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Events for September 19, 2016

  • 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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