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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for September
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Biotechnology Lecture SeriesThu, Sep 01, 2016 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Amgen
Talk Title: R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside
Abstract: USC researchers have the opportunity to gain research and development insights with a new biotechnology lecture series sponsored by Amgen and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
The weekly lecture series, "R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside" takes place Thursdays at 10:30AM-12:00PM at USC's Health Sciences Campus from September 1, 2016 through November 10, 2016.
The talks will feature Amgen scientists speaking about:
Identifying a possible therapeutic target and its role in disease
Increasing therapeutic efficacy and safety
Process development, devices and manufacturing
Case studies from bench to clinic
Lectures will take place at the BCC First Floor Seminar Room or ZNI Herklotz Seminar Room.
RSVP at http://www.usc.edu/esvp (use code: amgenlecture). Space is limited. Preference will be given to SCRM master's students, PhDs, and postdocs, and attending all lectures is mandatory.
Please contact qliumich@usc.edu or karenw03@amgen.com for further details.
Host: USC Stem Cell/Amgen
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/biotechnology_lecture_series_rd_insights_from_lab_bench_to_patient_bedside?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dKNLX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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HSC Seminar: Introduction to the USC Stevens mission, functions & support programs that are a part of a thriving culture of innovation at USC
Thu, Sep 01, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, USC Stevens Center for Innovation
Abstract: USC Stevens Center for Innovation will be hosting a seminar introducing USC innovators to the USC Stevens mission, functions & support programs that are a part of a thriving culture of innovation at USC. The seminar will take place at USC's Health Sciences Campus, Broad 1st Floor Auditorium (BCC). To sign up, visit www.usc.edu/esvp (code: stevenscenter).
The discussion topics will include: an introduction to USC Stevens, an overview of the commercialization process, resources available for startup support and the corporate collaborations process.
Speaking will be:
Randolph Hall, Vice President of Research
Jennifer Dyer, Executive Director, USC Stevens Center for Innovation
Vasiliki Anest, Senior Director, Corporate Collaborations & Strategic Alliances, USC Stevens Center for Innovation
Michael Arciero, Director of Technology Licensing & New Ventures, USC Stevens Center for Innovation
For more info, contact Peijean Tsai, USC Stevens Marketing Coordinator at peijeant@stevens.usc.edu.
Host: USC Stevens Center for Innovation
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/usc_stevens_seminar_HSC?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dNNbX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 01, 2016 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Tim Rupert, UC Irvine
Talk Title: Promoting Beneficial Grain Boundary Phase Transitions with Segregation Engineering
Series: Distinguished Lecture
Host: Professor Andrea Hodge
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Martin Olekszyk
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Architecting More Power-Efficient Datacenters By Removing the Peaks
Thu, Sep 01, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dean Tullsen, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Architecting More Power-Efficient Datacenters By Removing the Peaks
Series: EE 598 Computer Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: Datacenters are rapidly increasing in size and computational ability. However, this growth places great stress on the power delivery and heat removal of the datacenter. The cost of power and cooling, and the computational capacity of the datacenter, are both driven by the peak demands on the power infrastructure and the cooling infrastructure, even though most datacenters see large differences between the peak demand and the average demand. We will discuss two technologies that enable the datacenter to service the peak computational demand, yet present the power and cooling infrastructure with a flat profile that hides the peaks, without sacrificing peak-period performance. We make use of batteries and phase-change materials (e.g., wax) for these optimizations.
Biography: Dean Tullsen is a professor and chair of the computer science and engineering department at University of California, San Diego. He received his PhD from the University of Washington in 1996, where he introduced simultaneous multithreading (hyper-threading). He has continued to work in the area of computer architecture and back-end compilation, where with various co-authors he has introduced many new ideas to the research community, including threaded multipath execution, symbiotic job scheduling for multithreaded processors, dynamic critical path prediction, speculative precomputation, heterogeneous multi-core architectures, conjoined core architectures, event-driven simultaneous code optimization, and data triggered threads. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE. He has twice won the Influential ISCA Paper Award. He is chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Computer Architecture.
Host: Xuehai Qian, x04459, xuehai.qian@usc.edu
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Seminar -
Fri, Sep 02, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Odette Scharenborg, Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands)
Talk Title: Modeling and Understanding Human Spoken-Word Recognition
Abstract: The question that underlies most of my research is the question why humans are so much better at recognizing speech than computers. I have approached this question from several angles, from the field of automatic speech recognition, the field of psycholinguistics, and through the combination of the two, i.e., the computational modeling of human spoken-word recognition. In this talk, I will present results from my computational modelling and psycholinguistics work.
In the first part, I will present my computational model, which is able to recognize real speech, Fine-Tracker. Fine-Tracker was specifically developed to account for the accumulating evidence that subtle phonetic detail in the speech signal is important in human spoken-word recognition. I will explain the model and illustrate its modelling ability by presenting a simulation study investigating the role of durational information in resolving temporary ambiguity due to lexical embedding (i.e., 'ham' in the longer word 'hamster') to aid spoken-word recognition. I will start the talk by briefly discussing the value of computational modelling in spoken-word recognition.
In the second part of this talk, I will focus on the results obtained in my current project on human non-native word recognition in noise. Most people will have noticed that communication in the presence of background noise is more difficult in a non-native than in the native language - even for those who have a high proficiency in the non-native language involved. The aim of this project is to understand the effect of background noise on the processes underlying non-native spoken-word recognition. In this presentation, I will present recent results on the effect of background noise on 1) the flexibility of the perceptual system in non-native listening; 2) the multiple activation, competition and recognition processes in non-native spoken-word recognition.
Biography: Odette Scharenborg (PhD) is an associate professor at the Centre for Language Studies and a research fellow at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University (Nijmegen, the Netherlands). Her research interests focus on narrowing the gap between automatic and human word recognition. In 2008, she co-organized the Interspeech 2008 Consonant Challenge, which aimed at promoting comparisons of human and machine speech recognition in noise in order to investigate where the human advantage in word recognition originates. She was one of the initiators of the EU funded Marie Curie Initial Training Network 'Investigating Speech Processing In Realistic Environments' (INSPIRE, 2012-2015). Her current project is funded by a fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research on
the topic of human non-native word recognition in noise, which will be investigated using a combination of listening experiments and computational modelling.
Host: Prof. Shrikanth Narayanan & Prof. Panayiotis Georgiou
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tanya Acevedo-Lam/EE-Systems
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Surface-based Methods for Analyzing Brain Structure and Connectivity
Fri, Sep 02, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Boris Gutman, Ph.D., Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Surface-based Methods for Analyzing Brain Structure and Connectivity
Series: Medical Imaging Seminar Series
Abstract: In this talk I will describe several shape centric methods for analyzing brain MR image data. The first part will focus on surface-based analysis of structural MRI. I will suggest some parametric registration techniques, with particular focus on adapting traditional image registration algorithms to the spherical domain. Building on this, an alternative shape space will be proposed, extending the Ebin metric on the 2 sphere to a Riemannian product metric for simple closed surfaces.
The second part of the talk will offer a method to combine surface representations and diffusion MRI based connectivity analysis. We will propose a generative model of structural connectivity based on the Poisson point process. Treating each tractography fiber model as a point observation in the continuous brain product space, we estimate the spatially distributed Poisson parameter to represent cortical connectivity. We can then adapt traditional spatial domain tasks such as registration and segmentation based on this continuous connectivity representation. Example adaptations will be proposed.
Example applications to the study of genetics and disease will be shown throughout, with some special focus on Partial Least Squares modeling as an alternative to the traditional genome wide association study (GWAS).
Biography: Boris Gutman is a Post-doctoral Scholar at the Imaging Genetics Center within the Stevens Institute for Neuroimaging and Informatics at the University of Southern California. His current research interests include biomedical shape analysis, brain connectivity and imaging genetics, with the goal of enabling new discoveries of genetic associations and disease effects in the human brain.
Host: Professor Richard Leahy
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia White
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USC Stem Cell Special Seminar: Broad Clinical Fellows
Fri, Sep 02, 2016 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, USC Stem Cell
Talk Title: Various
Abstract: Rodrigo MartÃnez Monedero, MD
Molecular analysis of mature supporting cells as targets for regeneration
Victoria Forte, MD
Stem cell markers in breast cancer
Andre Abreu, MD
Key role of macula densa-derived CCN1 in nephron repair
Host: USC Stem Cell
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/usc_stem_cell_special_seminar_broad_clinical_fellows?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dPFrX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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Seminars in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 05, 2016 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: NO CLASS, NO CLASS
Talk Title: NO CLASS
Abstract: Labor Day-Holiday
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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USC Stem Cell Seminar: Shaochen Chen, University of California, San Diego
Tue, Sep 06, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shaochen Chen, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Rapid 3D bioprinting for functional scaffolds and precision tissue models
Series: Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC Distinguished Speakers Series
Abstract: The goal of our laboratory is to develop micro- and nano-scale bioprinting and 3D printing techniques to create 3D designer scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. In this talk, I will present my laboratory's recent research efforts in rapid continuous projection 3D bioprinting to create 3D scaffolds using a variety of biomaterials. These 3D biomaterials are functionalized with precise control of micro-architecture, mechanical, chemical and biological properties. Design, fabrication and experimental results will be discussed. Such functional biomaterials allow us to investigate cell-microenvironment interactions at micro-scales in response to integrated physical and chemical stimuli. From these fundamental studies, we can create both in vitro and in vivo tissue models for precision tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
Host: Yang Chai
More Info: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
Webcast: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/stem-cell-seminarWebCast Link: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/stem-cell-seminar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
Event Link: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
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ISE 651-Epstein Institute Seminar Speaker Series
Tue, Sep 06, 2016 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John Gunnar Carlsson, Ph.D.,
Talk Title: "New problems in modern logistical systems"
Abstract: In recent years, some of the most talked-about developments in the transportation sector include the use of drones, the introduction of last-mile delivery services, and the use of large-scale mapping data. Along with these new developments comes a host of new problems and trade offs. We will discuss three such problems and use the continuous approximation paradigm to reveal basic insights about those factors that influence them most significantly.
Biography: John Gunnar Carlsson is an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Southern California. He received a Ph.D. in computational mathematics from Stanford University in 2009 and an A.B. in music and mathematics from Harvard College in 2005. He is the recipient of Popular Science magazine's Brilliant 10 Award, the AFOSR Young Investigator Prize, the INFORMS Computing Society (ICS) Prize, and the DARPA Young Faculty Award.
Host: Dr. Jong-Shi Pang
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Angela Reneau
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Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Wed, Sep 07, 2016 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBD, TBD
Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Host: Professional Programs
More Info: https://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial-systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Erin Tanaka
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AI Seminar
Wed, Sep 07, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: David Kale, USC
Talk Title: Computational Phenotyping: Combining Big Data, Flexible Models, and Domain Knowledge
Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss the challenges and opportunities of applying machine learning to digital health data in the context of computational phenotyping. Phenotyping involves the development of algorithms to answer questions like, "Does this patient have diabetes?" and has a wide variety of applications: cohort construction for genomic studies, risk adjustment, quality improvement, and diagnosis. In recent years, researchers have moved away from algorithmic disease definitions based on clinical knowledge, which are expensive to develop and validate, and toward data-driven phenotypes based on the application of machine learning to large healthcare databases. I will provide an overview of phenotyping and its applications in medicine, discuss recent trends in the field, and present my recent work on phenotyping clinical time series with recurrent neural networks. I will also discuss ongoing work to develop methods that can exploit available data and domain knowledge to train data-driven models in the absence of ground truth training
Biography: Dave Kale is a fifth year PhD student in Computer Science and an Alfred E. Mann Innovation in Engineering Fellow at the University of Southern California. He is advised by Prof. Greg Ver Steeg at the USC Information Sciences Institute, a member of Aram Galstyan's lab at ISI, and an affiliate of Nigam Shah's lab at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research. Dave co-founded the Machine Learning for Healthcare Conference (MLHC), the preeminent venue for research on machine learning applied to health. Dave holds a BS and MS from Stanford University
Host: Emilio Ferrara
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 11th floor large conference room
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kary LAU
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Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Thu, Sep 08, 2016 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBD, TBD
Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Host: Professional Programs
More Info: https://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial-systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Erin Tanaka
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Communicating Your Research to the Media
Thu, Sep 08, 2016 @ 09:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Carl Marziali, Veteran Science Communicator; Former Director of Research Communications and Assistant Vice President for Media Relations at USC
Talk Title: Communicating Your Research to the Media
Series: Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC Distinguished Speakers Series
Abstract: Learn about the importance of media and public relations, using effective communication with the media during an interview. Tips on preparation, delivery and the raising of your research profile.
Host: Office of Research
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/communicating_your_research_to_the_media?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dqkLX8vW4
Location: Harlyne J. Norris Research Tower (NRT) - LG 503/4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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Biotechnology Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 08, 2016 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Amgen
Talk Title: R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside
Abstract: USC researchers have the opportunity to gain research and development insights with a new biotechnology lecture series sponsored by Amgen and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
The weekly lecture series, "R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside" takes place Thursdays at 10:30AM-12:00PM at USC's Health Sciences Campus from September 1, 2016 through November 10, 2016.
The talks will feature Amgen scientists speaking about:
Identifying a possible therapeutic target and its role in disease
Increasing therapeutic efficacy and safety
Process development, devices and manufacturing
Case studies from bench to clinic
Lectures will take place at the BCC First Floor Seminar Room or ZNI Herklotz Seminar Room.
RSVP at http://www.usc.edu/esvp (use code: amgenlecture). Space is limited. Preference will be given to SCRM master's students, PhDs, and postdocs, and attending all lectures is mandatory.
Please contact qliumich@usc.edu or karenw03@amgen.com for further details.
Host: USC Stem Cell/Amgen
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/biotechnology_lecture_series_rd_insights_from_lab_bench_to_patient_bedside?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dKNLX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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Invariant Inference for Program Specification and Verification
Thu, Sep 08, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Todd Millstein, University of California, Los Angeles
Talk Title: Invariant Inference for Program Specification and Verification
Series: EE 598 Computer Engineering Seminar Series
Abstract: Why isn't software verification technology in common use today? One reason is that, despite decades of foundational and practical advances, verification is still too costly in terms of human time and effort. I'll describe my recent research with colleagues to address two of the most onerous parts of the software verification process: creating a high-quality specification, and identifying the inductive program invariants that form the key lemmas in a proof of software correctness. Our research supports both tasks through a new form of automatic invariant inference that is both more expressive and less burdensome than prior techniques.
We extend the data-driven approach to invariant inference, whereby program invariants are learned from a set of test executions. This approach is appealingly general, as it naturally handles arbitrarily complex code and specifications. However, prior data-driven techniques have required the user to provide a fixed set of "features" as input, which are atomic predicates that define the search space of possible invariants. If these features are insufficient, invariant inference will either fail or produce an incorrect result. In contrast, we introduce a technique for on-demand feature learning, which automatically expands the search space of candidate invariants in a targeted manner on demand. Our approach eliminates the problem of feature selection and guarantees that inferred invariants are consistent with the given tests. We have used our technique both to infer rich specifications for black-box code and to infer provably correct loop invariants as part of an automatic program verifier.
Joint work with Saswat Padhi (UCLA) and Rahul Sharma (Stanford).
Biography: Todd Millstein is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests are broadly in programming languages and software verification. Todd received his Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Washington and his A.B. from Brown University, all in Computer Science. Todd received an NSF CAREER award in 2006, an IBM Faculty Award in 2008, an ACM SIGPLAN Most Influential PLDI Paper Award in 2011, an IEEE Micro Top Picks selection in 2012, the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award from UCLA Engineering in 2016, and a Microsoft Research Outstanding Collaborator Award in 2016.
Host: Xuehai Qian, x04459, xuehai.qian@usc.edu
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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EE 598 Computer Engineering Seminar
Thu, Sep 08, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Todd Millstein, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
Talk Title: Invariant Inference for Program Specification and Verification
Abstract: Why isn't software verification technology in common use today? One reason is that, despite decades of foundational and practical advances, verification is still too costly in terms of human time and effort. I'll describe my recent research with colleagues to address two of the most onerous parts of the software verification process: creating a high-quality specification, and identifying the inductive program invariants that form the key lemmas in a proof of software correctness. Our research supports both tasks through a new form of automatic invariant inference that is both more expressive and less burdensome than prior techniques.
We extend the data-driven approach to invariant inference, whereby program invariants are learned from a set of test executions. This approach is appealingly general, as it naturally handles arbitrarily complex code and specifications. However, prior data-driven techniques have required the user to provide a fixed set of "features" as input, which are atomic predicates that define the search space of possible invariants. If these features are insufficient, invariant inference will either fail or produce an incorrect result. In contrast, we introduce a technique for on-demand feature learning, which automatically expands the search space of candidate invariants in a targeted manner on demand. Our approach eliminates the problem of feature selection and guarantees that inferred invariants are consistent with the given tests. We have used our technique both to infer rich specifications for black-box code and to infer provably correct loop invariants as part of an automatic program verifier.
Biography: Todd Millstein is a Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests are broadly in programming languages and software verification. Todd received his Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Washington and his A.B. from Brown University, all in Computer Science. Todd received an NSF CAREER award in 2006, an IBM Faculty Award in 2008, an ACM SIGPLAN Most Influential PLDI Paper Award in 2011, an IEEE Micro Top Picks selection in 2012, the Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award from UCLA Engineering in 2016, and a Microsoft Research Outstanding Collaborator Award in 2016.
Host: Xuehai Qian
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - OHE 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Fri, Sep 09, 2016 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBD, TBD
Talk Title: Six Sigma Green Belt for Process Improvement
Host: Professional Programs
More Info: https://gapp.usc.edu/professional-programs/short-courses/industrial-systems/six-sigma-green-belt-process-improvement
Audiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Erin Tanaka
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USC Stem Cell Special Seminar: Doerr Stem Cell Challenge Grantees
Fri, Sep 09, 2016 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, USC Stem Cell
Talk Title: Various
Abstract: Michaela Patterson, PhD, and Lindsey Barske, PhD
Utilizing zebrafish to assess a GWAS-identified candidate gene's role in heart regeneration
Ang Li, PhD, and Yuwei Li, PhD
Calcium waves patterned by dynamic morphogen gradients coordinate collective mesenchymal cell migration and are manipulatable by novel optogenetic tools
Host: USC Stem Cell
More Info: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
Event Link: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
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Ming Hsieh Institute Seminar Series on Integrated Systems
Fri, Sep 09, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Sunil Bhave, Purdue University
Talk Title: Lithium Niobate MEMS Resonators for RF, Photonics and Opto-mechanics
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mike Chen, and Prof. Mahta Moghaddam. Sponsored by the Ming Hsieh Institute.
More Information: Ming Hsieh Inst Seminar on IS - Sunil_Bhave_Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jenny Lin
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NL Seminar-How we Cracked the Borg Cipher + First Steps Towards Deciphering from Images
Fri, Sep 09, 2016 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nada Aldarrab, USC/ISI
Talk Title: How we Cracked the Borg Cipher + First Steps Towards Deciphering from Images
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: European libraries are filled with undeciphered historical manuscripts from the 16th-18th centuries. These documents are enciphered with classical methods, which puts their contents out of the reach of historians who are interested in the history of that era. In this talk, we show how we automatically cracked a 400-page book from the 17th century. We also describe a system aimed at deciphering from camera-phone images. We show initial results for different ciphers.
Biography: Nada is a graduate student at USC, working on her thesis under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Knight. She is currently working on the decipherment of historical documents (joint project with Uppsala University, Sweden). Her research interests include natural language processing, machine learning, decipherment and machine translation.
Host: Xing Shi and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: 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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Seminars in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 12, 2016 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Terry Sanger, MD, USC BME, Neurology, Biokinesiology Faculty, Dir Pediatric Movement Disorders Center
Talk Title: TBA
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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EE 598 Cyber-Physical Systems Seminar Series
Mon, Sep 12, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yasser Shoukry, Postdoctoral Scholar, UCLA/UC Berkeley /UPenn
Talk Title: Secure State Estimation For Cyber Physical Systems Under Sensor Attacks: A Satisfiability Modulo Theory Approach
Abstract: Motivated by the need to secure critical infrastructure against sensor attacks, in this talk I will focus on a problem known as "secure state estimation". It consists of estimating the state of a dynamical system when a subset of its sensors is arbitrarily corrupted by an adversary. Although of critical importance, this problem is combinatorial in nature since the subset of attacked sensors in unknown. Previous work in this area can be classified into two broad categories. The first category is based on numerical optimization techniques. These techniques are well suited to handle the continuous part of the problem, estimating the real-valued variable describing the state, if the combinatorial part of the problem has been solved. The second category is based on Boolean reasoning, which is well suited to handle the combinatorial part of the problem, if the continuous part of the problem has been solved. However, since we need to simultaneously solve the combinatorial and the continuous part of the secure state estimation problem, the existing approaches result in algorithms with worst case exponential time complexity.
In this talk, I will present a novel and efficient algorithm for the secure state estimation problem that uses the lazy SMT approach in order to combine the power of both SAT solving as well as convex optimization. While SAT solving is used to perform the combinatorial search, convex optimization techniques are used to reason more efficiently about the real-valued state of the system and/or generating theory lemmas explaining conflicts in the combinatorial search. We show that by splitting the reasoning between the two domains (Booleans and Reals) and intermixing a powerful tool from each domain, we obtain a new suite of tools that scales more favorably compared to the previous techniques. I will start by discussing the simplest case when the underlying dynamics are linear, sensors are perfect (noiseless), and only data collected over a finite window is considered. I will then move forward by showing several extensions to handle noisy measurements, recursive implementations (data over infinite windows) and nonlinear dynamics.
Biography: Yasser Shoukry is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the EECS Department at UC Berkeley, the EE Department at UCLA and the ESE Department at UPenn. He received the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UCLA in 2015 where he was affiliated with both the Cyber-Physical Systems Lab as well as the Networked and Embedded Systems Lab. Before joining UCLA, he spent four years as an R&D engineer in the industry of automotive embedded systems. His research interests include the design and implementation of secure- and privacy- aware cyber-physical systems by drawing on tools from embedded systems, control and optimization theory, and formal methods.
Dr. Shoukry is the recipient of the Best Paper Award from the International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems (ICCPS) in 2016. He is also the recipient of the UCLA EE Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award in 2016, the UCLA Chancellor's prize in 2011 and 2012, UCLA EE Graduate Division Fellowship in 2011 and 2012, and the UCLA EE Preliminary Exam Fellowship in 2012. In 2015, Dr. Shoukry led the UCLA/Caltech/CMU team to win the first place in the NSF Early Career Investigators (NSF-ECI) research challenge. His team represented the NSF-ECI in the NIST Global Cities Technology Challenge, an initiative designed to advance the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies within a smart city.
Host: Paul Bogdan
Location: 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Professor Emeritus Michael Arbib: A Remarkable Trajectory - 55 Years of Brains, Machines and Mathematics
Mon, Sep 12, 2016 @ 03:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Emeritus Michael Arbib, USC
Talk Title: A Remarkable Trajectory - 55 Years of Brains, Machines and Mathematics
Series: CS Keynote Series
Abstract: In honor and celebration of his retirement and 30 years of service at USC, the Viterbi School of Engineering invites Michael A. Arbib to be the inaugural speaker in this series, to share the trajectory of his remarkable career.
To attend, please RSVP by September 5th online at USC.EDU/ESVP (code: arbib). For questions, please contact Cristina Fong, Computer Science Department: 13.821.2981 - cristinf@usc.edu
Biography: The thrust of Michael Arbib's work is expressed in the title of his first book, Brains, Machines and Mathematics (McGraw-Hill, 1964). The brain is not a computer in the current technological sense, but he has based his career on the argument that we can learn much about machines from studying brains, and much about brains from studying machines. He has thus always worked for an interdisciplinary environment in which computer scientists and engineers can talk to neuroscientists and cognitive scientists.
His primary research focus is on the coordination of perception and action. This is tackled at two levels: via schema theory, which is applicable both in top-down analyses of brain function and human cognition as well as in studies of machine vision and robotics; and through the detailed analysis of neural networks, working closely with the experimental findings of neuroscientists on humans and monkeys. He is also engaged in research on the evolution of brain mechanisms for human language, pursuing the Mirror System Hypothesis that links language parity (the fact that what the speaker intends is roughly what the hearer understands) to the properties of the mirror system for grasping -- neurons active for both the execution and observation of actions -- to explain (amongst many other things) why human brains can acquire sign language as readily as speech.
A new interest is working with architects to better understand the neuroscience of the architectural experience and to develop a new field of neuromorphic architecture, "brains for buildings".
The author or editor of almost 40 books, Arbib has most recently edited "Who Needs Emotions? The Brain Meets the Robot" (with Jean-Marc Fellous, Oxford University Press, 2005) and "From Action to Language via the Mirror System" (Cambridge University Press, 2006).
Host: CS Department
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Registration Required
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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USC Stem Cell Seminar: Keith Mostov, University of California, San Francisco
Tue, Sep 13, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Keith Mostov, University of California, San Francisco
Talk Title: A molecular switch for the orientation of epithelial cell polarization
Series: Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC Distinguished Speakers Series
Abstract: The formation of epithelial tissues containing lumens requires not only the apical-basolateral polarization of cells, but also the coordinated orientation of this polarity such that the apical surfaces of neighboring cells all point towards the central lumen. I will describe a molecular switch mechanism controlling polarity orientation. Inhibition of this switch mechanism results in the development instead of collective front-rear polarization and motility.
Host: Andy McMahon
More Info: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
Webcast: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/stem-cell-seminarWebCast Link: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/stem-cell-seminar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
Event Link: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
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ISE 651 Epstein Institute Seminar
Tue, Sep 13, 2016 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Tapas Das, Ph.D., University of South Florida
Talk Title: Upgrading Electric Power Market Infrastructure via Dynamic Pricing and Demand Response
Abstract: Both practitioners and researchers agree that both pricing and demand must play much more proactive roles in better balancing demand of electricity across the hours of a day. A balanced system will reduce the menace of demand and price spikes, routinely experienced by the power networks, and thus reduce the need for expensive reserve generation capacity as well. However, proactive management of pricing and demand would require a more upgraded power market infrastructure than what is currently in place in the U.S. Fortunately, increasing availability of advanced metering and power network infrastructure supported by the Internet of energy IoE will soon pave the way for the desired upgrade. This will facilitate dynamic pricing of electricity by system operators and intelligent demand response by load schedulers (controllers) in smart and connected consumer communities. A dynamic pricing strategy will offer binding prices for each time interval (perhaps, hourly) to the consumer nodes before loads are scheduled. This strategy will replace the current practice of time of use (TOU) pricing. In response to dynamic pricing, the smart communities will optimize their load schedule for all remaining time intervals of the day, as well as manage the use of renewable power generated by the communities.
However, implementing effective dynamic pricing and demand response strategies remains a significant challenge, as models necessary to design such strategies have not been developed and made available for use. This talk outlines the challenge and our approach to address it.
Biography: -“ Tapas K. Das is a professor and chair of the department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at the University of South Florida. He is a past chair of the Council of Industrial Engineering Academic Departments Heads (CIEADH), Fellow of IISE, and members of INFORMS and IEEE. His research interest includes policy studies in electric power markets (impact of CO2 emissions control policies on the market, incentive strategies for promoting net zero building, and dynamic pricing and demand response in IoE supported power market) as well as in disease diagnosis and treatment strategies in healthcare delivery.
Host: Dr. Jong-Shi Pang
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Angela Reneau
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Viterbi Career Conference
Wed, Sep 14, 2016 @ 01:30 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBD, TBD
Talk Title: Viterbi Career Conference
Abstract: The Viterbi Career Conference, designed specifically for Viterbi undergraduates, takes place once each fall. The conference provides an invaluable opportunity for all students, freshmen through seniors, to develop job search skills and to connect with company representatives and alumni.
Host: Viterbi Career Connections
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/careers/students/experience/career-conference.php
Location: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - Grand Ballroom
Audiences: All Viterbi Undergraduate Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/careers/students/experience/career-conference.php
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Biotechnology Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 15, 2016 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Amgen
Talk Title: R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside
Abstract: USC researchers have the opportunity to gain research and development insights with a new biotechnology lecture series sponsored by Amgen and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
The weekly lecture series, "R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside" takes place Thursdays at 10:30AM-12:00PM at USC's Health Sciences Campus from September 1, 2016 through November 10, 2016.
The talks will feature Amgen scientists speaking about:
Identifying a possible therapeutic target and its role in disease
Increasing therapeutic efficacy and safety
Process development, devices and manufacturing
Case studies from bench to clinic
Lectures will take place at the BCC First Floor Seminar Room or ZNI Herklotz Seminar Room.
RSVP at http://www.usc.edu/esvp (use code: amgenlecture). Space is limited. Preference will be given to SCRM master's students, PhDs, and postdocs, and attending all lectures is mandatory.
Please contact qliumich@usc.edu or karenw03@amgen.com for further details.
Host: USC Stem Cell/Amgen
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/biotechnology_lecture_series_rd_insights_from_lab_bench_to_patient_bedside?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dKNLX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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AI SEMINAR
Thu, Sep 15, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rudi Studer, Institutes AIFB/KSRI, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany & FZI Research Center for Information Technology at KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany
Talk Title: Flexible Management of Event Processing Applications for the (Industrial) Internet of Things
Series: AI Seminar
Abstract: Gathering and processing events from cyber-physical systems provides users with the opportunity to continuously be aware of current performance indicators and potentially upcoming issues as well as to optimize production and maintenance processes. In this context, Event Processing has become an established technology to process high-frequency event streams in real-time while providing capabilities to detect event patterns based on spatial, temporal or causal relationships.
However, although event processing applications are often highly dynamic in regard to oftentimes changing requirements of observed situations as well as frequent syntactic and semantic changes of incoming sensor data, current technologies still suffer from high technical complexity making the development of real-time applications a time-consuming task due to slow development cycles.
In this talk, we discuss methods and tools supporting the management of event processing applications. We present a lightweight, semantics-based model to describe event sources such as sensors, event processing agents and consumers and an approach that enables application specialists to define and execute event processing pipelines in a self-service manner. The approach is illustrated based on two IoT scenarios: integrated monitoring of manufacturing processes and disruption management in supply chains. In the beginning, selected research activities at Institutes AIFB and KSRI at KIT as well as at FZI will be outlined.
Biography: Bio:
Rudi Studer is Full Professor in Applied Informatics at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute AIFB. In addition, he is director at the Karlsruhe Service Research Institute (KSRI) as well as at the FZI Research Center for Information Technology at KIT. His research interests include knowledge management, Semantic Web technologies and applications, data and text mining, Big Data and Service Science.
He obtained a Diploma in Computer Science at the University of Stuttgart in 1975. In 1982 he was awarded a Doctor's degree in Informatics at the University of Stuttgart, and in 1985 he obtained his Habilitation in Informatics at the University of Stuttgart. From 1985 to 1989 he was project leader and manager at the Scientific Center of IBM Germany.
He is involved in various national and international research projects, among others the EU projects XLime (crossLingual crossMedia Knowledge Extraction) and iVision (Immersive Semantics-based Virtual Environments for the Design and Validation of Human-centered Aircraft Cockpits).
Rudi Studer is former president of the Semantic Web Science Association (SWSA) and former Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web. He is a Semantic Technologies Institute (STI) International Fellow.
Host: Craig Knoblock
Webcast: http://webcastermshd.isi.edu/Mediasite/Play/33a9588370b74466825f95063e27108e1dLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 1135 - 11th fl Large CR
WebCast Link: http://webcastermshd.isi.edu/Mediasite/Play/33a9588370b74466825f95063e27108e1d
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alma Nava / Information Sciences Institute
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 15, 2016 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jay Guo, University of Michigan
Talk Title: Structural colors, metasurfaces, and ultrasonics by light interaction with nanostructures
Series: Distinguished Lecture
Host: Professor Jongseung Yoon
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Martin Olekszyk
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EE Seminar
Thu, Sep 15, 2016 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Terence D. Sanger, MD PhD, Depts of Biomedical Engineering, Biokinesiology, and Child Neurology/USC
Talk Title: A Bayesian nonlinear filter and a stochastic nonlinear control algorithm suitable for estimation and control by populations of spiking neurons
Abstract: The best-known examples of Bayesian nonlinear filters are the Kushner and Zakai equations which unfortunately have limited applicability to important classes of real-world problems. I derive a general nonlinear filter with broad applicability that can be shown to integrate to Bayes' rule over short time intervals. The filter extracts maximal information per unit time, in the sense that the rate of decrease of the entropy of the estimate is equal to the mutual information between the state and the observation. I show that this filter has a straightforward parallel implementation, and I show an efficient representation using Poisson-distributed spiking neurons.
I then show that this technique can be extended to a class of stochastic nonlinear controllers. These controllers extend linear feedback controllers and permit control of systems with non-Gaussian noise or state uncertainty, asymmetric cost or perturbations, or state measurements that are not characterized by additive Gaussian noise. The theory is based on Stochastic Dynamic Operators (SDOs) in which the fundamental signals used for feedback are not estimates of state, but estimates of the probability distribution of state. This allows control to vary depending on the degree of state uncertainty (eg: one might drive more slowly if visibility is poor). The reference signal used for control is not a desired time-varying reference state, but a time-varying cost function that assign a value to every potential state. Such cost functions can represent asymmetric penalties and discontinuities in cost (eg: a cliff to one side of a road). Feedback control uses Bayesian statistics to combine the uncertain state estimate (from a nonlinear filter) and the time-varying cost function to produce an estimated motor command. The command is the solution to a short-term optimization problem. As with the Bayesian nonlinear filter, populations of spiking neurons provide a good representation for SDOs and an efficient control algorithm. I will show a real-time implementation of a feedback controller for a desktop robot arm using a population of 900 simulated spiking neurons that tracks the desired minimum cost and stably resists perturbations.
Biography: Terry Sanger holds an SM in Applied mathematics (Harvard), PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (MIT), and MD (Harvard), with medical specialization in Child Neurology and Movement Disorders. He is currently Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Neurology, and Biokinesiology, and he is the director of the Pediatric Movement Disorders Clinic at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and the Health Technology and Engineering program at USC (HTE@USC).
His research on disorders of developmental motor control is driven by his interest in finding new treatments for children with movement disorders including dystonia, chorea, spasticity, and dyspraxia. He has a particular interest in computational motor learning, and the role of motor learning in recovery from childhood brain injury. Major focus areas of laboratory research include wearable devices to promote motor learning, EMG-driven communication devices and assistive prosthetics, and modeling of the electrophysiology of deep-brain stimulation. Personal involvement in motor control and motor learning includes snowboarding, jazz and classical piano, bluegrass banjo, and ballroom dance with particular focus on Argentine Tango.
Host: Professor Sandeep K. Gupta, sandeep@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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EE 598 Computer Engineering Seminar
Thu, Sep 15, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rajiv Gupta, University of California, Riverside
Talk Title: Parallel Graph Processing on GPUs, Clusters, and Multicores
Abstract: The importance of iterative graph algorithms has grown due to their widespread use in graph mining and analytics. Although computations on graphs with millions of nodes and edges contain vast amounts of data level parallelism, exploiting this parallelism is challenging due to the highly irregular nature of real-world graphs. In this talk I will present our recent results that greatly improve the SIMD-efficiency, communication efficiency, and I/O efficiency of graph processing on GPUs, a cluster, and a single multicore machine. In comparison to prior techniques, our Warp Segmentation technique achieves 1.3x-2.8x performance improvement on a single GPU, our Vertex Refinement technique achieves 2.7x performance improvement on a multi-GPU system, our Relaxed Consistency protocol achieves 2.3x performance improvement on a 16-node cluster, and our Dynamic Shards I/O optimization achieves up to 2.8x performance improvement on a single multicore machine.
Biography: Rajiv is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Riverside. His research interests include Compilers, Architectures, and Runtimes for Parallel Systems. He has supervised PhD dissertations of 28 students including two winners of ACM SIGPLAN Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award. Papers coauthored by Rajiv with his students have been selected for: inclusion in 20 Years of PLDI (1979-1999), a best paper award in PACT 2010, and a distinguished paper award in ICSE 2003. Rajiv is a Fellow of the ACM, IEEE, and AAAS. He received the National Science Foundation's Presidential Young Investigator Award and UCR Doctoral Dissertation Advisor/Mentor Award. He has chaired several major conferences including FCRC, PLDI, HPCA, ASPLOS, CGO, CC, HiPEAC, and LCTES. He serves on the Editorial Boards of ACM Transactions on Architecture and Code Optimization and Parallel Computing journal. Rajiv served as a member of a technical advisory group on networking and information technology created by the PCAST.
Host: Xuehai Qian
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - OHE 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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NL Seminar-Efficient Exploration for Dialog Policy Learning with BBQ Networks & Replay Buffer Spiking
Fri, Sep 16, 2016 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Zachary Lipton, UCSD
Talk Title: Efficient Exploration for Dialog Policy Learning with BBQ Networks & Replay Buffer Spiking
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: When rewards are sparse and efficient exploration essential, deep Q learning with e greedy exploration tends to fail. This poses problems for otherwise promising domains such as task oriented dialog systems, where the primary reward signal, indicating successful completion, typically occurs only at the end of each episode but depends on the entire sequence of utterances. A poor agent encounters such successful dialogs rarely, and a random agent may never stumble upon a successful outcome in reasonable time. We present two techniques that significantly improve the efficiency of exploration for deep Q learning agents in dialog systems. First, we demonstrate that exploration by Thompson sampling, using Monte Carlo samples from a Bayes by Backprop neural network, yields marked improvement over standard DQNs with Boltzmann or e greedy exploration. Second, we show that spiking the replay buffer with a small number of successes, as are easy to harvest for dialog tasks, can make Q learning feasible when it might otherwise fail catastrophically.
Biography: I am a graduate student in the Artificial Intelligence Group at the University of California, San Diego on leave for two quarters at Microsoft Research Redmond. I work on machine learning, focusing on deep learning methods and applications. In particular, I work on modeling sequential data with recurrent neural networks and sequential decision-making processes with deep reinforcement learning. I'm especially interested in research impacting medicine and natural language processing. Recently, in Learning to Diagnose with LSTM RNNs, we trained LSTM RNNs to accurately predict patient diagnoses using only lightly processed time series of sensor readings in the pediatric ICU. Before coming to UCSD, I completed a Bachelor of Arts with a joint major in Mathematics and Economics at Columbia University. Then, I worked in New York City as a jazz musician. I have interned with Amazon's Core Machine Learning team and Microsoft Research's Deep Learning Team.
Host: Xing Shi and Kevin Knight
More Info: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 6th Floor -CR # 689; ISI-Marina del Rey
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Peter Zamar
Event Link: http://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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Munushian Visiting Seminar Series
Fri, Sep 16, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Grant Willson, Rashid Engineering Regent Chair, UT Austin
Talk Title: Polymers for High Resolution Imaging Applications
Series: Munushian Seminar Series
Abstract: There has been a continuing and nearly frantic effort on the part of the microelectronics manufacturers over the past
several decades to make smaller and smaller devices. Companies that cannot keep pace with these advances quickly disappear
from the market place and sadly many with famous names like Siemens, Motorola and Sony have fallen by the wayside.
Photolithography, the process that has enabled the production of all of today's microelectronic devices has now reached physical
limits. Efforts to push that technology to provide still higher resolution by the historical paths of exposure wave length reduction,
increasing the numerical aperture of the projection lens and reduction in the Raleigh constant have been abandoned. Is this the
end? Can device scaling continue??
Various incredibly clever tricks based on chemical engineering principles have been devised that extend the resolution limits of
photolithography, some of which are already in use in full scale manufacturing. One promising approach for future generations
of devices is based on the "directed self-assembly" of block co-polymers. We have worked to design block co-polymers that are
optimized for this application. Doing so requires incorporation of blocks with very high interaction parameters (X) and for some
applications, incorporation of silicon into one of the blocks. Polymers of this sort form very small structures. We have now
demonstrated well resolved 50 Angstrom wide lines and spaces. Aligning the structures and orienting them in a way that is useful
for microelectronics is a challenge as is development of processes for transfer of such small patterns into substrates that are useful
for device fabrication. A progress report on these efforts will be presented.
Biography: Dr. Grant Willson is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at the
University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Rashid Engineering Regent's Chair. He received both his B.S. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.S., in organic chemistry, from San Diego State University. He joined the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin in 1993. Prior to joining the university, Dr. Willson worked at IBM for 17 years as an IBM Fellow and Manager of the Polymer Science and Technology area at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA. He joined IBM after serving on the faculties of California State University, Long Beach and the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Willson is the co-inventor
of more than 40 issues U.S. patents and co-author of more than 400 publications.
Dr. Willson's research work is focused on the design and synthesis of functional organic materials with emphasis on organic materials for microelectronics. His work is supported by grants from both government and industry. His research group includes graduate and undergraduate students
enrolled in both the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Departments. He was a cofounder of Molecular Imprints, Inc., an Austin firm that employed more than 100 people and was very recently acquired by Canon.
Host: EE Electrophysics
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Seminars in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 19, 2016 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Brent Liu, PhD, USC BME Faculty, Dir Image Processing and Informatics Lab
Talk Title: TBA
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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EE 598 Cyber-Physical Systems Seminar Series
Mon, Sep 19, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yanzhi Wang, Syracuse University
Talk Title: Deep Neural Network and Deep Reinforcement Learning: Ultra-Low Energy Implementation and Broad Applications
Abstract: Recently, deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have made unprecedented progress, achieving the accuracy close to, or even better than human-level perception in a variety of tasks. There is a timely need to map the latest software-based DCNNs to application-specific hardware, in order to achieve orders of magnitude improvement in performance, energy efficiency and compactness. Stochastic computing (SC), as a low-cost alternative to the conventional binary computing paradigm, has the potential to enable massive parallel and highly scalable hardware implementation of DCNNs. The first part of my presentation is a holistic design and optimization framework of SC-based DCNN systems from key arithmetic operations, function blocks, feature extraction blocks, to the overall LeNet5 structure, achieving ultra-low hardware footprint and energy consumption.
Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has been recently invented and has been successfully utilized in AlphaGo, game playing, etc. Deep reinforcement learning has the potential of control of complicated systems with high state and action spaces (which cannot be achieved by traditional reinforcement learning techniques), thereby resulting in very wide application domains. The second part of my presentation first provides a formal statement of the DRL framework. Effective hardware implementation of the DRL framework, which is critical in the embedded control systems and IoTs, will be investigated. The more broad applications of the emerging technique will be discussed with sample examples on cloud computing and smart grid applications. Open questions and future directions will be finally presented.
Finally I will briefly present the recent work on Luminescent Solar Concentrator-based PV cells and application on electric vehicles, which is transparent and flexible and fits the streamlined surface and aesthetic requirement of modern vehicles. The proposed system can help propel the vehicle or charge the vehicle whenever solar energy is available.
Biography: Yanzhi Wang is currently an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University, starting from August 2015. He received B.S. degree from Tsinghua University in 2009 and Ph.D. degree from University of Southern California in 2014, under supervision of Prof. Massoud Pedram. His research interests include low-power circuit and systems design, neuromorphic computing, embedded systems and wearable devices, etc. He has received best paper awards from International Symposium on Low Power Electronics Design 2014, International Symposium on VLSI Designs 2014, top paper award from IEEE Cloud Computing Conference 2014. He has two popular papers in IEEE Trans. on CAD. He has received multiple best paper nominations from ACM Great Lakes Symposium on VLSI, IEEE Trans. on CAD, and Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference.
Host: Paul Bogdan
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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NL Seminar-DUOLINGO: IMPROVING LANGUAGE LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT WITH DATA
Mon, Sep 19, 2016 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Burr Settles, Duolingo
Talk Title: DUOLINGO: IMPROVING LANGUAGE LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT WITH DATA
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: Duolingo is a language education platform with more than 150 million students worldwide. Our flagship learning app is the #1 way to learn a language online, and is the most-downloaded education app for both Android and iOS devices. It is also completely free. In this talk, I will describe the Duolingo system and several empirical projects, which mix machine learning with computational linguistics and psychometrics to improve learning, engagement, and even language proficiency assessment through our products.
Biography: Burr Settles is a scientist, engineer, and head of research at Duolingo: the most widely used education application in the world, teaching 20 languages to more than 150 million users worldwide. He is also the principal developer of the Duolingo English Test: a computer-adaptive proficiency exam that aims to disrupt and democratize the global certification marketplace through highly accessible mobile technology. Before joining Duolingo, he earned a PhD in computer sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and then worked as a postdoctoral research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, where his work has spanned machine learning, natural language processing, and computational social science. His 2012 book Active Learning is now the standard text on learning algorithms that are adaptive, curious, or exploratory (if you will). Burr gets around by bike and (among other things) plays guitar in the pop band delicious pastries.
Host: Xing Shi 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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USC Stem Cell Seminar: Kim Cooper, University of California, San Diego
Tue, Sep 20, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Kim Cooper, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Shaping the limb during development and evolution
Series: Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC Distinguished Speakers Series
Abstract: Our work leverages the unique hindlimb structure of the lesser Egyptian jerboa to understand how genotype shapes phenotype and modulates developmental malleability. The jerboa is a desert-adapted bipedal rodent with disproportionately elongated hindlimbs, particularly the feet, fused metatarsals, five fingers and three toes, and an absence of intrinsic hindfoot muscles. We take an interdisciplinary approach to understand the cell behaviors and gene expression changes associated with each derived phenotype. We are moving toward approaches that will allow us to pinpoint gene regulatory control mechanisms that causally explain the remarkable diversity of limb shapes that arose from natural selection.
Host: Andy McMahon
More Info: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
Webcast: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/stem-cell-seminarWebCast Link: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/stem-cell-seminar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
Event Link: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
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Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651
Tue, Sep 20, 2016 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Hongbo Dong, Assistant Professor - Dept. of Mathematics & Statistics - Washington State University
Talk Title: Exploiting Quadratic and Separable Structures in Nonconvex Quadratic Programs via Lift-and-Project
Abstract: In optimization, mixed-integer nonlinear programs MINLP are notoriously difficult to solve to global optimality. It is therefore crucial to exploit problem structures to design effective convex relaxations and/or approximation methods. Same claims hold even when all nonlinear terms are quadratic. We consider a generic sub-structure that comprises a quadratic form and separable (non-convex) constraints. We show how to derive convex relaxations for related non-convex sets in a higher-dimensional space by using conic semidefinite optimization techniques. Essentially by projecting such lifted relaxations back onto the original variable space, we discuss in two concrete scenarios where such lift-and-project techniques improve upon current relaxations, connect with techniques from other areas, and provide new insights. The first scenario concerns generating convex quadratic cutting surfaces to iteratively strengthen classical convex relaxations for mixed-integer quadratic programs. A specialized separation routine (based on coordinate minimization) is developed to avoid (fully) solving semidefinite programs. Our proposed method achieves a more balanced trade-off between strength and computational complexity than existing relaxations, and can be easily incorporated into branch-and-bound algorithms for MINLP. The second scenario concerns the well-known problem of variable selection in statistics and machine learning. We show that lift-and-project methods tightly connect with (folded) concave regularization functions called the Minimax Concave Penalty (MCP) from the statistical community. Our lifting relaxation provides a very different convex relaxation from classical ones (LASSO or l-1 norm) while providing competitive practical performance in certain scenarios
Biography: Hongbo Dong received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences at the University of Iowa in 2011. After spending two years as a postdoc in a multi-disciplinary optimization group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he joined the math department of Washington State University as an Assistant Professor in 2013. His previous research focused on copositive programming, convex relaxations for non-convex problems. Recently he is interested in developing and analyzing novel convex and non-convex formulations for problems in statistics and machine learning. His research results have been published on several optimization and statistical journals including Mathematical Programming, SIAM Journal on Optimization and Biometrika.
Host: Dr. Jong-Shi Pang
Location: 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Angela Reneau
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CommNetS seminar
Wed, Sep 21, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Insoon Yang, USC
Talk Title: Learning, Incentives and Optimization for Human-Energy System Interaction
Series: CommNetS
Abstract: With the advances in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, sensor and communication networks and computing elements are pervasive in many modern infrastructures that affect our daily lives. However, sustainable interactions between human users and CPS or IoT are not guaranteed unless there is an appropriate coordination mechanism for them. Specifically, on one hand we can customize the operation of these systems by learning user behaviors and preferences. On the other hand, we can incentivize human users to cooperate for the system operation. Such feedback loops between human users and CPS can improve large-scale critical infrastructure systems with suitable optimization techniques.
In this talk, I will present learning, incentive, and optimization tools that support interactions between human users and modern energy systems, which is an important class of CPS- and IoT-enabled infrastructure systems. The first tool, called the utility learning model predictive control, provides a way to learn quasi-periodic user behaviors and preferences using Gaussian processes to optimize the operation of personal electric loads such as HVAC systems and Electric Vehicles. Second, I will talk about contracts that can incentivize customers to provide useful services to the power grids with the aid of automated demand response technology that automatically controls the customers' loads. In the last part of this talk, we will discuss resource allocation problems in power networks associated with these CPS- and IoT-based technologies as well as customer targeting to maximize the social welfare and identify the submodularity structure that justifies the use of greedy algorithms providing (1-1/e)-optimal solutions.
Biography: Insoon Yang is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at USC. He received B.S. degrees in Mathematics and in Mechanical Engineering (summa cum laude) from Seoul National University in 2009; and an M.S. in EECS, an M.A. in Mathematics and a Ph.D. in EECS from UC Berkeley in 2012, 2013 and 2015, respectively. Before joining USC, he was a Postdoctoral Associate at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems at MIT. Insoon's research interests are in stochastic control, optimization in systems and control, and energy and power systems. He currently focuses on control methods, risk management solutions and incentive mechanisms that support interactions between human users and CPS- or IoT-enabled systems with limited information. He is a recipient of the 2015 Eli Jury Award.
Host: Prof. Ashutosh Nayyar
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Engineering Challenges in Next Generation Neurosurgery
Thu, Sep 22, 2016 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Aaron E Bond, M.D., Ph.D., University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA
Talk Title: Engineering Challenges in Next Generation Neurosurgery
Host: P. Daniel Dapkus
More Information: Aaron Bond Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jenny Lin
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Biotechnology Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 22, 2016 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Amgen
Talk Title: R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside
Abstract: USC researchers have the opportunity to gain research and development insights with a new biotechnology lecture series sponsored by Amgen and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
The weekly lecture series, "R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside" takes place Thursdays at 10:30AM-12:00PM at USC's Health Sciences Campus from September 1, 2016 through November 10, 2016.
The talks will feature Amgen scientists speaking about:
Identifying a possible therapeutic target and its role in disease
Increasing therapeutic efficacy and safety
Process development, devices and manufacturing
Case studies from bench to clinic
Lectures will take place at the BCC First Floor Seminar Room or ZNI Herklotz Seminar Room.
RSVP at http://www.usc.edu/esvp (use code: amgenlecture). Space is limited. Preference will be given to SCRM master's students, PhDs, and postdocs, and attending all lectures is mandatory.
Please contact qliumich@usc.edu or karenw03@amgen.com for further details.
Host: USC Stem Cell/Amgen
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/biotechnology_lecture_series_rd_insights_from_lab_bench_to_patient_bedside?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dKNLX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Roadshow
Thu, Sep 22, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)
Talk Title: Various
Abstract: In December of 2015, the CIRM Board unanimously adopted a bold new strategic plan that seeks to make the most out of the Institute's remaining time and resources. CIRM 2.0, as we call it, is intended to more effectively drive our mission of accelerating stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. But to be successful, we need you.
We have a little over four years left to make new awards under our current funding paradigm, and if we work diligently, we can accomplish a lot. Imagine 50 new therapeutics candidates discovered under our early stage programs. Or reducing by half the time it takes to move the next great idea through translation into the clinic. And of course, conducting these new clinical trials - all 50 of them! CIRM 2.0 has programs that cover all of it - from the earliest stage seed funding through advanced clinical research. And we want to make sure that you know how to get the most out of it.
As part of our CIRM Roadshow, we are holding a series of meetings throughout the state, in order to re-introduce you to CIRM and what this radical new stemcelerating machine can do. Please join us for a more in-depth look at CIRM 2.0 this fall.
Over these next four years, we will make approximately $700 million in new awards to advance stem cell research and development. It is both a tremendous opportunity and responsibility. Come join us, and be part of the team that is making stem cell history.
CIRM Speakers:
Randy Mills, CIRM President and CEO: CIRM 2.0 Overview and Goals
Pat Olson, VP Translation and Discovery: Funding Early Stage Work
Maria Millan, VP Therapeutics: Funding Clinical Trials
Gil Sambrano, Director of Portfolio Development and Review: Who is Eligible and How to Apply
James Harrison, CIRM General Counsel: California vs. Non-California Applicants, How Our Funding Works for You
Gabe Thompson, Director of Grants Management: What Happens After You Are Approved for Funding
Neil Littman, Director of Business Development and Strategic Infrastructure: How Our Translating and Accelerating Centers and the Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Network Can Help You Succeed
Host: California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)
More Info: http://www.cirm.ca.gov/about-cirm/cirm-roadshow
Location: First Floor Conference Room
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
Event Link: http://www.cirm.ca.gov/about-cirm/cirm-roadshow
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EE 598 Computer Engineering Seminar
Thu, Sep 22, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rajeev Alur, Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Quantitative Policies over Streaming Data
Abstract: Decision making in cyber-physical systems often requires dynamic monitoring of a data stream to compute performance-related quantitative properties. We propose StreamQRE as a high-level declarative language for modular specifications of such quantitative policies. This language is rooted in the emerging theory of regular functions, and every policy described in this language can be compiled into a space-efficient streaming implementation. We describe a prototype system that is integrated within an SDN controller and show how it can be used to specify and enforce dynamic updates for traffic engineering as well as in response to security threats. We conclude by outlining the rich opportunities for both theoretical investigations and practical systems for real-time decision making in IoT applications.
This talk is based on recent and ongoing work with Penn researchers Dana Fisman, Sanjeev Khanna, Boon Thau Loo, Kostas Mamouras, Mukund Raghothaman, and Yifei Yuan.
Biography: Rajeev Alur is Zisman Family Professor of Computer and Information Science at University of Pennsylvania. He obtained his bachelor's degree in computer science from IIT Kanpur in 1987 and PhD in computer science from Stanford University in 1991. Before joining Penn in 1997, he was with Computing Science Research Center at Bell Labs. His research is focused on formal methods for system design, and spans theoretical computer science, software verification and synthesis, and cyber-physical systems. He is a Fellow of the ACM, a Fellow of the IEEE, an Alfred P. Sloan Faculty Fellow, and a Simons Investigator. He was awarded the inaugural CAV (Computer-Aided Verification) award in 2008, ACM/IEEE Logic in Computer Science (LICS) Test-of-Time award in 2010 and the inaugural Alonzo Church award by ACM SIGLOG / EATCS / EACSL in 2016 for his work on timed automata. Prof. Alur has served as the chair of ACM SIGBED (Special Interest Group on Embedded Systems), and as the general chair of LICS. He is the author of the textbook Principles of Cyber-Physical Systems (MIT Press, 2015), and is currently the lead PI of the NSF Expeditions in Computing center ExCAPE (Expeditions in Computer Augmented Program Engineering).
Host: Xuehai Qian
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - OHE 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Seminars in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Sep 26, 2016 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jerry Loeb, MD, USC BME Faculty, CEO SynTouch
Talk Title: Machine Touch: Strategies anfd Applications for Biomimetic Tactile Sensing
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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EE 598 Cyber-Physical Systems Seminar Series
Mon, Sep 26, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yuankun Xue, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Data-Centers-on-a-Chip as Enablers for Cyber-Physical Systems: A Scalable Model of Computation Guiding the Design Methodologies of Network-on-Chip based Manycore Platforms
Abstract: Synergistic coupling of physical and cyber processes with the goal of enabling a closed-loop control, calls for a paradigm shift in processing and mining the large amounts of cross-device data. One of the fundamental issues to be resolved targets the definition of new models of computation that allows us to integrate, interpret / mine and predict massive amount of multisystem data which requires a wide range of heterogeneous algorithmic description in order to provide accurate decision-making and control.
Towards this end, the complexity of the design-space exploration of large scale networks-on-chip (NoC)-based is exacerbated not only by the ever-increasing number of cores, but also by the increased runtime uncertainties in both the scale and task structure of the emerging applications. As a result, it is crucial to develop rigorous mathematical frameworks for capturing the task dependencies of varied applications to foster the generation of realistic benchmarks that can guide the NoC design. The current NoC benchmark suites either lack portability and poorly scale as they require intensive development efforts on specific architectures and simulation time, or are synthesized based on purely stochastic models that are disconnected from the characteristics of real applications, which may easily lead to biased and/or delayed design choices.
To address this challenge, we present in this talk a benchmark synthesis framework that not only allows extraction of dynamical task dependencies of the application and synthesize traffic workloads spatio-temporally consistent with realistic traffic behavior, but can also be easily scaled by the proposed complex network inspired metrics for large-scale benchmark generation while preserving key structural features that governs application communication behaviors. We validate the proposed framework via a comparative analysis on a realistic simulation environment by running a set of real application benchmarks. We show the synthesized benchmarks respect the traffic patterns of the original applications and preserve key features of application task structures. This newly proposed model of computation enables the efficient and accelerated design of future data-center-on-a-chip architectures for CPS infrastructures.
Biography: Yuankun Xue is a Ph.D student working under the supervision of Professor Paul Bogdan in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering at University of Southern California. He received his B.Sc and M.Sc degree from Fudan University in 2007 and 2011, respectively. His research interests include mathematical approaches for causal modeling, analysis and control of Cyber-Physical Systems, large-scale dynamic networked systems modeling, optimization and control, and design methodologies for high performance manycore platforms for computational biology.
Host: Paul Bogdan
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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NL Seminar-POETRY AT THE METAPHORICAL INTERSECTION
Mon, Sep 26, 2016 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Andrea Gagliano , (UC Berkeley)
Talk Title: Poetry at the Metaphorical Intersection
Series: Natural Language Seminar
Abstract: This talk will discuss a technique to create figurative relationships using Mikolov et als word vectors. Drawing on existing work on figurative language, we start with a pair of words and use the intersection of word vector similarity sets to blend the distinct semantic spaces of the two words. We conduct preliminary quantitative and qualitative observations to compare the use of this novel intersection method with the standard word vector addition method for the purpose of supporting the generation of figurative language. To showcase this technique, we use it to write computer generated sonnets.
Biography: Andrea Gagliano is a masters student at UC Berkeley's School of Information and the Berkeley Center for New Media. Her research explores the use of computation for creativity - both tools to support creative practices and generation of creative works. Recently, she has been focusing in the field of natural language processing by working on poetry and metaphor generation.
Previously, Andrea received her BS in Mathematics and BA in Business Administration from the University of Washington in 2013. During her studies, she spent time with the Creative Writing department studying poetry.
Host: Xing Shi 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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USC Stem Cell Seminar: Maksim Plikus, University of California, Irvine
Tue, Sep 27, 2016 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Maksim Plikus, University of California, Irvine
Talk Title: Regeneration of adipocytes in skin scars via reprograming of myofibroblasts
Series: Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC Distinguished Speakers Series
Host: USC Stem Cell
More Info: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
Webcast: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/catalogs/StemCellSeminarWebCast Link: http://keckmedia.usc.edu/Mediasite/Catalog/catalogs/StemCellSeminar
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
Event Link: http://stemcell.usc.edu/events
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Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651
Tue, Sep 27, 2016 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Michael L. Overton, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at the Courant Instittute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University
Talk Title: Nonsmooth, Nonconvex Optimization: Algorithms and Examples
Abstract: In many applications one wishes to minimize an objective function that is not convex and is not differentiable at its minimizers. We discuss two algorithms for minimization of nonsmooth, nonconvex functions. Gradient Sampling is a simple method that, although computationally intensive, has a nice convergence theory. The method is robust and the convergence theory has recently been extended to constrained problems.
BFGS is a well-known method, developed for smooth problems, but which is remarkably effective for nonsmooth problems too. Although our theoretical results in the nonsmooth case are quite limited, we have made some remarkable empirical observations and have had broad success in applications. Limited Memory BFGS is a popular extension for large problems, and it is also applicable to the nonsmooth case, although our experience with it is more mixed. Throughout the talk we illustrate the ideas through examples, some very easy and some very challenging. Our work is with Jim Burke U. Washington and Adrian Lewis Cornell.
Biography: Michael L. Overton is Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1979. He is a fellow of SIAM Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and of the IMA -Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, UK. He served on the Council and Board of Trustees of SIAM from 1991 to 2005, including a term as Chair of the Board from 2004 to 2005. He served as Editor-in-Chief of SIAM Journal on Optimization from 1995 to 1999 and of the IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis from 2007 to 2008, and was the Editor-in-Chief of the MPS Mathematical Programming Society-SIAM joint book series from 2003 to 2007. He is currently an editor of SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications, IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis, Foundations of Computationa Mathematics, and Numerische Mathematik. His research interests are at the interface of optimization and linear algebra, especially nonsmooth optimization problems involving eigenvalues, pseudospectra, stability and robust control. He is the author of Numerical Computing with IEEE Floating Point Arithmetic SIAM, 2001.
Host: Dr. Jong-Shi Pang
Location: 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Angela Reneau
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CS Colloquium: Le Song (GATECH) - Discriminative Embedding of Latent Variable Models for Structured Data
Tue, Sep 27, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Le Song, GATECH
Talk Title: Discriminative Embedding of Latent Variable Models for Structured Data
Series: Yahoo! Labs Machine Learning Seminar Series
Abstract: This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Computer Science Research Colloquium. Part of Yahoo! Labs Machine Learning Seminar Series.
Structured data, such as sequences, trees, graphs and hypergraphs, are prevalent in a number of interdisciplinary areas such as network analysis, knowledge engineering, computational biology, drug design and materials science. The availability of large amount of such structured data has posed great challenges for the machine learning community. How to represent such data to capture their similarities or differences? How to learn predictive models from a large amount of such data, and efficiently? How to learn to generate structured data de novo given certain desired properties?
A common approach to tackle these challenges is to first design a similarity measure, called the kernel function, between two data points, based on either statistics of the substructures or probabilistic generative models; and then a machine learning algorithm will optimize a predictive model based on such similarity measure. However, this elegant two-stage approach has difficulty scaling up, and discriminative information is also not exploited during the design of similarity measure.
In this talk, I will present Structure2Vec, an effective and scalable approach for representing structured data based on the idea of embedding latent variable models into a feature space, and learning such feature space using discriminative information. Interestingly, Structure2Vec extracts features by performing a sequence of nested nonlinear operations in a way similar to graphical model inference procedures, such as mean field and belief propagation. In applications involving genome and protein sequences, drug molecules and energy materials, Structure2Vec consistently produces the-state-of-the-art predictive performance. Furthermore, in the materials property prediction problem involving 2.3 million data points, Structure2Vec is able to produces a more accurate model yet being 10,000 times smaller. In the end, I will also discuss potential improvements over current work, possible extensions to network analysis and computer vision, and thoughts on the structured data design problem.
Biography: Le Song is an assistant professor in the Department of Computational Science and Engineering, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in Machine Learning from University of Sydney and NICTA in 2008, and then conducted his post-doctoral research in the Department of Machine Learning, Carnegie Mellon University, between 2008 and 2011. Before he joined Georgia Institute of Technology, he was a research scientist at Google. His principal research direction is machine learning, especially kernel methods and probabilistic graphical models for large scale and complex problems, arising from artificial intelligence, network analysis, computational biology and other interdisciplinary domains. He is the recipient of the AISTATS'16 Best Student Paper Award, IPDPS'15 Best Paper Award, NSF CAREER Award'14, NIPS'13 Outstanding Paper Award, and ICML'10 Best Paper Award. He has also served as the area chair or senior program committee for many leading machine learning and AI conferences such as ICML, NIPS, AISTATS and AAAI, and the action editor for JMLR.
Host: Yan Liu
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Biotechnology Lecture Series
Thu, Sep 29, 2016 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Amgen
Talk Title: R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside
Abstract: USC researchers have the opportunity to gain research and development insights with a new biotechnology lecture series sponsored by Amgen and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC.
The weekly lecture series, "R&D Insights from Lab Bench to Patient Bedside" takes place Thursdays at 10:30AM-12:00PM at USC's Health Sciences Campus from September 1, 2016 through November 10, 2016.
The talks will feature Amgen scientists speaking about:
Identifying a possible therapeutic target and its role in disease
Increasing therapeutic efficacy and safety
Process development, devices and manufacturing
Case studies from bench to clinic
Lectures will take place at the BCC First Floor Seminar Room or ZNI Herklotz Seminar Room.
RSVP at http://www.usc.edu/esvp (use code: amgenlecture). Space is limited. Preference will be given to SCRM master's students, PhDs, and postdocs, and attending all lectures is mandatory.
Please contact qliumich@usc.edu or karenw03@amgen.com for further details.
Host: USC Stem Cell/Amgen
More Info: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/biotechnology_lecture_series_rd_insights_from_lab_bench_to_patient_bedside?utm_campaign=widget&utm_medium=widget&utm_source=USC+Event+Calendar#.V8dKNLX8vW4
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Cristy Lytal/USC Stem Cell
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquia
Thu, Sep 29, 2016 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Vinayak Dravid, Northwestern University
Talk Title: Statics and Dynamics of Energy Materials: From Waste Heat Conversion to Electrochemical Storage
Series: Lyman Handy Colloquia
Host: Professor Jayakanth Ravichandran
Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Martin Olekszyk
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CS Colloquium and RASC seminar: Ankur Mehta (UCLA) - Pervasive Personal Robots
Thu, Sep 29, 2016 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ankur Mehta, UCLA
Talk Title: Pervasive Personal Robots
Series: RASC Seminar Series
Abstract: This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Computer Science Research Colloquium.
Creating and using new robotic systems has typically been limited to experts, requiring engineering background, expensive tools, and considerable time. Instead, I am working to create systems to automatically design, fabricate, and control functional robots from a simple description of the problem at hand. By enabling the on-demand creation of integrated electromechanical systems by casual everyday users, we can get to a point where we can say for any real-world task, "there's a robot for that."
I have moved towards this vision with a system that can create programmed printable robots from high-level task descriptions. A software-defined-hardware abstraction allows the algorithmic compilation of fabricable subsystem designs from a structural specification; this is in turn generated from a user assisted grounding of a Structured English behavioral specification. The compiled designs are then manufactured using novel printable manufacturing processes, and programmed with autogenerated code. Advanced wireless protocols and communication hardware enable swarms of such robots to interact with each other and users. In this way, fully functional printable robots can be quickly and cheaply designed, fabricated, and controlled to solve custom tasks by casual users.
Biography: Prof. Ankur Mehta is an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering department of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at UCLA. Pushing towards his visions of a future filled with robots, his research interests involve printable robotics, rapid design and fabrication, control systems, and wireless sensor networks.
Prof. Mehta was most recently a postdoctoral scholar at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratories investigating design automation for printable robots. Prior to that, he conducted research as a UC Berkeley graduate student in wireless sensor networks and systems, small autonomous aerial robots and rockets, control systems, and micro-elctro-mechanical systems (MEMS).
Prof. Mehta has received best paper awards in the 2015 IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine and the 2014 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, and was named a UCLA Samueli Fellow in 2015.
Host: CS Department
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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EE 598 Computer Engineering Seminar
Thu, Sep 29, 2016 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Tarek A. El-Ghazawi, Professor, George Washington University
Talk Title: Hierarchical Locality and Parallel Programming in the Extreme Scale Era
Abstract: Modern high-performance computers are characterized with massive hardware parallelism and deep hierarchies. Hierarchical levels may include cores, dies, chips, and nodes to name a few. Locality exploitation at all levels of the hierarchy is a must as the cost of data transfers can be high. Programmer's knowledge and the expressivity of locality-aware programming models such as the Partitioned Global Address Space (PGAS) can be very useful. However, locality awareness can come at a high cost. In addition, asking programmers to worry about expressing locality relations at multiple architecture hierarchy levels is detrimental to productivity and systems and hardware must provide adequate support for exploiting hierarchical locality.
In this talk I will discuss a framework for understanding and exploiting hierarchical locality in preparation for the next era of extreme computing. The role of system and hardware support will be highlighted will be stressed and examples will be shared.
Biography: Tarek El-Ghazawi is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The George Washington University, where he leads the university-wide Strategic Academic Program in High-Performance Computing. His research interests include high-performance computing, computer architecture, reconfigurable computing and parallel programming.
He is the founding director of The GW Institute for Massively Parallel Applications and Computing Technologies (IMPACT) and was a founding Co-Director of the NSF Industry/University Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing (CHREC). He is one of the principal co-authors of the UPC parallel programming language and the primary author of the UPC book from John Wiley and Sons. He has received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from New Mexico State University in 1988. El-Ghazawi has published well over 250 refereed research publications in this area. Dr. El-Ghazawi has served and is serving in many editorial roles including an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Computing and IEEE Transactions on Computers. He chaired and co-chaired many international conferences and symposia. He has served on many advisory boards and in consulting roles including service as a consultant at NASA GSFC and NASA Ames. Dr. El-Ghazawi's research has been frequently supported by Federal agencies and industry including DARPA/DoD, NSF, DoE/LBNL, AFRL, NASA, IBM, HP, Intel, AMD, SGI, and Microsoft. El-Ghazawi is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Research Faculty Fellow of the IBM Center for Advanced Studies, Toronto; a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award; and a recipient of the Alexander Schwarzkopf Prize for Technical Innovation and the GW SEAS Distinguished Researcher Award. He also served as a U.S. Senior Fulbright Scholar.
Host: Xuehai Qian
Location: OHE 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Ming Hsieh Institute Seminar Series on Integrated Systems
Fri, Sep 30, 2016 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Nader Behdad, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Talk Title: Affordable Phased-Array Antenna Technology Exploiting Reconfigurable Metamaterials
Host: Prof. Hossein Hashemi, Prof. Mike Chen, and Prof. Mahta Moghaddam
More Information: MHI Seminar Series IS - Nader_Behdad_Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jenny Lin
