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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for October 06, 2009
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Blood Drive: USC Blood Mobile at Viterbi
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
Before Donating: Be in good health :: Bring a valid photo ID :: At least 17 years old (16 years with parental consent) Weight: Minimum of 110 lbs. :: No tattoos within the last 12 months :: No Appointment RequiredIn appreciation for your gift of life, a complimentary gift donation will benefit Challenge for Charity.Blood donations benefit patients at USC University and USC/Norris Cancer Hospitals.
Location: Engineering Quad (Between Olin & Hedco)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: VSoE
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CS Colloq. Prof. Van Vu
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:20 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk title: The condition number of a random matrix Speaker:Prof. Van Vu from Rutgers University Host: Prof. Shang-Hua Teng Abstract: The condition number plays a crucial role in all computational problems involving a large matrix. The problem of determining the condition number of a random matrix (with independent entries) was first raised by von Neumann and Goldstine in the 1940s, in a series of papers which later has become the starting point of numerical analysis. von Neumann-Golstine problem was solved for the case when the entries of the matrix have gaussian distribution by Edelman in 1980s. Edelman computed the limiting distribution of the condition number, using special feature of gaussian matrices. This computation does not extend to any other model of random matrices (such as Bernoulli). On the other hand, it has been conjectured, for quite sometime, that the same distribution should hold in these cases as well. Recently, Tao and Vu proved this conjecture, and thus solved von Neumann-Goldstine problem in the general case. As a corollary, we proved a conjeture of Spielman and Teng about the distribution of the least singular value. I will present a sketch of the proof, which starts with random sampling techniques. Bio: TBA
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 601
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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McCarthy Building Co. Information Session
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Join representatives of this company as they share general company information and available opportunities.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall (RTH) 211
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Reinforcement Learning and Markov Chain Computations, Part I
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
University Calendar
Speaker: Prof. Vivek Borkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India Part I: Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2-3PM, HED 116 Part II: Thursday, Oct. 8, 2-3PM, EEB 248This two part series shall cover an introduction to reinforcement learning and stochastic approximations, and its application to Markov Chain computations.Part I (Tuesday, Oct. 6) shall highlight the main strands in the reinforcement learning based approaches to approximate dynamic programming for Markov decision processes. In particular, connections to numerical methods for MDPs and convergence issues will be discussed.Part II (Thursday, Oct. 8) will present a novel potential application of reinforcement learning algorithms, viz., for certain matrix computations. It will be argued that these present a hybrid scheme situated between pure Monte Carlo and pure numerical iterative schemes. Various trade-offs and acceleration techniques will be discussed.Speaker Bio: Vivek Borkar is a Professor in the School of Technology and Computer Science at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, where he has been for the last decade. He was formerly Dean of the same school. Prior to TIFR, he was a Professor in the Computer Science and Automation department of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in EECS in 1979. He is well-known for his work in many areas including stochastic processes, mathematical control, game theory and learning. He is the author of several books including a recent book on Stochastic approximations: A Dynamical Systems Viewpoint.Host: Prof. Rahul Jain, 213-740-2246, rahul.jain@usc.edu.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Seminar Series: Reinforcement Learning and Markov Chain Computations
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Vivek Borkar, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, India This two part series shall cover an introduction to reinforcement learning and stochastic approximations, and its application to Markov Chain computations.Part I (Tuesday, Oct. 6) shall highlight the main strands in the reinforcement learning based approaches to approximate dynamic programming for Markov decision processes. In particular, connections to numerical methods for MDPs and convergence issues will be discussed.Speaker Bio:
Vivek Borkar is a Professor in the School of Technology and Computer Science at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai where he has been for the last decade.
He was formerly Dean of the same school. Prior to TIFR, he was a Professor in the Computer Science and Automation department of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in EECS in 1979. He is well-known for his work in many areas including stochastic processes, mathematical control, game theory and learning. He is the author of several books including a recent book on Stochastic approximations: A Dynamical Systems Viewpoint.Host: Prof. Rahul Jain, 213-740-2246, rahul.jain@usc.edu. If you would like to meet the speaker during his weeklong visit from October 5-9, please contact the host.Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Stationkeeping and Collocation of Geostationary Satellites
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Astronautical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Topic 1: Stationkeeping Strategies for a Single GEO Satellite
The dynamics and perturbations of a geostationary orbit will be introduced. The longitude (East/West) and inclination (North/South) stationkeeping strategies will be discussed. The Sun-pointing strategy and its relation to solar radiation pressure effect on eccentricity will be understood. Topic 2: Strategies for Collocating Multiple Geostationary Satellites
The ITU (International Telecommunication Union) policies and the need for GEO collocation will be discussed. Some basic strategies for collocating 2 to 3 GEO satellites will be introduced. The concept of eccentricity and inclination vector separation will be understood with examples. The final portion of the talk will be devoted to the formation and control of a cluster of many GEO satellites in a special geometry called the "Halo" formation. The advanced method of formation-keeping using onboard GPS measurements will be discussed. Speaker: Dr. C. C. "George" Chao, Part Time Lecturer
Division of Astronautical Engineering
Has taught orbital mechanics at The Aerospace Corp. and UCLA Extension since 1982
Senior Engineer Specialist/Technical Manager in Astrodynamics department at The Aerospace Corp for 25 years before retiring in 2002, worked at JPL for 10 years prior to joining Aerospace, continued consulting work at Aerospace after retirement.
Has MS and AeE degrees in aeronautics from Caltech and Ph.D. in Engineering (Astrodynamics) from UCLA, AIAA Associate Fellow and author/coauthor of two books in astrodynamics (Applied Orbit Perturbation and Maintenance, Orbital Mechanics).Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Dan Erwin
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Prepare for Midterms
Tue, Oct 06, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
A workshop to assist undergraduate engineering students prepare for midterms. Learn how to prepare a study schedule, tips for stress reduction, and what to expect when taking a midterm.
Location: VARC Study Lounge (RTH 222)
Audiences: Viterbi Undergraduates
Contact: Viterbi Academic Resource Center (VARC)
