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Events for December 01, 2010

  • Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, & Engineering Talk

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 01:00 AM - 01:00 AM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Receptions & Special Events


    This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process; a student led walking tour of campus and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process and financial aid.Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m. Please visit http://usconnect.usc.edu/ to check availability and make an appointment. Be sure to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!

    Location: USC Admission Center

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • Yahoo! Product Fair

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 12:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Receptions & Special Events


    Stop by the Yahoo! tents in the E-Quad to see some exciting new products, pick up some cool giveaways and have FREE LUNCH from Pie & Burger

    Location: E-Quad

    Audiences: All Viterbi Students

    Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services

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  • Uncertainty Quantification & Dynamic State Estimation of Power Grid System

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Guang Lin, Scientist, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

    Abstract: Experience suggests that uncertainties often play an important role in controlling the stability of power systems. Therefore, uncertainty needs to be treated as a core element in simulating and dynamic state estimation of power systems. In this talk, a probabilistic collocation method (PCM) will be employed to conduct uncertainty quantification of component level power system models, which can provide an error bar and confidence interval on component level modeling of power systems. Numerical results demonstrate that the PCM approach provides accurate error bar with much less computational cost comparing to classic Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Additionally, a PCM based ensemble Kalman filter (EKF) will be discussed to conduct real-time fast dynamic state estimation for power systems. Comparing with MC based EKF approach, the proposed PCM based EKF implementation can solve the system of stochastic state equations much more efficient. Moreover, the PCM-EKF approach can sample the generalized polynomial chaos approximation of the stochastic solution with an arbitrarily large number of samples, at virtually no additional computational cost. Hence, the PCM-EKF approach can drastically reduce the sampling errors and achieve a high accuracy at reduced computational cost, compared to the classical MC implementation of EKF. The PCM-EKF based dynamic state estimation is tested on multi-machine system with various random disturbances. Our numerical results demonstrate the validity and performance of the PCM-EKF approach and also indicate the PCM-EFK approach can include the full dynamics of the power sytems and ensure an accurate representation of the changing states in the power systems


    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • AIChE Lab Tour: Dr. Qin

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations

    Student Activity


    The school year is winding down, and it’s time to turn in those late problem sets and do those missed physics and chemistry labs. Professors are cramming in last-minute homework and midterms, and it feels like the world is going to crash and burn all the way until finals. Want to take a little break and feast on a holiday dinner, throw yourself out there for a chance to win at a lucky draw, and mingle with professors and alumni? Then mark December 3rd on your calendars, because AIChE is going to throw a Holiday Feast in Mudd Hall 106 at 5:30pm! Members get to participate in this delicious annual event for free, while non-members have to pay a small fee of $5 to come. Please RSVP by emailing aiche@usc.edu if you’re planning to come! Hope to see you all there!

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 420

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: USC American Institute of Chemical Engineers

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  • AME Seminar

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Jun Zhang , Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, NYU

    Talk Title: Ratchets in Fluid Transportation and in Biological Locomotion

    Abstract: I discuss several cases where a broken symmetry—either broken spontaneously or by construction—leads to ratcheting behavior in systems where dynamic boundaries interact with moving fluids. Two examples feature reciprocal forcing combined with geometric anisotropy of boundaries. In one case a solid body can be made to hover stably, and in another, a fluid is efficiently pumped. I will also discuss the dynamics of a symmetric wing whose forward flight follows from a symmetry breaking instability, and how this dynamics is affected by the introduction of more biological realism.

    Host: Dr. E. Kanso

    More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming

    Location: 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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  • AME Department Seminar

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Jun Zhang, Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University

    Talk Title: Ratchets in Fluid Transportation and in Biological Locomotion

    Abstract: I discuss several cases where a broken symmetry—either broken spontaneously or by construction—leads to ratcheting behavior in systems where dynamic boundaries interact with moving fluids. Two examples feature reciprocal forcing combined with geometric anisotropy of boundaries. In one case a solid body can be made to hover stably, and in another, a fluid is efficiently pumped. I will also discuss the dynamics of a symmetric wing whose forward flight follows from a symmetry breaking instability, and how this dynamics is affected by the introduction of more biological realism.

    Host: Dr. E. Kanso

    More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming

    Location: 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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  • Toxicological Chraracteristics of Particulate Matter in an Urban Environment and Their Linkage to the Source-Specified Constituents

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 06:30 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Vishal Verma, Environmental Engineering Ph.D. Candidate

    Talk Title: Oral Dissertation Defense

    Abstract:
    Airborne particulate matter originates from two broad categories of sources: primary and secondary. Primary particles are directly emitted from combustion sources, including heavy and light duty vehicles, wood smoke, industries and construction activity. In the presence of various atmospheric oxidants, primary particles may undergo photochemical processing yielding secondary particles with distinctly different physical and chemical characteristics compared to their precursor species. Numerous epidemiological studies have linked the particulate matter (PM) to various adverse health effects, including premature deaths, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Despite commendable progress in particle-related toxicological research for the last few decades, the exact mechanisms by which PM inflicts health injuries are still largely unknown and constitute a subject of great interest and very active research for the scientific community. The biological reaction(s) by which PM exposure causes proinflammatory effects, and the sensitivity of inflammation and subsequent toxicity to variations in PM composition remain to be fully understood.
    The primary objective of this work is to determine the toxicological characteristics of particulate matter in an urban environment and their linkages to the source-specific particle constituents. This objective has been carried out by evaluating the oxidative potential of particles collected from various sources such as exhaust tail pipe of the heavy-duty diesel vehicles, wood-smoke and ambient particles in segregation to their primary and secondary sources. Both cell-free and cell-based assays were used to evaluate the oxidative potential of the collected particles. In addition, the physico-chemical characteristics of the sampled particles, such as particle number distribution and concentration, elemental and organic carbon, water soluble organic carbon, water soluble elements, inorganic ions and organic species were also analyzed. The association of PM chemical constituents with their oxidative characteristics was investigated by mechanistic (physicochemical segregation of PM constituents) and statistical (bivariate and multivariate regression) techniques. The study offers a novel and informative perspective on the relationship between composition and sources of atmospheric particles to their relative toxicity potential. This is useful in elucidating the health risks related to the PM exposure from different sources and ultimately in promulgating the effective control strategies to protect public health.



    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • CANCELLED-Yahoo Tech Talk

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Workshops & Infosessions


    THIS SESSION HAS BEEN CANCELLED!

    Please attend Yahoo!'s Product Fair on Dec. 1st from 12- 3pm in the E-Quad

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services

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  • Viterbi Spotlight - Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Wed, Dec 01, 2010 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    A panel discussion featuring industry representatives, alumni, faculty and current student discussing opportunities in Industrial and Systems Engineering. For more detailed information please visit the Spotlight website at - http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/fye/spotlight.htm

    Dinner is provided. RSVP to viterbi.studentservices@usc.edu with subject line: "RSVP for Spotlight on 12/1".

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211

    Audiences: Viterbi Undergraduate Students

    Contact: Jeffrey Teng

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