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Events for March 02, 2018

  • Borrowing from Nature to Build Better Computers: DNA Data Storage and Near-Molecule Processing

    Fri, Mar 02, 2018 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Luis Ceze, University of Washington

    Talk Title: Borrowing from Nature to Build Better Computers: DNA Data Storage and Near-Molecule Processing

    Abstract: DNA data storage is an attractive option for digital datastorage because of its extreme density, durability and eternal relevance. This is especially attractive when contrasted with the exponential growth in world-wide digital data production. In this talk, we will present our efforts in building an end-to-end system, from the computational component of encoding and decoding to the molecular biology component of random access, sequencing and fluidics automation. We will also discuss some early efforts in building a hybrid electronic/molecular computer system that has the potential to offer more than just data storage.

    Biography: Luis Ceze is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the intersection between computer architecture, programming languages and biology. His current focus is on approximate computing and DNA-based data storage. He has co-authored over 100 papers in these areas, and had several papers selected as IEEE Micro Top Picks and CACM Research Highlights. His research has been featured prominently in the media including NewYork Times, Popular Science, MIT Technology Review, Wall Street Journal, among others. He is a recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, a Microsoft Research Faculty Fellowship,the IEEE TCCA Young Computer Architect Award and UIUC Distinguished Alumni Award. He is a member of the DARPA ISAT and MEC study groups, and consults for Microsoft.

    Host: Xuehai Qian, x04459, xuehai.qian@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos

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  • W.V.T. RUSCH ENGINEERING HONORS COLLOQUIUM

    Fri, Mar 02, 2018 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Prof. Andrea Armani, Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, USC

    Talk Title: Field Trip to USC Michelson Hall Laboratories

    Host: Dr. Prata & EHP

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Su Stevens

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  • EE-EP Faculty Candidate - Deblina Sarkar, Friday, March 2nd at 2pm in EEB 132

    Fri, Mar 02, 2018 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Deblina Sarkar, MIT

    Talk Title: Green Electronics to Gray Matter: Ghost Walks, Mind Blowing and Brain Doping

    Abstract: Excessive power consumption and dissipation of electronics with technology scaling, is a serious threat to the Information Society as well as to the environment and especially smacks a hard blow to the future of energy-constrained applications such as medical implants and prosthetics. This impending energy crisis has roots in the thermal distribution of carriers, which poses fundamental limitation on energy scalability of the present transistors.
    In this talk, I will demonstrate the quantum mechanical transistor, that I developed, which beats the fundamental thermal limitations of present transistors. I will describe how this can be achieved by unique integration of heterogeneous material technologies including an atomically thin material, to make the electron waves propagate (tunnel) efficiently through an energy barrier (like a ghost walking through a wall). This device is the world's thinnest channel (6 atoms thick) sub-thermal tunnel-transistor. Thus, it has the potential to allow dimensional scalability to beyond Silicon scaling era and thereby to address the long-standing issue of simultaneous dimensional and power scalability.
    Going beyond electronic computation, I will discuss about the biological computer: the brain, which can be thought of as an ultimate example of low power computational system. However, understanding the brain, requires deciphering the dense jungle of biomolecules that it is formed of. I will introduce the next-generation expansion microscopy technology, that I have developed, which helps to decipher the organization of biomolecular building blocks of brain by literally blowing out the brain by up to 100-fold. This technology reveals for the first time, a nanoscale trans-synaptic architecture in brain tissue and structural changes related to neurological diseases.
    I will conclude with my research vision for how extremely powerful technologies can be built by fusing diverse research fields and how seamless integration of nanoelectronics-bio hybrid systems in the brain (brain doping), can create unprecedented possibilities for probing and controlling the biological computer and in future, help us transcend beyond our biological limitations.
    [1] D. Sarkar et. al., Nature, 526 (7571), 91, 2015;
    [2] D. Sarkar et. al., Nano Lett., 15 (5), 2852, 2015;
    [3] D. Sarkar et. al., ACS Nano., 8 (4), 3992, 2014;
    [4] D. Sarkar et. al., Society for Neuroscience, 2016.
    [5] D. Sarkar et. al., International Conference on Nanoscopy, 2018.


    Biography: Deblina Sarkar is currently an MIT Translational Fellow and postdoctoral associate in the Synthetic Neurobiology group, while she had received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSB. Her research aims to combine novel materials, nanoelectronics and synthetic biology to create a new paradigm for computational electronics and invent disruptive technologies for life-machine symbiosis.
    Her work has led to more than 40 publications till date (citations: 1927, h-index: 18, i-10 index: 26 according to Google Scholar), several of which have appeared in popular press worldwide. Her PhD dissertation was honored as one of the top 3 dissertations throughout USA and Canada in the field of Mathematics, Physical sciences and all departments of Engineering by the Council of Graduate Schools in the period 2014-2016. She was UCSB's nominee for this nationwide contest, after winning the Lancaster Award for the best PhD Dissertation at UCSB in 2016. She is the recipient of numerous other awards and recognitions, including the U.S. Presidential Fellowship (2008), Outstanding Doctoral Candidate Fellowship (2008), being one of three researchers worldwide to win the prestigious IEEE EDS PhD Fellowship Award (2011), a "Bright Mind" invited speaker at the KAUST-NSF conference (2015), one of three winners of the Falling Walls Lab Young Innovator's Award at San Diego (2015), recipient of "Materials Research Society's Graduate Student Award" (2015), named a "Rising Star" in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (2015), invited speaker at TEDx (2016) and recipient of MIT Translational Fellowship (2017).

    Host: EE-Electrophysics

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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