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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October
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Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Oct 01, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Alan J. Jacobsen, Senior Research Scientist, HRL Laboratories, LLC
Talk Title: Architecting Your Career...Life after USC
Host: W.V.T Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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EE-Systems Seminar
Mon, Oct 04, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Neal Patwari , University of Utah
Talk Title: Locate people without radio tags: Device‐free localization in wireless networks
Abstract: Abstract: Radio localization applications in sensor networks assume that the person to‐be¬located wears a radio tag, either a receiver or transmitter. We show that the tag is not necessary, except for identification. By measuring the changes in received signal strength (RSS) on static wireless links in the environment, we perform device‐free localization (DFL), i.e., estimation of the location of changes in the physical environment, and thus, inference of the locations of people in the environment. Such localization can be done when the network nodes are outside of a building, and the people are inside of the building, and thus have application for emergency responders arriving at a building that is dangerous to enter. Since static wireless networks are ubiquitous in indoor environments, we expect DFL using RSS to be useful in secure facilities, in which the locations of un‐tagged (potentially unauthorized) people should be monitored. While wideband radar provides similar capabilities, the use of RSS opens the door for DFL applications built using standard wireless networks. This talk will describe 1) new multipath channel fading models which provide the basis for our ability to accurately estimate a person's location; 2) algorithms for RSS‐based device‐free localization; and 3) lessons learned from prototype development and deployment. We will discuss the unanswered questions and future research directions in RSS‐based DFL.
Biography: Bio: Neal Patwari received the B.S. (1997) and M.S. (1999) degrees from Virginia Tech, and the Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (2005), all in Electrical Engineering. He was a research engineer in Motorola Labs, Florida, between 1999 and 2001. Since 2006, he has been at the University of Utah, where he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with an adjunct appointment in the School of Computing. He directs the Sensing and Processing Across Networks (SPAN) Lab, which performs research at the intersection of statistical signal processing and wireless networking. His research interests are in radio channel signal processing, in which radio channel measurements are used to improve security and networking and to perform localization. Neal has been involved with experimental prototypes of sensor networks deployed for centralized and distributed sensor localization, radio tomographic imaging, and secret key establishment. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2008 and the 2009 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Magazine Paper Award. He is an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing.
Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Oct 04, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: GERALD LOEB, TERENCE SANGER, ELLIS MENG,
Talk Title: Faculty Research in Biomedical Engineering
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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ISE 599 SEMINAR
Mon, Oct 04, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jesus De Loera, UC DavIs
Talk Title: Algebraic Geometric Algorithms in Discrete Optimization
Abstract: It is common knowledge that the understanding of the geometry of convex bodies has helped speed up algorithms in discrete optimization.
For example, cutting planes and facet-description of polyhedra have been crucial in the success of branch-and-bound algorithms for mixed integer linear programming. Another example, is how the ellipsoid method can be used to prove polynomiality results in combinatorial optimization. For the future, the importance of algebra and geometry in optimization is even greater since applications now demand non-linearity constraints together with discrete variables.
In the past 5 years two beautiful algebraic geometric algorithms on polyhedra have been used to prove unexpected new results on the computation of integer programs with non-linearly objective functions.
The first is Barvinok's algorithm for polytopes, the second is Graver's bases method on polyhedral cones. I will describe these two algorithms and explain why we can now prove theorems that were beyond our reach before. I will also describe attempts to turn these two algorithms into practical computation, not just in theoretical results.
This is a nice story collecting results contained in several papers joint work with various subsets of the following people: R. Hemmecke, M. Koeppe, S. Onn, U. Rothblum, and R. Weismantel.
Host: Professor Dorit Hochbaum
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 309
Audiences: Department Only
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Southern California Smart Grid Symposium
Tue, Oct 05, 2010
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk Title: The Southern California Smart Grid Research Symposium will explore the smart grid, discuss research challenges, and is a collaborative forum for the interchange of thoughts between academics, industry, government and other stakeholders.
Abstract: 9:00am â 9:05am: Opening Remarks
Viktor Prasanna, Professor â Electrical Engineering, USC
9:05am â 9:10am: Welcome
Don Paul, Executive Director, USC Energy Institute
9:10am â 9:50am: Hank Kenchington, Senior Manager, DOE
9:50am â 10:30am: Southern California Edisonâs Smart Grid Vision
Jim Kelly, SVP of Transmission & Distribution, SCE
10:30am â 10:50am: Break: Refreshments
10:50am â 11:30am: Ciscoâs Smart Grid Strategy
Paul De Martini, Smart Grid CTO, Cisco
11:30am â 12:10pm: Renewable Energy and the Smart Grid for Catalina Island
Steven Low, Professor â Computer Science, Caltech
12:10pm â 1:20pm: Lunch
1:20pm â 3:00pm:
Panel Discussion â Renewable Integration
Moderator: Gordon Roesler, Director of Energy Research, ISI
Cristina Archer, Asst. Professor â Environmental Science, CSU Chico
Mohammed Beshir, Manager of Resource Planning, LADWP
Rajit Gadh, Director, WINMEC
Hal La Flash, Director â Emerging Clean Technologies, PG&E
3:00pm â 3:20pm: Break: Refreshments
3:20pm â 5:00pm:
Panel Discussion â Electrifying Transportation
Moderator: GP Li, Professor â Electrical Engineering, UCI
Tim Brown, Senior Scientist, UCI
Doug Kim, Director of Advanced Technology, SCE
Joel Pointon, Manager of Electric Transportation, SDG&E
Anand Ranganathan, Research Staff Member, IBM
5:00pm â 6:30pm: Coffee and Dessert Bar concurrent with Poster Session
Host: The Symposium is sponsored by the Southern California Smart Grid Research Consortium, an industry-university collaboration between Southern California Edison, LADWP and leading research universities including USC, UCLA, UCI and Caltech.
More Info: http://socalsgs.org/Location: Charlotte S. & Davre R. Davidson Continuing Education Conference Center (DCC) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Eric Mankin
Event Link: http://socalsgs.org/
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Oct 05, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Maxim Sviridenko , IBM Watson
Talk Title: Local Search Algorithms for Submodular Maximization
Abstract: We study the problem of maximizing a submodular function over the intersection of k matroids (for a constant k>=2). Submodular-function maximization is a central problem in combinatorial optimization, generalizing many important NP-hard problems including Max Cut in digraphs, graphs and hypergraphs, certain constraint satisfaction problems, maximum-entropy sampling, and maximum facility-location problems.
Our main result is that for any k>=2 and any epsilon>0, there is a natural local-search algorithm which has approximation guarantee of 1/(k+epsilon) for the problem of maximizing a monotone submodular function subject to k matroid constraints. This improves a 1/(k+1)-approximation of Nemhauser, Wolsey and Fisher from 1978. For maximizing a linear function over k matroids, we obtain a 1/(k-1+epsilon)-approximation, improving a previously known 1/k-approximation. Our analysis can be applied even to general non-monotone submodular maximization subject to k matroid constraints. We show that in this case the approximation guarantee of our algorithm is 1/(k+1+1/(k-1)+epsilon), improving the previously known factor of 1/(k+2+1/k+epsilon).
Biography: Maxim Sviridenko is a research stuff member in the Algorithms group of the Optimization Center in the Department of Business Analytics and Mathematical Sciences of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from the Sobolev Institute of Mathematics (Russia) in 1999. After that he held two postdoc positions: in the Department of Commerce and Business Administration (UBC, Canada) and Computer Science Department at the University of Aarhus Denmark) before joining IBM Research in 2000. His research interests include design and analysis of algorithms for discrete optimization problems, computational complexity, integer and linear programming, modelling real-life optimization problems arising in various industrial applications and developing algorithms to solve such problems. Recently, he has been working on analyzing the local search algorithms that is one of the most popular approaches to solve optimization problems in practice.
Host: Dr. David Kempe
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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2010 NAE Grand Challenges National SummitWed, Oct 06, 2010
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Various
Talk Title: 2010 NAE Grand Challenges National Summit
Host: USC Viterbi School of Engineering
More Info: http://www.naegrandchallengessummit2010.org/Location: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Leslie DaCruz
Event Link: http://www.naegrandchallengessummit2010.org/
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Short Range Radio Research in Twente
Wed, Oct 06, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arjan Meijerink, University of Twente
Talk Title: Short Range Radio Research in Twente
Abstract: The research and education by the Telecommunication Engineering Group at the University of Twente is dedicated
to physical layer topics in communications. Three research tracks have prominence: Short Range Radio, Microwave Photonics,
and Electromagnetic Compatibility. Arjan is active in the Short Range Radio division, and will briefly outline the interests and
activities of this group. Furthermore he will present some results of the research that he did during his short sabbatical in
Belfast last year. This concerns the performance analysis of a frequency offset modulation scheme using wideband noise carriers.
The main advantage of such a scheme is that it enables fast receiver synchronization without channel adaptation, while
providing robustness to multipath fading and in-band interference. This is important for low-power wireless systems with bursty
traffic, such as sensor networks. In the talk a semi-analytical framework for evaluating its bit error rate performance in
wideband frequency-selective fading channels will be described. Some numerical results will be presented, based on channel
models developed in the IEEE 802.15.4a channel modeling subgroup. These illustrate that the considered system can be
designed with a lower fading margin than a narrowband system.
Biography: Arjan Meijerink received the MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering (both with honours) from the
University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, in 2001 and 2005, respectively. His PhD research was on coherence
multiplexing for optical communication systems, and was performed under supervision of Prof. W. van Etten, in the
Telecommunication Engineering (TE) Group. From 2005 to 2007 he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the TE Group, carrying out
research on photonic beamformers for broadband phased array receive antennas, using fully integrated, ring resonator-based
optical beamforming networks. Since 2007 he has been an Assistant Professor in the TE group. He teaches an undergraduate
course on random signals and noise, and is involved in research on new radio transmission techniques for short-range
applications, such as wireless sensor networks. His particular interest is in resilient, low-power UWB transmit-reference
modulation techniques, stochastic channel modeling, and UWB-based ranging and localization techniques. In 2009 he was a
Visiting Lecturer at the Wireless Communications Research Group, at the Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
Currently he is a Visiting Scholar in the WiDeS Group. His research work involves stochastic channel modeling and time-of-arrival
estimation using UWB signals.
Host: Dr. A. F. Molisch
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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AME Seminar
Wed, Oct 06, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. L. Mahadevan, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
Talk Title: On Growth and Form
Abstract: The growth and form of a soft solid pose a range of problems that combine aspects of mathematics, physics and biology. I will discuss some examples of growth and form in the plant and animal world motivated by qualitative and quantitative biological observations at the molecular, cellular and tissue level. In each case, we will see how a combination of physical experiments, mathematical models and simple computations allow us to unravel the basis for the diversity and complexity of biological form, while suggesting a rich new lode of problems in geometry and analysis.
Host: Dr. G. Spedding
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Charlotte S. & Davre R. Davidson Continuing Education Conference Center (DCC) - Boardroom
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Oct 07, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Andrea Richa , Arizona State University
Talk Title: A Jamming-Resistant MAC Protocol for Single-Hop Wireless Networks
Abstract: In this paper we consider the problem of designing a medium access control
(MAC) protocol for single-hop wireless networks that is provably robust against adaptive adversarial jamming. The wireless network consists of a set of honest and reliable nodes that are within the transmission range of each other. In addition to these nodes there is an adversary. The adversary may know the protocol and its entire history and use this knowledge to jam the wireless channel at will at any time. It is allowed to jam a (1-epsilon)-fraction of the time steps, for an arbitrary constant epsilon>0, but it has to make a jamming decision before it knows the actions of the nodes at the current step. The nodes cannot distinguish between the adversarial jamming or a collision of two or more messages that are sent at the same time. We demonstrate, for the first time, that there is a local-control MAC protocol requiring only very limited knowledge about the adversary and the network that achieves a constant throughput for the non-jammed time steps under any adversarial strategy above. We also show that our protocol is very energy efficient and that it can be extended to obtain a robust and efficient protocol for leader election and the fair use of the wireless channel.
This is joint work with Christian Scheideler (University of Paderborn, Germany) and Baruch Awerbuch (John Hopkins University).
Biography: Prof. Andrea W. Richa is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Arizona State University since August 2004. She joined this department as an Assistant Professor in August 1998. Prof. Richa received her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, in 1995 and 1998, respectively. She also earned an M.S. degree in Computer Systems from the Graduate School in Engineering (COPPE), and a B.S. degree in Computer Science, both at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992 and 1990, respectively. Prof. Richa's main area of research is in network algorithms. For more information, please visit http://www.public.asu.edu/~aricha
Host: Prof. Shang-Hua Teng
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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2010 NAE Grand Challenges National Summit
Fri, Oct 08, 2010
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various, Various
Talk Title: 2010 NAE Grand Challenges National Summit
Host: USC Viterbi School of Engineering
More Info: http://www.naegrandchallengessummit2010.org/Location: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Leslie DaCruz
Event Link: http://www.naegrandchallengessummit2010.org/
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EE-Systems Seminar
Fri, Oct 08, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anima Anandkumar, U.C.Irvine
Talk Title: "Distributed Algorithms for Learning and Cognitive Medium Access with Logarithmic Regret"
Abstract: I will talk about the problem of distributed learning and channel access in a cognitive network with multiple secondary users. The availability statistics of the channels are initially unknown to the secondary users and are estimated using sensing decisions. There is no explicit information exchange or prior agreement among the secondary users and sensing and access decisions are undertaken by them in a completely distributed manner. The challenge is to ensure that learning of channel availabilities and distributed channel access among the secondary users do not sacrifice the cognitive system throughput (number of successful secondary transmissions) to a large extent and to design policies which minimize this loss. We propose policies for distributed learning and channel access which achieve order-optimal cognitive system throughput under self play, i.e., when implemented at all the secondary users. Equivalently, our policies minimize the sum regret in distributed learning and access, which is the loss in secondary throughput due to learning and distributed access.
For the scenario when the number of secondary users is known to the policy, we prove that the total regret is logarithmic in the number of transmission slots. This policy achieves order-optimal regret based on a logarithmic lower bound for regret under any uniformly-good learning and access policy.
We then consider the case when the number of secondary users is fixed but unknown, and is estimated at each user through feedback. We propose a policy whose sum regret grows only slightly faster than logarithmic in the number of transmission slots. I will also talk about some exciting open problems in this context.
Biography: Anima Anandkumar received her B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in
2004 and her MS and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 2009. She was at the Stochastic Systems Group at MIT, Cambridge, MA as a post-doctoral researcher. She has been an assistant professor at EECS Dept. and a member of center for pervasive communications and computing (CPCC) at U.C.Irvine since July 2010. She is the recipient of the 2009 Best Thesis Award by the ACM Sigmetrics Society, 2008 IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award, 2008 IBM Fran Allen PhD fellowship, and student paper award at 2006 IEEE ICASSP. Her research interests are in the area of statistical-signal processing, network theory and information theory.
Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Oct 11, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Gert Cauwenberghs, Dept. of Bioengineering & Institute for Neural Computation, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Silicon and Biological Adaptive Neural Circuits
Abstract: Dialogues between neuroscience and neuroengineering are offering new avenues to advance the engineering of intelligent brain-machine interfaces, and to accelerate the pace of neuroscience research in mapping the organization and decoding the function of the central nervous system.Reverse engineering the brain in "neuromorphic" silicon provides a means to validate hypotheses on neural structure and function through "analysis by synthesis". I will present a scalable approach to realizing locally dense and globally sparse synaptic connectivity and plasticity in reconfigurable hybrid analog-digital neuromorphic systems, towards a real-time and low-power silicon model of neocortical vision with over a million neurons and billion synapses. I will also present our related work on a synapse array for adaptive template-based visual pattern recognition that operates at less than a femtojoule of energy per synaptic operation, exceeding the energy efficiency of synaptic transmission in the human brain.
Biography: Gert Cauwenberghs is Professor of Bioengineering and Co-director of the Institute for Neural Computation at UC San Diego. He received the Ph.D.in Electrical Engineering from Caltech in 1994, and was previously Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, and Visiting Professor of Brain and Cognitive Science at MIT.
His research focuses on micropower biomedical instrumentation,
neuron-silicon and brain-machine interfaces, neuromorphic engineering, and adaptive intelligent systems. He received the National Science Foundation Career Award in 1997, the ONR Young Investigator Award in 1999, and Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2000. He is Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, and a Senior Editor for the IEEE Sensors Journal.
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Gert Cauwenberghs
Professor of Bioengineering
Co-Director, Institute for Neural Computation
University of California, San Diego
Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall, Rm. 304
9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0412
La Jolla, CA 92093-0412
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Image Segmentation with Optimization Techniques Used for Medical Imaging
Wed, Oct 13, 2010 @ 02:00 AM - 03:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Dorit S. Hochbaum, ISE, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Image Segmentation with Optimization Techniques Used for Medical Imaging
Abstract: Image segmentation is to determine a partition to the "main" areas of the image and identify them as associated with different types of objects. This is of particular importance in medical imaging where blur conceals information of critical importance. The problem is modeled as minimization of deviation penalty, from the captured colors of the pixels, and separation penalty, which is associated with two adjacent images having different colors.
We describe a very efficient and best possible polynomial time algorithm for the problem. This algorithm is more efficient than most procedures based on spectral techniques, partitioning approaches or heuristic clustering. We then demonstrate how to apply the procedure for the purpose of recovering hidden features in de-blurred medical images.
Biography: Dorit S. Hochbaum is a Daniel Epstein chair professor at the ISE department at USC. Professor Hochbaum holds a Ph.D from the Wharton school of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Hochbaum held a faculty position at Carnegie Mellon university's Tepper school of business (GSIA), and then joined UC Berkeley where she was a full professor and chancellor chair at the department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR). Her research interests are in the areas of approximation algorithms and design and analysis of computer algorithms and discrete and continuous optimization. Her recent work focuses on efficient techniques for network flow related problems, ranking, data mining and image segmentation problems.
Professor Hochbaum is the author of over 140 papers that appeared in the Operations Research, Management Science and Theoretical Computer Science literature. Professor Hochbaum was named in 2004 an honorary doctorate of Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, for her work on approximation algorithms. Professor Hochbaum was awarded in 2005 the title of INFORMS fellow.
Host: Prof. Rahul Jain
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Image Segmentation with Optimization Techniques Used for Medical Imaging
Wed, Oct 13, 2010 @ 02:00 AM - 03:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Dorit S. Hochbaum, ISE, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Image Segmentation with Optimization Techniques Used for Medical Imaging
Abstract: Image segmentation is to determine a partition to the "main" areas of the image and identify them as associated with different types of objects. This is of particular importance in medical imaging where blur conceals information of critical importance. The problem is modeled as minimization of deviation penalty, from the captured colors of the pixels, and separation penalty, which is associated with two adjacent images having different colors.
We describe a very efficient and best possible polynomial time algorithm for the problem. This algorithm is more efficient than most procedures based on spectral techniques, partitioning approaches or heuristic clustering. We then demonstrate how to apply the procedure for the purpose of recovering hidden features in de-blurred medical images.
Biography: Dorit S. Hochbaum is a Daniel Epstein chair professor at the ISE department at USC. Professor Hochbaum holds a Ph.D from the Wharton school of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Hochbaum held a faculty position at Carnegie Mellon university's Tepper school of business (GSIA), and then joined UC Berkeley where she was a full professor and chancellor chair at the department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR). Her research interests are in the areas of approximation algorithms and design and analysis of computer algorithms and discrete and continuous optimization. Her recent work focuses on efficient techniques for network flow related problems, ranking, data mining and image segmentation problems.
Professor Hochbaum is the author of over 140 papers that appeared in the Operations Research, Management Science and Theoretical Computer Science literature. Professor Hochbaum was named in 2004 an honorary doctorate of Sciences of the University of Copenhagen, for her work on approximation algorithms. Professor Hochbaum was awarded in 2005 the title of INFORMS fellow.
Host: Prof. Rahul Jain
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Robust Simulation and Catastrophe Diagnostic for Accounting for Uncertainty in Catastrophe Risk Analysis
Wed, Oct 13, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Craig Taylor, Director, Research for Baseline Management Company, Inc. and Research Professor, Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering
Abstract:
The speaker has given two previous seminars in the USC CEE Department:
⢠2000: On Acceptable Risk Procedures for Ports and
Airports
⢠2008: On A Non-Parametric Approach to Evaluating
Catastrophe Risk and Decisions: Financial and
Infrastructure Systems
In these seminars, the speaker outlined catastrophe risk procedures for infrastructure systems and showed how the uncertainties in the models involved could be accounted for in the overall loss distribution. Methods were outlined to manage the uncertainties in the parameters that are explicitly considered within each part of the model (e.g., hazards, response of components, systems response). These are the ânominalâ or âendogenousâ uncertainties. With the introduction of alternative models, based on different assumptions, parameters, or data, one may begin to account for the remaining âexogenousâ uncertainties that lie within the bounds of current knowledge. Of course, no domain of science is or should be ever âsettled,â so exogenous elements will persist, contributing to some residual uncertainty.
In past CEE seminars, the speaker described the weakness of one conventional approach that parses uncertainty into âaleatoryâ and âepistemicâ elements. Robust simulation provides an alternative approach to the management of uncertainty in catastrophe risk analysis, as well as overcome severe weaknesses that may occur in the use of logic trees and weighting systems. The speaker will further reiterate briefly weaknesses that can arise through the numerous smoothing techniques that can arise. These have arguably contributed significantly to the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management and to the recent severe recession resulting in part from the egregiously high ratings of mortgage-backed securities containing sub-prime loans.
The previous seminars assumed that the endogenous uncertainties âvanishâ as numerous simulations are performed. Thus, topics of âinfinite varianceâ or âinfinite meanâ were ignored. To a very large extent, a priori modeling of exposures subject to catastrophes may postulate âunstableâ distributions (ignoring here for instance alpha-stable distributions). The speaker instead has devised a very simple method for evaluating the âstabilityâ or âdangerâ of a distribution with a simple one-parameter Pareto. Comparison of the âtailâ (99th centile in the severity distribution) of the Pareto distribution with the simulated catastrophe loss distribution can provide a diagnostic (similar to a modified QQ diagnostic) helpful in testing how the degree of âdangerâ of a catastrophe loss distribution. Typically there will be limits (e.g., limits on the amount of capital at stake, limits on the magnitude of an earthquake, limits on the total loss for a specific property) that will render a catastrophe loss distribution more stable than might be modeled if extreme value distributions are postulated in advance of such considerations.
Robust simulation then begins with a preferred set of models and a test of the âdangerâ of the loss distribution given an extremely large number of simulations. The âexogenousâ uncertainties in the catastrophe loss distribution are illustrated in ongoing research as in missile risk analysis, global climate change, climate conditioning for hurricanes and other severe weather events, and alterative seismicity. Each model is rendered as coherent as possible; mixing models as through âweightsâ may produce less than coherent results. If weighting is required, as for âofficialâ results, this should be performed at the end of the process. The result of this process yields âbounds of uncertainty.â Unless one imposes a distribution on these outcomes, these uncertainties do not represent confidence intervals.
This procedure is not altogether felicitous, but represents a mature viewpoint. Many models that were once disregarded because they were not good enough for some reason or other now come into play to assist in defining bounds of uncertainty. In the selection of alternative credible models, merits begin to count as well as demerits. Encouraging competition among models is salutary in science and engineering. In this probabilistic realm, selection of one model over another often involves tradeoffsâwith pros and cons of various fitting criteria, parameters, assumptions, and the like.
Biography:
Dr. Craig E. Taylor has had over thirty years of experience in catastrophe risk analysis with an emphasis on infrastructure systems, finance, policy, and earthquakes. Currently Director of Research for Baseline Management Company, Inc. and Research Professor at the University of Southern California, he has taught an advanced Civil Engineering course on risk and decision analysis for infrastructure systems. His 200 or so publications and over sixty papers include as contributor and editor four monographs for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and major reports on earthquake mitigation for a federal earthquake insurance program, should one be established. Belonging to four professional organizations, and previous chair of the ASCE Council on Disaster Risk Management (CDRM) as well as past chair of several committees, he has received several awards including a lifetime achievement award from the Technical Council on Lifeline Earthquake Engineering (TCLEE). In October 2008 he served as an ASCE representative to look at impacts of the Wenchuan earthquake and to participate at a Tongji University workshop on reconstruction alternatives. In September 2010 he returned to Tongji University to give a plenary presentation at the International Symposium on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management (ISRERM 2010). He earned his doctorate at the University of Illinois.
Host: Prof. Jean-Pierre Bardet
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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AME Seminar
Wed, Oct 13, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Juergen Biener , Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Talk Title: Nanoscale Materials for Energy Applications
Abstract: Enrico Fermi reputedly said, "God made the solid state. He left the surface to the devil" to describe the fact that surfaces and interfaces are difficult to treat theoretically due to their complex nature. In this talk I will show that one can exploit this complexity to design tunable interface-controlled high-surface-area materials for energy applications. Although the influence of surfaces on the bulk of the material is generally considered to be small, the presence of surfaces and interfaces can start to dominate the overall material behavior. This allows one to create new, tunable materials with mechanical, physical and chemical properties that are no longer determined by the bulk material, but by their nanoscale architectures. In this talk, I will focus on monolithic nanoporous materials to demonstrate the tuneability of nanoporous solids for sustainable energy applications.
Host: Dr. A. Hodge
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series
Thu, Oct 14, 2010 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Thomas F. Kuech,
Talk Title: Nanopatterned Semiconductors to Achieve New Functionality
Series: Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series
Abstract: There has been a tremendous body of research into the development of nanoscale objects and materials. While these materials exhibit unique properties on their own, the technological development of these materials requires their integration into existing and evolving device and materials platforms. Wafer-scale processing and uniformity of materials, and hence device, properties are required. A self-assembled block co-polymer (BCP) approach to nanoscale patterning, which offers rapid and cost-effective full wafer patterning at the 20-nm length scale, is finding applications in the wafer-scale development of nanoscale structures. This talk will deal with several new applications of this approach used to achieve improvements in heteroepitaxial growth of large lattice mismatched materials and the formation of uniform nanostructured device structures, such as Quantum Dots for laser applications.
Host: Professor Dapkus
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/l-10-14-10.htmLocation: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/l-10-14-10.htm
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Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Oct 15, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Dan Singleton, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering and Electrophysics, USC
Talk Title: Transient Plasma System: Research and Entrepreneurship at USC
Host: W.V.T Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Oct 15, 2010 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. David Howard and Dr. Edward Preisler , TowerJazz
Talk Title: TowerJazz: SiGe BiCMOS, MEMS Capabilities and Foundry Process Offerings ... Still Just 50 Miles From USC
Abstract: In this talk we will briefly review process offerings from TowerJazz, Newport Beach, CA, which include SiGe BiCMOS, RF CMOS, Power CMOS and MEMS capabilities, including monthly SiGe BiCMOS shuttle runs...all still just 50 miles south of USC.
The majority of the talk will cover TowerJazz SiGe HBT transistor technology application in a variety of emerging markets: high frequency wireless, optical networking, phased array radar, high voltage and complementary BiCMOS for analog. In the discussion, the critical device parameters for NPN and PNP devices, such as cut-off frequency, gain, noise figure, breakdown voltage, etc. will be tied to each market segment. Trade-offs in device performance in order to meet multiple criteria per market segment will also be discussed
Biography: David Howard received his Sc.B. in Mechanical Engineering, Sc.M, and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science Engineering, all from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. His focus has been in process and device integration for new nodes, features and devices in Si-CMOS based manufacturing, in particular integration of CMOS, interconnect, passive devices, SiGe HBTs, and MEMS. He is currently Executive Director, New Product Technology, at Jazz Semiconductor, Newport Beach, CA, managing new technology implementation for programs that include MEMS, Bi/CMOS and Aerospace. Prior to Jazz, David held positions at IMEC, Rockwell Semiconductor & Conexant Systems (1995-2002). David was a remote assignee to SEMATECH (1998), participates in DARPA programs, and is a member of the ITRS wireless working group.
Edward Preisler, PhD, Manager SiGe Device Group at Jazz Semiconductor, CA. Ed received his B.S. E.E. 1998 University of California San Diego, Ph. D. Applied Physics 2003 California Institute of Technology, and was a Post Doctoral Fellow, IBM T.J. Watson Laboratory, 2003-2004. In addition to SiGe BiPolar devices and RF CMOS, Ed has experience in High K / Single Crystalline Oxide Dielectrics, Antimonide Avalanche Photodiodes, Germanium-on-Insulator Processing and Devices. Ed is a member of the ITRS Wireless Roadmap Bipolar Device Committee and IEEE BCTM Process Technology Committee.
Host: Prof. Hashemi
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Andrew Mackay, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, USC
Talk Title: Drug delivery using environmentally responsive polypeptides
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium
Mon, Oct 18, 2010 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Vince Conitzer, Duke University
Talk Title: Computational Methods for Acting Strategically
Abstract: Abstract:
Game theory concerns settings where multiple self-interested agents (e.g., people or software agents) interact in the same environment. It attempts to describe the actions that rational strategic agents will take. Many successful real-world applications of game theory are in the context of designing a system or mechanism, for example, the design of the auctions used by major search engines to allocate advertisement slots. Game theory can be used to optimize the design, taking the strategic behavior of the agents (bidders) into account.
However, a different type of application of game theory is to design a decision support tool for one of the agents in the game. For example, we may wish to help a security force to allocate its resources strategically to defend against an attacker. Because the details of the strategic setting will vary across time and across users, computational considerations are paramount: we need algorithms that can take arbitrary games as input. Moreover, due to the ambiguities of game theory, it is not clear that we can restrict attention to a single computational problem. For example, an algorithm for computing a single Nash equilibrium may not be satisfactory if there is a better equilibrium that we might reach, or if there is concern that the other agent will not play the same equilibrium.
In this talk, I present algorithms and complexity results for a variety of computational problems in game theory, and discuss them in the context of how they can help an agent act (more) strategically.
Biography: Vincent Conitzer is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Economics at Duke University. He received Ph.D. (2006) and M.S. (2003) degrees in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and an A.B. (2001) degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University. His research focuses on computational aspects of microeconomics, in particular game theory, mechanism design, voting/social choice, and auctions. This work uses techniques from, and includes applications to, artificial intelligence and multiagent systems. Conitzer has received a CAREER award, a Sloan fellowship, the inaugural Victor Lesser dissertation award, an honorable mention for the ACM dissertation award, and several awards for papers and service at the AAAI and AAMAS conferences.
Host: Prof. Milind Tambe
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - Audi
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Oct 19, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. David Lomet, Microsoft Research
Talk Title: Multi-Version Concurrency via Timestamp Range Conflict Management
Abstract:
A database supporting multiple versions needs to distinguish these versions to determine which versions a transaction can read. By using timestamps as fine granularity, ordered and non-dense version identifiers, the effects of transaction access conflicts and the ordering the conflicts imposes on transactions can be captured in a transaction timestamp range. Using these ranges as constraints often permits concurrent access where conventional concurrency control would block. Blocking can also be an alternative where earlier multi-version techniques required an abort. Timestamp ranges together with the form of conflict can determine the response, concurrent access, blocking, or abort. Further, when blocking is possible, timestamp ranges can be used to conservatively find deadlocks without graph based cycle detection. Thus, multi-version support can enhance the performance of access to current time data via improved concurrency, while supporting transaction time functionality.
Biography:
David Lomet has been a principal researcher and manager of the Database Group at Microsoft Research, Redmond since 1995. Before that, he spent seven years at Digital Equipment Corporation, mainly at Cambridge Research Lab. Earlier, he was a research staff member at IBM Research in Yorktown and subsequently a Professor at Wang Institute. Dr. Lomet spent a sabbatical at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne working with Brian Randell. He has a Ph.D in Computer Science from Univ. of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Lomet has done research and product engineering in machine architecture, programming languages, and distributed systems. He is most known for his work in database systems and is one of the inventors of the transaction concept. His database work has focussed on access methods, concurrency control, and recovery. He has published over 100 papers and holds over 40 patents. He has twice been an author of SIGMOD "best papers".
Dr. Lomet has served on many program committees, including SIGMOD, VLDB, and ICDE. He has been FODO'93 PC chair, ICDE'2000 PC co-chair, VLDB'2006 Core Track Chair, and ICDE'2001 conference co-chair. Dr. Lomet has been editor-in-chief of the Data Engineering Bulletin since 1992, and was awarded the SIGMOD Contributions Award for this. He has been an editor of ACM Transactions on Database Systems, the VLDB Journal, and the Journal of Distributed and Parallel Databases. He is on the VLDB Endowment Board, the IEEE TCDE Executive Committee , and has served on the ICDE Steering Committee. Dr. Lomet is a Fellow of AAAS, ACM, and IEEE.
Host: Prof. Shahram Ghandeharizadeh
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Computation Over Networks
Wed, Oct 20, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nikhil Karamchandani, University of California at San Diego
Talk Title: Computation Over Networks
Abstract: The general problem of computation over networks can be used to model many different scenarios, ranging from environmental monitoring to intrusion detection. The goal in such problems is to design efficient schemes for computing different target functions over various network topologies.
In the first part of the talk, we will model the problem as a generalization of ânetwork codingâ and attempt to characterize the maximum ârate of computationâ. A cut-based upper bound is proposed and we study the tightness of this bound for different target functions and network topologies.
The second part of the talk will focus on a model more suitable for real dynamic networks. In such networks, it is infeasible to continuously adapt the operations at all nodes according to the changing network topology or demand function. Hence, we will restrict most nodes in the network to always perform the same operation (in particular, randomized linear network coding) and only some nodes will change operations depending on the the current target function/topology. We will study efficient computation schemes for different functions in this model.
Biography: Nikhil Karamchandani received the B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2005, the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at San Diego in 2007, and is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego. His research interests are in communication theory and include network coding, information theory, and random graphs. He received the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CalIT2) fellowship in 2005.
Host: Alex Dimakis
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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A new solution for an old-age problem: biosolids as a renewable energy resource
Wed, Oct 20, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Homayoun Moghaddam, Division Manager and Director, Regulatory Affairs of the City of Los Angeles. Dept. of Public Works
Talk Title: A new solution for an old-age problem: biosolids as a renewable energy resource
Abstract: Terminal Island Renewable Energy (T.I.R.E.) Project
The Terminal Island Renewable Energy project (T.I.R.E.) Project is the nation's first and only full scale application of deep well injection technology to convert wastewater residual solids, biosolids into green power while simultaneously sequestering greenhouse gases. The earth's high temperature biodegrades the organic compounds to generate methane for producing renewable energy.
The City of Los Angeles and it partners, GeoEnvironment Technologies, and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) has embarked on a new innovative technology to convert a valuable organic resource biosolids into clean energy by deep well injection and geothermal biodegradation. The T.I.R.E uses depleted subsurface oil and gas formations where the earthâs high temperature would biodegrade the organic compounds to generate methane gas that can ultimately be used to produce a safe renewable energy. The TIRE project is a five-year demonstration project and has been in operation for over 2 years. So far, large quantities of gallons of bio-slurry which includes wastewater by-products such as brine, treated effluent, digested sludge, and biosolids have been successfully injected. A monitoring system provides real-time data on the subsurface activities, including seismic, to a Technical Advisory Committee for evaluation.
There are the environmental benefits that come from the local subsurface anaerobic treatment and sterilization of biosolids in a confined environment. The biodegradation of the injected biosolids and brine as a slurry ultimately produces methane that is captured to generate green energy, and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, that is sequestered. Also other air contaminants (NOX and CO) are reduced and potentially the discharge of concentrated brine to the Los Angeles harbor is eliminated.
The T.I.R.E. project provides an innovative solution to an environmental challenge, while simultaneously providing economic and environmental benefits. The project outcomes are a diversified biosolids management program that saves money while producing positive environmental results. The project improves air quality, protects water quality, and reduces the greenhouse gases. The most important achievement of TIRE project is introducing an innovative way to utilize wastewater treatment byproducts as a renewable resource in an environmentally safe manner.
Biography: Homayoun R. Moghaddam, Ph.D.
â¢30 years of experience in the areas of power, refinery, gas plants, water & wastewater, biomass, biogas, renewable energy technologies, climate change and Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) issue, air quality and biosolids management, and regulatory and legislative affairs.
â¢27 years with the City of Los Angeles. Started his City career with the Department of Building & Safety. Promoted to Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power, and has been with the Department
Currently: Division Manager and Director of Regulatory Affairs of the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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AME Seminar
Wed, Oct 20, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Harry Dankowicz , Associate Professor, Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Talk Title: Friction-Induced Reverse Chatter in Rigid-Body Mechanisms with Impacts
Abstract: This talk reviews recent work on the possibility of formulating a consistent and unambiguous forward-simulation model of rigid-body mechanical systems with isolated points of intermittent or sustained frictional contact. The analysis considers paradoxical ambiguities associated with the coexistence of sustained contact and one or several alternative forward trajectories that include phases of free-flight motion. The presentation documents the original discovery of an apparently irresolvable, infinitely degenerate ambiguity known as reverse chatterâa transition to free flight through an infinite sequence of impacts with impact times accumulating from the right on a limit point and with impact velocities diverging exponentially away from the limit point, even where the contact-independent normal acceleration supports sustained contact. The conclusions of the theoretical analysis are illustrated through everyday examples of chattering contact.
Biography: Harry Dankowicz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has held faculty positions in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and in the Department of Mechanics at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. He received his M.S. degree (1991) in Engineering Physics from KTH; and his Ph.D. degree (1995) in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics with minors in Mathematics and Astronomy from Cornell University. Prof. Dankowicz is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including a Junior Individual Grant from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from NSF. As director of the Applied Dynamics Laboratory at UIUC, he conducts dynamical systems research at the intersection of engineering, math and physics. This work involves studying a wide range of complex systems that are governed by differential equations and learning the behavior of those systems through theory and experiments. His research efforts further seek to make original and substantial contributions to the development and design of existing or novel devices that capitalize on system nonlinearities for improved system performance.
Host: Dr. E. Kanso
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - , Room 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Oct 21, 2010 @ 03:30 AM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Eric Wohlstadter , University of British Columbia
Talk Title: Object-Oriented Middleware for Offline Web Applications
Abstract: Recent advances in Web browser technology have led to interest for development of offline Web applications. Offline Web applications make use of persistent data stored on a clientùs local machine to allow for disconnected operation. Disconnected operation has been studied previously in the context of network file systems, object-oriented databases, and distributed object systems. However, previous work does not always apply to the unique software architecture of the browser programming environment. For this reason we have investigated object persistence middleware which meets the design challenges of this environment. In this talk, two specific technical challenges will be described: first, the event-driven architecture of the browser runtime and second, handling the dynamic nature of the JavaScript programming language.
First, traditional systems for disconnected operation rely heavily on lazy object loading (similarly, page faulting). However, the synchronous RPC mechanisms required by lazy loading are well known to be impractical in a Web browser (giving rise to the well known Ajax model). In this talk, I will describe the design of a persistent object-oriented programming model suited for the asynchronous browser environment.
Second, dynamic languages such as JavaScript are schema-less which complicates the mapping of objects to physical storage. Furthermore, such languages allow the runtime binding of first-class function instances as object methods. This complicates object persistence since function instance closures become part of the state of an object. In this talk, I will describe a JavaScript program source transformation we have developed that enables full support for the semantics of the JavaScript data model in our middleware.
Biography: Eric Wohlstadter is an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia. He received a PhD from the University of California, Davis (2005). His research interests include middleware systems, software architecture, dynamic program analysis, and aspect-oriented programming.
Host: Prof. Nenad Medvidovic
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Symposium in Memory of Professor Teh Fu
Thu, Oct 21, 2010 @ 08:30 AM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: International and Domestic Guests,
Talk Title: International Symposium on Advances in Sustainable Environment in Memory of Professor Teh Fu Yen
Host: Viterbi School of Engineering and Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: By Invitation
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Computing with Words
Fri, Oct 22, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. LoftiZadeh, Professor and Director of the Berkeley Initiative in Soft Computing (BISC)
Abstract: Computing with Words (CW or CWW) is a system of computation which offers an important capability that traditional systems of computation do not haveâa capability to compute with information described in a natural language. In the main, CW is concerned with solution of problems which are stated in a natural language. The importance of CW derives from the fact that much of human knowledge is perception-based and is described in a natural language.
CW has important applications to decision analysis, question-answering systems, system modeling, specification and optimization, and mechanization of natural language understanding. Basically, CW opens the door to a wide-ranging enlargement of the role of natural languages in scientific theories.
Biography: LOTFI A. ZADEH is an alumnus of the University of Tehran, MIT and Columbia University. His earlier work was concerned in the main with systems analysis, decision analysis and information systems. His current research is focused on fuzzy logic, computing with words and soft computing, which is a coalition of fuzzy logic, neurocomputing, evolutionary computing, probabilistic computing and parts of machine learning. Lotfi Zadeh is a Fellow of the IEEE, AAAS, ACM, AAAI, and IFSA. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences, the Polish Academy of Sciences, Korean Academy of Science & Technology, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the International Academy of Systems Studies, Moscow and the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. He is a recipient of many medals and awards as well as twenty âfive honorary doctorates. He has published extensively on a wide variety of subjects relating to the conception, design and analysis of information/intelligent systems, and is serving on the editorial boards of over seventy journals.
*Also, a link to a video clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ScTwFCcXGo&NR=1&feature=fvwp
*Kindly confirm your attendance as refreshments will be provided: cisoft@vsoe.usc.edu
Host: The Center for Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft.usc.edu) and the Center for Geothermal Studies (CGS.usc.edu) jointly host
Location: Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Memorial Hall (of Philosophy) (MHP) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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USC PSOC Monthly Seminar Series
Fri, Oct 22, 2010 @ 11:30 AM - 01:15 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Joel S. Brown, Ph.D.,, oel S. Brown, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
Talk Title: Game Theory and the Evolutionary Ecology of Cancer
Abstract: Cancer can be viewed as the evolution of a new life form. It is invasive, single-celled, and asexual. This new life formâs population grows, spreads, evolves, speciates and exhibits many of the characteristic of the history of life on our planet --- except for the devastating consequences for the patient. This life form has an ecology. Its habitats are organs and tissues. Cancer cells must forage for nutrients, avoid hazards. As ecological engineers they may shape and modify their environs. Cancer cells are subject to evolution by natural selection. They adapt to changing nutrient and habitat circumstances. They likely speciate into diverse forms and undergo adaptive radiations as they fill available ânichesâ. Finally, as we treat cancer, tumor cells evolve avoidance behaviors and resistance mechanisms, just like pest species.
I will discuss how game theory and the principles of population ecology may provide a useful framework for thinking about and modeling cancer. Life is a game. Cancer is no different. Evolutionary game theory may be the appropriate approach to understanding the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of cancer. A hallmark of game theory is the study of adaptations in the context of the heritable phenotypes of others, their population sizes, and habitat circumstances. The talk shall unfold with a little natural selection, discussion of cancer as an evolutionary game and then applications of this framework to models of cancer as an invasive species, and models of the evolution of treatment resistance.
Biography: Joel S. Brown, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
Host: Dr. Parag Mallick, Center for Applied Molecular Medicine
Location: May Ormerod Harris Hall, Quinn Wing & Fisher Gallery (HAR) - Harkness Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yvonne Suarez
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Pi Tau Sigma AME Faculty Student Forum
Fri, Oct 22, 2010 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract: This will be an event in which AME faculty discuss core and design electives that can be taken to satisfy a degree requirement. If you have ever had trouble trying to figure out which electives to take, come to this event! Professors will be explaining what their courses actually cover, which is something that the course guide or the course title don't always convey. Registration for classes next semester begins on October 27th, so this is the perfect opportunity for you to figure out which classes to take.
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Jason Walker
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Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Oct 22, 2010 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Portia Peters, Environments, Test and Assesment Department, The Aerospace Corporation
Talk Title: Assuring Space Mission Success: Acoustics, Vibration, and Shock Testing
Host: W.V.T Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Math Finance Colloquium
Fri, Oct 22, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Magill, Department of Economics, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Reforming Capitalism
Abstract: Sounds radical in a sense it is: it argues from my earlier work on incomplete markets that applying the state of nature approach to describing uncertainty for corporations (the standard approach of finance) can be shown to be inappropriate, indeed largely meaningless. Instead we should adopt a more realistic statistical approach i.e. think of the outcome of production as a random variable described by its probability distribution over the possible outputs (at date 1) where the distribution is influenced by the investment made by the firm at date 0. This apparently innocent change has a major impact on what the firm should do, since its investment decision now has an external effect on its employees and consumers. The paper shows in the simplest setting how stochastic general equilibrium theory with production has to be altered when we replace the standard Arrow-Debreu approach by this probability approach. It shows that we are led to a major revision of the theory of corporate governance, the standard theory of operating a corporation in the best interest of its shareholder by maximizing its profit, is replaced by a stakeholder theory of the corporation in which the firm must also take into account the interests of its workers and consumers.
Host: Math Finance
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - Room 414
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Six Sigma Black Belt
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, TBA
Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt
Abstract: Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIEâs Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.
Host: USC VSoE Professional Programs
More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htmAudiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Donald Arnold, Department of Biological Sciences, USC
Talk Title: An actin/myosin-based model for targeting of polarized proteins in neurons
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: BME graduate students, Faculty, contact department if interested (213-740-7237)
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Colloquium
Mon, Oct 25, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Janusz Marecki, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Talk Title: Playing in the Dark: On Solving Single/Multistage Bayesian Stackelberg Games with Unknown Player Preferences
Abstract: Recent years have seen a rise in interest in applying game theoretic methods to real world domains such as public surveillance or infrastructure security wherein one player (the leader) chooses a strategy to commit to and waits for the other player (the follower) to respond. In arriving at optimal leader strategies in these domains, of critical importance is the leader's ability to act, often over prolonged periods of time, despite its limited knowledge of the preferences of the follower. In this talk I will first present a suite of efficient algorithms for solving single-stage Bayesian Stackelberg Games with distributional uncertainty over follower payoffs. I will then describe an efficient sampling based algorithm for solving multi-stage Bayesian Stackelberg Games where follower payoffs can initially be unknown. Finally, I will discuss the limitations of the proposed algorithms, in light of the novel business applications of Bayesian Stackelberg Games.
Biography: Janusz Marecki is a research staff member at the mathematical sciences department at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. Janusz obtained his Ph.D in artificial intelligence form from University of Southern California and Dr.Sc in mathematical modeling from State Scientific and Research Institute of Information Infrastructure in Ukraine. Prior to joining IBM Research, Janusz was a research assistant at the European Laboratory for Nuclear Research, a research associate at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and a lecturer at the Academy of Computer Sciences in Poland. His research interests are in reasoning under uncertainty in single/multiagent systems with an emphasis on planning with continuous resources in stochastic environments. He is an author of over 80 refereed publications and four patents.
Host: Dr. Milind Tambe
Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 223
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Six Sigma Black Belt
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, TBA
Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt
Abstract: Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIEâs Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.
Host: USC VSoE Professional Programs
More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htmAudiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm
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Game Theory & Human Behavior (GTHB) Seminar Series (http://gthb.usc.edu/)
Tue, Oct 26, 2010 @ 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Matthew O Jackson, Eberle Professor of Economics/Stanford University
Talk Title: Network Patterns of Favor Exchange
Abstract: RSPV: Please email Helen Pitts by early Monday morning so she has a headcount for lunch.
We examine the exchange of favors when any two individuals in a society interact too infrequently to sustain exchange, but where the threat of losing multiple relationships can sustain exchange. We show that networks of favor exchange that are robust, in that deleted relationships only result in a local loss of favor exchange, are such that all links are "supported": Each pair of individuals exchanging favors have a common friend with whom they also exchange favors. We then examine a unique data set consisting of detailed social networks in 77 different rural villages in southern India to test the game theoretic predictions. We find levels of `support' that are consistent with the theory and significantly higher than a standard `clustering' measure.
We also find significantly higher support in favor networks than purely social networks.
Biography: Matthew O. Jackson is the Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford (1988) and a B.A. from Princeton (1984), and served on the faculties of Northwestern University and Caltech before joining Stanford in 2006.
Jackson's research includes studies of social and economic networks, including game-theoretic studies of network formation, studies of the role of social networks in labor markets, social learning and diffusion, homophily, social mobility, friendship formation, and favor exchange, .
He has also made contributions to game theory, mechanism design and implementation theory, the study of war and conflict, and political economy.
Jackson is a fellow of the Econometric Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received the Social Choice and Welfare Prize and Arrow Prize, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and from the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences. He is co-editor of Games and Economic Behavior and has served on the boards of Econometrica and the Journal of Economic Theory, and serves on the councils of the Society for Social Choice and Welfare, the Econometric Society, and the Game Theory Society.
Home page: http://www.stanford.edu/~jacksonm
Location: Elvon & Mabel Musick Law Building (center) (LAW) - Room 103
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Six Sigma Black Belt
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, TBA
Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt
Abstract: Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIEâs Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.
Host: USC VSoE Professional Programs
More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htmAudiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm
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METRANS SEMINAR SERIES
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Konstantinos Psounis , Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, USC
Talk Title: Efficient Routing in Vehicular Networks
Abstract: Vehicular ad hoc networks have received attention in recent years for two main reasons. First, there are a number of real-life applications that become possible in the presence of such an ad-hoc infrastructure, such as increasing road safety by reducing the number of accidents as well as reducing their impact in case of non-avoidable accidents, improving local traffic flow and efficiency of road traffic, and offering comfort and business applications to drivers and passengers. Second, it is now technically possible to build such a network. Recent developments in radios, coupled with significant research work in the area of mobile ad-hoc networks, make it likely to build such applications within 5 to 10 years.
While there has been significant effort to define applications, there are still technical challenges that need to be resolved. Perhaps the hardest is how to achieve communication in an environment where network nodes (vehicles) move so fast that the very concept of a wireless link between two nodes is meaningless for time scales larger than a few seconds, and where the density of the nodes can vary drastically, making the network intermittently connected.
To address this challenge, we propose using a new approach of routing that is tailored to the needs of vehicular ad hoc networks, termed mobility-assisted routing. In this seminar, we will introduce you to this new routing.
Wed. Oct. 27| Noon Lunch | 12:20pm Seminar | Lewis Hall(RGL) Rm 209
*Lunch will be provided for RSVPs. Please arrive at 12:00 pm
for lunch. The seminar will start promptly at 12:20 pm.
RSVP*Shawn Gong, TGong@usc.edu by Noon, Tuesday. October 26
Biography: Konstantinos Psounis (PhD in Electrical Engineering, Stanford) is an associate professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at USC. He models and analyzes the performance of a variety of networks, including the Internet, mobile ad hoc networks, delay and disruptive tolerant networks, sensor networks, mesh networks, peer to peer networks, and the web. He also designs methods and algorithms to solve problems related to such systems.
Dr. Psounis is the author of more than 60 research papers on these topics and has served on the TPC of many conferences. He has received faculty awards from NSF, CISCO Systems, the METRANS transportation center, and the Zumberge foundation, was a Stanford graduate fellow throughout his graduate studies, and received the National Technical University of Athens best-student award for graduating first in his class. He is a senior member of both IEEE and ACM.
Host: METRANS
Location: Ralph And Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL) - Room 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Wind Integration ----By All Means Available
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Eilyan Bitar, Graduate Student, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract:
There is an increasing interest in renewable energy production both from economic, security and environmental perspectives. The State of California has set a target of thirty-three percent penetration from all renewable sources by 2020. Wind energy will play a key role in realizing such aggressive targets. At today's modest (order one percent) penetration levels, wind energy is integrated into the grid by legislative fiat. At deep penetration levels called for, integration of utility-scale wind production into the electricity grid poses serious engineering and market challenges. These are due to the variability, intermittency, and uncontrollability of wind power. In this talk we investigate ways to use a portfolio of available means to achieve deep penetration of wind generation in the current grid. This portfolio includes co-located storage, fast-acting local production, optimized contracts, novel market instruments, and improved forecasting. We introduce a linear programming formulation that enables us to study sensitivities and conduct parametric studies. We argue that co-located storage has a marginal economic utility of approximately 17 MW-hours-per-day for each MW-hour of storage. Our studies suggest that it will become necessary to waste some produced wind energy (when production is lower than thirty percent of nameplate capacity) to permit reliable servicing of electricity contracts. This is due to the difficulty associated with forecasting produced power at low wind levels. Finally, we suggest the use of risk-limiting contracts to achieve firming of wind-power. In these auditable contracts, the producer receives a short reprieve which enables them to offer power predictably by avoiding ramp times. We conclude by discussing how variability risk should be shared among participants in an electricity network while respecting security constraints.
Biography: Eilyan Bitar is a fifth-year doctoral student at U.C. Berkeley working towards the completion of a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Statistics. He received his B.S. from U.C. Berkeley in 2006, where his research focused primarily on the control of reacting flow fields. Currently, his research interests include complex networks, stochastic optimal control and optimization, sequential Monte-Carlo methods, and game theory with applications in renewable energy systems, the electric power grid, electricity markets, energy storage, and wind power forecasting.
Host: Dr. Roger Ghanem
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anita Penkova , Postdoctoral Research Associate
Talk Title: Fluid Dynamics and Transport in the Posterior Segment of the Eye
Abstract: The fluid and solute transport in the posterior segment of the eye (vitreous humor and retina) takes place by complex transport mechanisms and processes which have not been fully examined and quantitatively explained in either healthy or diseased eyes. Among the goals of the ongoing research is to develop mathematical models based on experimental data for ocular fluid flow with twofold objectives: (1) to understand the fluid dynamics and transport in healthy and diseased eyes; and (2) to effectively deliver drug-based treatment for the latter. To effectively transport drugs to the retinal area, the transport mechanisms need to be understood and the relevant transport parameters (such as permeabilities and diffusion constants) in the various components of this highly complex structure need to be measured and quantified. To fully model the transport processes, the permeability of the RPE (retinal pigment epithelium) under various circumstances needs to be measured. While a healthy eye maintains a steady and well-regulated flow of fluids throughout the system, diseases can cause disruption to this process. Diseases such as diabetic retinopathy (DR) can cause partial blockage of the RPE and subsequent swelling due to fluid accumulation in the affected regions accompanied by vision impairment. The ongoing research includes the creation of DR conditions by exposing a bovine eye to 25 mM glucose for 24 hours, and measuring the permeability of the RPE together with an eye treated in 5.5 mM glucose as a control. With current experiments, it has been observed that exposure to glucose increases the transepithelial resistance, indicating some suppression of ionic pumping. These procedures are also being conducted for based experimentally grown fetal RPE cells (in-vitro).
Other interesting areas, particularly for drug delivery, include the transport in an aged human eye for which the vitreous humor has a heterogeneous character (gel and liquid) that complicates the mathematical modeling. While the gel may be treated as a porous medium described by Darcy flow, the remaining portion has to be modeled as Stokes flow. The current research on ocular drug delivery includes the modeling of transport through this complex structure and an experimentally-based development of the boundary conditions where the vitreous humor contacts the retina, the lens and the hyaloid, together with continuity conditions at the gel-liquid interfac
Host: Professor Satwindar Sadhal
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/10-27-10-penkova.shtmlLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - Room 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/10-27-10-penkova.shtml
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Six Sigma Black Belt
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, TBA
Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt
Abstract: Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIEâs Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.
Host: USC VSoE Professional Programs
More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htmAudiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Oct 28, 2010 @ 12:45 PM - 01:50 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Jane P. Chang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering University of California - Los Angeles
Talk Title: Synthesis and Integration of Multifunctional Oxide Materials
Abstract: The demand of engineering metal oxide thin films at an atomic level has grown immensely due to their versatile applications in numerous technologically advanced fields including microelectronics, optoelectronics, photonics, spintronics, energy storage devices and sensors. In this talk, I will discuss current research advances in atomic layer deposition for synthesizing multicomponent and multifunction metal oxides with tailored electronic, chemical, interfacial, thermal properties and microstructures. Specifically, I will highlight our most recent research on the engineering of oxide thin films and their patterning, for their applications in high speed electronics, optoelectronics and energy storage devices.
Biography: Dr. Jane P. Chang is a Professor and the William F. Seyer Chair in Materials Electrochemistry in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UCLA. She is also the Associate Dean of Research and Physical Resources at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UCLA. She received her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from National Taiwan University in 1993, and her M.S. and Ph. D. degrees, both in Chemical Engineering, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1995 and 1998, respectively. She was a postdoctoral member of technical staff at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, from 1998 to 1999, prior to joining UCLA.
Her research focuses on the synthesis and chemical processing of novel and multifunctional materials, atomistic understanding of solid state interfaces, and their applications in microelectronics, optoelectronics, microsensors, and energy storage devices. Specifically, her research group studies the synthesis of metal oxide thin films and nanostructures with tailored electronic, chemical, and thermal properties by novel atomic layer controlled thermal, radical, and plasma enhanced deposition techniques and hydrothermal processing, develops highly selective plasma etching processes for patterning nano-metered thin films, designs and develops micro chemical sensors and engineers the multi-component oxide materials needed in various energy storage devices. In addition, her research group integrates the experimental and first-principle theoretical approaches to elucidate the fundamental physical and chemical origins of superior material and electronic properties.
She is the author of more than 80 journal publications, including a book and a book chapter, holds 4 U.S. patents, and has given more than 100 invited presentations at many international conferences, academic institutions, and industry throughout the world. She received the Faculty Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation in 2000, a Chancellorâs Career Development Award from UCLA in 2000, the Young Investigator Award from the Office of Navel Research in 2003, and the AVS Peter Mark Award in 2005. She also received the TRW Excellence in Teaching Award in 2002 and the Professor of the Year Award from the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at UCLA in 2003, 2004, and 2009.
Host: Gupta
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/d-10-28-10.htmLocation: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/d-10-28-10.htm
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Six Sigma Black Belt
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, TBA
Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt
Abstract: Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIEâs Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.
Host: USC VSoE Professional Programs
More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htmAudiences: Registered Attendees
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm
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Automatic Modulation Classification
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor A. K. Nandi, The University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Talk Title: Automatic Modulation Classification
Abstract: Automatic modulation classification (AMC) attempts to determine the modulation of a received radio signal in the baseband. This has civil and military as well as covert and overt applications. For example, AMC is an essential part of a software defined radio (SDR) system. There has been a long tradition of various research directions in AMC. Most of the methods fall into two approaches. One is called decision theoretic; the maximum likelihood is one such approach when one knows the underlying probability density distribution. It can also be regarded as a classification problem and machine-learning methods can be adapted as long as one discovers some useful features. In this seminar I shall present the nature of the problem, offer some existing ways to explore it, and review some of the results obtained so far. It is still a topic of current interest.
Biography: Professor Asoke K. Nandi received the degree of Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge (Trinity College), Cambridge, U.K., in 1979. Since March 1999 he has been at the University of Liverpool and holds the David Jardine Chair of Signal Processing. Currently, he is interested in the areas of machine learning for signal processing, evolutionary algorithms, signal classification, bio-medical signal processing, and communications research. He has authored or co-authored over 400 technical publications, including two books and over 170 journal papers. Professor Nandi is a Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society for Arts, and the British Computer Society.
Host: Professor Sanjit Mitra
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Engineering Honors Colloquium
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Marc Rayman, Dawn Chief Engineer and Mission Manager, JPL
Talk Title: Now Flying Through a Solar System Near You: NASAâs Dawn Mission to the Asteroid Belt
Host: W.V.T Rusch Engineering Honors Program
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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Integrated Systems Seminar Series
Fri, Oct 29, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Babak Daneshrad, UCLA
Talk Title: Research Stemming from the Development of a MIMO OFDM Testbed
Host: Prof. Hashemi
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
