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Events for April

  • 2008 Annual Spring Banquet

    Wed, Apr 09, 2008 @ 05:00 PM - 07:30 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering /
    USC Student Chapter of the Institute of Industrial Engineers2008 Annual Spring BanquetWednesday April 9th, 2008
    5:00 – 7:30 PM
    The Davidson Conference Center Vineyard RoomGuest Speaker:GERALDINE KNATZ, Ph.D.
    Executive Director, Port of Los AngelesAs executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D. oversees the daily operations and internal management of the nation's number one containerport. After an exhaustive national search, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa nominated Dr. Knatz for the position in late 2005. In January 2006, she became the first female executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.Moving the Port of Los Angeles forward with an agenda that focuses on responsible Port growth and environmental leadership is an aggressive goal that Dr. Knatz has tackled from day one. Reducing port emissions, eliminating health risks and expanding capital development programs to accommodate the Port's future growth as a premiere Pacific gateway and national economic engine are top priorities at the Port under the leadership of Dr. Knatz.Dr. Knatz previously served as managing director of the neighboring Port of Long Beach. As the number two executive at the Port of Long Beach, Dr. Knatz oversaw a $2.3 billion capital improvement program and spearheaded a number of environmental initiatives, including development of the Green Port Policy and Truck Trip Reduction Program. While her impressive tenure at the Port of Long Beach spans two decades, Dr. Knatz began her maritime career as an environmental scientist at the Port of Los Angeles in 1977.A proud alumna of the University of Southern California, where she presently teaches in the Civil Engineering School, Dr. Knatz earned two degrees from USC: a doctorate in biological science and a Master of Science in environmental engineering. She also holds an undergraduate degree in zoology from Rutgers University. Born and raised in New Jersey, Dr. Knatz resides in Long Beach with her husband and two sons.

    Location: Davidson Conference Center Vineyard Room

    Audiences: Graduate/Undergrad/Department Only/

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • A Systems Architecting Case Study: Technical and Operational Assessment of Molecular Nanotechnology

    Fri, Apr 11, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering SeminarA Systems Architecting Case Study: Technical and Operational Assessment of Molecular Nanotechnology for Space Operations Professor Tom McKendreeAdjunct Associate, University of Southern CaliforniaABSTRACT: I present a systems architecting a case study of technology impact assessment in which the technology is potentially powerful enough to significantly change the preferred system architectures. Molecular nanotechnology, the emerging ability to design and build systems to atomic precision, has been suggested to offer great benefits to space systems and space operations. The research problem is to assess that claim. More generally the problem is how to approach the generic problem of assessing the potential application of a promising new technology to a broad application area.In many areas, such as aerospace, system lifetimes are large relative to technology cycles, and system technologies must be analyzed for refreshment and insertion. Consequently, this sort of assessment is necessary to estimate the potential for major architecture changes resulting from potential major technical advances. The assessment is structured by defining four technology levels, a current technology baseline and three increasingly capable levels of molecular nanotechnology. Five different space system architectures are assessed against these four levels: solar electric ion engines, solar sails, chemical rockets, planetary skyhooks and towers, and tethers. The talk primarily addresses the first two. The assessments rely on system modeling, and often further development of preferred system concepts to effectively exploit the potential of a particular technology level. In addition, an operational assessment is made. First a multi-faceted scenario for space transportation is defined based on an extension of the classic facility location problem to address source, sink and facility locations in orbital space. The best system architecture for space transportation at each technology level is then assessed for performance on the scenario. The assessment for each technology level uses the best corresponding space transportation architecture, and also requires scenario-specific tuning of system designs to balance system cost and performance. The presentation includes a summary of the assessment results and lessons learned for conducting comparable assessments of technology across system architectures. FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2008, ANDRUS GERONTOLOGY BLDG (GER) 309, 2:00-3:00 PM

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Healthcare Leadership Panel

    Thu, Apr 17, 2008 @ 09:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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    HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP PANEL Thursday, April 17, 2008, 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon, USC Davidson Conference Center, BoardroomKindly RSVP to Melissa Gomez at melissgg@usc.edu or 213.740.2984 if you wish to attend!If you are interested in the healthcare sector—where it is today and where it's headed—this is a "not-to-be-missed" opportunity to meet, hear and learn from the industry's most recognized and distinguished leaders and policy-makers! PANEL LEADER: LEONARD D. SCHAEFFER—Founding Chairman and CEO, WellPoint DISTINGUISHED PANELISTS:HERB SCHULTZ—Senior Health Policy Advisor, Office of CA Governor SchwarzeneggerTHOMAS PRISELAC—CEO, Cedars Sinai Health System and Chair, American Hospital AssociationROBERT MARGOLIS, MD—Managing Partner & CEO, HealthCare PartnersPATRICK E. KAPSNER—CEO, Bristol Park Medical GroupThis session is part of PPD 608: Frontline Issues in Health Management and Policy led by Prof. Glenn Melnick and Mr. Schaeffer. Classroom space is limited, therefore an RSVP is required. Distinguished Panelist Bios:PATRICK E. KAPSNER—CEO, BRISTOL PARK MEDICAL GROUPPat Kapsner is CEO of Bristol Park Medical Group, where he is responsible for strategic development and establishing policy on all non-medical issues. BPMG has approximately nearly 90 primary care providers serving more than 110,000 capitated patients in 11 locations throughout the coastal portions of Orange County. http://www.bristolparkmed.com/about.aspHe serves on the board of the California Association of Physician Groups and the California Medical Group Insurance Company, Risk Retention Group. He is past chairman of the Healthcare Association of Southern California and the California Association of Physician Organizations (CAPG), as well as past president of the Medical Group Management Association Western Section, Orange County MGMA, Unified Medical Group Association and American Medical Group Association (AMGA). Mr. Kapsner earned a B. A. in economics from CSULB and was elected to the economics honor society, Omicron Delta Epsilon. He then earned his MPA from USC, where he is an adjunct professor and serves on the SPPD Health Advisory Board. Mr. Kapsner is a fellow of the American College of Medical Practice Executives.ROBERT MARGOLIS, MD—MANAGING PARTNER & CEO, HEALTHCARE PARTNERSRobert Margolis, MD, has been the managing partner and CEO of HealthCare Partners since the company's formation in 1992. He was a founding partner and the managing partner of HealthCare Partners' predecessor, California Primary Physicians Medical Group. Under Dr. Margolis' stewardship, HealthCare Partners has become a highly respected and innovative physician-owned and operated medical group, IPA and MSO. HealthCare Partners delivers medical care and also develops and manages health systems through its companies HealthCare Partners LLC; HealthCare Partners Medical Group; HealthCare Partners IPA; The Camden Group, and HealthCare Partners Institute. http://www.healthcarepartners.com/aboutus/aboutus.aspDr. Margolis has been on the leading edge of managed care for more than 20 years. He served as board chairman of California Hospital Medical Center-Los Angeles, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and CAPG. He is a past member of the Catholic Healthcare West, Southern California board and its Strategic Planning Committee. Dr. Margolis is past chairman of the AMGA and a two-time past chairman of the Unified Medical Group Association. He is board certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, and while practicing was an active member of the American College of Physicians and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a graduate of Rutgers and the Duke University Medical School and served a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.THOMAS PRISELAC—CEO, CEDARS SINAI HEALTH SYSTEMThomas Priselac is President and CEO of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, a position he has held since January 1994. The Cedars-Sinai Health System is among the nation's leading providers of health services, graduate and continuing medical education services and medical research. Prior to being named president and CEO, he was executive vice president from 1988 to 1993, and has been with Cedars since 1979. Before joining Cedars-Sinai, he was on the executive staff of Montefiore Hospital in Pittsburgh. Mr. Priselac is current chairman of the American Hospital Association and presides over the AHA's Long-Range Policy Committee. He is the immediate past chairman of the Association of American Medical Colleges, and chaired both the California Healthcare Association and the Healthcare Association of Southern California. Mr. Priselac served on the boards of Blue Cross of California, Voluntary Hospitals of America, Inc., NCQA, California HealthCare Foundation and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. An adjunct professor at the UCLA School of Public Health, he earned an MPH in Health Services Administration and Planning at the University of Pittsburgh. HERB SCHULTZ, SENIOR HEALTH POLICY ADVISOR, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNORHerb Schultz is the senior health policy advisor for the Office of the Governor. Prior to joining the Schwarzenegger Administration, he served as vice president of government programs for McKesson Health Solutions, where he oversaw disease management and nurse advice Medicaid and Medicare programs. Previously, Mr. Schultz was acting director of the California Employment Development Department and also served as acting secretary and undersecretary for the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Prior to that, Mr. Schultz was deputy director of external affairs for the California Department of Managed Health Care and served as director of the Advisory Committee on Managed Health Care.

    Location: Charlotte S. & Davre R. Davidson Continuing Education Conference Center (DCC) - Boardroom

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Visions and Voices

    Fri, Apr 18, 2008 @ 02:15 PM - 05:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    University Calendar


    BODY WORLDS
    Gunther von Hagens's BODY WORLDS is the most highly attended touring exhibition in the world. Take an eye-opening journey through the inner workings of the human body and gain new appreciation for what it means to be human.For more information, please visit: http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/865258 .

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs

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  • The Timing of Testing and Treatment of Hepatitis C

    Mon, Apr 21, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Seminar"The Timing of Testing and Treatment of Hepatitis C"Daniel Mello FaissolDoctoral Student, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of TechnologyABSTRACT: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a blood-borne disease present in 3.9 million people in the US that can cause end stage liver disease. It is the leading cause of liver transplants and the 10th leading cause of death in the US. It is generally asymptomatic for decades. Almost 50% of those infected are unaware of the presence of the disease, many remaining unaware until end stage liver disease begins and treatment is no longer effective. Our goal is to determine the best testing policy for HCV where treatment is an option. Critical components include the possibility of multiple tests and the allowance for awareness of the disease to change behavior, such as secondary transmissions and alcohol consumption, which effects disease progression. We develop a Markov Decision Process (MDP) model for diseases that incorporates disease transmission, testing, treatment and the natural history of the disease. We populate the model with data from the medical literature and compare our findings to current HCV screening recommendations.MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2008, GERONTOLOGY BUILDING (GER) ROOM 309, 2:00 – 3:00 PM

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Optimization Models for Simulation

    Wed, Apr 23, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Seminar"Optimization Models for Simulation"W. K. Victor ChanAssistant Professor, Department of Decision Sciences & Engineering Systems, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NYABSTRACT: The first part of the talk presents a methodology for modeling discrete-event simulation as optimization problems. This method allows one to combine techniques in simulation and optimization in designing and/or analyzing stochastic systems. Applications of this methodology in queueing theory, manufacturing, and perturbation analysis will be discussed.The second part of the talk gives an overview of other on-going research conducting by the presenter and his collaborators. These include agent-based simulation for electricity markets, evolutionary models for online social networks, decentralized algorithms and agent-based models for biological systems, optimal scheduling for semi-conductor manufacturing, and meta-modeling of service systems.WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008, GERONTOLOGY BUILDING (GER) ROOM 309, 2:00–3:00 PM

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Distinguished Lecture - Blum

    Thu, Apr 24, 2008 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

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    Online learning, game theory, and the price of total anarchy - Dr. Avrim Blum, Carnegie Mellon UniversityPlease keep posted for updates to this DLS.

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Christine Martin

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  • Visions and Voices

    Sat, Apr 26, 2008 @ 10:30 AM - 01:40 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

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    Live HD Broadcast of the Met's La Fille du RégimentExperience La Fille du Régiment, called "the operatic show of the season" by The Times of London when it opened at Covent Garden this past winter. Presented in HD and 5.1 sound, live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York.Saturday, April 26, 2008 10:30 AM - 1:40 PM For more information, please visit: http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/865968

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs

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  • Bayesian Multiscale In Situ Process Control for Nanomanufacturing

    Mon, Apr 28, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Seminar:"Bayesian Multiscale In Situ Process Control for Nanomanufacturing"Dr. Qiang HuangAssistant Professor, Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering, University of South Florida. Tampa, FL 33620, http://www.eng.usf.edu/~huangqABSTRACT: The fast-developing nanotechnology needs breakthrough innovations in manufacturing to expedite its transfer from laboratories to industry applications at lower cost. Yet much less research and education initiatives have been undertaken in nanomanufacturing to duplicate the success of transforming quality and productivity performance of traditional manufacturing. Standard statistical quality control (SQC) methods are essential to efficient nanomanufacturing. But SQC faces new challenges of scale effects in nanomanufacturing. Particularly, process variables affecting nanostructure growth are manipulated at macroscopic length/time scales. The quality characteristics of nanostructures (e.g., nanowire diameters) would better be characterized at nanoscale. Relating macroscale process variables to nanoscale quality characteristics requires novel multiscale model integration for in situ process control. Process control in nanomanufacturing therefore demands a new paradigm for effective modeling, process change detection, and process adjustment. Using nanowire growth process as an example, this talk will present a Bayesian multiscale modeling and control scheme for in situ process control in nanomanufacturing. Other research activities in the speaker's Nanomanufacturing Quality Control Laboratory (Nano-QCLab) will be introduced too. MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008, GERONTOLOGY BUILDING (GER) ROOM 309, 2:00 – 3:00 PM

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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  • Studies in System Architecture

    Wed, Apr 30, 2008 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    University Calendar


    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering SeminarSTUDIES IN SYSTEM ARCHITECTUREPart 1: An Engineering Systems Design Case ApplicationPart 2: An Algorithmic Approach to System Architecting Using Shape Grammar-Cellular Automata"Dr. Thomas H. Speller, Jr.Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems DivisionABSTRACT: This talk begins by briefly reviewing as a case study a product development effort and organizational change within the presenter's past company that incorporated lessons learned in systems engineering and system architecture. It is quite a remarkable and nontrivial occurrence in the history of this corporation, an automatic fastening system producer for aerostructure assemblies, that a product family should be created with extensibility, encompassing new technologies for competitive advantage and covering anticipated automatic fastening requirements for commercial airplanes over the foreseeable next ten years. Heretofore, the products developed appeared similar from a distance, but in fact were not related products; instead they were individual prototypes bearing certain similarities. In an extensible product family, world economic influences, competing technological trajectories, the customer supply chain, competition, and organizational structure and policies are seen as critical components that must be considered when shaping the system architecture of these products.This talk then moves on to the recent doctoral research, which was in a broad sense intended to expand upon the understanding of the fundamentals of system architecting in order to more effectively apply this process to engineering systems. A universal concern about the system architecting process is that the needs and wants of the stakeholders are not being fully satisfied, primarily because too few design alternatives are created and ambiguity exists in the information required. At the same time, it is noted that nature offers a superb example of system architecting and therefore might be considered as a guide for the engineering of systems. Key features of nature's architecting processes include self-generation, diversity, emergence, least action (balance of kinetic and potential energy), system-of-systems organization, and selection for stability. Currently, no human-friendly method appears to exist that addresses the problems in the field of system architecture while at the same time emulating nature's processes.By adapting nature's self-generative approach, a systematic means is offered to more rigorously conduct system architecting and better satisfy stakeholders. This algorithmic methodology was developed to generate a space of architectural solutions satisfying a given specification, local constraints, and physical laws. The approach combines a visually oriented human design interface (shape grammar) that provides an intuitive design language with a machine (cellular automata) to execute the system architecture's production set (algorithm). The manual output of the flexible shape grammar, the set of design rules, is transcribed into cellular automata neighborhoods as a sequenced production set that may include other simple programs (such as combinatoric instructions). The resulting catalog of system architectures can be unmanageably large, so selection criteria (e.g., stability, matching interfaces, least action) can be defined by the architect to narrow the solution space for stakeholder review. The shape grammar-cellular automata algorithmic approach was demonstrated across several domains of study, with an example on generating graphene presented here. This algorithmic methodology improves on a design's clarification and the number of design alternatives produced, which should result in greater stakeholder satisfaction. Of additional significance, this approach has shown value both in the study of the system architecting process, leading to the proposal of normative principles for system architecture, and in the modeling of systems for better understanding.WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008, GERONTOLOGY BUILDING (GER) ROOM 309, 2:00 – 3:00 PMBIO: Thomas Speller recently received his doctorate from the Engineering Systems Division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Previously, he had worked for 27 years at Gemcor Systems Corporation, an aerospace industry end-to-end engineering-manufacturing company, where he was the Chief Executive Officer for over 12 years. He received an MBA (finance and marketing) from the University of Chicago and A.B. in Economics (with concentrations in psychology and chemistry) from Ohio University. In addition, he received an MS Degree in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests are focused on system architecture, new product development, system dynamics, sustainability and growth, and automated design and assembly, and he has published on topics in system architecture, system dynamics, organizational systems, systems engineering, and complex systems.

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Georgia Lum

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