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Events for March 22, 2011
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GTHB Seminar
Tue, Mar 22, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Eric Friedman, Cornell University
Talk Title: Bargaining Theory in the Cloud
Abstract: The axiomatic theory of bargaining solutions was initiated by John Nash with his seminal paper in 1950 and has a long and mostly mathematical history. Surprisingly, it arises naturally in a variety of allocation problems arising in cloud computing. For example, the second most famous bargaining solution, the Kalai-Smorodinsky solution, is the outcome of a simple water filling algorithm used in the Mesos Platform and has many strong properties in that setting, including incentive compatibility and fairness. In this talk, he will explore these connections for a variety of cloud computing problems and show how axiomatic bargaining theory can be used to analyze allocation problems in the cloud and conversely how cloud computing sheds new light on axiomatic bargaining theory.
This talk is based on joint work with Ali Ghodsi, Scott Shenker and Ion Stoica.
Biography: Eric Friedman is Associate Professor of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University and a Senior Research Scientist at the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley (ICSI). His research interests include applications of game theory and complex network theory to computer science and cognitive neuroscience.
Host: Prof. Yu-Han Chang
More Info: http://gthb.usc.edu/Seminars/Location: Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Memorial Hall (of Philosophy) (MHP) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
Event Link: http://gthb.usc.edu/Seminars/
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Overseas Studies Workshop
Tue, Mar 22, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Interested in studying abroad? Come talk to representatives from the College Overseas Studies office and learn about overseas programs for engineering students!
RSVP by emailing viterbi.studentservices@usc.edu with "RSVP Overseas Studies Workshop" in the subject.Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Novel Methods for Hydrogeophysical Joint Inversion and Data Integration
Tue, Mar 22, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Cardiff, Boise State University
Talk Title: Novel Methods for Hydrogeophysical Joint Inversion and Data Integration
Abstract: The search for improved estimates of subsurface flow and transport parameters, and the expense and time associated with collecting hydrologic measurements, have both lead many hydrologists to consider the use of geophysical data for aquifer characterization.
Geophysical surveys, such as ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electrical tomography, and active seismic are often relatively cheap and fast to collect, when compared to hydrologic tests such as pumping tests and tracer injections. However, the key drawback of geophysical tests is that they are sensitive to geophysical parameters (e.g., electrical resistivity, seismic velocity, etc.) instead of the hydrologic parameters of interest. In this talk, I present two novel methods for the joint analysis of hydrologic and geophysical data when characterizing hydrologic systems.
In the first part of my presentation, I discuss the use of petrophysical transforms for converting geophysical parameters to hydrologic parameters. While petrophysical transforms are relatively easy to implement, the existence of non-unique petrophysical relations or multiple petrophysical relations can make the conversion to hydrologic parameters difficult. Using a Bayesian perspective, I derive a generalized maximum likelihood estimator that takes into account errors in both hydrologic and geophysical parameter estimates in order to estimate petrophysical relationships. The derived estimator is a generalization of so-called âGaussian Mixture Modelsâ, but with added flexibility. In terms of performance, the derived estimator is often capable of determining 1) The complexity of underlying petrophysical relations and 2) Whether multiple petrophysical relations are present.
The second part of my presentation discusses a novel inversion strategy for estimating boundaries between lithologic units (i.e.
facies) using either single datasets or combinations of hydrologic and geophysical data. By using a series of âlevel set functionsâ, I represent boundaries between facies that are allowed to iteratively deform and improve fit to both datasets. Both hydrologic and geophysical data are used to simultaneously drive boundary movement.
After presenting the theory and key equations, I will show performance on numerical experiments in addition to an application to a sandbox hydraulic tomography study.
Application of imaging and optimization methodologies to water resources systems is a rapidly growing and evolving field, with many opportunities for future research in both field, theoretical, and numerical methods. At the end of my talk, I will discuss some promising areas for future research in hydrogeophysical data integration and inversion, as well as other areas in which computational and optimization methods can be used to improve environmental decision making.
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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Cornelius Pings Lecture
Tue, Mar 22, 2011 @ 03:00 PM - 04:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Chryssostomos Chryssostomidis, Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Talk Title: The Role of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) in Future Deepwater Oil Exploration and Production
Series: Cornelius Pings Lecture
Abstract: The oil industry has moved into deeper and deeper waters to meet the continued high demand for oil. The move into deeper waters has required major innovations to keep the cost low without sacrificing safety. The first innovation, the use of ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicles), has made possible subsea completions at ever increasing standoff distances from the producing platform. The use of ROVs keeps the associated cost of the producing platform reasonable but increases the cost of inspection and maintenance. Even the most routine inspection using an ROV requires the presence of large surface vessel to support the ROV increasing the daily cost of even the most routine maintenance operations by tens of thousands of dollars. This cost pressure has ushered in the second innovation namely the use of AUVs, which can be operated without a costly surface vessel, to meet the inspection needs of producing platforms.
Whether ROVs will be entirely replaced by AUVs is debatable, but we believe that in the next decade an increasing number of light maintenance tasks will be assigned to AUVs. During the lecture the genesis and evolution of modern AUV technology will be discussed. Associated technologies such as underwater communications, sensor technologies, and near real-time supervisory control will be presented. The design of a fully operational and integrated AUV offshore oil inspection system will be described and discussed.
Biography: Educated at MIT and at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in naval architecture, Professor Chryssostomidis was appointed to the MIT faculty in 1970 and became a full professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering in 1982. That same year he was appointed director of the MIT Sea Grant College Program where in 1989 he established the MIT Sea Grant Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) Laboratory to develop technology and systems for advanced autonomous surface and underwater vehicles. He served as Department Head of the department of Ocean Engineering where he established the Ocean Engineering Teaching Laboratory from 1994 to 2002. He has been director of the MIT Ocean Engineering Department Design Laboratory since its inception in the early 1970s. In 2003, with MIT Sea Grant staff, he created the Sea Perch Program, funded by the Office of Naval Research. The Sea Perch program trains educators across the United States and around the world to build a simple, remotely operated underwater vehicle, or ROV, made from PVC pipe and other inexpensive, easily available materials.
In 1994 he was elected as Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineering. His over 100 publications display his wide range of interests including design methodology for ships, vortex-induced response of flexible cylinders, underwater vehicle design, design issues in advanced shipbuilding including the all electric ship and T-Craft. He receives research support from the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation, the Naval Sea Systems Command, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in addition to industry support. Professor Chryssostomidis has served on several National Research Council advisory committees focusing on shipbuilding and marine issues.
Host: Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/p-03-22-11.htmLocation: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - Room 450,
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/p-03-22-11.htm
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Annual George Bekey Keynote Lecture 2011
Tue, Mar 22, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Michael I. Jordan, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Completely Random Measures for Bayesian Nonparametrics
Abstract: Computer Science has historically been strong on data structures and weak on inference from data, whereas Statistics has historically been weak on data structures and strong on inference from data. One way to draw on the strengths of both disciplines is to pursue the study of "inferential methods for data structures", i.e., methods that update probability distributions on recursively-defined objects such as trees, graphs, grammars and function calls. This is accommodated in the world of "Bayesian non parametrics", where prior and posterior distributions are allowed to be general stochastic processes. Both statistical and computational considerations lead one to certain classes of stochastic processes, and these tend to have interesting connections to combinatorics. I will focus on Bayesian non parametric modeling based on completely random measures, giving examples of how recursions based on these measures lead to useful models in several applied problem domains, including protein structural modeling, natural language processing, computational vision, and statistical genetics.
Biography: Michael I. Jordan is the Pehong Chen Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Department of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. His research in recent years has focused on Bayesian nonparametric analysis, probabilistic graphical models, spectral methods, kernel machines and applications to problems in signal processing, statistical genetics, computational biology, information retrieval and natural language processing. Prof. Jordan was named to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2010 and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in 2010. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the IMS, the ACM, and the IEEE.
Refreshments will be served at the Gerontology (GER) courtyard at 4 pm. Talk begins in GER Auditorium at 4:30pm.
Host: Prof. Fei Sha
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
