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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for December

  • 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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  • 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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  • Repeating EventSix Sigma Black Belt

    Mon, Dec 06, 2010

    Executive Education

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Multiple Instructors,

    Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt

    Series:

    Abstract: This course teaches you the advanced problem-solving skills you'll need in order to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. Project assignments between sessions require you to apply what you’ve learned. This course is presented in the classroom in three five-day sessions over a three-month period.

    Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIE’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.

    Biography:

    Host: Viterbi Professional Programs

    More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

    Location: USC campus or Online

    Audiences: Registered Attendees Only

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

    Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

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  • Repeating EventSix Sigma Black Belt

    Tue, Dec 07, 2010

    Executive Education

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Multiple Instructors,

    Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt

    Series:

    Abstract: This course teaches you the advanced problem-solving skills you'll need in order to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. Project assignments between sessions require you to apply what you’ve learned. This course is presented in the classroom in three five-day sessions over a three-month period.

    Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIE’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.

    Biography:

    Host: Viterbi Professional Programs

    More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

    Location: USC campus or Online

    Audiences: Registered Attendees Only

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

    Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

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  • Practical Reasoning with Transaction Logic Programming for Knowledge Base Dynamics

    Tue, Dec 07, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Paul Fodor, Ph.D.

    Talk Title: Practical Reasoning with Transaction Logic Programming for Knowledge Base Dynamics

    Abstract: Abstract: Transaction Logic is an extension of classical predicate calculus for representing declarative and procedural knowledge in logic programming, databases, and artificial intelligence. Since it provides a logical foundation for the phenomenon of state changes, it has been successful in areas as diverse as workflows, planning, reasoning about actions, Web services, security policies, active databases and more. Although a number of implementations of Transaction Logic exist, none is logically complete due to the time and space complexity of such implementations. In the first part of this talk, I describe an approach for performing actions in the logic, which has better complexity and termination properties via a logically complete tabling evaluation strategy. Then I describe a series of optimizations, which make this algorithm practical and analyze their performance on a set of benchmarks. Our performance evaluation study shows that the tabling algorithm can scale well both in time and space. Appart from applications in classical logic programming use cases we used the new system for applications in the complex event processing domain. In the second part of the talk, I describe our extension of Transaction Logic in the direction of defeasible reasoning, which has a number of interesting applications, including specification of defaults in action theories and heuristics for directed search in planning. In this setting we showed that heuristics expressed as defeasible actions can significantly reduce the search space and thus the execution time and space requirements.

    Biography:
    Bio: Paul Fodor obtained a Bachelor and a Master of Engineering in Computer Science from the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, a M.Sc. from the Computer Science Department, State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2006 and is expected to graduate with Ph.D. in 2010. His PhD has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications and presentations in conferences such as WWW, ICLP, PPDP, Web Rules and Reasoning, DEBS, AAAI, PADL, ACL, and LTC. He has supplemented his academic research with industrial experience by working as a developer at DaimlerChrysler AG and IBM and as a research intern for three summers at IBM. In IBM TJ Watson Research he worked on the Watson NLP system scheduled to play on the Jeopardy! TV quiz show. As a Ph.D. student, Paul worked on declarative rule languages and logic used as a specification language and implementation framework for active knowledge bases. Through his work, Paul also contributed to several large software projects: OpenRuleBench (a suite of benchmarks for analyzing the performance and scalability of rule systems for the semantic Web), Event Transaction Logic Inference System - ETALIS (a declarative complex event processing language), Semantic Inferencing on Large Knowledge - SILK (a multi-institution project sponsored by Vulcan Inc. aiming to provide knowledge representation infrastructure for very large knowledge bases), and Unstructured Information Management Architecture UIMA (an industrial-strength, scalable and extensible platform for creating, integrating and deploying unstructured information management systems).

    Host: Professor Viktor K. Prasanna

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 324

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Janice Thompson

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  • CS Colloquium

    Tue, Dec 07, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Vladimir Braverman, UCLA

    Talk Title: Space-efficient Algorithms for Data Streams by Vladimir Braverman

    Abstract: Data streams is an important area of theoretical computer science with many practical applications. We will define the basic model of data streams and will explain some fundamental algorithms and methods that shaped the area of data streams. Also, we will survey some of our recent results for data streams and discuss current challenges and open problems.



    Biography: Vladimir Braverman is a Ph.D. candidate at UCLA; his advisor is Rafail Ostrovsky. His main interests are algorithms for data streams, communication complexity and related areas. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Ben-Gurion University Israel, where his advisor was Daniel Berend. Prior to attending UCLA, he led a research team at HyperRoll, working with Yossi Matias.

    Host: Prof. David Kempe

    Location: SSL 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Kanak Agrawal

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  • Repeating EventSix Sigma Black Belt

    Wed, Dec 08, 2010

    Executive Education

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Multiple Instructors,

    Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt

    Series:

    Abstract: This course teaches you the advanced problem-solving skills you'll need in order to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. Project assignments between sessions require you to apply what you’ve learned. This course is presented in the classroom in three five-day sessions over a three-month period.

    Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIE’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.

    Biography:

    Host: Viterbi Professional Programs

    More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

    Location: USC campus or Online

    Audiences: Registered Attendees Only

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

    Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

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  • AME Department Seminar

    Wed, Dec 08, 2010 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Herman Clercx, Professor, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

    Talk Title: Turbulent Rotating Convection

    Abstract: Rayleigh-Bénard convection is a classical problem in which a fluid layer enclosed between two parallel horizontal walls is heated from below and cooled at the top. In a rotating frame of reference the dynamics can change considerably through the fundamental involvement of a combination of buoyancy and Coriolis forces. The rotating Rayleigh-Bénard (RRB) setting is important for many applications, e.g., in engineering and climate modeling.

    Direct numerical simulation (DNS) is used to calculate the heat transfer, flow structuring and small-scale turbulent properties at systematically varied rotation rates. The DNS code solves the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a cylinder in a rotating frame of reference, coupled to the heat equation within the Boussinesq approximation. The results from the DNS will be compared to data from SPIV measurements in a water-filled cylindrical convection cell.

    In particular, the fate of the Large Scale Circulation, present in non-rotating RB convection, and enhanced heat transfer under influence of increasing rotation rate will be discussed in this talk.


    Host: Dr. G. Spedding

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

    Location: Robert Glen Rapp Engineering Research Building (RRB) - 208

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: April Mundy

    Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming

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  • Repeating EventSix Sigma Black Belt

    Thu, Dec 09, 2010

    Executive Education

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Multiple Instructors,

    Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt

    Series:

    Abstract: This course teaches you the advanced problem-solving skills you'll need in order to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. Project assignments between sessions require you to apply what you’ve learned. This course is presented in the classroom in three five-day sessions over a three-month period.

    Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIE’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.

    Biography:

    Host: Viterbi Professional Programs

    More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

    Location: USC campus or Online

    Audiences: Registered Attendees Only

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

    Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

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  • Online Learning in Dynamic Spectrum Access: Restless Bandits, Equilibrium and Social Optimality

    Thu, Dec 09, 2010 @ 03:00 AM - 04:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Mingyan Liu , Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Michigan

    Abstract:
    Thursday December 9 3 – 4:30 pm EEB 248
    Abstract: We consider a dynamic spectrum access problem where the time‐varying condition of a channel (e.g., as a result of random fading or certain primary users' activities) is modeled as an arbitrary finite‐state Markov chain. At each instance of time, a (secondary) user selects and uses a channel and receives a certain reward as a function of the state of the channel (e.g., good channel condition results in higher data rate for the user). Each channel has potentially different state space and statistics, both unknown to the user, who tries to learn which one is the best so it can maximize its usage of the best channel. The objective is to construct good online learning algorithms so as to minimize the difference between the user's performance in total reward and that of using the best channel (on average) had it known which one is the best from a priori knowledge of the channel statistics (also known as the regret). This is an instance of the multiarmed bandit problem, and is well studied when each reward process is iid over time. In our case the reward processes are Markovian, and furthermore, restless, in that the channel conditions will continue to evolve independent of the user's actions. This leads to a restless bandit problem, for which there exists relatively few results on either algorithms or performance bounds in this learning context. We introduce an algorithm that utilizes regenerative cycles of a Markov chain to compute a sample‐mean based index policy, and show that under mild conditions on the state transition probabilities of the Markov chains this algorithm achieves logarithmic regret uniformly over time, and that this regret bound is also optimal. We also show that this result can be easily extended to the case when the user is allowed to use multiple channels at a time. We numerically examine the performance of this algorithm along with a few other algorithms with Gilbert‐Elliot channel models, and discuss how this algorithm may be further improved (in terms of its constant) and how this result may lead to similar bounds for other algorithms.
    We then consider this type of online learning in a multiuser setting where simultaneous access to the same channel by multiple users may lead to collision and reduced reward. We show how such multiuser learning converges to a Nash equilibrium of an equivalent game, and how appropriate modifications to the learning algorithms can induce socially optimal channel allocation.


    Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Shane Goodoff

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  • Insights on Latent Perceptual Indexing with Applications in Audio and Speech Recognition

    Thu, Dec 09, 2010 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Shiva Sundaram, Senior Research Scientist/ Deutsche Telekom Laboratories (T-Labs), Berlin, Germany

    Talk Title: Insights on Latent Perceptual Indexing with Applications in Audio and Speech Recognition

    Abstract: One of the main ideas that originated from my thesis work is latent indexing applied to content-based audio retrieval. Coined as Latent Perceptual Indexing/Mapping, it fundamentally uses the information in weighted unit-document co-occurrence measures. The procedure is analogous to latent semantic indexing of text documents except the bag-of-features from the audio clips constitute the documents and the units are obtained by clustering those documents. In this talk, I will present improvements to the basic approach and also present recent results on its application to acoustic modelling for speech recognition. I will also take this opportunity to talk about my related research efforts in affect-based retrieval of audio, salient-event detection in video and natural speech interfaces.

    Biography: Shiva Sundaram received his PhD and his MS, both in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) in 2008, and 2003 respectively. He received his Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Pune, India in 2001. Since November 2008 he has been a Senior Research Scientist with Deutsche Telekom Laboratories (T-Labs) in Berlin, Germany. Before joining T-Labs, he was a research intern in the Speech and Language Technologies Group at Apple. From summer 2002 to fall 2008 he was a research assistant with Prof. Shrikanth Narayanan in the Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab (SAIL) at the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles. His research interests in the area of speech and audio processing includes recognition and synthesis of speech, signal processing for multimedia retrieval, audio perception, and pattern recognition. He has published over 25 scientific articles in international conferences and journals. In 2006, he received the best student paper award in IEEE MMSP workshop for his work in music information retrieval.

    Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mary Francis

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  • Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series

    Thu, Dec 09, 2010 @ 12:50 PM - 01:50 PM

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Professor Jinsang Kim,

    Talk Title: Functional Conjugated Polymers for Biosensors and Optoelectronic Applications

    Abstract: Conjugated polymers (CPs) have become emerging materials for many useful applications due to the tunability of their properties by variation of chemical structure. Particularly the biosensor application of CPs has gain much interest recently because CP-based sensors can provide large signal amplification. The concept, design principles, and applications of conjugated polymers for self-signal amplifying biosensors and sensor arrays will be discussed. We have developed conjugated polymer-based biosensors to detect clinically important biological materials such as DNA and proteins. Our signal amplifying sensors are designed to achieve high sensitivity by means of the energy harvesting property and highly emissive property of conjugated polymers. Receptors are rationally designed to provide specificity toward a target analyte to realize high selectivity. Signal amplifying DNA microarrays, PDA liposome arrays for selective potassium detection and mercury detection, prostate specific antigen sensors, bioconjugated emissive organic nanoparticles for immunofluorescence labeling, and warfare agent detection sensors will be discussed. Optoelectronic application is another promising direction of our conjugated polymer research. Flexible conjugated polymer photovoltaic cells having controlled nanostructures, pure organic phosphorescence emitters, and negative index materials will be also discussed in the second part of the talk.

    Biography: Jinsang Kim is an associate professor having a joint appointment in Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Macromolecular Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He holds a M.S (1993) and a B.S. (1991) from Seoul National University, Korea, both in Fiber and Polymer Science. He earned his Ph.D. in 2001 in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT, where he studied the design, synthesis, and assembly of conjugated sensory polymers and energy transport properties in the controlled structures. He is also an expert in genetically engineered protein research. His postdoctoral work in this area at Caltech involved the expression of artificial genes to determine the extent to which artificial genetic information can be used to encode supramolecular assembly in macromolecular systems.
    He has won several prestigious awards including 2007 NSF CAREER Award, 2006 Holt Award for excellent teaching, 2002 IUPAC Prize for Young Chemist, 2002 ACS ICI Award, and 2000 MRS Graduate Student Gold Award. He was also named one of emerging investigators by the journal of materials chemistry in 2007. His current research interests at the UM are self-signal amplifying molecular biosensors, flexible solar cells, highly emissive organic emitters, and negative index materials. His research has been sponsored by NSF BES, NSF ECS, NSF DMR, AFOSR, ARO, DoE, ACS, KIMM, KRF, NVRQS, and Center for Chemical Genomics.


    Host: Professor Wang

    More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/l-12-09-10.htm

    Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Petra Pearce

    Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/l-12-09-10.htm

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  • Repeating EventSix Sigma Black Belt

    Fri, Dec 10, 2010

    Executive Education

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Multiple Instructors,

    Talk Title: Six Sigma Black Belt

    Series:

    Abstract: This course teaches you the advanced problem-solving skills you'll need in order to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. Project assignments between sessions require you to apply what you’ve learned. This course is presented in the classroom in three five-day sessions over a three-month period.

    Learn the advanced problem-solving skills you need to implement the principles, practices and techniques of Six Sigma to maximize performance and cost reductions in your organization. During this three-week practitioner course, you will learn how to measure a process, analyze the results, develop process improvements and quantify the resulting savings. You will be required to complete a project demonstrating mastery of appropriate analytical methods and pass an examination to earn IIE’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certificate.This practitioner course for Six Sigma implementation provides extensive coverage of the Six Sigma process as well as intensive exposure to the key analytical tools associated with Six Sigma, including project management, team skills, cost analysis, FMEA, basic statistics, inferential statistics, sampling, goodness of fit testing, regression and correlation analysis, reliability, design of experiments, statistical process control, measurement systems analysis and simulation. Computer applications are emphasized.

    Biography:

    Host: Viterbi Professional Programs

    More Info: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

    Location: USC campus or Online

    Audiences: Registered Attendees Only

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs

    Event Link: http://mapp.usc.edu/professionalprograms/ShortCourses/SixSigmaBlackBelt.htm

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  • USC PSOC Monthly Seminar Series

    Fri, Dec 17, 2010 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Jonathan Licht, M.D.,, Jonathan Licht, M.D., Professor of Hematology/Oncology, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine

    Talk Title: The MMSET, A Histone Methyl Transferase Alters Chromatin Structure And Gene Expression In Multiple Myeloma

    Abstract: The multiple myeloma SET domain (MMSET) gene is a recurrent chromosomal partner in the t(4;14) translocation-associated multiple myeloma, and MMSET levels are dramatically elevated in these patients relative to other myeloma cases and normal cells. MMSET contains several domains commonly found in chromatin regulators including the PHD domain, PWWP domain and SET domain; responsible for enzymatic activity. What histone residues are methylated by MMSET in vivo has been uncertain. To determine how MMSET affects chromatin in vivo and to identify genes directly regulated by MMSET, we created a loss-of-function model, engineering t(4;14)+ KMS11 cells with a tetracycline-inducible shRNA specific for MMSET. Upon loss of MMSET expression, there was a striking decrease of trimethylated histone 3, lysine 36 (H3K36me3), a mark of transcriptional elongation and repression of extraneous transcription. Loss of MMSET expression was associated with a strong increase in H3K27me3, a chromatin mark associated with gene repression. To determine the genes regulated by MMSET and the importance of histone methylation in MMSET activity, we profiled gene expression in both gain and loss-of-function systems. Functional annotation of genes bound and regulated by MMSET showed over-representation of genes implicated in regulation of cell death/p53 pathway (BAX, BCL2, CASP6, ATM), cell cycle (CCNE2, E2F2, TP53INP1, CDC25A) and integrin signaling (ACTB, CDC42, ITGAL). The effect of MMSET on integrin signaling is of particular interest given that loss of MMSET expression or repletion of KMS11-TKO cells with MMSET gene alters cell adhesion properties. These data indicate that MMSET may regulate genes in a histone methyl transferase dependent and independent manner. Furthermore, MMSET target genes may be both activated and repressed upon changes in MMSET levels, indicating a complex interplay with the transcriptional machinery, likely though interactions with other transcriptional co-factors.

    Location: Harkness Auditorium, CSC 250, IGM Building

    For additional information contact: 323-442-3849 or 323-442-2596

    Biography: Jonathan Licht, M.D.,Johanna Dobe Professor & Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

    Host: Dr. Parag Mallick, Center for Applied Molecular Medicine

    Location: May Ormerod Harris Hall, Quinn Wing & Fisher Gallery (HAR) -

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Yvonne Suarez

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  • Test Seminar Webcast

    Sat, Dec 25, 2010 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Sammmm, Staff

    Talk Title: Test Talk Title

    Abstract: test

    Biography: test

    Host: USC VITERBI

    More Info: http://myviterbi.usc.edu/

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 212

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Sam Stevens

    Event Link: http://myviterbi.usc.edu/

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