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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for February 08, 2007
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Narrative Medicine: The Healing Power of Stories
Thu, Feb 08, 2007
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
As part of the Medical Humanities Speaker Series, Dr. Rita Charon, internist and literary scholar, will engage students and faculty in dialogue about some of the core issues facing the health of individuals and society. She will present two talks, one on the University Campus and one on the Health Sciences Campus.Rita Charon is professor of clinical medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and director of the program in narrative medicine. She is a general internist in practice in the Associates of Internal Medicine in Presbyterian Hospital. For more information on this event, please visit:http://www.usc.edu/webapps/events_calendar/custom/113/index.php?category=Item&item=0.861435&active_category=Upcoming
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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University Grad Fair
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 10:00 AM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
At the University Grad Fair, information will be available regarding graduation announcements, class rings, travel accommodations for guests, etc.Special Note: Graduating students will be able to rent regalia(cap and gown) from the University Bookstore in April. Regalia will not be available at the Graduation Fair. For additional information on Commencement, see the University Commencement website: http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/specialevents/commencement/
Location: Outside the University Bookstore
Audiences: Graduating Students
Contact: Julie Phaneuf
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The Theory behind IDEAL: Cramer-Rao Bounds for Chemical Species Separation in Magnetic Resonance Im
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Theory behind IDEAL: Cramer-Rao Bounds for Chemical Species Separation in Magnetic Resonance ImagingAngel R. Pineda, PhD
Department of Mathematics
CSU-FullertonAbstract:The separation of water and fat in MRI through the acquisition of images at multiple echo times provides a robust method for fat suppression in areas where the field is inhomogeneous and fat saturation pulses fail. By accurately estimating the fat component, we are also able to explore diagnostic information that may exist in the fat image. In this talk, we will show how to propagate the imperfections of the magnetic field into our estimate of water and fat and use this understanding to optimize the imaging parameters. Introducing the imperfections in the magnetic field in the estimation of the water and fat makes the estimation nonlinear. The optimization of data acquisition based on the Cramer-Rao bound for this nonlinear problem leads to a new optimal solution. Our acquisition and reconstruction is part of the IDEAL method for chemical species separation.Bio:Dr. Pineda received his BS from Lafayette College in 1995, his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Arizona in 2002, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Radiology at Stanford University in 2006. He is the author of 15 refereed journal articles, and has made numerous contributions to CT and MRI reconstruction, including optimization of the IDEAL fat-water separation technique which is emerging as a gold-standard for MRI-based fat-water imaging. He recently joined the faculty in the Department of Mathematics at CSU-Fullerton.Host: Krishna S. Nayak, 0-3494, knayak@usc.edu http://ee.usc.edu/Location: Room: EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
MODELING CHEMICAL REACTIVITY: EFFECTS OF CONFINEMENTKeith E. Gubbins
Center for High Performance Simulation (CHiPS) and
Department of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, NC 27695, USA A goal of theory is to predict chemical reactivity – equilibrium composition, reaction mechanisms and reaction rates, as well as diffusion limitations – from first principles. At present our ability to achieve this is quite limited, for a number of reasons. First, ab initio methods are necessary, since electrons are rearranged, but these are computationally very demanding, and with current supercomputers we are quite limited in the length and time scales that can be accessed; moreover, the scaling of the computational burden with the number of electrons is poor. Second, reaction events are rare, and so even if we have the energy landscape for the reaction conventional molecular dynamics simulations are insufficient. A brief review of the most widely used methods to model chemical reactions, at both the electronic and atomistic levels will be presented, with comments on their applicability and a description of their strengths and weaknesses1. In many applications a combination of ab initio and semi-classical atomistic simulations will be needed. Specialized atomistic simulation methods are usually necessary, since the reactions are themselves rare events, and the free energy landscape for the reaction is often rugged with many possible reaction paths. Chemical reactions are often carried out in nano-structured materials, which can enhance reactions due to their large specific surface area, their interactions with the reacting mixture and confinement effects. An experimental investigation of the role of each possible catalytic effect is challenging, since experimental measurements reflect an integration over multiple catalytic effects. In this talk several of the different factors that can influence a chemical reaction in confinement will be considered. We first consider the influence of steric hindrance on the equilibrium and kinetics for the rotational isomerizations of several small hydrocarbons. These examples illustrate how reaction rates can vary doubly exponentially with the dimensions of the confining material (the 'shape-catalytic' effect). As a second example, we consider the unimolecular decomposition of formaldehyde on graphitic carbon pores of various sizes . These results illustrate the influence of electrostatic interactions with the supporting material on the reaction mechanism and equilibrium yield for reactions involving a charge transfer. As a final example, we consider the interaction of a water molecule with a defective carbon substrate as an example of a chemical interaction that can be enhanced through a shape-catalytic effect. We show using ab initio calculations how a vacancy site on a carbon surface can induce the thermal splitting of water at relatively low temperatures . We also examine the dissociation on a vacancy site on a nanotube surface, which shows the shape-catalytic effect of the surface curvature. These results are a first step toward the design of catalytic materials that take advantage of different enhancing effects simultaneously. 1 E. Santiso and K.E. Gubbins, "Multi-Scale Molecular Modeling of Chemical Reactivity", Molecular Simulation, 30, 699-748 (2004).2 M. Kostov, E.E. Santiso, A.M. George, K.E. Gubbins and M. Buongiorno Nardelli, "Catalytic role of defective carbon substrates in the dissociation of water", Physical Review Letters, 95, 136105 (2005).Refreshments will be served after the seminar in the HED Lobby
The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Modeling and Optimization of Data Gathering Protocols in Wireless Sensor Networks
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
CSI INTERNAL SEMINARSPEAKER: Professor Bhaskar Krishnamachari, CENGABSTRACT: The most dominant approach to the development of querying and data-gathering protocols in wireless sensor networks can be characterized as "design by intuition, validate by simulation". Given the severe resource constraints in these systems, it is essential to complement this perspective with mathematical modeling and optimization. Such modeling has both descriptive and prescriptive uses, which we illustrate through a couple of case studies. In the first study, we derive scaling laws for query-based sensor networks, identifying the application conditions under which it is possible to deploy arbitrarily large sensor networks when the resources per node are kept bounded. In the second, we use an optimization framework to design a fair and efficient rate-control scheme for data gathering.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Biological Materials, Biomaterials and Biomimetics
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Ulrike G.K. WegstMax-Planck-Institut für Metallforschung, Stuttgart, GermanyLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CAAbstract: Biological materials and their skilled use have played a key role in the development of mankind and technology, and the course of history. After millions of years, they are still of great importance today and used both as low cost, high volume materials and as materials for high-tech applications. One reason for their success is that they have properties which cannot easily be emulated by man-made materials, yet. Their striking mechanical efficiency is primarily due to their hierarchical structure which provides them with the potential of optimisation at each structural level, resulting in stiff, strong and tough composites even though, from a mechanical point of view, there is nothing very special about the individual components. The considerable advantage which we have over our ancestors today is that we cannot only use biological materials in their "native" state, but that we have the tools to investigate and test them at almost all levels of their structural hierarchy. With an informed evaluation of their structure, properties and function, principles of optimisation may thus be identified that allow for the development of new or improved man-made materials. Illustrated in this talk will be how the mechanical efficiency and optimisation of biological materials, ranging from bone to seaweed and from mollusc shell to bamboo, can be evaluated and compared with engineering materials. A variety of methods for the structural characterisation of biological materials and their hierarchical composite structure, ranging from synchrotron-based x-ray microtomography to a novel method for in situ mechanical testing in an SEM or FIB, will be presented. Finally, an example for a systematic knowledge transfer from nature to technology that resulted in the successful development of a biomimetic bone-substitute material will be given.
Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - 256
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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INROADS Information Session
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Looking for a PAID summer internship? Apply to INROADS!An INROADS representative will explain the application process and answer any of your questions.If you are a talented student:with a minimum cumulative 2.8 GPA or higherwith 2 or more summers remaining prior to completion of undergraduate degreewith a Career Interest in Business, Engineering, Computer & Information Science,Sales, Marketing, Allied Healthcare, or Retail Managementwho is a US citizen or Permanent ResidentCome and discover what INROADS has to offer!For more information about INROADS visit http://www.INROADS.orgSnacks will be provided, please RSVP to viterbi.ced@usc.edu by Tuesday February 6th
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Traci Thomas Navarro
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SWE: 3rd General Meeting with Disney Imagineering
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Want to know what i's like working for the happiest place on Earth? Engineers from Disney Imagineering will be here to share their experiences designing the rides we all love. Information about the ImagiNations contest (a design competition leading to $$ or a SWEet internship) will also be given!Free food will be provided!Everyone is welcomed!
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 107
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: SWE
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Chevron IT Information Session
Thu, Feb 08, 2007 @ 06:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Join representatives of this company as they share general company information and available opportunities.
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: All Current USC Students!
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
