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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for February 23, 2011
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Grad Fair
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 09:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
Grad Fair is your one-stop way to get all the information you need about Commencement. All soon-to-be graduates are encouraged to stop by Grad Fair for answers to questions, or to purchase Commencement-related products.
For more information, visit this website:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/pubrel/specialevents/commencement/gradfair.phpLocation: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - Ballroom
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Gianluca Piazza, University of Pennsylvania, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering
Talk Title: AlN Piezoelectric NanoElectroMechanical Resonators and Switches for RF Signal Processing, Sensing and Computing
Abstract: NanoElectroMechanical Systems (NEMS) resonators and switches have been identified as some of the most interesting technologies that will enable the More Moore and More than Moore evolution of the semiconductor industry. These NEMS devices will yield transformational improvements over state-of-the-art semiconductor-based products by decreasing power consumption, increasing frequencies of operation and increasing sensing resolution â which will revolutionize computing, chemical/biological sensing, and radio frequency (RF) and microwave communication.
A major challenge for developing NEMS based technology is the ability to efficiently transduce the mechanical device at the chip scale. This talk presents remarkable opportunities associated with the scaling of piezoelectric AlN films to the nano realm and their application to the making of efficient NEMS resonators and switches that can be directly interfaced with conventional electronics.
Experimental data showing NEMS AlN resonators (250 nm thick with lateral features as small as 300 nm) vibrating at record-high frequencies approaching 10 GHz with Qs in excess of 500 will be presented. The extremely compact form factor of these devices permits to envision large scale integration (LSI) of NEMS to develop low power and highly reconfigurable microwave radio transceivers. Similarly, experimental results will show how these NEMS resonators can yield unprecedented sensitivities and be employed to form miniaturized gas sensor arrays and tag gas analyte concentrations that reach the part per trillion levels.
Finally, nano-piezoelectric films (50-100 nm thick) for switching applications and experimental data confirming that bimorph AlN nano-piezo-actuators achieve the same piezoelectric properties of microscale counterparts will be presented. These NEMS devices set a realistic pathway towards the development of low energy nanomechanical computing.
Biography: Gianluca Piazza is a Wilf Family Term Assistant Professor in the department of Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE) at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests focus on piezoelectric micro and nano electromechanicalsystems (MEMS/NEMS) for RF wireless communications, chemical/biological detection, and all mechanical computing. He also has a general interest in the areas of micro/nano fabrication techniques and integration of micro/nano devices with state-of-the-art electronics. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005. He has more than 10 years of experience working with piezoelectric materials. He holds several patents in the field of micromechanical resonators some of which have been succesfully acquired by industry (IDT and Qualcomm). He received the IBM Young Faculty Award in 2006 and has won, with his students, the Best Paper Award in Group 1 and 2 at the IEEE Frequency Control Symposium in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
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PhD Defense - Optimal Resource Allocation and Cross-Layer Control in Cognitive and Cooperative Wireless Networks
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rahul Urgaonkar, USC PhD Candidate
Talk Title: PhD Defense - Optimal Resource Allocation and Cross-Layer Control in Cognitive and Cooperative Wireless Networks
Abstract: Next generation wireless networks will be required to provide significantly higher data rates, reliability, and energy efficiency than the existing systems. Cognitive radio and cooperative communication are expected to be two essential technologies towards achieving this goal. In this thesis, we study several resource allocation problems in the area of cognitive and cooperative wireless networks. Our goal is to design optimal control algorithms that maximize time-average network utilities (such as throughput) subject to time-average constraints (such as power, reliability, etc.). This talk will present our work on two such problems.
The first problem considers opportunistic cooperation in cognitive radio networks. Specifically, we assume that a secondary user can use its resources to improve the transmission rates of the primary user. In return, the secondary user can get more opportunities for transmitting its own data when the primary user is idle. In this scenario, it is important for the secondary user to balance the desire to cooperate more (to create more transmission opportunities) with the need for maintaining sufficient energy levels for its own transmissions. Such a model is applicable in the emerging area of cognitive femtocell networks. We formulate the problem of maximizing the secondary user throughput subject to a time average power constraint under these settings as a constrained Markov Decision Problem. Conventional solution techniques to this problem are based on dynamic programming and require either extensive knowledge of the system dynamics or learning based approaches that suffer from large convergence times. However, using the technique of Lyapunov optimization, we design a novel greedy and online control algorithm that does not require any knowledge of network dynamics or explicit learning, yet is optimal.
The second problem investigates optimal routing and scheduling strategies for multi-hop wireless networks with rateless codes. Rateless codes allow each node of the network to accumulate mutual information with every packet transmission. This enables a significant performance gain over conventional shortest path routing. Further, it also outperforms cooperative communication techniques that are based on energy accumulation. However, it requires complex and combinatorial networking decisions concerning which nodes participate in transmission, and which decode ordering to use. We formulate the general problem as a combinatorial optimization problem and then make use of several structural properties to simplify the solution and derive optimal greedy algorithms. A key feature of these algorithms is that unlike prior works on these problems, they do not require solving any linear programs to compute the optimal solution.
Biography: Rahul Urgaonkar obtained the B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay in 2002 and the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles in 2005. He is currently a PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering at USC working with Prof. Michael Neely. His research interest is in the area of stochastic network optimization with applications to resource allocation and scheduling problems in next generation wireless networks and data centers.
Host: Prof. Michael J. Neely
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Dodgeball in the E-Quad
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
The Viterbi Student Council will be hosting a dodgeball game to encourage some friendly competition among engineers! Stop by on your own or with a team, and get ready to play dodgeball and enjoy some free food!
Check out the rest of E-Week at: http://viterbistudents.usc.edu/vsc/e-week/Location: E-Quad
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: VSC
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CiSoft/PTE Webinar
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 01:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anil Ambastha, Chevron, Indonesia
Talk Title: Recent Trends in Reservoir Engineering Research
Abstract: This talk would concentrate on recent trends in reservoir engineering research based on empirical observations from reservoir engineering papers submitted for peer review for the "SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering" journal in the last 2 1/2 years. In enhanced oil recovery (EOR) arena, chemical flooding methods, involving alkali, surfactant, polymer as well as CO2, continue to garner significant interest from researchers. A key challenge for EOR methods is to improve overall recovery economically, especially for heterogeneous reservoirs. Also, an area of considerable environmental importance is long-term CO2 sequestration in porous media which is being researched actively within the petroleum engineering community at this time.
From theoretical computation point of view, experimental-design methods and optimization algorithms for a wide variety of scenarios continue to evolve. Intelligent computational techniques need to be refined to be consistent with historical field data, assist in identifying important known and "unknown" uncertainties, and yield robust results for future field development plans.
An area of widespread application is geomechanical computation coupled with flow simulation. In particular, if fracture evolution can be reliably simulated, it will have profound implications for fluid flow in situations such as injection of water, CO2, steam etc. under fracturing conditions, and production from oil shale, gas shale, and extremely low-permeability reservoirs where massive and/or multiple fracturing is a prerequisite to economic production rates.
This talk would conclude with the thought that all of our research efforts need to be geared toward "economic energy production with the least environmental impact" as a key objective.
Host: CiSoft & Petroleum Engineering Program
More Info: http://usccisoft.omnovia.com/register/48091298056533Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) -
Audiences: Please RSVP: legat@usc.edu
Contact: Juli Legat
Event Link: http://usccisoft.omnovia.com/register/48091298056533
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Multiscale Analysis of Multifunctional Nano- and Bio- Materials
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Vinu Unnikrishnan, Texas A&M University
Talk Title: Multiscale Analysis of Multifunctional Nano- and Bio- Materials
Abstract: An understanding of the structure-property relationships involving coupling of physics
occurring at different length and time scales are necessary for the estimation of mechanical
properties of complex nano- and bio- materials. In the first part of this talk, a multiscale
computational analysis of nano-polymers would be discussed. Nano-polymeric materials are
used in applications ranging from tissue engineering scaffolds in biomechanics to self-healing
smart materials for civil engineering structures. The mechanical characterization studies of
nano-polymers discussed in this talk involves atomistic-scale modeling of the nano-structures,
followed by a systematic and rigorous up-scaling of the mechanical properties using nonlinear
homogenization models.
In the second part of this talk, a mechano-biological computational model to analyze the
effect of varying micro-structural constituents on the mechanical behavior of breast and tumor
tissue would be presented. Since lobular density variation with age is a major risk factor in
breast carcinoma, a correlation of the change in breast density with the corresponding change in
the mechanical response of breast tissue has to be established. This study aims at providing
clinical diagnostic tools to supplement current breast examination guidelines, and can be
enhanced using information from imaging techniques. The development of novel mathematical
computational formulations not only helps in understanding and providing patient-specific
diagnosis of pathological conditions of the human body, but also helps in developing
biomedical hazard mitigating standards.
Biography: Dr. Vinu Unnikrishnan is a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. He received his Ph.D. in Civil
Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2007. His doctoral research was carried out under
the supervision of Professor J. N. Reddy on the multiscale modeling of nano- and biological systems,
where he developed multiscale methods for the mechanical and thermal characteristics of
carbon-nanotube and polymeric based composite systems for use in advanced bio-medical,
industrial and civil engineering applications. He is currently focused on developing
computational models for the bio-mechanical characterization of human pathological
conditions like breast tumor, pelvic prolapse, uterine scarring, atherosclerosis, etc. His research
focus also involves developing nonlinear homogenization methods using continuum mechanics
principles together with advanced computational techniques.
Host: Sonny Astani Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Erin Sigman
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Channel Coding: Non-Asymptotic Fundamental Limits With and Without Feedback
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University Calendar
Abstract: Information theory studies the question of the maximum possible rate achievable by an ideal system under certain assumptions regarding the noise generation and structural design constraints. The study of such questions, initiated by Claude Shannon in 1948, has typically been carried out in the asymptotic limit of an infinite number of signaling degrees of freedom (blocklength). However, with the ever increasing demand for ubiquitous access to real time data, such as audio and video streaming for mobile devices, as well as the advent of modern sparse graph codes, one is interested in describing fundamental limits non-asymptotically, i.e. for blocklengths of the order of 1000. By employing some of our recently developed methods it will be demonstrated that for such blocklengths the backoff from the capacity can be quite significant. On the other hand, this penalty can be considerably mitigated by employing variable-length codes with feedback.
Biography: Yury Polyanskiy received the M.S. degree (with honors) in applied mathematics and physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow, Russia in 2005 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Princeton University, Princeton, NJ in 2010.
In 2000-2005, he was with the Department of Surface Oilfield Equipment, Borets Company LLC, where he rose to the position of Chief Software Designer. His research interests include information theory, coding theory and the theory of random processes.
Dr. Polyanskiy won a silver medal at the 30th International Physics Olympiad (IPhO), held in Padova, Italy. He was a recipient of the Best Student Paper Awards at the 2008 and 2010 IEEE International Symposia on Information Theory (ISIT). His final year of graduate studies was supported by a Princeton University Honorific Dodds Fellowship (2009-2010).
Host: Alex Dimakis, dimakis@usc.edu and Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.eduLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Stephen B. Pope, Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University
Talk Title: Advances in Computer Simulations of Turbulent Combustion
Abstract: Combustion will remain a key technology for several decades in power generation, transportation and many other applications. Advances are continually sought in terms of efficiency gains, pollution reduction, and alternative technologies facilitating carbon capture. As in other areas of engineering, computer simulations are central to the design and development of combustion technologies. Great strides are being made both in the computation fluid dynamics (CFD) of turbulent reactive flows and in the development of more accurate and comprehensive chemical mechanisms, which may involve thousands of species. However, the combination of advanced approaches to turbulent flows and large chemical mechanisms poses a formidable computational challenge. The approach to the simulation of turbulent combustion described in this talk consists of the following three components: large-eddy simulation (LES) to treat the flow and turbulence; a probability density function (PDF) method to treat the turbulence-chemistry interactions; and, dimension-reduction and tabulation for the computationally-efficient implementation of combustion chemistry. Recent advances and examples of simulations are presented.
Host: Dr. P. Roney
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/2-23-11-pope.shtmlLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/2-23-11-pope.shtml
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KIUEL SHOWCASE
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Receptions & Special Events
Have a talent for music, film, or art? SHOWCASE offers an opportunity for Viterbi's undergraduate students and faculty to display their artistic talents to the Viterbi community. Film screenings, music performances, art displays, and dance performances are presented during this event and attendees vote for their favorites.
If you are interested in attending, email viterbi.kiuel@usc.edu
To learn more about KIUEL, visit viterbi.usc.edu/kiuel. You can also view previous SHOWCASE winners on the KIUEL website.Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - Viterbi Museum
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: KIUEL
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Viterbi E-Week: NSBE Quiz Bowl
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
USC NSBE is hosting a Quiz Bowl as part of Viterbi E-Week! Click the following link for the E-week website as well as the E-week Facebook page!
http://viterbistudents.usc.edu/vsc/e-week/ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=193497847336776
The Quiz bowl is a Jeopardy style (Multiple-choice questions) competition of engineering and pop culture questions Eight teams, 4 people per team, the winning team gets a $100 cash prize!
Email nsbe@usc.edu if you want to form a team!
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: NSBE National Society of Black Engineers
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Halliburton Info Session
Wed, Feb 23, 2011 @ 05:30 PM - 07:00 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 Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
