Logo: University of Southern California

Events Calendar



Select a calendar:



Filter September Events by Event Type:



Events for September 04, 2024

  • Repeating EventEiS Communications Hub - Tutoring for Engineering Ph.D. Students

    Wed, Sep 04, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Come to the EiS Communications Hub for one-on-one tutoring from Viterbi faculty for Ph.D. writing and speaking projects!

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A

    Audiences: Viterbi Ph.D. Students

    View All Dates

    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home

    Add to Google CalendarDownload ICS File for OutlookDownload iCal File
  • ECE Seminar: From Single-agent to Federated Reinforcement Learning

    ECE Seminar: From Single-agent to Federated Reinforcement Learning

    Wed, Sep 04, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Yuejie Chi, Sense of Wonder Group Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in AI Systems, Carnegie Mellon University

    Talk Title: From Single-agent to Federated Reinforcement Learning

    Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) has garnered significant interest in recent years due to its success in a wide variety of modern applications. Q-learning, which seeks to learn the optimal Q-function of a Markov decision process (MDP) in a model-free fashion, lies at the heart of RL practices. However, theoretical understandings on its non-asymptotic sample complexity remain unsatisfactory, despite significant recent efforts. In this talk, we first show a tight sample complexity bound of Q-learning in the single-agent setting, together with a matching lower bound to establish its minimax sub-optimality. We then show how federated versions of Q-learning allow collaborative learning using data collected by multiple agents without central sharing, where an importance averaging scheme is introduced to unveil the blessing of heterogeneity.

    Biography: Dr. Yuejie Chi is the Sense of Wonder Group Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in AI Systems at Carnegie Mellon University, with courtesy appointments in the Machine Learning department and CyLab. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. from Princeton University, and B. Eng. (Hon.) from Tsinghua University, all in Electrical Engineering. Her research interests lie in the theoretical and algorithmic foundations of data science, signal processing, machine learning and inverse problems, with applications in sensing, imaging, decision making, and generative AI. Among others, Dr. Chi is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), NSF CAREER Award, ONR YIP Award, AFOSR YIP Award, the inaugural IEEE Signal Processing Society Early Career Technical Achievement Award for contributions to high-dimensional structured signal processing, and multiple paper awards including the SIAM Activity Group on Imaging Science Best Paper Prize and IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award. She is an IEEE Fellow (Class of 2023) for contributions to statistical signal processing with low-dimensional structures.

    Host: Drs. Richard M. Leahy (leahy@usc.edu) and Mahdi Soltanolkotabi (soltanol@usc.edu)

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91569704176?pwd=zHQIlJ6vFqFmWPQYbARB8J3pXRbRiV.1

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

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91569704176?pwd=zHQIlJ6vFqFmWPQYbARB8J3pXRbRiV.1

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

    Add to Google CalendarDownload ICS File for OutlookDownload iCal File
  • Interested in starting a company while at USC?

    Interested in starting a company while at USC?

    Wed, Sep 04, 2024 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM

    Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

    University Calendar


    Come & hear about programs with over 100k in prizes! Hear from program alumni on their student co founder journey and experience in participating in USC's innovation programming. Hear specicially about the Min Family Challenge and the Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition. Min Family Challenge - Engineering solutions for Social Impact with a 50k prizeMaseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition- Deep Tech  50k prize competition   RSVP 

    Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi TIE

    Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r397841

    Add to Google CalendarDownload ICS File for OutlookDownload iCal File
  • AME Seminar

    Wed, Sep 04, 2024 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Daniel Chung, University of Melbourne

    Talk Title: Modeling drag and heat transfer on riblets and roughness

    Abstract: Riblets are a surface texture that reduce skin-friction drag in turbulent flow, and can now be found on in-service aircraft. Riblet features are smaller than the smallest vortices of turbulence. On the fuselage of a passenger aircraft, riblet spacing is about 100 microns. Riblet performance is notoriously sensitive to the fine details of their micro-structure, with optimal performance thought to require sharp tips, which are impossible to manufacture and maintain in practice. Thus, their successful application requires careful lifetime management of performance benefits, balanced against manufacturing, installation and maintenance costs. Key to this balancing act is our ability to accurately predict riblet performance given the inevitable micro-structure imperfections. To this end, I will discuss our group’s flow-physical modeling of the interaction between detailed riblet shapes and the near-wall vortices of turbulence; the outcome is a consistent improvement in accuracy of performance predictions across diverse riblet shapes.
     
    Predicting rough-wall heat transfer has been a longstanding challenge, especially when new surface topographies are encountered. The heat-transfer coefficient of accreted ice on aircraft is different from that of engineered heat-exchanger surface textures. The best we can do are empirical correlations, which are not reliable. It is widely known that rough-wall heat transfer is not analogous to skin friction, i.e. not Reynolds analogy, but, then, what is it? With access now to the detailed temperature and flow fields near roughness features, I will show that heat transfer peaks at regions of the surface that are exposed to the oncoming flow, and, at these regions, a local version of Reynolds analogy survives. These insights allow us to develop a simple physics-based model of heat transfer that accounts for topography and working-fluid variations.

    Biography: Daniel is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He obtained his bachelor's degree in engineering and computer science from the University of Melbourne in 2003, and his PhD in aeronautics from Caltech in 2009. He was a postdoc at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before joining the University of Melbourne in 2012. Daniel's research is in computational fluid mechanics, where he tries to distil turbulent flows into simplified problems and to build physics-based models for prediction. Recently, he has been interested in turbulent flow and thermal convection over rough surfaces, riblets and sea waves, including control. Daniel is currently on a sabbatical at USC until the end of November, hosted by Prof Mitul Luhar, and is keen to explore collaborations.

    More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tessa Yao

    Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

    Add to Google CalendarDownload ICS File for OutlookDownload iCal File