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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for February
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CS Colloquium: Justin Solomon (MIT) - Navigating, Restructuring and Reshaping Learned Latent Spaces
Mon, Feb 03, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Justin Solomon, MIT
Talk Title: Navigating, Restructuring and Reshaping Learned Latent Spaces
Abstract: Modern machine learning architectures often embed their inputs into a lower-dimensional latent space before generating a final output. A vast set of empirical results---and some emerging theory---predicts that these lower-dimensional codes often are highly structured, capturing lower-dimensional variation in the data. Based on this observation, in this talk I will describe efforts in my group to develop lightweight algorithms that navigate, restructure, and reshape learned latent spaces. Along the way, I will consider a variety of practical problems in machine learning, including low-rank adaptation of large models, regularization to promote local latent structure, and efficient training/evaluation of generative models. This talk will cover collaborative research with Rickard Gabrielsson, Kimia Nadjahi, Chris Scarvelis, Tal Shnitzer, Mikhail Yurochkin, Jiacheng Zhu, and others.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Justin Solomon is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. He leads the Geometric Data Processing Group in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), which studies problems at the intersection of geometry, large-scale optimization, and applications.
Host: Yue Wang
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone (USC) is invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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Photonics Seminar - Alexander Szameit, Monday, February 3rd at 2pm in EEB 248
Mon, Feb 03, 2025 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alexander Szameit, Professor, Chair for Experimental Solid-State Optics, University of Rostock
Talk Title: Topology in space, time, and space-time
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: In recent years, topological phenomena in photonic systems have attracted much attention, with their striking features arising from robust states in the energy gaps of spatially periodic media. However, light waves are entities that extend in space as well as time, such that one may ask whether topological effects can also occur in the temporal domain, or even space-time. Intuitively, systems that are periodic in time may be gapped in momentum, leading to topological states localized at time interfaces. However, time - in contrast to space - exhibits a unique unidirectionality often referred to as the "arrow of time". Inspired by these features, I will present our most recent experiments on topological states residing at temporal interfaces. Moreover, I will discuss the formation of spacetime-topological events and demonstrate unique features such as their limited collapse under disorder and causality-suppressed coupling.
Biography: Alexander Szameit (*1979 in Halle, Germany) studied Physics at the Universities of Halle and Jena, Germany. He obtained his Diploma and PhD in 2004 and 2007, respectively. After spending time in Australia and Israel, he returned to Jena as an Assistant Professor in 2011. After receiving his habilitation in 2015, he was appointed as Full Professor at the University of Rostock in 2016, where he holds the chair for Experimental Solid-State Optics. His work deals with all aspects of complex light evolution in large-scale integrated photonic waveguide circuits, with a particular focus on topological photonics.
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan and Demetri Christodoulides
More Information: Alexander Szameit Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Computational Science Distinguished Seminar
Mon, Feb 03, 2025 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
USC School of Advanced Computing
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: George Haller, ETH Zürich
Talk Title: Nonlinear Spectral Model Reduction from Data
Abstract: Machine learning has been a major development in applied science and engineering, with impressive success stories in static learning environments like image, pattern, and speech recognition. Yet the modeling of dynamical phenomena—such as nonlinear vibrations of solids and transitions in fluids—remains a challenge for classic machine learning. Indeed, neural net models for nonlinear dynamics tend to be complex, uninterpretable and unreliable outside their training range.
In this talk, I discuss a dynamical systems alternative to neural networks in the data-driven reduced-order modeling of nonlinear phenomena. Specifically, I show that the recent concept of spectral submanifolds (SSMs) provides very low-dimensional attractors in a large family of mechanics problems ranging from wing oscillations to transitions in shear flows. A data-driven identification of the reduced dynamics on these SSMs gives a mathematically justified way to construct accurate and predictive reduced-order models for solids, fluids and controls without the use of governing equations. I illustrate this on physical problems including the accelerated finite-element simulations of large structures, prediction of transitions to turbulence, reduced-order modeling of fluid-structure interactions, extraction of reduced equations of motion from videos, and model-predictive control of soft robots.
Biography: George Haller is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at ETH Zürich, where he holds the Chair in Nonlinear Dynamics and heads the Institute for Mechanical Systems. His prior appointments include tenured faculty positions at Brown, McGill and MIT. He also served as the inaugural director of Morgan Stanley’s fixed income modeling center. Professor Haller is a recipient of a Sloan Fellowship in mathematics, an ASME Thomas Hughes Young Investigator Award, a School of Engineering Distinguished Professorhip (McGill), and the Stanley Corrsin Award of the APS. He is an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Science and an elected fellow of SIAM, APS and ASME. He currently serves as feature editor at Nonlinear Dynamics and senior editor at the Journal of Nonlinear Science. His research focuses on nonlinear dynamical systems with applications to mechanical vibrations, coherent structures in turbulence, and data- and equation-driven model reduction for physical systems. He has authored three monographs in these areas.
Host: School of Advanced Computing
More Info: https://sac.usc.edu/events/
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://sac.usc.edu/events/
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 04, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Xiao Zang, Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management, at University of Minnesota
Talk Title: Engineering Better Health: From Industrial and Systems Engineering to Health Decision Modeling
Host: Dr. Shinyi Wu
More Information: FLYER 651 Xiao Zang 2.4.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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Building an Accessible Environment Workshop
Thu, Feb 06, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
As engineers, itâs important to be aware of how to create environments that are accessible to all. Join our team and the OSAS to learn about OSAS resources for students, obstacles to accessibility in the physical and virtual environments, and how to work around these obstacles.
Location: Online Event
Audiences:
Contact: Sidney Lim
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=402591
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Fred Grodins Distinguished Keynote Seminar
Fri, Feb 07, 2025 @ 03:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shana O. Kelley, Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Talk Title: Continuous monitoring of protein biomarkers using implantable sensors
Abstract: To put disease-related biomarkers to work for continuous monitoring of health and disease, new high-performance technologies are needed to enable rapid and sensitive analysis of proteins and other biomarkers. Electrochemical methods providing sensitive and direct biomarker readout have attracted a great deal of attention for this application. Recently we developed reagentless sensors that are powerful detectors for in vivo protein sensing (Nature Chemistry, 2021, J. am. Chem. Soc. 2023, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. 2023) as well as implantable sensors for continuous monitoring (Science 2024, Nature Biomedical Engineering 2025). This talk will summarize the development of these sensors, their application to a variety of clinical problems, and the development of a range of implatable sensors for in vivo monitoring.
Biography: Dr. Shana Kelley is the President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago and the Neena B. Schwartz Professor at Northwestern in the Departments of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. The Kelley research group has pioneered new methods for tracking molecular and cellular analytes with unprecedented sensitivity. Dr. Kelley’s work has been recognized with the ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award, the Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award, the Steacie Prize, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, a NSF CAREER Award, a Dreyfus New Faculty Award, and she was also named a “Top 100 Innovator” by MIT’s Technology Review. Kelley is also a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Her work is extensively cited and she has over 80 papers cited more than 80 times. Kelley is an inventor on over 50 patents issued worldwide. She is a founder of four life sciences companies, GeneOhm Sciences (acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2005), Xagenic Inc. (acquired by General Atomics in 2017), CTRL Therapeutics (founded in 2019) and Arma Biosciences (founded in 2021).
Host: Maral Mousavi/ Peter Wang
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 07, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. M.C. Frank Chang, Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering and Distinguished Professor, UCLA
Talk Title: Future System-on-Chip for Full Spectrum Utilization from RF to Optics
Abstract: The ever-increasing bandwidth requirement due to explosively growing 5/6G and AIoT data flows has compelled global commission authorities to release EM-spectra up to millimeter-wave (30-300GHz) and even (sub)-millimeter-wave frequency regimes (>300GHz) for massively expanded sensing and network applications. In this talk, we will exemplify novel CMOS-embedded technologies and methodologies developed at UCLA to enable System-on-Chip (SoC) realizations for multi-broadband radio, wideband radar, contactless/plastic interconnect, 3D-imaging and gas-phase rotational spectrometry at (sub)-mm-Wave frequencies. We will also address challenges encountered in both design and implementations that may hinder further development of such systems, especially the major shortcomings in silicon technologies with limited dynamic range and power handling capabilities. We therefore propose replacing CMOS n-FET’s drain with selectively grown wide bandgap cubic-phase GaN (c-GaN) for >10X improved breakdown voltages to secure desired sensing/communication range/coverage with cost-effectiveness. Additionally, we will elaborate on the possible growth of multi-wavelength light-emitting sources and detectors directly atop n-FinFET’s c-GaN Drain with various indium contents of InGaN/GaN super-lattice for RF-optical combined radio/radar/interconnect applications by creating unprecedented “Photonic System-on-Chip” with full EM-spectrum utilization from RF to optics.
Biography: Dr. M.C. Frank Chang is the Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering and Distinguished Professor of UCLA. Throughout his career, he has focused on the research & development of high-speed semiconductor devices and integrated circuits for radio, radar, imager, spectrometer, and AIoT System-on-Chip applications. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the European Academy of Science and Arts, and an academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He also received the IEEE David Sarnoff Award (2006), IET JJ Thomson Medal for Electronics (2017), IEEE/RSE (Royal Society Edinburgh) James Clerk Maxwell Medal (2023), and AASF’s Asian American Pioneer Medal (2024) for his seminal contributions to heterojunction technology and realizations of (sub)-mm-Wave System-on-Chip with unprecedented bandwidth and re-configurability. He also took a leave of absence from UCLA during 2015-2019 to serve as the President of National Chiao Tung University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. He earned his B.S. in Physics from the National Taiwan University (1972), his M.S. in Material Science from the National Tsing Hua University (1974), and his Ph.D. in Electronics from the National Chiao Tung University (1979).
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5417/future-system-on-chip-for-full-spectrum-utilization-from-rf-to-optics/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5417/future-system-on-chip-for-full-spectrum-utilization-from-rf-to-optics/
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Feb 07, 2025 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shana O. Kelley, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Talk Title: Continuous monitoring of protein biomarkers using implantable sensors
Abstract: To put disease-related biomarkers to work for continuous monitoring of health and disease, new high-performance technologies are needed to enable rapid and sensitive analysis of proteins and other biomarkers. Electrochemical methods providing sensitive and direct biomarker readout have attracted a great deal of attention for this application. Recently we developed reagentless sensors that are powerful detectors for in vivo protein sensing (Nature Chemistry, 2021, J. am. Chem. Soc. 2023, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. 2023) as well as implantable sensors for continuous monitoring (Science 2024, Nature Biomedical Engineering 2025). This talk will summarize the development of these sensors, their application to a variety of clinical problems, and the development of a range of implatable sensors for in vivo monitoring.
Biography: Dr. Shana Kelley is the President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago and the Neena B. Schwartz Professor at Northwestern in the Departments of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. The Kelley research group has pioneered new methods for tracking molecular and cellular analytes with unprecedented sensitivity. Dr. Kelley’s work has been recognized with the ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award, the Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award, the Steacie Prize, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, a NSF CAREER Award, a Dreyfus New Faculty Award, and she was also named a “Top 100 Innovator” by MIT’s Technology Review. Kelley is also a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Her work is extensively cited and she has over 80 papers cited more than 80 times. Kelley is an inventor on over 50 patents issued worldwide. She is a founder of four life sciences companies, GeneOhm Sciences (acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2005), Xagenic Inc. (acquired by General Atomics in 2017), CTRL Therapeutics (founded in 2019) and Arma Biosciences (founded in 2021).
Host: Maral Mousavi/Peter Wang /WISE
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 11, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jun Zhuang, Associate Dean for Research at the School of Engineering and Morton C. Frank Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Industrial and Systems Engineering at University of New York at Buffalo
Talk Title: Game Theory, Data Analytics, and Disaster Management
Host: Dr. Qiang Huang
More Information: FLYER 651 Jun Zhuang 2.11.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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GPA Requirements & Calculations Workshop
Wed, Feb 12, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Have questions about GPA? Join Viterbi Graduate Academic Services to learn about GPA requirements and how to calculate your GPA!
Location: Online Event
Audiences:
Contact: Sidney Lim
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=401906
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AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 12, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Pedro Ponte Castaneda, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Soft Elastic Composites: Microstructure evolution, macroscopic multi-physics response, instabilities and associated soft modes
Abstract: Soft elastic composite materials can undergo large deformations under normal operating conditions and, in many applications, such as in robotics and prosthetics applications, they are designed with the objective of undergoing controlled deformation by means of externally applied magnetic, electrical, pneumatic or other types of fields. They include porous, particle- and fiber-reinforced rubbers, thermoplastic and magnetorheological elastomers, dielectric elastomer composites, polymer foams, muscle and other biological tissues. As a consequence of the finite deformations involved, their microstructure evolves with the deformation and their constitutive or rheological behavior can be highly nonlinear and strongly anisotropic. This presents a challenge for the application of homogenization methods, which were originally developed to characterize the effective material parameters of composites, such as, for example, the thermal conductivity of a two-phase composite material, or the Young’s modulus of an isotropic metal polycrystal. In this presentation, I will give an overview of several methods that have been recently developed to characterize the multi-physics constitutive response of soft composites, as well as the evolution of the microstructure and the possible development of instabilities in such material systems. In addition, I will present some explicit examples, including those leading to a certain type of ‘twining’ instabilities and associated soft modes of deformation.
Biography: Pedro Ponte Castañeda is Raymond S. Markowitz Faculty Fellow and Professor in the departments of Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics, as well as Member ofthe Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics & Computational Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematicsfrom Lehigh University in 1982, and an S.M. in Engineering Sciences and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1983 and 1986, respectively. Prior to joining Penn, he was Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University (1987-90). He was also Professor of Mechanics at the École Polytechnique (2004-06). He has held visiting positions at the C.N.R.S. in Marseilles, the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University, as well as the University of Stuttgart. He is currently Associate Editor of the Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids and of the Journal of Elasticity. He is an ASME Fellow and his honors include the ASME Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award (2000), the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research from Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (2007), the Humboldt Senior Research Award (2013) and the ASME Warner T. Koiter Medal (2016).
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 14, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Bobby Brar, President, Teledyne Scientific Company
Talk Title: Teledyne Scientific Advanced Technology Overview
Abstract: Teledyne Scientific Company is the Central R&D Lab for Teledyne Technologies. We are also a merchant supplier of advanced compound semiconductor technology for InP, GaN, MEMS and Heterogeneous Integration. The talk will review our current foundry offerings and new technologies in the pipeline, with an emphasis on what differentiates our offerings. The technologies developed and produced in our foundry are suitable for high-speed and broadband electronics for 5G/6G communication, high power RF sources, high-dynamic range sensors, electromagnetic warfare, and test and measurement applications.
Biography: Berinder “Bobby” Brar received his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering at UCSB in 1995, conducting research on the lnAs/AISb/GaSb semiconductor materials for high-speed electronic and optoelectronic applications. After completing his graduate work, he joined the Nanoelectronics branch in the Central Research Labs at Texas Instruments and worked on lnP- and Si-based resonant tunneling devices and field effect transistors for high-speed mixed-signal applications. Dr. Brar joined the Teledyne Scientific Company in 1999 to manage the Advanced III-V Devices and Materials department. Dr. Brar is presently the President of Teledyne Scientific Company, a technology leader in high performance compound semiconductor devices and integrated circuits, and high-performance imaging systems for military, space, astronomy, and commercial applications. Dr. Brar has previously worked at R&D labs for Rockwell, Texas Instruments, and Raytheon. Dr. Brar has published over 100 papers in conference proceedings and technical journals and has over 35 patents pending or awarded.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5386/teledyne-scientific-advanced-technology-overview/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5386/teledyne-scientific-advanced-technology-overview/
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 18, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Peter Frazier, Professor & UBER Scientist at the Department of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University
Talk Title: Bayesian preference learning for democratizing optimization
Host: Dr. Qiang Huang
More Information: FLYER 651 Peter Frazier 2.18.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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CS Colloquium: Amit Sheth (University of South Carolina) - Intelligent, Robust and Trustworthy AI: Managing GenAI Challenges, Next Phase of Hybrid AI Models and Enterprise AI for Mission-Critical Applications
Wed, Feb 19, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amit Sheth, University of South Carolina
Talk Title: Intelligent, Robust and Trustworthy AI: Managing GenAI Challenges, Next Phase of Hybrid AI Models and Enterprise AI for Mission-Critical Applications
Abstract: This talk will present my team's current and future research themes. The first theme is the development of Civilized and Human-inspired AI. This encompasses addressing challenges associated with Generative AI (GenAI) and finding ways to mitigate its limitations, such as detecting AI-generated content, combating hallucinations, misinformation, and toxicity, and exploring methods for their reduction. The second theme involves the next phase of post-GenAI strategies aimed at creating robust and trustworthy AI solutions. This includes the development of a new generation of custom, compact, agile and neurosymbolic (CCAN) AI models for a more intelligent, robust and trustworthy AI with support for grounding, alignment, instructability, user-level explainability, attribution, safety, reasoning, planning, analogy and abstraction. Lastly, I will provide a brief demonstration of how these AI models, along with AI copilots and agents, are utilized for complex, enterprise-class, mission-critical decision-making applications in diverse fields such as behavioral and mental health, personalized nutrition, autonomous vehicles and smart manufacturing. This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Prof. Amit Sheth (Home Page, LinkedIn, GScholar) is an Educator, Researcher, and Entrepreneur. He is the NCR Chair & Professor of Computer Sc & Engg. He founded the university-wide AI Institute at the University of South Carolina in 2019 which now has ~50 researchers. Earlier, he was the Ohio Eminent Scholar and Exec. Director of Ohio Center of Excellence in Knowledge-enabled Computing and BioHealth Innovation at Wright State University. He is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, ACM, and AAIA. His major awards include IEEE CS W. Wallace McDowell and IEEE TVSVC Research Innovation awards. He has (co-)founded four companies based on his university research, including the first Semantic Search company in 1999 that pioneered technology similar to what is found today in Google Semantic Search and Knowledge Graph, ezDI, which developed knowledge-infused clinical NLP/NLU, and Cognovi Labs at the intersection of emotion and AI. He is particularly proud of the success of his >>45 Ph.D. advisees and postdocs in academia, industry research, and entrepreneurship.
Host: Emilio Ferrara
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 19, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Kyriakos Vamvoudakis , Georgia Tech
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 21, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jeong-sun Moon, HRL Laboratories
Talk Title: HRL's Millimeter-wave GaN Technologies
Abstract: This talk will present HRL’s millimeter-wave GaN technologies developed under the DARPA DREAM program to advance millimeter-wave GaN transistor technologies with higher linearity, efficiency, and power density, leveraging HRL’s long history of GaN technology development.
Biography: Dr. Jeong-sun Moon is a Principal Scientist at HRL Laboratories, Malibu, CA and a Fellow of IEEE. He has been with HRL since 2000 and working on developing next-generation advanced RF/EO/IR technologies and has been a PI for numerous contracts from DARPA, ONR, and USG. Before joining the HRL, he worked at the Sandia National Laboratories. He has over 200 technical publications and holds 30 patents.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5342/hrls-millimeter-wave-gan-technologies/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5342/hrls-millimeter-wave-gan-technologies/
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WIE Leadership Conference - Waves of Change
Sat, Feb 22, 2025 @ 09:00 AM - 03:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
You don't want to miss out; register today! Women in Engineering Leadership Conference will be held on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at USC Hotel from 10 am - 3 pm. We have an outstanding lineup of women leaders who will be sharing valuable insights into overcoming imposter syndrome, how to build a strong network, and how to step into leadership roles even when you're the only or one of the few women or non-binary individuals. Excited to have Malia Lym, PE, as our keynote speaker, CAREER STRATEGIST FOR WOMEN IN STEM-Empowering Women in STEM to Lead with Confidence using the F.A.N.C.Y. FRAMEWORKâ¢
Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Thelma Federico Zaragoza
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/WIE/rsvp?id=401633
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CS Colloquium: Angela Zhou (USC / Marshall School of Business) - Robust Fitted-Q-Evaluation and Iteration under Sequentially Exogenous Unobserved Confounders
Mon, Feb 24, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Angela Zhou, USC / Marshall School of Business
Talk Title: Robust Fitted-Q-Evaluation and Iteration under Sequentially Exogenous Unobserved Confounders
Abstract: Offline causal decision making and reinforcement learning is important in domains such as medicine, economics, and e-commerce where online experimentation is costly, dangerous or unethical, and where the true model is unknown. However, most methods assume all covariates used in the behavior policy's action decisions are observed. Though this assumption, sequential ignorability/unconfoundedness, likely does not hold in observational data, most of the data that accounts for selection into treatment may be observed, motivating sensitivity analysis. We study robust policy evaluation and policy optimization in the presence of sequentially-exogenous unobserved confounders under a sensitivity model. We consider the single-timestep and the sequential setting. For the sequential setting, we propose and analyze orthogonalized robust fitted-Q-iteration that uses closed-form solutions of the robust Bellman operator to derive a loss minimization problem for the robust Q function, and adds a bias-correction to quantile estimation. Our algorithm enjoys the computational ease of fitted-Q-iteration and statistical improvements (reduced dependence on quantile estimation error) from orthogonalization. We provide sample complexity bounds, insights, and show effectiveness both in simulations and on real-world longitudinal healthcare data of treating sepsis. In particular, our model of sequential unobserved confounders yields an online Markov decision process, rather than partially observed Markov decision process: we illustrate how this can enable warm-starting optimistic reinforcement learning algorithms with valid robust bounds from observational data. This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Angela Zhou is an Assistant Professor in Data Sciences and Operations at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. She received her PhD from Cornell ORIE and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley / the Simons Institute. She works on data-driven decision making, including the interface of causal inference and machine learning, (offline) reinforcement learning, and equitable social prediction in consequential domains. She was a program co-chair for ACM EAAMO 2022 (a new conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms and Optimization). Her research interests are in statistical machine learning for data-driven sequential decision making under uncertainty, causal inference, and the interplay of statistics and optimization. Her work has received oral-equivalent or featured designations at machine learning venues (Neurips, TMLR) and has won the INFORMS Data Mining Best Student Paper award, while she has received various designations as a Rising Star in AI, Data Science, and AI Fairness.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone (USC) is invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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ECE Seminar: Novel Materials for Next-Generation Electronics: From Low-Power to Extreme Environment Computing
Tue, Feb 25, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Deep Jariwala, Peter & Susanne Armstrong Distinguished Scholar, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Novel Materials for Next-Generation Electronics: From Low-Power to Extreme Environment Computing
Abstract: Silicon has been the dominant material for electronic computing for decades and very likely will stay dominant for the foreseeable future. However, it is well-known that Moore’s law that propelled Silicon into this dominant position is long dead. Therefore, a fervent search for (i) new semiconductors that could directly replace silicon or (ii) new architectures with novel materials/devices added onto silicon or (iii) new physics/state-variables or a combination of above has been the subject of much of the electronic materials and devices research of the past 2 decades.
The above problem is further complicated by the changing paradigm of computing from arithmetic centric to data centric in the age of billions of internet-connected devices and artificial intelligence as well as the ubiquity of computing in ever more challenging environments. Therefore, there is a pressing need for complementing and supplementing Silicon to operate with greater efficiency, speed and handle greater amounts of data. This is further necessary since a completely novel and paradigm changing computing platform (e.g. all optical computing or quantum computing) remains out of reach for now. The above is however not possible without fundamental innovation in new electronic materials and devices. Therefore, in this talk, I will try to make the case of how novel layered two-dimensional (2D) chalcogenide materialsˆ1 and three-dimensional (3D) nitride materials might present interesting avenues to overcome some of the limitations being faced by Silicon hardware. I will start by presenting our ongoing and recent work on integration of 2D chalcogenide semiconductors with siliconˆ2 to realize low-power tunnelling field effect transistors. In particular I will focus on In-Se based 2D semiconductorsˆ2 for this application and extend discussion on them to phase-pure, epitaxial thin-film growth over wafer scales,ˆ3 at temperatures low-enough to be compatible with back end of line (BEOL) processing in Silicon fabs.
I will then switch gears to discuss memory devices from 2D materials when integrated with emerging wurtzite structure ferroelectric nitride materialsˆ4 namely aluminium scandium nitride (AlScN). First, I will present on Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistors (FE-FETs) made from 2D materials when integrated with AlScN and make the case for 2D semiconductors in this application.ˆ5-7 I will then switch resistive memory devices made from AlScN termed Ferrodiodes (FeDs)ˆ8 which show multi-bit operationˆ9 as well as compute in memory (CIM)ˆ10. Finally, I will make a case as to why AlScN FeDs are uniquely suited as a high temperature non-volatile memory demonstrating stable operation upto 600 Cˆ11 and how AlScN can be integrated onto SiCˆ12 for stable data retention in ferroelectric capacitors upto 800 C.ˆ13 I will end by providing a broad outlook on both AI computing hardware as well as high-temperature computing.ˆ14
References:
(1) Song, S.; Rahaman, M.; Jariwala, D. ACS Nano 2024, 18, 10955–10978.
(2) Miao, J.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Electronics 2022, 5 (11), 744-751.
(3) Song, S.; et al. Jariwala, D. Matter 2023, 6, 3483-3498.
(4) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Nanotechnology 2023, 18 (5), 422-441.
(5) Liu, X.; et al. Jariwala, D.. Nano Letters 2021, 21 (9), 3753-3761.
(6) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Nanotechnology 2023, 18, 1044–1050.
(7) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. ACS Nano 2024, 18 (5), 4180-4188.
(8) Liu, X.; et al. Jariwala, D. Applied Physics Letters 2021, 118 (20), 202901.
(9) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. ACS Nano 2024, 18 (24), 15925-15934.
(10) Liu, X.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nano Letters 2022, 22 (18), 7690–7698.
(11) Pradhan, D. K.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Electronics 2024, 7 (5), 348-355.
(12) He, Y.; et al. Jariwala, D. Applied Physics Letters 2023, 123 (12).
(13) He, Y.; et al. Jariwala, D. arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.16652 2024.
(14) Pradhan, D. K.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Reviews Materials 2024, 9 (11), 790-807.
Biography: Deep Jariwala is an Associate Professor and the Peter & Susanne Armstrong Distinguished Scholar in the Electrical and Systems Engineering as well as Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Deep completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. Deep was a Resnick Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech before joining Penn to start his own research group. His research interests broadly lie at the intersection of new materials, surface science and solid-state devices for computing, opto-electronics and energy harvesting applications in addition to the development of correlated and functional imaging techniques. Deep’s research has been widely recognized with several awards from professional societies, funding bodies, industries as well as private foundations, the most notable ones being the Optica Adolph Lomb Medal, the Bell Labs Prize, the AVS Peter Mark Memorial Award, IEEE Photonics Society Young Investigator Award, IEEE Nanotechnology Council Young Investigator Award, IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize in Semiconductors, the SPIE Early career achievement award and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. He has published over 150 journal papers with more than 22000 citations and holds several patents. He serves as the Associate Editor for ACS Nano Letters and has been appointed as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Nanotechnology Council for 2025.
Website: jariwala.seas.upenn.eduEmail: dmj@seas.upenn.edu
Host: Host: Dr. Richard M. Leahy, leahy@usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91519073492?pwd=569WY2cozJtQ7ipwWpTExkG02fH5wq.1More Information: ECE-Seminar-Jariwala-022525.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91519073492?pwd=569WY2cozJtQ7ipwWpTExkG02fH5wq.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 25, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Julia Yan, Assistant Professor of Operations and Logistics at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Talk Title: Pricing shared rides
Host: Dr. Qiang Huang
More Information: FLYER 651 Julia Yan 2.25.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 26, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, USC School of Advanced Computing
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jessica Zhang, Carnegie Mellon University
Host: The School of Advanced Computing
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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AI Seminar-Can We Blame the Chatbot if it Goes Wrong?
Fri, Feb 28, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sun-Gyoo Kang, National Bank of Canada
Talk Title: Can We Blame the Chatbot if it Goes Wrong?
Abstract: Zoom Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93148797047?pwd=ebx0kDpoHqrXACc24lWM1Y8fZw89qO.1 Webinar ID: 931 4879 7047 Passcode: 621721 Reg Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CE_lGmAHQ7SVwxK9PBwJ0Q This presentation examines the complex issue of accountability for AI chatbots, particularly in light of recent tragic incidents where chatbots contributed to suicides. The presentation will be mainly on the Air Canada case, which established corporate responsibility for chatbot errors. It will then define key concepts like accountability, responsibility, and liability, and then explores the importance of transparency and explainability in achieving accountability and identifies various actors—developers, data providers, deployers, and even users—who might share responsibility. Finally, it will compare the EU's AI Act and Canada's AIDA, highlighting their shared responsibility models and the ongoing challenges of assigning liability in the rapidly evolving field of generative AI.
Biography: Sun Gyoo Kang is a lawyer and compliance officer in the financial industry, specializing in the banking sector. He is currently the Chief Compliance Advisor at National Bank of Canada. Sun Gyoo is also the founder of Law and Ethics in Tech, a private research lab focusing on AI and FinTech law and regulations, as well as ethical considerations surrounding these technologies. His research on AI ethics is demonstrated through publication such as the “Analysis of artificial intelligence and data act based on ethical frameworks" in the International Journal of Law, Ethics, and Technology. He often writes columns for the Montreal AI Ethics Institute talking about different ethical issues with artificial intelligence.
Host: Abel Salinas and Pete Zamar
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5349/ai-seminar-can-we-blame-the-chatbot-if-it-goes-wrong/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93148797047?pwd=ebx0kDpoHqrXACc24lWM1Y8fZw89qO.1Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual Only
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93148797047?pwd=ebx0kDpoHqrXACc24lWM1Y8fZw89qO.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5349/ai-seminar-can-we-blame-the-chatbot-if-it-goes-wrong/
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 28, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Gabriel M. Rebeiz, Professor, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Silicon-Based Phased-Arrays for SATCOM and 5G/6G: Lessons Learned from a Life in Microwaves
Abstract: Affordable phased-arrays, built using low-cost silicon chips, have become an essential technology for high data-rate terrestrial (5G) systems to their high gain, electronically steerable patterns, narrow beamwidths, high tolerance to interference and adaptive nulling capabilities. These advances are reshaping our communication and sensor systems, as we work to change our world from the Marconi-Era driven by low-gain antenna systems to the Directive Communications era where every antenna, every beam, every sensor is electronically steered. This talk summarizes our work in this area and concludes with future 5G-Advanced and 6G systems with wideband frequency coverage and where every device will be connected at Gbps speeds. The talk will also present life-long lessons that Professor Rebeiz learned from his work in microwaves.
Biography: Professor Gabriel M. Rebeiz is Member of the National Academy (elected for his work on phased-arrays) and is a Distinguished Professor and the Wireless Communications Industry Endowed Chair at the University of California, San Diego. He is an IEEE Fellow and is the recipient of the IEEE MTT Microwave Prize (2000, 2014, 2020) all for phased-arrays. His 2x2 and 4x4 RF-beamforming architectures are now used by most companies developing communication and radar systems. All SATCOM affordable phased-arrays are based on his work. He has published 900 IEEE papers with an H-index of 102 and has graduated 124 PhD students including the former CEO of Qualcomm and several VPs in the communications and defense industry.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5339/silicon-based-phased-arrays-for-satcom-and-5g-6g-lessons-learned-from-a-life-in-microwaves/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
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