DMA) and time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MS), which enables in-series measurement of the collision cross sections and masses of 1-2 nm nanoparticles. Collision cross section measurements are made at atmospheric pressure, controlled vapor molecule (water vapor in the presented cases) concentrations, and controlled temperature. Shifts in the average collision cross section of mass-identified entities can yield the equilibrium binding coefficients of vapor molecules, as well as the Gibbs free energy change, enthalpy change, and entropy change brought about by vapor molecule sorption. The second presented system consists of two DMAs operated in series with a controlled temperature furnace connecting the DMAs. This system is used to examine single atom dissociation from 2-5 nm silver nanoparticles.
  
  Biography: Chris Hogan is a McKnight Land-Grant Assistant Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He received a BS degree in Biological & Environmental Engineering from Cornell University in 2004, and a PhD degree in Energy, Environmental, & Chemical Engineering from Washington University in 2008. After studying as a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University in 2008-2009, he joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in July 2009. He is the recipient of the 2011 Sheldon K. Friedlander Award for "Outstanding PhD dissertation in a field of aerosol science and technology." Currently, his laboratory group, the Nanoparticle Physics Laboratory, focuses on the analysis of mass, momentum, and energy transport processes in nanoparticle-laden aerosols and colloids.
  
  Host: Hai Wang
  
  More Info: http://ae-www.usc.edu/seminars/1-23-13-hogan.shtml
  
  

  Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - Room 150

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: April Mundy

  Event Link: http://ae-www.usc.edu/seminars/1-23-13-hogan.shtml

  

• Jan

  24

  Chemical Loop Technology and CO2 Capture

  

  Thu, Jan 24, 2013 @ 12:45 PM - 03:00 PM

  Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Professor L.S. Fan, Ohio State University
  
  Talk Title: Chemical Looping Technology and CO2 Capture
  
  Series: Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series
  
  Abstract: The concept of chemical looping reactions has been widely applied in chemical industries, e.g., the production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) from hydrogen and oxygen using 9,10-anthraquinone as the looping intermediate. Fundamental research on chemical looping reactions has also been applied to energy systems, e.g., the splitting of water (H2O) to produce oxygen and hydrogen using ZnO as the looping intermediate. Fossil fuel chemical looping applications had been used commercially with the steam-iron process for coal from the 1900s to the1940s and had been demonstrated at a pilot scale with the carbon dioxide acceptor process in the 1960s and 1970s. There are presently no chemical looping processes using fossil fuels in commercial operation. A key factor that hampered the continued use of these earlier processes for fossil energy operation was the inadequacy of the reactivity and recycleability of the looping particles. This factor led to higher product costs for using the chemical looping processes, compared to the other processes that were petroleum or natural gas based. With CO2 emission control now being considered as a requirement, interest in chemical looping technology has resurfaced. In particular, chemical looping processes are appealing due to their unique ability to generate a sequestration-ready CO2 stream while yielding high energy conversion efficiency. Renewed fundamental and applied research since the early 1980s has emphasized improvement over the earlier shortcomings. New techniques have been developed for direct processing of coal or other solid carbonaceous feedstock in chemical looping reactors. Significant progress is underway in particle design, reactor development, and looping system integration, as demonstrated by the operation of several pilot or sub-pilot scale units worldwide, making it possible that chemical looping technology may be commercially viable in the future for processing carbonaceous fuels.
  This presentation will describe the fundamental and applied aspects of modern chemical looping technology that utilizes fossil and biomass as feedstock. The presentation will discuss reaction engineering and solids flow issues associated with this technology. Specifically, it will highlight reactions, reactors and solids-gas issues associated with the optimum feedstock conversion and relationship among the metal oxide conversion, solids flux and reactor configurations. Opportunities and challenges for chemical looping process scale-up and commercialization will also be illustrated.
  
  

  Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Ryan Choi

  

• Jan

  24

  Focused on parallel and distributed computing

  Thu, Jan 24, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: TBA, TBA
  
  Talk Title: TBA
  
  Series: EE598 Seminar Course
  
  Abstract: Weekly seminars given by researchers in academia and industry including senior doctoral students in EE, CS and ISI covering current research related to parallel and distributed computation including parallel algorithms, high performance computing, scientific computation, application specific architectures, multi-core and many-core architectures and algorithms, application acceleration, reconfigurable computing systems, data intensive systems, Big Data and cloud computing.
  
  Biography: Prerequisite: Students are expected to be familiar with basic concepts at the level of graduate level courses in Computer Engineering and Computer Science in some of these topic areas above. Ph.D. students in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Computer Science can automatically enroll. M.S. students can enroll only with permission of the instructor. To request permission send a brief mail to the instructor in text format with the subject field “EE 598”. The body of the mail (in text format) should include name, degree objective, courses taken at USC and grades obtained, prior educational background, and relevant research background, if any.
  
  Requirements for CR:
  1. Attending at least 10 seminars during the semester
  There will be a sign-in sheet and a sign-out sheet at every seminar. All students must sign-in (before 2:00pm) and sign-out (after 3:00pm). The sign-in sheet will not be available after 2:00pm, and the sign-out sheet will not be available before 3:00pm.
  
  2. Submitting a written report for at least 5 seminars
  The written report for each seminar must be 1-page single line spaced format with font size of 12 (Times) or 11 (Arial) without any figures, tables, or graphs. The report must be submitted no later than 1 week after the corresponding seminar, and must be handed only to the instructor either on the seminar times or during office hours. Late reports will not be considered.
  The report must summarize student’s own understanding of the seminar, and should contain the following:
  - Your name and submission date [1 line]
  - Title of the seminar, name of the speaker, and seminar date [1 line]
  - Background of the work (e.g., applications, prior research, etc.) [1 paragraph]
  - Highlights of the approaches presented in the seminar [1-2 paragraphs]
  - Main results presented in the seminar [1-2 paragraphs]
  - Conclusion (your own conclusion and not what was given by the speaker) [1 paragraph]
  Reviewing papers related to the topic of the seminar, and incorporating relevant findings in the
  reports (e.g., in the conclusion section) is encouraged. In such cases, make sure to clearly indicate
  the reference(s) used to derive these conclusions.
  
  Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna
  
  

  More Information: Course Announcement_EE598_Focused on parallel and distributed computing_(Spring 2013).pdf

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  View All Dates

  • Thu Jan 17, 2013
  • Thu Jan 24, 2013
  • Thu Jan 31, 2013
  • Thu Feb 7, 2013
  • Thu Feb 14, 2013
  • Thu Feb 21, 2013
  • Thu Feb 28, 2013
  • Thu Mar 7, 2013
  • Thu Mar 14, 2013
  • Thu Mar 21, 2013
  • Thu Mar 28, 2013
  • Thu Apr 4, 2013
  • Thu Apr 11, 2013
  • Thu Apr 18, 2013
  • Thu Apr 25, 2013
  • Thu May 2, 2013
  • Thu May 9, 2013

  Contact: Janice Thompson

  

• Jan

  24

  EE 598: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH SEMINAR 2

  Thu, Jan 24, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Dr. Vikram Sorathia, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Electrical Engineering Systems, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
  
  Talk Title: Big Data Integration and Analysis: Challenges and Opportunities
  
  Series: EE598 Seminar Course
  
  Abstract: Big data is popularly characterized using 3Vs: variety, volume, and velocity- indicating the heterogeneity of involved datasets, scales at which data is generated, and urgency in analysis. Prevailing definitions of big data also highlight the inability of current technologies in addressing these three requirements, thereby opening up new research challenges and opportunities for research community. This seminar will address complex interdependence issues currently faced by the big data community, particularly focusing on data integration and processing requirements related to textual, spatial, temporal, relational, multi-media, and graph data models that require novel storage, analysis and computation platforms.
  
  Biography: Vikram Sorathia is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Electrical Engineering Systems department in Viterbi School of Engineering of University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is managing Integrated Optimization (IO) project at the Center for Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft). His research interests are in the areas of big data, complex event processing, knowledge management, services science and software architecture frameworks. Before joining USC, he was a postdoctoral researcher at University of Twente in the Netherlands. He received his PhD degree from the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology (DA-IICT), India in 2009.
  
  Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna
  
  

  More Information: Course Announcement_EE598_Focused on parallel and distributed computing_(Spring 2013).pdf

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Janice Thompson

  

• Jan

  25

  USC Physical Sciences and Oncology Center

  

  Fri, Jan 25, 2013 @ 11:45 AM - 01:00 PM

  Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Michelle Povinelli, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering
  
  Talk Title: Stretching of Lipid Membranes Using Optical Forces
  
  Abstract: Membrane bending and stretching control key aspects of cellular function, and changes in chemical composition alter membrane mechanical properties. GUVs are model lipid bilayer systems that have become popular for investigating membrane mechanical properties. The ability of membranes to bend under low stress is characterized by the bending modulus (κB). We show that the optical stretcher, or dual-beam optical trap (DBOT), provides a method for non-invasive application of time-dependent forces on a GUV, allowing rapid measurement of the bending modulus.The applied stress in a DBOT elongates the GUV, increasing its eccentricity. We increase the optical power in the DBOT as a function of time and extract the resulting surface area strain (percent change in surface area) from analysis of microscope video images. The lateral tension on the membrane at each power level is calculated from the surface stress. The bending modulus can be extracted from the slope of the area strain vs. surface stress plot.We compare the bending modulus values obtained from a lipid bilayer in liquid phase, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC), and bilayer in gel phase, 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC). We observe that the bending modulus of gel phase bilayer is larger than the lipid phase bilayer. We then show that we can use our high-throughput setup to measure the bending modulus of populations of GUVs and obtain ensemble statistics. We compare the bending modulus of POPC lipid bilayer with and without cholesterol and show that the addition of cholesterol does not significantly affect the bending modulus.
  
  Biography: USC was selected to establish a $16 million cancer research center as part of a new strategy against the disease by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and its National Cancer Institute. The new center is one of 12 in the nation to receive the designation. During the five-year initiative, the Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers will take new, nontraditional approaches to cancer research by studying the physical laws and principles of cancer; evolution and the evolutionary theory of cancer; information coding, decoding, transfer and translation in cancer; and ways to de-convolute cancer's complexity. As part of the outreach component of this grant, the Center for Applied Molecular Medicine is hosting a monthly seminar series.
  
  Host: USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center
  
  

  Location: Clinical Science Center (CSC) - Harkness Auditorium

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Kristina Gerber

  

• Jan

  25

  W.V.T. Rusch Honors Colloquium; The Challenge of Mars Exploration

  Fri, Jan 25, 2013 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

  USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Richard A. Cook, Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  
  Talk Title: The Challenge of Mars Exploration
  
  Host: W.V.T. Rusch Honors Program
  
  

  Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Christine Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs

  

• Jan

  25

  Integrated Systems Seminar Series

  Fri, Jan 25, 2013 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Prof. Alyosha Molnar , Cornell University
  
  Talk Title: Light-field Imaging Using Angle-Sensitive Pixels in Standard CMOS
  
  Abstract: Whereas traditional photography techniques maps the intensity of light at a particular plane, Light-field imaging attempts to capture a more complete description of the field of light rays. In particular, by mapping the distribution of incident angle in a scene, Light-field imaging permits passive extraction of 3-D structure. I will present a new type of CMOS pixel, the “angle-sensitive pixel” (ASP), based on the Talbot effect. ASPs use stacked diffraction gratings built from CMOS interconnect layers to generate a strongly angle-sensitive light response. An appropriately chosen mosaic of ASPs, then, provides a much richer description of incoming light from out-of-focus scenes, and does so in a computationally compact format, similar to the Gabor filters used in many image-processing applications. I will discuss several applications for arrays of ASPs, including digital light-field photography, lensless far-field imaging, and near-field lensless 3-D imaging of microscale samples.
  
  Biography: Prof. Alyosha Molnar received his BS from Swarthmore College in 1997, and after spending a season as a deck-hand on a commercial Tuna fishing boat, worked for Conexant Systems for 3 years as an RFIC design engineer. He was co-responsible engineer developing their first-generation direct-conversion receiver for the GSM cellular standard. That chip, and subsequent variants, have sold in excess of 100 million parts. When he entered graduate school at U.C. Berkeley in 2001, Molnar worked on an early, ultra-low-power radio transceiver for wireless sensor networks (receiving his master’s degree), and then joined a retinal neurophysiology group where he worked on dissecting the structure and function of neural circuits in the mammalian retina. He joined the Faculty at Cornell University in 2007, and presently works on low-power software-defined radios, neural interface circuits, and new integrated imaging techniques.
  
  Host: Hossein Hashemi, Mike Chen
  
  

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Hossein Hashemi

  

• Jan

  25

  CEE Ph.D. Seminar

  Fri, Jan 25, 2013 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM

  Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Joon-Ho Choi Ph.D., LEED AP, Assistant Professor of Building Science, USC
  
  Talk Title: Human-Building Interaction: Potential Use of Bio-Signals for Indoor Environmental Controls
  
  Abstract: TBA
  
  

  Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Evangeline Reyes

  

• Jan

  28

  USC's Homeland Security Center (CREATE) Monthly Seminar Series

  

  Mon, Jan 28, 2013 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM

  USC Viterbi School of Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Daniel Salazar, Samrat Chatterjee and Misak Avetisyan, CREATE Post Doctoral Researchers
  
  Talk Title: “Analyzing risks to infrastructure systems against multiple hazards: concepts and applications”
  
  Series: CREATE Monthly Seminar Series
  
  Abstract: This talk reports on the progress towards the development of a modeling framework for representing interactions among assets within an infrastructure system, evaluating system vulnerabilities, and rapid estimation of direct hazard impact on the built infrastructure. Approaches for handling natural and terrorism hazards within the model framework are discussed. Preliminary direct hazard impact estimation procedure and results for an explosion scenario at a seaport are presented. Uncertainties in the direct local hazard impacts and indirect global economic impacts for the example scenario above are quantified. Further extensions of the modeling framework to include estimation of system-wide operational hazard impacts are also discussed.
  
  Biography: Daniel Salazar is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at CREATE since January 2011. Previously he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at G2I-3MI, Ecole des Mines de Saint Etienne, France (2008-2009). He is also Adjunct Professor at the Operations Research Master program of the Universidad Central de Venezuela (since 2009) and Cofounder, Academic Coordinator and Professor (since 2006) of the online Master in Reliability and Risk Engineering at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
  His main research areas include Reliability and Risk Engineering, Evolutionary Optimization, Decision-Making, Robustness and Uncertainty Handling. He has published more than 40 contributions in scientific international journals, conferences and book chapters.
  Daniel holds a PhD in Intelligent Systems (2008, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain), a Postgraduate Diploma in Applied Statistics (2009, Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Spain) and a MSc. in Operations Research (2003) and a BSc. in Chemical Engineering (2001) from Universidad Central de Venezuela.
  
  Samrat Chatterjee is a postdoctoral research associate at the U.S. Homeland Security National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE). His research focuses on mathematical modeling for terrorism, natural, and accidental hazards risk assessment and management. During his doctoral studies, he participated in a summer research fellowship program in the Risk and Vulnerability group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. At IIASA, he worked on regional disaster risk modeling and financing in an all-hazards context. His work at CREATE includes risk and decision modeling, uncertainty quantification, probabilistic risk assessment, optimization under uncertainty, and development of resource allocation strategies for risk-based decision making.
  Samrat completed his doctoral degree in Civil Engineering with focus on Risk Analysis at Vanderbilt University in 2010 and master's degree in Civil Engineering with focus on Transportation Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in 2006.
  
  Misak Avetisyan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at CREATE. His research focuses on general equilibrium analysis of economic impacts of natural and man-made hazards, environmental and energy economics, and energy security.
  In April 2011, Misak successfully defended his dissertation in the Department of Economics at Purdue University. His dissertation explores the international trade impacts of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. During his graduate studies Misak worked on general equilibrium analysis of environmental policies and on developing non-CO2 GHG emissions and land use data bases at the Center for Global Trade Analysis (GTAP). Prior to his doctoral studies, Misak obtained an M.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Environmental Studies from Ohio University (August 2006). He also has a Master's degree in Engineering Management (July 2001), and a Bachelor's degree in Power Engineering (June 1999) from the State Engineering University of Armenia.
  
  To ensure that I order your lunch, please RSVP no later than Wednesday, January 23, 2013. Please advise if you require a vegetarian option. Hope to see you there!
  
  Best Regards,
  
  
  Erin Calicchio
  Administrative Assistant
  University of Southern California
  U.S. Department of Homeland Security - National Center for
  Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE)
  3710 McClintock Ave, RTH 313
  Los Angeles, CA 90089-2902
  213-740-3863
  calicchi@usc.edu
  www.usc.edu/create
  
  
  
  
  Host: Homeland Security Center @ USC (CREATE)
  
  

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Kelly Buccola

  

• Jan

  28

  Seminars in Biomedical Engineering

  Mon, Jan 28, 2013 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM

  Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Talk Title: NO SEMINAR
  
  

  Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta

  

• Jan

  28

  Astani CEE Seminar

  Mon, Jan 28, 2013 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

  Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Amy E. Childress, Civil and Environmental Department Chair, University of Nevada, Reno
  
  Talk Title: Towards water and energy sustainability with innovative membrane processes and systems
  
  Abstract: Fresh water scarcity is forcing water providers to rely on alternative water supply sources such as saline waters (e.g., seawater) and “waste” waters. Low-energy treatment processes are desired to remove both established and emerging contaminants from these process waters. Forward osmosis (FO) and membrane distillation (MD) have gained national and international attention as viable, economic alternatives for seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation. Pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) in combination with RO is also being considered to achieve water desalination at low energy expenditure.
  
  FO is an osmotically driven membrane separation process that can be used as a high-level pretreatment for RO or other desalination process. The FO membrane provides an economical means to pretreat process waters and protect the RO membrane from excessive fouling. The FO-followed-by-RO scheme also represents a dual osmotic barrier that may be particularly useful for the removal of micropollutants. MD is a thermally driven membrane separation process that has long been investigated in small-scale laboratory studies and has the potential to become a viable tool for water desalination and brine concentration. Compared to conventional distillation methods, MD requires only small temperature differences – temperature differences achievable through the use of low-grade or waste heat sources. Compared to RO, the driving force in MD is not reduced by osmotic pressure and thus, MD can be used to treat high salinity solutions or to provide enhanced recovery through brine desalination. Results from investigations on the energy, recovery, and water quality advantages of FO and MD over conventional methods will be presented. The state-of-the-art of research and development of FO and MD systems will also be discussed.
  
  In PRO, water from a low salinity solution permeates through a membrane into a pressurized, high salinity solution; power is obtained by depressurizing the permeate through a hydroturbine. A synergistic RO-PRO desalination system was designed to reduce RO energy requirements and to dilute the brine generated by the RO process prior to disposal. The development and testing of this system will be presented.
  
  
  
  

  Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Evangeline Reyes

  

• Jan

  28

  Integrated Systems Seminar Series

  Mon, Jan 28, 2013 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Dr. John Wood , Maxim Integrated Products
  
  Talk Title: Behavioural Modeling & Linearization of RF Power Amplifiers
  
  Abstract: In cellular wireless communications systems, the RF power amplifier (PA) in the transmitter must be as efficient as possible, to minimize energy costs, to prolong battery life, and for ‘green’ considerations. Modern spectrally-efficient, digitally-modulated signals such as LTE and UMTS present a challenge for efficient RF PA design, and the power amplifier architectures that are adopted to achieve this goal are generally very nonlinear, and so some form of linearization technique is necessary.
  
  The increasing use of linearization techniques, and especially the emergence of high speed digital processing as an enabling technology to implement digital pre-distortion (DPD) of the PA input signal, represent an important paradigm shift in PA design. The PA component can now be designed with more emphasis on power and efficiency, without the traditional constraints of meeting stringent linearity specs simultaneously. Understanding the utility of a linearizer to obtain optimum efficiency has thus become a new subject area in modern RF PA design.
  
  The system-level design of linearized PA transmitters requires accurate models to achieve the optimal performance. Behavioural modeling is used to describe the PA and linearizer at this level of the design. In this tutorial, we shall present some approaches to the behavioral modeling of nonlinear dynamical systems that can be used to model RF PAs; particular emphasis will be given to the treatment of memory effects. Some common mathematical and systematic approaches to model generation will be presented, to obtain accurate but compact nonlinear dynamical models. A brief description of some characterization techniques will be included. These same nonlinear modeling techniques can be applied to the design of successful pre-distortion algorithms. We shall illustrate the overall structure of a linearized transmitter using several DPD architectures, and we shall present various approaches to adaptive pre-distortion, considering such features as convergence, signal bandwidth, accuracy, and cost.
  
  
  Biography: Dr. John Wood (M’87, SM’03, F’07) received B. Sc. and Ph. D. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Leeds, in 1976 and 1980, respectively. He is currently Senior Principal Member of Technical Staff with Maxim Integrated Products, working on the modeling and design of envelope-tracking solutions for mobile phones. He was a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in the RF Division of Freescale Semiconductor, where he worked from 2005--2011. His areas of expertise include the development of nonlinear compact device models and behavioral models for RF power transistors and ICs, the understanding of the impact, characterization, & control using digital pre-distortion (DPD) of nonlinearities and memory effects in high-efficiency PAs. From 1997--2005 he worked in the Microwave Technology Center of Agilent Technologies, developing large-signal and bias-dependent linear FET models for mm-wave applications, and nonlinear behavioral models using LSNA measurements and nonlinear system identification techniques. He is author or co-author of over 120 papers and articles. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the Microwave Theory and Techniques, and Electron Devices Societies, and is a member of ARFTG Executive Committee. He is a Distinguished Microwave Lecturer for MTT Society. He is currently Editor-in Chief of the IEEE ‘Microwave’ magazine.
  
  Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mike Chen
  
  

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Hossein Hashemi

  

• Jan

  28

  Integrated Systems Seminar Series

  Mon, Jan 28, 2013 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Dr. John Wood, Maxim Integrated Products
  
  Talk Title: Behavioural Modeling & Linearization of RF Power Amplifiers
  
  Abstract: In cellular wireless communications systems, the RF power amplifier (PA) in the transmitter must be as efficient as possible, to minimize energy costs, to prolong battery life, and for ‘green’ considerations. Modern spectrally-efficient, digitally-modulated signals such as LTE and UMTS present a challenge for efficient RF PA design, and the power amplifier architectures that are adopted to achieve this goal are generally very nonlinear, and so some form of linearization technique is necessary.
  
  The increasing use of linearization techniques, and especially the emergence of high speed digital processing as an enabling technology to implement digital pre-distortion (DPD) of the PA input signal, represent an important paradigm shift in PA design. The PA component can now be designed with more emphasis on power and efficiency, without the traditional constraints of meeting stringent linearity specs simultaneously. Understanding the utility of a linearizer to obtain optimum efficiency has thus become a new subject area in modern RF PA design.
  
  The system-level design of linearized PA transmitters requires accurate models to achieve the optimal performance. Behavioural modeling is used to describe the PA and linearizer at this level of the design. In this tutorial, we shall present some approaches to the behavioral modeling of nonlinear dynamical systems that can be used to model RF PAs; particular emphasis will be given to the treatment of memory effects. Some common mathematical and systematic approaches to model generation will be presented, to obtain accurate but compact nonlinear dynamical models. A brief description of some characterization techniques will be included. These same nonlinear modeling techniques can be applied to the design of successful pre-distortion algorithms. We shall illustrate the overall structure of a linearized transmitter using several DPD architectures, and we shall present various approaches to adaptive pre-distortion, considering such features as convergence, signal bandwidth, accuracy, and cost.
  
  
  Biography: Dr. John Wood (M’87, SM’03, F’07) received B. Sc. and Ph. D. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Leeds, in 1976 and 1980, respectively. He is currently Senior Principal Member of Technical Staff with Maxim Integrated Products, working on the modeling and design of envelope-tracking solutions for mobile phones. He was a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff in the RF Division of Freescale Semiconductor, where he worked from 2005--2011. His areas of expertise include the development of nonlinear compact device models and behavioral models for RF power transistors and ICs, the understanding of the impact, characterization, & control using digital pre-distortion (DPD) of nonlinearities and memory effects in high-efficiency PAs. From 1997--2005 he worked in the Microwave Technology Center of Agilent Technologies, developing large-signal and bias-dependent linear FET models for mm-wave applications, and nonlinear behavioral models using LSNA measurements and nonlinear system identification techniques. He is author or co-author of over 120 papers and articles. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and a member of the Microwave Theory and Techniques, and Electron Devices Societies, and is a member of ARFTG Executive Committee. He is a Distinguished Microwave Lecturer for MTT Society. He is currently Editor-in Chief of the IEEE ‘Microwave’ magazine.
  
  Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mike Chen
  
  

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  View All Dates

  • Mon Jan 28, 2013
  • Fri Feb 1, 2013

  Contact: Hossein Hashemi

  

• Jan

  29

  Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement

  Tue, Jan 29, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

  Executive Education

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Larry Aft, USC Viterbi School of Engineering,
  
  Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
  
  Abstract: Learn how to integrate principles of business, statistics and engineering to achieve tangible results. Master the use of Six Sigma to quantify the critical quality issues in your company. Once the issues have been quantified, statistics can be applied to provide probabilities of success and failure. Six Sigma methods increase productivity and enhance quality. As a Six Sigma green belt, you will be equipped to support and champion a Six Sigma implementation in your organization. To earn the Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, you will be required to pass the Institute of Industrial Engineer's green belt exam (administered on the final day of the course).
  
  During this course you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned to an actual issue you face in your organization. Prior seminar participants have reported significant savings from implementing their projects.
  
  *A financial services organization saw $128,000 in cost savings per quarter when they reduced transaction processing rework
  *A state agency reduced project cost over-runs by 28 percent
  *A transportation company saved more than $875,000 per year in turnover costs by improving the employee communications process
  *Reduced errors in a painting operation led to increased first pass acceptance and more than $197,000 in annual savings
  *A Web developer increased annual profits by 10 percent by cutting cycle time
  *A wave solder operation saw defects reduced by half and costs reduced by $60,000 per year
  
  
  Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
  
  More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
  
  

  Audiences: Registered Attendees

  Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

  Event Link: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement

  

• Jan

  29

  2013 Eberhardt Rechtin Keynote Lecture

  Tue, Jan 29, 2013 @ 03:00 PM - 05:30 PM

  Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Brenda L. Dietrich, IBM Fellow, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Business Analytics in IBM
  
  Talk Title: “Data Analytics: Opportunities in a Smarter Planet”
  
  Abstract:
  
  New applications of computing are being enabled by instrumentation of physical entities, aggregation of data, and the analysis of the data. The resulting integration of information and control permits efficient and effective management of complex man-made systems. Examples include transportation systems, buildings, electrical grids, health care systems, governments, and supply chains. Achieving this vision requires extensive data integration and analysis, over diverse, rapidly changing, and often uncertain data. There are many challenges, requiring both new data management techniques as well as new mathematics, forcing new collaborations as the basis of the new "Data Science". Needs and opportunities will be discussed in the context of specific pilots and projects.
  
  Tuesday, January 29, 2013
  
  USC Davidson Conference Center
  3:00-4:00 PM Reception, 2nd Floor Lobby
  4:00-5:30 PM Seminar, Board Room, 2nd Floor
  
  
  Biography: Brenda Dietrich is an IBM Fellow, Vice President and Chief Technology Brenda Dietrich is an IBM Fellow, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Business Analytics in IBM.  She provides technical guidance for IBM's Business Analytics software strategy and products, and provides leadership for the analytics software community within IBM. Previously she led IBM's research activities in Business Analytics and Mathematical Sciences, and supports software products and consulting in these areas. She was responsible for both basic research in computational mathematics and related fields, and the development of novel business applications based on the application of mathematical models within industry.
  
  She has been the president of INFORMS, the worlds largest professional society for Operations Research and Management Sciences, and is an INFORMS Fellow. She serves on the Board of Trustees of SIAM.  She has served on university advisory boards for Northwestern, CMU, MIT, and UC Berkeley, and on advisory boards for NSF sponsored Math Research Institutes.  She holds more than a dozen patents, has co-authored numerous publications, and co-edited the book Mathematics of the Internet: E-Auction and Markets. She holds a BS in Mathematics from UNC and an MS and Ph.D. in OR/IE from Cornell. Her personal research includes manufacturing scheduling, services resource management, transportation logistics, integer programming, and combinatorial duality.
  
  
  Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
  
  

  Location: Charlotte S. & Davre R. Davidson Continuing Education Conference Center (DCC) - Board Room, 2nd Floor

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Georgia Lum

  

• Jan

  30

  Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement

  Wed, Jan 30, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

  Executive Education

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Larry Aft, USC Viterbi School of Engineering,
  
  Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
  
  Abstract: Learn how to integrate principles of business, statistics and engineering to achieve tangible results. Master the use of Six Sigma to quantify the critical quality issues in your company. Once the issues have been quantified, statistics can be applied to provide probabilities of success and failure. Six Sigma methods increase productivity and enhance quality. As a Six Sigma green belt, you will be equipped to support and champion a Six Sigma implementation in your organization. To earn the Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, you will be required to pass the Institute of Industrial Engineer's green belt exam (administered on the final day of the course).
  
  During this course you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned to an actual issue you face in your organization. Prior seminar participants have reported significant savings from implementing their projects.
  
  *A financial services organization saw $128,000 in cost savings per quarter when they reduced transaction processing rework
  *A state agency reduced project cost over-runs by 28 percent
  *A transportation company saved more than $875,000 per year in turnover costs by improving the employee communications process
  *Reduced errors in a painting operation led to increased first pass acceptance and more than $197,000 in annual savings
  *A Web developer increased annual profits by 10 percent by cutting cycle time
  *A wave solder operation saw defects reduced by half and costs reduced by $60,000 per year
  
  
  Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
  
  More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
  
  

  Audiences: Registered Attendees

  Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

  Event Link: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement

  

• Jan

  30

  Media Computing Research at MSRA

  Wed, Jan 30, 2013 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Dr. Shipeng Li, Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA)
  
  Talk Title: Media Computing Research at MSRA
  
  Abstract: In this talk, I will use examples of research projects at MSRA Media Computing and Internet Media groups to share some of my own thoughts on media computing, ranging from media compression, media processing, media communication and system, and how the multimedia technology would impact computing in a big way, with a focus on how they could transform user interaction, device collaboration and cloud computing to a complete new paradigm. I will also post some research challenges that we are facing in our research. I hope the talk will inspire new collaboration opportunities with professors and students at universities. The talk is complemented with a technical demo in the end.
  
  
  
  
  Biography: Dr. Shipeng Li joined Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA) in May 1999. He is now a Principal Researcher and Research Manager of the Media Computing group. He also serves as the Research Area Manager coordinating the multimedia research activities at MSRA. His research interests include multimedia processing, analysis, coding, streaming, networking and communications; digital right management; advertisement; user intent mining; eHealth; etc. From Oct. 1996 to May 1999, Dr. Li was with Multimedia Technology Laboratory at Sarnoff Corporation as a Member of Technical Staff. Dr. Li has been actively involved in research and development in broad multimedia areas. He has authored and co-authored 6 books/book chapters and 250+ referred journal and conference papers. He holds 120+ granted US patents.
  
  
  Dr. Li received his B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA in 1996. He was a faculty member in Department of Electronic Engineering and Information Science at University of Science and Technology of China in 1991-1992.
  
  
  Dr. Li is a Fellow of IEEE. More information can be found at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/spli/.
  
  Host: Prof. Antonio Ortega
  
  

  Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 223

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Talyia Veal

  

• Jan

  30

  AME - Department Seminar

  Wed, Jan 30, 2013 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

  Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Larry G. Redekopp, Professor in the Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California
  
  Talk Title: Modeling the Internal Weather in Lakes
  
  Abstract: This lecture will address issues pertaining to the modeling of the internal (subsurface) weather in enclosed, or semi-enclosed, basins under mid-summer conditions. An understanding of, and an ability to predict, the internal dynamics of stratified lakes is central to the management of many water resources, particularly the quality of potable and recreational resources. The internal bio-geochemical quality of a lake depends crucially on the hydrodynamic processes whereby energy input at the basin scale via solar insolation and surface wind stresses is transferred down to mixing and dissipation scales. It is important to build tools that model the internal weather in closed basins with reasonable fidelity for purposes of both gaining a general qualitative understanding of lake hydrodynamics and for providing quantitative estimates of space-time scales for energy transfer routes and particulate transport paths.
  
  The lecture will address several 'rapid-simulation' models relevant to small and moderate sized, stratified lakes in which an evolving, energetic, internal wave field is excited by surface wind events. Models of the degeneration of the wind-driven, basin-scale, internal seiche into a field of bi-directional, propagating internal waves for several lake configurations will be discussed, including the role of the evolving internal wave field in both the stimulation of benthic boundary eruptions and the dispersion of toxic spills in a moderately-sized lake.
  
  More Info: http://ae-www.usc.edu/seminars/1-30-13-redekopp.shtml
  
  

  Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - Room 150

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: April Mundy

  Event Link: http://ae-www.usc.edu/seminars/1-30-13-redekopp.shtml

  

• Jan

  31

  Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement

  Thu, Jan 31, 2013 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

  Executive Education

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Larry Aft, USC Viterbi School of Engineering,
  
  Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
  
  Abstract: Learn how to integrate principles of business, statistics and engineering to achieve tangible results. Master the use of Six Sigma to quantify the critical quality issues in your company. Once the issues have been quantified, statistics can be applied to provide probabilities of success and failure. Six Sigma methods increase productivity and enhance quality. As a Six Sigma green belt, you will be equipped to support and champion a Six Sigma implementation in your organization. To earn the Six Sigma Green Belt Certificate, you will be required to pass the Institute of Industrial Engineer's green belt exam (administered on the final day of the course).
  
  During this course you will have the opportunity to apply what you have learned to an actual issue you face in your organization. Prior seminar participants have reported significant savings from implementing their projects.
  
  *A financial services organization saw $128,000 in cost savings per quarter when they reduced transaction processing rework
  *A state agency reduced project cost over-runs by 28 percent
  *A transportation company saved more than $875,000 per year in turnover costs by improving the employee communications process
  *Reduced errors in a painting operation led to increased first pass acceptance and more than $197,000 in annual savings
  *A Web developer increased annual profits by 10 percent by cutting cycle time
  *A wave solder operation saw defects reduced by half and costs reduced by $60,000 per year
  
  
  Host: Corporate and Professional Programs
  
  More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
  
  

  Audiences: Registered Attendees

  Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

  Event Link: http://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial%26systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement

  

• Jan

  31

  Focused on parallel and distributed computing

  Thu, Jan 31, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: TBA, TBA
  
  Talk Title: TBA
  
  Series: EE598 Seminar Course
  
  Abstract: Weekly seminars given by researchers in academia and industry including senior doctoral students in EE, CS and ISI covering current research related to parallel and distributed computation including parallel algorithms, high performance computing, scientific computation, application specific architectures, multi-core and many-core architectures and algorithms, application acceleration, reconfigurable computing systems, data intensive systems, Big Data and cloud computing.
  
  Biography: Prerequisite: Students are expected to be familiar with basic concepts at the level of graduate level courses in Computer Engineering and Computer Science in some of these topic areas above. Ph.D. students in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering and Computer Science can automatically enroll. M.S. students can enroll only with permission of the instructor. To request permission send a brief mail to the instructor in text format with the subject field “EE 598”. The body of the mail (in text format) should include name, degree objective, courses taken at USC and grades obtained, prior educational background, and relevant research background, if any.
  
  Requirements for CR:
  1. Attending at least 10 seminars during the semester
  There will be a sign-in sheet and a sign-out sheet at every seminar. All students must sign-in (before 2:00pm) and sign-out (after 3:00pm). The sign-in sheet will not be available after 2:00pm, and the sign-out sheet will not be available before 3:00pm.
  
  2. Submitting a written report for at least 5 seminars
  The written report for each seminar must be 1-page single line spaced format with font size of 12 (Times) or 11 (Arial) without any figures, tables, or graphs. The report must be submitted no later than 1 week after the corresponding seminar, and must be handed only to the instructor either on the seminar times or during office hours. Late reports will not be considered.
  The report must summarize student’s own understanding of the seminar, and should contain the following:
  - Your name and submission date [1 line]
  - Title of the seminar, name of the speaker, and seminar date [1 line]
  - Background of the work (e.g., applications, prior research, etc.) [1 paragraph]
  - Highlights of the approaches presented in the seminar [1-2 paragraphs]
  - Main results presented in the seminar [1-2 paragraphs]
  - Conclusion (your own conclusion and not what was given by the speaker) [1 paragraph]
  Reviewing papers related to the topic of the seminar, and incorporating relevant findings in the
  reports (e.g., in the conclusion section) is encouraged. In such cases, make sure to clearly indicate
  the reference(s) used to derive these conclusions.
  
  Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna
  
  

  More Information: Course Announcement_EE598_Focused on parallel and distributed computing_(Spring 2013).pdf

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  View All Dates

  • Thu Jan 17, 2013
  • Thu Jan 24, 2013
  • Thu Jan 31, 2013
  • Thu Feb 7, 2013
  • Thu Feb 14, 2013
  • Thu Feb 21, 2013
  • Thu Feb 28, 2013
  • Thu Mar 7, 2013
  • Thu Mar 14, 2013
  • Thu Mar 21, 2013
  • Thu Mar 28, 2013
  • Thu Apr 4, 2013
  • Thu Apr 11, 2013
  • Thu Apr 18, 2013
  • Thu Apr 25, 2013
  • Thu May 2, 2013
  • Thu May 9, 2013

  Contact: Janice Thompson

  

• Jan

  31

  EE 598: ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH SEMINAR COURSE #3

  Thu, Jan 31, 2013 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

  Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars

  
  

  Speaker: Anand Panangadan, PhD, Senior Research Associate, Electrical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
  
  Talk Title: Adaptive Sensing for Resource Management in Distributed Sensor Networks
  
  Series: EE598 Seminar Course
  
  Abstract: Energy conservation is an important issue in embedded sensor networks since large batteries are not practical in many real-world scenarios. The issue becomes even more critical in distributed sensor networks connected with wireless links due to the high energy cost of radio communication. In this talk, I will present the use of Markov Decision Processes (MDP) as a framework for coordinated sensing and adaptive communication between distributed sensors. The technique enables distributed sensors to adapt their sampling rates in response to changing event criticality and the availability of resources (energy) at each sensor node. The technique was developed as part of a body sensor network project at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for continuous mobile human health monitoring. Similar adaptive sensing methods were also applied to other distributed sensing applications such as a coastal ocean monitoring system.
  
  Biography: Anand Panangadan is a Senior Research Associate working with Prof. Viktor Prasanna at USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Prior to this appointment, he was a Post-doctoral Affiliate at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and a Research Specialist at the Saban Research Institute of the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. His research interests are in artificial intelligence and machine learning, and in the application of techniques from these fields to the autonomous control of networked sensors. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California Los Angeles and the B.Tech. degree in Computer science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
  
  Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna
  
  

  More Information: Course Announcement_EE598_Focused on parallel and distributed computing_(Spring 2013).pdf

  Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

  Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

  Contact: Janice Thompson