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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Subway to the Sea
Fri, Apr 01, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Kennedy and Tamar Fuhrer, Senior Transportation Planner and Transportation Planner, Fehr & Peers, Inc.
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Subway to the Sea
Abstract: Michael Kennedy, Transportation Planner, and Tamar Fuhrer, Transportation Planner, of Fehr & Peers, Inc. will present "Subway to the Sea" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Apr 01, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Yorgos Palaskas, Intel
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi and Firooz Aflatouni
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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Quantum Engineering
Fri, Apr 01, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sergio Boixo, Harvard University
Talk Title: Quantum Engineering
Abstract: Quantum engineering is the direct use of quantum mechanics to improve some aspect of an engineering task beyond what is possible using classical physics. Out of the many facets of quantum engineering I will focus on three: measurement (quantum metrology), communication and adiabatic quantum computation. I will emphasize devices currently being tested. We proposed recently a general method for quantum metrology which uses quantum interactions to increase the sensitivity of high-precision measurements. This method has now been demonstrated experimentally, and the number of applications is growing. Adiabatic quantum computation has inspired a new type of processor currently under development.
Biography: Sergio Boixo is currently a postdoc at the Aspuru-Guzik's research group at Harvard University. Previoulsy he was a postdoc at the Institute for Quantum Information (IQI) at Caltech. He obtained a Master of Physics at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) and a Ph.D. in Physics at University of New Mexico (UNM), while also doing research at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Sergio Boixo has undergraduate degrees in computer engineering, philosophy, and mathematics. He is a recipient of the Chip de Oro (âGolden Chipâ) price for outstanding academic achievements in computer science (1996), Roll of Honor at Universidad Complutense (1996), La Caixa Fellowship (2004), Phi Kappa Phi (2005), PhD with Honors (2008) and Mutua Madrilena Fellowship, 2008.
Host: Daniel Lidar, lidar@usc.edu, SSC 609, x00198
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Multi-Disciplinary Technology Applications in the Energy Industry
Mon, Apr 04, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Fred Aminzadeh, Research Professor, Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Talk Title: Multi-Disciplinary Technology Applications in the Energy Industry
Abstract: What are the significant technology advances in the energy industry in the past decade? What are current trends? What advanced computing technologies are continuing to have an impact on oil and gas exploration? How best we can use new signal processing and pattern recognition techniques to get the most out of the seismic data? Where do we want to be within the next ten years? What do we need to do to address challenges associated with declining oil fields and how the EE discipline can help? These questions will be addressed in conjunction with our most challenging exploration and field development problems. The need for cross disciplinary research and true integration will be discussed.
Some of the answers to the above questions may have a direct impact on the direction of the Reservoir Monitoring Consortium (RMC) being launched at USC. The RMC, with input from faulty from many departments, will look at the whole value chain in reservoir monitoring. It will focus on the data integration and data mining (eg 4D seismic, production data, passive seismic data), visualization and updating of reservoir model and real time reservoir management. It will also look into new techniques in soft computing signal and image processing to analyze and interpret the time lapse seismic and passive seismic data. Some of such applications will be demonstrated by a few recent real life examples, including a recently funded $2 million dollars DOE project for geothermal applications.
Biography: Fred Aminzadeh is a research professor at the Petroleum Engineering program at USC. Upon receiving his PhD in Control Theory in 1979 from USC, he went to Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ. Subsequently he joined Unocal with both technical and management responsibilities. He also was an adjunct professor of Geosciences department at Rice University and held many position with different National Laboratories including LBNL, LANL, ORNL and LLNL. He has served as a member of DOEâs Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee. He has three US patents and an extensive list of publications in diverse areas including 12 books such as those on Reservoir Characterization, Petroleum Geology of South Caspian Basin, 3-D Seismic Modeling Advances in Seismic Data Processing, Geophysics for Engineers, and Petroleum Industry Applications of Pattern Recognition and Soft Computing. Many of his books have been translated into Chinese. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and served as president of Society of Exploration Geophysicists in 2007-2008. Currently, he is serving as the Lead Guest Editor for the special issue of the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine on Geophysical Signal Processing.
Host: Dr. Alexander A. Sawchuk
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/calendar.htmLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/calendar.htm
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 04, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Robert Shannon, House Ear Institute
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Fifth Annual Eberhardt Rechtin Keynote Lecture
Mon, Apr 04, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Denis Cortese, Foundation Professor, W.P. Carey School of Business, Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering / Director, Health Care Delivery and Policy Program, Arizona State University and Emeritus President and Chief Executive Officer, Mayo Clinic
Talk Title: "A System of Healthcare for the USA" **
Abstract: Dr. Cortese describes a view of health care in terms of three mega-domains: the knowledge domain â the world of medical research, where new ideas inventions and medical approaches are developed, such the concept of individualized medicine based on our unique genetic blueprint; the care delivery domain - the world of physicians and hospitals, where patients are treated; and the payer domain â the world of insurance, governments and others that pay for the delivery of health care. Each of these domains is huge in its own right, their flawed interactions with each other is one of the main reasons why our health care system is so dysfunctional.
** 3:00 - 4:00 PM - Meet Dr. Cortese / Refreshments will be served in the Andrus Gerontology Courtyard
Biography: Dr. Denis Cortese assumed academic positions as a Foundation Professor in January 2010 at Arizona State University (ASU) in the W.P. Carey School of Business and the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. He is also the director of ASU's Health Care Delivery and Policy Program. He currently serves on the board for Pinnacle West, RAND Health, and the National Coalition for Healthcare Information (NCHI). In addition he is chair of IOM Roundtable on Value and Science Driven Healthcare and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering's Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
Dr. Cortese is Emeritus President and Chief Executive Officer of Mayo Clinic. His memberships include: The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (US) and chair of the Roundtable on Evidence Based Medicine; Healthcare Leadership Council, chair for 2007-2009; Harvard/Kennedy Healthcare Policy Group; Academia Nacional de Medicina (Mexico); and Division on Engineering and Physical Science (DEPS), National Research Council.
Some of Dr. Cortese's honors and awards include, National Healthcare Leadership Award - National Center for Healthcare (2009); Leo Black Award for Excellence in Healthcare Information Technology - Mayo Clinic (2009); Commencement address - Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (2009); Commencement address - Luther College (2009); Honorary Doctor of Science Degree - Luther College (2009); Medal of Merit - American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (2008); Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2007); Top 50 Physician Executives in Healthcare (2006_2008); and Honorary Fellow - Royal College of Physicians (2005).
Host: Viterbi School of Engineering, Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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ENH Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 04, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Samantha Butler, Assistant Professor/ University of Southern California
Talk Title: Regulated axon outgrowth as a mechanism for axon guidance
Abstract: Commissural spinal axons extend away from the roof plate (RP) in response to a chemorepellent mediated by the Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs). Previous studies have focused on the ability of commissural axons to translate a spatial gradient of BMPs into directional information in vitro. However, a notable feature of this system in vivo is that the gradient of BMPs acts from behind the commissural cell bodies, making it possible for the BMPs to have a continued effect on commissural axons as they grow away from the RP. We have demonstrated that BMPs activate the cofilin regulator Limk1 to control the rate of commissural axon extension in the dorsal spinal cord. By modulating Limk1 activity in both rodent and chicken commissural neurons, the rate of axon growth can either be stalled or accelerated. Altering the activation state of Limk1 also influences subsequent guidance decisions: accelerated axons make rostrocaudal projection errors while navigating their intermediate target, the floor plate. These results suggest that a preceding guidance cue can specify information about the rate of growth, to ensure that axons reach subsequent signals either at particular times or speeds during development.
Host: Carolee Winstein
More Info: http://bbdl.usc.edu/ENH-Schedule_1011.phpLocation: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adriana Cisneros
Event Link: http://bbdl.usc.edu/ENH-Schedule_1011.php
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Epstein ISE Research Seminar
Tue, Apr 05, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Edwin Romeijn, Professor/Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering University of Michigan. Ann Arbor
Abstract: Traditionally, Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) treatment planning has been performed in two phases: a first phase, called fluence map optimization, in which optimal beamlet intensities are determined, followed by a second, leaf sequencing, phase in which these fluence maps are decomposed into deliverable apertures and corresponding intensities. We instead consider an integrated modeling framework that is exact in the case where convex criteria are used to evaluate the quality of a treatment plan. This framework can be used to incorporate many aspects of the treatment plan that are typically dealt with in an approximate way or in a postprocessing phase. In particular, this approach lends itself very well to incorporating issues that cannot be incorporated directly in a beamlet-based fluence map optimization approach â such as transmission, the tongue-and-groove effect, and other approximations or uncertainties in the traditional dose model. In addition, beam-on-time can be incorporated as an explicit criterion or constraint. We will also discuss its promise for extensions to new treatment delivery modalities, such as Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) and Image-Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT). We discuss potential clinical applications and benefits of this modeling approach.
Biography: Edwin Romeijn received his M.S. in econometrics and Ph.D. in operations research from Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands. He joined the Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2008 after being a faculty member at the Department of Decision and Information Sciences at the Rotterdam School of Management of Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida. He has taught courses in operations research, stochastic processes, applied probability and statistics, supply chain management, and decision support systems. His research focuses on optimization theory and applications, in particular in the areas of supply chain optimization and optimization in health care. He is the author of over eighty-five peer reviewed journal publications.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Models, Optimization and Control of Collective Phenomena in Power Grids
Tue, Apr 05, 2011 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Michael Chertkov, Los Alamos National Lab
Talk Title: Models, Optimization and Control of Collective Phenomena in Power Grids
Series: CEI Distinguished Lecture Series in Energy Informatics
Abstract: We are asking modern power grids to serve under conditions it was not originally designed for. We also expect the grids to be smart, in how they function, how they withstand contingencies, respond to fluctuations in generation and load, and how the grids are controlled. To meet these ever increasing expectations requires extending power grid models beyond the scope of the traditional power engineering.
In this talk Dr. Chertkov will first review basics of power flows, and then outline a number of new problems in modeling, optimization and control theory for smart grids. In particular, the talk will describe new approaches to control of voltage and reactive flow in distribution networks, algorithms to study distance to failure, and statistical analysis of cascading blackouts in transmission networks.
Biography: : Dr. Chertkov's areas of interest include applied and theoretical problems in power systems, hydrodynamics, statistical and mathematical physics, information theory and computer science. Dr. Chertkov received his Ph.D. in physics from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1996, and his M.Sc. in physics from Novosibirsk State University in 1990. After his Ph.D., Dr. Chertkov spent three years at Princeton University as a R.H. Dicke Fellow in the Department of Physics. He joined Los Alamos National Lab in 1999, initially as a J.R. Oppenheimer Fellow in the Theoretical Division. He is now a technical staff member in the same division. Dr. Chertkov has published more than 100 papers in these research areas and is currently leading "Physics of Algorithms"
and "Optimization and Control Theory for Smart (Power) Grids" projects at LANL.
Host: Prof. Giuseppe Caire and Prof. Viktor K. Prasanna
More Info: http://cei.usc.edu/news/lecturesLocation: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yogesh Simmhan
Event Link: http://cei.usc.edu/news/lectures
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Apr 05, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Minlan Yu, Princeton University
Talk Title: Scalable Management of Enterprise and Data Center Networks
Abstract: The networks in campuses, companies, and data centers are growing larger and becoming more complicated to manage. Today, network operators devote tremendous time and effort to various management tasks such as customized routing, access control, and troubleshooting. Rather than trying to make today's brittle networks easier to manage, we focus on new network designs that are inherently easier to manage and scale to many hosts, switches, and applications. We design and develop systems that scale routing, access control, and performance diagnosis, through a combination of new data structures and algorithms that make effective use of limited memory in switches and end-host based monitoring to reduce the overhead at switches. Our systems can be easily implemented with small modifications in today's switches and end hosts, as demonstrated by our prototypes built using the OpenFlow switches and Microsoft Windows servers, and our evaluation using data from AT&T networks and a deployment in a production data center.
Biography: Minlan Yu is a 5th year Ph.D. student in Princeton University. She received her B.A. in computer science and mathematics from Peking University in 2006 and her M.A. in computer science from Princeton University in 2008.
She has actively collaborated with companies such as AT&T, Microsoft, and Bell Labs. Her research interest is in solving real-world networking and distributed systems problems using efficient algorithms and data structures. Her thesis research focuses on enterprise and data center networks, by leveraging emerging techniques such as network virtualization and software-defined networking.
Host: Prof. Ramesh Govindan
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Apr 06, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Veronica Eliasson, Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
Talk Title: Shock Wave Adventures
Abstract: A shock wave is a useful tool to generate very high pressures and temperatures. In particular, the energy from a shock wave can be focused and then generate even more extreme conditions. Applications on shock wave focusing range from medical treatment of kidney stones to supernovae collapse, and in this talk I will present some of the projects my group is working on. In particular we are interested in impact events where a strong fluid-structure coupling is present and has to be taken into account. In particular, we are interested in shock focusing in water and material effects with applications to marine structures, understanding the cause and how to prevent traumatic brain injury caused by blast waves, and effects of cavitation due to pulses propagating through fluid-filled cracks.
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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Electrical Engineering Distinguished Lecturer Series
Wed, Apr 06, 2011 @ 04:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Kathy Yelick, University of California at Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
Talk Title: Exascale Computing: More and Moore?
Abstract: With petascale systems becoming broadly available in high end computing, attention is now focused on the challenges associated with the next major performance milestone: exascale computing. Demand for computational capability grows unabated, with areas of national and commercial interest including global climate change, alternative energy sources, defense and medicine, as well as basic science. Past growth in the high end has relied on a combination of faster clock speeds and larger systems, but the clock speed benefits of Mooreâs Law have ended, and 200-cabinet petascale machines are near a practical limit. Future system designs will instead be constrained by power density and total system power demand, resulting in radically different architectures. The challenges associated with exascale computing will require broad research activities across computer science, including the development of new algorithms, programming models, system software and computer architecture. While these problems are most evident at the high end, they limit the growth in computing performance across scales, from hand-held client devices to personal clusters and computational clouds.
In future computing systems, performance and energy optimization will be the combined responsibility of hardware and software developers. Since data movement dominates energy use in a computing system, minimizing the movement of data throughout the memory and communication fabric are essential. In this talk I will describe some of the open problems in programming models and algorithms design and promising approaches used so far. These will build on the ideas of Partitioned Global Address Space languages and Communication Avoiding algorithms, but extended to more complex memory hierarchies. In addition to these universal problems, fault resilience is a problem at the high end that will require novel system support, possibly propagating up the software stack to user level software and algorithms. Overall, the trends in hardware demand that the community undertake a broad set of research activities to sustain the growth in computing performance that users have come to expect.
Biography: Kathy Yelick is the Associate Laboratory Director for Computing Sciences and the Director of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). She is also a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley. She is the author or co-author of two books and more than 100 refereed technical papers on parallel languages, compilers, algorithms, libraries, architecture, and storage. She co-invented the UPC and Titanium languages and she co-developed techniques for self-tuning numerical libraries, including the first self-tuned library for sparse matrix kernels. Her work includes performance analysis and modeling as well as optimization techniques for memory hierarchies, multicore processors, communication libraries, and processor accelerators. She earned her Ph.D. in EECS from MIT and has been a professor at UC Berkeley since 1991 with a joint appointment at LBNL since 1996
Host: Viktor Prasanna
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 123
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/
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A Conversation with Eran Egozy
Wed, Apr 06, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Integrated Media Systems Center, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Eran Egozy, CTO Harmonix Music Systems
Talk Title: A Conversation with Eran Egozy
Series: Music Computation and Cognition Laboratory
Biography: Eran Egozy, is the co-founder and chief technical officer of Harmonix Music Systems, one of the pre-eminent game development studios in the world, having developed more than a dozen critically acclaimed music-based video games. Harmonix was founded in 1995 on the principle that non-musicians should be able to experience the sheer joy of music creation â normally something only afforded to accomplished musicians. Beginning in 2005, Harmonix developed Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero 2, fueling the explosive growth of the music games category to over $1 billion in sales. In 2006, Harmonix was acquired by MTV/Viacom, and shortly after, Harmonix launched the innovative, award-winning franchise titles Rock Band and Rock Band 2. In 2009, Harmonix followed with the critically acclaimed The Beatles: Rock Band, and this year, the studio is releasing Rock Band 3, which introduces a keyboard and the ability to learn real instruments, and Dance Central, the first fully immersive, no-controller dance game. Eran and Alex Rigopulos were named in Time Magazineâs 2008 list of The 100 Most Influential People in the World, Fortune Magazineâs 2009 Top 40 Under 40 and given a 2010 USA Networkâs Character Award.
Eran brings extensive technical and musical expertise to the Harmonixâs management team. He manages the company's engineering staff, directs intellectual property development, contributes to game design and helps drive corporate strategy. Prior to co-founding Harmonix, Eran conducted research on combining music and technology at the MIT Media Lab. He performed frequently in MIT's Balinese Gamelan, Chamber Music Society, and Symphony Orchestra. He currently spends most of his spare time playing clarinet in Boston's Radius Ensemble. Eran earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Host: Prof. Elaine Chew
More Info: http://mucoaco.blogspot.comLocation: Parkside Residential Building (PRB) - Parkside Performance Cafe
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elaine Chew
Event Link: http://mucoaco.blogspot.com
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Petroleum Engineer Seminar
Thu, Apr 07, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 01:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Behnam Jafarpour, Texas A & M University
Talk Title: Feature Based Reservoir Descriptions for Improved Dynamic Data Integration
Abstract: Subsurface systems pose some of the most challenging characterization and modeling problems in science and engineering with significant hydrological, environmental, and energy security implications. The main uncertainties in characterizing these systems arise from the lack of convenient access to deep geologic formations, the multiscale heterogeneity in rock physical properties, and the complex interactions between fluids and porous rocks over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Consequently, significant uncertainty is introduced into modeling and prediction of the related flow and transport processes, complicating the development of subsurface energy and natural resources. Calibration of prior reservoir models through integration of dynamic flow data is an important mechanism for reducing flow modeling and prediction uncertainties. In this talk, I will discuss the advantages of posing the dynamic flow data integration as a geologic feature estimation problem. The fundamental premise of the proposed methodology is that subsurface property distributions often form connected patterns (features) that exhibit strong spatial correlations. The most salient features in the description of these correlated flow properties are amenable to sparse (or compact) representations in properly designed geologic domains (i.e., geologic dictionaries), which motivates the need for a feature estimation problem formulation. In addition, flow data often have low-resolution content and do not allow for reliable reconstruction of high resolution models. A geologic feature estimation framework is also useful for reconciling model and data resolutions during data integration. By combining advanced computational and mathematical tools with physical insight from the intrinsic properties of geologic formations and fluid flow data, integration of flow data into reservoir models can be more consistently posed as a feature estimation problem. Using several numerical experiments, I will demonstrate how the proposed geologically-inspired feature estimation framework leads to a more robust (against prior uncertainty) and geologically consistent method for solving large-scale subsurface characterization inverse problems.
Host: Mork Family Dept. , Petroleum Eng. Program
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 324
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Apr 07, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Satyen Kale, Yahoo! Research
Talk Title: Efficient Online Decision-Making and Applications to Semidefinite Programming
Abstract: Decision-making in the face of uncertainty over future outcomes is a fundamental algorithmic task, with roots in statistics and information theory, and applications in machine learning, signal processing, network routing and finance. The framework of regret minimization captures the notion of competitive online decision-making algorithms. Such algorithms are very effective for optimizing in settings where the environment is changing or just too large-scale for traditional optimization methods.
Semidefinite programming (SDP) is a widely used convex optimization technique today in operations research and computer science. The running time of SDP solvers can be quite high however. In this talk I will describe a new algorithm for online decision-making over the space of positive-semidefinite matrices. This algorithm, dubbed Matrix Multiplicative Weights, yields a general, combinatorial, primal-dual method for designing efficient algorithms for SDP. This method yields algorithms with the best known running time bounds for several graph partitioning and constraint satisfaction problems. The Matrix Multiplicative Weights algorithm also has numerous other applications in machine learning, derandomization and quantum computing which I will mention briefly.
This is joint work with Sanjeev Arora.
Biography: Satyen Kale is a postdoctoral scientist at Yahoo! Research working on algorithms for fundamental problems in Machine Learning and Optimization. His main research interests are decision making under uncertainty, statistical learning theory, combinatorial optimization, convex optimization, and more recently, algorithmic game theory. Previously, he was a postdoc at Microsoft Research New England, Cambridge, MA. In 2007, he completed his Ph.D. in the department of Computer Science at Princeton University, under the supervision of Prof. Sanjeev Arora. He completed his B.Tech in Computer Science at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2002.
Host: Prof. Yan Liu
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Building an Organization to Bend Metal, Not Push Paper
Fri, Apr 08, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Christopher Roth, Avionics Engineer, SpaceX
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Building an Organization to Bend Metal, Not Push Paper
Abstract: Christopher Roth, Avionics Engineer (and Spring 2008 Honors Program Moderator), of SpaceX will present "Building an Organization to Bend Metal, Not Push Paper" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Apr 08, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Bertan Bakkaloglu, Arizona State Univ.
Talk Title: A 16 Channel, 91dB Dynamic Range, 500uV Offset CMOS Electrochemical Sensor AFE for Environmental Applications
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi and Firooz Aflatouni
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 11, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Radha Kalluri, House Ear Institute
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Munushian Seminar
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Charles Lieber, Harvard University
Talk Title: Nanowires: A Platform for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
Abstract: Charles M. Lieber was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1959. He attended Franklin and Marshall College for his undergraduate education and graduated with honors in Chemistry. After doctoral studies at Stanford University and postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology, in 1987 he assumed an Assistant Professor position at Columbia University. There Lieber initiated research addressing the synthesis and properties of low-dimensional materials. He moved to Harvard University in 1991 and now holds a joint appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, as the Mark Hyman Professor of Chemistry, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. At Harvard, Lieber has pioneered the synthesis of a broad range of nanoscale materials, the characterization of the unique physical properties of these materials, the development of methods of hierarchical assembly of nanoscale wires, and the demonstration of key uses of these nanomaterials in nanoelectronics and computing, creating and developing nanoelectronics-biology interfaces, nano-enabled energy, and nanophotonics. His work has been recognized by a number of awards, including the MRS Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience (2010); ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award (2009), NIH Pioneer Award (2009) ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials (2004), APS McGroddy Prize for New Materials (2003), MRS Medal (2002), and Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (2001). Lieber is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an elected Fellow of the Materials Research Society, American Physical Society, American Chemical Society and American Association for the Advancement of Science. Lieber is Co-Editor of Nano Letters, and serves on the Editorial and Advisory Boards of a large number of science and technology journals. Lieber has published over 325 papers, which have been cited more than 51,300 times, and is the principal inventor on more than 35 patents. In his spare time, Lieber has been active in commercializing nanotechnology, and has founded several nanotechnology companies.
Biography: Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology depend critically on development of nanostructures whose properties are controlled during synthesis. Here we focus on this critical concept using semiconductor nanowires, which provide the capability for synthetic design to realize unprecedented structural and functional complexity in building blocks, as a platform material. First, a brief review of the synthesis of complex modulated nanowires in which rational design can be used to precisely control composition, structure and most recently structural topology will be discussed. Second, the unique functional characteristics emerging from our exquisite control of nanowire materials will be illustrated with several selected examples from nanoelectronics, quantum electronics and nano-enabled energy. Third, the remarkable power of nanowire building blocks will be further highlighted through their capability to create unprecedented active electronic interfaces with biological systems. Recent work pushing the limits of both multiplexed extracellular recording at the single cell level and the first examples of intracellular recording will described, as well as the prospects for truly blurring the distinction between nonliving and living information processing systems.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/munushianLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/munushian
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CANCELED - Epstein Institute Seminar Series / ISE 650 Seminar
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. John W. Fowler, Avnet Professor of Supply Networks/Professor of Industrial Engineering/Arizona State University
Abstract: Modern industrial engineering, systems engineering, operations management, and operations research methods hold significant promise for health care systems and quality of care research. Among the most promising methods are optimization, queuing theory, and process simulation. This presentation will utilize some recent research efforts to demonstrate the application of industrial engineering and operations management principles and tools to improve health care systems.
Biography: JOHN W. FOWLER is the Avnet Professor of Supply Networks and a Professor of Industrial Engineering in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). He currently serves as the Program Chair of Industrial Engineering. Professor Fowlerâs research interests include modeling, analysis, and control of manufacturing and service systems. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Semiconductor Research Corp., International SEMATECH, Advanced Micro Devices, Amkor, Asyst, IBM, Intel, Infineon Technologies, Motorola, National Semiconductor, ST Microelectronics, and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Fowler is an author/co-author of over 75 journal publications, 100 conference papers, and 10 book chapters. He is the founding editor of the new journal IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering. He is also an Area Editor for SIMULATION: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International, an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Simulation. He was a co-Program Chair for the 2002 and 2008 Industrial Engineering Research Conferences and the Program Chair for the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference. Professor Fowler is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, a former INFORMS Vice President for Chapters/Fora, and is on the Winter Simulation Conference Board of Directors.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Room 309
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Apr 12, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ethan Katz-Bassett, University of Washington
Talk Title: Improving Internet Performance and Availability with Reverse Traceroute
Abstract: The Internet is now central to many aspects of modern society, yet it remains remarkably fragile. Partial outages are common, and performance problems are widespread. Operators would like to address these issues, but poor diagnostic tools hamstring their efforts.
I will argue that a more robust Internet - one with the predictable performance and high availability needed to provide critical services -requires the development of a new generation of better tools. We must move towards a self-healing Internet that fixes problems in seconds, not the hours or days that operators often currently take. In my research, I have developed practical distributed systems to understand Internet problems and to provide crucial steps towards automated remediation. My systems are deployable today, without requiring modifications to the network. In the first half of the talk, I will present Reverse Traceroute, my system to measure the routing and performance behavior of reverse paths back to the local host from other networks. While tools have long existed to measure the forward direction, the reverse path has been largely opaque, hindering troubleshooting efforts. I will show how Google and other content providers can use reverse traceroute to troubleshoot their clients' performance problems. In the second half of the talk, I will focus on using Reverse Traceroute and related systems to diagnose and automatically repair availability problems, even without the participation of the network containing the failure.
Biography: Ethan Katz-Bassett is completing his Ph.D. at the University of Washington, where he previously earned his M.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. Before graduate school, he worked at the Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research at the University of Massachusetts. Ethan's current research focuses on distributed systems and the Internet. He has co-authored best papers at NSDI 2008 and NSDI 2010.
Host: Prof. Ramesh Govindan
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Apr 13, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Eva Kanso, Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Research Progress of the USC Nonlinear Dynamics Group
Abstract: I present some of the recent research activities at the USC Nonlinear Dynamics Group. In particular, I highlight the work of Fangxu Jing (PhD'11), Babak Oskouei (PhD'11) and Adam Ysasi (MS'10). The underlying theme is fluid-body coupling and the locomotion of aquatic animals. Much attention has been given recently to understanding how aquatic animals use fluid-body coupling to their advantage, thus achieving impressive maneuvers and hydrodynamic efficiencies. The approach of our research group is to investigate basic mechanisms by which idealized bodies swim in a perfect fluid. I discuss two types of locomotion: (i) active locomotion due to controlled body deformations, and (ii) passive locomotion due to energy harvested from ambient vorticity. I comment on the stability of motion in unsteady flows and conclude with the ongoing work of Andrew Tchieu (post-doc) on the finite dipole dynamical system as a model for fish schooling.
Host: Prof. E. Kanso
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Joerg Lahann,
Talk Title: Engineered Biointerfaces: From Switchable Surfaces to Multifunctional Polymer Coatings
Series: Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series
Abstract: Our improved understanding of molecular biology, microfabrication, and materials chemistry has stimulated crossfertilization of chemistry, biotechnology and materials engineering. In my presentation, I will discuss current advances in the design of multifunctional biomaterials including three distinct examples under research in the Lahann group: (i) Switchable surfaces that can reversibly alter properties in response to an external stimulus, i.e., application of a weak electric field, have been designed and synthesized based on self-assembled monolayers [1]. (ii) Reactive coatings with one or multiple functions can be synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) polymerization [2,3] as well as CVD co-polymerization and may find use in a range of different biomedical applications [4,5].
Host: Professor Gupta
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/l-04-14-11.htmLocation: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/l-04-14-11.htm
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Shawn Newsam, UC Merced
Talk Title: Proximate Sensing: Inferring What-Is-Where From Georeferenced Photo Collections
Abstract: In this talk, I will describe an interesting new research direction which I term Proximate Sensing that leverages ground-level georeferenced images to map what-is-where on the surface of the Earth much like the field of Remote Sensing has done for decades using overhead imagery. Enabled by the growing collections of community contributed photo collections, Proximate Sensing represents a rich framework in which to apply and evaluate current image understanding tasks such as scene classification and object recognition as well as motivate the development of novel problems. I will describe how Proximate Sensing can be considered part of the larger phenomena of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), a term coined by geographer Michael Goodchild in 2007 to refer to the growing collections of geographically relevant information provided voluntarily by individuals.
While most of my talk will focus on Proximate Sensing, I will also give an overview of UC Merced, the tenth and newest campus of the University of California system, as well as briefly describe some of the other research projects my group is working on.
Biography: Dr. Shawn Newsam is an assistant professor and founding faculty of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) at the University of California at Merced. He received a BS in EECS from UC Berkeley, an MS in Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) from UC Davis, and a PhD in ECE from UC Santa Barbara. Prior to joining UC Merced in 2005, he was a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (so, if you are counting, he is now at his fifth UC institution). His research interests are in image processing, computer vision, and pattern recognition particularly as applied to interdisciplinary scientific problems. He is the recipient of an Early Career Scientist and Engineer Award from the Department of Energy, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Host: Prof. Farnoush Banaei-Kashani, USC
Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - 151
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Apr 14, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Romit Roy Choudhury, Duke University
Talk Title: Back to the Drawing Board: Rethinking Wireless Networks with Software Radios
Abstract: Wireless networks are mostly architected on the principles of modularity and layering. Emerging software radio platforms are beginning to blur the layer-boundaries, exporting PHY layer information to the MAC. The access to such information is proving to be invaluable, empowering researchers to question long-standing assumptions, conceive disruptive ideas, and test their feasibility on actual systems.
We have been performing such exercises at Duke and the results have been promising. For instance, while traditional MAC protocols perform contention resolution in the time domain (also called backoff), we find that OFDM based systems can migrate this process into the frequency domain, thereby eliminating a long-standing source of inefficiency. In another example, we show that collision detection (implmented in wired Ethernets) may be feasible even in wireless networks, through well-understood ideas in interference cancellation. This talk will elaborate on a number of such ongoing projects in our lab, with an emphasis on the bold and disruptive nature in these approaches. We will close not only with challenges we are struggling with, but will also look into what may lie ahead under the broader umbrella of PHY layer enabled systems.
Biography: Romit Roy Choudhury is an Assistant Professor of ECE and CS at Duke University (he recently spent the summer of 2010 as a visiting researcher at Microsoft Research, Redmond). He joined Duke in Fall 2006, after completing his PhD from UIUC. His research interests are in wireless networking mainly at the MAC/PHY layer, and in mobile computing at the application layer. He received the NSF CAREER Award in January 2008, and was appointed the Nortel Networks Assistant Professor in 2009. Visit Romit's Systems Networking Research Group (SyNRG), at http://synrg.ee.duke.edu
Host: Prof. Ramesh Govindan
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Photonics Based Telemedicine Technologies toward Smart Global Health System
Fri, Apr 15, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Aydogan Ozcan, Associate Professor, UCLA Electrical Engineering Department
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Photonics Based Telemedicine Technologies toward Smart Global Health System
Abstract: Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, Associate Professor at UCLA Electrical Engineering Department, will present "Photonics Based Telemedicine Technologies toward Smart Global Health System" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program.
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Apr 15, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Brian Otis, Univ. of Washington
Talk Title: Chip design for miniaturized wireless sensing
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi and Firooz Aflatouni
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 18, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Adam Seiver, VP and Chief Medical Officer, Philips, Inc.
Talk Title: Computer-based Decision Systems for Mechanical Ventilation
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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ENH Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 18, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mitra Hartmann, Associate Professor/Northwestern University
Talk Title: Vibrissal Dynamics and the Tactile Exploratory Behavior of the Rat
Abstract: It is easy for you to reach into your pocket or purse and â without looking â identify your keys, a coin, or a paperclip. Somehow, your brain transforms the patterns of mechanical input on your fingertips into the robust perception of an object. How is this tactile feat accomplished? The first step towards answering this question is to quantify the patterns of mechanical input that your brain must interpret. Our laboratory uses the rat vibrissal (whisker) system as a model to understand how the sense of touch is integrated with movement to enable tactile perception. Rats rhythmically brush and tap their whiskers against objects to tactually extract features such as shape and texture. In this talk I will describe our laboratoryâs recent advances in quantifying the complete mechanosensory input to the rat vibrissal array during natural exploratory behaviors and discuss implications of these results for neural processing. I will specifically focus on our laboratoryâs efforts to develop a simulation environment that permits full dynamical simulations of vibrissal-object contact. We aim to integrate realistic vibrissal dynamics with behaviorally-measured head and vibrissal kinematics to model the rat's sampling strategies for various objects in the environment. Ultimately, the simulation system will be used to predict contact patterns in terms of the mechanics at each vibrissa base for a given exploratory sequence, and thus predict the input to the brain. Supported by NSF awards IOS-0818414, IOS-08090000.
Host: Dr. Valero-Cuevas
More Info: http://bbdl.usc.edu/ENH-Schedule_1011.phpLocation: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adriana Cisneros
Event Link: http://bbdl.usc.edu/ENH-Schedule_1011.php
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CREATE Lecture by Marc Sageman
Tue, Apr 19, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Marc Sageman, Guest Speaker
Talk Title: Recent Trends in Global Neo-Jihadi Terrorism in the West
Series: CREATE Distinguished Speaker Series
Abstract: The lecture will touch on three topics:
⢠A survey of all the global neo-jihadi plots in the West since 9/11/01 in order to detect the emerging trends
⢠A summary of new insights in the process of turning to political violence coming from recent empirical research
⢠A summary of how the Internet is affected the evolution of the global neo-Jihadi threat in the West
The talk will conclude with the implication of the new developments in the Middle East on the global neo-Jihadi threat in the West.
PLEASE RSVP BY APRIL 12 TO:
www.usc.edu/esvp
Use code: CREATE
Biography: Marc Sageman is an independent researcher on terrorism and the founder of Sageman Consulting, LLC. He is now the special advisor to the U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence on the âinsider threat.â He was the New York Police Departmentâs first âscholar in residenceâ and adjunct associate professor at the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is director of research at ARTIS.
After graduating from Harvard, he obtained an M.D. and a Ph.D. in sociology from New York University. After a tour as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Navy, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1984. He spent a year on the Afghan Task Force then went to Islamabad from 1987 to 1989, where he ran U.S. unilateral programs with the Afghan Mujahedin. In 1991, he returned to medicine and completed a residency in psychiatry at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1994, he has been in the private practice of forensic and clinical psychiatry, and taught law and psychiatry, the social psychology of terrorism, and mass murderers at the University of Pennsylvania.
After 9/11/01, he started building a terrorist database to test the validity of the conventional wisdom on terrorism. This research has been published as Understanding Terror Networks (University of Pennsylvania Press 2004). He continued this research, and showed how the global neo-jihadi terrorist threat to the West evolved over time. His book Leaderless Jihad describes how the process of radicalization in a hostile environment and enabled by the Internet is evolving into a disconnected network, a Leaderless Jihad. Since then, he has focused on the process of radicalization among young Western Muslims that lead them to political violence using transcripts of terrorism trials and personal interviews.
Sageman may be the only individual to have testified before both the 9/11 Commission in the U.S. and the Beslan Commission in Russia. He has extensively consulted with most national security agencies in the U.S., including the National Security Council, the Department of Defense, the National Laboratories, the Department of Homeland Security, various agencies in the U.S. Intelligence Community, the U.S. Secret Service, and various other law enforcement agencies.
He has lectured at many U.S. universities, including Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, the University of Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of California at Berkeley, the Johns Hopkins University⦠and many universities abroad.
Host: CREATE
More Info: www.usc.edu/createLocation: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - 352
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kelly Buccola
Event Link: www.usc.edu/create
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Epstein Institute Seminar Series / ISE 650 Seminar
Tue, Apr 19, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. John W. Fowler, Avnet Professor of Supply Networks/Professor of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University
Talk Title: "Healthcare Systems Engineering"
Abstract: Modern industrial engineering, systems engineering, operations management, and operations research methods hold significant promise for health care systems and quality of care research. Among the most promising methods are optimization, queuing theory, and process simulation. This presentation will utilize some recent research efforts to demonstrate the application of industrial engineering and operations management principles and tools to improve health care systems.
Biography: JOHN W. FOWLER is the Avnet Professor of Supply Networks and a Professor of Industrial Engineering in the School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU). He currently serves as the Program Chair of Industrial Engineering. Professor Fowlerâs research interests include modeling, analysis, and control of manufacturing and service systems. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Semiconductor Research Corp., International SEMATECH, Advanced Micro Devices, Amkor, Asyst, IBM, Intel, Infineon Technologies, Motorola, National Semiconductor, ST Microelectronics, and the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Fowler is an author/co-author of over 75 journal publications, 100 conference papers, and 10 book chapters. He is the founding editor of the new journal IIE Transactions on Healthcare Systems Engineering. He is also an Area Editor for SIMULATION: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International, an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Semiconductor Manufacturing, and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Simulation. He was a co-Program Chair for the 2002 and 2008 Industrial Engineering Research Conferences and the Program Chair for the 2008 Winter Simulation Conference. Professor Fowler is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, a former INFORMS Vice President for Chapters/Fora, and is on the Winter Simulation Conference Board of Directors.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Wed, Apr 20, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Liangbing Hu, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University
Talk Title: Nanostructured Energy Devices: Manipulating Electrons, Photons and Ions
Abstract: Lowering the cost and improving the performance of devices are essential for making renewable energy feasible for everyday applications. In this talk, I will focus on discussing how abundant materials such as paper, silicon and copper can be engineered to create one dimensional nanomaterial networks (Nano-Nets) which allow us to manipulate fundamental particles in these energy devices to ultimately obtain remarkable performance. Conductive Nano-Nets using carbon nanotubes, silver nanowires and copper nanofibers for transparent electrodes in solar cells, silicon Nano-Nets for high performance Li-ion battery anodes, and conductive paper and textiles for ultracapacitors and microbial fuel cells will be discussed in detail.
Biography: Liangbing Hu received his B.S. in applied physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2002. He did his Ph.D. in experimental physics under Prof. George Gruner at UCLA, focusing on carbon nanotube based nanoelectronics. He studied extensively the charge transport in carbon nanotube thin films with randomly distributed energy barriers and its dependence on geometry (nanotube length, density et al.) and energy (frequency, temperature and field). He also explored the device applications of such random networks in field effect transistors, sensors and optoelectronic devices. In 2006, he joined Unidym as a co-founding scientist. At Unidym, Liangbingâs role was the development of roll-to-roll printed carbon nanotube transparent electrodes and device integrations into touch screens, LCDs, flexible OLEDs and solar cells. Currently, Liangbing is a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University in Prof. Yi Cuiâs lab where he is working on various energy devices based on nanomaterials and nanostructures including Li-ion batteries, ultracapacitors and microbial fuel cells. He has ~ 50 journal publications in nanomaterials, nanoelectronics, printed electronics and energy devices.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Apr 20, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sandro Gomez , Professor, Yale University
Talk Title: Highly Turbulent Strained Premixed Flames in the Distributed Reaction Regime
Abstract: Turbulent lean-to-stoichiometric premixed flames were experimentally studied in a counterflow configuration at turbulent Reynolds numbers on the order of one thousand. The primary objective is to examine conditions of departure from the flamelet regime and analyze the turbulent premixed flame structure under conditions in which disrupted and locally-extinguished flame fronts are expected.
A turbulent stream of fresh premixed reactants was opposed to a second stream of hot products of combustion. By varying temperature and composition of the combustion product stream, the ârealitiesâ of practical flames, such as heat losses and composition stratification, could be studied systematically in a well-defined system. These effects are not accounted for by the commonly used Borghi diagram of regimes of turbulent premixed combustion. Diagnostic techniques included PIV and simultaneous CO/OH-LIF to probe the structure of the oxidation layer.
It was found that the boundary between the flamelet regime and the distributed reaction zone was lowered significantly to turbulent Karlovitz numbers, Kat, of unity order. The oxidation layer was found to be sensitive to the turbulence intensity and the hot product composition. In fact, the quenching of the oxidation layer, that is not currently accounted for in turbulent combustion models, appeared to be a critical element of departure from the flamelet regime.
The interpretation of the experimental results was aided by ancillary numerical calculations of strained laminar premixed flames that showed two distinct extinction modes, an abrupt one and a smooth one, the latter being favored by an excess of oxidizing species in the combustion product stream.
The highly turbulent opposed jet system is shown to offer several advantages by comparison with the more common jet flames and is proposed as a benchmark for turbulent combustion studies.
Host: Prof. P. Ronney
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Thu, Apr 21, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Wei Wu, Senior Scientist, HP Labs, Hewlett-Packard Co.
Talk Title: Nano-Crossbar Circuits, Optical Meta-Materials and SERS Sensors
Abstract: Semiconductor industry has enjoyed great successes by following the âMooreâs lawâ for more than four decades. With the end of the roadmap looming in the horizon, great efforts have been made to look for the alternatives for âpost-Siâ electronics. I will present our work on crossbar circuits, especially crossbar memory circuits based on transition metal oxide (i.e. memristor). Memristor is a type of resistive RAM device. It stores the information by ion movements inside the switching material, instead of charge trapping as in other conventional memory devices. We have demonstrated several generations of crossbar memory circuits with record-high densities, and have also integrated memristor and Si CMOS circuits successfully. The technologies developed for nano-electronics were applied to several other areas. One example I would like to share is optical negative meta-materials (NIMs) at near-IR range. That includes NIMs with negative reflective index (both negative permittivity and permeability) at 1.55 m range, fast modulation of NIMs and non-linear effects of NIMs. Another example is highly sensitive surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensors fabricated using the 3-D nano-patterning technology we developed. The end of roadmap may be getting closer, but it is just the start of a new era, where we can leverage on what we have been developing in the past and make great impacts on the whole society.
Biography: Wei Wu graduated from Peking University with a BS in Physics in 1996, and received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 2003. He joined HP labs in 2003, and he is a senior scientist at nano-electronics research group (formerly known as quantum science research). His work on nanoimprint lithography has enabled nano-electronic and nano-photonic applications at HP labs for the last seven years. His work includes crossbar memory (i.e. memristor) and logic circuits with the record high densities, the first nanoimprint-fabricated optical negative index meta-material at 1.55m range, the first optical modulation using negative index meta-material at near-IR, the first third harmonic generation using meta-material, highly sensitive surface enhanced Raman sensors fabricated using 3-D nanoimprint, the first room-temperature working single electron memory and the first large area bit-patterned magnetic media fabricated using nanoimprint. The nanoimprint machine he invented has been commercialized via IP licensing. He coauthored 65 peer reviewed journal papers and more than 60 conference presentations, including 10 keynote and invited presentations. He has 49 granted US patents and 77 pending applications. He is serving as HPâs representative at SEMATECH lithography program advisory group. He is a senior member of IEEE and serving in the executive committee of IEEE SFBA nanotechnology council.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 212
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
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Epstein ISE Research Seminar
Thu, Apr 21, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Sanjay Mehrotra, Professor, Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University
Talk Title: "Multi-Objective Multi-Expert Optimization Using Weight Robustness and Stochastic Dominance"
Abstract: Multivariate multi-objective decision problems arise in a large number of decision situations in areas such as healthcare, security, energy, logistics, sustainability, finance, and manufacturing. The decisions involve input from multiple experts weighing in on the decision objectives. The parameters of the functions modeling objectives and constraints are uncertain, and decisions are often made in reference to a random benchmark that is to be exceeded.
This presentation will cover mathematical optimization techniques for formulating and solving such problems based on my current research. In particular, the presentation will (i) introduce the concept of Robust Pareto optimality using a multi-criteria robust optimization with weights modeling framework (McRow); (ii) present some properties of the McRow models; (iii) introduce various concepts to model problems with multiple random benchmarks using stochastic dominance (McSwd); (iv) present analytical properties and optimization algorithms for the McSwd models; (v) discuss a stylized budget allocation application in healthcare, and one in homeland security to illustrate potential uses and computational properties of McRow and McSwd models.
Biography: Professor Mehrotra received his Bachelors of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (Roorkee), his MS in Industrial Engineering and Ph.D. in Operations Research from Columbia University. He has made significant research contributions to major subareas, such as linear, convex, mixed integer, and stochastic programming, within the field of mathematical optimization. He is widely known for his predictor-corrector method. Professor Mehrotra has published in journals such as Mathematical Programming, SIAM Journal on Optimization, Mathematics of Operations Research, Operations Research, Optimization Methods and Software, IIE-Transactions, INFORMS Journal on Computing, Journal of Global Optimization, SIAM Journal on Computing, SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, Analyst, Bioinformatics, and BMC BioInformatics. He is a department editor for Optimization for the Institute of Industrial Engineers society journal IIE Transactions. He is on the editorial board of Operations Research, Asia Pacific Journal of Operations Research, and the International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector. He has also served on the editorial boards of Mathematical Programming, and the International Journal on Modelling. He has been a vice-chair of the INFORMS optimization section on computational optimization and software, and a co-director of the Optimization Technology Center between Northwestern University and Argonne National Research Lab. He has also served as a vice-president of chapter/fora and a member of Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences Board of Directors.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Contrast Enhanced MR Angiography, Recent Improvements in Resolution, Application, and Coverage
Thu, Apr 21, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Stephen J. Riederer, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
Talk Title: Contrast Enhanced MR Angiography, Recent Improvements in Resolution, Application, and Coverage
Abstract: Although MR Angiography (MRA) has been under study for well over two decades, the field still continues to advance. The technical innovations of parallel data acquisition, specific k-space data sampling methods, and high-count receiver coil arrays can be integrated to allow marked reductions in the acquisition times necessary to form high quality 3D MR angiograms with comparable or even improved spatial resolution compared to a decade ago. If implemented with appropriately designed receiver coil arrays, the loss of SNR can be carefully controlled. Advanced k-space sampling methods reduce the sensitivity of the reconstructed images to temporal blurring and allow time-resolved results which can readily distinguish arterial from venous phases in problematic cases. Further extensions permit high quality, multi-station imaging of the peripheral vasculature. In this presentation these methods will be described, and in vivo results from multiple vascular territories will be presented.
Host: Hosted by Professor H. Harry Hu
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Apr 21, 2011 @ 12:50 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Francis J. Doyle III, Chemical Engineering Dept University of California, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA
Talk Title: The Role of Process Systems Engineering in the Quest for the Artificial Pancreas
Series: Distinguished Lectures Series
Abstract: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting approximately 3 million individuals in the US, with associated annual healthcare costs estimated to be $15 billion. Current treatment requires either multiple daily insulin injections or continuous subcutaneous (SC) insulin infusion (CSII) delivered via an insulin infusion pump. Both treatment modes necessitate frequent blood glucose measurements to determine the daily insulin requirements for maintaining near-normal blood glucose levels. More than 30 years ago, the idea of an artificial endocrine pancreas for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) was envisioned. The closed-loop concept consisted of an insulin syringe, a blood glucose analyzer, and a transmitter. In the ensuing years, a number of theoretical research studies were performed with numerical simulations to demonstrate the relevance of advanced control design to the artificial pancreas, with delivery algorithms ranging from simple PID, to H-infinity, to model predictive control. With the advent of continuous glucose sensing, which reports interstitial glucose concentrations approximately every minute, and the development of hardware and algorithms to communicate with and control insulin pumps, the vision of closed-loop control of blood glucose is approaching a reality. In the last 8 years, our research group has been working with medical doctors on clinical investigations of control algorithms for the artificial pancreas. In this talk, I will outline the difficulties inherent in controlling physiological variables, the challenges with regulatory approval of such devices, and will describe a number of algorithms we have tested in clinical experiments for feedback control of the artificial pancreas, based on model predictive control.
Host: Professor Qin
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/d-04-21-11.htmLocation: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/d-04-21-11.htm
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Apr 21, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Subhash Suri, UCSB
Talk Title: Paths, Trees and Polygons
Abstract: The growing scope of combinatorial algorithms often forces us to compute structures when the data are incomplete, uncertain, or time-varying. In this talk, we revisit three classical problems (Shortest Paths, Minimum Spanning Trees, and Polygon Guarding) under such informational and sensing models, and derive new complexity bounds or impossibility results.
In particular, we show that
(1) if the travel times for the edges of a graph are a (polynomial) functions of time, there can be super-polynomial number of shortest paths between two nodes,
(2) if each of the $n$ points in the plane is present only probabilistically, computing the expected length of their minimum spanning tree is intractable, and
(3) many basic geometric problems such as the Art Gallery coverage of a polygon can be solved in a "binary combinatorial sensing model" that does not require knowledge of coordinates.
Biography: Subhash Suri received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University in 1987 and B.S. in Electronics Engineering from University Of Roorkee, India in 1981. His research interests are in Algorithms, Wireless Sensor Networks, Data Streams, Computational Geometry, and Game Theory. For more information, see http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~suri/
Host: Prof. Gaurav Sukhatme
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Fri, Apr 22, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nidhi, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCSB
Talk Title: Self-Aligned N-Polar GaN HEMTs: Towards Next-Generation Nitride Electronics
Abstract: III-Nitrides have emerged as a versatile new material family with unique material properties such as large piezoelectric polarization, high saturation velocity, high breakdown electric field and bandgap ranging from near IR (0.7 eV for InN) to deep UV (6.4 eV for AlN). This wide range of band-gap allows them to be extensively used in opto-electronics in a large range of wavelength, optical storage and high efficiency photovoltaics using InGaN alloys. Recently, AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) have also been widely used as power amplifiers for wireless communication applications and as power switches for rectification.
In this talk, I will emphasize on the N-polar orientation of GaN and its application towards high frequency electronics. N-polar GaN-based HEMTs offer several advantages over the more established Ga-polar technology such as the potential of ultra low ohmic contact resistance (20 Ω-µm demonstrated) and a natural back-barrier for charge confinement. The development of N-polar GaN electronics started late due to materials and processing challenges, but has been eventful with several significant achievements in the recent past. I will talk about the self-aligned MIS-HEMT technology we developed at UCSB and its development towards becoming a competitor to the established Ga-polar technology. Finally, I will discuss future directions for III-Nitride electronics and other exciting possibilities employing the novel materials.
Biography: Nidhi is a Ph.D candidate under Prof. Umesh Mishra in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UCSB (University of California Santa Barbara). Her graduate work involved design and fabrication of N-polar GaN-based self-aligned MIS-HEMTs for very high frequency applications, like mm-wave power and possibly digital applications due to gate-first self-aligned design. She received the M. S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UCSB in 2008. She graduated second in her class of Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India with a Bachelor of Technology degree in 2006. Her research interests include deep submicron devices for high frequency applications, nanoscale semiconductor devices, power electronic devices and novel device structures on new materials for faster and energy-efficient electronics with expanded functionality.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Imagineering: Engineering the Story
Fri, Apr 22, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Molly Rinke, Ride Controls Engineer, Walt Disney Imagineering
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Imagineering: Engineering the Story
Abstract: Molly Rinke, Ride Controls Engineer at Walt Disney Imagineering, will present "Imagineering: Engineering the Story" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Apr 22, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Boris Murmann, Stanford University
Talk Title: The next wave of mixed-signal interface electronics
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi and Firooz Aflatouni
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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Graduate Seminar
Fri, Apr 22, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Yvonne Chen, California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
Talk Title: Genetic Control of T-Cell Proliferation with Synthetic RNA Regulatory Systems
Series: Graduate Seminar
Abstract: Adoptive T-cell therapy seeks to harness the precision and efficacy of the immune system against diseases that escape the bodyâs natural surveillance. Clinical trials have demonstrated the use of cytolytic T cells (CTLs) genetically engineered to express disease-specific antigen receptors as a promising treatment option for opportunistic diseases, virus-associated malignancies, and cancers. However, the safety and efficacy of T-cell therapies depend, in part, on the ability to regulate the fate and function of CTLs with stringency and flexibility. The emerging field of synthetic biology provides powerful conceptual and technological tools for the construction of regulatory systems that can interface with and reprogram complex biological processes such as cell growth. Here, we present the development of synthetic RNA-based regulatory systems and their applications in advancing cellular therapies. Rationally designed, drug-responsive ribozyme switches are linked to the proliferative cytokines IL-2 and IL-15 to construct cis-acting regulatory systems capable of T-cell proliferation control in both mouse and primary human T cells. We further demonstrate the ability of our synthetic controllers to effectively modulate T-cell growth rates in response to drug input in animal models. In addition, we report the development of rationally designed, miRNA-based regulatory devices capable of drug-responsive control over the expression of endogenous cytokine receptor chains. The RNA-based regulatory systems exhibit unique properties critical for translation to therapeutic applications, including adaptability to diverse ligand inputs and regulatory targets, tunable regulatory stringency, and rapid response to input availability. By providing tight gene expression control with customizable ligand inputs, RNA-based regulatory systems can greatly improve cellular therapies and advance broad applications in health and medicine.
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/g-04-22-11.htmLocation: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/g-04-22-11.htm
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 10:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Takahiro Ohyama, House Ear Institute
Talk Title: Developmental Patterning of the Inner Ear
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Seminar: Fate and Transport of nano-TiO2 in Aquatic Environments
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sharon L. Walker Associate Professor and the John Babbage Chair in Environmental Engineering University of California Riverside,
Abstract: Fate and transport of nanoparticles in aquatic environments have been investigated utilizing nano-TiO2, as it is one of the most widely used nanomaterials in industry. The project was developed to identify the fundamental mechanisms involved in the transport of nano-TiO2 and the contribution of various environmental parameters including solution chemistry (pH, ionic strength, and ion valence), hydrodynamic effects, and the presence of natural organic matter(NOM). Complementary transport studies have been conducted in both macroscopic (packedbed column) and microscopic (parallel plate flow cell) systems. Additionally, extensive
physical-chemical characterization of the nanoparticles was conducted under these various solution conditions. The combination of these transport and characterization tools has
demonstrated the critical role that pH, ionic strength and valence, NOM, and aggregation state play in the transport. Results from both transport systems and particle characterization will be presented, as well as the proposed transport and retention mechanisms observed. Additionally, a
brief overview of Walkerâs research in bacterial pathogen fate and transport will be discussed as well.
Biography: Sharon Walker received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale University in 2004. She earned her M.S. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale in 2000 and two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Southern California in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Studies in 1998. She is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Society of Microbiology (ASM), Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), Air and Waste Management
Association (AWMA), Association of Women in Science (AWIS), and Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She is also a member of Chi Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi. She is currently a faculty advisor to the UC Riverside Alpha Beta chapter of Tau Beta Pi and campus chapter of SWE. She was awarded the 2010 NSF Career Award and she was a Fulbright Scholar at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel during the 2009-2010 school year.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Oral Defense Dissertation: Enabling Geotechnical Data for Broader Use by the Spatial Data Infrastructures
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amir Zand, Civil Engineering Ph.D. Candidate,
Abstract: Geotechnical data is one of the most prevalent data types in civil engineering projects. Majority of the civil engineering projects that are in use today are designed using site-specific geotechnical data.
The usage of geotechnical data is not limited to construction projects. This data is used in a wide range of applications, including seismic hazard analysis, planning and zoning studies, risk analysis and other infrastructure development projects. Demand for geotechnical data in this type of applications has increased in the past few decades, due to proliferation of geographic information systems (GIS) and variety of applications that take advantage of GIS and spatial data.
Considering the widespread collection and usage of geotechnical data in various disciplines, one might expect that this data is readily available for most developed areas. However, unlike other types of spatial data that are available in spatial data infrastructures (SDI), geotechnical data is often managed using traditional and ineffective methods. Consequently, for a lot of projects it is difficult to find and acquire this data. This issue is frequently encountered in civil engineering projects, and more importantly, in large-scale multi-disciplinary studies that need large volumes of geotechnical data.
In order to address this problem, the current methods used for management, archiving and distribution of geotechnical data need to be improved upon. The most viable solution is to leverage the existing information technology infrastructure and adopt the methods that are already in use for other types of spatial data. These technologies include geography markup language (GML), spatial databases and web services developed for spatial data exchange.
Following this concept, in the subject dissertation development of a spatial data model for geotechnical data is discussed. The discussion includes an overview of the geotechnical data collection, processing and current methods that are used to archive and exchange this data. The proprietary software and data formats that are used for geotechnical data exchange, including the association of geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists (AGS) data format, are covered in this review. In addition, the current state of information technology for other types of spatial data is evaluated. This background study includes spatial databases, spatial data infrastructures and various standards that are adopted by the industry and regulating agencies for management and dissemination of spatial data.
Based on this framework, a data model is proposed for integration of geotechnical data in SDIs. This data model uses the terminology of the AGS geotechnical data exchange format, and combines it with a GML-conformant schema. GML is the industry-standard markup language for modeling spatial data for use in SDIs.
The developed data model is compared with similar proposals from other research groups. The functionality of the data group is verified using several examples involving visualizing the geotechnical data, and using it for analyses such as site response analysis and liquefaction hazard assessment. A case study is presented which demonstrates the potential benefits of these analysis scenarios in real-world studies.
Finally, the achievements of the dissertation are summarized and suggestions are made in order to improve the results of the current study. Also, some related research topics are suggested to continue and further expand the concepts presented in this dissertation.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Epstein ISE Research Seminar
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Julia L. Higle, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Integrated Systems Engineering, The Ohio State University
Talk Title: "Decisions and Data under Uncertainty"
Abstract: From its very inception, Operations Research has grappled with problems of Decisions under Uncertainty. Even in the early days of linear programming, Dantzig recognized that "the real problem"
involved programming under uncertainty! Progress with algorithmic methods, and advances in computing technology have made it possible to address "industrial-strength" applications which integrate data and decisions to deliver convincing real-world solutions.
Applications compel us to make decisions about the data that we use, a fact that we recognize with varying degrees of formality. In this talk, we will motivate a stochastic programming approach to "decision modeling" and "data modeling" using two applications emerging from the service sector. Following a presentation of the models that describe these applications, we provide an overview of Stochastic Decomposition (SD), a stochastic programming solution methodology. We report results that illustrate the quality of the policies that can be developed through this approach.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Luc Vincent, Director of Engineering, Google Inc.
Talk Title: Google Street View: Image Acquisition and Computer Vision at Global Scale
Abstract: Unveiled in May 2007, the Street View feature of Google Maps is the result of a substantial engineering effort by a team including software engineers, mechanical engineers, UI designers, computer vision scientists, operations experts, and scores of others. The initial vision for Street View was provided by Google co-founder Larry Page, who personally collected street scene videos from his moving car in order to bootstrap research in this area. Turning this initial vision into a product required developing major new pieces of technology, including robust data collection platforms (vans, cars, tricycles, snowmobiles, etc.), systems for computing accurate pose from imperfect sensors, various software components to stitch, blend, color correct and warp collected imagery, efficient systems to manage a Gargantuan flow of data, a number of systems to address privacy issues, AJAX software components to integrate Street View to Google Maps, and many others. This presentation will go over some of these components and give the audience a peek at the Street View project from behind the scene.
Host: Dr. Cyrus Shahabi, USC
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Integrating speech science and technology: New models for speech and audio processing
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Eric Fosler-Lussier, The Ohio State University
Talk Title: Integrating speech science and technology: New models for speech and audio processing
Abstract: Traditional speech recognition techniques adopt a hierarchical, top down approach to modeling speech data; linguistic information such as word pronunciations or language models typically act as priors in statistical models for automatic speech recognition (ASR). One line of research has started to integrate linguistic information within the representation of the underlying speech data. However, the top down approach typically used in ASR (Hidden Markov Models) does not easily allow for combining evidence from different linguistic representations.
Similarly, in speech separation (removing background noise from a speech-noise mixture), different cues have been identified that indicate speech or background noise. However, the techniques that have utilized multiple cues typically combine them in an ad hoc manner.
In this talk, I will discuss a line of research from my lab that looks at combining evidence using Conditional Random Fields: CRFs have been utilized within the NLP community for many tasks, but their use in the speech community is only starting to take off. Applications of CRFs to the ASR and speech separation problems show that this type of model can be an effective combiner of information, and can allow us to easily integrate ideas from speech science into working systems.
Biography: Eric Fosler-Lussier is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in Linguistics, at The Ohio State University. After receiving a B.A.S. (Computer and Cognitive Science) and B.A. (Linguistics) from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, he received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of California, Berkeley, performing his dissertation research at the International Computer Science Institute under the tutelage of Prof. Nelson Morgan. He has also been a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and a Visiting Researcher at Columbia University. In 2006, Prof. Fosler-Lussier was awarded an NSF CAREER award, and in 2010 was presented with a Lumley Research Award by the Ohio State College of Engineering. He is also the recipient (with co-author Jeremy Morris) of the 2010 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award. He has published over 90 papers in speech and language processing, is a member of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the International Speech Communication Association, and a senior member of the IEEE.
Fosler-Lussier serves on the IEEE Speech and Language Technical Committee (2006-2008, 2010-2013), as well as on the editorial boards of the ACM Transactions on Speech and Language Processing and the Journal of Experimental Linguistics. He is generally interested in integrating linguistic insights as priors in statistical learning systems.
Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
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Epstein Institute Seminar Series / ISE 650 Seminar
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ge Wang, Assistant Professor, CCRMA, Stanford University/CCO, Chief Creative Officer, Smule
Talk Title: "THE WORLD IS YOUR STAGE: SOCIAL MUSIC-MAKING ON MOBILE PHONES"
Abstract: Due to their mobility, computing power, and sheer strength in numbers, mobile phones have become much more than simply "a phone" (and mobile devices more than simply "portable computers"), increasingly serving as personal and "natural" extensions of ourselves. Therein lies, we believe, immense potential to reshape the way we think and do, and especially in how we engage one another expressively and socially. This presentation explores the research we are doing on mobile music at Stanford and at Smule - including mobile phone orchestras, iPhone's Ocarina, I Am T-Pain, and Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle on the iPad. We also trace their origins to laptop orchestras, programming languages for music, and an intersection of music, computer science, and the simple joy of building things together.
Biography: GE WANG, is an Assistant Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), and researches interactive software systems for computer music, programming languages, mobile/social music, and education at the intersection of computer science and music. Ge is the author of the ChucK audio programming language, the founding director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk), and the cofounder and director of the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra (MoPhO). Ge is the Co-founder, CTO, and Chief Creative Officer of Smule, and the designer of the iPhone's Ocarina and the iPad's Magic Piano.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - Room 105
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Petroleum Engineering Seminar
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 01:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Piri, University of Wyoming, Dept. of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
Talk Title: Multiphase Flow Properties in Mixed-Wet Porous Media:
Abstract: Development decisions for hydrocarbon fields or CO2 storage sites are based on reservoir performance predictions under different putative development strategies. These predictions use numerical simulation of multiphase fluid flow through a geological description of the reservoir. Much attention has been given to the assignment of properties - such as porosity and permeability - that faithfully represent the expected spatial heterogeneity and are consistent with a variety of different measurements of reservoir properties. In comparison, multiphase properties, particularly relative permeability, are given less attention, and a single set of relative permeabilities is often assigned to a given rock type, or even to the whole field. For many improved/enhanced hydrocarbon recovery projects and CO2 sequestration schemes, accurate estimates of relative permeabilities are crucial. The uncertainties associated with assigning multiphase flow properties often mean that the development projects are not carried out, with lost opportunity costs that may be hundreds of millions of dollars for a single field. This problem is even more acute for recovery of hydrocarbons from unconventional resources such as tight gas reservoirs.
In recent years there has been a surge in interest in pore-scale modeling as a physically-based tool to predict macroscopic properties such as relative permeabilities. The displacement physics for two- and three-phase flow in mixed-wet porous systems has been worked out at the pore scale. In this seminar, two distinct groups of state-of-the-art physically-based pore-level models will be presented: 1) A three-dimensional random network model will be discussed that is capable of simulating two- and three-phase flow processes at the pore level using faithful representations of the pore space. The displacement mechanisms incorporated in the model are based on the physics of multiphase flow observed in micromodel experiments. The model computes relative permeabilities, saturation paths, and capillary pressures for a variety of displacement sequences. The predicted two- and three-phase relative permeabilities are successfully compared against their experimental counterparts. Other applications of the technique, for instance, in fractured systems, will also be discussed. 2) A dynamic particle-based model for direct pore-level simulation of incompressible flow and contaminant transport in disordered porous media will be presented. The model is capable of simulating flow directly in three-dimensional high-resolution microtomography images of rock samples. The model is based on moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method and is used to predict various flow and transport properties such as longitudinal dispersion coefficient. The accuracy of the model is validated against analytical, numerical, and experimental data available in the literature. The validated model is then used to simulate both unsteady- and steady-state flow and transport directly in representative elementary volume (REV) size microtomography images of naturally-occurring porous systems.
The need for better experimental measurements in order to improve the predictive capabilities of the aforementioned models will be discussed next. A state-of-the-art three-phase flow laboratory, established from scratch at the University of Wyoming, will be presented. The facility can be used to study a wide range of two- and three-phase flow experiments at reservoir conditions using a medical CT scanner to measure in-situ fluid saturations. The experiments may be carried out using vertically-placed core samples as the scanner can be rotated to the horizontal orientation. An extensive experimental program designed to complement the modeling effort will be discussed. Recently generated experimental data on the permanent trapping of supercritical CO2, relevant to CO2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers, and results related to a novel EOR technique will be presented.
Biography: Dr. Mohammad Piri is an Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Wyoming (UW). He received his PhD in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College London in 2004. Before joining the faculty at UW, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. His research interests include pore-level physics of multiphase flow and transport in disordered porous media with applications in energy and the environment as well as measurement and prediction of macroscopic properties in multiphase flow systems. In particular, he works on three-phase flow systems with applications to oil and gas recovery, CO2 sequestration and leakage, effects of saturation history, trapping, and wettability on three-phase relative permeability, and direct pore-level modeling of flow in microtomography images. He currently leads a research group with seven graduate students and one postdoctoral research associate and is the Associate Director of the Center for Fundamentals of Subsurface Flow of the School of Energy Resources at UW.
Host: Mork Family Department
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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Epstein ISE Seminar
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dennice Gayme, Postdoctoral Scholar, Control and Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: "Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Sources"
Abstract: Global warming and security concerns are driving the need to find more efficient and renewable energy sources and systems. In this talk we examine issues associated with integrating renewable sources into a smart electric grid. Two case studies are described. The first demonstrates the benefits of grid integrated storage in the current power generation network paradigm. The second looks at how a combination of storage and ancillary services can be used to mitigate the intermittency of renewable sources. These studies are used to demonstrate the different trade-offs necessary in developing a system that effectively integrates renewable resources. A full characterization of energy systems that combine a variety of generation schemes, storage and ancillary services is required before the full potential of a âsmartâ and clean power generation system can be achieved.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Room 309
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bill Henshaw, Centre for Applied Scientific Computing, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Talk Title: Deforming Composite Grids for Fluid Structure Interactions
Abstract: For some years we have been developing an open source software framework called Overture for the solution of partial differential equations in complex moving geometry. We use overlapping grids (also know as overset or Chimera grids) to efficiently represent complex geometry with structured grids. I will begin this talk by giving a brief overview of Overture and its capabilities. The focus of the talk will be on our recent work for fluid structure interaction problems. I will describe the use of deforming composite overlapping grids for the solution of problems coupling fluid flow and deforming solids. The method is based on a mixed Eulerian Lagrangian technique. Local moving boundary-fitted grids are used near the deforming interface and these overlap non-moving grids which cover the majority of the domain. The approach is described and validated for some fluid structure problems involving high speed compressible flow and linear elastic solids.
Host: Prof. V. Eliasson
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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CS Colloquium
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Yevgeniy Dodis, NYU
Talk Title: Leftover Hash Lemma, Revisited
Abstract: The famous Leftover Hash Lemma (LHL) states that (almost) universal hash functions are good randomness extractors. Despite its numerous applications, LHL-based extractors suffer from the following two drawbacks:
(1) Large Entropy Loss: to extract v bits from distribution X of min-entropy m which are e-close to uniform, one must set v = 2*log(1/e).
(2) Large Seed Length: the seed length n of universal hash function required by the LHL must be linear in the length of the source.
Quite surprisingly, we show that both limitations of the LHL --- large entropy loss and large seed --- can often be overcome (or, at least,
mitigated) in various quite general scenarios. First, we show that entropy loss could be reduced to L=log(1/e) for the setting of deriving secret keys for a wide range of cryptographic applications, including *all* "unpredictability" applications (signatures, MACs, etc.) and also some prominent "indistinguishability" applications, including chosen plaintext (or ciphertext) attack secure (public- or symmetric-key) encryption schemes. Specifically, the security of these schemes gracefully degrades from e to at most e + sqrt(e * 2^{-L}).(Notice that, unlike standard LHL, this bound is meaningful even for negative entropy loss, when we extract more bits than the the min-entropy we have!)
Second, we study the soundness of the natural *expand-then-extract* approach, where one uses a pseudorandom generator (PRG) to expand a short "input seed" S into a longer "output seed" S', and then use the resulting S' as the seed required by the LHL (or, more generally, any randomness extractor). Unfortunately, we show that, in general, expand-then-extract approach is not sound if the Decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption is true. Despite that, we show that it is sound either: (1) when extracting a "small" (logarithmic in the security of the PRG) number of bits; or (2) in *minicrypt*.
Implication (2) suggests that the sample-then-extract approach is likely secure when used with "practical" PRGs, despite lacking a reductionist proof of security!
The paper can be found at http://eprint.iacr.org/2011/088
Biography: Yevgeniy Dodis is an Associate Professor of computer science at New York University, which he joined in 2001 after receiving his PhD at MIT in 2000 and being a post-doc at IBM T.J.Watson Research center.
He also spent 2007-2008 academic year visiting the CRCS center at Harvard University.
Dr. Dodis' research is primarily in cryptography and network security.
In particular, he worked in a variety of areas including leakage-resilient cryptography, cryptography under weak randomness, cryptography with biometrics and other noisy data, hash function and block cipher design, protocol composition and information-theoretic cryptography. Dr. Dodis has more than 90 scientific publications at various conferences, journals and other venues, has been on program committees of many international conferences (including FOCS, STOC, CRYPTO and Eurocrypt), and gave numerous invited lectures and courses at various venues. Dr. Dodis is the recipient of National Science Foundation CAREER Award, IBM Faculty Award, Google Faculty Award and Best Paper Award at 2005 Public Key Cryptography Conference. As an undergraduate student, he was also a winner of the US-Canada Putnam Mathematical Competition in 1995.
Host: Prof. David Kempe
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 118
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Defense Dissertation: Prediction of Extreme Events in Southern California
Thu, Apr 28, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bennington J. Willardson, Ph.D. Candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Abstract: The prediction of extreme runoff events has significant risk and financial implications when dealing with hydraulic infrastructure. This is especially true in highly urbanized areas such as Southern California. Two methods for determining extreme runoff exist: extrapolation of existing runoff data using extreme event probability distributions, or hydrologic modeling using design rainfall events and watershed characteristics to generate an estimate of the extreme runoff event. This research investigates both methods to evaluate usefulness and limitations in providing guidance for risk and financial analysis.
Design of levees and flood protection channels often focuses on providing protection from events with a 50- to 100-year recurrence interval. In many areas of the country, stream gage record sets do not contain records of this length. The effects of record length, probability distribution selection, and the method of parameter estimation are evaluated to determine the impacts on prediction of the extreme runoff event used for levee and channel design.
Design storms are often used with hydrologic models to predict runoff for events larger than those measured through systematic stream gaging. The Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) - Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) methodology is widely used. This research evaluates the use of this standard on design for major hydraulic structures such as dam spillways within Southern California. Two standard PMP methodologies are evaluated based on rain gage frequency analysis within Los Angeles County. The effects of soils, watershed characteristics, and wild fire on extreme runoff events are also evaluated using Monte Carlo Simulation of 27 watersheds within the County.
The Monte Carlo Simulations evaluates two design storms, two soil loss methodologies, and the effects of fire within a watershed. The structure and development of the model will be discussed, as well as the results for the different cases in determining extreme runoff events. Conclusions will be drawn regarding prediction of extreme runoff events in Southern California.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Distinguished Lecture
Thu, Apr 28, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Stuart Russell, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Open universes and nuclear weapons
Abstract: I will discuss a formal unification of probability theory and full (open-universe) first-order logic that allows for uncertain reasoning about unknown objects and events within a general-purpose formal language. Applications range from citation information extraction to monitoring ompliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The second half of the talk will describe the latter application in detail.
Biography: Stuart Russell was born in Portsmouth, England in 1962. He received his B.A. with first-class honours in physics from Oxford University in 1982, and his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford in 1986. He then joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he is Professor (and formerly Chair) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery at UC San Francisco. In 1990, he received the Presidential Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation, and in 1995 he was cowinner of the Computers and Thought Award. He was a 1996 Miller Professor of the University of California and was appointed to a Chancellor's Professorship in 2000. In 1998, he gave the Forsythe Memorial Lectures at Stanford University and in 2005 he received the ACM Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. He is a Fellow and former Executive Council member of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
He has published over 150 papers on a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence including machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, real-time decision making, multitarget tracking, computer vision, computational physiology, and global seismic monitoring. His books include "The Use of Knowledge in Analogy and Induction" (Pitman, 1989), "Do the Right Thing: Studies in Limited Rationality" (with Eric Wefald, MIT Press, 1991), and "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" (with Peter Norvig, Prentice Hall, 1995, 2003, 2010).
Host: Prof. Fei Sha, USC
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering Research Festival hosted by the Ming Hsieh Institute
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Poster Sessions, Graduating PhD Student Presentations, Awards Ceremony , Details TBD
Talk Title: SAVE THE DATE
Abstract: Schedule:
10:00am - 12:00pm Poster Session #1
10:00am - 12:00pm Graduating Ph.D. Presentations
12:00pm - 01:00pm Lunch (invite only)
01:00pm - 03:00pm Graduating Ph.D. Presentations
01:00pm - 03:00pm Poster Session #2
03:00pm - 04:00pm Awards Ceremony
04:00pm - 05:00pm Reception (invite only)
Host: Ming Hsieh Institute
More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/ee-research-festival/Location: Gerontology Auditorium/Patio
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Danielle Hamra
Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/ee-research-festival/
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USC Water Institute Seminar
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yoram Cohen , Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Water Technology Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 90095 Email: yoram@ucla.edu
Talk Title: Strategies for RO Process Integration and Cost Reduction
Abstract: The widespread use of membrane filtration and desalination RO desalination is rapidly gaining momentum in water reuse application including municipal wastewater and agricultural drainage (AD) water reclamation and reuse. Also, RO desalination of both seawater and inland brackish water is currently being considered in various locations around the world, with a growing number of large-scale desalination plants in the planning and/or construction stages. Considerable efforts, dating back to the initial days of RO development in the early 1960s, have been devoted to minimizing the energy consumption of water desalination, development of fouling and chlorine resistant membranes, as well as deployment of effective feed pretreatment. Reduction of the cost of RO desalination necessitates lowering process energy consumption, decreasing the volume of the generated concentrate stream (specifically for inland water desalination) and improving feed filtration effectiveness. At the same time one must meet the target permeate water quality while keeping overall water production cost at a reasonable level. Accordingly, the present seminar presents a formalized theoretical framework to systematically evaluate various options for minimizing RO energy consumption (with and without energy recovery devices), considering membrane module cost and the challenge of brine management. A comparison is presented of single versus multi-stage and multi-pass membrane desalting including considerations of stream mixing and recycling. An important element of robust RO process operation requires adequate process monitoring and control and dynamic optimization that respond (in real-time) to changing feed water conditions and product quality requirements. Recent advances have made it feasible to develop and deploy smart water desalination systems that enable effective integration and robust operation (with added automated fault detection and self-corrective action) of integrated UF and RO systems with reduced use of chemical cleaning and fault detection. Such systems and operational strategies can be utilized for distributed water desalination systems of reduced footprint. Results from both laboratory and field studies, for both agricultural and municipal wastewaters, with recently developed smart water desalination systems will be presented to demonstrate the feasibility of improving RO process optimization and operability for challenging water sources of high fouling and scaling propensities and for high recovery operation for brackish water desalting. In addition, reduction of the cost of concentrate management in inland water desalination will be discussed with respect to a newly developed chemically enhanced seeded precipitation (CESP) for high recovery desalination. Based on the above theoretical and field studies, various areas of further necessary improvements in RO desalination will be discussed focusing on needed reduction in process costs and improved operability for both large-scale and small-scale distributed systems.
Biography: Dr. Yoram Cohen received his B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., in 1975 and 1977, respectively, both in Chemical Engineering, from the University of Toronto, and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1981. He has been on the Faculty of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) since 1981. He is the founder and Director of the Water Technology Research Center and the Center for Environmental Risk Reduction, and a member of the UCLA/National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN). Dr. Cohen is an Adjunct Professor at Ben-Gurion University and a member of the International Advisory Committee to the Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute at the Technion. He was a Visiting Professor at the Technion (1987-1988), at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (1944) and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Victoria University (2006). Dr. Cohen is a UCLA Luskin Scholar and a recipient of the 2008 Ann C. Rosenfield Community Partnership Prize in recognition of his environmental research. He received the 2003 Lawrence K. Cecil award in Environmental Chemical Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), as well as the AIChE Separations Division Outstanding Paper Award (1997 and 2009). In 2008 he received a County of Los Angeles Commendation (2008), a State of California Senate Certificate of Recognition, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition (US) for contributing to legislation to protect public health and dedicated service to the Los Angeles community. Dr. Cohen has published over one hundred and fifty research papers and book chapters in water technology, separations processes, transport phenomena, polymer science, surface nano-structuring and environmental engineering. He is also the Editor of three environmental volumes. Dr. Cohen developed patented technologies in membrane synthesis, reverse osmosis desalination, surface nanostructuring and chemical sensors. He has served on numerous Government Advisory Committees, and organized over thirty scientific conferences, including the 2008 International Congress on Membranes and membrane processes (ICOM) and the 2009 West Coast Water Technology Transfer workshop. He also was appointed as the Meeting Program Chair of the 2010 AIChE Meeting.
Host: Ellis Meng
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Oral Defense Dissertation: Chromium Remediation in Groundwater Using Integrated Microbial Fuel Cells and Electrokinetic Systems
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lewis Hsu, Environmental Engineering Ph.D. Candidate
Abstract: Hexavalent chromium (CrVI) is a common metallic carcinogen heavily used in industrial applications such as electroplating and leather tanning. Improper handling and disposal, along with the high solubility of CrVI, have led to widespread contamination of soil and water systems. Several remediation methods have been proposed, including biologically based techniques.
Bioremediation of CrVI is a promising approach due, in part, to the ability of the technique to rapidly lower CrVI concentrations. The research presented here focuses on the development of a CrVI remediation approach based on microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. MFC technology has been proposed as a source of renewable energy and as a remediation tool. While much work has been done on developing the technology as a renewable energy source, relatively little work has been performed to assess its capabilities as a remediation tool.
To address this shortcoming, the research presented here will showcase several aspects of using an MFC as a remediation tool. These include (i) a predictive modeling approach for biological CrVI remediation, (ii) an evaluation of Shewanella bacteria as biocatalysts, (iii) the selection and analysis of mixed communities in a CrVI-reducting MFC, and (iv) the integration of a CrVI-reducing MFC with an electrokinetic system.
These findings show that CrVI removal to low parts-per-billion concentration levels is possible with MFC systems and that integration with existing technologies is a valuable application to consider when designing remediation strategies.
Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 333
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
