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Events for October 13, 2023

  • ECE-Controls Seminar - Ardalan Vahidi

    ECE-Controls Seminar - Ardalan Vahidi

    Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr Ardalan Vahidi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University

    Talk Title: Energy and Flow Effects of Optimal Automated Driving in Mixed Traffic

    Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) are marketed for their increased safety, driving comfort, and time saving potential. With much easier access to information, increased processing power, and precision control, CAVs also offer unprecedented opportunities for energy efficient driving. This talk highlights the energy saving potential of connected and automated vehicles based on first principles of motion, optimal control theory, and practical examples from our previous and ongoing research. Connectivity to other vehicles and infrastructure allows better anticipation of upcoming events, such as hills, curves, state of traffic signals, and movement of neighboring vehicles. Automation allows vehicles to adjust their motion more precisely in anticipation of upcoming events, and save energy. Opportunities for cooperative driving could further increase energy efficiency of a group of vehicles by allowing them to move in a coordinated manner. Energy efficient motion of connected and automated vehicles could have a harmonizing effect on mixed traffic, leading to additional energy savings for neighboring vehicles.
    Latest analytical and experimental results will be shown on energy and traffic flow impacts attained by anticipation and coordination. The benefits are shown in simulated scenarios and in experiments on a test track where urban and highway conditions are emulated.

    Biography: Ardalan Vahidi is a professor of mechanical engineering at Clemson University, South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2005, M.Sc. in transportation safety from George Washington University, Washington, DC, in 2002, and B.S. and M.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology in 1996 and 1998, respectively. He has held Visiting Scholar positions at the University of California, Berkeley (2012-2013), and University of California, San Diego (2023), and scientific visiting positions at BMW Technology Office in California (2012-2013), and at IFP Energies Nouvelles, in Paris (2017). He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of ASME, and an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. His core expertise is in systems and control and his recent publications span topics in automated and connected mobility, electrified transportation, and modeling and optimization of human performance. His research has been sponsored by US Department of Energy, NSF, US Army, and research labs of BMW, Ford, GM, Cummins, and Eaton.

    Host: Dr Petros Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu

    More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93103284622?pwd=SDg1bVVSMDc1SS84bzdQU1d4TVlVZz09

    More Information: ECE-Controls_Seminar_Announcement.pdf

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: John Diaz

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93103284622?pwd=SDg1bVVSMDc1SS84bzdQU1d4TVlVZz09

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  • Photonics Seminar - Bassem Tossoun, Friday, Oct. 13th at 1:30pm in MCB102

    Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Bassem Tossoun, Hewlett Packard Labs

    Talk Title: Energy-Efficient III-V on Silicon Photonics for Next-Generation AI Accelerators

    Series: Photonics Seminar Series

    Abstract: Deep learning and the availability of large datasets have created a large drive towards new types of hardware capable of executing these algorithms with higher energy-efficiency. Recently, silicon photonics has emerged as a promising hardware platform for neuromorphic computing due to its inherent capability to process linear and non-linear operations and transmit a high bandwidth of data in parallel. At Hewlett Packard Labs, an energy-efficient III-V-on-Silicon photonics platform has been developed as the underlying foundation for innovative neuromorphic computing architectures. The latest research on our silicon photonic computing platform will be presented and discussed.

    Biography: Bassem Tossoun received his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Virginia in 2019 with his research interests including silicon photonics and the design, fabrication, and characterization of optoelectronic devices for data communications. Currently, he is a Senior Research Scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs working on heterogeneously integrated III-V on silicon photonic devices and architectures for next-generation optical computing and communications.

    Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani

    More Information: Bassem Tossoun Flyer.pdf

    Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • Good Enough Control of Robot Swarms

    Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Cameron Nowzari, Assoc. Prof. Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University

    Talk Title: Good Enough Control of Robot Swarms

    Abstract: Deploying massive swarms of robots to solve real-world problems has been a research promise for over 50 years, but even today we still do not see clear paths for how an engineer should design, deploy, and control one million robots simultaneously. This talk challenges the prevailing paradigm adopted by most engineers working on swarms. The key ideas rely on embracing bottom-up self-organization instead of more traditional top-down engineering design methods. We draw many connections to other fields of research beyond STEM and seek novel tools for approaching the robot swarm design problem.

    How do 100 billion neurons in the human brain connected by 100 trillion synapses create intelligence? How can a single CEO manage an organization with 100,000+ employees?
    How much influence does the President of the United States have over the 320+ million people in the country? How does a flock of birds make collective decisions without a leader? How exactly do the actions of the individual agents drive the manifestations of the collective? After showing how similar all these seemingly different examples really are and how pervasive self-organization and emergence are in everyday life, we discuss both the challenges and opportunities that come with predicting and controlling complex systems. Rather than thinking like an engineer, we consider how a chemist, biologist, psychologist, sociologist, or even industrial leader might approach our engineering problem.


    Biography: Dr. Cameron Nowzari is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and director of the CREATE Lab at George Mason University. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in June 2009 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences in Sept 2013 from the University of California, San Diego. He spent three years as a postdoc in the Electrical and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Pennsylvania until joining Mason in 2016. He was with the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a Summer Faculty Fellow in 2019, working with the Aerospace Systems directorate.

    Dr. Nowzari's research interests are highly transdisciplinary in the broad areas of controls, robotics, emergence, and autonomy. His work has applications in a wide number of areas including mobile sensors, autonomous robots, resource allocation, public health and epidemiology, network protection, and marketing campaigns. He has received multiple best paper awards from different venues and his work is currently supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research including a Young Investigator Program Award.



    Host: Gerald Leob

    Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Stephanie Perales

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