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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April
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Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering Seminar
Wed, Apr 01, 2015 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Reetuparna Das, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Talk Title: Architecting Components for a 10 Billion Transistor Processor
Abstract: Soon we may have processors with over ten billion transistors organized into hundreds of cores delivering supercomputer-like TeraFlops performance. To unlock this performance potential, however, we need dramatic improvements in processor efficiency to stay within the strict power budget. A significant source of inefficiency in today's general-purpose processors is that they tend to expend equal resources to varied applications without accounting for their individual needs. In this talk, I will present two solutions to address such inefficiency in both core and un-core parts of the processor. Composite cores eliminate needless power expended by out-of-order cores for applications with little or easy to exploit instruction-level parallelism. Aergia on-chip network prioritizes packets of network-sensitive applications to attain significantly higher throughput. I will also briefly discuss our on-going research that seeks to move compute close to storage in order to attain orders of magnitude improvement in efficiency for Big Data applications.
Biography: Reetuparna Das is a research faculty in the EECS Department at the University of Michigan. She is also the researcher-in-residence for the Center for Future Architectures Research (CFAR). Prior to this, she was a Research Scientist at Intel Labs in Santa Clara. Her research interests include computer architecture, and its interaction with software systems and VLSI technologies. Her most notable contributions include the design of application-aware and energy proportional on-chip interconnects for Kilo-core processors and fine-grained heterogeneous core architectures. She has received several awards including an IEEE Top Picks award, outstanding research assistant and outstanding teaching assistant awards from the CSE department at Pennsylvania State University. She has authored over 30 articles in peer reviewed journals and conferences. She has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
Host: Prof. Murali Annavaram
More Information: print_Das.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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The Business of Oil and Gas
Wed, Apr 01, 2015 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mr. Warner M. Williams, Retired Vice President Chevron North America Exploration and Production Company
Talk Title: Navigating Uncertainty
Series: USC Energy Institute Seminar Series
Host: USC Energy Institute
More Information: USCEI 2015 Seminar Series IIv3.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Juli Legat
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Biochemical Feedback Control Theory for Synthetic Biocircuits
Wed, Apr 01, 2015 @ 01:15 PM - 02:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yutaka Hori, Caltech
Talk Title: Biochemical Feedback Control Theory for Synthetic Biocircuits
Abstract: Recent technological advancements have enabled us to construct
artificial biochemical networks, or biocircuits, that produce desired
dynamic functions such as bistability, oscillations and logic gates by
assembling DNA parts. This technology allows for many potential
engineering and biomedical applications, including the production of
high-value molecules and energy, and the sensing of hazardous chemicals,
using the cellular machinery of microbes. Toward a systematic
engineering of complex biological systems, model-based biocircuit design
has been increasingly important in recent years.
Biography: In this talk, we present a novel control theoretic framework to
systematically model, analyze and design the dynamics of biochemical
circuits along with experimental results. We first propose a general
feedback model representation of nonlinear biochemical dynamics. The
proposed modeling framework narrows the class of nonlinear systems down
to the degree where it allows us to develop rigorous and systematic
theoretical tools. We provide analytic and algebraic methods for
stability analysis and oscillator synthesis using the structure of the
system. Then, the utility of the developed tools is demonstrated by
experimentally implementing biochemical oscillator circuits. Finally, we
briefly show extensions of the proposed framework and discuss future
works along with some preliminary results.
Host: Prof. Edmond Jonckheere
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Communications, Networks & Systems (CommNetS) Seminar
Wed, Apr 01, 2015 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Paulo Tabuada, UCLA
Talk Title: Secure state-estimation and control for dynamical systems under adversarial attacks
Series: CommNetS
Abstract: Control systems work silently in the background to support much of the critical infrastructure we have grown used to. Water distribution networks, sewer networks, gas and oil networks, and the power grid are just a few examples of critical infrastructure that rely on control systems for its normal operation. These systems are becoming increasingly networked both for distributed control and sensing, as well as for remote monitoring and reconfiguration. Unfortunately, once these systems become connected to the internet they become vulnerable to attacks that, although launched in the cyber domain, have for objective the manipulation of the physical domain. In this talk I will discuss the problem of state-estimation and control for linear dynamical systems when some of the sensor measurements are subject to an adversarial attack. I will show that a separation result holds so that controlling physical systems under active adversaries can be reduced to a state-estimation problem under active adversaries. I will characterize the maximal number of attacked sensors under which state estimation is possible and propose computationally feasible estimation algorithms. For this, I will use ideas from compressed sensing and error correction over the reals while exploiting the dynamical nature of the problem. Time permitting, I will also report on more recent results using satisfiability module theory solvers.
Biography: Paulo Tabuada was born in Lisbon, Portugal, one year after the Carnation Revolution. He received his "Licenciatura" degree in Aerospace Engineering from Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal in 1998 and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2002 from the Institute for Systems and Robotics, a private research institute associated with Instituto Superior Tecnico. Between January 2002 and July 2003 he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. After spending three years at the University of Notre Dame, as an Assistant Professor, he joined the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he established and directs the Cyber-Physical Systems Laboratory. Paulo Tabuada's contributions to cyber-physical systems have been recognized by multiple awards including the NSF CAREER award in 2005, the Donald P. Eckman award in 2009 and the George S. Axelby award in 2011. In 2009 he co-chaired the International Conference Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC'09), in 2012 he was program co-chair for the 3rd IFAC Workshop on Distributed Estimation and Control in Networked Systems (NecSys'12), and he is program co-chair for the 2015 IFAC Conference on Analysis and Design of Hybrid Systems. He also served on the editorial board of the IEEE Embedded Systems Letters and the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. His latest book, on verification and control of hybrid systems, was published by Springer in 2009.
Host: Prof. Ashutosh Nayyar and the Ming Hsieh Institute
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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CS Colloquium: Guy van den Broeck (KU Leuven) - Scalable Inference and Learning for High-Level Probabilistic Models
Thu, Apr 02, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Guy van den Broeck, KU Leuven
Talk Title: Scalable Inference and Learning for High-Level Probabilistic Models
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Probabilistic graphical models are pervasive in AI and machine learning. A recent push, however, is towards more high-level representations of uncertainty, such as probabilistic programs, probabilistic databases, and statistical relational models. This move is akin to going from hardware circuits to a full-fledged programming language, and poses key challenges for inference and learning. For instance, we encounter a fundamental limitation of classical learning algorithms: they make strong independence assumptions about the entities in the data (e.g., images, web pages, patients, etc.). These assumptions fail to hold in a global view of the data, where all entities are related. We also encounter a limitation of existing reasoning algorithms, which fail to scale to large, densely connected graphical models, consisting of millions of interrelated entities.
In this talk, I present my research on efficient algorithms for high-level probabilistic models, called lifted inference and learning algorithms. I begin by introducing the key principles behind exact lifted inference, namely to exploit symmetry and exchangeability in the model. Next, I discuss the strengths and limitations of lifting. Building on results from database theory and counting complexity, I identify classes of tractable models, and classes where high-level reasoning is fundamentally hard. I conclude by showing the practical embodiment of these ideas, in the form of approximate inference and learning algorithms that scale up to big data and big models.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE
Biography: Guy Van den Broeck graduated summa cum laude with a Ph.D. in Computer Science from KU Leuven, Belgium, in 2013. He was a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA and KU Leuven. His research interests are broadly in machine learning, artificial intelligence, knowledge representation and reasoning, and statistical relational learning. His work was awarded the ECCAI AI Dissertation Award 2014, Scientific Prize IBM Belgium for Informatics 2014, and Alcatel-Lucent Innovation Award 2009. He is the recipient of the best student paper award at ILP 2011 and a best paper honorable mention at AAAI 2014. For more information, see http://guyvandenbroeck.com
Host: Computer Science Department
Webcast: https://bluejeans.com/442226528Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
WebCast Link: https://bluejeans.com/442226528
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Trustworthy Integrated Circuit Design
Thu, Apr 02, 2015 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jeyavijayan (JV) Rajendran, New York University
Talk Title: Trustworthy Integrated Circuit Design
Abstract: Designers use third-party intellectual property (IP) cores and outsource various steps in their integrated circuit (IC) design and manufacturing flow. As a result, security vulnerabilities have been emerging, forcing IC designers and end users to reevaluate their trust in ICs. If an attacker gets hold of an unprotected IC, attacks such as reverse engineering the IC and piracy are possible. Similarly, if an attacker gets hold of an unprotected design, insertion of malicious circuits in the design, and IP piracy are possible.â¨To thwart these and similar attacks, we have developed three defenses: IC camouflaging, logic encryption, and split manufacturing. IC camouflaging modifies the layout of certain gates in the IC to deceive attackers into obtaining an incorrect netlist, thereby, preventing reverse engineering by a malicious user. Logic encryption implements a built-in locking mechanism on ICs to prevent reverse engineering and IP piracy by a malicious foundry and user. Split manufacturing splits the layout and manufactures different metal layers in two separate foundries to prevent reverse engineering and piracy by a malicious foundry. We then describe how these techniques are enhanced by using existing IC testing principles, thereby leading to trustworthy ICs.
Biography: Jeyavijayan (JV) Rajendran is a PhD Candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at New York University. His research interests include hardware security and emerging technologies.
He has won three Student Paper Awards (ACM CCS 2013, IEEE DFTS 2013, IEEE VLSI Design 2012); four ACM Student Research Competition Awards (DAC 2012, ICCAD 2013, DAC 2014, and the Grand Finals 2013); Service Recognition Award from Intel; Third place at Kaspersky American Cup, 2011; and Myron M. Rosenthal Award for Best Academic Performance in M.S. from NYU, 2011.
He organizes the annual Embedded Security Challenge, a red-team/blue-team hardware security competition. He is a student member of IEEE and ACM.
Website: wp.nyu.edu/jv
Host: Peter Beerel, pabeerel@usc.edu, EEB 350, x04481
More Information: Rajendran Seminar Announcement.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gloria Halfacre
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EE-EP Seminar
Thu, Apr 02, 2015 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mohamed Mohamed, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Talk Title: A Coupled Multiphysics Approach to Modeling Heating in Semiconductor Devices
Abstract: It is estimated that world energy consumption will increase by over 40% from 2012 to 2035. Meeting this energy demand while minimizing the proliferation of greenhouse gases and other toxins is one of societyâs key challenges. In recent years, thermal management has emerged as the ultimate bottleneck for improving the performance of consumer/commercial electronics. Controlling device temperature, as well as harnessing waste heat, is crucial to sustaining electronic devices with longer battery life and performance, in addition to potentially reducing our demand on power plants by efficiently using generated electricity. Without proper thermal management, inordinate power dissipation can potentially halt integrated circuit functionality.
For this reason, the development of state-of-the-art simulation models that self-consistently couple the electronic and phonon transport is essential in creating a cycle that pushes designs to have lower carbon footprints and creating environmentally conscious electronics that minimize waste. In this talk, I will highlight my work on electron and thermal transport and its relevance to nanoelectronic devices and materials. We will particularly address issues ranging from transport and modeling issues to power dissipation and energy harvesting. We will draw examples ranging from multi-gate FETs, SONOS memories, tunneling FETs and thermoelectric devices and suggest new directions for improving device efficiency through device and material engineering.
Biography: Mohamed Mohamed received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA, in 2012. He served as a Research Scientist and Visiting Lecturer with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral dissertation work was performed in the Computational Multiscale Nanostructures group directed by Professor Umberto Ravaioli and has demonstrated self-heating effects in nanoscale silicon MOSFETs through coupled electro-thermal Monte Carlo simulation. His current research interest is primarily on the theory, design, simulation and characterization of energy efficient devices, materials and circuits. He also has a great interest in cyber education and in exploring innovative ways to enhance learning, education, and research. He has developed numerous simulation tools suitable for both research and classroom use hosted on the nanoHUB. He is the recipient of the Ernest Reid Fellowship Award in Electrical Engineering, the Graduate College Dean Fellowship and was listed several times in the UIUC List of Teachers Ranked Excellent.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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AI Seminar- Predicting human behaviors in techno-social systems: fighting abuse and illicit activities
Fri, Apr 03, 2015 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Emilio Ferrara , Indiana University
Talk Title: Predicting human behaviors in techno-social systems: fighting abuse and illicit activities
Series: Artificial Intelligence Seminar
Abstract: The increasing availability of data across different socio-technical systems, such as online social networks, social media, and mobile phone networks, presents novel challenges and intriguing research opportunities. As more online services permeate through our everyday life and as data from various domains are connected and integrated with each other, the boundary between the real and the online worlds becomes blurry. Such data convey both online and offline activities of people, as well as multiple time scales and resolutions.
In this talk, I'll discuss my research efforts aimed at characterizing and predicting human behaviors and activities in techno-social worlds: starting by discussing network structure and information spreading on large social networks, I'll move toward characterizing entire online conversations, such as those around big real-world events, to capture the dynamics driving the emergence of collective attention and trending topics. I'll describe a machine learning framework leveraging these insights to detect promoted campaigns that mimic grassroots conversation. Aiming at learning the signature of abuse at the level of the single individuals, I'll illustrate the challenges posed by characterizing human activity as opposed to that of synthetic entities (social bots) that attempt emulate us, to persuade, smear, tamper or deceive. I'll draw a parallel with detecting illicit activities in the real world leveraging the traces left by criminals' interactions via mobile phones.
I'll conclude envisioning the design of computational systems that will help us making effective, timely decisions (informed by social data), and create actionable policies to contribute create a better future society.
Biography: Emilio Ferrara is research assistant professor at the School of Informatics and Computing of Indiana University, where he teaches I400/590 Mining the Social Web, and research scientist at the IU Network Science Institute. He holds a PhD in Mathematics & Computer Science with honors [University of Messina (IT), program ranked 2nd in Italy, top100 worldwide]. During his PhD years he was a visiting scholar at the Vienna University of Technology and at the Royal Holloway University of London. He was a postdoctoral fellow of the Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research at Indiana University, working with Alessandro Flammini and Fil Menczer for 2.5 years. He lead the DARPA/SMISC project on campaigns and social bots detection, and the DARPA Social Bot Detection Challenge for the IU team.
Emilioâs research interests lie at the intersection between Network Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, and Computational Social Science. His work explores Social Networks and Social Media Analysis, Criminal Networks, and Knowledge Engineering. His research appears on top journals like Communications of the ACM and Physical Review Letters, and on several ACM and IEEE Transactions Journals and Conference Proceedings.
He is Lead Guest Editor of the EPJ Data Science thematic series on Collective Behaviors and Networks, and serves in the Program Committees of several prestigious conferences like WWW, ICWSM, and SocInfo. Emilio is co-chair of various workshops recurring at ECCS, WWW, SocInfo, and WebScience; he was also the local & sponsor chair of ACM Web Science 2014 and publicity co-chair of SocInfo 2014.
His work has been featured on tech and business magazines like MIT Technology Review, TIME, New Scientist, Fast Company, Engadget, Wired, and Mashable, and on the popular press including on the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Seattle Times, the Atlantic, and BBC!
Emilio is a top 0.5% Kaggle competitor and enjoys participating to various data science competitions.
Host: Aram Galstyan
Webcast: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=0de28f610b2344099f9759c6f8e566f61dLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th Flr. Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
WebCast Link: http://webcasterms1.isi.edu/mediasite/Viewer/?peid=0de28f610b2344099f9759c6f8e566f61d
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Apr 03, 2015 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. George Hajj, Principal Engineer at JPL
Talk Title: From Science to Wall Street, and Back
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Hierarchical Bayesian Methods for Sparse Signal Recovery
Fri, Apr 03, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bhaskar D. Rao, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Hierarchical Bayesian Methods for Sparse Signal Recovery
Abstract: Compressive sensing (CS) as an approach for data acquisition has recently received much attention. In CS, the signal recovery problem from the observed data requires the solution of a sparse vector from an underdetermined system of equations. The underlying sparse signal recovery problem is quite general with many applications and is the focus of this talk. The main emphasis will be on a hierarchical Bayesian framework with a detailed discussion of an empirical Bayesian method, the Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL) method. To develop this framework, priors modeled as scale mixtures of normal distributions will be discussed which include super-Gaussian and student-t priors as special cases. The talk will also discuss Bayesian methods for sparse recovery problems with structure; Intra-vector correlation in the context of the block sparse model and inter-vector correlation in the context of the multiple measurement vector problem.
Biography: Bhaskar D. Rao received the B.Tech. degree in electronics and electrical communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, in 1979 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, in 1981 and 1983, respectively. Since 1983, he has been with the University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, where he is currently a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department. He is the holder of the Ericsson endowed chair in Wireless Access Networks and was the Director of the Center for Wireless Communications (2008-2011). Prof. Raoâs interests are in the areas of digital signal processing, estimation theory, and optimization theory, with applications to digital communications, speech signal processing, and biomedical signal processing.
Prof. Rao was elected fellow of IEEE in 2000 for his contributions to the statistical analysis of subspace algorithms for harmonic retrieval. His work has received several paper awards; 2013 best paper award at the Fall 2013, IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference for the paper âMulticell Random Beamforming with CDF-based Scheduling: Exact Rate and Scaling Laws,â by Yichao Huang and Bhaskar D Rao, 2012 Signal Processing Society (SPS) best paper award for the paper âAn Empirical Bayesian Strategy for Solving the Simultaneous Sparse Approximation Problem,â by David P. Wipf and Bhaskar D. Rao published in IEEE Transaction on Signal Processing, Volume: 55, No. 7, July 2007, 2008 Stephen O. Rice Prize paper award in the field of communication systems for the paper âNetwork Duality for Multiuser MIMO Beamforming Networks and Applications,â by B. Song, R. L. Cruz and B. D. Rao that appeared in the IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 55, No. 3, March 2007, pp. 618 630. (http://www.comsoc.org/ awards/rice.html), among others.
Prof. Rao has been a member of the Statistical Signal and Array Processing technical committee, the Signal Processing Theory and Methods technical committee, the Communications technical committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society and is currently a member of the Machine learning for Signal Processing technical committee. He has also served on the editorial board of the EURASIP Signal Processing Journal and also as a technical member for several IEEE conferences.
Host: Andreas Molisch, molisch@usc.edu, EEB 530, x04670
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Integrated Systems Seminar
Fri, Apr 03, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Jan Van der Spiegel, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: TBD
Series: Integrated Systems Seminar
Host: Hosted by Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mike Chen, and Prof. Mahta Moghaddam Organized and hosted by Run Chen
More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/events/event-details/?event_id=915369
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elise Herrera-Green
Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/events/event-details/?event_id=915369
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Fri, Apr 03, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Akua Asa-Awuku, University of California, Riverside
Talk Title: How Do Clouds Form? Linking Aerosol Properties to Cloud Condensation Nuclei
Abstract:
TBA
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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NL Seminar-Keeping Topic Models Fresh: Technical and Practical Challenges
Fri, Apr 03, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Don Metzler, Google
Talk Title: Keeping Topic Models Fresh: Technical and Practical Challenges
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Topic models are statistical models that can be used to infer the most likely topics that some piece of text is about. Such models are useful for applications that rely on semantic representations of text, such as query classification, document understanding, and measuring semantic similarity. These models are widely used within Google. In this talk, I will first describe the details of one of these models -- one that learns over a million topics covering just about every language. I will then describe a number of technical and practical challenges involved in keeping such a model fresh and up-to-date within real-world applications.
Biography: Donald Metzler is a Staff Software Engineer at Google Inc. Prior to that, he was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California (USC) and a Senior Research Scientist at Yahoo!. He has served as the Program Chair of the WSDM, ICTIR, and OAIR conferences and sat on the editorial boards of the major journals. He has published over 40 research papers, has been awarded 4 patents, and co-authored the textbook Search Engines: Information Retrieval in Practice.
Host: Nima Pourdamghani and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 6th Flr Conf Rm # 689, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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CS Colloquium: Steve Checkoway (Johns Hopkins) - Revealing Reality Through Reverse Engineering
Mon, Apr 06, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Steve Checkoway, Johns Hopkins
Talk Title: Revealing Reality Through Reverse Engineering
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Insecure computer systems in the wild can enable consequences ranging from crime to mass surveillance to (in the case of cyberphysical systems) physical destruction or even death. But how can anyone know if a particular computer system is insecure? One can rely on the representations of the system designers or manufacturers; however, the history of computers is replete with examples of claims that products are secure which are subsequently proven false. This is, in part, because computer systems tend to exhibit unanticipated, unintended, or poorly-understood behaviors that have complex interactions. As a result, the best way to learn about the security of a system is to take a detailed look at the hardware and software that comprise the system, and their interactions. In the common case where hardware designs and software source code are not available, reverse engineering the system is often the best way to derive ground-truth data on how the system functions.
In this talk, I'll describe some of my recent research where reverse engineering played a key role, covering TLS implementations with backdoors as well as cyberphysical systems. I'll also describe the scientific nature of reverse engineering as well as the positive, real-world impact reverse engineering can have on security and safety.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE.
Biography: Stephen Checkoway is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and a member of the Johns Hopkins University Information Security Institute. Checkoway's research focuses on the security of embedded and cyberphysical systems. He has demonstrated exploitable vulnerabilities in such embedded systems as electronic voting machines, laptop webcams, automobiles, and airport scanners. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego in 2012.
Host: CS Department
Webcast: https://bluejeans.com/774936978Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
WebCast Link: https://bluejeans.com/774936978
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 06, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Hunghao Chu, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MIT
Talk Title: Controlled delivery of growth factors using heparin-based coacervates
Abstract: Controlled delivery of growth factors using heparin-based coacervates
Hunghao Chu, Ph.D.
Abstract
Growth factors participating in a variety of biological processes have great potential in regenerative medicine. However, unprotected growth factors degrade quickly in the body and have little efficacy at tissue repair. Delivery of growth factors with different vehicles has been examined to prolong the half-lives of growth factors and therefore increase their therapeutic efficacy. After decades of research, controlled delivery of growth factors still faces some challenges that need to be addressed properly. In my presentation, I will introduce a heparin-based coacervate platform developed for controlled release of heparin-binding growth factors. Heparin, a highly sulfated macromolecule, is used as an anticoagulant clinically. In addition, it has high affinity to a large number of biomolecules, including many growth factors. The interaction between heparin and heparin-binding growth factors is known to adjust their conformation, protect them from proteolytic degradation and regulate their activities. Incorporation of heparin in a delivery vehicle is consequently a strategy to potentiate the bioactivity of growth factors. Different from most delivery strategies employing covalent modification to immobilize heparin, we utilize a synthetic polycation to complex with heparin and form the injectable coacervate. Our experimental finding reveals several advantages of this approach: (i) the delivery vehicle itself being biocompatible and biodegradable does not trigger local or systemic toxicity. (ii) The coacervate protects growth factors from degradation and controls their release in a steady and adjustable fashion. (iii) In a mouse study, fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) delivered by the coacervate (a.k.a FGF2 coacervate) generates more blood vessels than bolus FGF2, which suggests that its bioactivity is significantly enhanced. (iv) In a mouse model mimicking human myocardial infarction, we demonstrate that FGF2 coacervate achieves better therapeutic effects than bolus FGF2 by comparison of cardiac structure, blood vessel density, inflammation, fibrosis and cardiac contractility.
Biosketch
Hunghao Chu is currently a postdoctoral associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bostonâs Childrenâs Hospital. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from National Taiwan University, M.S. in Molecular and Cell Biology from National Tsing Hua University and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from University of Pittsburgh. His research interests mainly lie in protein- and RNA-based therapeutics. During his Ph.D. study, he worked under the guidance of Prof. Yadong Wang in Biomaterials Foundry and investigated controlled delivery of growth factors in an animal model of myocardial infarction. His dissertation âA coacervate-based platform for growth factor deliveryâ led to the patented technology and several peer-reviewed publications. His research has also been featured by many prestigious awards including the first place of Randall Family Big Idea Competition and the travel scholarship from Society for Biomaterials. His postdoctoral research under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Kohane and Prof. Robert Langer focuses on a biomimetic strategy to improve efficacy of mRNA therapeutic agents.
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Mon, Apr 06, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Hang-Phuc Le, Lion Semiconductor Inc., CA
Talk Title: Integrated Power Supply Design - Itâs Time to Work with the Load
Abstract: In order to meet the demand for processing performance required in electronic devices, parallelism have been used to increase throughput within a strict power constraint. As parallelism increases the number of cores integrated onto a chip, there are increasing need and benefit to utilizing an independent power supply for each core in order to optimize total chip power and circuit performance. Simply adding off-chip supplies will not only incur significant degradation of supply impedance due to split package power planes and a limited number of pins, but also additional cost due to increased motherboard size and package complexity.
To address these challenges, fully integrated power converters appeared to be the ultimate solution. I will present our design methodology and techniques for the switched-capacitor approach to achieve high power density, high efficiency and sub-ns transient response using standard CMOS processes. A new architecture of fully integrated hybrid converter will also be introduced.
At the end of the talk, I will discuss how integrated power supply can be designed to improve future system efficiency and performance in many applications ranging from building power distributions to the Internet of Things and implantable devices.
Biography: Hanh-Phuc Le is currently working as the Chief Technology Officer at Lion Semiconductor Inc., a startup that he co-founded in 2012. He received the B.S. (2003), M.S. (2006), and Ph.D (2013) degrees in Electrical Engineering from Hanoi University of Technology in Vietnam, KAIST in Korea, and UC Berkeley in California, respectively.
He has held R&D and consulting positions at the the Institute of Material Science, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, JDA Tech in Korea, Sun MicroSystems, Intel and Rambus. His interests include integrated power electronics, with emphasis on high-speed switch-mode power converters, fully integrated conversion, control methodology and energy-efficient mix-signal integrated circuits.
Dr. Le received the 2013 Sevin Rosen Funds Award for Innovation, the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Predoctoral Achievement Award 2012-2013, and the 1st Place Award in Clean & Sustainable Energy Alternatives at the 2013 Big Ideal @ Berkeley.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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CS Colloquium: Matt Fredrikson (University of Wisconsin-Madison) - Inference Attacks: Understanding Privacy in the Era of
Tue, Apr 07, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Matt Fredrikson, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Talk Title: Inference Attacks: Understanding Privacy in the Era of
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: As data from far-reaching sources is collected, aggregated, and re-packaged to enable new and smarter applications, confidentiality and data security are at greater risk than ever before. Some of the most surprising and invasive threats to materialize in recent years are brought about by so-called inference attacks: successful attempts to learn sensitive information by leveraging public data such as social network updates, published research articles, and web APIs.
In this talk, I will focus on two of my research efforts to better understand and defend against these attacks. First I will discuss work that examines the privacy risks that arise when machine learning models are used in a popular medical application, and illustrate the consequences of applying differential privacy as a defense. This work uncovered a new type of inference attack on machine learning models, and shows via an in-depth case study how to understand privacy "in situ" by balancing the attacker's chance of success against the likelihood of harmful medical outcomes. The second part of the talk will detail work that helps developers correctly write privacy-aware applications using verification tools. I will illustrate how a wide range of confidentiality guarantees can be framed in terms of a new logical primitive called Satisfiability Modulo Counting, and describe a tool that I have developed around this primitive that automatically finds privacy bugs in software (or proves that the software is bug-free). Through a better understanding of how proposed defenses impact real applications, and by providing tools that help developers implement the correct defense for their task, we can begin to proactively identify potential threats to privacy and take steps to ensure that they will not surface in practice.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE.
Biography: Matt Fredrikson is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Computer Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests lie at the intersection of security, privacy, and formal methods, covering topics in software security, privacy issues associated with machine learning models, and applied cryptography. His work has been profiled by Reuters, Technology Review, and New Scientist, and received the best paper award at USENIX Security 2014. He is a recipient of the Microsoft Research Graduate Fellowship Award.
Website:
http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~mfredrik
Host: Computer Science Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Electrical Engineering Seminar
Tue, Apr 07, 2015 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Yanzhi Wang, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Energy Efficiency Enhancement Techniques in Energy Generation, Storage, and Consumption Systems
Abstract: Abstract: Power and energy consumption pose serious economic, societal, and environmental concerns in various scales of information processing applications and cyber-physical systems, ranging from battery-powered embedded systems, handheld smartphones, desktop computers and household appliances, to data centers. A joint optimization framework is necessary for energy efficiency enhancement in all the sides of energy generation, energy storage, and energy consumption.
In this presentation, I will first present my work on energy efficiency enhancement in photovoltaic (PV) energy generation and hybrid electrical energy storage systems, including (i) modeling, optimal control, and reconfiguration for combating partial shading and PV cell faults in a PV system, (ii) optimal design and control of hybrid electrical energy storage systems which can exploit the benefits of its constituent energy storage elements, and (iii) joint optimization and control.
Next I will present our work on near-threshold computing for emerging devices, which will be highly useful for future embedded and heterogeneous computing. We have proposed a device-circuit-architecture cross-layer optimization framework. At the device level we design and optimize deeply-scaled FinFET devices using accurate device simulators. At the circuit level we develop robust logic cells and SRAM cells based on these devices. At the architecture level we optimize datapath structure and cache memories to achieve low power and high robustness.
Biography: Biography: Yanzhi Wang graduated with Ph.D. degree from Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at University of Southern California in Aug. 2014, under the supervision of Prof. Massoud Pedram. He graduated with B.S. degree with distinction from Tsinghua University in July 2009. Now he is a postdoctoral research associate and part-time lecturer at USC. His research interests include control and optimization of energy generation and energy storage systems, green and sustainable computing, and extremely low-power near-threshold computing and emerging technologies. He has published ~130 papers in major conferences and journals, including three best paper or top paper awards on top-tier conferences (ISLPED 2014, ISVLSI 2014, IEEE Cloud 2014), multiple best paper nominations and two IEEE Trans. on CAD popular papers.
Host: Prof. Viktor K. Prasanna
More Info: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kathy Kassar
Event Link: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
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Autonomous Driving in Urban Environments and Related Research Activities in SNU
Tue, Apr 07, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Seung-Woo Seo, Seoul National University - Seoul Korea
Talk Title: Autonomous Driving in Urban Environments and Related Research Activities in SNU
Abstract: In SNU, researchers have been investigating technologies vital to realize autonomous driving in urban environments. A critical component of autonomous driving in the urban environment is the ability to simultaneously seek multiple objectives such as avoiding obstacles and/or deciding optimal action policy. Furthermore, the autonomous vehicle should be robust to uncertainties including but not limited to sensors noise or unpredictable movement of moving objects. This talk will discuss several key issues for future autonomous driving in urban environments and briefly introduce approaches taken in SNU. Additionally, selected research activities in the Intelligent Vehicle IT (IVIT) Research Center in SNU for the development of autonomous vehicle technologies will be introduced.
Biography: Seung-Woo Seo is the professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, and the Director of Intelligent Vehicle IT (IVIT) Research Center funded by Korean Government and Automotive Industries. He received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA, and B.S. & M.S. degrees from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, all in Electrical Engineering. He was with the Faculty of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, and served as a Member of the Research Staff in the Department of Electrical Engineering in Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. In 1996, he joined the Faculty of Seoul National University. He has served as Chair or a Committee Member in various international conferences and workshops including INFOCOM, GLOBECOM, PIMRC, VTC, MobiSec, Vitae, ICEIC, etc. He is the general co-chair of IEEE Intelligent Vehicle Symposium in 2015. He also served for five years as a Director of the Information Security Center in Seoul National University. !His research areas include automated driving, vehicular communication & network security, and system optimization.
Host: Petros Ioannou
More Information: Seo Seminar Announcement.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 110
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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Epstein Institute / ISE 651 Seminar Series
Tue, Apr 07, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Rajan Batta, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, University at Buffalo (State University of New York)
Talk Title: Peacetime Convoy Movement Problem: A Civilian Perspective
Abstract:
We study the peacetime convoy movement problem from a civilian perspective by seeking to minimize civilian traffic disruptions. We develop an exact hybrid algorithm that combines the k-shortest path algorithm along with finding a minimum weighted k-clique in a k-partite graph. Through this coupling scheme, we are able to exactly solve large instances of the peacetime convoy movement problem without relaxing many of its complicating constraints. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the solution method. An experimental study is performed based on pseudo transportation networks to illustrate the computational viability of the method as well as policy implications.
Biography:
Rajan Batta is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, University at Buffalo (State University of New York). He has a BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Delhi, India, and a PhD in Operations Research from MIT. His current research interests are in transportation and logistics, with applications in three principle domains--military, humanitarian relief, and hazardous material shipments. A fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, he is the recipient of numerous awards, the most significant being the David F. Baker Distinguished Research Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers; the Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award from the Institute of Industrial Engineers; the SUNY Research Foundation Award for Research and Scholarship; and the SUNY Chancellorâs Award for Excellence in Teaching. His research has also won best paper awards from IIE Transactions and Military Operations Research.
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
More Information: Seminar-Bhatta.docx
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Control Mechanisms for Sustainable Power Systems: Risk management and Combinatorial Optimization
Wed, Apr 08, 2015 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Insoon Yang, UC Berkeley
Talk Title: Control Mechanisms for Sustainable Power Systems: Risk management and Combinatorial Optimization
Abstract: To decarbonize the electric power grid, there have been increased efforts to utilize clean renewable energy sources, as well as demand-side resources such as electric loads. This utilization is challenging because of uncertain renewable generation and inelastic demand. Furthermore, the interdependencies between system states of power networks or interconnected loads complicate several decision-making problems. In this talk, I will present two control and optimization tools to help to overcome these challenges and improve the sustainability of electric power systems. The first tool is a new dynamic contract approach for direct or indirect load control that can manage the financial risks of utilities and customers, where the risks are generated by uncertain renewable generation. The key feature of the proposed contract method is its risk-limiting capability, which is achieved by formulating the contract design problem as mean-variance constrained risk-sensitive control. I will present a dynamical system approach to track and limit risks. The performance of the proposed contract framework is demonstrated using data from the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas. The second tool is developed for combinatorial decision-making under system interdependencies, which are inherent in interconnected loads and power networks. For such decision-making problems, which can be formulated as optimization of combinatorial dynamical systems, I will present a linear approximation method that is scalable and has a provable suboptimality bound. The performance of the approximation algorithm is illustrated in ON/OFF control of interconnected supermarket refrigeration systems and power network topology optimization. Finally, I will discuss several future research directions in the operation of sustainable cyber-physical systems, including a unified risk management framework for electricity markets, a selective optimal control mechanism for resilient power grids, and contract-based modular management of cyber-physical infrastructure networks.
Biography: Insoon Yang is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) at UC Berkeley. He received B.S. degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and in Mathematics summa cum laude from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 2009. He received an M.S. in EECS and an M.A. in Mathematics from UC Berkeley in 2012 and 2013, respectively. His research interests include power and energy systems, stochastic optimal control, (dynamic) contract theory and combinatorial optimization. He applies these techniques to risk management and resilient operation of cyber-physical systems.
Host: Prof. Ashutosh Nayyar
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Wed, Apr 08, 2015 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Suma George, Georgia Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Reconfigurable Mixed Signal Neuromorphic Architectures
Abstract: Many decades ago, Carver Mead established the foundations of neuromorphic systems. Neuromorphic systems are analog circuits that emulate biology. These circuits utilize subthreshold dynamics of CMOS transistors to mimic the behavior of neurons. The objective is to not only simulate the human brain, but also to build useful applications using these bio-inspired circuits for ultra low power speech processing, image processing, and robotics. This can be achieved using reconfigurable hardware, like field programmable analog arrays (FPAAs), which enable configuring different applications on a cross platform system. As digital systems saturate in terms of power efficiency, this alternate approach has the potential to improve computational efficiency by approximately eight orders of magnitude. These systems, which include analog, digital, and neuromorphic elements combine to result in a very powerful reconfigurable processing machine.
Biography: Suma George completed her PhD and M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2015 and 2011 respectively. Her research interests are in the areas of neuromorphic systems, reconfigurable architectures, system IC design, mixed signal CAD tools, and speech recognition applications. She also has industry experience, working at Blackberry designing new system architectures as well as being part of a startup nSys (later acquired by Synopsis) modeling 100/40 GHz ethernet systems. In her spare time, she is an avid vocalist, amateur guitarist, and loves to compose music.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Munushian Seminar
Wed, Apr 08, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jing Guo, Department of ECE, University of Florida
Talk Title: Monolayer Materials for Electronics
Abstract: In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in exploring electronics applications of two-dimensional monolayer materials. Monolayer represents the ultimate limit of body thickness in a transistor structure, and it is free from body thickness variability and interface dangling bonds. Its mechanical bendability promises interesting applications in flexible and wearable electronics. Furthermore, two-dimensional materials and their heterojunctions possess properties not available in their conventional semiconductor counterparts. To translate the new material properties to device technologies, device modeling and simulation play an important role in understanding experiments, assessing technology potential, and optimizing device designs.
In this talk, I will first overview the challenges of modeling electron devices made from nanomaterials. Two examples of devices based on two-dimensional semiconductors will then be highlighted. In the first one, anisotropic carrier transport in black phosphorene will be examined to understand their potential in logic and RF transistor applications. In the second example, device physics and design options of monolayer heterojunction photodiodes and tunneling field-effect transistors will be discussed, which promise ultra steep subthreshold swing and low power dissipation.
Biography: Jing Guo is currently a Professor in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. His research interests focus on modeling and simulation of nanoscale electron device, quantum transport phenomena, optoelectronic and spintronic devices. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers in journals including Science and Nature. He served in many technical program committees including the International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) in 2007-2008 and 2012-2013. He is the coauthor of the book,âNanoscale Transistors: Device Physics, Modeling, and Simulationâ published by Springer.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Communications, Networks & Systems (CommNetS) Seminar
Wed, Apr 08, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Keyvan Rezaei Moghadam, USC
Talk Title: Vehicular Network: From Internet of Things to Urban Planning
Series: CommNetS
Abstract: With the advent of the new technological era, smart phones, web2, data sharing and video streaming are playing a major role in every ones daily life, the demand for data is increasing with an accelerating pace. This in turn requires more capable and complex technologies to support this uprising demand. LTE Advanced and Wi-Max Advanced are examples of these most recent commercial technological boosts that are categorized under true 4G. However, by the constant pace of data demand increase, lots of attention and literature focus have been turned into what need to be considered next. In order to further enhance the backbone capacity of data delivery, different schemes are suggested. Among all different approaches, vehicular networks are of great interest. They can provide a viable high capacity and low cost alternative for data delivery. They get more interesting when we bring in their ability to provide a sensing-net as well. This talk explores the ability of vehicular networks in these contexts and also focus on the ways that we can change the current traffic patterns into ones that could serve us better both on the application side as well as urban traffic standards.
Biography: Keyvan Rezaei Moghadam is a current PhD student in the Electrical Engineering Department of USC. He is currently working under supervision Prof. Bhaskar Krishnamachari. Keyvan, took his Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McMaster University in Canada in 2011 and his bachelor degree in telecommunication in 2009 from Iran University of Science and Technology. His main research focus is Intermittent Connected Mobile Networks with applications in data delivery and mobile sensing. Keyvan has recently extended his focus into urban planning problems as well.
Host: Prof. Ashutosh Nayyar
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Wed, Apr 08, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Guruswami Ravichandran, John E. Goode, Jr. Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Talk Title: Mechanics of Cell-Matrix Interactions in Three-Dimensions
Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: Biological cells are complex living systems that can be viewed as micromachines, which derive their many mechanical functions from the molecular motors within the cell. The forces cells apply to their surroundings control processes such as growth, adhesion, development, and migration. Experimental techniques have primarily focused on measuring tractions applied by cells to synthetic two-dimensional substrates, which do not mimic in vivo conditions for most cell types. This talk will describe an experimental approach to quantify cell tractions in a natural three-dimensional matrix. Cells and their surrounding matrix are imaged in three dimensions with confocal microscopy; cell-induced matrix displacements are computed using digital volume correlation; and tractions are computed directly from the full-field displacement data. The technique is used to investigate how cells employ physical forces during cell division, spreading and sensing. In a three-dimensional matrix, dividing cells apply tensile force to the matrix through thin, persistent extensions that in turn direct the orientation and location of the daughter cells. During spreading, cells extend thin protrusions into the matrix and apply force using these protrusions. The cell forces induce deformations along directed linear paths in the fibrous matrix. A constitutive model is developed that accurately predicts the propagation of cell-induced displacements through the matrix. The model describes how cells use nonlinearities in the fibrous matrix to enable long-range cell-cell mechanical communication.
Biography: Guruswami Ravichandran is the John E. Goode, Jr. Professor of Aerospace and Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT) at the California Institute of Technology. He received his B.E. (Honors) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Madras in 1981, Sc.M. in Engineering and Applied Mathematics in 1983 and 1984, respectively, and Ph.D. in Solid Mechanics and Structures from Brown University in 1986. He is a Fellow of the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). His awards include Lazan and Hetenyi awards from SEM and Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award from Pi Tau Sigma and ASME. He was awarded Doctor honoris causa by Paul Verlaine University, France in 2006 and Chevalier de l'ordre des Palmes Academiques by the Republic of France in 2011. His research interest is in the area of mechanics of materials, with emphasis on deformation, damage and failure, active materials, biomaterials and cell mechanics, and experimental methods.
Host: Paul Ronney
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Valerie Childress
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CS Colloquium: Danai Koutra (Carnegie Mellon) - What’s in my data? Fast, principled algorithms for exploring large graphs
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Danai Koutra, Carnegie Mellon
Talk Title: Whatâs in my data? Fast, principled algorithms for exploring large graphs
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Networks naturally capture a host of real-world interactions, spanning from friendships to brain activity. But, given a massive graph, such as the Facebook social network, what can be learned about its structure? Are there any changes over time? Where should people's attention be directed? In this talk I will present my work on scalable algorithms that help us to explore and make sense of large, networked data when we want to know âwhatâs in the dataâ. I will present how summarization and similarity analysis can help answer this question, and I will focus on two of my approaches âVoGâ and âDeltaConâ. VoG disentangles the complex graph connectivity patterns, and efficiently summarizes large graphs with important and semantically meaningful structures by leveraging information theoretic methods. DeltaCon is a well-founded, fast method that detects and explains changes in time-evolving or aligned networks by assessing their similarity. Both works are being used by industry, and give interesting discoveries in large real-world graphs.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE.
Biography: Danai Koutra is a Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon. She earned her M.S. from CMU in 2013 and her diploma in ECE at the National Technical University of Athens in 2010. She works on large-scale graph mining and devises algorithms and methods for exploring, understanding, and learning from graph data when the nature of the problem is not known in advance. She holds one "rate-1" patent, and has six (pending) patents on bipartite graph alignment. She also has many papers (including 2 award-winning papers) and tutorials in top data mining conferences. Her work has been covered by media outlets, such as the MIT Technology Review, and is being taught in courses at top universities, including the Tepper School of Business at CMU and Rutgers University.
Host: Computer Science Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Electrical Engineering Seminar
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Pierluigi Nuzzo, UC Berkeley
Talk Title: When Logic Meets Physics: Compositional Design of Cyber-Physical Systems Using Contracts
Abstract: The realization of large and complex cyber-physical systems (such as âsmartâ transportation, energy, security, and health-care systems) is creating design and verification challenges, which will soon become insurmountable with the current engineering practices. In this talk, I introduce a design methodology that addresses the complexity and heterogeneity of these systems by using assume-guarantee contracts to formalize the design process and enable the realization of system architectures and control algorithms in a hierarchical and compositional way.
In the proposed methodology, the design is carried out as a sequence of refinement steps from a high-level specification to an implementation built out of a library of components at the lower level. Top-level system requirements are represented as contracts, by leveraging a set of formal languages, including mixed integer-linear constraints and temporal logic, to allow for requirement analysis and early detection of inconsistencies. Top-level contracts are then refined to achieve independent implementation of system architecture and control algorithm, by combining synthesis from requirements, optimization and simulation-based design space exploration methods. I show how key analysis tasks, such as refinement checking, can indeed be made more efficient when a system is described based on a pre-characterized library of components and contracts. Moreover, at the heart of the architecture design framework, I propose two optimization-based algorithms to tackle the exponential complexity of exact reliability computation, and enable scalable co-design of large, safety-critical systems for cost and fault tolerance.
I demonstrate, for the first time, the effectiveness of a contract-based approach on a real-life example of industrial relevance, namely the design of aircraft electric power distribution systems. I show that optimized selection of large, industrial-scale power system architectures can be performed in a few minutes, while design verification of controllers based on linear temporal logic contracts can achieve up to two orders of magnitude improvement in execution time with respect to conventional techniques. Finally, I conclude by presenting future research directions towards a full-fledged compositional framework for system design.
Biography: Pierluigi Nuzzo is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at University of California at Berkeley. He received the Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering (summa cum laude) from the University of Pisa and the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. His research interests include: methodologies and tools for cyber-physical system and mixed-signal system design; contracts, interfaces and compositional methods for embedded system design; energy-efficient analog and mixed-signal circuit design. Before joining U.C. Berkeley, he held research positions at the University of Pisa and IMEC, Leuven, Belgium, working on the design of energy-efficient A/D converters, frequency synthesizers for reconfigurable radio, and design methodologies for mixed-signal integrated circuits.
Pierluigi received First Place in the operational category and Best Overall Submission in the 2006 DAC/ISSCC Design Competition, a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Union in 2006, the University of California at Berkeley EECS departmental fellowship in 2008, the U.C. Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2013, and the IBM Ph.D. Fellowship in 2012 and 2014.
Host: Prof. Massoud Pedram
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium: Ahmad Ghassemi (Oklahoma)
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ahmad Ghassemi, University of Oklahoma, Dept. of Petroleum and Geological Engineering
Talk Title: TBA
Series: Lyman L. Handy Colloquia
Abstract: TBA
Host: Prof. Jarfarpour
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ryan Choi
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Securing Cloud Databases
Thu, Apr 09, 2015 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ken Eguro, Embedded and Reconfigurable Computing Group, Microsoft Research
Talk Title: Securing Cloud Databases
Abstract: Despite the trend toward cloud services, many applications, such as very basic databases, are not yet in the cloud due to security concerns. This talk discusses how encryption requirements make cloud migration difficult and how fundamentally different cloud architectures are needed to support applications that handle sensitive data. The key challenge is to facilitate computation on encrypted data in an efficient manner. This talk provides an overview of MSR efforts working toward solving this problem, requiring a holistic approach combining crypto algorithms, secure hardware, distributed computation, and systems engineering.
Biography: Ken joined the Embedded and Reconfigurable Computing group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington in 2008. He also holds an Affiliate Assistant Professor position in the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Washington. Some of his past and present research interests include: applications of high-performance computing architectures, FPGA development and integration issues, and security concerns of hardware/security solutions using hardware. He is also an amateur enthusiast of cryptography & cryptanalysis.
Host: Viktor Prasanna
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kathy Kassar
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Apr 10, 2015 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael A. Long, Esq., The Soni Law Firm
Talk Title: Organizing research for Patent Applications
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Inverse Problems and the Importance of Unconscious Processes
Fri, Apr 10, 2015 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Athanassios S. Fokas, PhD, MD, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge
Talk Title: Inverse Problems and the Importance of Unconscious Processes
Abstract: Mathematics provides a marvellous illustration of the innate ability of the brain to âlearnâ as well as to âcreateâ via the process of making associations and generalisations. This forms the basis of abstract thinking which indeed finds its apotheosis in mathematics. The discovery of a new method for solving partial differential equations (PDEs), which has been acclaimed as ââthe most important development in the analysis of PDEs since the work of Fourier in the 18th centuryâ, will be used as an illustrative example of the above process. This unexpected discovery is also related to recent progress in the analysis of certain inverse problems arising in medical imaging. The role of this development, as well as of mathematics in general, in elucidating the importance of unconscious processes will be discussed.
Biography: A.S. Fokas has a BSc in Aeronautics from Imperial College (1975), a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology (1979) and an MD from the University of Miami, School of Medicine (1986). In 1986 he was appointed Professor and Chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science of Clarkson University, USA. In 1996 he was appointed to a Chair in Applied Mathematics at Imperial College, UK. In 2002 he was appointed to the newly inaugurated Chair in Nonlinear Mathematical Science at the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2000 he was awarded the Naylor Prize, which is the most prestigious Prize in Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in UK (the last earlier recipient was S.W. Hawking). He has also been awarded the Aristeion Prize in Sciences of the Academy of Athens which is the most important prize of the Academy given every four years to a single scholar of Greek origin, as well as the Excellence Prize of the Bodossaki Foundation which is the premier scientific prize in Greece. He has received honorary degrees from seven Universities and also has been decorated as the Commander of the Order of Phoenix by the President of the Hellenic Republic. In 2009 he was selected as a Guggenheim Fellow. He is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and he is the first ever Applied Mathematician to be elected a full member in the Academy of Athens. He is a Professorial Fellow at Clare Hall College, Cambridge. He is the author or co-author of three monographs and of more than 300 papers, as well as the co-editor of seven books. ISI Web of Science includes A.S. Fokas in the list of the most highly cited researchers in the field of Mathematics in 2000-2012.
Host: Professor Sandeep Gupta
More Information: Seminar Announcement - Fokas 041015.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. Seminar
Fri, Apr 10, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Trevor Krasowsky and Sasan Tavakkol, Astani CEE Ph.D. Candidates
Talk Title: See below
Abstract: Presentation: Trevor Krasowsky
Black carbon aerosols: sources and evolution of physical and optical properties in the atmosphere
AND
Presentation: Sasan Tavakkol
Real time Wave Simulation and Visualization with a Boussinesq-type Model on GPU (see abstract below)
Abstract:
Real-time 2D simulations and visualization of coastal waves can be done only by employing massive parallel processing. Performing the simulation part is already possible through different models running on hundreds of CPUâs. However real-time visualization of the results is much easier if the simulations are done on a GPU. Moreover, cost of a user platform with a high-end GPU is only a small fraction of a platform with hundreds of CPUâs.
The presentation, firstly, elaborates the key differences between different mathematical models, i.e. non-linear shallow water equations and Boussinesq equations. Then it introduces a hybrid FVM-FDM numerical scheme to solve the latter one. The model is firstly examined in its one dimensional form on MATLAB employing CPU and then it is ported to GPU. A few technical aspects of porting the model to GPU will be discussed. The 2D model is also developed using MATLAB and running on GPU and results will be presented in the seminar.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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NL Seminar- TRANSLI, NLP-based social media analytics and monitoring
Fri, Apr 10, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Atefeh Farzindar (NLP Technologies), (NLP Technologies)
Talk Title: TRANSLI, NLP-based social media analytics and monitoring
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: NLP Technologies have developed a technology for automated analysis of social media data. TRANSLI Social Media Analytics and monitoring, is an online visual analytics system designed to provide social intelligence from news and other events from Twitter. During this seminar, Dr. Atefeh Farzindar will give a presentation on TRANSLI-SM where the system features an intuitive user interface and is designed to browse and visualise the results of the semantic analysis of social discussion on specific events from Twitter. The user can obtain the information not only limited to the main event of interest but also to the intelligence for the sub events.
NLP Technologies Inc. is a Canadian company founded in 2005 and that expanded to California in 2014. The company specialises in natural language processing, NLP-based search engines, translation technologies and services, social media analytics, and automatic summarization. http://www.nlptechnologies.ca/
Biography: Dr. Atefeh Farzindar, CEO NLP Technologies Inc. and Adjunct professor at University of Montreal Dr. Atefeh Farzindar is the co-founder and CEO of NLP Technologies. She received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Montreal and her Doctorate in automatic summarization of legal documents from Paris-Sorbonne University in 2005. She has been an Adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Montreal since 2010, and she was Honorary Research Fellowship at the Research Group in Computational Linguistics at the University of Wolverhampton, UK (2010-2012).
Dr. Farzindar has been Action Editor in the international journal of Computational Intelligence since 2011. She co-edited two special issues on social media analysis for the International Journal of Computational Intelligence (CI) and Journal TAL, an international journal on natural language processing.
She co-authored an upcoming book on Natural Language Processing for Social Media [Morgan & Claypool Publishers, 2014], and authored a book chapter in Social Network Integration in Document Summarization, Innovative Document Summarization Techniques: Revolutionizing Knowledge Understanding, IGI Global publisher January 2014.
In 2013, Dr. Farzindar won Femmessor-Montréalâs contest, Succeeding with a balanced lifestyle, in the Innovative Technology and Information and Communications Technology category because of her involvement in the arts. Her paintings have recently been published in a book titled One Thousand and One Nights, in which the palette of vivid colours and her unique contemporary style revolved around on the place of women in modern society (Vernissage & Artist Book Launch April, Montréal, Galerie 203 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLCghx1mvzY)
Host: Nima Pourdamghani and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 6th Flr Conf Rm # 689, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 13, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Brian Ziyue Wu, Grodins Graduate Award & Coulter Award Winner (BME PhD Candidate), BME PhD Candidate, member of the Magnetic Resonance Engineering Lab at USC
Talk Title: "Seeing Sleep: Real-time MRI Methods for the Evaluation of Sleep Apnea"
Abstract: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a largely neglected disease which can lead to serous consequences. It is characterized by repetitive upper airway (UA) collapse during sleep. Current gold standard of diagnosing sleep apnea is an overnight polysomnography, from which an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) is derived to indicate the severity of apnea. However, lack of direct anatomical information often limits the value of such sleep studies. UA compliance, (ratio of UA cross-sectional area and pressure), has been proposed to measure airway collapsibility and requires an imaging tool. MRI is a noninvasive technique to measure the cross-sectional area and has many advantages compared to other imaging modalities. But it is fundamentally limited by acquisition speed. Here we present a novel real-time method, which synergistically combines several acceleration techniques including parallel imaging, radial trajectory, compressed sensing and multiband acquisition. We are able to simultaneously acquire four axial airway sites with 90 ms and 1mm resolution, a 33-fold acceleration compared to conventional MRI. Our results show for the first time that a narrower airway site is not always easier to collapse. These findings have the potential to impact future OSA surgical planning.
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Around the Reproducibility of Scientific Research: A Knockoff Filter for Controlling the False Discovery Rate
Mon, Apr 13, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Emmanual Candes, Stanford University
Talk Title: Around the Reproducibility of Scientific Research: A Knockoff Filter for Controlling the False Discovery Rate
Abstract: The big data era has created a new scientific paradigm: collect data first, ask questions later. When the universe of scientific hypotheses that are being examined simultaneously is not taken account, inferences are likely to be false. The consequence is that follow up studies are likely not to be able to reproduce earlier reported findings or discoveries. This reproducibility failure bears a substantial cost and this talk is about new statistical tools to address this issue. Imagine that we observe a response variable together with a large number of potential explanatory variables, and would like to be able to discover which variables are truly associated with the response. At the same time, we need to know that the false discovery rate (FDR)---the expected fraction of false discoveries among all discoveries---is not too high, in order to assure the scientist that most of the discoveries are indeed true and replicable. We introduce the knockoff filter, a new variable selection procedure controlling the FDR in the statistical linear model whenever there are at least as many observations as variables. This method achieves exact FDR control in finite sample settings no matter the design or covariates, the number of variables in the model, and the amplitudes of the unknown regression coefficients, and does not require any knowledge of the noise level. This work is joint with Rina Foygel Barber.
Biography: His research interests are in computational harmonic analysis, statistics, information theory, signal processing and mathematical optimization. In 2001 Candès received an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship. He was awarded the Wilkinson Prize in Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing in 2005. In 2006, he received the Popov Prize as well as the National Science Foundation's highest honor: the Alan T. Waterman Award for research described by the NSF as "nothing short of revolutionary". In 2010 Candès and Terence Tao were awarded the Pólya Prize. In 2011, Candès was awarded the ICIAM Collatz Prize. Candès has also received the Lagrange Prize in Continuous Optimization. He was presented with the Heineman Prize by the Academy of Sciences at Göttingen in 2013. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. In 2015 he received the AMS / SIAM Birkhoff Prize.
Host: Susan Friedlander
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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CS Colloquium: Anca Dragan (Carnegie Mellon) - Interaction as Manipulation
Tue, Apr 14, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anca Dragan, Carnegie Mellon
Talk Title: Interaction as Manipulation
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: The goal of my research is to enable robots to work with, around, and in support of people, autonomously producing behavior that reasons about both their function -and- their interaction with humans. I aim to develop a formal understanding of interaction that leads to algorithms which are informed by mathematical models of how humans interact with robots, enabling generalization across robot morphologies and interaction modalities.
In this talk, I will focus on one specific instance of this agenda: autonomously generating motion for coordination during human-robot collaborative manipulation. Most motion in robotics is solely functional: industrial robots move to package parts, vacuuming robots move to suck dust, and personal robots move to clean up a dirty table. This type of motion is ideal when the robot is performing a task in isolation. Collaboration, however, does not happen in isolation, and demands that we move beyond solely functional motion. In collaboration, the robot's motion has an observer, watching and interpreting the motion - inferring the robot's intent from the motion, and anticipating the robot's motion based on its intent. My work develops a mathematical model of these inferences, and integrates this model into motion planning, so that the robot can generate motion that matches people's expectations and clearly conveys its intent. In doing so, I draw on action interpretation theory, Bayesian inference, constrained trajectory optimization, and interactive learning. The resulting motion not only leads to more efficient collaboration, but also increases the fluency of the interaction as defined through both objective and subjective measures. The underlying formalism has been applied across robot morphologies, from manipulator arms to mobile robots, and across interaction modalities, such as motion, gestures, language, and shared autonomy with assistive arms.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE.
Biography: Anca Dragan is a PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute, and a member of the Personal Robotics Lab. She was born in Romania and received her B.Sc. in Computer Science from Jacobs University in Germany in 2009. Her research lies at the intersection of robotics, machine learning, and human-robot interaction: she works on algorithms that enable robots to seamlessly work with, around, and in support of people. Anca's research and her outreach activities with children have been recognized by the Intel Fellowship and by scholarships from Siebel, the Dan David Prize, and Google Anita Borg. Anca served as General Chair in the Quality of Life Technology Center's student council, as associate editor for ARSO'14, and as program chair for three workshops on collaborative manipulation at RSS, ICML, and HRI.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Epstein Institute / ISE 651 Seminar Series
Tue, Apr 14, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shmuel S. Oren, Earl J. Isaac Chair Professor in the Science and Analysis of Decision Making, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Department, University of California at Berkeley
Talk Title: Smart Markets for a Smart Electricity Grid
Series: Epstein Institute Seminar Series
Abstract: Socio economic forces, development in generation technologies and environmental considerations have led to restructuring of the electric power systems in part of the USA and in many systems worldwide, transforming them from vertically integrated regulated monopolies to competitive market based systems. From a supply chain perspective competitive electricity markets represent, perhaps, the most challenging supply chain. The commodity is non-storable; demand is uncertain and highly correlated with weather, all the demand must be satisfied instantaneously with a high level of reliability (one day in ten years criteria for involuntary load curtailment). In addition service is provided over a network that is prone to congestion, flows over transmission lines cannot be directly controlled as in a transportation system (flows follow Kirchhoffâs laws) and the market is encumbered by numerous externalities and market power. In spite of such obstacles there has been fascinating developments in the design and operations of competitive electricity markets over the last fifteen years through the use of state of the art optimization tools and economic principles. This talk will describe some of the key challenges in designing and operating competitive electricity markets. I will review the basic elements and alternative approaches adopted in different systems and discuss what we have learned so far in this area. I will also discuss new challenges and opportunities due to massive integration of renewable resources, proliferation of smart grid technologies and electrification of the transportation sector.
Biography: Shmuel S. Oren is the Earl J. Isaac Chair Professor in the Science and Analysis of Decision Making in the Industrial Engineering and Operations Research department at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Berkeley site director of PSERC - a multi-university Power System Engineering Research Center sponsored by the National Science Foundation and industry members. He is Also member of the California ISO Market Surveillance Committee. His academic research focuses on planning and scheduling of power systems and on electricity market design and regulation. He has been a consultant to various private and government organizations in the US and abroad including the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC), EPRI, the Bonneville Power Authority and the California ISO. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Economic Systems from Stanford University and is a Fellow of the IEEE and of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS)
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
More Information: Seminar-Oren.docx
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Communications, Networks & Systems (CommNetS) Seminar
Wed, Apr 15, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Ali Maddah-Ali, Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent
Talk Title: Content Caching and Delivery: Fundamental Limits, Challenges, and Opportunities
Series: CommNetS
Abstract: Designing the infrastructure to handle massive amounts of data requires tools and techniques from different research areas including communication, computing, and storage. Each of these areas has different performance metrics such as rate, delay, storage and bandwidth costs. Traditionally, a subset of these metrics is studied in isolation within each research area. In this talk, we argue that these metrics should instead be analyzed jointly by characterizing the fundamental trade-offs between them.
In the first part of the talk, we focus on the fundamental trade-off between communication and storage in cache networks. The today's caching algorithms optimize the caches in order to maximize the amount of content delivered locally. We show that this approach is inefficient for cache networks. We introduce a new formulation of the caching problem, focusing on its basic structure. For this setting, we propose a novel coded caching approach that achieves significantly larger reduction in peak rate compared to previously known caching schemes. In particular, the improvement can be on the order of the number of caches in the network. This result leads to the first fundamental characterization of the rate-memory trade-off for systems with more than one cache.
In the second part of the talk, we shift focus to the interplay of network delay and communication rate. As a representative example, we consider the emerging application of offloading of base-band processing from wireless networks to the cloud. Network delay could prevent the use of traditional approaches of interference management such as cooperative interference cancellation and interference alignment. In this talk, we propose a new approach for interference management that achieves a rate close to cooperative schemes, but that is tolerant of even large delays.
Biography: Mohammad Ali Maddah-Ali received the B.Sc. degree from Isfahan University of Technology, the M.A.Sc. degree from the University of Tehran, and the Ph.D. degree from University of Waterloo, all in electrical engineering. From 2007 to 2008 he worked at the Wireless Technology Laboratories, Nortel Networks. From 2008 to 2010, he was a post-doctoral fellow at University of California at Berkeley. Since 2010, he has been working as a research scientist at Bell Labs, Alcatel-Lucent, Holmdel, NJ. Dr. Maddah-Ali received several awards including the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2007, official mention from the IEEE Information Theory Society for introducing interference alignment in 2009, and the best paper award at IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC) in 2014.
Host: Prof. Salman Avestimehr
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Spring 2015 Ph.D. Academic Career Mentoring Panel
Wed, Apr 15, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Doctoral Programs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Discussion Panel, Viterbi School of Engineering
Talk Title: Career in Industry vs. Research Labs vs. Academia
Abstract: The Viterbi School of Engineering initiated an Academic Career Mentoring Panel Series to encourage Ph.D. students and postdocs to pursue a rewarding career in academia and research. Distinguished faculty will discuss their academic paths and offer strategic advice and answer your questions. Engineering Ph.D. students and postdocs from all areas and departments are strongly encouraged to attend.
Host: Dr. Timothy Pinkston
More Info: http://gapp.usc.edu/academic-career-mentoring-panel-series
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Ph.D. and Postdoctoral
Contact: Tracy Charles
Event Link: http://gapp.usc.edu/academic-career-mentoring-panel-series
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CS Colloquium: Varun Kanade (Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris) - Distributed Online Learning
Thu, Apr 16, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Varun Kanade, Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris
Talk Title: Distributed Online Learning
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: The massive amount of data involved in modern information processing systems necessitates the use of new paradigms to effectively handle data. One such paradigm is the design of machine learning algorithms that interact with data in an online fashion, i.e., data used to make predictions is received little at a time. In addition, such algorithms may be implemented on distributed systems, resulting in a tradeoff between communication cost and prediction accuracy. In this talk, I will present a classical question in the context of online learning, the so-called experts problem. The goal in this problem is to design a prediction strategy over a set of actions in the face of uncertainty that is guaranteed to perform almost as well as the best single action in hindsight. This is a fundamental question with several applications such as drug testing, network routing, and online advertising. I will discuss the new challenges that arise when implementing algorithms for this problem in a distributed setting and present a novel algorithm that achieves a non-trivial tradeoff between prediction accuracy and communication.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE.
Biography: I am now a postdoctoral fellow at ENS through the Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris (FSMP). Before this I was at UC Berkeley as a Simons Fellow. I completed my Ph.D. at Harvard University, and was extremely fortunate to have had Leslie Valiant as my adviser. Before joining Harvard, I was a graduate student at Georgia Tech, where I was working with Adam Kalai (now at Microsoft Research). I obtained a B.Tech at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in Mumbai, India.
Host: Computer Science Department
More Info: https://bluejeans.com/112351952
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
Event Link: https://bluejeans.com/112351952
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Thu, Apr 16, 2015 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Scott Valentino, NRG Energy, Inc.
Talk Title: The Role of Energy Storage in Californiaâs Energy Future
Abstract: TBA
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 200
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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CS Colloquium: Tintri Tech Talk - Architecture in the hidden world of enterprise infrastructure
Thu, Apr 16, 2015 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ken Klein, Tintri
Talk Title: Architecture in the hidden world of enterprise infrastructure
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: The CEO - Ken Klein, USC alumnus and trustee - and a key engineer from Tintri, a successful storage virtualization startup will be visiting us on Thursday at 4pm in EEB 248 to meet students and tell us about their company and the interesting technical challenges they face. Please join us!
Intro Talk Abstract
A new model for IT is here - where virtualized applications are the norm, public and private clouds are the new modes of data access, and traditional storage is 20 years overdue for a shakeup. Enterprises are still bound by the same tedious, time-consuming, blind, antiquated storage solutions that don't address the most important dynamics of IT - the dynamic nature of data in a virtualized world.
You probably know a lot about the software and hardware in your iPhone, and something about the software and hardware that runs Google search, but do you know what kind of infrastructure is used at Time Warner or Chevron?
Most of the world's infrastructure actually looks more like Time Warner and Chevron than an iPhone or Google search, but because of fierce competition and huge budgets, most enterprise infrastructure vendors keep details of this world hidden, perhaps only revealing them to bigger customers while under NDA. However, today's enterprise infrastructure is very different from either consumer or Google-like infrastructure and is changing more rapidly than ever before.
In this talk I'll give you a glimpse into the dynamic and less conspicuous world of the enterprise by talking about the architecture of Tintri's application centered storage system. Because Tintri was architected around the modern datacenter, it is impossible to discuss our architecture without also discussing three disruptions that are reforming the enterprise:
Flash is reshaping the way we think about and use storage.
Virtualization and containerization have changed our compute and IO paths and our management frameworks.
Private cloud is renegotiating the contract between infrastructure and applications.
Come get a rare peek into modern enterprise infrastructure architecture!
Biography: Ken Klein is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Tintri, the leader in smart, application-aware, storage for the enterprise and the cloud. A software industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, he was previously president of Wind River, an Intel subsidiary subsequent to the sale to Intel Corporation for $1B. Prior to that he was Chairman, CEO, and president of Wind River where he was responsible for the management of 1,900 employees and nearly $400M in revenues. Before that, Ken served as Chief Operating Officer and a Board member of Mercury Interactive for 12 years. Klein and his team built Mercury from a pre-revenue startup into a software powerhouse with a peak market capitalization of $15B, 2,150 employees, operations in 35 countries, and membership in the NASDAQ 100 and S&P 500. The team went on to grow the company to nearly $1B in annual revenue and sell to Hewlett-Packard for $5B. Before his tenure at Mercury, Klein held various engineering, marketing, and management roles at Interactive Development Environments, Daisy Systems, and Hughes Aircraft Company.
Mr. Klein earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and biomedical engineering from the University of Southern California. He is a USC Distinguished Alumnus, member of the USC School of Engineering Board of Councilors, founder of USC's Klein Institute for Undergraduate Engineering Life (KIUEL), and a USC Trustee.
Brandon Salmon Bio:
Brandon Salmon has been working in systems and storage for over twelve years. He has a Ph.D in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelors in computer science from Stanford. He has worked at Microsoft, VMware and Intel in the past. As the 6th engineer at Tintri he designed and built significant portions of both the core Tintri filesystem and integrations with private cloud environments. He now works in the Office of the CTO investigating market changes and new technologies.
Tintri Mission:
Tintri has created a different world. A world of smart storage that sees and learns and adapts, removing the opacity of traditional storage products, anticipating changes and needs before they arise. A world where simplicity and transparency replace complexity and brute force, all while delivering the return on investment required by business leaders.
Tintri builds smart storage that sees, learns, and adapts, enabling IT organizations to focus on virtualized applications and business services instead of managing storage infrastructure. Named a "Visionary" in Gartner's 2014 Magic Quadrant for General-Purpose Disk Array, Tintri is the only storage platform in the industry that provides virtual machine-level storage management, data protection, analytics, quality of services, and automation, with all flash performance. Addressing a TAM which IDC estimated to reach $17 billion in 2017, Tintri is fundamentally changing how companies deploy virtualized workloads in their data centers and in the cloud.
Tintri eliminates the need to overprovision storage for performance to meet SLA or QoS levels - a common practice with conventional storage which dramatically increases CAPEX, OPEX, and storage footprint. Every step in the Tintri experience is designed to be profoundly simple - what used to take days and hours to accomplish now takes minutes.
Host: Wyatt Lloyd
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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USC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center Seminar Series
Fri, Apr 17, 2015 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Stacey Finley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor - Biomedical Engineering
Talk Title: Computational modeling of anti-angiogenic cancer therapeutics
Abstract: Systems biology approaches, including computational models, provide a framework to test biological hypotheses and optimize effective therapies that aim to inhibit tumor vascularization and growth. I will discuss my work in developing a mechanistic, compartment model of VEGF kinetics and transport in the human body and applying the model to investigate the effects of anti-angiogenic therapies targeting VEGF and its receptors. Interestingly, the model predicts that VEGF in the tumor interstitium can increase or decrease following administration of the VEGF-targeting agent, depending on properties of the tumor microenvironment. The model is useful for understanding the dynamics of VEGF distribution in the body in response to anti-VEGF agents, generating clinically relevant predictions in the areas of drug mechanism of action, biomarker identification, and personalized medicine. I will also present recent work in studying other angiogenic factors to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the balance of promoters and inhibitors of tumor angiogenesis.
Host: USC PSOC - Dr. Shannon Mumenthaler
More Information: USC PSOC_Monthly Seminar_FINLEY_4-17-15.pdf
Location: HSC - Harkness Auditorium, CSC-250
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yvonne Suarez
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Apr 17, 2015 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Woodward Fischer, Professor of Geobiology, Caltech
Talk Title: Photosynthesis: A Planetary Revolution
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Integrated Systems Seminar
Fri, Apr 17, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Hans Schanzt, Q-Track Corporation
Talk Title: TBD
Series: Integrated Systems Seminar
Host: Hosted by Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mike Chen, and Prof. Mahta Moghaddam Organized and hosted by Run Chen
More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/events/event-details/?event_id=915370
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elise Herrera-Green
Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/events/event-details/?event_id=915370
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NL Seminar- Exploiting Bilingual Corpora for Relation Extraction
Fri, Apr 17, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Longhua Qian, (Soochow University)
Talk Title: Exploiting Bilingual Corpora for Relation Extraction
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Large-scale labeled corpora are always critical for Natural Language Processing tasks using statistical machine learning methods, but at the great expense of human labor of annotation. While we have various labeled corpora in different languages at hand, such as English and Chinese, either resource-rich or resource-poor, can these corpora be taken full advantage of for NLP tasks in different languages to help each other? The difficult lies in the fact that parallel corpora with aligned NLP entities are hard to acquire. In this talk, I shall first discuss how to generate pseudo-parallel corpora for relation extraction via machine translation and entity alignment techniques, and then I will proceed to apply this corpora to statistical ML-based relation extraction in terms of the degree of supervision: (1) supervised learning; (2) bilingual co-training; (3) bilingual active learning. This talk is chiefly based on the ACL-2014 paper âBilingual Active Learning for Relation Classification via Pseudo Parallel Corporaâ.
Biography: Longhua Qian is a visiting researcher from the School of Computer Science and Technology, Soochow University, China. He joined the Natural Language Group and will work with Professor Kevin Knight and his team members for one year. He will participate in on-going projects on Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) and Machine Reading etc. His mainly focuses on information extraction, relation extraction, and entity linking etc. He is also interested in extracting information from clinical medical records and building social networks from free text.
Host: Nima Pourdamghani and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th Flr Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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CS Colloquium: Joyce Ho (UT-Austin) - Extracting medically interpretable concepts from complex health data
Mon, Apr 20, 2015 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Joyce Ho , UT-Austin
Talk Title: Extracting medically interpretable concepts from complex health data
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Electronic health records (EHRs) are an increasingly important source of patient information. However, a major challenge is how to transform EHR into meaningful concepts so domain experts can act on the information in an appropriate manner. In this talk, I will discuss two approaches to extract concise, meaningful concepts from certain types of health datasets. First, I will describe a dynamic time series model that tracks a patient's cardiac arrest risk based on physiological measurements. Our algorithm is inspired by financial econometric and yields interpretability and predictability of a cardiac arrest event. Next, I will present sparse, nonnegative tensor factorization models to obtain multiple medical concepts with minimal human supervision. Tensor factorization utilizes information in the multiway structure to derive concise latent factors even with limited observations. Experimental results on real EHRs demonstrate the effectiveness of our models to extract medically interpretable concepts from complex health data.
Biography: Joyce Ho is a PhD Candidate in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin co-advised by Dr. Joydeep Ghosh and Dr. Sriram Vishwanath. Her research involves the development of novel data mining and machine learning algorithms to address problems in healthcare. Joyce has also co-founded a healthcare data analytics company, Accordion Health, which was awarded an NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant.
Host: Prof. Yan Liu
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 322
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 20, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Anthony Bonaguidi, PhD, Assistant Professor of Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine
Talk Title: Neural Stem Cells: New Tools Identify Dynamic Origins of Adult Brain Plasticity
Abstract: The adult mammalian brain has the remarkable capability to undergo structural changes by adding newborn cells to selected existing circuitry. Understanding cellular origins and mechanistic regulation of this neural plasticity serves as a model of endogenous regenerative potential. We developed a noninvasive genetic strategy to reveal the basic properties of individual neural stem cells within the adult hippocampus and how neural circuitry couples their behavior with specific tissue demands. Recent computational and systems level approaches provide evidence for the co-existence of neural stem cells with distinct molecular and behavioral identity. A vision of how diverse stem cells adapt and repair the brain will be discussed.
Biography: Biosketch
Michael Bonaguidi, PhD, joined USC as an assistant professor in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine in January 2015 and holds associate membership in the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute. He received his bachelorâs degree in Biomedical Engineering from Marquette University, PhD in neuroscience from Northwestern University and completed his postdoctoral training at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering. His group investigates brain development, adaptation and aging with the overall goal of identifying and overcoming limits of neural regeneration. They provided evidence of individual stem cell existence within the adult brain. By developing a new visualization approach, they found that these stem cells spawn more stem cells, and form new neurons and critical supporting cells called astroglia. Their subsequent studies have linked adaptation of neural stem cell behavior to changes in the brain under normal conditions and during injury. These stem cells offer intriguing possibilities for treating a variety of conditions, including mood disorders, deficits in social adaptation and brain damage. He has published in high-impact journals such as Cell, Nature, Cell Stem Cell and Nature Neuroscience and received prestigious awards, most recently the NIH Pathway to Independence Fellowship.
Research Impact:
The Bonaguidi Laboratory investigates how stem cells act to adapt and repair the adult brain. Using endogenous neural stem cells as a model system, their approach incorporates principles from neuroscience, single cell molecular and cellular biology, computational and systems biology, imaging and engineering to unravel brain plasticity. The laboratory focuses on the reciprocal interaction between neural stem cells and their surroundings in normal, aging, injured and diseased states. The long-term goal is to evaluate the capacity of endogenous stem cells to serve as a cellular mediator of neural function and as a therapeutic source of cognitive rejuvenation.
Host: Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium: Yasin Abbasi-Yadkori (Queensland University of Technology) - Planning and Learning in Sequential Decision ProblemsPlanning and Learning in Sequential Decision Problems
Tue, Apr 21, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yasin Abbasi-Yadkori, Queensland University of Technology
Talk Title: Planning and Learning in Sequential Decision Problems
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Many decision problems have an interactive nature; the decision maker executes an action, receives feedback from the environment, and finally uses the feedback to improve the next decision. For instance, an Internet news recommendation system must make a recommendation based on the current visitor. The system then observes the click patterns of the visitor and can change its future recommendations. Such sequential decision problems are particularly challenging when the decision and state spaces are large, which is often the case in modern applications.
In this talk, I will present my research in planning and learning in large sequential decision problems. I will consider three fundamental decision problems: problems with linear dynamics and quadratic losses (LQ problem); linear optimization with limited feedback (bandit problems); and policy optimization for large scale Markov decision processes. I will demonstrate a data-efficient adaptive controller and show the first finite-time performance guarantee for the LQ problem. For bandit problems, I will present an algorithm that can exploit sparsity in data. The improvement stems from the construction of smaller confidence sets. In particular, I will show the first sparsity confidence set for the linear regression problem. Finally, I will discuss convex optimization reductions for very general Markov decision (planning) problems. The reductions allow us to design computationally efficient algorithms that enjoy strong performance guarantees.
The lecture will be available to stream HERE
Host: Fei Sha
More Info: https://bluejeans.com/866147590
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
Event Link: https://bluejeans.com/866147590
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Epstein Institute / ISE 651 Seminar Series
Tue, Apr 21, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Tinglong Dai, Assistant Professor of Operations Management, Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins University
Talk Title: Contracting for On-Time Delivery in the U.S. Influenza Vaccine Supply Chain
Series: Epstein Institute Seminar Series
Abstract: Motivated by the influenza vaccine industry, we study a supply chain contracting problem in the presence of uncertainties surrounding product design, delivery, and demand. In the supply chain, a retailer places an order before a flu season starts and a manufacturer decides on when to produce vaccines. Because production after a design freeze can result in late deliveries and hence lost sales, the manufacturer in practice initiates production prior to the design freeze at its own risk. However, since it is the retailer who reaps most benefits from selling more vaccines delivered on time, the manufacturer has little incentive to undertake at-risk production, which in turn induces the retailer to reduce the order size in anticipation of lost sales; and this further discourages the manufacturer from making efforts to improve its delivery performance. We proceed to show that the Delivery-time-dependent Quantity Flexibility (D-QF) contract, a contract adopted in practice, may not coordinate the supply chain due to the tension between overcoming double marginalization and incentivizing early production; another contract used in practice, the Late-Rebate (LR) contract, nearly coordinates the supply chain when demand uncertainty is low. We propose a Buyback-and-Late-Rebate (BLR) contract that combines buyback with rebate for late deliveries and can both coordinate the supply chain and provide flexibility of profit division. Our numerical analysis suggests that the total supply chain profits can be improved by over 10%, on average, compared with the contracts currently used in this industry.
Biography: Tinglong Dai is an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at Carey Business School of the Johns Hopkins University. He received a Ph.D. in Operations Management / Robotics (2013), jointly offered by Tepper School of Business and the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, with a dissertation entitled "Incentives in U.S. Healthcare Operations.â He also received an M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon in 2009, an M.Phil. in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2006, and a B.Eng. in Automation from Tongji University in 2004.
Dr. Dai is the recipient of the 2012 POMS Best Paper in Healthcare Award, the 2012 INFORMS Pierskalla Runner Up Award for the Best Paper in Healthcare, and 2nd Place Award in the 2012 INFORMS Case and Teaching Materials Competition. He is a finalist in the 2014 Elwood S. Buffa Doctoral Dissertation Award, and the 2013 POMS College of Supply Chain Management Best Student Paper Competition. His research has been published in leading journals such as Management Science. He has been quoted in MedPageToday.com, Baltimore Sun, and Maryland Daily Record.
His research areas include Healthcare Operations, Healthcare Supply Chain, Marketing-Operations Interfaces, Strategic Queueing Design, and Distributed Optimization.
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
More Information: Seminar-Tinglong Dai.docx
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Communications, Networks & Systems (CommNetS) Seminar
Wed, Apr 22, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Sanjay Lall, Stanford University
Talk Title: Sufficient Statistics for Multi-Agent Decision
Series: CommNetS
Abstract: We describe a notion of sufficient statistics for decision, estimation or control problems involving multiple players. As in the classical single-player setting, sufficient statistics contain all of the information necessary for the players to make optimal decisions. In the multi-agent setting, we construct such sufficient statistics via a convex relaxation of the feasible set of the corresponding decision problem. We show that these statistics may be updated recursively, and may be constructed by appropriately composing the corresponding single-player statistics. We present algorithms for this construction when the information pattern is defined by an appropriate graph.
Biography: Sanjay Lall is Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. Previously he was a Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology in the Department of Control and Dynamical Systems, and prior to that he was NATO Research Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. He was also a visiting scholar at Lund Institute of Technology in the Department of Automatic Control.
He received the Ph.D. in Engineering and B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, England. Professor Lall's research focuses on the development of advanced engineering methodologies for the design of control systems, and his work addresses problems including decentralized control and model reduction. Professor Lall received the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award at the American Control Conference in 2013, the George S. Axelby Outstanding Paper Award by the IEEE Control Systems Society in 2007, the NSF Career award in 2007, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2007, and the Graduate Service Recognition Award from Stanford University in 2005. With his students, he received the best student paper award at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control in 2005 and the best student paper award at the IEEE International Conference on Power Systems Technology (POWERCON) in 2012.
Host: Prof. Ashutosh Nayyar
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Wed, Apr 22, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Patrick D. Weidman, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder
Talk Title: Mathematical Models for the Shape of the Eiffel Tower
Series: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: Equations modeling the shape of the Eiffel Tower are investigated. One model, based on equilibrium of moments, gives the wrong tower curvature. A second model, based on constancy of vertical axial stress, does provide a fair approximation to the tower's skyline profile of twenty-nine contiguous panels. However, neither model can be traced back to Eiffel's writings. Reported here is a new model embodying Eiffel's concern for wind loads on the tower, as documented in his communication to the French Civil Engineering Society on March 30, 1885. The result is a nonlinear, integro-differential equation which may be solved to yield an exponential profile. An analysis of actual panel coordinates reveals a profile closely approximated by two piece-wise continuous exponentials with different growth rates. This is explained by specific safety factors for wind loading that Eiffel & Company incorporated in the design and construction of the free-standing tower.
Host: Paul Ronney
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Valerie Childress
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CS Colloquium: Mark Zhandry (Stanford) - The Surprising Power of Modern Cryptography
Thu, Apr 23, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mark Zhandry, Stanford
Talk Title: The Surprising Power of Modern Cryptography
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Modern cryptography is surprisingly powerful, yielding capabilities such as secure multiparty computation, computing on encrypted data, and hiding secrets in code. Currently, however, some of these advanced abilities are still too inefficient for practical use. The goals of my research are two-fold: (1) continue expanding the capabilities of cryptography and its applications, and (2) bring these advanced capabilities closer to practice.
In this talk, I will focus on a particular contribution that addresses both of these objectives: establishing a shared secret key among a group of participants with only a single round of interaction. The first such protocols required a setup phase, where a central authority determines the parameters for the scheme; unfortunately, this authority can learn the shared group key and must therefore be trusted. I will discuss how to remove this setup phase using program obfuscation, though the scheme is very impractical due to the inefficiencies of current obfuscators. I will then describe a new technical tool called witness pseudorandom functions and show how to use this tool in place of obfuscation, resulting in a significantly more efficient protocol.
the lecture will be available to stream HERE.
Biography: Mark Zhandry is a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University advised by Dan Boneh. He studies cryptography and computer science theory and is currently focusing on developing new cutting-edge cryptographic capabilities and improving the efficiency of these applications. He is visiting Microsoft Research New England and MIT for the 2014-15 academic year.
Host: Computer Science Department
More Info: https://bluejeans.com/638649971
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
Event Link: https://bluejeans.com/638649971
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Distinguished Lecture: Teri Odom (Northwestern)
Thu, Apr 23, 2015 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Teri Odom, Northwestern, Materials Science & Engineering
Talk Title: Light-Matter Interactions in Plasmonic Nanocavities
Series: Distinguished Lectures
Abstract: TBA
Host: Prof. Armani
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ryan Choi
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CS Student Colloquium Series: Kuan Liu & Alireza Bagheri Garakani
Thu, Apr 23, 2015 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Kuan Liu & Alireza Bagheri Garakani, USC Computer Science
Talk Title: Similarity Learning for High Dimensional Sparse Data; A Distributed Frank-Wolfe Algorithm for Communication-Efficient Sparse Learning
Series: Student Seminar Series
Abstract: Similarity Learning for High Dimensional Sparse Data
Kuan Liu
A good measure of similarity between data points is crucial to many tasks in machine learning. Similarity and metric learning methods learn such measures automatically from data, but they do not scale well respect to the dimensionality of the data. In this talk, we describe a method that can learn efficiently similarity measure from high dimensional sparse data. The core idea is to parameterize the similarity measure as a convex combination of rank-one matrices with specific sparsity structures. The parameters are then optimized with an approximate Frank-Wolfe procedure to maximally satisfy relative similarity constraints on the training data. Our algorithm greedily incorporates one pair of features at a time into the similarity measure, providing an efficient way to control the number of active features and thus reduce overfitting. It enjoys very appealing convergence guarantees and its time and memory complexity depends on the sparsity of the data instead of the dimension of the feature space. Our experiments on real world high-dimensional datasets demonstrate its potential for classification, dimensionality reduction and data exploration
A Distributed Frank-Wolfe Algorithm for Communication-Efficient Sparse Learning
Alireza Bagheri Garakani
Learning sparse combinations is a frequent theme in machine learning. In this paper, we study its associated optimization problem in the distributed setting where the elements to be combined are not centrally located but spread over a network. We address the key challenges of balancing communication costs and optimization errors. To this end, we propose a distributed Frank-Wolfe (dFW) algorithm. We obtain theoretical guarantees on the optimization error and communication cost that do not depend on the total number of combining elements. We further show that the communication cost of dFW is optimal by deriving a lower-bound on the communication cost required to construct an epsilon-approximate solution. We validate our theoretical analysis with empirical studies on synthetic and real-world data, which demonstrate that dFW outperforms both baselines and competing methods. We also study the performance of dFW when the conditions of our analysis are relaxed, and show that dFW is fairly robust.
Host: CS Department
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Astronautical Engineering Seminar
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Astronautical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mehran Mesbahi, University of Washington
Talk Title: Networked Systems: Influence Geometry, Compositional Algebra, and Distributed Learning with Applications in Autonomous and Distributed Systems
Abstract: Prof. Mesbahi will explore a class of results at the interaction of systems and control, optimization, and
theory of networks that hint at the emergence of an exciting sub-discipline in system theory. In particular,
he will discuss a compositional system theory for network-of-networks, controllability properties of
diffusively coupled networks in terms of their symmetry and distributed learning and adaptation on
dynamic networks. Along the way, examples and motivations for studying such systems in the context of
human-swarm interaction as well as distributed autonomous and semi-autonomous networks will be
discussed.
Biography: Mehran Mesbahi received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from USC in 1996. He was a member of the
Guidance, Navigation, and Analysis group at JPL from 1996-2000 and an Assistant Professor of
Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota from 2000-2002. He is currently a
Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Adjunct Professor of Mathematics, and Executive Director of
Joint Center for Aerospace Technology Innovation at the University of Washington. He was the recipient
of the NSF CAREER Award in 2001, NASA Space Act Award in 2004, UW Distinguished Teaching
Award in 2005, and UW College of Engineering Innovator Award in 2008. His research interest is
autonomous and networked aerospace systems.
Host: Dan Erwin
More Information: MesbahiSeminar-2015-04-24.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Dan Erwin
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Enery informatics distinguished seminar
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Christos Faloutsos, Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: Large Graph Mining: Patterns, Cascades, Fraud Detection, and Algorithms
Series: Energy Informatics Distinguished Seminar Series
Abstract: Given a large graph, like who-calls-whom, or who-likes-whom, what behavior is normal and what should be surprising, possibly due to fraudulent activity? How do graphs evolve over time? How does influence/news/viruses propagate, over time? We focus on three topics: (a) anomaly detection in large static graphs (b) patterns and anomalies in large time-evolving graphs and (c) cascades and immunization.
For the first, we present a list of static and temporal laws, including advances patterns like 'eigenspokes'; we show how to use them to spot suspicious activities, in on-line buyer-and-seller settings, in FaceBook, in twitter-like networks. For the second, we show how to handle time-evolving graphs as tensors, how to handle large tensors in map-reduce environments, as well as some discoveries such settings.
For the third, we show that for virus propagation, a single number is enough to characterize the connectivity of graph, and thus we show how to do efficient immunization for almost any type of virus (SIS - no immunity; SIR - lifetime immunity; etc)
We conclude with some open research questions for graph mining.
Biography: Christos Faloutsos is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He has received the Presidential Young Investigator Award by the National Science Foundation (1989), the Research Contributions Award in ICDM 2006, the SIGKDD Innovations Award (2010), twenty "best paper" awards (including two "test of time" awards), and four teaching awards. Five of his advisees have attracted KDD or SCS dissertation awards. He is an ACM Fellow, he has served as a member of the executive committee of SIGKDD; he has published over 300 refereed articles, 17 book chapters and two monographs. He holds eight patents and he has given over 35 tutorials and over 15 invited distinguished lectures. His research interests include data mining for graphs and streams, fractals, database performance, and indexing for multimedia and bio-informatics data.
Host: Prof. Viktor Prasanna and Dr. Charalampos Chelmis
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Marc E. Hankin, Hankin Patent Law
Talk Title: Patent Law with a STEM Background
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Munushian Seminar
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 02:00 PM - 03:29 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Charles Sodini, LeBel Professor EECS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Revolutionizing Medical Device Design
Abstract: The vision of the MIT Medical Electronic Device Realization Center (MEDRC) is to revolutionize medical diagnostics and treatments by bringing health care directly to the individual and to create enabling technology for the future information-driven healthcare system. This vision will in turn transform the medical electronic device industry. Specific areas that show promise are wearable or minimally invasive monitoring devices, medical imaging, portable laboratory instrumentation, and the data communication from these devices and instruments to healthcare providers and caregivers.
Rapid innovation in miniaturization, mobility, and connectivity will revolutionize medical diagnostics and treatments, bringing health care directly to the individual. Continuous monitoring of physiological markers will place capability for the early detection and prevention of disease in the hands of the consumer, shifting to a paradigm of maintaining wellness rather than treating sickness. Just as the personal computer revolution has brought computation to the individual, this revolution in personal medicine will bring the hospital lab and the physician to the home, to emerging countries, and to emergency situations. These system solutions containing state-of-the-art sensors, electronics, and computation will radically change our approach to health care. This new generation of medical systems holds the promise of delivering better quality health care while reducing medical costs.
In this talk I will introduce the research directions of the MEDRC and discuss the circuit and system design issues and clinical measurements from selected MEDRC projects highlighting wearable monitoring.
Biography: Charles G. Sodini received the B.S.E.E. degree from Purdue University, in 1974, and the M.S.E.E. and the Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1981 and 1982, respectively.
He was a member of the technical staff at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories from 1974 to 1982, where he worked on the design of MOS memory. He joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1983, where he is currently the LeBel Professor of Electrical Engineering. His research interests are focused on medical electronic systems for monitoring and imaging. These systems require state-of-the-art mixed signal integrated circuit and systems with extremely low energy dissipation. He is the co-founder of the Medical Electronic Device Realization Center at MIT.
Along with Prof. Roger T. Howe, he is a co-author of an undergraduate text on integrated circuits and devices entitled âMicroelectronics: An Integrated Approach.â He also studied the Hong Kong/South China electronics industry in 1996-97 and has continued to study the globalization of the electronics industry.
Dr. Sodini was a co-founder of SMaL Camera Technologies a leader in imaging technology for consumer digital still cameras and machine vision cameras for automotive applications. He has served on a variety of IEEE Conference Committees, including the International Electron Device Meeting where he was the 1989 General Chairman. He has served on the IEEE Electron Device Society Administrative Committee, was president of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society from 2002-2004 and was the Chair of the Executive Committee for the VLSI Symposium from 2006-2014. He serves on a variety of industry boards and is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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NL Seminar-Learning To Simplify Text One Sentence at a Time
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: David Kauchak , Pomona College
Talk Title: Learning To Simplify Text One Sentence at a Time
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Information can now be found on almost any topic ranging from news to do-it-yourself guides to health-related articles. Unfortunately for readers, the complexity and readability of these texts can vary widely. Even if the concepts of an article are accessible, the language and structure of the text can prohibit a person from understanding these concepts.
Text simplification techniques are aimed at reducing the reading and grammatical complexity of text while retaining the meaning and are one approach to increasing information accessibility. Motivated by both corpus analyses and human experiments, I will introduce a number of recent text simplification techniques ranging from semi-automated approaches, that require a human in the loop, to automated approaches, including word-level, phrase-level and syntax-level models.
Biography: David Kauchak is currently an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Pomona College. Previously, he was at Middlebury College and has worked at Google, ISI, PARC and Adchemy. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California, San Diego.
Host: Nima Pourdamghani and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th Flr. Conf Rm # 1135, Marina Del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Fri, Apr 24, 2015 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Masato Motosaka, International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Japan
Talk Title: Lessons from the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake Focused on Ground Motion Characteristics and Building Damage
Abstract:
This paper describes lessons from the Tohoku earthquake focused on the building damage in relation to the observed ground motion characteristics from the engineering view points of the countermeasures against earthquakes. Although buildings with appropriate seismic retrofit were mostly escaped from free of damage,which indicates the effectiveness of the seismic reinforcement, it is suggested that total balance of the structural elements, the non-structural elements, and the equipment need to be considered. Also, the balance of foundation
and the superstructure for the comprehensive seismic performance of the whole building needs to be achieved. It
is important to investigate cumulative building damage for long-duration ground motion and seismic micro-zoning.
Keywords: The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, ground motion, building damage, earthquake countermeasures
1 Introduction
A huge earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Miyagi, Japan on March 11, 2011 and caused huge physical damage and loss of life. The moment magnitude (Mw) of this earthquake, is 9.0, the largest recorded in Japan since modern seismograms became available. The fault plane has dimensions of 450km by 200km. The earthquake was followed by many aftershocks and also induced some other earthquakes.
The huge earthquake caused not only tremendous tsunami damage but also structural damage due to the severe ground motion which continued for sucha long duration. This earthquake has been named the 2011 off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake
(indicated as âthe 2011 Tohoku earthquakeâ hereafter).
Although the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake took the human lives of about 18,000 persons mainly by tsunami, which closed up the evacuation problem, the status of vibration damage and lessons from the huge earthquake should be importantly informed for
countermeasures of urban and buildings against for the earthquakes in the future.
On March 11, 2011, the author experienced the severe shaking at 11th floor of 13-story building(seismic control building with oil damper braces) at Aobayama campus of Tohoku University in Sendai,Japan. From next day, the author started quick
damage survey and investigated ground motion characteristic and building damage and contributed to publish the damage survey reports by AIJ1) and summarized the lessons of the Tohoku earthquake focused on ground motion characteristics and
building damage 2). The author also contributed to the development and utilization of Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system. The status of the EEW utilization during the Tohoku earthquake was reported together with the raised problems3). The author also has contributed recovery and reconstruction activities of local governments.
In this paper, lessons from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake focused on the building damage in relation to the observed ground motion
characteristics are described from the engineering view points of the countermeasures against the expected earthquakes in other area of Japan and other countries all over the world.
First, the observed ground motion characteristics are described regarding the observed high acceleration record, the impact of long-duration motions, and site dependent ground motions. Then, specific features of building damage are described.
Contact Author: Masato Motosaka, Professor, IRIDeS,
Tohoku University
Address: Aramaki-Aoba 468-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai
980-0845, Japan
Tel: +81-22-752-2117 Fax: +81-22-752-2119
e-mail: motosaka@irides.tohoku.ac.jp
Host: Dr. Maria Todorovska
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 27, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Vadim Backman, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Walter Dill Scott Professor (Northwestern University)
Talk Title: Nanoscale and functional optical imaging for colon cancer diagnostics and risk-stratification
Abstract: Initiation of carcinogenesis is accompanied by alterations in tumor microenvironment, cellular metabolism and epigenetics. Understanding these early events depends on our ability to image these subtle nanoarchitectural and functional processes. The talk discusses a suite of novel fiber-optic and in vitro diagnostic optical imaging techniques that have recently been developed to quantify intracellular and tissue morphology at the nanoscale and provide high-resolution imaging of metabolism and microangiography. The techniques have shown promise as a new platform for highly sensitive, cost-effective and non-invasive colon cancer screening and prognostication.A particularly significant application is colon cancer screening enabled by the detection of field carcinogenesis via the analysis of the nanoarchitecture of rectal cells with the objective to increase the detection rate of screen-relevant colorectal neoplasia while reducing overdiagnosis.
Biography: http://www.bme.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/backman.html
Host: Qifa Zhou/Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 27, 2015 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Vadim Backman, PhD, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Walter Dill Scott Professor (Northwestern University)
Talk Title: Nanoscale and functional optical imaging for colon cancer diagnostics and risk-stratification
Abstract: Initiation of carcinogenesis is accompanied by alterations in tumor microenvironment, cellular metabolism and epigenetics. Understanding these early events depends on our ability to image these subtle nanoarchitectural and functional processes. The talk discusses a suite of novel fiber-optic and in vitro diagnostic optical imaging techniques that have recently been developed to quantify intracellular and tissue morphology at the nanoscale and provide high-resolution imaging of metabolism and microangiography. The techniques have shown promise as a new platform for highly sensitive, cost-effective and non-invasive colon cancer screening and prognostication.A particularly significant application is colon cancer screening enabled by the detection of field carcinogenesis via the analysis of the nanoarchitecture of rectal cells with the objective to increase the detection rate of screen-relevant colorectal neoplasia while reducing overdiagnosis.
Biography: http://www.bme.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/backman.html
Host: Qifa Zhou/Stanley Yamashiro
Location: OHE 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium: Ilias Diakonikolas (University of Edinburgh) - Algorithmic Approaches in Unsupervised Learning
Tue, Apr 28, 2015 @ 09:45 AM - 10:50 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ilias Diakonikolas, University of Edinburgh
Talk Title: Algorithmic Approaches in Unsupervised Learning
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: The growing scale of modern data sets and our increasingly ambitious inferential goals have highlighted new algorithmic challenges. In this talk, I will discuss recent progress in this vein that lies at the interface of computer science and statistics. I will highlight how the algorithmic perspective brings novel insights and leads to computationally efficient methods for classical statistical problems.
In this talk, I will focus on a core problem in unsupervised learning: how to infer information about a distribution based on random samples. An important goal in this context is understanding the structure in the data without making strong assumptions on its form. I will describe a unified algorithmic framework that yields new, provably efficient estimators for several natural and well-studied statistical models, including mixtures of structured distribution families (e.g., gaussian, log-concave, etc.). This framework provides a fairly complete picture of the sample and computational complexities for fundamental inference tasks, including density estimation and hypothesis testing.
I will also briefly describe some of my other work on learning, including supervised learning with missing and noisy data, as well as connections between these questions and seemingly unrelated problems in game theory and complexity theory.
The event will be available to stream HERE
Biography: Ilias Diakonikolas is an Assistant Professor in the School of Informatics at the University of Edinburgh. He holds a diploma in electrical and computer engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Columbia University (2010) where he was advised by Mihalis Yannakakis. He received a best thesis award for his doctoral dissertation and an honorable mention in the 2009 George Nicholson competition from the INFORMS society. Before moving to Edinburgh he spent two years (2010-2012) as the Simons postdoctoral fellow in theoretical computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Ilias has worked in several areas of algorithms, including optimization, computational learning, and computational economics. His research focus is on the algorithmic foundations of massive data sets, in particular on designing efficient algorithms for statistics and machine learning.
Host: Computer Science Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Epstein Institute / ISE 651 Seminar Series
Tue, Apr 28, 2015 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Uday V. Shanbhag, Associate Professor, Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME), Pennsylvania State University
Talk Title: On the Solution of Optimization and Variational Problems in Misspecified Regimes
Series: Epstein Institute Seminar Series
Abstract: We consider a class of optimization and variational problems that are misspecified in a parametric sense. Resolving this misspecification is assumed to require the solution of a distinct convex learning problem. Traditional sequential approaches that first solve the learning problem and then solve the correctly specified computational problem require that exact or accurate solutions are available in finite time. We consider an approach where both problems are solved simultaneously in optimization and variational regimes via standard first-order projected gradient, subgradient, and extra gradient methods. We provide global convergence results and rate analysis for the schemes where we quantify the degradation from learning. In the second part of the talk, we consider stochastic generalizations of the problem that require coupled stochastic approximation schemes. We will also mention related efforts to solve problems distributed stochastic optimization problems on time-varying graphs and misspecified MDPs. Finally, time permitting, we may discuss some ongoing research initiatives in the area of power systems and markets.
Biography: Since fall 2012, Uday V. Shanbhag has been an associate professor in the department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) at the Pennsylvania State University. Prior to arriving at Penn. State, from 2006-“2012, he was first an assistant professor, and subsequently a tenured associate professor, in the department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems engineering (ISE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research honors include the triennial A.W. Tucker Prize by the mathematical programming society (MPS) in 2006, the Computational Optimization and Applications (COAP) best paper award (with advisor Walter Murray) in 2007, and the best theoretical paper award in the Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) in 2013 (with Angelia Nedi'c and Farzad Yousefian). Additionally, he was a finalist for the Microsoft Faculty fellowship (2008) and was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award in 2012 from the Operations Research program. Several of his doctoral students have been recognized by a range of honors including Uma Ravat (best student paper prize at the triennial International Conference on Stochastic Programming (2010)), Aswin Kannan (finalist for best student paper prize at the triennial International Conference on Stochastic Programming (2010)) and Huibing Yin (finalist for the best student paper prize at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (2009)). Uday V. Shanbhag has a Ph.D. from Stanford University's department of Management Science and Engineering (2006), with a concentration in operations research and was associated with the Systems Optimization Laboratory when at Stanford. He also holds masters and undergraduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge (in Operations Research) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, respectively.
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
More Information: Seminar-Shanbhag.docx
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
