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Events for March 05, 2019

  • CS Colloquium: Tatsunori Hashimoto (Stanford University) - Beyond the average case: machine learning for atypical examples

    Tue, Mar 05, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Tatsunori Hashimoto, Stanford University

    Talk Title: Beyond the average case: machine learning for atypical examples

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Although machine learning systems have improved dramatically over the last decade, it has been widely observed that even the best systems fail on atypical examples. For example, prediction models such as image classifiers have low accuracy on images from minority cultures, and generative models such as dialogue systems are often incapable of generating diverse, atypical responses. In this talk, I will discuss two domains where high performance on typical examples is insufficient.

    The first is learning prediction models that perform well on minority groups, such as non-native English speakers using a speech recognition system. We demonstrate that models with low average loss can still assign high losses to minority groups, and this gap can amplify over time as minority users that suffer high losses stop using the model. We develop an approach using distributionally robust optimization that learns models that perform well over all groups and mitigate the feedback loop.

    The second domain is learning natural language generation (NLG) systems, such as a dialogue system. It has been frequently observed that existing NLG systems which produce high-quality samples rely heavily on typical responses such as "I don't know" and fail to generate the full diversity of atypical but valid human responses.
    We carefully quantify this problem through a new evaluation metric based on the optimal classification error between human- and model-generated text and propose a new, edit-based generative model of text whose outputs are both diverse and high-quality.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.


    Biography: Tatsunori (Tatsu) Hashimoto is a 3rd year post-doc in the Statistics and Computer Science departments at Stanford, supervised by Professors Percy Liang and John Duchi. He holds a Ph.D from MIT where he studied random walks and computational biology under Professors Tommi Jaakkola and David Gifford, and a B.S. from Harvard in Statistics and Math. His work has been recognized in NeurIPS 2018 (Oral), ICML 2018 (Best paper runner-up), and NeurIPS 2014 Workshop on Networks (Best student paper).

    Host: Yan Liu

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • Internship/Job Search Open Forum

    Tue, Mar 05, 2019 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Increase your career and internship knowledge on the job/internship search by attending this professional development Q&A moderated by Viterbi Career Connections staff or Viterbi employer partners.

    For more information about Labs & Open Forums, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211

    Audiences: All Viterbi Students

    Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections

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  • Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar

    Tue, Mar 05, 2019 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Saahastaranshu R. Bhardwaj, PhD, Purdue University

    Talk Title: Multi-Hazard Resilience: The Need of the Hour

    Abstract: Climate change has resulted in novel hazard patterns, with increasing severity and probability of multi-hazard scenarios. The field of structural engineering requires innovative approaches to address the challenges posed by climate change (e.g., multi-hazards), and to explore new frontiers in science and engineering (e.g., space habitat systems). There is a push for developing resilient and sustainable structural systems to cater these needs of science and industry.

    This seminar describes recent large-scale experimental and numerical investigations to evaluate the multi-hazard response of steel-plate composite and reinforced concrete walls. The investigations involved subjecting the specimens to combined loading scenarios (e.g., seismic and thermal loading, multi-axial loading, gravity and fire loading). A particularly challenging aspect of the experiments involving multi-hazard loads is the design and construction of test set-ups. The seminar presents the design of experiments and summarizes the observations. The analysis and design tools developed to consider interaction of multi-hazard loading are also discussed.

    A resilient community comprises of resilient assets. The multi-hazard evaluation capabilities can be employed to develop innovative and resilient structures for habitation on earth and elsewhere! The talk includes a discussion of potential research areas that warrant innovative structural systems and / or multi-hazard evaluation.


    Host: Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Location: Ray R. Irani Hall (RRI) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Salina Palacios

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  • Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651

    Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651

    Tue, Mar 05, 2019 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Stan Uryasev, Professor, University of Florida

    Talk Title: How to Supplement Risk Regulations to Avoid Industrial Catastrophes

    Host: Dr. Suvrajeet Sen

    More Information: March 5, 2019.pdf

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Grace Owh

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  • Civil and Environmental Engineering Alumni & Industry Spotlight

    Tue, Mar 05, 2019 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Workshops & Infosessions


    The Viterbi Industry & Alumni Spotlight is a great opportunity for you to connect with USC alumni and industry professionals that have been in your shoes. They will share their experiences on how they got to where they are in their career and offer words of wisdom along the way. This is an undergraduate only event.

    Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101

    Audiences: Undergrad

    Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections

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