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Events for March 01, 2023

  • Semiconductors & Microelectronics Technology Seminar - Andrew Mannix, Wednesday, 3/1 at 11am in EEB 248

    Wed, Mar 01, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Andrew Mannix, Stanford University

    Talk Title: Automated assembly of synthetic van der Waals solids

    Series: Semiconductors & Microelectronics Technology

    Abstract: Synthetic van der Waals (vdW) solids assembled from two-dimensional (2D) materials yield unprecedented, atomic-scale control over their structure and properties, with profound implications for future quantum, electronic, and photonic devices. Within these vdW solids, moiré superlattices arising from lattice mismatch and interlayer twist angle can host novel quantum states (e.g., superconductivity), emergent ferroelectricity, and tunable quantum confinement. However,
    the production of vdW solids remains a largely artisanal process,
    limited in the size of the source material and the fabrication
    throughput. In this talk, I will discuss our recent efforts to enhance the quality and speed of vdW solid fabrication. Our core approach, Robotic 4D Pixel Assembly, enables rapid manufacturing of designer vdW solids with unprecedented speed, area, patternability, and angle control. We utilize a high-vacuum robot to assemble prepatterned pixels made from 2D materials grown at the wafer scale. We fabricated vdW solids of up to 80 individual layers, consisting of (10 to 1000 μm)^2 areas with pre-designed patterned shapes, laterally/vertically programmed composition, and controlled interlayer angle. This enabled efficient optical spectroscopy assays of vdW solids and fabrication of twisted n-layer assemblies, where we observe atomic lattice relaxation
    of twisted 4-layer WS_2 at unexpectedly high interlayer twist angles of greater than or equal to 4 degree. To conclude, I will outline ongoing efforts in my lab to understand and engineer high quality electronic interfaces, moiré superlattices, and point defects within vdW solids.


    Biography: Andrew Mannix is an assistant professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He completed his B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University as an NSF GRFP Fellow, where he worked on the growth and atomic-scale characterization of new 2D materials. Before moving to Stanford, Andy was a Kadanoff-Rice Postdoctoral Fellow in the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago, where he developed new methods of atomically-thin nanomaterials growth, processing, and automated heterostructure assembly. His lab at Stanford focuses on the growth, assembly and atomic-scale characterization of 2D materials for new electronic and quantum information science applications.

    Host: J Yang, H Wang, C Zhou, S Cronin, W Wu

    More Information: Andrew_0301_new.pdf

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • CS Colloquium: Alexis E. Block (UCLA) - Towards Enhanced Social-Physical Human-Robot Interaction

    Wed, Mar 01, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Alexis E. Block, UCLA

    Talk Title: Towards Enhanced Social-Physical Human-Robot Interaction

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Hugs are one of the first forms of contact and affection humans experience. Receiving a hug is one of the best ways to feel socially supported, and the lack of social touch can have severe adverse effects on an individual's well-being. Due to the prevalence and health benefits of hugging, we were interested in creating robots that can hug humans as seamlessly as humans hug other humans. However, hugs are complex affective interactions that need to adapt to the height, body shape, and preferences of the hugging partner, and they often include intra-hug gestures like squeezes. In this talk, I'll present the eleven design guidelines of natural and enjoyable robotic hugging that informed the creation of a series of hugging robots that use visual and haptic perception to provide enjoyable interactive hugs. Then, I'll share how each of the four presented HuggieBot versions is evaluated by measuring how users emotionally and behaviorally respond to hugging it. Next, I'll briefly touch on how HuggieBot 4.0 is explicitly compared to a human hugging partner using physiological measures. Finally, I'll share some other forms of physical human-robot interaction I've been working on during my post doc as well as future directions of my research in the area of social-physical human-robot interaction.


    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

    Biography: Alexis E. Block is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she is funded by a competitive postdoctoral Computing Innovation Fellowship (CI Fellows) from the US National Science Foundation. She received her Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, and her Master's in Robotics in 2017, also from Penn. Block received her Dr. Sc. in Computer Science from ETH Zürich in August 2021, as part of the Max Planck ETH Center for Learning Systems, supervised by Katherine Kuchenbecker, Otmar Hilliges, and Roger Gassert. She was awarded an Otto Hahn Medal from the Max Planck Society for her doctoral work and the Best Hands-On Demonstration at EuroHaptics 2022. Block is currently the General Chair for the Robotics Gordon Research Seminar 2024 and organized the 2022 Southern California Robotics Symposium that took place in September. Alexis's research has been featured in the New York Times, The Times, IEEE Spectrum (twice), NPR, and Nature Outlook to name a few.

    Host: Heather Culbertson

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • CEE Seminar Series

    Wed, Mar 01, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dajiang Suo, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Talk Title: Designing and Deploying Connected Infrastructure to Enable Secure and Safe Automated Transportation

    Abstract: see attached

    Host: CEE

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214

    More Information: Suo_Announcement.docx

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95242807214

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Salina Palacios

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  • AME Seminar

    Wed, Mar 01, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Junsoo Kim, Harvard University

    Talk Title: Fracture of Highly Entangled Polymer Networks

    Abstract: Polymers pollute our planet. Part of this pollution comes from tires. Every year, 0.8 kg of rubber particles are shed by tires per capita in the world.1 A recent study showed that rainstorms wash the rubber particles into rivers, where toxic chemical compounds leach out and kill fish.2 Despite its significant impact on the environment, the development of rubbers resistant to fracture has been stagnant for decades. In this talk, I will discuss how to improve the fracture properties of polymer networks, such as rubbers and gels. The key idea is that entanglements stiffen polymers but do not embrittle them, whereas crosslinks stiffen polymers and embrittle them (i.e., stiffness-toughness conflict). Therefore, highly entangled polymer networks in which entanglements greatly outnumber crosslinks can be both stiff and tough. Furthermore, whereas traditional toughening mechanisms are based on sacrificial bonds causing hysteresis and fatigue, highly entangled polymer networks achieve high toughness by stress deconcentration, leading to high strength, elasticity, and fatigue resistance. This toughening mechanism is based on the polymer topology, not chemistry, so it is generally applicable to many other polymer systems, such as various monomers, preexisting polymers,4 and filled rubbers.5 It is hoped that this work will reactivate the development of wear-resistant tires. Such materials can also be explored in other high-volume applications such as dampers and belts, as well as emerging applications such as soft robots, wearable devices, tissue replacements, bioprinting, and humanoids.

    1 P. J. Kole, A. J. Löhr, F. G. A. J. V. Belleghem, A. M. J. Ragas, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 14(10), 1265 (2017)
    2 Z. Tian et. al., Science, 371(6525), 185-189 (2020)
    3 J. Kim*, G. Zhang*, M. Shi, Z. Suo, Science, 374(6564), 212-216 (2021)
    4 G. Nian*, J. Kim*, X. Bao, Z. Suo, Adv. Mat., 34(50), 2206577 (2022)
    5 J. Steck*, J. Kim*, Y. Kutsovsky, Z. Suo, under review

    Biography: Junsoo Kim is a postdoctoral researcher at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University. He earned his Ph.D. in the Material Science and Mechanical Engineering department at Harvard University in 2022, where he studied fracture of soft materials. Before joining Harvard in 2017, he was a researcher at Electronics Telecommunications Research Institute since 2014. He earned his M.S. in 2013 and B.S. in 2011 at Seoul National University in South Korea. He co-authored 31 papers in peer-reviewed journals, registered six patents, and received fellowships, including the Ilun Science and Technology Foundation (2013) and Kwanjeong Educational Foundation (2017).

    Host: AME Department

    More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09

    Location: 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/

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