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Events for March 29, 2018
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CS Colloquium: Junier Oliva (Carnegie Mellon University) Scalable Learning Over Distributions
Thu, Mar 29, 2018 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Junier Oliva, Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: Scalable Learning Over Distributions
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: A great deal of attention has been applied to studying new and better ways to perform learning tasks involving static finite vectors. Indeed, over the past century the fields of statistics and machine learning have amassed a vast understanding of various learning tasks like clustering, classification, and regression using simple real valued vectors. However, we do not live in a world of simple objects. From the contact lists we keep, the sound waves we hear, and the distribution of cells we have, complex objects such as sets, distributions, sequences, and functions are all around us. Furthermore, with ever-increasing data collection capacities at our disposal, not only are we collecting more data, but richer and more bountiful complex data are becoming the norm.
In this presentation we analyze regression problems where input covariates, and possibly output responses, are probability distribution functions from a nonparametric function class. Such problems cover a large range of interesting applications including learning the dynamics of cosmological particles and general tasks like parameter estimation.
However, previous nonparametric estimators for functional regression problems scale badly computationally with the number of input/output pairs in a data-set. Yet, given the complexity of distributional data it may be necessary to consider large data-sets in order to achieve a low estimation risk.
To address this issue, we present two novel scalable nonparametric estimators: the Double-Basis Estimator (2BE) for distribution-to-real regression problems; and the Triple-Basis Estimator (3BE) for distribution-to-distribution regression problems. Both the 2BE and 3BE can scale to massive data-sets. We show an improvement of several orders of magnitude in terms of prediction speed and a reduction in error over previous estimators in various synthetic and real-world data-sets.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium. Please note, due to limited capacity, seats will be first come first serve.
Biography: Junier Oliva is a Ph.D. candidate in the Machine Learning Department at the School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. His main research interest is to build algorithms that understand data at an aggregate, holistic level. Currently, he is working to push machine learning past the realm of operating over static finite vectors, and start reasoning ubiquitously with complex, dynamic collections like sets and sequences. Moreover, he is interested in exporting concepts from learning on distributional and functional inputs to modern techniques in deep learning, and vice-versa. He is also developing methods for analyzing massive datasets, both in terms of instances and covariates. Prior to beginning his Ph.D. program, he received his B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. He also spent a year as a software engineer for Yahoo!, and a summer as a machine learning intern at Uber ATG.
Host: Fei Sha
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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EE Seminar: Innovating Secure IoT Solutions for Extreme Environments
Thu, Mar 29, 2018 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rabia Yazicigil, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Innovating Secure IoT Solutions for Extreme Environments
Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) is redefining how we interact with the world by supplying a global view based not only on human-provided data but also human-device connected data. For example, in Health Care, IoT will bring decreased costs, improved treatment results, and better disease management. However, the connectivity-in-everything model brings heightened security concerns. Additionally, the projected growth of connected nodes not only increases security concerns, it also leads to a 1000-fold increase in wireless data traffic in the near future. This data storm results in a spectrum scarcity thereby driving the urgent need for shared spectrum access technologies. These security deficiencies and the wireless spectrum crunch require innovative system-level secure and scalable solutions.
This talk will introduce energy-efficient and application-driven system-level solutions for secure and spectrum-aware wireless communications. I will present a novel ultra-fast bit-level frequency-hopping scheme for physical-layer security. This scheme utilizes the frequency agility of devices in combination with novel radio frequency architectures and protocols to achieve secure wireless communications. To address the wireless spectrum crunch, future smart radio systems will evaluate the spectrum usage dynamically and opportunistically use the underutilized spectrum; this will require spectrum sensing for interferer avoidance. I will discuss a system-level approach using band-pass sparse signal processing for rapid interferer detection in a wideband spectrum to convert the abstract improvements promised by sparse signal processing theory, e.g., fewer measurements, to concrete improvements in time and energy efficiency.
The tightly-coupled system solutions derived at the intersection of electronics, security, signal processing, and communications extend in applications beyond the examples provided here, enabling innovative IoT solutions for extreme environments.
Biography: Rabia Yazicigil is currently a Postdoctoral Associate at MIT. She received her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University in 2016. She received the B.S. degree in Electronics Engineering from Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey in 2009, and the M.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Ãcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland in 2011.
Her research interest lies at the interface of electronics, security, signal processing and communication to innovate system-level solutions for future energy-constrained Internet of Things applications. She has been a recipient of a number of awards, including the "Electrical Engineering Collaborative Research Award" for her PhD research on Compressive Sampling Applications in Rapid RF Spectrum Sensing (2016), the second place at the Bell Labs Future X Days Student Research Competition (2015), Analog Devices Inc. outstanding student designer award (2015) and 2014 Millman Teaching Assistant Award of Columbia University. She was selected among the top 61 female graduate students and postdoctoral scholars invited to participate and present her research work in the 2015 MIT Rising Stars in Electrical Engineering Computer Science.
Host: Peter Beerel, pabeerel@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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CS Distinguished Lecture: Satinder Singh (University of Michigan) – Reinforcement Learning: From Vision to Action and Back
Thu, Mar 29, 2018 @ 04:00 PM - 05:20 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Satinder Singh, University of Michigan
Talk Title: Reinforcement Learning: From Vision to Action and Back
Series: Computer Science Distinguished Lecture Series
Abstract: Stemming in part from the great successes of other areas of Machine Learning, in particular the recent success of Deep Learning, there is renewed hope and interest in Reinforcement Learning (RL) from the wider applications communities. Indeed, there is a recent burst of new and exciting progress in both theory and practice of RL. I will describe some theoretical results from my own group on a simple new connection between planning horizon and overfitting in RL, as well as some results on combining RL with Deep Learning in Minecraft, and Zero-Shot Generalization across compositional tasks. I will conclude with some lookahead at what we can do, both as theoreticians and those that collect data, to accelerate the impact of RL.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Satinder Singh is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He has been the Chief Scientist at Syntek Capital, a venture capital company, a Principal Research Scientist at AT&T Labs, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT's Brain and Cognitive Science department. His research focus is on developing the theory, algorithms and practice of building artificial agents that can learn from interaction in complex, dynamic, and uncertain environments, including environments with other agents in them. His main contributions have been to the areas of reinforcement learning, multi-agent learning, and more recently to applications in cognitive science and healthcare. He is a Fellow of the AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) and has coauthored more than 150 refereed papers in journals and conferences and has served on many program committee's. He was Program-CoChair of AAAI 2017, and in 2013 helped cofound RLDM (Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making), a biennial multidisciplinary meeting that brings together computer scientists, psychologists, neuroscientists, roboticists, control theorists, and others interested in animal and artificial decision making.
Host: Haipeng Luo
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Computer Science Department
