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Events for October
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In HoursMon, Oct 02, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Jun Yan
Mon, Oct 02, 2023 @ 10:15 AM - 11:45 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Jun Yan
Committee Members: Xiang Ren (Chair), Emilio Ferrara, Morteza Dehghani, Robin Jia
Title: Identifying and Mitigating Safety Risks in Language Models
Abstract: In recent years, the rapid advancements in language models have transformed the field of Natural Language Processing, reshaping human technology interactions. As these models become increasingly integrated in various aspects of our daily lives, concerns about their safety risks have also escalated. This thesis proposal outlines my efforts to identify and mitigate safety risks in language models that could lead to system malfunctions and undermine user trust. My research focuses on answering the following key questions 1.How can we expose a models vulnerability by pinpointing robustness challenges? 2.What system failures and harms can adversaries induce through training data poisoning? 3. What strategies can be employed to mitigate risks leading to model malfunction? In conclusion, I will discuss future directions for the development of safer language modelsAudiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/6633659669
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ECE Seminar: Efficient Preference Learning for Interactive Robots
Mon, Oct 02, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Erdem Biyik, Assistant Professor, USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Talk Title: Efficient Preference Learning for Interactive Robots
Abstract: In the realm of human-robot interaction and multi-agent systems, decentralized agents often collaborate to achieve a common task. The crux of effective collaboration lies in the ability to predict and anticipate the actions of other agents. While we, humans, excel at this due to our innate capacity to understand intentions, robots currently lag behind. This talk delves into the integration of reward learning and partner modeling as a way to address this challenge. I will present active learning techniques tailored to this challenge and discuss the pivotal role of preference data for learning rewards in the settings where demonstration data may fail. Finally, I am going to show some preliminary results and examples of how partner-modeling enables decentralized agents to cooperate efficiently.
Biography: Erdem Biyik is an assistant professor in Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California. He leads the Learning and Interactive Robot Autonomy Lab (Lira Lab). Prior to joining USC, he was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence. He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, working at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL), and his B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, Türkiye. During his studies, he worked at the research departments of Google and Aselsan. Erdem was an HRI 2022 Pioneer and received an honorable mention award for his work at HRI 2020. His works were published at premier robotics and artificial intelligence journals and conferences, such as IJRR, CoRL, RSS, NeurIPS.
Host: Dr. Somil Bansal, somilban@usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96823158282?pwd=MUFrWS94bDBqZ3F2MFZsVlRQZVV0Zz09Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96823158282?pwd=MUFrWS94bDBqZ3F2MFZsVlRQZVV0Zz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Oct 03, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Gerard Cornuejols, IBM University Professor of Operations Research, Emeritus, Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon
Talk Title: Dyadic Linear Programming
Host: Dr. Giacomo Nannicini/Dr. Yigal Arens
More Information: October 3, 2023.pdf
Location: Social Sciences Building (SOS) - SOS Building, B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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Trojan Talk with Veeva Systems - Engineer Your Career Path
Tue, Oct 03, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
We are looking forward to hosting and Trojan Talk on the USC Campus and meeting you all in person. Please see the details below for information regarding what we will cover!
During the info session, we will cover a range of topics, such as:
-An overview of Veeva Systems: its history, mission, and core values.
-Information about the products and services offered by Veeva.
-Company culture, work environment, and employee benefits.
-Opportunities for college students (internships, co-op programs, entry-level positions).
-Desired skills and qualifications for potential candidates.
-Application and recruitment process.
-Q&A session for students to ask questions directly to the representatives.
Veeva Systems is a mission-driven organization and pioneer in industry cloud, helping life sciences companies bring therapies to patients faster. We made history in 2021 by becoming a public benefit corporation (PBC), legally bound to balancing the interests of customers, employees, society, and investors. Join us in transforming the life sciences industry!
RSVP in connectSC events by clicking the (Attend) button
* Sharing your resume with the employer DOES NOT replace applying to the job postings.Location: Trojan Presentation Room (STU) B3
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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FM Global Trojan Talk
Tue, Oct 03, 2023 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
A Day in the Life at FMGlobal
RTH 211
5:30 - 6:30 pm
Calling all engineers! FM Global is an American mutual insurance company with offices worldwide, that specializes in loss prevention services primarily to large corporations throughout the world in the Highly Protected Risk property insurance. Learn about a day in the life at FM Global from representatives from our LA Offices. Gain information about our engineering careers and more.
Food will be provided!
Recruiting for the following Majors: Mechanical engineers, Civil Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Aerospace Engineers, and Industrial Engineers Employer offers sponsorships for international students and remote/hybrid positions!Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Spooky Midterm Study Slam
Wed, Oct 04, 2023 @ 09:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
Are midterms scaring you? The Viterbi Learning Program is here to help!
The VLP offices will be open from 9AM to 5PM, 10/4, for studying during our SPOOKY MIDTERM STUDY SLAM EVENT with spooktacular snacks, trick-or-treating, tutoring, & more creepy cool surprises! Join us... if you dare!
UNDERGRAD TUTORING AVAILABLE AT THE FOLLOWING TIMES:
9AM - 12PM Undergraduate Writing w/ Camila Reyes: Any WRIT Course, Writing Support for All Courses
12PM - 2PM CS/MATH Tutoring w/ Rachel O.: CSCI 102, CSCI 103, CSCI 104, MATH 125, MATH 126
3PM - 5PM ASTE/MATH/PHYS Tutoring w/ Rachel P.: ASTE 101, ASTE 280, AME 201, ITP 168, MATH 126, MATH 229, MATH 245, PHYS 151Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392302
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Wed, Oct 04, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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Interview Success: How to Make a Lasting Impression
Wed, Oct 04, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
THIS EVENT WILL BE HOSTED VIRTUAL ONLY
Increase your preparedness for interviews by attending this professional development Q&A moderated by Viterbi Career Connections staff or Viterbi employer partners.
To access the ZOOM link and for more information on this workshop, log into Viterbi Career Gateway>> Events>>Workshops: https://shibboleth-viterbi-usc-csm.symplicity.com/sso/
For more information about all workshops, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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AME Seminar - no seminar this week
Wed, Oct 04, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
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SpaceX Trojan Talk
Wed, Oct 04, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
NOTE: THIS EVENT IS HOSTED IN COLLAB WITH MARSHALL Date: Wednesday, October 4th Time: 6:00-9:00PM PST Target Audience Our target audience for this event is undergraduate sophomores, juniors, and seniors as well as graduate students in the following majors: Mechanical Engineering Aerospace Engineering Computer Engineering Civil Engineering Electrical Engineering Computer Science Description: SpaceX was founded in 2002 under the belief that a future where humanity is out exploring the stars is fundamentally more exciting than one where we are not. Today SpaceX is actively developing the technologies to make this possible, with the ultimate goal of enabling human life on Mars. Come hear from SpaceX CFO and USC alum, Bret Johnsen, as he shares his background and journey to SpaceX as well as give a company update about all the up-and-coming technology SpaceX will be designing in the future! This presentation will be followed by a networking session where you can chat with SpaceX employees and recruiters about early career and internship opportunities.
Location: JFF LL 105 (Fertitta Hall – Lower Level)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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DREAM Industry Mentorship speaker series
Thu, Oct 05, 2023 @ 12:30 AM - 01:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
University Calendar
DREAM (Direct Response to Engineers Aspirations from Mentors) is a mentorship initiative which connects students with high profile industry professionals relevant to students dream pitches, an original leadership communication assignment where students create a vision for their future selves, align their careers around purpose, and build character in the context of growth, reinvention, and constant change. Industry mentors serve as moral exemplars as they discuss how professional challenges present opportunities for character and leadership development. Guest speaker and panels feature professionals from a variety of tech and destination companies.
This event will feature a talk by Alex Kruglov, serial tech entrepreneur and CEO and co-founder of pop.in and former Hulu executive about the evolving media landscape, games, and the human connection.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 105
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elisabeth Arnold Weiss
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392277
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NL Seminar -On formulating and evaluating language agents
Thu, Oct 05, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shunyu Yao, Princeton University
Talk Title: On formulating and evaluating language agents
Abstract: REMINDER:
Meeting hosts only admit guests that they know to the Zoom meeting. Hence, you are highly encouraged to use your USC account to sign into Zoom.
If you are an outside visitor, please inform us at nlg DASH seminar DASH host AT isi DOT edu beforehand so we will be aware of your attendance and let you in.
Language agents are AI systems that use large language models LLMs to interact with the world. While various methods have been developed, it is often hard to systematically understand or evaluate them. In this talk, we present Cognitive Architectures for Language Agents CoALA, a theoretical framework grounded in the classical research of cognitive architectures to make sense of existing agents and shed light into future directions. We also present three benchmarks WebShop, InterCode, Collie to develop and evaluate language agents using web, code, and grammar respectively. Notably, all three are scalable and practical, with simple and faithful evaluation metrics that do not rely on human preference labeling or LLM scoring.
Biography: Shunyu Yao is a final year Phd student with Karthik Narasimhan at Princeton NLP Group. His research focuses on language agents, and is supported by the Harold W. Dodds Fellowship from Princeton.
Host: Jon May and Justin Cho
More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Webcast: https://youtu.be/p6wSLDZat1wLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual and ISI-Conf Rm#689
WebCast Link: https://youtu.be/p6wSLDZat1w
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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Civil and Environmental Department Seminar Series
Thu, Oct 05, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alex Szczuka, University of Michigan
Talk Title: Building toward predicting pathogen inactivation during water treatment: role of chlorine speciation in viral genome chlorination
Abstract: see attached
Host: Dr. Adam Simpson and Dr. Daniel McCurry
More Information: Alex Szczuka Semiar Announcment 100523.docx
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - KAP 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
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Career Share: International Student Career Panel & Network
Thu, Oct 05, 2023 @ 05:30 PM - 07:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi international students! Looking for job searching tips after career fairs? Or have questions about sponsorships? Come join us on October 5th at 5:30 pm with a panel of graduate international students as VASE presents the Viterbi CAREER SHARE panel! Connect with fellow international students and hear about their experience building a career ahead!
Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yadi Wang
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=391753
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Boeing Information Session
Thu, Oct 05, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Boeing information session for all classes/majors
Boeing representatives will share internship and full-time opportunities.
Come stop by and meet Boeing reps, enjoy snacks and drinks, and learn about opportunities!Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Google- Life of a Software Engineer
Thu, Oct 05, 2023 @ 06:30 PM - 07:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Workshops & Infosessions
Google- Life of a Software Engineer
Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences:
Contact: Thelma Federico Zaragoza
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/WIE/rsvp?id=392881
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Chen Yang, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, department of Chemistry, Boston University
Talk Title: High Precision Photocoustic Neural Stimulation
Abstract: Neuromodulation at high precision poses great signiï¬cance in advancing fundamental knowledge in the ï¬eld of neuroscience and offering novel clinical treatments. Here we reported our research on developing the photoacoustic neural stimulation as a high precision, genetic free and highly efficient technology in vitro and in vivo. Specifically, various platform technologies, including fiber emitters, films, nanotransducers and optic-generated focus ultrasound will be discussed. Sub-100 micron precision, miniaturized and multi-functional device design, and non-invasive potential will be highlighted for brain and retina applications. New insights on the cellar mechanism was obtained using the sonogenetic method. Our work demonstrated that photoacoustic stimulation is a high precision and non-genetic neural stimulation offering various neural interfaces for understanding fundamental how brain responds to mechanical stimuli and offering new clinical treatments with improved efficacies.
Biography: Prof. Yang obtained her doctoral degree in Chemistry from Harvard University in 2006. She worked as an associate in McKinsey & Co, a business consulting firm, before she joined Purdue University Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Yang is currently an Associate Professor in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Department of Chemistry at Boston University. She is also Associate Chair for Master program in Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at BU. Prof. Yangs current research is focusing on nanomaterial-based photonics and bioelectronics for neuromodulation. Her research has been published in high profile journals, including Science, Nature, Nature communication, Matter, ACS Nano and Nano Letters. She was a NSF Career Awardee and a AIMBE fellow.
Host: Qifa Zhou
More Info: Zoom link upon request
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
Event Link: Zoom link upon request
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PhD Dissertation Defense - Peifeng Wang
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Dissertation Defense - Peifeng Wang
Committee Members:Xiang Ren (chair), Muhao Chen, Emilio Ferrara, Dan O Leary
Title: Externalized Reasoning in Language Models for Scalable, Trustworthy AI
Abstract: Language models LMs have traditionally intertwined language skills and reasoning abilities within a single architecture, relying on reckless scaling for effectiveness, but sacrificing interpretability due to their opaque nature. This presentation advocates for externalizing reasoning from the core language proficiency, which enables the development of compact, accessible LMs with enhanced capabilities. The process of externalized reasoning also offers a pathway to explaining model behavior.
I would present three techniques to build LMs with externalized reasoning. First, I introduce an Imagine and Verbalize framework for generative commonsense reasoning, which decomposes a complex generation task into easier subtasks and learns from a diverse set of indirect supervision from multiple domains. Second, I present a knowledge distillation pipeline which prompts a large LM to rationalize for an open domain question and then trains a small LM to reason consistently. Third, I discuss augmenting an LM with working memory for coherent language reasoning by tracking the states of the described world.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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MHI ISSS Seminar - Dr. Payam Heydari, Friday, 10/6 at 2pm in EEB 248 & Zoom
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Payam Heydari, University of California, Irvine
Talk Title: Novel mm-Wave/Terahertz Integrated Circuits and Architectures for High-Speed Communications
Series: Integrated Systems
Abstract: This seminar will provide an overview of our research in (sub-)terahertz transceiver architectures and design techniques enabling ultra-high data rate communications. The talk commences with a glimpse into the ongoing research projects at the Nanoscale Communication Integrated Circuits (NCIC) Labs. The presentation will unveil the limitations inherent in conventional transceiver designs when targeting data rates beyond 100 Gbps. We will introduce novel "end-to-end" transceiver architectures poised to transcend these constraints. Through three compelling case studies, we will illustrate the transformative potential of this new approach. Additionally, the seminar will provide an in-depth exploration of circuit design techniques, including wideband amplifiers, sub-terahertz signal generation and radiation mechanisms, and high-performance antennas tailored for these cutting-edge applications.
Biography: Payam Heydari is currently the University Chancellor's Professor at the University of California, Irvine. A fellow of IEEE and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Heydari was the Distinguished Lecturer of both IEEE Solid-State Circuits and Microwave Theory and Technology Societies and is the recipient of five Best Paper Awards, the 2023 IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society Distinguished Educator Award, and the 2021 IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Innovative Education Award. He has authored 190 journal and conference papers and graduated more than 40 Ph.D. and M.S. students.
Host: MHI - ISSS, Hashemi, Chen and Sideris
Webcast: Meeting ID: 91998427261 PC: 520437Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
WebCast Link: Meeting ID: 91998427261 PC: 520437
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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ECE-Controls Seminar - Anuradha Annaswamy
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anuradha Annaswamy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT
Talk Title: Resilience and Distributed Decision-making in a Renewable-rich Power Grid
Abstract: The power grid has evolved from a physical system to a cyber-physical system that consists of digital devices that perform measurement, control, communication, computation, and actuation. With increased penetration in distributed energy resources (DER) that include renewable generation, flexible loads, and storage, these devices can be as large as 8 billion in number just in the US grid, many of whom are capable of monitoring and making crucial decisions. While these devices provide extraordinary opportunities for improvements in efficiency and sustainability, they also can introduce new vulnerabilities in the form of cyberattacks. This in turn can cause significant challenges in ensuring grid resilience, i.e. satisfactory restoration of grid services in the face of severe anomalous behavior. The additional difficulty is to ensure this property even while integrating DERs which are intermittent, uncertain, and distributed. In order to overcome these challenges, a framework that enables distributed decision-making and control is essential, and forms the focus of this talk. With growing presence of DER, owners and stakeholders also increase in number.
In order to leverage disparate ownerships, it is critical to design market structures that enable smooth integration of DERs. Local electricity markets with a hierarchical structure have been proposed that accommodate the distributed ownership of DERs, both in location and time, improve market performance, and at the same time ensure that physical constraints due to power physics are not violated. Such a market structure also enables visibility to grid operators, which can be utilized not only for market performance but also for grid resilience.
This talk will explore the relation between market mechanisms, distributed optimization, and resilience for the grid. A variety of attack surfaces including those that compromise large IoT (internet-of-things) networks will be considered. The use of distributed visibility and the related situational awareness to the operators will be examined through simulation studies of a distribution grid with 100,000 nodes. The role of distributed decision-making principles of optimization and control in prevention, resilience, and detection & isolation will be examined.
Biography: Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy is Founder and Director of the Active-Adaptive Control Laboratory in the Department of Mech. Eng. at MIT. Her research interests span adaptive control theory and its applications to several engineering systems including to aerospace, automotive, propulsion, and energy systems, cyber-enabled energy grids, and urban mobility. She has received best paper awards (Axelby; CSM), Distinguished Member and Distinguished Lecturer awards from the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS), Best Paper award from IFAC for Annual Reviews in Control (2021-23), and a Presidential Young Investigator award from NSF. She is a Fellow of IEEE and IFAC. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award from Indian Institute of Science for 2021.
Anu Annaswamy is the author of a graduate textbook on adaptive control and several journal and conference publications, and co-editor of two vision documents on smart grids, two editions of the Impact of Control Technology report, and the 2023 CSS report "Control for Societal-scale Challenges: Road Map 2030". She is also a coauthor of a 2021 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee report on the Future of Electric Power in the United States, and a 2023 NASEM report on the Role of Net-metering in the Evolving Electricity System. She served as the President of CSS in 2020. She is a Faculty Lead in the Electric Power Systems workstream in the MIT Future Energy Systems Center.
Host: Dr. Petros Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97468174515?pwd=djJheUlTc0sxNnN5N0Y5ViszOGFtUT09
More Information: ECE-Controls_Seminar_Announcement.pdf
Location: EEB 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: John Diaz
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97468174515?pwd=djJheUlTc0sxNnN5N0Y5ViszOGFtUT09
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Mon, Oct 09, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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CS Colloquium: Ali Babar (University of Adelaide) - Building ML Based Software Security Solutions: Data Wrangling Lessons and Recommendations
Mon, Oct 09, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ali Babar, University of Adelaide, Australia
Talk Title: Building ML Based Software Security Solutions: Data Wrangling Lessons and Recommendations
Abstract: Learning based approaches to ensuring software security are attracting significant interest. It is well known that AI and ML based approaches are heavily reliant on the quality of data garbage in, garbage out. Hence, Data Wrangling serves as an important, but expensive, phase of using AI and ML for software security. Like any AI and ML based effort, our R and D efforts for leveraging AI and ML for software security have encountered several significant challenges of Data Wrangling. Our pursuit of finding and devising reliable solutions to security data quality challenges has taught us that the expensiveness and error proneness of Data Wrangling activities can be a barrier to widespread industrial adoption of AI and ML based approaches to software security. We believe that it is important to engage the relevant stakeholders for developing and sharing knowledge and technologies aimed at improving software security data quality. To this end, we are not only systematically identifying and synthesizing the existing empirical literature on improving data quality, but also devising suitable solutions for easing the problems we experienced and observed during Data Wrangling. This talk will draw lessons and recommendations from our efforts of systematically reviewing the state of the art and developing solutions for improving data quality while building and using AI and ML based software security solutions such as SVP models.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: M. Ali Babar is a Professor in the School of Computer Science, University of Adelaide, Australia. He leads a theme on architecture and platform for security as service in Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC), a large initiative funded by the Australian government, industry, and research institutes. Professor Babar leads one of the largest projects on Software Security in the ANZEC region funded by the CSCRC. Software Security with Focus on Critical Infrastructure, SOCRATES, brings more than 75 researchers and practitioners from 10 organization for developing and evaluating novel knowledge and AI based platforms, methods, and tools for software security. Prof Babar established an interdisciplinary R and D centre called CREST, Centre for Research on Engineering Software Technologies, where he directs the research, development and education activities of more than 30 researchers and engineers in the areas of Software Systems Engineering, Security and Privacy, and Social Computing. Professor Babar obtained a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the school of computer science and engineering of University of New South Wales, Australia. He also holds a M.Sc. degree in Computing Sciences from University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
Host: Nenad Medvidovic
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 100D
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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Trojan Talk with Epic - DEI Info Session
Mon, Oct 09, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Epic is excited to invite you to our upcoming employer information session, where students from diverse backgrounds can explore a wide array of exciting career opportunities within our company.
Epic is a healthcare software company headquartered in Madison, WI, with customers in all 50 states and even internationally. We design, build, and implement applications for everything from hospital scheduling to supporting medical specialties to hospital billing.
About 78 percent of the US population is cared for by Epic software! By attending this session, you will have the opportunity to gain insights into our inclusive workforce that reflects the rich diversity of our global community.
RSVP in connectSC events by clicking the (Attend) button
Meeting Link: https://epicmeet.zoom.us/j/99254654989?pwd=K293QjZnTlQ1elEvd2FKdDRKcHBuUT09
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. The inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the responsibility of the participant to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu
Location: Virtual Event
WebCast Link: https://epicmeet.zoom.us/j/99254654989?pwd=K293QjZnTlQ1elEvd2FKdDRKcHBuUT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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DEI: Women of AME Panel
Mon, Oct 09, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Inna Abramova, Eva Kanso, Neda Maghsoodi, Anita Penkova, Emma Singer, Alejandra Uranga, AME
Talk Title: Women of AME Panel
Abstract: By popular demand, the women of AME's Faculty are gathering to reflect on and discuss their professional journeys and the influential forces on their various career paths. Join us and partake in this exciting panel.
Please RSVP at the link below.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://forms.gle/w42u3BK7GDoLcKxy5
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://forms.gle/w42u3BK7GDoLcKxy5
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CS Colloquium: Ralph Lange (Bosch) - From Dexterous Assembly to AMR Fleet Planning: Robotics Research at Bosch
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ralph Lange, Bosch
Talk Title: From Dexterous Assembly to AMR Fleet Planning: Robotics Research at Bosch
Abstract: The Bosch Group has a uniquely diverse set of robotic products and applications, from consumer, to professional service, to industrial robotics. The research topics in robotics being studied at the various Bosch Research locations around the globe are even broader. In the first part, this talk gives an overview to these topics including SLAM, human motion prediction, and MPC based motion planning for mobile robots, learning and planning for complex assembly tasks with dexterous joining processes, scene segmentation and learning for robot handling in warehouses, novel mechatronic elements for robotic insertion processes in mass production.
The second part covers research on robot software platforms and tools, with many contributions to the open source Robot Operating System. This includes for example micro ROS, execution management, and very new research on methods for model checking of robot deliberation with Behavior Trees. Finally, in the third part, a spotlight on the research on multi agent path finding for AMRs in intralogistics but also for contactless planar systems such as ctrlX FLOW6D is given.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Ralph Lange is head of the global research portfolio for robotics at Bosch. Since 2018, he has been Principal Investigator in three EU funded projects. OFERA (micro ROS), MROS, and CONVINCE. In the last years and in his role as Chief Expert for Robotic Systems and Software Engineering, he has been particularly active in the ROS community and represented Bosch in the ROS 2 Technical Steering Committee and ROS Industrial Europe. Before joining Bosch in 2013, Ralph worked as a software engineer for TRUMPF Machine Tools. He obtained his PhD in computer science from the University of Stuttgart, Germany in 2010.
Host: Sven Koenig
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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VLP Writing Workshop
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Attention all Viterbi undergrads! Need help with WRIT 150, WRIT 340, or writing for any other course? Join the VLP for snacks and expert feedback from our writing consultant!
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392400
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Quantum Science & Technology Seminar - Rishabh Sahu, Tuesday, October 10th at 3pm in EEB 248
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rishabh Sahu, Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Talk Title: Quantum Electrooptics
Series: Quantum Science & Technology Seminar Series
Abstract: In the last few decades, a myriad physical systems such as photons, atoms, ions and spins have been explored for various different quantum technologies such as computation, communication and meteorology. Until now, no single physical system has been suitable for all the different quantum applications. As a result, in the future, we can expect a quantum network of spatially separated quantum processing, memory or sensing nodes - all connected via flying qubits or optical photons. Many quantum systems such as solid state qubits and trapped ion qubits have already been successful in entangling multiple nodes separated by long distances owing to optical transitions in these systems which make it easy to bridge these local nodes with optics. However, microwave technologies such as superconducting qubits have been left behind in this matter. This is mostly because of the huge challenge posed by incompatibility of microwave and optical technologies - high energy optics not only thermally heats up the microwave circuitry but also breaks the cooper pairs in the superconducting metal breaking their superconductivity. As a result, it has been hard to establish a quantum bridge between these two frequency domains. In this talk, I will present our bridge between microwave and optical frequencies which is based on electrooptic nonlinearity. I will talk about many important results which show the viability of this platform in future quantum networking applications involving microwave technologies.
Biography: Rishabh completed his bachelor's and master's degree in Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His research mainly involved studying orbital angular momentum of light, in particular, sorting photons in this basis to get a multidimensional basis for photons. His master's thesis involved simulating Maxwell's equation using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Rishabh started graduate school at ISTA in fall of 2018 and joined the Fink group in 2019. He graduated in 2023 and works now as a postdoc on new cavity electrooptics experiments.
Host: Quntao Zhang, Wade Hsu, Mengjie Yu, Jonathan Habif & Eli Levenson-Falk
More Information: Rishabh Sahu Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Narayan Rangaraj, Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering & Operations Research, Bombay University
Talk Title: Operations Planning in Long Distance and Metro Rail Systems
Host: Prof. Jong-Shi Pang
More Information: October 10, 2023.pdf
Location: Social Sciences Building (SOS) - SOS Building, B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Fei Wang
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Fei Wang
Committee Members: Muhao Chen (Chair), Laurent Itti, Aram Galstyan, Robin Jia, Tianshu Sun
Title: Robust and Context Faithful Language Understanding with (Large) Language Models
Abstract: Large language models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable success in various language understanding tasks. However, their deployment in real world scenarios raises significant accountability concerns. In this talk, I will begin with the contextual faithfulness issue. LLMs often rely on biased parametric knowledge to make unfaithful predictions. I will present a causality driven approach aimed at mitigating entity bias to ensure context faithful NLU. Subsequently, I will introduce the robustness issue against unknown prediction shortcuts. I will demonstrate how to address the issue by proactively mitigating attention biases. Finally, I will outline potential future directions for advancing LLM accountabilityAudiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92603629078?pwd=cnAyaFNPY1A5QTJ4Ny92K2NJdUlydz09
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CS Colloquium: Michael Safaee (Keck) - From Tethers to Telomeres: Advances in Spine Surgery
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:50 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Safaee, Keck Medicine of USC
Talk Title: From Tethers to Telomeres: Advances in Spine Surgery
Abstract: Junctional mechanical failures are a well recognized complication of long segment spinal fusions. Ligament augmentation with tethers can reduce junctional stress and minimize rates of proximal junctional failure PJF. A total of 242 patients with tethers were analyzed and compared to a historical cohort of 77 patients without tethers. Rates of reoperation for PJF were significantly lower with tethers 3.3 percent vs. 15.6 percent, p less than 0.001. A propensity matched cohort of 40 patients in each arm found similarly lower rates of PJF. 2.5 percent vs 22.5 percent, p equals 0.007). PJF emphasizes the need for improved preoperative risk stratification. Telomeres are DNA protein complexes that serve an important role in protecting genomic DNA. Their shortening is a consequence of aging and environmental exposures, with well established associations with diseases of aging and mortality. Whole blood was collected preoperatively on adults undergoing spine surgery. Telomere length analysis was performed using qPCR, T over S ratio. Among 43 patients, we found no significant difference in chronological age, DMI, frailty, or preoperative disability scores when comparing patients with a postoperative complication compared to those without a complication. However, patients with complications had significantly shorter telomere length T over S 0.712 vs. 0.813, p equals 0.008, which correlated to an additional attrition of 9 to 10 years despite only 5 year difference in chronological age. These data suggest that biological age may provide valuable information on preoperative risk and improve current risk calculators.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Michael Safaee, MD, is a neurosurgeon specializing in the treatment of spinal disorders. He is trained in both traditional open and minimally invasive techniques, spinal oncology and adult deformity. While committed to caring for all patients, he has a special interest in scoliosis, kyphosis and revision surgery. Dr. Safaees goal is to treat patients with the same care he would want for his own family, providing safe, effective and durable outcomes tailored to the individual patient. Although surgery is almost always a last resort, he strives to educate patients with the knowledge needed to make the best decision for themselves. Dr. Safaee earned his medical degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, followed by residency in the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He completed a fellowship in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Safaee has over 100 peer reviewed publications and his work was recognized with the Russell A. Hibbs Award by the Scoliosis Research Society. Dr. Safaees research is currently focused on surgical outcomes in adult deformity surgery and spinal oncology, with a particular interest in risk assessment and data analytics. He is exploring the use of genetic and biological age as components of risk stratification.
Host: Nenad Medvidovic
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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Computer Science General Faculty Meeting
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Receptions & Special Events
Bi-Weekly regular faculty meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Assistant to CS Chair
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DEN@Viterbi: How to Apply Virtual Info Session
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join USC Viterbi representatives for a step-by-step guide and tips for how to apply for formal admission into a Master's degree or Graduate Certificate program. The session is intended for individuals who wish to pursue a graduate degree program completely online via USC Viterbi's flexible online DEN@Viterbi delivery method.
Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives and ask questions about the admission process throughout the session.
Register Now!WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r653012c3782c76d45c9f2af3f668cfe9
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs
Event Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r653012c3782c76d45c9f2af3f668cfe9
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Ampere Trojan Talk
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Be part of what comes next in the semiconductor industry!
CPUs have helped define what the modern world we live in is across all industries from healthcare to finance. Every online application has to run somewhere and that somewhere is usually a data center. Those data centers need server CPUs. Ampere is a young company focused on building server CPUs based on ARM architecture for cloud and edge computing. Ampere allows customers to accelerate the delivery of the most memory-intensive applications such as artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, and databases in the cloud. Cloud computing industry is growing incredibly fast. Ampere is a once in a career opportunity to be a contributor to something big from ground zero. It is the best place to learn to design and bring high-end CPUs and Platforms with a small company feel to market.
RSVP in connectSC events by clicking the (Attend) button
Meeting Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lde6vqjMtGNXfMsK0AcCEUtwtQJdQSF8w
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. The inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the responsibility of the participant to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu
Location: Virtual Event
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lde6vqjMtGNXfMsK0AcCEUtwtQJdQSF8w
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Info Session: ZS Internships in Business Technology
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Info Session: ZS Internships in Business Technology
Date: Wednesday, October 11th, 2023
Time: 2-3 pm PST
Location (virtual via Zoom): Info Session: ZS Internships in Business Technology
Target Audience:
We will be specifically targeting students who are currently pursuing their bachelor’s and master’s degree in the following majors:
Computer Science
Computer Information Systems
Business and Technology Management
Information Technology & Informatics
Information Systems Management
Computer Engineering
Business Analytics
Data Science
Please note that this event is tailored for students who do not require future sponsorship and will be graduating between Dec 2024 – Summer 2025. We have a multitude of internship opportunities available within our Technology space, and we are actively hiring for various positions across all regions in the US.
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant’s responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu">vcareers@usc.edu
Location: Virtual Event
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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AME Seminar
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Yip, UCSD
Talk Title: Teaching a Robot to Perform Surgery: From 3D Image Understanding to Deformable Manipulation
Abstract: Robot manipulation have made massive strides in the past few years, especially in grasping for warehouse logistics, due to the achievements in the computer vision and reinforcement learning communities. One area that has taken off much slower is in understanding how to manipulate deformable objects. For example, surgical robotics are used today via teleoperation from a human-in-the-loop, but replacing the human visual understanding and task performance with an AI remains a lofty and puzzling challenge. How do you build intuition and control of how to deform, stretch, or cut anatomical tissue, find hemorrhages and suction blood and bodily fluids from view, or simply localize your robot within a dynamically changing and deformable world in real-time?
In this talk, I will discuss our work that originates from trying to automate robotic surgery, but falls towards building new modeling and learning schemes for deformable robot manipulation and visual servoing. I will discuss how we analyze a multimodal spectrum of sensory information to solve real-to-sim and sim-to-real problems, while towing a fine line between physics-based models and the less-explainable yet highly successful latent space embeddings. I will show how these techniques apply not only to automating surgical robots but general robot manipulation in real-world scenes.
Biography: Michael Yip is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego, IEEE RAS Distinguished Lecturer, Hellman Fellow, and Director of the Advanced Robotics and Controls Laboratory (ARCLab). His group currently focuses on solving problems in data-efficient and computationally efficient robot control and motion planning through the use of various forms of learning representations from imitation learning and reinforcement learning strategies. These techniques focus on solving problems with visually guided robot manipulation and locomotion on novel, dexterous platforms, including surgical robot manipulators, continuum robots, snake-like robots, and underwater systems. His work has been recognized through several best paper awards and nominations at ICRA and IROS, and RA-L, as well as recognitions including the NSF CAREER award and the NIH Trailblazer award. Dr. Yip was previously a Research Associate with Disney Research Los Angeles in 2014, a Visiting Professor at Stanford University in 2019, and a Visiting Professor with Amazon Robotics' Machine Learning and Computer Vision group in Seattle, WA in 2018. He received a B.Sc. in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Waterloo, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, and a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Stanford University.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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Increase Your Salary: Negotiating Your Job/Internship Offer
Wed, Oct 11, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
THIS EVENT WILL BE HOSTED HYBRID: IN-PERSON & ONLINE SIMULTANEOUSLY
Increase your knowledge on the job/internship search by attending this professional development Q&A moderated by Viterbi Career Connections staff or Viterbi employer partners.
To access the ZOOM link and for more information on this workshop, log into Viterbi Career Gateway>> Events>>Workshops: https://shibboleth-viterbi-usc-csm.symplicity.com/sso/
For more information about all workshops, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
For In-Person: Attendance is limited to room capacityLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Amazon Information Session
Thu, Oct 12, 2023 @ 04:00 AM - 05:30 AM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Analytical Fireside Chat with Students: Empowering Early Career Talent in Data Roles
Oct. 12, 4:00-5:30 AM
Virtual, RSVP HERE: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/7716947673603/WN_VRMTYIS_Ssa2byTkGT9yIQ#/registration
With such spirit of empowering professionals in analytics, Analyticon Fireside Chat with Students will run for 1.5 hours. After welcoming you, we will go straight to a panel session, which involves a group of experienced Amazonians in data roles to provide their insights and guidance on building a successful career in different data roles. At the end, you will have the opportunity to ask them questions, as well as find out about Amazon's job opportunities.
What you can get out of the event?
Gain insight into what Amazonians do on a day-to-day basis across various data roles (e.g. data scientist/business intelligence engineer/data engineer).
Learn how to build a successful career in a data role.
Learn about career opportunities at Amazon and interview tips.
Am I eligible to join the event?
STEM Bachelor's and Master's degree students or recent graduates who are interested in starting their career in data role and looking for internship or graduate opportunities in Amazon.
Learn More: https://analyticon2023fireside.splashthat.com/ESP
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant’s responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu">vcareers@usc.eduLocation: Virtual Event
WebCast Link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/7716947673603/WN_VRMTYIS_Ssa2byTkGT9yIQ#/registration
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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ECE-Controls Seminar - Ardalan Vahidi
Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr Ardalan Vahidi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University
Talk Title: Energy and Flow Effects of Optimal Automated Driving in Mixed Traffic
Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) are marketed for their increased safety, driving comfort, and time saving potential. With much easier access to information, increased processing power, and precision control, CAVs also offer unprecedented opportunities for energy efficient driving. This talk highlights the energy saving potential of connected and automated vehicles based on first principles of motion, optimal control theory, and practical examples from our previous and ongoing research. Connectivity to other vehicles and infrastructure allows better anticipation of upcoming events, such as hills, curves, state of traffic signals, and movement of neighboring vehicles. Automation allows vehicles to adjust their motion more precisely in anticipation of upcoming events, and save energy. Opportunities for cooperative driving could further increase energy efficiency of a group of vehicles by allowing them to move in a coordinated manner. Energy efficient motion of connected and automated vehicles could have a harmonizing effect on mixed traffic, leading to additional energy savings for neighboring vehicles.
Latest analytical and experimental results will be shown on energy and traffic flow impacts attained by anticipation and coordination. The benefits are shown in simulated scenarios and in experiments on a test track where urban and highway conditions are emulated.
Biography: Ardalan Vahidi is a professor of mechanical engineering at Clemson University, South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2005, M.Sc. in transportation safety from George Washington University, Washington, DC, in 2002, and B.S. and M.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology in 1996 and 1998, respectively. He has held Visiting Scholar positions at the University of California, Berkeley (2012-2013), and University of California, San Diego (2023), and scientific visiting positions at BMW Technology Office in California (2012-2013), and at IFP Energies Nouvelles, in Paris (2017). He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of ASME, and an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. His core expertise is in systems and control and his recent publications span topics in automated and connected mobility, electrified transportation, and modeling and optimization of human performance. His research has been sponsored by US Department of Energy, NSF, US Army, and research labs of BMW, Ford, GM, Cummins, and Eaton.
Host: Dr Petros Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93103284622?pwd=SDg1bVVSMDc1SS84bzdQU1d4TVlVZz09
More Information: ECE-Controls_Seminar_Announcement.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: John Diaz
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93103284622?pwd=SDg1bVVSMDc1SS84bzdQU1d4TVlVZz09
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Photonics Seminar - Bassem Tossoun, Friday, Oct. 13th at 1:30pm in MCB102
Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bassem Tossoun, Hewlett Packard Labs
Talk Title: Energy-Efficient III-V on Silicon Photonics for Next-Generation AI Accelerators
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: Deep learning and the availability of large datasets have created a large drive towards new types of hardware capable of executing these algorithms with higher energy-efficiency. Recently, silicon photonics has emerged as a promising hardware platform for neuromorphic computing due to its inherent capability to process linear and non-linear operations and transmit a high bandwidth of data in parallel. At Hewlett Packard Labs, an energy-efficient III-V-on-Silicon photonics platform has been developed as the underlying foundation for innovative neuromorphic computing architectures. The latest research on our silicon photonic computing platform will be presented and discussed.
Biography: Bassem Tossoun received his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Virginia in 2019 with his research interests including silicon photonics and the design, fabrication, and characterization of optoelectronic devices for data communications. Currently, he is a Senior Research Scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs working on heterogeneously integrated III-V on silicon photonic devices and architectures for next-generation optical computing and communications.
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani
More Information: Bassem Tossoun Flyer.pdf
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Good Enough Control of Robot Swarms
Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Cameron Nowzari, Assoc. Prof. Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University
Talk Title: Good Enough Control of Robot Swarms
Abstract: Deploying massive swarms of robots to solve real-world problems has been a research promise for over 50 years, but even today we still do not see clear paths for how an engineer should design, deploy, and control one million robots simultaneously. This talk challenges the prevailing paradigm adopted by most engineers working on swarms. The key ideas rely on embracing bottom-up self-organization instead of more traditional top-down engineering design methods. We draw many connections to other fields of research beyond STEM and seek novel tools for approaching the robot swarm design problem.
How do 100 billion neurons in the human brain connected by 100 trillion synapses create intelligence? How can a single CEO manage an organization with 100,000+ employees?
How much influence does the President of the United States have over the 320+ million people in the country? How does a flock of birds make collective decisions without a leader? How exactly do the actions of the individual agents drive the manifestations of the collective? After showing how similar all these seemingly different examples really are and how pervasive self-organization and emergence are in everyday life, we discuss both the challenges and opportunities that come with predicting and controlling complex systems. Rather than thinking like an engineer, we consider how a chemist, biologist, psychologist, sociologist, or even industrial leader might approach our engineering problem.
Biography: Dr. Cameron Nowzari is an Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and director of the CREATE Lab at George Mason University. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in June 2009 from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences in Sept 2013 from the University of California, San Diego. He spent three years as a postdoc in the Electrical and Systems Engineering Department at the University of Pennsylvania until joining Mason in 2016. He was with the Air Force Research Laboratory at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a Summer Faculty Fellow in 2019, working with the Aerospace Systems directorate.
Dr. Nowzari's research interests are highly transdisciplinary in the broad areas of controls, robotics, emergence, and autonomy. His work has applications in a wide number of areas including mobile sensors, autonomous robots, resource allocation, public health and epidemiology, network protection, and marketing campaigns. He has received multiple best paper awards from different venues and his work is currently supported by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research including a Young Investigator Program Award.
Host: Gerald Leob
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Stephanie Perales
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Mon, Oct 16, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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Leetcode Jam Night
Mon, Oct 16, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
Jam with the Viterbi Learning Program! Join us for a company-specific (MAANG) problems session where we code and discuss. Also - we have pizza.
Monday, October 16
5PM - 7PM @ RTH 205
RSVP Now: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392847Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392847
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Innovation Challenge Application Closes!
Mon, Oct 16, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
Viterbi/Greif Sustainability Innovation Challenge
The Viterbi/Greif Sustainability Challenge is for USC students at all levels who are interested in creating solutions to sustainability problems. Students from all disciplines are invited to participate.
In our changing world of scarce resources, we need new, innovative solutions to solve our most pressing problems. Recent advances in AI, and more specifically generative AI models such as ChatGPT are changing the ways we can tackle such problems.
We’re calling for your ingenuity to develop a solution to a problem area in sustainability utilizing a large language model (LLM). Submissions can be in any area that addresses sustainability and could include solutions in the energy, circular economy, recycling/reuse, climate change, governance, or infrastructure space.
Prize Money
$1,500 - 1st Place
$1,000 - 2nd Place
$500 - 3rd Place
$1,000 - Biggest swing (most risky/largest problem or market)
$1,000 - Most accomplished during the weekend
Apply Now!
https://www.worldlabs.org/opportunity/viterbi-greif-innovation-challengeAudiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi TIE
Event Link: https://www.worldlabs.org/opportunity/viterbi-greif-innovation-challenge
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Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition
Tue, Oct 17, 2023
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
MEPC is accepting applications!
The 2023-2024 Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition (MEPC) season has officially begun.
We are currently accepting applications until Monday, November 6, 2023 @ 11:59pm.
All USC students are invited to participate, although each team must have at least one current Viterbi student (undergrad or grad). The maximum number of team members is 5.
Each team will participate in educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This year's MEPC programming will begin with a Kickoff on December 7, 2023.
https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi TIE
Event Link: https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/
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DREAM Industry Mentorship speaker series
Tue, Oct 17, 2023 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
University Calendar
DREAM (Direct Response to Engineers Aspirations from Mentors) connects students with high profile industry professionals from a variety of tech and destination companies who help them create a vision for their futures, align their careers around purpose, and build character in the context of growth, reinvention, and constant change. Industry mentors discuss how professional challenges present opportunities for character and leadership development. This event will feature Nick Daze in conversation about his journey from USC student majoring in Theater Arts and English Literature, to tech entrepreneur and CEO at Heirloom, a company building the Future of Self-Sovereign Identity using advanced blockchain technology.
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elisabeth Arnold Weiss
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392958
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Oct 17, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk Title: **NO SEMINAR - WEEK OF INFORMS CONFERENCE**
Location: SOS Building, B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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CS Colloquium: Christopher Torng (USC / ECE) - Accelerating Chip-Building Design Cycles for Future Generations of Computing
Tue, Oct 17, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Christopher Torng, USC / ECE
Talk Title: Accelerating Chip-Building Design Cycles for Future Generations of Computing
Series: Computer Science Colloquium
Abstract: The chip building industry is a major cornerstone of the global economy. Unfortunately, it is difficult to produce high-quality designs quickly and at low cost using traditional hardware design flows. This makes it challenging for the community to build new performant and efficient domain-specific accelerators in a timely manner, especially as areas such as machine learning continue to quickly evolve. This talk focuses on new architectures, systems, and design tools to accelerate chip building design cycles for future generations of computing systems. Specifically, we will explore a set of vertically integrated techniques (compiler, architecture, and VLSI) to significantly reduce the design effort to build a coarse-grain reconfigurable array (CGRA) architecture, a flexible architectural template that can be specialized towards many different application domains. I will also introduce an end-to-end agile accelerator-compiler co-designed flow to iteratively evolve such systems across multiple generations of hardware accelerators.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Christopher Torng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California. Prior to his appointment, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University from 2019 to 2022 operating in the leadership of the Stanford AHA Agile Hardware Project, where he worked on creating high-performance and energy-efficient architectures for domain-specific hardware acceleration supported by an agile software-hardware co-design methodology. He received his Ph.D. degree from Cornell University in electrical and computer engineering in 2019. He has over ten years of experience building complex digital SoCs as ASIC prototypes as well as new agile flow tools that have already supported tapeouts for at least 12 academic chips, implemented in technologies from 180nm to 12nm. His activities have resulted in his selection as a Rising Star in Computer Architecture (2018) by Georgia Tech as well as an IEEE MICRO Top Pick from Hot Chips (2018).
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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Plant Your Roots
Tue, Oct 17, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Student Activity
Join us for our WIE Mentorship Social! Come take a break from midterms and find your Zen zone while painting a succulent pot, mingling, and enjoying some insomnia cookies!
Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences:
Contact: Thelma Federico Zaragoza
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/WIE/rsvp?id=392944
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Wed, Oct 18, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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AME Seminar
Wed, Oct 18, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Carmel Majidi, Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: Soft-Matter Engineering for Robotics and Wearables
Abstract: Progress in soft lithography and soft materials integration have led to extraordinary new classes of soft-matter sensors, circuits, and transducers. These material technologies are composed almost entirely out of soft matter -“ elastomers, gels, and conductive fluids like liquid metal -“ and represent the building blocks for machines and electronics that are soft, flexible, and stretchable. Because of their intrinsic compliance and elasticity, such devices can be incorporated into soft, biologically-inspired robots or be worn on the body and operate continuously without impairing natural body motion. In this talk, I will review recent contributions from my research group in creating soft multifunctional materials for wearable electronics and soft robotics using these emerging practices in soft-matter engineering. In particular, I will focus on soft robots powered using shape memory materials and soft material architectures for highly stretchable digital electronics, wearable energy harvesting, and electrically-responsive actuation. When possible, I will show how the design and operation of these soft-matter technologies can be guided by theoretical modeling methods based on principles of mechanics and discrete differential geometry. In addition to presenting my own research in the field, I will also briefly review broader efforts and emerging challenges in utilizing soft multifunctional materials for applications in wearable electronics, bioelectronic interfaces, and soft robotics.
Biography: Carmel Majidi is the Clarence H. Adamson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, where he leads the Soft Machines Lab. His lab is dedicated to the discovery of novel material architectures that allow machines and electronics to be soft, elastically deformable, and biomechanically compatible. Currently, his research is focused on modeling, design, and control of soft robotic systems as well as the developoment of multifunctional materials that exhibit unique combinations of mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties and can function as artificial skin, nervous tissue, and muscle. Carmel has received grants from industry and federal agencies along with early career awards from DARPA, ONR, AFOSR, and NASA to explore challenges in soft-matter engineering and robotics. Prior to arriving at CMU, Prof. Majidi had postdoctoral appointments at Harvard and Princeton Universities and received his PhD in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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Blue Origin Trojan Talk
Wed, Oct 18, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Join us for an information session covering our mission and vision, technical program, and opportunities for students and early career professionals. Hear from engineers at Blue about their work and experience and learn from university recruiters about how to put your best foot forward in the application process.
Please see below for more information regarding employment opportunities at Blue Origin.
Internship Program: Summer 2024
Applications for our Summer 2024 Internship Session are open from September 1st, 2023 - October 30th, 2023. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition
Thu, Oct 19, 2023
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
MEPC is accepting applications!
The 2023-2024 Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition (MEPC) season has officially begun.
We are currently accepting applications until Monday, November 6, 2023 @ 11:59pm.
All USC students are invited to participate, although each team must have at least one current Viterbi student (undergrad or grad). The maximum number of team members is 5.
Each team will participate in educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This year's MEPC programming will begin with a Kickoff on December 7, 2023.
https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi TIE
Event Link: https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/
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Tiktok Tabling Session
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Meet TikTok in the Epstein Family Plaza on Oct. 19, 10-3 p.m.!
Event overview: Tabling Session at USC with volunteers from TA What majors and class levels are you interested in connecting with? All majors; Juniors, Seniors
Are you recruiting for internships, full-time, or both? Both
Can you offer Visa sponsorship? We expect candidates to have the proper work authorization within the country they are applying to. International candidates should seek information from their local government and speak to their university career advisers for more information to make sure they have the correct work authorization. Historically, we are happy to welcome those with CPT or STEM-OPT for our internships and new grad positions in the US.Location: Epstein Family Plaza
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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NL Seminar -Interactive AI Systems Specialized in Social Influence
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Weiyan Shi, Post Doc Stanford University
Talk Title: Interactive AI Systems Specialized in Social Influence
Abstract: REMINDER: Meeting hosts only admit guests that they know to the Zoom meeting. Hence, you are highly encouraged to use your USC account to sign into Zoom. If you are an outside visitor, please inform us at nlg DASH seminar DASH host AT isi DOT edu beforehand so we will be aware of your attendance and let you in. In-person attendance will be permitted for USC/ISI faculty, staff, students only. Open to the public virtually via the zoom link. AI research has so far focused on modeling common human skills, such as building systems to see, read, or talk. As these systems gradually achieve a human level in standard benchmarks, it is increasingly important to develop next generation interactive AI systems with more advanced human skills, to function in realistic and critical applications such as providing personalized emotional support. In this talk, I will cover 1. how to build such expert like AI systems specialized in social influence that can persuade, negotiate, and cooperate with other humans during conversations. 2. I will also discuss how humans perceive such specialized AI systems. This study validates the necessity of Autobot Law and proposes guidance to regulate such systems.3. As these systems become more powerful, they are also more prone to leak users private information. So I will describe our proposed new privacy notion, Selective Differential Privacy, and an algorithm to train privacy preserving models with high utilities. Finally, I will conclude with my longterm vision to build a natural interface between human intelligence and machine intelligence via dialogues, from a multi angle approach that combines Artificial Intelligence, Human Computer Interaction, and social sciences, to develop expert AI systems for everyone.
Biography: Weiyan Shi is a postdoc at Stanford NLP and an incoming assistant professor at Northeastern University starting in 2024. Her research interests are in Natural Language Processing (NLP), especially in social influence dialogue systems such as persuasion, negotiation, and recommendation. She has also worked on privacy preserving NLP applications. She is recognized as a Rising Star in Machine Learning by the University of Maryland. Her work on personalized persuasive dialogue systems was nominated for ACL 2019 best paper. She was also a core team member behind a Science publication on the first negotiation AI agent, Cicero, that achieves a human level in the game of Diplomacy. This work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, MIT Technology Review, Forbes, and other major media outlets.
Host: Jon May and Justin Cho
More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual and ISI-Conf Rm#689
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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Find Your Dream Job or Internship
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
THIS EVENT WILL BE HOSTED HYBRID: IN-PERSON & ONLINE SIMULTANEOUSLY
Increase your knowledge on the job/internship search by attending this professional development Q&A moderated by Viterbi Career Connections staff or Viterbi employer partners.
To access the ZOOM link and for more information on this workshop, log into Viterbi Career Gateway>> Events>>Workshops: https://shibboleth-viterbi-usc-csm.symplicity.com/sso/
For more information about all workshops, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
For In-Person: Attendance is limited to room capacityLocation: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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CS Colloquium: Marynel Vazquez (Yale University) - Towards Robots with Increased Social Context Awareness
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Marynel Vazquez, Yale University
Talk Title: Towards Robots with Increased Social Context Awareness
Abstract: It is common to study human-robot interactions in well-controlled laboratory environments that vary in limited ways during the encounters. However, many real-world applications require robot adaptation to dynamic interaction scenarios. For example, robots may navigate across different places or interact with different people as they try to complete a task. Fundamental to this adaptation is a robot's ability to reason about their social context. How should we abstract this context in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)? What models should we use to reason about the many contextual factors that matter to an application of interest? In this talk, I will describe experimental work that highlights the importance of reasoning about different contextual factors in HRI. Then, I will present recent results on leveraging graph abstractions and relational data-driven models to make inferences about the context of interactions and drive robot behavior. Further, because data is generally scarce in HRI, I will also describe two directions to facilitate data collection in Human-Robot Interaction. One direction focuses on creating an open robot platform for studying social interactions in public environments. The other one aims to scale HRI data collection for early system development and testing via online interactive surveys. We have begun to explore the latter idea for social robot navigation but, thanks to advances in game development engines, it could be easily applied to other HRI application domains.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Marynel Vázquez is an Assistant Professor in Yale's Computer Science Department, where she leads the Interactive Machines Group. Her research focuses on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), especially in multi-party and group settings. Marynel is a recipient of the 2022 NSF CAREER Award, two Amazon Research Awards and a Google Research Scholar Award. Recently, her work has been recognized with best paper awards at HRI'23 and RO-MAN'22. Prior to Yale, Marynel was a Post-Doctoral Scholar at the Stanford Vision & Learning Lab and obtained her M.S. and Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, where she was a collaborator of Disney Research. Before then, she received her bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Universidad Simón BolÃvar in Caracas, Venezuela.
Host: Stefanos Nikolaidis
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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CAIS Webinar: ChatGPT and Large Language Models for Social Work Science: Ethical Challenges, Opportunities, and Next Steps
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Aviv Landau, UPenn
Talk Title: ChatGPT and Large Language Models for Social Work Science: Ethical Challenges, Opportunities, and Next Steps
Abstract: Dr. Aviv Landau will discuss and outline the challenges and opportunities that ChatGPT and other large language models pose across bias, legality, ethics, data privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, and academic misconduct. Furthermore, he will talk about initial research in implementing ChatGPT in social work research promoting advocacy.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Aviv Y. Landau is the Co Director of SAFElab and a research assistant professor at UPenns School of Social Policy and Practice. His research focuses on developing and implementing interdisciplinary computational and social work approaches. Landaus main topics of interest are youth health disparities, ethical artificial intelligence, and social media.
Register for the Zoom webinar here: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Babi0TKrSAKyoZ4tFSI1pQ
Host: CAIS
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Babi0TKrSAKyoZ4tFSI1pQ
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Babi0TKrSAKyoZ4tFSI1pQ
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Quantum Science & Technology Seminar - Daniil Lukin, Thursday, Oct. 19th at 2pm in EEB 248
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Daniil Lukin, Stanford University
Talk Title: AMO experiments on a chip: Scalability through integrated photonics in Silicon Carbide and Titanium:Sapphire
Series: Quantum Science & Technology Seminar Series
Abstract: A perfect crystal is like a perfect vacuum, in the sense that it admits the propagation of waves without scattering (Bloch waves). It follows that by creating point defects in this "semiconductor vacuum", we can realize eternally-trapped "artificial atoms" (in lieu of suspending atoms in true vacuum as in AMO experiments). These artificial atoms can be straightforwardly integrated into photonic circuits on-chip. It is a highly-attractive proposition in theory, but it has practical challenges. In this talk I will cover the developments of quantum photonics with artificial atoms in Silicon Carbide, and discuss advances in nanofabrication that enabled us to reach the strong-coupling regime between the cavity and artificial atoms. By revisiting the most basic photonic cavity, we combined strong interactions with individual atom addressability to study multi-atom cavity-coupled systems in the solid state. This system is intrinsically scalable, permitting large-scale co-integration of detectors and control lasers. I will discuss the development of the integrated Titanium:Sapphire laser arrays, and scalable control of quantum photonic systems.
Biography: Daniil Lukin did his PhD at Stanford University in the group of Prof. Jelena Vuckovic, where he currently is a postdoctoral researcher. His research interests are in integrated quantum photonics and exploring nanophotonic device nanofabrication for advancing technology and fundamental science.
Host: Quntao Zhang, Wade Hsu, Mengjie Yu, Jonathan Habif & Eli Levenson-Falk
More Information: Daniil Lukin Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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CS Colloquium: Michael Pazzani (ISI/USC) - Expert-Informed, User-Centric Explanations for Image Classification with Deep Learning
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Pazzani, ISI / USC
Talk Title: Expert-Informed, User-Centric Explanations for Image Classification with Deep Learning
Series: Computer Science Colloquium
Abstract: We argue that the dominant approach to explainable AI for explaining image classification with deep learning-“ annotating images with heatmaps, provides little value for users unfamiliar with deep learning. Instead, we argue that explainable AI for images should produce output like experts produce when communicating with one another, with apprentices, and with novices. We discuss a bit of the history of interpretable and explainable AI with examples from AI & medicine. A new approach that labels image regions with diagnostic features is proposed and evaluated. We draw on examples from radiology, ophthalmology, dermatology as well as bird classification.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Michael Pazzani is a Principal Scientist at the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. Dr. Pazzani was the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development at the University of California, Riverside where he was also a professor of computer science with additional appointments in statistics and psychology. From 2006-2012 he was the Vice President for Research and Economic Development at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, where he was also a Distinguished Professor of Computer Science. Prior to his appointment at Rutgers, Dr. Pazzani was the Director of the Information and Intelligent Systems Division at the National Science Foundation. He also served as a member of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health from 2003- 2005. In 2019, Dr. Pazzani was appointed to the Defense Science Board. Dr. Pazzani started his career as an assistant, associate, and full professor as well as department chair of Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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DEN@Viterbi - Online Graduate Engineering Virtual Information Session
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join USC Viterbi School of Engineering for a virtual information session via WebEx, providing an introduction to DEN@Viterbi, our top-ranked online delivery system. Discover the 40+ graduate engineering and computer science programs available entirely online.
Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives during the session to discuss the admission process, program details, and the benefits of online delivery.
Register Today!
WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r4bd818b1bcc4381b664182bd5279c3f5
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs
Event Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r4bd818b1bcc4381b664182bd5279c3f5
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Tenstorrent Trojan Talk
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Meet Tenstorrent!
At Tenstorrent we focus on building high-performance computing and the required ecosystem. This talk will focus on introducing high-performing RISCV CPU and AI work at Tenstorrent. Specifically, we will go over our high-performance RISCV CPU design and its use cases in various market segments.
We will start off with the single-core CPU design and expand to how we put multiple cores together to build high-performance systems that are very much needed to address future market needs. We will also touch base on our industry-leading AI accelerators and how we integrate them with our high-performing RISCV CPUs.
Zoom Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcOuprD4qHNxU-6_GpSjLNuczoEVCHi4C
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant’s responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.eduLocation: Virtual Event
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIpcOuprD4qHNxU-6_GpSjLNuczoEVCHi4C
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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CS Colloquium: Lerrel Pinto (NYU) - Three Lessons for Building General-Purpose Robots
Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lerrel Pinto, NYU
Talk Title: Three Lessons for Building General-Purpose Robots
Abstract: Over the last decade, a variety of paradigms have sought to teach robots complex and dexterous behaviors in real world environments. On one end of the spectrum we have nativist approaches that bake in fundamental human knowledge through physics models, simulators and knowledge graphs. While on the other end of the spectrum we have tabula rasa approaches that teach robots from scratch. In this talk I will argue for the need for better constructivist approaches to robotics, i.e. techniques that take guidance from humans while allowing robots to continuously adapt in changing scenarios. The constructivist guide I propose will focus on three lessons. First, creating physical interfaces to allow humans to provide robots with rich and dexterous data. Second, developing adaptive learning mechanisms to allow robots to continually fine tune in their environments. Third, architecting models that allow robots to learn from uncurated play. Applications of such a learning paradigm will be demonstrated on mobile manipulators in home environments, industrial robots on precision tasks, and multifingered hands on dexterous manipulation.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Lerrel Pinto is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at NYU. His research interests focus on creating general purpose robotic systems. He received a PhD degree from CMU in 2019 prior to that he received an MS degree from CMU in 2016, and a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Guwahati. His work on robotics received paper awards at ICRA 2016 and RSS 2023, and finalist awards at IROS 2019 and CoRL 2022. He is a recipient of grants and awards from Amazon, Honda, Hyundai, Meta, LG and Google. More recently, he was named a TR35 innovator under 35 for 2023. Several of his works have been featured in popular media like TechCrunch, MIT Tech Review, Wired, and BuzzFeed among others. His recent work can be found on www.lerrelpinto.com
Host: Stefanos Nikolaidis
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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Grad Student Study & Social
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Fri, Oct 20, 2023 @ 01:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
All Viterbi Graduate Students are invited! Grab free snacks, use our quiet study spaces, and prep for midterms with the Viterbi Learning Program.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392853
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Min Family Challenge Application Closes!
Sun, Oct 22, 2023 @ 11:59 PM - 11:59 PM
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
MFC is accepting applications! The 2023-2024 Min Family Challenge season has officially begun. We are currently accepting applications until Sunday, October 22, 2023 @ 11:59pm. All USC students are invited to participate, although each team must have at least one current Viterbi student (undergrad or grad). The maximum number of team members is 5. Each team will participate in educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This year's Min Family Challenge begin with a Kickoff on November 8, 2023 and culminate with a Finals Showcase on April 17, 2024.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Jason Ordonez
Event Link: https://airtable.com/appBsKwv6nCjaKrSd/shrFKqU2hWWhXbO6t
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Welcome to Gartner Consulting - "Ace the Case" Bootcamp (Day 1)
Mon, Oct 23, 2023 @ 09:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Day 1 - Oct. 23, 9-10 AM, 12-1 PM PST
Day 2 - Oct. 27, 9-10 AM, 10-11 AM, 12-1 PM PST
Virtual, RSVP HERE: https://flows.beamery.com/gartner/gartner-consulting--ace-the-case--bootcamp-rvffgwzdeg
Representatives from Gartner Consulting will host an "Ace the Case Bootcamp" for Graduate students. This will be a two-part virtual event series where students will first learn how to best approach a case study interview and discuss ways to be successful. Following these presentations, students will be given a take-home case to put theory into practice.
Session 2 will consist of breakout rooms where students will work through their prepared case study presentation to receive feedback from a Gartner consultant.
Monday, October 23rd - Part 1 overview presentation (choose 1 session to attend)
Option 1: 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
Option 2: 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern
Friday, October 27th - Part 2 small group breakout sessions (choose 1 session to attend)
Option 1: 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
Option 2: 1:00-2:00 pm Eastern
Option 3: 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern
Due to high levels of interest, registration will be limited. Completing this form indicates your interest in participating but is not a confirmation. On October 18th, you will receive an update on your status.
Once confirmed, you are expected to attend both parts live. After confirmation if you are unable to attend both parts, please contact us so we can move a student from the waitlist forward.
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant’s responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu">vcareers@usc.eduLocation: Virtual Event
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
Event Link: https://flows.beamery.com/gartner/gartner-consulting--ace-the-case--bootcamp-rvffgwzdeg
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Mon, Oct 23, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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AI4Health Center: Cyrus Shahabi (USC) - Privacy-preserving Release of Location Data for Health Applications
Mon, Oct 23, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Cyrus Shahabi, USC
Talk Title: Privacy-preserving Release of Location Data for Health Applications
Series: AI4Health Center
Abstract: In this talk, I will discuss how location data is crucial for various health applications, such as preparing for pandemics, finding early signs of Alzheimer's disease, and measuring human performance. At the same time, I will underscore the sensitivity of this data, exacerbated by growing privacy concerns, potentially hindering its accessibility. Therefore, I will survey various strategies aimed at protecting location privacy, all the while preserving the utility of these applications.
Of particular focus will be our utilization of advanced deep neural network techniques for the release of private aggregated location data and the generation of synthetic location visit sequences. Finally, I'll wrap up by discussing new ways to use location data in the future, along with the open challenges and questions we need to address.
Biography: Cyrus Shahabi is a Professor of Computer Science, Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Spatial Sciences; Helen N. and Emmett H. Jones Professor of Engineering; and the director of the Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC) at USC. He was also the chair of the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at USC from 2017 to 2022. He was co-founder of two USC spin-offs, Geosemble Technologies and Tallygo. He authored two books and more than three hundred research papers in databases, GIS, and multimedia with 14 US Patents. Dr. Shahabi chaired the founding nomination committee of ACM SIGSPATIAL for its first term (2008-2011 term) and served as the chair of ACM SIGSPATIAL for the 2017-2020 term. He was an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, and VLDB Journal. He is currently Editor in Chief of PVLDB Vol. 17 (PC Chair of VLDB 2024) and on the editorial board of the ACM Transactions on Spatial Algorithms and Systems and ACM Computers in Entertainment. Dr. Shahabi is a recipient of the ACM Distinguished Scientist award, the U.S. Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and the NSF CAREER award. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and IEEE.
Host: Michael Pazzani (ISI)
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/4218/privacy-preserving-release-of-location-data-for-health-applications/
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/4218/privacy-preserving-release-of-location-data-for-health-applications/
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CS Teaching Faculty Meeting
Mon, Oct 23, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
Meeting for invited full-time Computer Science teaching faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 322
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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ZooX information Session
Mon, Oct 23, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Zoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments. Zoox is hosting an information session for both undergraduate and graduate students who are looking for an internship. We are looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team. Come learn about what we are doing in the autonomous vehicle industry! About our hiring interest:
-We are hiring for undergrad, grad, and PhD students
-We are open to hiring international students
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. The inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the responsibility of the participant to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu
Location: Zoom
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvc-iuqT0tHdTRFMPerg7eWzDfCwNfkQkt
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Pei Zhou
Mon, Oct 23, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Pei Zhou
Committee Members: Xiang Ren (Chair), Jay Pujara, Toby Mintz, Jesse Thomason, Jieyu Zhao
Title: Common Ground Reasoning for Communicative Agents
Abstract: Conversational AIs have received much attention due to the advent of large language model-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT. Recent studies have also focused on the potential of building AI agents that can interact with humans and the world. However, challenges remain unsolved for AI models to become capable communicative agents including understanding implicit intents and reaching goals. This thesis proposal outlines my research aiming to tackle these challenges by teaching models to reason to build common ground to become better communicators. Specifically, I focus on 1) enhancing conversational models with common ground knowledge; 2) modeling theory-of-mind capabilities to build goal-driven dialogue agents; and 3) augmenting planning capabilities in multi-round interactions. I will also discuss future directions including can we teach models to self-discover reasoning structures to adapt to unseen scenarios and can models benefit from memory modules to store and generate new insights from prior experienceAudiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/2065614640
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Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition
Tue, Oct 24, 2023
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
MEPC is accepting applications!
The 2023-2024 Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition (MEPC) season has officially begun.
We are currently accepting applications until Monday, November 6, 2023 @ 11:59pm.
All USC students are invited to participate, although each team must have at least one current Viterbi student (undergrad or grad). The maximum number of team members is 5.
Each team will participate in educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This year's MEPC programming will begin with a Kickoff on December 7, 2023.
https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi TIE
Event Link: https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Xisen Jin
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Xisen Jin
Committee Members: Xiang Ren (advisor), Jesse Thomason, Robin Jia, Mahdi Soltanolkotabi, Jieyu Zhao
Title: Building Updatable Language Model Systems in the Wild
Abstract: Building updatable language model systems has become a crucial challenge alongside the progress of large language models. In this thesis proposal, I will present my efforts on creating resources, developing efficient methods, and analyzing learning dynamics in updating language models. I will introduce two of my past works, focused on lifelong pretraining of language models and fusing knowledge of multiple models by merging their weights. I will then introduce my on-going study of analyzing and forecasting examples that will be forgotten by model updates to reduce forgetting that happens during the process of model updates.Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92405014194?pwd=RlpqYzNKejZEQ1J1alhQYjBqN3dNZz09
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CAIS Webinar: Beyond Datasets – How the Small Decisions We Make Affect The Tools We Build
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nyalleng Moorosi, Senior Researcher at DAIR
Talk Title: Beyond Datasets -“ How the Small Decisions We Make Affect The Tools We Build
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: Data and our understanding of correctness and ground truth are a function of our history, culture and our position in society. In this talk, I wish to share with you some of the often nondocumented decisions we make as builders of machine learning tools and how they challenge the theory of building for all
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Nyalleng Moorosi is a senior researcher at DAIR, and her research interests are in understanding how we can build models which center populations often regarded as peripheral.
Register for the Zoom webinar here: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_evMt4EB7S9SVoq0XVzJ1yw
Host: CAIS
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_evMt4EB7S9SVoq0XVzJ1yw
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_evMt4EB7S9SVoq0XVzJ1yw
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DREAM Industry Mentorship speaker series
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
University Calendar
DREAM (Direct Response to Engineers Aspirations from Mentors) connects students with high profile industry professionals from a variety of tech and destination companies who help them create a vision for their futures, align their careers around purpose, and build character in the context of growth, reinvention, and constant change. Industry mentors discuss how professional challenges present opportunities for character and leadership development. This event will feature global creative, marketing, and tech leader Tom Gilmartin, sharing insights from the evolution of his remarkable career as a creative director working with some of the most valuable brands in the world, including Meta, and his recent co-founding of Verses and Valleys advisory council for non-profits.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 105
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elisabeth Arnold Weiss
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392960
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Ang Li
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Ang Li
Committee Members: T. K. Satish Kumar (chair), Sven Koenig, Aiichiro Nakano, Emilio Ferrara, and John Carlsson
Title: Revisiting FastMap: New Applications
Abstract: FastMap was first introduced in the Data Mining community for generating Euclidean embeddings of complex objects. In this talk, I will first generalize FastMap to generate Euclidean embeddings of graphs in near-linear time: The pairwise Euclidean distances approximate a desired graph-based distance function on the vertices. I will then apply the graph version of FastMap to efficiently solve various graph-theoretic problems of significant interest in AI: including shortest-path computations, facility location, top-K centrality computations, and community detection and block modeling. I will also present a novel learning framework, called FastMapSVM, by combining FastMap and Support Vector Machines. I will then apply FastMapSVM to predict the satisfiability of Constraint Satisfaction Problems and to classify seismograms in Earthquake ScienceLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 110
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92891703811?pwd=MmhNQXJCY3ZhMTRlOGp0aWpBZkRsZz09
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The 2nd Annual A.V. Balakrishnan Awards
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 02:30 PM - 04:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
The A.V. 'Bal' Balakrishnan Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in the Mathematics of Systems was established by the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) through a generous gift from Mrs. Sophia Balakrishnan honoring the memory of her late husband Professor A. V. 'Bal' Balakrishnan, a well-known researcher and Professor in the area of the Mathematics of Systems.
More information on the award can be found at https://sites.usc.edu/balakrishnan-library/awards/
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Please join us in celebrating this year's award recipient, Dr. Xudong Chen, Associate Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the Washington University in St. Louis.
More info on this year's award recipient can be found at https://sites.usc.edu/balakrishnan-library/2023-a-v-balakrishnan-early-career-award-winner/
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
University Park Campus
Ronald Tutor Hall (RTH)
Ming Hsieh Boardroom, Room 526
Reception 2:00PM - 2:30PM
Remarks 2:35PM - 3:15PM
Awardee Lecture 3:15PM - 4:00PM
Award Presentation 4:00PM - 4:15PM
RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/Lg97hSReznusEizN9
This event will be live-streamed and recorded over Zoom.More Information: 2023.10.24 Balakrishnan Awards - Invitation.pdf
Location: RTH 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Miki Arlen
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Stefan Wild, Division Director, Applied Mathematics & Computational Research Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab)
Talk Title: Optimization and Learning with Zeroth-Order Stochastic Oracles
Host: Dr. Giacomo Nannicini/Dr. Meisam Razaviyayn
More Information: October 24, 2023.pdf
Location: Social Sciences Building (SOS) - SOS Building, B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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CS Colloquium: Feng Qian (USC / ECE) - Towards Robust and Resource-efficient Immersive Content Streaming
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Feng Qian, USC / ECE
Talk Title: Towards Robust and Resource-efficient Immersive Content Streaming
Series: Computer Science Colloquium
Abstract: Compared to delivering regular 2D videos, streaming immersive content such as 360-degree panoramic videos, volumetric videos, and virtual/mixed reality (VR/MR) content presents distinct challenges due to their intensive network and compute resource consumption. In this talk, I will detail our team's journey over the past five years to boost the robustness, resource efficiency, and user experience of immersive content streaming. Our high-level design principles include adapting to the network & compute resources, integrating viewers' motion patterns, and harnessing the power of AI through edge computing. Backed up with real prototype implementation and field trials, our efforts make it feasible to stream high-quality immersive content to commodity mobile devices such as untethered smartphones and entry-level VR/MR headsets.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Feng Qian is an associate professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. His research interests cover the broad areas of intelligent mobile systems (including 5G/6G), virtual, augmented, and mixed reality (VR/AR/MR) systems, cross-layer system design & analysis, application & transport layer protocols, and real-world system measurement. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. He received multiple awards including the AT&T Key Contributor Award, the Google Faculty Award, two ACM CoNEXT best paper awards (2016, 2018), the NSF CAREER Award, the Trustees Teaching Award, the DASH-IF Excellence Award, the Cisco Research Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Best Student Paper Award (2021), the Google Research Scholar Award, two ACM MobiCom best community paper awards (2022, 2023), and the Okawa Research Grant.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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PhD Thesis Defense - John Francis
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - John Francis
Committee Members: Mike Zyda, Carl Kesselman, Jernej Barbic, Scott Fraser, Kate White
Title: Neural Network Integration of Multiscale and Multimodal Cell Imaging Using Semantic Parts
Abstract: The structural modeling of cells can be accomplished by integrating images of cellular morphology from multiple scales and modalities using a parts based approach. In this thesis, we demonstrate a method for combining the statistical distribution of structures from x-ray tomography and fluorescence microscopy using neural networks to predict the localization of high resolution components in low resolution modalities by using the single cell as a shared unit of transferLocation: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/5585232420?pwd=QmZSRXI4NkdiMWtXWnp2Q2Q3N1pSdz09
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PhD Thesis Defense - Georgios Papadimitriou
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Defense - Georgios Papadimitriou
Committee Members: Ewa Deelman (chair), Viktor Prasanna, Aiichiro Nakano
Title: Cyberinfrastructure Management For Dynamic Data Driven Applications
Abstract: Computational science today depends on complex, data intensive applications operating on datasets from a variety of scientific instruments. These datasets may be huge in volume, may have high velocity or both, raising a major challenge of how scientists can analyze these datasets. On the other hand, workflows processing these datasets might need to respond to changes in the processing load e.g, increases in data flow, in order to maintain a steady and predictable turnaround time.
In this thesis we present our efforts to improve the performance of these data intensive application systems. We develop new tools that extend the functionality offered by the CI, and we provide a methodology to capture end to end performance statistics of the data intensive workflows. Additionally, we evaluate how the choices during the acquisition and configuration of resources affect the performance of the data intensive workflows. Finally, we answer the fundamental question of how scientists can manage the CI and apply policies that can help their applications meet their constraints .e.g, turn around time, by avoiding network degradation. We develop methodologies that take place during the planning phase of the workflows, and can reduce their peak network requirements. We also develop active approaches that can be applied and reduce the per workflow network requirements during their execution, using a workflow ensemble manager and application aware software defined flows.
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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Computer Science General Faculty Meeting
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Receptions & Special Events
Bi-Weekly regular faculty meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Assistant to CS Chair
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ZooX Information Session
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Zoox is developing the first ground-up, fully autonomous vehicle fleet and the supporting ecosystem required to bring this technology to market. Sitting at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and design, Zoox aims to provide the next generation of mobility-as-a-service in urban environments.
Zoox is hosting an information session for both undergraduate and graduate students who are looking for an internship. We are looking for top talent that shares our passion and wants to be part of a fast-moving and highly execution-oriented team. Come learn about what we are doing in the autonomous vehicle industry!
Zoom Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvc-iuqT0tHdTRFMPerg7eWzDfCwNfkQkt#/registration
About our hiring interest: We are hiring for undergrad, grad, and Ph.D. students. We are also open to hiring international students
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant’s responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu">vcareers@usc.eduLocation: Virtual Event
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUvc-iuqT0tHdTRFMPerg7eWzDfCwNfkQkt#/registration
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Photonics Seminar - Julia Gorsch & Andrea Steinfurth, Wednesday, October 25th at 2:30pm in EEB 132
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Julia Gorsch and Andrea Steinfurth, University of Rostock, Institute for Physics
Talk Title: Emulating photonic mesh lattices in coupled optical fiber loops
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: The advancements in technology in the field of photonics allow for a precise control over the properties of light and its propagation. This makes experimental photonic platforms highly attractive not only for studying optical phenomena, but also for emulating effects from different fields of physics. By doing so, the underlying physical effect is isolated and transferred to a highly controllable but simplified environment. To make such photonic platforms even more versatile, the concept of synthetic dimensionality has been used as powerful tool to replace spatial dimensions with other degrees of freedom of the system. One of such experimental optical platforms is the coupled optical fiber loop setup, which encodes the spatial dimensions in time to emulate an optical mesh lattice. In this talk we will introduce this particular platform, its working principle, and how it can be adapted to support a large variety of different mesh lattices. The phenomena accessible for investigation on such lattices include topics such as non-Hermitian systems, topological effects, disordered systems, and nonlinear behavior, just to name a few. In the second part of this talk, two examples of recent research are presented in more detail. Firstly, non-Hermitian tailoring was used to observe constant-intensity waves as well as non-Hermitian induced transparency. Secondly, the non-Hermitian skin effect enabled the creation of a topological funnel for light. We will conclude with a brief overview of other topics that have been experimentally realized with the coupled optical fiber loop setup.
Biography: Julia Görsch:
- Master's degree in 2023 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics
- PhD student since 2023 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics, Experimental Solid-State Optics, Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Szameit
Andrea Steinfurth:
- Master's degree in 2020 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics
- PhD student since 2020 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics, Experimental Solid-State Optics, Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Szameit
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani
More Information: Gorsch and Steinfurth Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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AME Seminar
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Binil Starly, Arizona State University
Talk Title: Cyber-Manufacturing: Delivering Manufacturing Services Over Web 3.0
Abstract: Cybermanufacturing enables the shared use of networked manufacturing infrastructure to deliver manufacturing resources on-demand while maximizing capacity utilization, reducing consumption of natural and material resources, and reducing costs to product design and manufacturing. This talk will highlight three areas where our group has contributed to the understanding of Cybermanufacturing systems -“ 1) With the explosive growth of 3D product models, the data contained in them may be used to democratize access and broaden those who are able to engage in product design and manufacturing; 2) Understanding of manufacturing capability available over the entire US through Natural Language Processing (NLP), and its interface with Large Language Models (like BERT & GPT-4); 3) Identification and Verification of Machines in the context of a Distributed Web of machines. In the future, the digital connection across factories will also lead to Manufacturing Networks that are highly agile, distributed, and resilient while considering the long-term consequences of sustainable industrial performance. Emerging digital technologies such as Pervasive Sensing, Computational Intelligence, Edge-Fog-Cloud Computing, Digital Twins, Smart Automation, Intelligent Collaborative Robots etc., open new possibilities in the design of smart collaborative physical and digital networks of factories.
Biography: Binil Starly serves as the Founding School Director and Professor in the School of Manufacturing Systems & Networks, one of 8 Schools within the Ira. A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University. He has over 20 years of experience in Digital manufacturing. His laboratory is working on technologies that merge the digital and the physical world towards advancing both discrete and continuous manufacturing. His work is supported by the US National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and the Department of Defense. He has received the NSF CAREER award, SME 20 Most Influential Professors in Smart Manufacturing, SME Young Manufacturing Engineering Award (2011) and numerous teaching awards at the University of Oklahoma and North Carolina State University. His lab website is at: https://www.dimelab.org.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98121141178?pwd=VGEyaXVWYnRaazFYWUVhbVAycGVWQT09 Meeting ID: 981 2114 1178 Passcode: NhXrDOqQU8
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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DEN@Viterbi: How to Apply Virtual Info Session
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join USC Viterbi representatives for a step-by-step guide and tips for how to apply for formal admission into a Master's degree or Graduate Certificate program. The session is intended for individuals who wish to pursue a graduate degree program completely online via USC Viterbi's flexible online DEN@Viterbi delivery method.
Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives and ask questions about the admission process throughout the session.
Register Now!WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r30a3f47fe6a6728a62e6f64f57206ca6
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs
Event Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r30a3f47fe6a6728a62e6f64f57206ca6
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Computer Science Trivia Night
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 05:00 PM - 07:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
How much do you REALLY know about Computer Science? Join the Viterbi Learning Program for a fun CS Trivia Night -go head to head with fellow Computer Science students to prove you're #1! Winners will walk away with amazing prizes and everyone can enjoy FREE snacks!
Wednesday, October 25
5PM - 7PM @ RTH 222
RSVP Now: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392851Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392851
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Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition
Thu, Oct 26, 2023
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
MEPC is accepting applications!
The 2023-2024 Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition (MEPC) season has officially begun.
We are currently accepting applications until Monday, November 6, 2023 @ 11:59pm.
All USC students are invited to participate, although each team must have at least one current Viterbi student (undergrad or grad). The maximum number of team members is 5.
Each team will participate in educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This year's MEPC programming will begin with a Kickoff on December 7, 2023.
https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi TIE
Event Link: https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/
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Design Criteria for Human-Centered Natural Language Generation
Thu, Oct 26, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Kaitlyn Zhou, Stanford University
Talk Title: Design Criteria for Human-Centered Natural Language Generation
Series: NL Seminar
Abstract: Abstract: REMINDER: Meeting hosts only admit guests that they know to the Zoom meeting. Hence, you are highly encouraged to use your USC account to sign into Zoom. If you are an outside visitor, please inform us at nlg DASH seminar DASH host AT isi DOT edu beforehand so we will be aware of your attendance and let you in. In-person attendance will be permitted for USC/ISI faculty, staff, students only. Open to the public virtually via the zoom link. Large language models have made substantial steps towards generating human-like language. However, this endeavor to mimic human language comes with potential drawbacks. By mimicking and appropriating human language, the systems produce language that inherits the harms and cognitive biases of humans while failing to ensure features like clarity and transparency. My research asks: how can generated language avoid the harms of natural language while supporting safe and collaborative human-AI collaboration? Starting with the researchers, I study the quality criteria of natural language generation, using mixed methods approaches to reveal design decisions made consciously and subconsciously by natural language generation by practitioners. Looking through datasets of natural language, I identify the origins of language appropriation and illustrate the safety risks mimicry has via the linguistic miscalibration of language models. Lastly, I study how humans perceive the appropriation of social behaviors such as politeness and refusal and the risks they may pose in chat settings. What I find throughout my research is that language models inappropriately appropriate the style, the use of linguistic cues, and the prosocial language of the human text they are trained on. My future work seeks to develop design criteria for generated language, centered on user-needs, to build training methods to achieve this goal.
Biography: Kaitlyn Zhou is currently pursuing her PhD in computer science at Stanford University, advised by Dan Jurafsky. Her research focuses on investigating the unintended consequences that stem from the appropriation of natural language by language models. Her work delves into various aspects, including the fairness implications associated with the evaluation of natural language generation, the linguistic miscalibration displayed by language models, and the misplaced overconfidence of publicly deployed chatbots. Kaitlyn has previously spent summers at Microsoft Research and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. She is funded by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship and her visualization techniques have gained recognition in prominent publications like The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. In 2018, Kaitlyn was appointed by Washington State Governor Jay Inslee to the University of Washington Board of Regents.
Host: Jon May and Justin Cho
More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Webcast: https://youtu.be/bJC6PFxU99sLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual and ISI-Conf Rm#689
WebCast Link: https://youtu.be/bJC6PFxU99s
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Jared Coleman
Thu, Oct 26, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Jared Coleman
Committee Members: Dr. Bhaskar Krishnamachari (Chair), Dr. Rafael Ferreira da Silva, Dr. Jyotirmoy Deshmukh, Dr. Konstantinos Psounis, Dr. Murali Annavaram
Title: Dispersed Computing in Dynamic Environments
Abstract: Task scheduling is a fundamental problem in distributed computing and thus has received substantial scholarly attention. Most existing solutions, however, fall short of accommodating the dynamic and stochastic nature of modern dispersed computing systems (e.g., IoT, edge, and robotic systems). In this proposal, we present our existing work to address this gap and identify theoretical and practical research directions that would build upon our previous work to advance the current state-of-the-art in task scheduling for dynamic environmentsLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92645861253?pwd=NmRaaE5IeXM0b3VHbEpXRUZzT1Yrdz09
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CS Colloquium: Luca Luceri (ISI/USC) - AI-Driven Approaches for Countering Influence Campaigns in Socio-Technical Systems
Thu, Oct 26, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Luca Luceri, ISI / USC
Talk Title: AI-Driven Approaches for Countering Influence Campaigns in Socio-Technical Systems
Abstract: The proliferation of online platforms and social media has sparked a surge in information operations designed to manipulate public opinion on a massive scale, posing significant harm at both the individual and societal levels. In this talk, I will outline a research agenda focused on identifying, investigating, and mitigating orchestrated influence campaigns and deceptive activities within socio-technical systems. I will start by detailing my research efforts in designing AI-based approaches for detecting state-backed troll accounts on social media. Modeling human decision-making as a Markov Decision Process and using an Inverse Reinforcement Learning framework, I will illustrate how we can extract the incentives that social media users respond to and differentiate genuine users from state-sponsored operators. Next, I will delve into a set of innovative approaches I developed to uncover signals of inauthentic, coordinated behaviors. By combining embedding techniques to unveil unexpected similarities in the activity patterns of social media users, along with graph decomposition methods, I will show how we can reveal network structures that pinpoint coordinated groups orchestrating information operations. Through these approaches, I will provide actionable insights to inform regulators in shaping strategies to tame harm, discussing challenges and opportunities to improve the resilience of the information ecosystem, including the potential for interdisciplinary collaborations to address these complex issues.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Luca Luceri is a Research Scientist at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) at the University of Southern California (USC). His research incorporates machine learning, data and network science, with a primary focus on detecting and mitigating online harms in socio-technical systems. He investigates deceptive and malicious behaviors on social media, with a particular emphasis on problems such as social media manipulation, (mis-)information campaigns, and Internet-mediated radicalization processes. His research advances AI/ML/NLP for social good, computational social science, and human-machine interaction. In his role as a Research Scientist at ISI, Luca Luceri serves as a co-PI of the DARPA-funded program INCAS, aiming to develop techniques to detect, characterize, and track geopolitical influence campaigns. Additionally, he is the PI of a Swiss NSF-sponsored project called CARISMA, which develops network models to simulate the effects of moderation policies to combat online harms.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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Roblox Trojan Talk
Thu, Oct 26, 2023 @ 06:15 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Working at Roblox: Early Careers, Product, and Generative AI
This workshop will cover the recruiting process at Roblox, the firsthand intern experience, the exciting happenings within the company, and a keynote from the director of our Generative AI product. There will also be time for Q&A, networking, and food!
Thurs, October 26th, 6:15-8 pm
Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SHL) Room 101
Agenda:
6:00-6:30: Set up
6:30-6:45: Intro by Louis and Nnaemeka
6:45-7:10: Gen AI Presentation by Josh Anon
7:10-7:30: Q&A
7:30-8:00: Network
Target student majors: All degrees under Thomas Lord CS dept, including but not limited to:
CS (all, including CS games & CSBA)
DS (all, including comm DS)
Target student degree levels:
Bachelor's
Master's
PHDLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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Welcome to Gartner Consulting - "Ace the Case" Bootcamp (Day 2)
Fri, Oct 27, 2023 @ 09:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Day 1 - Oct. 23, 9-10 AM, 12-1 PM PST
Day 2 - Oct. 27, 9-10 AM, 10-11 AM, 12-1 PM PST
Virtual, RSVP HERE: https://flows.beamery.com/gartner/gartner-consulting--ace-the-case--bootcamp-rvffgwzdeg
Representatives from Gartner Consulting will host an "Ace the Case Bootcamp" for Graduate students. This will be a two-part virtual event series where students will first learn how to best approach a case study interview and discuss ways to be successful. Following these presentations, students will be given a take-home case to put theory into practice.
Session 2 will consist of breakout rooms where students will work through their prepared case study presentation to receive feedback from a Gartner consultant.
Monday, October 23rd - Part 1 overview presentation (choose 1 session to attend)
Option 1: 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
Option 2: 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern
Friday, October 27th - Part 2 small group breakout sessions (choose 1 session to attend)
Option 1: 12:00-1:00 pm Eastern
Option 2: 1:00-2:00 pm Eastern
Option 3: 3:00-4:00 pm Eastern
Due to high levels of interest, registration will be limited. Completing this form indicates your interest in participating but is not a confirmation. On October 18th, you will receive an update on your status.
Once confirmed, you are expected to attend both parts live. After confirmation if you are unable to attend both parts, please contact us so we can move a student from the waitlist forward.
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant’s responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.edu">vcareers@usc.eduLocation: Virtual Event
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
Event Link: https://flows.beamery.com/gartner/gartner-consulting--ace-the-case--bootcamp-rvffgwzdeg
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Fri, Oct 27, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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Lessons Learned from the past 30 Years of Research in Mental Health
Fri, Oct 27, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Steven Siegel, Franz Alexander Chair in Psychiatry, Professor and Chair, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Lessons Learned from the past 30 Years of Research in Mental Health
Abstract: Dr. Steven Siegel, Franz Alexander Chair in Psychiatry, Professor and Chair, Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Talk Title: Lessons Learned from the past 30 Years of Research in Mental Health Abstract: Siegel will describe work he has done over the past 30 years. Topics will range from biodegradable polymer-based implants developed in his lab at Penn and now being used clinically under the auspices of Teva Uzedy. Additionally, he will discuss studies measuring signal processing of brain activity bridging the pathophysiology and etiology of psychosis using EEG and ECog in mice. He will also address collaborations both at Penn and USC in engineering, spanning biomedical engineering and material science, as well as his work as chief wellness officer for USCs health system, including a randomized control trial to understand healthcare professional wellness. Lastly, he will describe work in his department leading a massive proactive adaptive technology mental health screening tool for USC students including its impact on trainees in engineering.
Biography: Steven Siegel, is currently professor and chair of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences. He holds secondary appointments in neurological surgery as well as population and public health sciences. Prior to coming to USC, he was professor of psychiatry and bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania from 1996-2016.Steven Siegel earned his MD/PhD in Neurobiology at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and completed residency and fellowship at UPenn, specializing in the treatment of psychosis. He is Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Chief Mental Health/Wellness Officer for Keck Medicine of USC. He has been involved in medical, undergraduate, and graduate education and mentored more than 160 trainees in neuroscience and bioengineering. His research has been supported by federal, state, foundation, and industry sources for more than 25 years. He has published over 175 manuscripts, book chapters and books related to drug abuse, schizophrenia and autism.
Host: Maral Mousavi
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Stephanie Perales
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Oct 27, 2023 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Carolyn Meltzer, Dean, KSOM, Professor of Radiology
Talk Title: "T1.5: Keck School - Past, Present and Future"
Biography: Dr.Carolyn Meltzer is the Dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the May S. and John H. Hooval Deans Chair in Medicine. Dean Meltzer is an expert in neuroradiology and nuclear medicine, and her research has focused on the brains structure and function during normal aging, dementia, Alzheimers disease, and psychiatric disorders in later life. She has received numerous recognitions for her work, including election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the distinguished service award from the American Medical Association, and gold medal award from the American College of Radiology. She serves on the Council of Deans Administrative Board for the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Board of Directors for the Radiological Society of North America. Prior to her appointment at the Keck School, Dean Meltzer was the William P. Timmie Professor and Chair in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at the Emory School of Medicine, where she also served as Executive Associate Dean of Faculty Academic Advancement, Leadership and Inclusion; the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer; and the Associate Dean for Research. Dean Meltzer earned a bachelors in neurobiology with honors from Cornell University; a medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University; and completed residency and several fellowships at The Johns Hopkins University.
Host: Peter Yingxiao Wang- Chair of Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
More Info: zoom link available upon request
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
Event Link: zoom link available upon request
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AME & ASTE - Study & Social
Fri, Oct 27, 2023 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
Calling all Aerospace, Mechanical and Astronautical Grad & Undergrad students for a fun mixer at the Viterbi Learning Program study space!Meet people from your classes, socialize, study, and play games together. FREE FOOD will be provided! RSVP Here: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392895
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r392895
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Communications Hub: Writing and Speaking for PhD Students - Drop In Hours
Mon, Oct 30, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. Students!
Need help with academic and professional writing and speaking tasks? Viterbi faculty at the Hub provide one-on-one help with journal and conference articles, dissertations, fellowship applications, and career communications!
Drop by RTH 222A on MWF 10am-1pm or make an online appointment via email at eishub@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
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ECE Study Mixer
Mon, Oct 30, 2023 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Student Activity
All Viterbi ECE Students are invited! Socialize and study with your peers from ECE, grab FREE PIZZA AND BAGELS, and have fun with the Viterbi Learning Program (VLP)!
RSVP Today: https://cglink.me/2nB/r393181Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alex Bronz
Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r393181
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Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition
Tue, Oct 31, 2023
Viterbi Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Student Activity
MEPC is accepting applications!
The 2023-2024 Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition (MEPC) season has officially begun.
We are currently accepting applications until Monday, November 6, 2023 @ 11:59pm.
All USC students are invited to participate, although each team must have at least one current Viterbi student (undergrad or grad). The maximum number of team members is 5.
Each team will participate in educational sessions, workshops, and meetings with mentors throughout the academic year. This year's MEPC programming will begin with a Kickoff on December 7, 2023.
https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi TIE
Event Link: https://viterbiinnovation.usc.edu/competitions-and-programs/mepc/
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Avijit Thawani
Tue, Oct 31, 2023 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Avijit Thawani
Committee Members: Jay Pujara (advisor), Dani Yogatama, Swabha Swayamdipta, Aiichiro Nakano, Gerard Hoberg
Title: Tokenisation in Language Models: numeracy and beyond
Abstract: The first step for large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT is to convert text (that humans understand) into indices (that models do). This crucial phase in the Language Modeling pipeline has unfortunately been understudied and is currently achieved by subword segmentation, a manually engineered set of heuristics. We deep dive into case studies where these heuristics fail and our proposed improvements: for example when representing numbers in text, as well as multi-word phrases. Finally, we present an end-to-end tokenized language model that understands both words and numbers better than subwords without any manually engineered heuristic. It also outperforms character-level tokenisation, promising up to 4/6x speed up in inference and training respectivelyLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 110
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Oct 31, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Haihao Lu, Assistant Professor, Department of Operations Management, University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
Talk Title: Scale up Constrained Continuous Optimization with First-Order Methods
Host: Dr. Meisam Razaviyayn
More Information: October 31, 2023.pdf
Location: SOS Building, B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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