Select a calendar:
Filter February Events by Event Type:
SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for February
-
Center of Autonomy and AI, Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things, and Ming Hsieh Institute Seminar Series
Wed, Feb 01, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Benjamin Sapp, Waymo, LLC
Talk Title: Behavioral Models for Interactive Motion Forecasting and Planning for Real-Word Autonomous Vehicles
Series: Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things
Abstract: Understanding the complex behavior of other cars, pedestrians and cyclists is essential for autonomous vehicle planning in the real world. In this talk, we'll first go over some of our recent advancements in scalable transformer architectures for behavior modeling. Next, we'll discuss joint behavior prediction and planning architectures, as well as how to factorize the joint output space of all possible futures in effective ways. Lastly, we discuss the interplay of our models deployed in the real-world with simulated agents and simulators and describe systems for closed loop simulation of agents and AVs.
Biography: Understanding the complex behavior of other cars, pedestrians and cyclists is essential for autonomous vehicle planning in the real world. In this talk, we'll first go over some of our recent advancements in scalable transformer architectures for behavior modeling. Next, we'll discuss joint behavior prediction and planning architectures, as well as how to factorize the joint output space of all possible futures in effective ways. Lastly, we discuss the interplay of our models deployed in the real-world with simulated agents and simulators and describe systems for closed loop simulation of agents and AVs.
Host: Somil Bansal, somilban@usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92742577270?pwd=bEpXaWJudjZWRksyNk5lL1owUUdBQT09Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92742577270?pwd=bEpXaWJudjZWRksyNk5lL1owUUdBQT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia White
-
CIA information session
Wed, Feb 01, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: CIA, CIA
Talk Title: CIA Info Session
Host: USC IC CAE
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J1_ObW2ESqur3PjH-rZAfg
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J1_ObW2ESqur3PjH-rZAfgLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J1_ObW2ESqur3PjH-rZAfg
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jennifer Ramos/Electrophysics
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_J1_ObW2ESqur3PjH-rZAfg
-
Viterbi Impact Program Information Session
Wed, Feb 01, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Want to make a difference in the Los Angeles Community? Join the Viterbi Impact Program! The Viterbi Impact Program (VIP) helps connect Viterbi students to volunteer opportunities through USC's K-12 STEM Center and local community organizations. Join this information session to learn more about VIP and the value of service in the local community and the engineering profession.
Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences:
Contact: Noe Mora
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=388401
-
NL Seminar- Scaling unlocks emergent abilities in language models
Thu, Feb 02, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jason Wei, Google Brain
Talk Title: Scaling unlocks emergent abilities in language models
Abstract: REMINDER
Meeting hosts only admit guests that they know to the Zoom meeting. Hence, you are highly encouraged to use your USC account to sign into Zoom.
If you are an outside visitor, please inform us at nlg DASH seminar DASH host AT isi DOT edu beforehand so we will be aware of your attendance and let you in.
In person attendance will be permitted for USC ISI faculty, staff, students only. Open to the public virtually via the zoom link and online.
Scaling up language models has been shown to predictably improve performance on a wide range of downstream tasks. In this talk, we will instead discuss an unpredictable phenomenon that we refer to as emergent abilities of large language models. An ability is considered emergent if it is not present in smaller models but is present in larger models, which means that the ability cannot be predicted simply by extrapolating the performance of smaller models. With the popularization of large language models such as GPT-3, Chinchilla, and PaLM, dozens of emergent abilities have been discovered, including chain-of-thought prompting, which enables state-of-the-art mathematical reasoning, and instruction finetuning, which enables large language models to be usable by the broader population. The existence of such emergent phenomena raises the question of whether additional scaling could potentially further expand the range of capabilities of language models.
Biography: Jason Wei is a senior research scientist at Google Brain. His research focuses on large language models, and his research includes chain-of-thought prompting, instruction finetuning, and emergent abilities of language models. His work has been featured in more than five Google AI blog posts, and chain-of-thought prompting was presented last year at Google I/O 2022 by Google CEO Sundar Picchai. Before Google, Jason received his AB from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Host: Jon May and Justin Cho
More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91012548948Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual and ISI-Conf Rm#689
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91012548948
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
-
NCTC Info Session
Thu, Feb 02, 2023 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: NCTC, NCTC
Talk Title: National Counterterrorism Center Info Session
Host: USC IC CAE
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9S3TSnwaSFKMxI7zQcsPXg
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9S3TSnwaSFKMxI7zQcsPXgWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9S3TSnwaSFKMxI7zQcsPXg
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jennifer Ramos/Electrophysics
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_9S3TSnwaSFKMxI7zQcsPXg
-
BME Seminar Speaker, Dr. Tim Downing
Fri, Feb 03, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Tim Downing, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, UCI Samueli School of Engineering
Talk Title: Stem Cell Reprogramming, Epigenetics
Host: BME Professor Megan McCain - ZOOM link available on request
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Michele Medina
-
Dr. Karol Hausman (Google) - Preventing the Next Bitter Lesson
Tue, Feb 07, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Karol Hausman, Google
Talk Title: Preventing the Next Bitter Lesson
Series: Robotics and Autonomous Systems Seminar
Abstract: Richard Sutton's essay titled "The Bitter Lesson" remains one of the most insightful observations of the last 70 years of AI progress. Given the recent trends and developments in AI and robotics, it might be useful to predict what our next bitter lesson will be, and how we can prevent it today. In this talk, I will explore one potential answer to this question. Based on the resulting insights, I will discuss how leveraging foundation models in robotics can benefit both. I will show various examples of how low-level tasks can be combined with large language models to enable performing complex and temporally extended instructions that were not possible before.
Biography: Karol Hausman is a researcher at Google and an adjunct professor at Stanford. He spent 5 wonderful years at USC where he did his PhD and he's super excited to be back to share his recent findings in robot learning
Host: Gaurav Sukhatme
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100B
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
-
Epstein Institute - ISE 651 Seminar
Tue, Feb 07, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Santanu S. Dey, Russell Chandler III Professor; Associate Chair of Graduate Studies; Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering Georgia Tech
Talk Title: Theoretical and Computational Analysis of Sizes of Branch-and-Bound Trees
Host: Dr. Andres Gomez
More Information: February 7, 2023.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - GER 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
-
AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 08, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Leonardo Zepeda-Núñez, Senior Research Scientist Google Research and Assistant Professor Department of Mathematics University of Wisconsin-Madison
Talk Title: Dynamical Weighs: Learning Smooth Latent-Dynamics for Advection-Dominated Systems via Consistency-Constrained Hyper-Networks
Abstract: We present a data-driven, space-time continuous framework to learn surrogate models for complex physical systems described by partial differential equations (PDEs). Our approach involves constructing hypernetwork-based latent dynamical models directly on the parameter space of a compact representation network specially tailored to the state space of the target system. The framework leverages the expressive power of the network with a specially designed consistency-inducing regularization to obtain latent trajectories that are both low-dimensional and smooth. These properties render our surrogate models highly efficient at inference time.
We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach on advection-dominated systems. These systems have slow-decaying Kolmogorov n-widths that hinders standard methods, including reduced order modeling, from producing high-fidelity simulations at low cost. We show that our method is able to generate accurate multi-step rollout predictions at high efficiency, for several one- and two-dimensional PDEs. The resulting rollouts are shown to be stable and reflect statistics that are consistent with the ground truths.
Biography: Leonardo Zepeda-Nunez is a Senior Research Scientist at Google Research and an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has held postdoctoral positions at Lawrence Berkeley Lab and University of California, working with Lin Lin and Hongkai Zhao respectively. He received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT in 2015 under the direction of Laurent Demanet, an M.Sc. from University of Paris VI in 2010, and a Diploma from Ãcole Polytechnique in 2009. His research emcompases scientific machine learning with applications to weather and climate, electronic structure computations, wave-based inverse problems, and fast PDE solvers for wave phenomena.
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
-
Become a Volunteer Tutor with STEMx Tutors! | Info Session
Thu, Feb 09, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
EnCorps STEMx Expert Tutor Program is a national volunteer opportunity that supports STEM-focused college students interested in virtually volunteering two hours of their week to mentor and tutor a middle school student in need of academic and math support. EnCorps provides all the necessary onboarding information as well as the tools needed to effectively mentor students. EnCorps have over 150 STEM professionals and college students volunteering with their program. As a thank you to college volunteers EnCorps offers networking opportunities, letters of recommendation, and professional development opportunities.
Visit the EnCorps STEMx Tutor Website to Learn More:
https://encorps.org/volunteer-programs
If you have any questions contact Ashley Lentz at ashley.lentz@encorps.org
Location: Online Event
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Noe Mora
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=388544
-
CS Colloquium: Nicole Immorlica (Microsoft Research New England) - Data, the Fundamental Particle of Interaction
Mon, Feb 13, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nicole Immorlica, Microsoft Research New England
Talk Title: Data, the Fundamental Particle of Interaction
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Most economic models of interaction assume that agents hold beliefs in the form of priors, or probability distributions over a state of the world, which guide their behavior. In this talk, I consider a model in which beliefs are built off data or anecdotes that are drawn from a distribution parameterized by the state of the world and study how this impacts outcomes. I first discuss a model where agents communicate by sharing anecdotes. This mode of communication results in higher noise and bias when agents have differing preferences, giving rise to informational homophily and polarization. The results have implications for content regulation in social networks. Next, I discuss a model where a principal selectively discloses anecdotes to facilitate social learning. Here I will show that an appropriate information structure, chosen ex ante, can incentivize exploration and thus avoid the herding problems common in such social learning settings. The results have implications for the selection of reviews in online recommendation systems.
Based on joint work with Nika Haghtalab, Brendan Lucier, Jieming Mao, Markus Mobius, Divya Mohan, Alex Slivkins, and Steven Wu.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Nicole Immorlica is a senior principal researcher at Microsoft Research New England (MSR NE) where she leads the economics and computation group. She is also chair of SIGecom, the ACM Special Interest Group on Economics and Computation, which fosters world-class research in this interdisciplinary field through conferences, awards, and mentorship programs. She received her BS in 2000, MEng in 2001 and PhD in 2005 in theoretical computer science from MIT in Cambridge, MA. She joined MSR NE in 2012 after completing postdocs at Microsoft in Redmond, WA and Centruum vor Wiskunde en Informatics (CWI) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and a professorship in computer science at Northwestern University. Nicole's research interest is in the design and operation of sociotechnical systems. Using tools and modeling concepts from both theoretical computer science and economics, Nicole hopes to explain, predict, and shape behavioral patterns in various online and offline systems, markets, and games. She is known for her work on social networks, matching markets, and mechanism design. She is the recipient of a number of fellowships and awards including the Sloan Fellowship, the Microsoft Faculty Fellowship and the NSF CAREER Award. She has been on several boards including SIGACT, the Game Theory Society, and INFORMS Auction and Market Design Section; is an associate editor of Operations Research and Games and Economic Behavior, and was program committee member and chair for several ACM, IEEE and INFORMS conferences in her area.
Host: David Kempe
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
-
ECE Seminar: Interpreting Brain Activity Through Connectivity Using Graph Signal Processing
Mon, Feb 13, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Nicolas Farrugia, Department of Mathematical and Electrical Engineering, Better Representations for Artificial INtelligence (BRAIn), IMT Atlantique
Talk Title: Interpreting Brain Activity Through Connectivity Using Graph Signal Processing
Abstract: The application of graph theory to model the complex structure and function of the brain has shed new light on its organization, prompting the emergence of network neuroscience. Despite the tremendous progress that has been achieved in this field, still relatively few methods exploit the topology of brain networks to analyze brain activity. Recent attempts in this direction have leveraged on the one hand graph spectral analysis (to decompose brain connectivity into eigenmodes or gradients) and graph signal processing (to decompose brain activity "coupled to" an underlying network in graph Fourier modes). In this talk, we will describe two ongoing works that attempt at integrating knowledge from brain connectivity in order to decode and interpret brain activity. In the first contribution, we use functional connectivity graphs to define spectral convolution operators in a deep residual network trained on task decoding. We show how parameter pruning can be used to select the most important connectivity gradients for the task. In the second study, we analyze brain measured using high-density EEG during video watching, and perform an analysis using graph signal processing to estimate coupling and decoupling of source-localized electrophysiological activity on a functional connectivity graph. We discuss relationships between inter-subject correlation during video watching and structure-function decoupling at the individual level, and as a function of the underlying graph. The overarching goal of this line of work is to explore whether connectivity-informed analysis of brain activity can contribute to a better understanding of brain complexity as multimodal signals over networks.
Biography: Nicolas Farrugia (NF) obtained an electrical engineering degree at ENSEA, Cergy-Pontoise, in France, as well as a M.Sc. in Signal and Image processing, both in 2005. In 2008, he obtained a PhD at the Universite de Bourgogne and Orange Labs, Grenoble, working on hardware implementation of deep neural networks. In 2010, NF moved to the field of cognitive neurosciences as a postdoctoral researcher, with a focus on the neurosciences of music. As a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, he studied the effect of rhythm in the rehabilitation of Parkinson's Disease, as well as brain oscillations. He also did postdoctoral work on musical performance in drumming at the Music Performance and Brain Lab in Warsaw, and involuntary musical imagery in the Psychology Departement of Goldsmiths, University of London. NF published work in prestigious neuroscience and cognition journals such as "NeuroImage", "Network Neuroscience", "Memory & Cognition", and "Neuropsychologia". NF uses a wide range of cognitive neuroscience methods such as EEG, functional MRI, as well as behavioral psychology methods and motion capture. Since 2015, NF joined IMT Atlantique (previously known as Telecom Bretagne) to engage into a transdisciplinary effort, combining methods from Auditory Cognition, Neuroscience, Deep Learning, and Graph signal processing. Since 2016, he is part of the BRAIn team (Better Representations for Artificial Intelligence), together with Giulia Lioi, Bastien Pasdeloup, Vincent Gripon and Mathieu Leonardon.
Host: Dr. Karim Jerbi, karim.jerbi.udem@gmail.com and Dr. Richard M. Leahy, leahy@sipi.usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93962625457?pwd=TlVOV0xzeHkzaUN2cjV3blY4K3JDQT09More Information: ECE Seminar Announcement-Farrugia-021323.pdf
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93962625457?pwd=TlVOV0xzeHkzaUN2cjV3blY4K3JDQT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
-
CEE Seminar Series
Mon, Feb 13, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Avantika Gori, Princeton University
Talk Title: Quantifying evolving coastal multi-hazard risk: from regional projections to local-scale impacts
Abstract: See attachment
Host: CEE
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214
More Information: Gori_Announcement.docx
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214
-
PhD Candidate: Romil Audhkhasi defense, Tuesday, February 14th at 9am in EEB 132
Tue, Feb 14, 2023 @ 09:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Romil Audhkhasi, ECE at USC
Talk Title: Microphotonics for tailored infrared emission and secure data encryption
Abstract: The ability to control light-matter interactions is of paramount importance for the advancement of a wide variety of applications ranging from chemical and biological sensing to thermal management and energy harvesting. To this end, artificially engineered microstructures have received considerable attention from the scientific community. Unlike bulk materials that interact with light according to the laws of geometrical optics, microstructures harness resonant interactions with light waves. This allows such structures to achieve a richer suite of functionalities in a more compact size than their bulk counterparts. Light-matter interactions in microstructures come under the purview of microphotonics. In this talk, I will discuss the applications of microphotonics to two of the most exciting research areas in the field of optics: infrared emission tailoring and secure data encryption. The first part of the talk will present photonic devices with customizable optical properties in the infrared for applications in chemical sensing, photodetection and thermal emission control. The second part will explore the utility of microstructures in secure data storage with a discussion of a data-multiplexing based encryption scheme followed by its experimental implementation. The results presented in this talk will illustrate the potential of microstructures in efficiently manipulating optical waves, thereby providing intriguing opportunities for advancing the state-of-the-art for a broad class of applications.
Biography: Romil Audhkhasi is a PhD candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at USC, advised by Prof. Michelle L. Povinelli. He received his bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. His current research focuses on the design of complex microphotonic devices for infrared emission control and encrypted data storage. During his time at USC, he has been the recipient of the Annenberg fellowship and has served as an MHI Scholar during 2020-21.
Host: Michelle Povinelli, Wei Wu, Andrea Armani
More Information: Romil Audukhasi Defence Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
-
Medical Imaging Seminar
Tue, Feb 14, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Loecher, Ph.D., Radiology, Stanford VA Hospital
Talk Title: Optimizing MRI Encoding Gradients with GrOpt
Series: Medical Imaging Seminar Series
Abstract: Gradient waveform design in MRI has traditionally been accomplished with analytical and sometimes ad hoc combinations of trapezoidal gradients. An alternative approach is to use numerical optimization techniques to find the "best" waveform for a set of imaging constraints. This optimization technique has been shown to produce shorter gradients for better scan efficiency, as well as allows for adding constraints to minimize potential imaging errors.
In this talk we will discuss a range of applications of gradient optimization, including PNS minimization, eddy current minimization in diffusion and flow imaging, acoustic noise reduction, and general scan time improvements. The talk will also discuss and demonstrate the software package designed to generate these waveforms, GrOpt.
Host: Krishna Nayak, knayak@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia White
-
Epstein Institute - ISE 651 Seminar
Tue, Feb 14, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Alice Smith, Joe W. Forehand/Accenture Distinguished Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Auburn University
Talk Title: Innovative Uses of Drones for Last Mile Delivery with a Focus on Healthcare
Host: Prof. Maged Dessouky
More Information: February 14, 2023.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - GER 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
-
MHI Nano Science & Technology Seminar - Xiaodong Xu, Wednesday, February 15th at 11am in EEB 132
Wed, Feb 15, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Xiaodong Xu, University of Washington
Talk Title: Elasto van der Waals Magnet
Series: Nano Science & Technology
Abstract: Van der Waals magnets have emerged as a powerful platform for exploring fundamental spin physics and potential applications in electrical and optical-driven spin-based devices. The ease of control of magnetic properties via external control knobs makes them particularly useful. In this talk, I will highlight our recent progress in tuning the magnetic properties of the newly discovered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr through uniaxial strain. This includes the coupling of exciton and interlayer magnetism, the reversible switching of antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic phase transitions, and the strain-tuning of coherent spin waves (magnons) through optical spectroscopy of excitons. Lastly, I will discuss a strain-controlled van der Waals magnetic tunnel junction with programmable magnetic memory and probabilistic bit functionality, which holds potential for new memory and computing technologies.
Biography: Xiaodong Xu is a Boeing Distinguished Professor at the Department of Physics, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He got his BS and PhD degree in physics from University of Science and Technology of China (2002) and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2008), respectively. He joined the University of Washington in 2010 after his postdoc at Cornell University.
Host: J Yang, H Wang, C Zhou, S Cronin, W Wu
More Information: Xiaodong_0215 Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
-
Center of Autonomy and AI, Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and the Internet of Things, and Ming Hsieh Institute Seminar Series
Wed, Feb 15, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anirudha Majumdar, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University
Talk Title: Safety and Generalization for Learning-Based Robot Control
Series: Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things
Abstract: The ability of machine learning techniques to process rich sensory inputs such as vision makes them highly appealing for use in robotic systems (e.g., micro aerial vehicles and robotic manipulators). However, the increasing adoption of learning-based components in the robotics perception and control pipeline poses an important challenge: how can we guarantee the safety and performance of such systems? As an example, consider a micro aerial vehicle that learns to navigate using a thousand different obstacle environments or a robotic manipulator that learns to grasp using a million objects in a dataset. How likely are these systems to remain safe and perform well on a novel (i.e., previously unseen) environment or object? How can we learn control policies for robotic systems that provably generalize to environments that our robot has not previously encountered? Unfortunately, existing approaches either do not provide such guarantees or do so only under very restrictive assumptions.
In this talk, I will present our group's work on developing a principled theoretical and algorithmic framework for learning control policies for robotic systems with formal guarantees on generalization to novel environments. The key technical insight is to leverage and extend powerful techniques from generalization theory in theoretical machine learning. We apply our techniques on problems including vision-based navigation and grasping in order to demonstrate the ability to provide strong generalization guarantees on robotic systems with complicated (e.g., nonlinear/hybrid) dynamics, rich sensory inputs (e.g., RGB-D), and neural network-based control policies.
Biography: Anirudha Majumdar is an Assistant Professor at Princeton University in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) department and Associated Faculty in the Computer Science department. He also holds a part-time position as a Visiting Research Scientist at the Google AI Lab in Princeton. His group works on controlling highly agile robotic systems in a manner that allows us to make formal guarantees on their safety and performance.
Majumdar received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016, and a B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. Subsequently, he was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University from 2016 to 2017 at the Autonomous Systems Lab in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department. He is a recipient of the ONR YIP award, the NSF CAREER award, the Google Faculty Research Award (twice), the Amazon Research Award (twice), the Young Faculty Researcher Award from the Toyota Research Institute, the Best Conference Paper Award at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), the Paper of the Year Award from the International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR), the Alfred Rheinstein Faculty Award (Princeton University), and the Excellence in Teaching Teaching Award from Princeton's School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Host: Somil Bansal, somilban@usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92742577270?pwd=bEpXaWJudjZWRksyNk5lL1owUUdBQT09Location: Online
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92742577270?pwd=bEpXaWJudjZWRksyNk5lL1owUUdBQT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia White
-
Bridging Ethical Algorithms, Law, and Practice: Hiring and Beyond
Wed, Feb 15, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Swati Gupta, Assistant Professor, Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech
Talk Title: Bridging Ethical Algorithms, Law, and Practice: Hiring and Beyond
Abstract: Optimization and statistical models based on historical and socio-economic data that do not incorporate fairness desiderata can lead to unfair, discriminatory, or biased outcomes. New ideas are needed to ensure that the developed systems are accountable under uncertainty and reduce a deeper propagation of biases in multi-level decisions. In this talk, I will first discuss methods for ensuring ethical hiring. Recent run-ins of Microsoft and Wells Fargo with the Labor Department's OFCCP highlight a paradox: failing to address workforce imbalance can result in legal sanctions and scrutiny, but proactive measures to address these issues might result in the same legal conflict. Dr. Gupta will propose that partially-ordered sets, "posets", can be used to transparently account for known uncertainties and biases in evaluation data, giving rise to an interesting class of optimization problems. We will showcase how to ensure a "competitive" online selection of candidates with this model. Keeping in mind the requirements of U.S. anti-discrimination law, however, certain methods can be construed as illegal (e.g., imposing quotas). I will discuss the tensions with the law and ways to argue the legal feasibility of our proposed approach. This is based on joint work with Deven Desai and Jad Salem. I will also briefly discuss ethical decision-making in the context of other applications such as admissions, detection of critical diseases like sepsis, facility location, and gerrymandering.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Dr. Swati Gupta is a Fouts Family Early Career Professor and Assistant Professor in the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering at Georgia Tech. She serves as the lead of Ethical AI in the NSF AI Institute on Advances in Optimization. She received a Ph.D. in Operations Research from MIT. Her research interests include optimization, machine learning, and algorithmic fairness, spanning various domains such as e-commerce, quantum optimization, and energy. She received the Class of 1934: Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching in 2021 and 2022 at Georgia Tech, the JP Morgan Early Career Faculty Award in 2021, and the NSF CISE Research Initiation Initiative Award in 2019, and the Google Women in Engineering Award (India) in 2011. She was also awarded the prestigious Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship in 2017-2018, where she was selected as the Microsoft Research Fellow in 2018. Her research and students have received recognition at various venues like INFORMS Doing Good with OR 2022 (finalist), MIP Poster 2022 (honorable mention), INFORMS Undergraduate Operations Research 2018 (honorable mention), INFORMS Computing Society 2016 (special recognition), and INFORMS Service Science Student Paper 2016 (finalist). Dr. Gupta's research is partially funded by the NSF and DARPA.
Host: USC Center for AI in Society
Location: Location: Register for the Zoom webinar here: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kmziSvzGT0OBw-
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Asiroh Cham
-
AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 15, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michelle C. Yuen , Harvard University
Talk Title: Soft robots enabled by functional materials
Abstract: Soft robots have the potential to extend the capabilities currently demonstrated within the field of robotics. By utilizing primarily soft materials in their construction, soft robots are inherently safe to operate around humans, can handle delicate tasks without advanced controls, and are robust to shocks and impacts during deployment. While proof-of-concept devices have been demonstrated, there remains a need for widely applicable, reliable soft robotic components.
In this talk, I will present my work on enabling technologies for soft robotic systems and, more broadly, deformable electromechanical systems. Specifically, I will discuss 1) high-deformation strain sensors for state reconstruction and closed-loop control of soft robots, 2) stretchable electronics fabricated using room-temperature liquid metals, and 3) responsive structures enabled by variable-stiffness materials that can switch reversibly from flexible to stiff. These devices rely upon functional materials -“ materials that have a useful, intrinsic property (e.g., conductivity, thermal-responsiveness) -“ that can be leveraged for robotic needs. Throughout this talk, I will be highlighting the need for co-developed design, materials selection, and manufacturing processes to produce reliable devices that can be fabricated at scale.
The work presented in this talk illustrates a path toward building deformable electromechanical systems that are adaptable and versatile by leveraging soft, functional multi-material systems.
Biography: Michelle C. Yuen is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab. She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2018, following a B.S. in Biological Systems Engineering from University of California, Davis in 2013. During her Ph.D. studies, she worked on the design, materials, and manufacturing methods for soft robotic components and systems. She was then awarded a Research Associateship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to work on next-generation stretchable electronic devices at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Currently, her work leverages her expertise in soft materials manipulation to building deployable inflated structures, soft actuators, and adhesion strategies for marine mammal tagging.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95805178776?pwd=aEtTRnQ2MmJ6UWE4dk9UMG9GdENLQT09Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95805178776?pwd=aEtTRnQ2MmJ6UWE4dk9UMG9GdENLQT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
-
MHI Photonics Seminar - Bo Zhen, Thursday, 2/16 at 4pm in EEB 248
Thu, Feb 16, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bo Zhen, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Nonlinear Topological Photonics
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: Topological photonics is a rapid developing field, drawing inspirations from the recent successes in electronic systems. Yet, there are two major differences between photons and electrons: (1) photons obey Maxwell's equations, which naturally permit nonlinearities, whereas the Schrodinger equation is always linear; (2) photons are bosons, which allows one to easily probe responses at virtually any desired energy (frequency) without the limitation of the Fermi energy. Based on these differences, I will present our recent theoretical and experimental results in understanding the role of optical nonlinearity in topological physics. On the theory side, these include defining topological invariants in driven nonlinear photonic crystals [1] and identifying various topological phases, such as the Floquet Chern insulators [1], dipole phases [2], quadrupole phases [3,4], and topological polaritons [5]. On the experiment side, I will present our recent results towards observing Floquet Chern insulators, protecting out-of-plane photon radiation losses using topology [6] and their potential applications as grating couplers [7]. Finally, I will present an outlook for potential opportunities in science and technology such as night-vision goggles.
References: [1] Nature Communications 10, 4194 (2019). [2] Physical Review Letters 126, 113901 (2021). [3] Nature Communications 11, 3119 (2020). [4] Physical Review Letters 129, 063902 (2022). [5] Physical Review Letters 130, 043801 (2023). [6] Nature 574, 501 (2019). [7] Nature 580, 467 (2020).
Biography: Bo Zhen is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his B.S. degrees (Mathematics and Physics) from Tsinghua University in 2008 and his Ph.D. degree (Physics) from MIT in 2014. His honors and awards include Air Force Young Investigator program (2018), Kaufman New Investigator (2018), Army Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2019), Office of Naval Research Young Investigator program (2021), Sloan Research Fellowship (2021), and International Commission for Optics Prize (2021).
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani
More Information: Bo Zhen Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
-
Nano Science & Technology Seminar - Sourav Dutta, Friday, 2/17 at 2pm in EEB 132
Fri, Feb 17, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sourav Dutta, Components Research at Intel
Talk Title: Oxide Semiconductor Nanoelectronics for Energy-Efficient Computing
Series: Nano Science & Technology
Abstract: Advancements in deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have created a growing demand for domain-specific hardware architecture for accelerating data-intensive workloads. A key source of acceleration as well as energy-efficiency comes from the availability of dense on-chip embedded memory to overcome the memory bottleneck. While silicon transistor scaling continues to make steady progress, resulting in exponential increase in aerial transistor density to over 100 million per square millimeter, static random-access memory (SRAM), the primary workhorse for on-chip embedded memory, is approaching its scaling brick wall. In this talk, I will discuss how amorphous oxide semiconductor can allow us to escape the confines of two-dimensional scaling and embrace the third dimension for continued scaling of logic and embedded memory and enable merged logic-memory fabric. I will highlight the oustanding challenges in oxide semiconductors and discuss strategies towards obtaining back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible high mobility n- and p-type oxide semiconductor transistor through disorder insensitive material design, band structure engineering and defect suppression. Through low temperature in situ synthesis and integration with functional materials such as ferroelectrics, I will discuss enabling BEOL compatible oxide semiconductor-based high-density embedded memory. Finally, I will discuss how oxide semiconductor-based monolithic 3D logic and memory can enable building specialized hardware tailored for accelerating key mathematical operations pertinent for AI workloads such as performing linear matrix operations or solving nonlinear coupled differential equations.
Biography: Dr. Sourav Dutta is currently a memory device research engineer at Components Research at Intel. His current research focuses on novel high-density embedded memory for Intel's next generation technology nodes. He received his Ph.D. in 2018 from the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology under Prof. Azad Naeemi. From 2018 to 2021, he was a postdoctoral research scholar with Prof. Suman Datta at University of Notre Dame. His research focused on emerging nanoelectronics devices with functional materials such as oxide semiconductors and ferroelectrics. He has worked on back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible high performance oxide semiconductor transistor, high density embedded memory using oxide semiconductor and ferroelectric material, and monolithic 3D integration of logic and memory for compute-in-memory and collective computing applications. Dr. Dutta is the recipient of the 2018 Sigma Xi Best Doctoral Dissertation Award from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Host: J Yang, H Wang, C Zhou, S Cronin, W Wu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
-
CEE Seminar Series
Tue, Feb 21, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jeannie Wilkening, PhD, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Talk Title: Lets Get Physiological Plants as a Dynamic Diverse and Oftentimes Difficult Part of the Water Cycle
Abstract: see attachment
Host: CEE
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214More Information: Wilkening_Announcement.docx
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
-
CS Colloquium: Christophe Hauser (USC / ISI) - Binary program analysis for systems security: a journey of post-design security challenges
Tue, Feb 21, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Christophe Hauser, USC / ISI
Talk Title: Binary program analysis for systems security: a journey of post-design security challenges
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Modern software stacks are complex and rapidly expanding. This continuous trend keeps raising new challenges for software security: the discrepancy between the number of trained human experts available and the growing scale of modern software makes traditional analysis techniques unfit to address security problems in a timely fashion in real-world settings. Existing solutions towards solving this conundrum are staggered across multiple stages in the software development process. While design-time approaches involving formal methods and proofs of correctness have received academic attention and demonstrated success in safety-critical domains such as aerospace, the current state-of-practice in most of the software industry relies on informal and reactive security techniques which often require manual analysis.
My work focuses on addressing the unique challenges of post-development security through principled approaches leveraging formal methods, reverse engineering and machine learning to detect, patch and prevent vulnerabilities across the software stacks. However, security properties are difficult to guarantee in the context of modern, real-world computer architectures and software engineering practices, and this difficulty is further exacerbated when source code, specification or design-level information is unavailable. Unfortunately, this context is very common when it comes to evaluating the security of third-party software, whether it is released in the form of applications, libraries or embedded firmware.
In this talk, I will present my research to date towards addressing these challenges by focusing on leveraging theoretically sound models while attempting to identify the best soundness trade-offs to make these practical and prioritize real-world impact.
More specifically, I will present applications of these models to the problems of vulnerability discovery in a post-development context, retrofitting security in binary code and on extending the scalability of vulnerability models with machine learning.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Dr. Christophe Hauser is Research Computer Scientist and Research Lead at University of California's Information Sciences Institute, where he founded and co-leads the BASS (Binary Analysis and Systems Security) research group (https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://bass.isi.edu__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!qKWHZjoxvzMpC-rGATAiOW1m9nqIFHGeItsBB8n2hqiYHcQ5pqEcPeMyuQgGrc1gg5tvklVajL8hTQ$ ).
His research focuses on multiple aspects of systems security including intrusion detection, vulnerability discovery, binary program analysis and reverse engineering. He has been publishing high-impact papers in top security conferences such as USENIX Security, the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC), USENIX Security, the Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium and the IEEE symposium on Security and Privacy (S&P). He also has been actively serving as technical committee member for top security conferences, including as the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), USENIX Security and ACSAC, and was part of the organizing committee of CCS 2022.
Prior to joining USC-ISI, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Seclab at UC Santa Barbara where he worked on the design and development of the "angr" program analysis platform, which is now vastly used across academia and industry.
He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from CentraleSupélec, University of Paris-Saclay, France, (jointly with Queensland university of technology, Australia).
Host: Department of Computer Science
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
-
Epstein Institute - ISE 651 Seminar
Tue, Feb 21, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Coralia Cartis, Professor, Mathematics Institute, Oxford University
Talk Title: Dimensionality Reduction Techniques for Nonconvex Optimization
Host: Prof. Jong-Shi Pang
More Information: February 21, 2023.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - GER 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
-
Can collaborative systems science methods improve intervention strategies to reduce alcohol-related problems?
Wed, Feb 22, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Christina Mair, Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
Talk Title: Can collaborative systems science methods improve intervention strategies to reduce alcohol-related problems?
Abstract: Systems science approaches, such as agent-based models, provide the opportunity to compare a range of intervention implementation strategies in a simulated environment. The usefulness of a given model, however, is limited by its accuracy, focus, and salience to end users. In this talk, Dr. Mair will share a collaborator-designed systems model of alcohol-involved sexual violence on college campuses currently being developed through a series of collaborative model building sessions with a learning collaborative. Integrating collaborative model building with agent-based model development is an innovative, empirically-based approach that can improve implementation of effective strategies to address alcohol-involved sexual violence, promote preventive interventions, and stimulate campus-level policy and programmatic changes to reduce sexual violence among students.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Location: Register for the Zoom webinar here: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O3DV23rCQNug1Plxj01MbA
Biography: Dr. Mair is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, with secondary appointments in the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and Department of Epidemiology. She also serves as Director of the Center for Social Dynamics and Community Health and Associate Director of the Public Health Dynamics Lab. Her research seeks to understand structural and contextual influences on substance use-related problems with the goal to reduce these problems in community settings.
Host: USC Center for AI in Society
More Info: https://cais.usc.edu/events/bridging-ethical-algorithms-law-and-practice-hiring-and-beyond/
Location: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_O3DV23rCQNug1Plxj01MbA
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Asiroh Cham
Event Link: https://cais.usc.edu/events/bridging-ethical-algorithms-law-and-practice-hiring-and-beyond/
-
CEE Seminar Series
Wed, Feb 22, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ruolin Li, University of California Berkeley
Talk Title: The Potential of Autonomous Vehicles in the Management of Intelligent Transportation Systems
Abstract: See attachment
Host: CEE
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214More Information: Li_Announcement.docx
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
-
AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 22, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: David Doan, Stanford University
Talk Title: Strategies to Achieve Order: Colloidal Self-Assembly and Nano-Enhanced Additive Manufacturing
Abstract: Achieving order is key to the improvement of materials properties in applications such as mechanics, catalysis, and photonics. Colloidal self-assembly has been a field of interest due to its ability to manipulate nanoscale/microscale particles to create periodic structures. However, a challenge in this field is the ability to expand the possible phase space of crystal structures that can be formed. Here, we explore the fundamentals of shape- or entropy-driven self-assembly to achieve different types of order. I will discuss an experimental framework that allows us to fabricate particles of complex shapes using two-photon lithography and assemble them under a gravitational field. I will present experimental, analytical, and computational results for the self-assembly of truncated tetrahedrons on a 2D interface.
I will also present on enhancing mechanical properties through the addition of atomically precise nanoclusters in polymeric structures to create nanocomposites. This, in conjunction with two-photon lithography, allows us to fabricate strong but lightweight structures of arbitrary shapes. We show that these nanoclusters enhance the overall mechanical properties of the structure, above what is expected from simple composite theory.
Biography: David Doan is currently a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University under the supervision of Professor Wendy Gu, with a planned graduation in mid-2023. He received his Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford and Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He is an NSF Graduate Fellow and Questbridge Scholar. His current research focuses on the fundamentals of self-assembly and mechanics but eventually wants to develop more scalable fabrication techniques that connect the nanoscale to the macroscale.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
-
Munushian seminar speaker - John A. Rogers, Friday, February 24th at 9am in EB 132
Fri, Feb 24, 2023 @ 09:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John A. Rogers, Northwestern University
Talk Title: Director of the Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics
Series: Munushian Seminar Series
Abstract: A remarkable feature of modern integrated circuit technology is its ability to operate in a stable fashion, almost indefinitely, without physical or chemical change. Recently developed classes of electronic materials create an opportunity to engineer the opposite outcome, in the form of 'transient' devices that dissolve, disintegrate, degrade or otherwise physically disappear at triggered times or with controlled rates. Water-soluble classes of transient electronic devices serve as the foundations for applications in zero-impact environmental monitors, 'green' consumer electronic gadgetry and bio-resorbable medical implants. This talk describes the foundational concepts in materials science, electrical engineering and assembly processes for bio/ecoresorbable electronics in a variety of formats and with a range of functions. Bioresorbable wireless stimulators that accelerate neuroregeneration of injured peripheral nerves and pacemakers that minimize risks after cardiac surgeries represent some recent system level examples.
Biography: Professor John A. Rogers obtained BA and BS degrees in chemistry and in physics from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1989. From MIT, he received SM degrees in physics and in chemistry in 1992 and the PhD degree in physical chemistry in 1995. From 1995 to 1997, Rogers was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard University Society of Fellows. He joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff in 1997 and then served as Director of the Condensed Matter Physics Research Department from the end of 2000 to 2002. He then spent thirteen years on the faculty at University of Illinois, most recently as the Swanlund Chair Professor and Director of the Seitz Materials Research Laboratory. In the Fall of 2016, he moved to Northwestern University where he is Director of the recently endowed Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics. He has co-authored nearly 900 papers and his co-inventor on more than 100 patents. His research has been recognized by many awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship (2009), the Lemelson-MIT Prize (2011), the Smithsonian Award for American Ingenuity in the Physical Sciences (2013), the Benjamin Franklin Medal from the Franklin Institute (2019), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2021). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Host: ECE-Electrophysics
More Information: Flyer Munushian seminar John Rogers.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
-
Nano Science & Technology Seminar - Mo Chen, Friday, 2/23 at 11am in EEB 248
Fri, Feb 24, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mo Chen, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: A Hybrid Platform for Quantum Computing
Series: Nano Science & Technology
Abstract: Material defects are ubiquitous. Seven decades ago, defects challenged the new-born semiconductor industry, and today they are one of the major roadblocks for quantum technologies. Solid-state quantum devices, in particular, superconducting qubits, stand out as one of the leading platforms for fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, the performance of superconducting qubits is limited by the presence of various microscopic forms of two-level state (TLS) defects in the amorphous surfaces of the materials that make up the qubits. Previous attempts to address this issue mostly focused on circuit designs that reduced the negative impact of TLS, but advancements have plateaued since around 2012. In this seminar, I will introduce an orthogonal approach that engineers the TLS into a highly useful quantum resource that could positively impact the superconducting qubit's performance. First, I will introduce a hybrid platform which utilizes acoustic bandgap metamaterials to structure phonon modes and significantly enhance the TLS lifetime. Next, I will discuss quantum sensing techniques developed for color centers in diamond, and their applications to this hybrid system to gain further insights into the defect physics. Lastly, I will discuss the prospects of quantum computing based on the hybrid platform.
Biography: Mo Chen is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Applied Physics and the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter at the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.S. in Optics from Fudan University in 2012 and his S.M. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015 and 2020, respectively. His research interests are focused on gaining a fundamental understanding of device physics and applying that knowledge to engineer novel quantum devices, such as qubits, quantum sensors, and quantum memories.
Host: J Yang, H Wang, C Zhou, S Cronin, W Wu
More Information: Mo Chen Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
-
MoBI Seminar: Individual Differences in Face Recognition Abilities
Mon, Feb 27, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Frédéric Gosselin, Full Professor, Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal
Talk Title: Individual Differences in Face Recognition Abilities
Abstract: Abilities for face recognition vary greatly even among neurologically typical individuals. At one end of the spectrum, developmental prosopagnosics show great difficulty recognizing faces, despite not having sustained any brain injuries. At the other end of the spectrum, super-recognizers easily recognize faces they have not seen in years, even if these faces have physically changed in a substantial manner. Understanding how perceptual mechanisms are linked with individual abilities can offer important and straightforward insights for improving face processing in both individuals with poor face recognition abilities and people whose jobs require strong face processing ability. We recently characterised the brain computations of participants of various face recognition abilities using high-density electroencephalographic signals and a combination of behavioural tests, artificial neural network models, and machine learning analyses. We found that individual face recognition ability can be decoded from brain activity in an extended temporal interval for face and non-face objects. We show that both visual and semantic brain computations contribute to these individual differences.
Biography: Frédéric Gosselin is a Full Professor in the Département de psychologie at Université de Montréal, and, with Dr. Anne Gallagher, the co-founder and co-director of cerebrum. He is a world-leading expert in high-level vision. He is the co-inventor of the Bubbles technique. He has also developed the popular SHINE toolbox for controlling low-level image properties. In his research, he uses a combination of psychophysical, neuropsychological, brain imaging and computational methods. Recently, his work has focused on individual differences in face recognition abilities. Dr. Gosselin is the founder and CEO of Elephant Scientific Consulting Inc.. His company has been advising multinational corporations such as Unilever, Cirque du Soleil and Netflix for 20 years.
Host: Dr. Karim Jerbi, karim.jerbi.udem@gmail.com and Dr. Richard M. Leahy, leahy@sipi.usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/99092780975?pwd=aWcydXI1YmFxaXZaQ3VKRHhzOGJqUT09Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/99092780975?pwd=aWcydXI1YmFxaXZaQ3VKRHhzOGJqUT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
-
CEE Seminar Series
Mon, Feb 27, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Saverio Perri, Princeton University
Talk Title: Salt-affected ecosystems: from plant-water relations to ecohydrological engineering
Abstract: see attached
Host: CEE
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214More Information: Perri_Announcement.docx
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
-
AME Seminar
Mon, Feb 27, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Janet Ellzey, University of Texas at Austin
Talk Title: Humanitarian Engineering: Educating Bold, Responsible, and Innovative Leaders
Abstract: Humanitarian engineering, the application of engineering solutions to low-income or marginalized communities, is a growing field in the US and worldwide. Sometimes called development engineering, researchers and practitioners focus on culturally appropriate solutions for resource-constrained environments such as refugee camps or low-income communities. Engineering schools are increasingly recognizing the importance of training students in humanitarian engineering and are developing programs using different approaches, from student organizations to full degree programs. At the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Janet Ellzey has built an academic certificate that provides students with several pathways to use their engineering skills to positively impact the world, including a design and build program in which student teams partner with local communities and an innovation program to develop new technologies for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In this talk, Dr. Ellzey will discuss this exciting engineering field, describe the programs at UT-Austin with data on the diversity of students enrolled in the program, and present challenges and opportunities for universities wanting to enter this field.
Biography: Janet Ellzey is a professor of mechanical engineering and the Engineering Foundation Centennial Teaching Fellow in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. She received her BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and her PhD from the University of California-Berkeley. After more than 30 years of conducting experimental and computational research in the field of combustion, she pivoted her career to focus on expanding unique educational opportunities for undergraduate students. Recognizing the enthusiasm that the current generation of students has for social justice, she launched a program in humanitarian engineering which she now directs. Through creative partnerships with local communities abroad as well as with major international organizations, she has developed a network to educate the next generation of leaders while positively impacting the world.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
-
CS Colloquium: Yang Liu (UC Santa Cruz) - Reliable Machine Learning: From Data to Deployment
Tue, Feb 28, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yang Liu, UC Santa Cruz
Talk Title: Reliable Machine Learning: From Data to Deployment
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Developing reliable machine learning systems presents challenges in handling biased input data and the consequences of deployment. For instance, a machine learning model for question answering (e.g., ChatGPT) can encode mistakes and biases that persist in the database; an unaware machine learning-powered decision-maker (e.g., for loan approval) can automatically deny people the chance of recourse, resulting in a decline of trust between human and machines; deploying a sequence of myopically optimized models may create an unfair "echo chamber" for users. The list goes on. This talk presents three challenges to building a reliable machine learning system: (1) developing fair and robust algorithms with biased training data, (2) auditing the dynamic interactions between users and machine learning models, and (3) maximizing the long-term welfare of machine learning ecosystems with efficient interventions. We will discuss our group's efforts in addressing these challenges.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Yang Liu is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at UC Santa Cruz (2019 - present). He also leads the machine learning fairness team at ByteDance AI Lab. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University (2016 - 2018). In 2015, he received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of EECS at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research focuses on developing fair and robust machine learning algorithms to tackle the challenges of biased and shifting data. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award. He has been selected to participate in several high-profile projects, including NSF-Amazon Fairness in AI, DARPA SCORE, and IARPA HFC. His research has observed deployments with FICO and Amazon. His recent work has been recognized with four best paper awards at relevant workshops.
Host: Vatsal Sharan
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
-
CEE Seminar Series
Tue, Feb 28, 2023 @ 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Matei Gerogescu, Arizona State University
Talk Title: Utility of Regional Climate Modeling for urban climate, energy, and agricultural applications
Abstract: see attached
Host: CEE
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214More Information: Georgescu Announcement.docx
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
-
Epstein Institute - ISE 651 Seminar
Tue, Feb 28, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Abigail Horn, Research Assistant Professor of Epstein ISE; Research Lead, USC Viterbi ISI
Talk Title: Tracing the Source of Large-Scale Outbreaks of Foodborne Contamination Across Complex Food Supply Networks
Host: Prof. Suvrajeet Sen
More Information: February 28, 2023.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - GER 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
