Select a calendar:
Filter February Events by Event Type:
SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for February 11, 2011
-
Soldering Synthesis: Theory, Practice, Music A Workshop and Performance with Mark Allen
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 03:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Admission is free.
RSVP required. To RSVP, see the workshop schedule and reservation links below.
Mark Allen, founder of the Los Angelesâbased nonprofit arts collective Machine Project, will present a hands-on workshop in which participants will learn how basic electronic circuits function by creating a synthesizer. This unique event is not merely a how-to workshop, but a multimedia performance uniting fundamental information, hands-on use of soldering tools and musical performance by the band ing, who will play throughout the event. The workshop, which will be presented twice, will culminate in a group jam session as each synthesizer begins to function.
Mark Allen is the founder of Machine Project, a nonprofit community space in Echo Park that investigates art, technology, natural history, science, music, literature and food. In the Machine Project storefront, Allen and his colleagues produce events, workshops and site-specific installations using hands-on engagement to make rarefied knowledge accessible. In his own work, Allen is interested in how sculpture and performance can affect the viewer in a deep, personal way, moving the viewer from a passive position to a state of engagement and communal experience.
Workshop Schedule:
The workshop will be repeated twice. Participants may sign up for one workshop only.
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.: Workshop #1
IML Blue Lab
To RSVP, go to http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/visionsandvoices/RSVP/reserve.php?RSVPEvtCode=79 beginning Wednesday, January 19, at 9 a.m.
12 p.m.: Lunch
IML Patio
1:30 to 3:30 p.m.: Workshop #2
IML Blue Lab
To RSVP, go to http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/visionsandvoices/RSVP/reserve.php?RSVPEvtCode=107 beginning Wednesday, January 19, at 9 a.m.
Organized by Steve Anderson (Cinematic Arts).
For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.edu
Location: Institute for Multimedia Literacy Blue Lab, 746 West Adams Blvd.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
-
An Information Theoretic View of Robust Cooperation/Relaying in Wireless Networks
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shlomo Shamai , Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Talk Title: An Information Theoretic View of Robust Cooperation/Relaying in Wireless Networks
Abstract: In many wireless networks, cooperation, in the form of relaying, takes place over out-of-band spectral resources. Examples are ad hoc networks in which multiple radio interfaces are available for communications or cellular systems with (wireless or wired) backhaul links. In this information-theoretic overview, we put emphasis on robust processing and cooperation via out-of-band links for both ad hoc and cellular networks. Specifically, in focus are, robust approaches and practical aspects such as imperfect information regarding the channel state, and the codebooks (modulation, coding) shared by transmitters and receivers.
First we address cooperation scenarios with perfect channel state information and investigate the impact of lack of information regarding the codebooks (oblivious processing) on basic relay channels and cellular systems with cooperation among base stations. Then, similar models are examined in the absence of perfect channel state information. Robust coding strategies are designed based on 'variable-to-fixed' channel coding concepts (the broadcast coding approach, or unequal error protection codes). The effectiveness of such strategies are discussed for multirelay channels and cellular systems overlaid with femtocell hotspots.
Biography: Shlomo Shamai (Shitz) (S'80âM'82âSM'89âF'94) received the B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the TechnionâIsrael Institute of Technology, in 1975, 1981 and 1986 respectively. During 1975-1985 he was with the Communications Research Labs in the capacity of a Senior Research Engineer. Since 1986 he is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, TechnionâIsrael Institute of Technology, where he is now the William Fondiller Professor of Telecommunications. His research interests encompass a wide spectrum of topics in information theory and statistical communications. He is especially interested in theoretical limits in communication with practical constraints, multi-user information theory and spread spectrum systems, multiple-input-multiple-output communications systems, information theoretic models for wireless networks and systems, information theoretic aspects of magnetic recording, channel coding, combined modulation and coding, turbo codes and LDPC, in channel, source, and combined source-channel applications, iterative detection and decoding algorithms, coherent and noncoherent detection and information theoretic aspects of digital communication in optical channels. Dr. Shamai (Shitz) is a member of the Union Radio Scientifique Internationale (URSI). He is the recipient of the 1999 van der Pol Gold Medal of URSI, and a co-recipient of the 2000 IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Paper Award, the 2003, and the 2004 Joint IT/COM Societies Paper Award, and the 2007 Information Theory Society Paper Award. He is also the recipient of the 1985 Alon Grant for distinguished young scientists and the 2000 Technion Henry Taub Prize for Excellence in Research. He has served as Associate Editor for the Shannon Theory of the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, and also serves on the Board of Governors of the Information Theory Society.
Host: Giuseppe Caire
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
-
ASTE Seminar
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Astronautical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jay Polk, Ph.D., Principal Engineer, Propulsion and Materials Engineering Section, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Talk Title: High Power Electric Propulsion for Human Exploration Missions
Abstract: The use of high specific impulse electric propulsion offers dramatic cost savings for human missions as part of the flexible path for deep space exploration. Near-term solar array and electric thruster technologies incorporated in a 300 kWe solar electric propulsion (SEP) stage could enable human exploration of many scientifically interesting near-Earth objects in the 2020 time frame with a factor of two or more reduction in the total mass that must be launched to low earth orbit compared to conventional chemical propulsion. Similar performance can be achieved for human missions to Phobos or Deimos with vehicle power levels of about 600 kWe and missions to explore the surface of Mars could be accomplished with MWe-class vehicles. In this talk, the âElectric Path,â a new architecture exploiting the fuel efficiency of high specific impulse electric propulsion, and the required high power Hall thruster technologies will be described. Current research focuses on thruster lifetime issues, and the physics of two key life-limiting phenomena, Hall thruster discharge channel erosion and barium depletion in hollow cathodes, will be discussed.
Biography: Dr. Polk received his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He has over 20 years experience in electric propulsion research and development, and had led many electric propulsion projects at JPL.
Host: Department of Astronautical Engineering
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marrietta Penoliar
-
Center for Energy Nanoscience and Technology - Distinguisted Speaker Series
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Richard M. Swanson, President Emeritus SunPower Corporation
Talk Title: High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells - Concepts and Commercialization
Biography: Richard Swanson received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1974. In 1976, he joined the faculty at Stanford University where he and his group conceived and developed the point-contact solar cell. Laboratory versions of these cells achieved a record 28 percent conversion efficiency in concentrator cells and 23 percent large-area one-sun cells. In 1991, Swanson resigned from his faculty position to devote full time to SunPower Corporation, a company he founded to develop and commercialize cost-effective photovoltaic power systems. Swanson currently serves as its president emeritus. Along with his students and co-workers, Swanson has published more than 200 articles in journals and conference proceedings, as well as several book chapters. In 2002, Swanson received the William R. Cherry award by the IEEE for outstanding contributions to the photovoltaic field, and in 2006 he was awarded the Becquerel Prize in Photovoltaics from the European Communities. Most recently, Swanson received the Economistâs Innovation Award for Energy and Environment.
Host: P. Daniel Dapkus, Director, Center for Energy Nanoscience
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Eliza Aceves
-
W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; High-efficiency Solar Cells for Power Generation
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Nasser Karam, Vice President for Advanced Technology Products
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; High-efficiency Solar Cells for Power Generation
Abstract: Dr. Nasser Karam will present "High-efficiency Solar Cells for Power Generation" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
-
Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Alireza Shirvani, Ralink Technology
Talk Title: Embedded RF Interfaces in Deep Submicron CMOS: Challenges and Opportunities
Abstract: For the past few years, most state-of-the-art wireless transceivers have evolved into single chip SoCâs in deep submicron CMOS technologies. Such high level of integration is mainly driven by cost and form factors demanded by the market. For RF and analog designers, however, such high level of integration is a mixed blessing. Keeping up with digital scaling imposes technical and strategic challenges for RF transceiver development. Furthermore, small die sizes with increased on-die digital activity necessitate substrate noise mitigation and isolation techniques. The added integration, however, provides numerous benefits. A higher level of system self test and calibration can be achieved on the die, alleviating the need for external test equipment and added time and cost. In addition, digitally assisted techniques can be more readily employed to overcome circuit and system impairments, saving precious die size and power.
Biography: Alireza Shirvani received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 1997, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA, in 1999 and 2003 respectively. He was with Tavanza from 2000 to 2002 working on RF power amplifiers for cellular communications. From 2002 to 2009, he was with Marvell Semiconductor, most recently as Senior Director of RF and Analog Design, where he led development of several generations of Marvell WLAN products. He is currently with Ralink Technology, as Director of RFIC Engineering, engaged in design and development of integrated RF transceivers for wireless communications. Dr. Shirvani was a member of the Iranian team in the 24th International Physics Olympiad. He is a technical program committee member and chair of the Panels Subcommittee at the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuit Conference (CICC). He is also the author of Design and Control of RF Power Amplifiers (Springer, 2003) and the recipient of the 2002 IEEE Journal of Solid State Circuits Best Paper Award.
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi and Firooz Aflatouni
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
-
Extremes of Random Coding Error Exponents
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Albert Guillén i Fà bregas, University of Cambridge
Talk Title: Extremes of Random Coding Error Exponents
Abstract: In this talk, we will briefly review Gallager's random coding achievability proof. We will show that Gallager's random coding error exponent of an arbitrary binary-input memoryless symmetric channel is upper-bounded by that of the binary erasure channel and lower-bounded by that of the binary-symmetric channel of the same capacity. We will illustrate how the result can be applied to find the extremes of the channel dispersion for the aforementioned class of channels.
Biography: Albert Guillén i Fà bregas received the Telecommunication Engineering Degree and the Electronics Engineering Degree from Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya , Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain, and the Politecnico di Torino , Torino, Italy, respectively, both in 1999, and the Ph.D. in Communication Systems from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2004.
From August 1998 to March 1999, he conducted his Final Research Project at the New Jersey Institute of Technology , Newark, NJ. He was with Telecom Italia Labs, Italy, from November 1999 to June 2000. From September 2000 to May 2001, he was with the European Space Agency (ESA), The Netherlands. During his doctoral studies, from 2001 to 2004, he was a Research and Teaching assistant at Institut Eurécom , France. From June 2003 to July 2004 he was a visiting scholar at EPFL. Since September 2004 until December 2006 he was a Research Fellow at the Institute for Telecommunications Research , University of South Australia , Australia. From January 2007 he has been a Lecturer at the Department of Engineering , University of Cambridge , United Kingdom. He is also a Fellow of Trinity Hall . He held visiting appointments at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications , Paris, France (June-July 2005 and June 2006),Universitat Pompeu Fabra , Barcelona, Spain (September 2008), at the Institute for Telecommunications Research , University of South Australia , Mawson Lakes, Australia (December 2008, June-July 2010) and Texas A&M Univeristy at Qatar (May 2010). His specific research interests are in the area of communication theory, information theory, coding theory, digital modulation and signal processing techniques, particularly with wireless terrestrial and satellite applications.
Dr. Guillén i Fà bregas received the Starting Grant from the European Research Council , the Young Authors Award of the 2004 European Signal Processing Conference EUSIPCO 2004, Vienna, Austria, the 2004 Nokia Best Doctoral Thesis Award in Mobile Internet and 3rd Generation Mobile Solutions from the Spanish Institution of Telecommunications Engineers , and a pre-doctoral Research Fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Education to join ESA. He is also a Senior Member of IEEE (Information Theory and Communications Societies ), of theARC Communications Research Network (ACoRN), and a Junior member of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences . Since November 2007, he has been an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications
Host: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu, EEB 528, x04683
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
-
AIChE Annual Roller Skating Event
Fri, Feb 11, 2011 @ 06:45 PM - 09:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Come take a break from school with AIChE as we head out to World on Wheels Skating Rink! Have a great time with fellow chem-e's at our roller-skating event!
Date: Friday, February 11, 2011
Time: meet in front of RTH to carpool @ 6:45pm; return at 9pm
Cost: $7/personLocation: World on Wheels
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: USC American Institute of Chemical Engineers
