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Events for October 26, 2018
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Transfer Day - Morning Session
Fri, Oct 26, 2018 @ 09:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
TRANSFER DAY FEATURES: A presentation from Viterbi Admission, Campus Tours, Academic Department Visits, and more!
If you have questions about engineering and the transfer process then Transfer Day is for you. Transfer Day is a half-day comprehensive program designed to give you the most in-depth look at the transfer process and academic life at USC. Specifically, the program includes presentations on the admission process, transfer credit policy, academics, financial aid. You will also have the opportunity to visit an academic department or take a campus tour. Reservations are required.Location: USC Admission Office
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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CS Colloquium: Barna Saha (University of Massachusetts Amherst) - Efficient Fine-Grained Algorithms
Fri, Oct 26, 2018 @ 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Barna Saha, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Talk Title: Efficient Fine-Grained Algorithms
Series: Computer Science Colloquium
Abstract: One of the greatest successes of computational complexity theory is the classification of countless fundamental computational problems into polynomial-time and NP-hard ones, two classes that are often referred to as tractable and intractable, respectively. However, this crude distinction of algorithmic efficiency is clearly insufficient when handling today's large scale of data. We need a finer-grained design and analysis of algorithms that pinpoints the exact exponent of polynomial running time, and a better understanding of when a speed-up is not possible. Over the years, many polynomial-time approximation algorithms were devised as an approach to bypass the NP-hardness obstacle of many discrete optimization problems. This area has developed into a rich field producing many algorithmic ideas and has lead to major advances in computational complexity. So far, however, a similar theory for high polynomial time problems to understand the trade-off between quality and running time is vastly lacking.
In this presentation, I will give you an overview of the newly growing field of fine-grained algorithms and complexity, and my contributions therein. This will include fundamental problems such as edit distance computation, all-pairs shortest paths, parsing and matrix multiplication. They have applications ranging from genomics to statistical natural language processing, machine learning and optimization. I will show how as a natural byproduct of improved time complexity, one may design algorithms that are highly parallel as well as streaming algorithms with sublinear space complexity. Finally, motivated by core machine learning applications, I will discuss alternative measures of efficiency that may be equally relevant as time complexity.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Barna Saha is currently an Assistant Professor in the College of Information & Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is also a Permanent Member of Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) at Rutgers. Before joining UMass in 2014, she was a Research Scientist at AT&T Shannon Laboratories, New Jersey. She spent four wonderful years (2007-2011) at the University of Maryland College Park from where she received her Ph.D. in Computer Science. In Fall 2015, she was at the University of California Berkeley as a Visiting Scholar and as a fellow of the Simons Institute. Her research interests include Theoretical Computer Science, Probabilistic Method & Randomized Algorithms and Large Scale Data Analytics. She is the recipient of NSF CAREER award (2017), Google Faculty Award (2016), Yahoo Academic Career Enhancement Award (2015), Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship (2015), NSF CRII Award (2015) and Dean's Dissertation Fellowship (2011). She received the best paper award at the Very Large Data Bases Conference (VLDB) 2009 for her work on Probabilistic Databases and was chosen as finalists for best papers at the IEEE Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE) 2012 for developing new techniques to handle low quality data.
Host: David Kempe
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Computer Science Department
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BME seminars
Fri, Oct 26, 2018 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Leo Q. Wan, Ph.D., Associate Professor Department of Biomedical Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY
Talk Title: Cellular Asymmetry in Development and Disease
Abstract: Cell Chirality in Development and Disease: Cell chirality (also known as handedness and left-right (LR) asymmetry) is an intrinsic capability of the cell telling left from right. The development of the vertebrate body plan with left-right asymmetry requires the emerging chiral morphogenesis at multicellular levels at specific embryonic stages. Changes in orientation of the LR axis due to genetic or environmental factors can lead to malformations and disease. However, the concept of cell chirality has been recognized, but never studied in detail until the recent development of novel engineering tools. In my lab, we demonstrate that the cultivation of cells on micropatterned 2D surfaces and in 3D graded hydrogels reveals an intrinsic cellular LR asymmetry, which is dependent of cell phenotype and actin cytoskeleton. With these new tools, we examine the role of cell chirality on the development of cardiac LR asymmetry as well as the barrier function of endothelium layers. We find that Protein Kinase C (PKC) activation reverses the inherent chirality from clockwise to counter clockwise in engineering systems. Interestingly, activation of PKC signaling reverses the directional bias of chick cardiac C-looping. Mediating endothelial cell chirality can regulate the permeability of endothelial layers. Overall, our results strongly suggest critical roles of cell chirality in cardiovascular development and disease.
Biography: Dr. Leo Q. Wan is an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. His research interests focus on understanding physical biology in tissue development and regeneration, and include Tissue Morphogenesis, Stem Cell Mechanobiology, and Functional Tissue Engineering. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China. After completing his PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University in 2007, he became a postdoctoral scientist in the area of Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering. Leo is a Pew scholar (Class 2013), and a recipient of the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, National Science Foundation Early Career Award, American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant, and the March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award.
Host: Keyue Shen, PhD
More Information: Leo Wan Flier.pdf
Location: 145a
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Transfer Day - Afternoon Session
Fri, Oct 26, 2018 @ 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
TRANSFER DAY FEATURES: A presentation from Viterbi Admission, Campus Tours, Academic Department Visits, and more!
If you have questions about engineering and the transfer process then Transfer Day is for you. Transfer Day is a half-day comprehensive program designed to give you the most in-depth look at the transfer process and academic life at USC. Specifically, the program includes presentations on the admission process, transfer credit policy, academics, financial aid. You will also have the opportunity to visit an academic department or take a campus tour. Reservations are required.Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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W.V.T. RUSCH ENGINEERING HONORS COLLOQUIUM
Fri, Oct 26, 2018 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Michael H. Dickinson, California Institute of Technology, Division of Biology and Biological Engineering
Talk Title: Using the Brain of a Modern Fly to Reconstruct the Behaviors of an Ancient Word
Host: EHP and Dr. Prata
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amanda McCraven
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Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Seminar - 11th Annual Spitzer Lecture
Fri, Oct 26, 2018 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Philip Kim, Department of Physics and Applied Physics, Harvard Univer
Talk Title: Stacking Atomic Layers: Quest for New Materials and Physics
Abstract: Modern electronics has been heavily relied on the technology to confine electrons in the interface layers of semiconductors. In recent years, scientists discovered that various atomically thin materials including graphene, a single atomic carbon layer, can be isolated. In these atomically thin materials, quantum physics allows electrons to move only in an effective 2-dimensional (2D) space. By stacking these 2D quantum materials, one can also create atomic-scale heterostructures with a wide variety of electronic and optical properties. I will discuss the creation of new heterostructures based on atomically thin materials and emerging new physics with technological implications therein.
Biography: Professor Philip Kim received his B.S in physics at Seoul National University in 1990 and received his Ph. D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 1999. He was Miller Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics from University of California, Berkeley during 1999-2001. In 2002, he joined in Department of Physics at Columbia University as a faculty member. In 2014, he moved to Harvard as Professor of Physics and Professor of Applied Physics. Professor Kim published more than 200 papers in professional journals which are well cited. Many of his papers are published in high impact journals such as Nature, Science and Physical Review Letters. Professor Kim received numerous honors and award including Tomassoni-Chisesi Prizes (2018), Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship (2018), Experimental Investigator in Quantum Materials Award, Moore Foundation (2014), Oliver E. Buckley Prize, American Physical Society (2014), IBM Faculty Award (2009), Ho-Am Science Prize (2008); American Physical Society Fellowship (2007), Columbia University Distinguished Faculty Award (2007). In addition, He has given more than 400 invited presentations as keynote speaker, plenary speakers, and invited speakers in international and domestic conferences, colloquiums and department seminars.
Host: Dr. Jayakanth Ravichandran
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 123
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Karen Woo/Mork Family
