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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October
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ENSEMBLE UNCERTAINTY QUANTIFICATION
Tue, Oct 03, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Steven F. Wojtkiewicz
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Minnesota
ykvich@umn.edu Abstract:
This presentation addresses the need for the development of uncertainty quantification algorithms that leverage information from one realization to another. Although the size of the computational models used in many engineering and scientific simulations is extremely large, i.e. millions of equations, the uncertainty to be analyzed is oftentimes very localized to small regions of the model. One example of this manifests itself in a study of the effects of damping in connections between structural dynamic subsystems. While the full analysis model for this system is on the order of a million degrees of freedom, the nodes involved in an uncertainty analysis of the connection is on the order of ten. Here, recent efforts to explore, expand, and develop UQ methods that exploit this localization of uncertainty will be discussed.
Algorithms for linear algebraic and dynamic systems have been developed and will be outlined. In addition, their efficacy will be demonstrated through several examples. These algorithms utilize linear algebra techniques for low rank matrix updates, Sherman-Morrison-Woodbury formulas, and their dynamical analogs. The computational procedure consists of a small number of full system runs, the number of nodes involved in the connections in the abovementioned scenario. The solutions from this small number of runs are then used to construct a solution update procedure where the remaining computation for each realization involves a system solution of this greatly reduced size.
The ratio of the cost of each subsequent realization after these initial calculations to a full system solution is on the order of the ratio of the number of degrees of freedom of the full system model to that involving uncertainty. Thus, one can expect speedups of several orders of magnitude for the subsequent realizations. In addition, the system updates, due to the small systems being solved, can be performed using a wider variety of computing resources.
It is foreseen that the greatly increased number of realizations can be used to obtain greater fidelity in failure assessments (smaller failure probabilities) and/or to address the epistemic uncertainty issue by considering alternate plausible uncertainty models, including interval models, for the parameters being studied.Prof. Steve Wojtkiewicz received his Ph. D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 2000 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After graduating, he joined Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he was a member of the technical staff in the Structural Dynamics Research Department from 2000-2004. He held research appointments at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Southern California before joining the faculty at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Civil Engineering in August 2005. His research interests include the optimization, dynamic analysis and control of large structural systems and the development of uncertainty quantification and validation algorithms for large computational models.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Mechanics of Stretchable Electronics
Wed, Oct 04, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
JOINT SEMINAR with AME and CEEYoung HuangShao Lee Soo ProfessorDepartment of Mechanical and Industrial EngineeringUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignAbstractStretchable electronics is important in the development of next-generation electronics since it has many applications such as portable electronics, flexible display, small optical sensor and compact digital camera, sensors and drive electronics for artificial muscles, structural monitors wrapped around aircraft wings, and surgeon's gloves studded with stretchable sensors that can monitor a patient's vital signs. However, silicon is an intrinsically brittle material and is not stretchable. We have produced a stretchable form of silicon that consists of sub-micrometer single crystal elements structured into shapes with microscale periodic, wave-like geometries (Science, v 311, pp 208-212, 2006). When supported by an elastomeric substrate, this wavy silicon can be reversibly stretched and compressed to large strains without damaging the silicon. The amplitudes and periods of the waves change to accommodate these deformations, thereby avoiding significant strains in the silicon itself. Dielectrics, patterns of dopants, electrodes and other elements directly integrated with the silicon yield fully formed, high performance wavy metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors, pn diodes and other devices for electronic circuits that can be stretched or compressed to similarly large levels of strain. There are many mechanics problems in stretchable electronics, and I will discuss a few in this talk.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - co Neurosciences Bldg. (HNB Auditorium)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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The Health Effects of Combustion-Generated Particles
Wed, Oct 04, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 AM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
JOINT SEMINAR with AME and CEE Speaker:
Ian M. Kennedy
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering
University of California DavisAbstract
The link between exposure to fine particles in the atmosphere and adverse
health effects has been well-established by epidemiological studies. Most of
the fine and ultrafine material of concern derives from combustion sources
and is largely a mixture of elemental and organic carbon, metals, and
inorganic compounds such as sulfates. When inhaled by people, the particles
can be taken-up by cells in the lung. The particles can also penetrate into
the circulatory system and lodge in organs such as the liver and heart. The
mechanism for their impact on health is not entirely understood although the
generation of reactive oxygen species such as the OH radical is a major
focus. The inflammation that can be caused by these reactive species can
exacerbate pre-existing ailments. Combustion conditions in mobile and
stationary sources can affect the reactivity of aerosols and their ability
to generate reactive oxygen species. Combustion conditions can also affect
the speciation of transition metals, the morphology of particles and their
composition, and their size, all parameters that may lead to adverse health
effects. This presentation will review the current state of knowledge about
sources, transport, transformation and fate of fine and ultrafine particles
that arise from combustion sources. The impact of combustion conditions on
the potential for adverse health impacts will be given particular attentionWednesday, Oct. 4th
Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH), Rm 100
3:30 pmRefreshments will be served at 3:15 pmLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - - Room100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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EE-S DISTINGUISHED LECTURER SERIES
Thu, Oct 05, 2006 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
DISTINGUISHED LECTURER SERIES"RECENT ADVANCES IN DIGITAL
PROCESSING OF IMAGES AND AUDIO"Dr. Henrique MalvarDirector of Microsoft ResearchRedmond, WAAbstract:We present an overview of recent developments in audio and visual signal processing at Microsoft Research. We briefly discuss technologies such as enhancement of images from digital cameras (raw demosaicing, interactive tone mapping, denoising), generation and browsing of gigapixel images, recovery of 3-D environments from image sets, and audio denoising, bandwidth extension, and enhancement with microphone arrays. We also present live demos of some of these technologies.Bio:Henrique (Rico) Malvar is a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft, and Director of the Microsoft Research Laboratory in Redmond, WA. He holds a Ph.D. from MIT in Electrical Engineering. Before Joining Microsoft in 1997, he was a Vice President of Research and Advanced Development at PictureTel Corporation, and prior to that he was with the faculty of University of Brasilia for 14 years. As a Director at Microsoft Research, he oversees the activities of several research groups: Adaptive Systems and Interaction, Communication and Collaboration Systems, Data Management, Exploration and Mining, Databases, Interactive Visual Media, Knowledge Tools, Machine Learning and Applied Statistics, Natural Language Processing, Speech Technology, and Text Mining, Search, and Navigation. His technical interests include multimedia signal compression and enhancement, fast algorithms, multi-rate filter banks, and wavelet transforms; he has over 120 publications and 50 patents in those areas. Dr. Malvar is a Fellow of the IEEE, a member of the editorial board of the journal Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, and a former Associate Editor of the journal IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing. He received the Young Scientist Award from the Marconi International Fellowship in 1981, the Best Paper Award in Image Processing from the IEEE Signal Processing Society in 1992, and the 2002 Technical Achievement Award, also from the IEEE SP Society.Host: Prof. Sanjit K. Mitra, (213) 740-2358Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - ontology Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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Total Maximum Daily Loads as a Tool for Environmental Regulation and Improvements in Water Quality
Fri, Oct 06, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. LB Nye
California Regional Water Quality Control Board
Los Angeles RegionAbstractThe calculation and implementation of Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) are an important tool for improving water quality in California. A TMDL is a calculation of the total amount of a pollutant which can be discharged to a waterbody without the waterbody exceeding water quality standards. In the development of a TMDL, that total amount will then be allocated to the various sources of the pollutant and other regulatory tools, such as wastewater discharge permits, will conform to those allocations. While the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972, required the development of TMDLs, that provision of the CWA was largely ignored by the USEPA and States until the 1990s when a series of legal actions focused new attention on the use of TMDLs. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board), one of nine Regional Water Quality Boards of the State of California, has been developing and implementing TMDLs since 2001. TMDLs developed by the Regional Board have addressed metals, pesticides, chloride, pathogenic bacteria and nutrients among other contaminants. The development of TMDLs is both a technical and political process and is rarely straightforward. The Regional Board remains committed to the appropriate use of TMDLs as a tool to effect real improvement in water quality in the Los Angeles Region
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Engineering Honors Colloquium Lecture
Fri, Oct 06, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Engineering Honors Colloquium lecture, speaker TBA
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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Honors Program Colloquium: Visualize This!
Fri, Oct 06, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Engineering Honors Colloquium lecture given by Mr. Kevin Hussey, Lead, Visualization Technology Applications Development at JPL.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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Material Science Seminar
Fri, Oct 06, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
MODELING OF MATERIALS AND CHEMISTRY AT EXTREME CONDITIONSDr. Sergey Zybin
California Institute of TechnologyFundamental physics and chemistry of materials behavior in extreme conditions are important for understanding material transformation and processes during shock materials synthesis, high-pressure phase transformations, femtosecond laser ablation, detonation, geophysical processes in the core of the Earth and other planets, and hypervelocity impacts of comets. Usually these conditions are created by a gigantic release of energy in the matter or by compression caused by the shock waves sent through the material. Processes of shock compression and detonation often take place at sub-picosecond and sub-nanometer time and length scales. Therefore, they are ideal for studying by molecular dynamics which can grasp at the atomic level the essentials of many non-equilibrium processes of material transformation and chemical reactions in condensed phase under extreme conditions.Date: Friday, October 6, 2006Time: 2:30pmLocation: SLH 102Refreshments will be providedFirst year MASC students are required to attend.Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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A Systems Approach to Large-Scale Molecular and Nanoelectronic Memory & Logic Circuits
Mon, Oct 09, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. James Heath, CaltechAbstract: If the projections from the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) hold, then by the year 2020 it is expected that the most closely spaced metallic wires within a DRAM circuit will be patterned at a pitch of about 30 nm, implying that the conductors themselves will be of a width of around 15 nm. However, virtually every aspect of achieving this technology is considered to be 'red,' meaning that there is no known solution. Several years ago we began working on developing the architectures, devices, molecules, circuitry, and manufacturing processes for testing the limits of how far electronics circuitry could be scaled, with the basic presumption that any solution would require a combination of passive and active molecular components, semiconductor and metallic nanowires, and defect-tolerant architectures and manufacturing. In this talk, I will present results in which we have constructed large scale circuitry (> 10^5 devices) at densities that span the ITRS projections between the years 2020 and 2030. This will include a 160,000 bit memory circuit that is no larger than a white blood cell, demultiplexing circuits for such memories, and high-performance, ultra-dense logic circuitry that is energy efficient, exhibits gain, and constitutes a complete logic set. I will also discuss the molecular components and how we have learned, through thermodynamic and kinetic measurements of their switching processes, to optimize their performance within these extreme settings.Host: Prof. Daniel Lidar, lidar@usc.edu
Location: Seaver Science Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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BME Seminar Series
Mon, Oct 09, 2006 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Towards a Generative Model of Human Natural Motion"Karen Liu, PhD
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
University of Southern CaliforniaLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adam Wyatt
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Energy-efficient Transmissions with Delay Constraints over a Wireless Link
Tue, Oct 10, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Mr. Wanshi Chen, Graduate Student, Communication Sciences InstituteABSTRACT: Future wireless networks are anticipated to accommodate diverse applications of various quality-of-service (QoS) requirements with limited system resource. There exists a fundamental trade-off between transmission energy and packet delay. It is of great importance to minimize the total packet transmission energy while satisfying the underlying delay constraints for network life maximization, system throughput maximization, etc. The problem of optimal offline scheduling (vis-a-vis total transmission energy) for a group of packets, each of which is subject to an individual delay constraint, over a fading channel is studied. The offline scheduler, assuming information of all packet arrivals and channel states before scheduling, is formulated as a convex optimization problem with linear constraints. The optimality conditions are analyzed. The properties of the transmission rates under the optimal offline scheduling and the corresponding delay performance are characterized. It is found that when packet sizes and channel coefficients are identically and independently distributed, the optimal transmission rates exhibit a symmetry property. The properties of the optimal offline scheduling and the impact of packet sizes, individual delay constraints, and channel variations are demonstrated via simulations. A heuristic online scheduling algorithm, which utilizes both causal traffic and channel variations, is proposed and compared with the optimal offline scheduling in terms of delay and energy performance via simulations.BIO: Wanshi Chen received a B.S. degree (with highest honors) from Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China and an M.S. degree from the Ohio State University, Columbus, respectively. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Prof. Urbashi Mitra. From 2000 to 2006, he was with Ericsson working on CDMA2000 related research, implementation, and standard development. Numerous patents have been filed by him during his stay with Ericsson. Since May 2006, he has been with Qualcomm Corporate R&D, where he is involved in research and development of the long-term evolution of third-generation wireless standards. His research interests include topics in resource allocation, communication theory, cooperative transmissions, and wireless networking.Host: Prof. Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Burned Hillslopes + Fire = Mud: An Approach for Assessing Post-wildfire Debris-Flow Hazards
Wed, Oct 11, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Susan H. Cannon
U.S. Geological Survey
Denver, COAbstract: Debris flows can be one of the most hazardous consequences of rain on recently-burned hillslopes. The deaths of sixteen people during the Christmas Day 2003 storm that impacted recently-burned hillslopes in southern California highlight the most drastic consequences of post-wildfire debris flows. The enhanced occurrence of catastrophic wildfires in the western United States, and the encroachment of development into fire-prone ecosystems, has resulted in the need for tools and methods to identify and quantify the potential hazards posed by debris flows from burned watersheds. In this talk I will describe an approach developed to answer some of the questions fundamental to post-fire debris-flow hazard assessments- what is the process? where might debris flows occur? how big will the event be? and how often will debris flows be produced? Evaluation of the response of basins burned by the fall of October of 2003 fires in southern California to the Christmas Day storm provides valuable information on ways to improve the approach. Biography: Sue Cannon has Masters degrees in geology and civil engineering from the University of Colorado, and a PhD from the University of Colorado. She has been a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey Landslide Hazards Program since 1990, and has been working on issues dealing with the generation of fire-related debris flows since 1994. Her primary focus is the development of tools and methods for defining fire-related debris-flow hazards, and although she has had research projects in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, her focus is now on southern California. She finds it hard to stay away from a good fire.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall , Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Scaling Effects on High Strength, High Porosity Nanoporous Metal Foams
Wed, Oct 11, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
JOINT SEMINAR withThe Mork Family Department of
Chemical Engineering and Materials ScienceAndrea M. Hodge Materials Scientist Nanoscale Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA A comprehensive study including nanoindentation, pillar compression tests and MD simulations of nanoporous Au foams will be presented in order to elucidate on the relationship between mechanical properties, relative density and foam ligament size at the nanoscale. Scaling equations for yield strength and Young's Modulus were investigated using 20% to 42% relative density foams with ligament sizes ranging from 10 to 940 nm. Overall, this study demonstrates that, at the nanoscale, the foam strength is no longer governed by the relative density, but rather by the size of the ligaments. Additionally, experimental results show that nanoporous foams present a new type of high strength, low density material.Location: Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium
Thu, Oct 12, 2006 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Molecular Engineering of Stem Cell and Gene Therapies"Professor David Schaffer
Department of Chemical Engineering &The Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
University of California at Berkeley & Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryAbstractNew molecular therapies based on gene delivery and stem cells have significant potential for tissue engineering and repair for numerous diseases. Before these approaches can succeed, however, a number of fundamental engineering challenges must be overcome, particularly in the nervous system, our tissue of interest.Gene therapy, the introduction of genetic material to the cells of a patient for therapeutic benefit, has the potential to directly translate the basic knowledge derived from the Human Genome Project into therapeutic benefit. However, the vehicles or vectors that deliver therapeutic genes still require engineering for enhanced efficiency and safety. Our efforts are focused on modifying these vehicles at the molecular level to overcome the common dilemma faced by all: they did not evolve in nature to perform the therapeutic endeavors we ask of them. We have developed novel approaches to engineer already promising gene delivery vehicles, the adeno-associated viral vector and lentiviral vector. Specifically, we are applying directed evolution approaches to overcome several challenges in vector performance, including its mass transport through tissue and cells and interactions with the immune system.Furthermore, gene therapy has enormous potential to synergize with stem cells to repair damaged tissue. Neural stem cells are present throughout the adult nervous system, but we must learn at a quantitative, molecular level the signaling mechanisms that control these cells before we can harness them. We have identified novel signaling factors that regulate neural stem cells and are investigating the mechanisms by which the cells process these signals into functional decisions. Specifically, we are exploring the hypothesis that cell switching between multiple steady states in gene regulation networks can serve as a general mechanism for the critical fate choices these cells must make as they differentiate into specific cell types, such as neurons. We hope that this basic knowledge can be applied, in combination with improved gene delivery vehicles, to regenerate neural tissue from the effects of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Lou Gehrig's Diseases.Thursday, October 12, 2006
12:45 p.m.
OHE 122
Refreshments will be served after the seminar in the HED Lobby
The Scientific Community is cordially invited.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Fuel Cell Grade Diesel Processed by Ultrasound-Assisted oxidative Desulfurization Technology
Fri, Oct 13, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Environmental Engineering SeminarOmid Etemadi, Ph.D. Candidate
Environmental Engineering
University of Southern CaliforniaAbstractUltrasound-Assisted Oxidative Desulfurization (UAOD) process has been improved for practical use by substituting solid adsorption with solvent extraction. Therefore the advantages of both oxidative and adsorptive desulfurization have been put together for an enhanced continuous system. A tailor-made modular sonoreactor was used in a portable unit of continuous flow system with a fixed-bed adsorbent. The whole system operates at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. Alumina is used for removing the oxidized sulfur compounds in MGO marine logistic diesel and JP-8 jet fuel diesel. For the same sulfur removal much lower alumina is needed than the liquid solvent for extraction. For achieving a green chemistry, the recovery of the adsorbent was through calcining instead of using organic solvents for regeneration of alumina. Tests on model compounds prove the selectivity of alumina in adsorption. Scale-up tests have promising results for industrial use of the system.This presentation focuses on sulfur removal in certain diesel fuels and the results support the selective nature of oxidation and adsorption. Chromatograms from sulfur chemiluminescence detector (GC-SCD) and pulsed flame-photometric detector (GC-PFPD) show the levels of removal down to ultra-low sulfur diesel. Images from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and results of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) for different phases of alumina clarify the characteristics of the adsorbents.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Engineering Honors Colloquium Lecture
Fri, Oct 13, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Engineering Honors Colloquium lecture given by Mr. Albert Dorman, founding chairman of AECOM Technology Corporation.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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Material Science Seminar
Fri, Oct 13, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Relationship Between Crystallographic Pitting and Metallic Bonding. Dr. Scott LillardMaterials Science & Technology Division
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico Over the past half-century numerous authors have reported relationships between pitting corrosion and crystallographic orientation (for example vs. directions). This phenomenon is commonly referred to as corrosion etch pitting and the observations associated with it can generally be divided into two categories: 1) relationships between pitting susceptibility (initiation) and crystallographic orientation and 2) relationships between pit morphology (propagation) and crystallographic orientation. The formation of corrosion etch pits in metals, both initiation and propagation, is often attributed to surface energy. Surface energy is a fairly general term used to describe dangling bonds at a free surface - more closely packed surfaces having lower surface energy as they loose the fewest number of bonds per unit area when the new surface is formed. However, this simple "hard-sphere" model of the surface does not predict experimental observations in etch pitting. This does not mean that bonding does not play a role in etch pitting, rather, that our method or calculating surface properties needs to be improved. Here, we introduce a novel materials simulation method to quantify the influence of coordination-dependent bonding on etch pitting. In our model surface properties arising from metal-metal bonding are evaluated by calculating atomic embedding energies. We will introduce this method and demonstrate its accuracy by comparing predicted pit morphologies in magnesium with those calculated in our model.Scott Lillard is a Technical Staff Member in the Materials Science & Technology Division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the G.W. Whiting School of Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University in 1992. He is the author of over 50 technical publications in the field of corrosion and is on the editorial boards of Corrosion, Journal of Materials Research, and Journal of Corrosion Science Engineering and Technology. His interests include experimental research in the areas of localized corrosion, oxide films, environmental fracture, and hydrogen reaction kinetics.All first year MASC students are required to attend.Refreshments will be provided.Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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BME Seminar Series
Mon, Oct 16, 2006 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Light-initiated Changes in Biomacromolecular Conformation: Protein Folding and DNA Condensation"Ted Lee, PhD
Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
University of Southern CaliforniaLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adam Wyatt
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The Future and Challenges of Technology for the Prosperity and Well-Being of the World
Mon, Oct 16, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Abolhassan Vafai Professor International & Scientific Cooperation Director of SUT Civil Engineering Department Sharif University of Technology Abstract In this seminar, an overview of the important role which technology plays in our everyday lives and in improving standards of living will be presented. Then, a few of the emerging technologies, which will change the way we live today, will be introduced. In addition, a close look at the economically fast developing countries, which will soon dominate the world market, will help us to understand the problems, which developed countries, may face in the future. Finally, those challenges which technology may face in the future in order to make its promises become true are examined. Refreshments will be served after the seminar in the HEDCO lobby. Audiences: Everyone is Invited Posted by: iraj ershaghi
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - co116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: iraj ershaghi
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NSBE General Body Meeting
Tue, Oct 17, 2006 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Presentation from SEO, special NSBE Jr. guests, FRC sign-ups and info, McCormick and Schmicks, all this and more this Tuesday!
Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: NSBE
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Forming, Counting, and Breaking Individual Biological Bonds: Applications for Drug Delivery and Sing
Wed, Oct 18, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Todd Sulchek Staff Scientist
Biosecurity and Nanosciences Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Livermore, CA Protein molecules commonly operate in complexes to perform their function. For example, cell surface receptors often cluster at the site of complementary ligands so as to efficiently transduce binding. A special case of improved functionality through complexed protein binding is demonstrated in a new class of therapeutics in which monovalent antibody binding elements are combined to form multivalent complexes that dramatically increase drug specificity and residency time. However, traditional methods of analysis cannot directly measure the bond lifetime of drug molecules that can bind with a distribution of valencies. Therefore, a single molecule binding assay is illuminating.
We have developed a method using single molecule dynamic force spectroscopy to determine the binding strength of antibody-protein complexes as a function of binding valency in a direct and simple measurement. We used the atomic force microscope (AFM) to measure the force required to rupture a single complex formed by the MUC1 protein, a cancer indicator, and therapeutic antibodies that target MUC1.
We show for the first time that the valency of stochastic, multivalent bond formation can be distinguished with a "molecular counter" in the form of a soft polymer linker. As a result, we independently measure both the valency and the composite bond strength for the interaction. The effective bond lifetime rises dramatically with the number of molecular bonds, from several minutes for a single antibody-antigen bond to many days for three antibody-antigen bonds. Moreover, our results support the theoretical prediction for unbinding dynamics of multiple parallel bonds. We furthermore describe current experiments in which we study cell signal transduction using controlled delivery of protein stimuli.
Location: Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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CENG SEMINAR SERIES
Thu, Oct 19, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"ISAR Image Reconstruction Technique with Stepped Frequency Moducation and Multiple Receivers"Prof. Andon LazarovBurgas Free UniversityBulgariaAbstract:A new three-dimensional (3-D) model of deterministic components of ISAR trajectory signals with stepped frequency modulation is suggested. 3-D ISAR geometry is described by means of analytical geometry. The geometry and kinematics of the object and ISAR observation system are described in separate 3-D Cartesian coordinate system. The object space, moving rectilinearly, is presented as a 3-D regular grid of isotropic point scatterers. The analytical expressions for computing the range distance to point scatterers of the object space are derived. The complex ISAR signal, reflected from the 3-D target is obtained by four receivers, placed on the axes and origin of the coordinate system of observation. Four 2-D ISAR signals, registered by receivers appear to be four 2-D projections of the 3-D ISAR signal. The 3-D image is considered as a set of 2-D images retrieved from the 2-D ISAR signal projections. The image reconstruction procedure includes both range and azimuth compression. Fast Fourier transforms are applied to each 2-D ISAR signal projection to realize range compression and discrete Joint time-frequency transform for azimuth compression. An autofocusing technique is applied to each received ISAR signal projection. To illustrate the capability of the 3-D ISAR signal mode, numerical experiment were caried out.Bio:ANDON DIMITROV LAZAROV received his M.S. degree in 1972 from the Electrotechnical State University-Saint Petersburg, Russia, in electronical engineering, his PhD degree in 1978 from Minsk Air-Defence Military Academy, Belarus and the D.Sc. (Doctor of Science) degree in 1998 from the Artillery and Air Defence University in Bulgaria. In 1984, he became an Associate Professor, and from 2000 until 2002 a Professor at the Air Defence Department of the Artillery and Air-Defence University in Shoumen, Bulgaria. In 2002, he became a Professor at Burgas Free University. His interests are in the field of Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) technology: ISAR modelling, signal processing and image reconstruction techniques as spectral, spatial correlation, recurrent and iterative LMSE methods and auto-focusing procedures. He has authored above 150 research and conference papers. He is a member of the IEEE, the AES Society and CS of USA, and a member of Trans Black Sea Region Union of Applied Electromagnetism of Greece, and a member of the Union of Bulgarian Scientists.Host: Prof. Melvin Breuer, Ext. 04469Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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FUZZY PI / PD CONTROLLERS: MATHEMATICAL MODELS AND ANALYSIS
Thu, Oct 19, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
B.M. Mohan
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Indian Institute of TechnologyAbstract:Input-output relationships of linear PI / PD / PID controllers are well known to the control community. In this seminar, input-output relationships of some fuzzy two-term (PI or PD) controllers, their classification, their properties, and their suitability (or unsuitability) for control application will be addressed. As a matter of fact, input-output relationship of a fuzzy two-term controller is not unique as it depends on contributing factors like nature of fuzzy sets, nature of control rules, type of fuzzy AND and OR operators, type of inference method, and type of defuzzification method. So, depending on the nature of contributing factors, different fuzzy two-term controllers are possible. It is very important to note that not all these fuzzy controllers are suitable for control. In order to decide about their suitability for control application, these controllers are analyzed and their characteristic behaviors are studied.Bio:B. M. Mohan was born in Tapeswaram, India in 1960. He received the Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering from Osmania University in 1982, the Masters degree in Electrical Engineering (with Control Systems specialization) from Andhra University in 1985, and the Doctoral degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 1989. From July 1989 to October 1990 he was on the faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Regional Engineering College (now called National Institute of Technology), Tiruchirapalli. Since November 1990 he has been on the faculty of Electrical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering – Systems, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California. His research interests include Identification, Analysis, and Control of Dynamical Systems using Fuzzy Logic and Orthogonal Functions approaches. He co-authored the research monograph 'Orthogonal Functions in Systems and Control (World Scientific, Singapore, 1995),' and several papers in international journals and conferences. He is a life member of Systems Society of India, senior member of the IEEE, and life fellow of Institution of Engineers (India). He is the Associate Editor of Int. J. Automation & Control (IJAAC). He is the reviewer for Computing Reviews. He was the Chairman of Control Systems Chapter, IEEE Kharagpur Section.Host: Prof. Petros Ioannou, Ext. 04452 http://engineering.usc.edu/calendar/
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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4th General Meeting - Dessert with Alumni
Thu, Oct 19, 2006 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SWE-USC Alumni will be talking about the Top 10 things they wish they knew in college. They will also be ready to answer any of your questions..like how to get the most out of your college years, why they chose their majors and engineering careers, and the transition into the professional world. Also come enjoy some delicious ice cream sundaes and hear the latest news about the SWE Regional Conference in Las Vegas!!
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: SWE
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Operating Point for MIMO Multiple Access Channel with Delay Sensitive Bursty Traffic
Fri, Oct 20, 2006 @ 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Professor Tara Javidi, UC San DiegoAbstract: Multiple antennas at the transmitters and receivers in a multiple access channel (MAC) can provide simultaneous diversity, spatial multiplexing, and space-division multiple access gains. The fundamental tradeoff in the asymptotically large SNR regime is shown by Tse et al (2004). On the other hand, MAC scheduling can provide a statistical multiplexing gain to improve the delay performance as shown by Bertsimas et al (1998).In this talk, we provide a combined analysis in an attempt to unify the gains provided by a MIMO MAC. In partiucalr, we formulate and analytically derive an order optimal operating point for MIMO-MAC channel for bursty sources with delay constraints. Our system model brings together the four types of gains: diversity, spatial multiplexing, space-division multiple-access provided at the PHY layer, and statistical multiplexing gains at the MAC scheduler. Our objective is to minimize the end-to-end performance as defined by the delay bound violation probability as well as the channel decoding error probability. We first find the order optimal diversity gain for a point-point MIMO communication and then extend the result to the case of MAC. Considering a MIMO MAC with CSI at the receiver, we find the optimal diversity gain and rate region in which the system should operate. In this, we arrive at an interesting interplay between the intensity of the traffic and resource pooling with regard to both multiple-access and statistical multiplexing gains.Bio: Tara Javidi studied electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran from 1992 to 1996. She received the MS degrees in electrical engineering (systems), and in applied mathematics (stochastics) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1998 and 1999, respectively. She received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in May 2002. From 2002 to 2004, she was an assistant professor at the Electrical Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle. She joined University of California, San Diego, in 2005, where she is currently an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. She was a Barbour Scholar during 1999-2000 academic year and received an NSF CAREER Award in 2004.Her research interests are in communication networks, stochastic resource allocation, stochastic control theory, and wireless communications. Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari, bkrishna@usc.edu
Location: Frank R. Seaver Science Center (SSC) - 319
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Vehicle Testing at the California Air Resources Board
Fri, Oct 20, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Edward Sun, P.E.
Staff Air Pollution Specialist
Air Resources Board
El Monte, CAAbstractSouthern California has been known as the smog capital of the United States. With the San Gabriel Mountains blocking natural air flow, the contaminants in large amount of automobile exhaust are triggered by sunlight in a Mediterranean climate to form ozone that causes public health issues ranging from allergies, asthma attacks, difficulties in breathing, to premature deaths. After decades of efforts in new regulations, the ozone level has been significantly reduced, mostly through technologies implemented in modern automobiles. In addition to ozone, other air contaminants, such as particulate matter and greenhouse gases, are starting to receive more attention in recent years. This presentation will introduce the California Air Resources Board's Low-Emission Vehicle program, Fleet Greenhouse Gas Reduction program, and Vehicle Testing, which includes Electric Vehicle testing, Hybrid Electric Vehicle testing, Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle testing, and Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle testing.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Engineering Honors Colloquium Lecture
Fri, Oct 20, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Engineering Honors Colloquium lecture given by Mr. George Whittinghill, Chief Technologist at Virgin Galactic.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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Material Science Seminar
Fri, Oct 20, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Research by Neutron Scattering: Tradition and Outlook Gian P. Felcher*Argonne National Laboratory,
Argonne IL 60439In the past decades neutron scattering has established itself as a primary tool to unravel the structure and dynamics of solids and liquids. In its prime, the technique opened entirely new fields in condensed matter research, by defining the role of hydrogen in organic materials, by determining the complex structures of spins in magnetic materials, by mapping the phonon spectra of crystalline solids and by defining the scaling coefficients in the neighborhood of phase transitions. Later, reaching maturity, neutron scattering become a general probe used by the wider scientific and technical community: chemistry, engineering, biology. In the same spirit, we now assist to a resurgent interest in neutron scattering, with new sources becoming ready in United States (Spallation Neutron Source), Japan (J-Park) and England (second target station of ISIS). These new sources produce neutron by a spallation process, rather than by fission as in conventional reactor, providing a brilliancy of "neutron light" up to hundredfold that presently available. These new sources will permit to unravel the issues raised by the manifacture of nanostructures, studying for instance the mechanisms of catalytic reactions, the phase transformations in biomimetic membranes and the synthesis of novel carbon nanomaterials. However, the new sources are creating a new challenge, by generating a tremendous amount of data that has to be digested and analyzed in reasonable time. It is becoming imperative (and this is a role of the computer community) to start a parallel effort to provide adequate and transparent visualization of the data, to assist with numerical analysis when the complexity of the problem prevents analytical solutions, and to generate simulated scattering patterns starting from reasonable models in real space.*work done under the auspices of the U.S. D.O.E., Office of B. E. S., under Contract W31-109-ENG-38.First year MASC students are required to attend.Refreshments will be provided.Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Engineering Honor Society Beach Clean-up/Bonfire at Dockweiler
Fri, Oct 20, 2006 @ 02:45 PM - 09:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Join the Engineering Honor Societies to help clean up Dockweiler beach! Food, bonfire and smores afterwards.
Location: Dockweiler Beach (meet outside RTH at 2:45 PM for carpool)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: TBP, HKN, XE, PTS, UPE
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Dinner at McCormick and Schmicks
Fri, Oct 20, 2006 @ 06:30 PM - 08:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Come get to know your fellow engineers and enjoy the fine (and inexpensive dining) of McCormick and Schmicks. If can go please RSVP to nsbe@usc.edu and designate if you can drive or not because we will be carpooling. See you there!!!
Location: Leave from outside of RTH
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: NSBE
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MESA MPTI Follow-Up
Sat, Oct 21, 2006 @ 08:30 AM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Follow-up workshop to MESA Math Physics Technology Institute
Location: Waite Phillips Hall Of Education (WPH) - 201
Audiences: MESA Advisors
Contact: Larry Lim
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EIT Review Session
Sat, Oct 21, 2006 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Worried about the Oct. 28 Engineer-In-Training examination? Come join Chi Epsilon's EIT Review Sessions to get ready for the EIT and ace the exam.Thermodynamics, Prof. Choudhury
Saturday, Oct. 21 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM KAP140 Statics and Dynamics, Prof. Lee
Monday, Oct. 23 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM KAP140More sessions to come soon!Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 140
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Chi Epsilon
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BME Seminar Series
Mon, Oct 23, 2006
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"A Bioengineering Model of Coronary Circulation"Ghassan Kassab, PhD
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
University of California, IrvineLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adam Wyatt
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EIT Review Session
Mon, Oct 23, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:45 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Worried about the Oct. 28 Engineer-In-Training examination? Come join Chi Epsilon's EIT Review Sessions to get ready for the EIT and ace the exam.Thermodynamics, Prof. Choudhury
Saturday, Oct. 21 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM KAP140 Statics and Dynamics, Prof. Lee
Monday, Oct. 23 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM KAP140More sessions to come soon!Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 140
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Chi Epsilon
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Correcting quantum error with entanglement
Tue, Oct 24, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Mr. Min-Hsiu Hsieh, Communication Sciences Institute, USCAbstract: We show how entanglement shared between encoder and decoder can simplify the theory of quantum error correction. The entanglement-assisted quantum codes we describe do not require the dual-containing constraint necessary for standard quantum error correcting codes, thus allowing us to "quantize" all of classical linear coding theory. In particular, efficient modern classical codes that attain the Shannon capacity can be made into entanglement-assisted quantum codes attaining the hashing bound (closely related to the quantum capacity). For systems without large amounts of shared entanglement, these codes can also be used as catalytic codes, in which a small amount of initial entanglement enables quantum communication.Bio: Min-Hsiu Hsieh received his B.S. and M.S. degree from National Taiwan University, Taiwan. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree under the guidance of Prof. Todd Brun and Prof Igor Devetak. His current research focuses on quantum information theory and quantum error correction theory.Host: Prof. Todd Brun, tbrun@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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NSBE General Body Meeting
Tue, Oct 24, 2006 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Great info, great people and FREE FOOD! Everyone is invited!
Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 114
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: NSBE
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Social Biological Organisms: Aggregation Patterns and Dynamics
Wed, Oct 25, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Chad Topaz Assistant Professor
and
Assistant Director of Center of Excellence in Teaching
Center of Excellence in Teaching
Rossier School of Education
USC Biological aggregations such as insect swarms, bird flocks, and fish schools are arguably some of the most common and least understood patterns in nature. These groups are thought to arise chiefly from "social forces" acting on individual organisms, including attraction (for protection and mate choice) and dispersion (for collision avoidance). In this talk, I will discuss recent work on continuum (fluid-like) and agent-based models for aggregations. The models describe phenomena such as vortex swarming, population clumping, and group migration. The goal is to determine the relationship between individuals' microscopic rules for movement and the macroscopic properties of the group (such as size, density, and velocity).Location: Stauffer Science Lecture Hall, Room 100 (SLH 100)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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XE EIT Review Session: Probability
Wed, Oct 25, 2006 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Engineering-In-Training Exam (EIT) is just around the corner - come prepare with Chi Epsilon's Probability Review Session, led by USC Professor Roger Ghanem.
Good luck on your exams!Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 146
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Chi Epsilon
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USC AGC Scholarship Dinner
Wed, Oct 25, 2006 @ 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Construction Management Association of American (CMAA) gives out $20,000 in scholarships every year to students interested in Construction Management. Applicants have been sparse in past years, so they are coming to an AGC meeting to promote their scholarship program. Free dinner provided!
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Associated General Contractors
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Avago Technologies and Career Opportunities
Thu, Oct 26, 2006 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
ATTENTION GRAD STUDENTSAvago Technologies will be visiting the department of Electrical Engineering-Systems to discuss possible career opportunities that may be available for USC students in the areas of:-VLSI Design-Verilog Design-Analog IC Design-Mixed Signal Eng.-Hardware Eng.-R&D Research Eng.-R&D IC Eng.-System App.Eng.Please be sure to attend this important information session on October 26th. For more details, please visit Avago Technologies website at www.avagotech.com & http://www.avagotech.com/careers/.LUNCH WILL BE PROVIDED.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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Mork Family Department Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Oct 26, 2006 @ 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Biomolecules, Nanostructures and Interfaces -Time Resolved Vibrational Spectroscopy of
Materials and Material TransformationsProfessor Dana D. Dlott
School of Chemical Sciences and
Fredrick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory
University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignIn this talk I will discuss novel techniques of ultrafast laser vibrational spectroscopy and their applications to materials and material transformations. These techniques provide detailed pictures of molecular dynamics with the kind of ultrahigh time and space resolution that has previously been available only in computer simulations. Illustrative examples will be presented including: combustion of energetic materials containing nanoparticles, structural fluctuations at the active sites of proteins, energy transduction in molecular nanostructures and interfaces, and electrochemical processes at nanostructured fuel cell electrodes.Bio: Dana D. Dlott received a B.A. degree from Columbia University in 1974 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1979 under the supervision of Prof. Michael D. Fayer. In 1979 he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois. Dlott is an experimental physical chemist known for his novel applications of ultrafast nonlinear coherent spectroscopic methods to condensed phase dynamics. Current research in his laboratory includes studies of nanomaterials, molecular and biomolecular materials, shock compression science, fundamental mechanisms of energetic materials including nanotechnology materials, dynamics of surfaces and interfaces, electrochemical surface science, and applications of lasers in imaging science.
He is an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow and a Fellow of AAAS, APS and OSA
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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CS Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Oct 26, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. David S. Johnson
At&T Labs - Research
Florham Park, NJTitle: Compressing Rectilinear Pictures and Minimizing Access Control ListsAbstract: We consider a geometric model for the problem of minimizing access control lists (ACLs) in network routers, a model that also has applications to rectilinear picture compression and figure drawing in common graphics software packages. Here the goal is to create a colored rectilinear pattern within an initially white rectangular canvas, and the basic operation is to choose a subrectangle and paint it a single color, overwriting all previous colors in the rectangle. Rectangle Rule List (RRL) minimization is the problem of finding the shortest list of rules needed to create a given pattern. ACL minimization is a restricted version of this problem where the set of allowed rectangles must correspond to pairs of IP address prefixes. In this talk I'll summarize some recent combinatorial and algorithmic results we have obtained for these two problems.Biography: David S. Johnson is a computer scientist specializing in algorithms and optimization. He is currently the head of the Algorithms and Optimization Department of AT & T Labs Research. Johnson graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College in 1967, then earned his S.M. from MIT in 1968 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1973. All three of his degrees are in mathematics. He is the coauthor of Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness (ISBN 0-7167-1045-5)Hosted by: Prof. David KempeLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Viterbis Got Talent: 1st Annual Viterbi Talent Show
Thu, Oct 26, 2006 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Location: E-Quad
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Student Council
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Got SSRP Citys 60 Mile-Program to Rehabilitate the Old Sewer Pipes
Fri, Oct 27, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Tahir Upshur
Civil EngineerCity of Los Angeles
Department of Public Works
Bureau of Engineering
Wastewater Conveyance Engineering DivisionAbstractThe Bureau of Engineering (BOE) and Sanitation (BOS) had embarked on an effort to systematically review and study the secondary sewer system throughout the City of Los Angeles, which is programmed to assess its physical and hydraulic conditions and predict the future needs of the wastewater capital improvement. This is so-called, "SSRP (Secondary Sewer Renewal Project) 60 Mile-Program." The secondary sewer system consists of approximately 220 separate sewer sheds with sewers less than 16 inches in diameter. The basic planning strategy is to evaluate the sewers in priority order using ranking and defect categories, maintenance history, pipe age, material, spill history, and other factors. Based on this data base including CCTV of sewer pipes, BOE engineers do the decision making process whether the sewer should be rehabilitated by way of lining or spot repair. The 60 miles of sewer lines would be renewed to correct the current situation where leaking and non-functioning pipes are prevalent.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Engineering Honors Colloquium Lecture
Fri, Oct 27, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Engineering Honors Colloquium lecture given by Mr. Rozi Roufoogaran, Engineers Without Borders representative.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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BME Seminar Series
Mon, Oct 30, 2006 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"The Basics of Intellectual Property"Donaldson Santos
Technology Licensing Associate
Office of Technology and Licensing
University of Southern CaliforniaLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adam Wyatt
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Halloween Fun Fair
Mon, Oct 30, 2006 @ 09:30 PM - 12:30 AM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SWE is putting on a Halloween games carnival in E-Quad for local school children to interact with SWE members and learning all about being an engineer. Come out and help make this an awesome events for the kids. Volunteers are greatly needed from 9:30am until 12:30pm to run the booths. Please sign up at SWEUSC /at/ USC /dot/ EDU to be a part of this or contact Farzana Ansari at fansari@usc.edu with the times you are available to help. If you can work any amount of time on Monday, Oct. 30th from 9:30 to 12:30, please sign up! This is a fun way to get involved and help make Halloween fun for elementary school kids.
Location: E-Quad
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: SWE
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Investigation of Transport Phenomena in Micro/Nano/Subnano-Scale Channels Applied in Knudsen Compres
Tue, Oct 31, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Y.-L. HanDepartment of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
University of Southern CaliforniaInvestigation of transport phenomena is one of the major research topics in micro/nano/subnano-scale (M/N/SN-scale) technologies. Practical applications include concentration, separation, mixing, delivering, pumping, etc. Two specific devices, Knudsen Compressors and Continuous Trace Gas Preconcentrators, have been selected to illustrate the utilization of transport phenomena in micro/nano-scale flows.
Knudsen Compressors are solid-state, micro/meso-scale gas pumps or compressors with no moving parts. Based on the rarefied flow phenomenon of thermal creep, Knudsen Compressors operate by imposing a temperature gradient across a high porosity, low thermal conductivity transpiration membrane. Knudsen Compressors with an aerogel membrane (mean channel size > 20 nm) operated by the radiant heating technique have been studied over a pressure range from about atmospheric pressure down to 10-5 atm. At low pressures, mechanically machined aerogel membranes with circular or rectangular channels have been found to be attractive candidates as Knudsen Compressor membranes. The performance of these membranes has also been found limited by rarefaction effects in the connector section such as "reverse" thermal creep flow and by membrane exit vortices. The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) technique was employed for further investigations of these effects in connector sections of Knudsen Compressors at low pressures. A two-dimensional simulated domain was adopted to mimic a simplified, rectangular channel, single stage Knudsen Compressor. The effects of the "reverse" thermal creep flows and membrane exit vortices have been visualized in the simulations.
The Continuous Trace Gas Preconcentrator is an innovative nano-channel flow application. The operating theory and the preliminary design of the preconcentrator are based on three separation mechanisms: mass separation, quantum separation, and size separation. The separation membranes are an array of aligned channels with nanometer to sub-nanometer size and relatively short lengths. As a consequence of mass separation, size, or quantum separation, the membranes inhibit target molecules from passing through the capillaries while allowing the carrier gas to pass more freely. With a suitable membrane, such as single-walled or multi-walled carbon nanotube membranes, the continuous trace gas preconcentrator is expected to have an excellent performance with a factor of 100 to 1000 times or more increase in the target molecule concentration. The ability to align multi-walled carbon nanotubes has been successfully demonstrated with the construction of a 1cm x 1cm multi-walled array of carbon nanotube towers, and the process of fabricating multi-walled carbon nanotube membranes is ongoing. Fabrication and characterization of a proof-of-concept continuous micro/meso-scale preconcentrator is under way.
It is expected that further research on Knudsen Compressors and Continuous Trace Gas Preconcentrators will yield significant advances in the basic understanding of M/N/SN-scale channel flows as well as efficient micro devices.Location: Laufer Library, RRB 208
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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NSBE Conferencing 101 (by Microsoft)
Tue, Oct 31, 2006 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
USC NSBE alumnus Stanley Jones returns to lead a valuable workshop on how to get the most out of a NSBE conference. Free food, and great advice!
Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 114
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: NSBE
