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Events for the 4th week of March

  • Repeating EventMeet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, and Engineering Talk

    Mon, Mar 18, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen (HS juniors and younger) and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process, a student led walking tour of campus, and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. During the engineering session we will discuss the curriculum, research opportunities, hands-on projects, entrepreneurial support programs, and other aspects of the engineering school. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process, and financial aid.

    Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m.

    Please make sure to check availability and register online for the session you wish to attend. Also, remember to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!

    RSVP

    Location: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - USC Admission Office

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

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    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • CS Colloquium: Gang Wang (Virginia Tech) - Human Augmentation for Internet Security

    Mon, Mar 18, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Gang Wang, Virginia Tech

    Talk Title: Human Augmentation for Internet Security

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Human factors are playing a critical role in the security of today's Internet systems. On one hand, human factors are constantly exploited by attackers to launch serious attacks, leading to massive data breaches and ransomware infections. On the other hand, human (expert) intelligence is instrumental in detecting and combating new threats (e.g., zero-days) that automated methods such as machine learning often fail to capture.

    In this talk, I will describe our efforts to improve security through human augmentation. Human augmentation includes (1) reducing the security risks introduced by human factors, and (2) integrating human intelligence to build more robust security defenses. First, I will describe our progress to reduce the risk of human factors by detecting and mitigating flawed system designs that severely weaken user-level defenses. Using spear phishing as an example, I will illustrate how data analytics and active measurements can make a key difference in this process. Second, I will share our recent results on improving the trust and robustness of security systems by generating "human-interpretable" outputs. By building an "explanation system" for deep learning based security applications, we allow security analysts to diagnose classification errors and patch model weaknesses. Finally, I conclude by highlighting my future plans of using data-driven approaches to augmenting security defenses for both humans and algorithms.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.

    Biography: Gang Wang is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. He obtained his Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara in 2016, and a B.E. from Tsinghua University in 2010. His research focuses on human (user) aspects of Internet security. His work takes a data-driven approach to addressing emerging security threats in massive communication systems (social networks, email services), crowdsourcing systems, mobile applications, and enterprise networks. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2018), Google Faculty Research Award (2017), ACM CCS Outstanding Paper Award (2018), and SIGMETRICS Best Practical Paper Award (2013). His research has appeared in a diverse set of top-tier venues in Security, Measurement, Networking, and HCI. His projects have been covered by media outlets such as MIT Technology Review, The New York Times, Boston Globe, CNN, ACM TechNews, and New Scientist.

    Host: Aleksandra Korolova

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • ECE Seminar: Communication Algorithms via Deep Learning

    Mon, Mar 18, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Hyeji Kim, Researcher/Samsung AI Research Cambridge, UK

    Talk Title: Communication Algorithms via Deep Learning

    Abstract: The design of codes for communicating reliably over a statistically well-defined channel is an important endeavor involving deep mathematical research and wide-ranging practical applications. In this talk, we demonstrate that the discovery of decoding and coding algorithms can be automated via deep learning. We first show that creatively designed and trained Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architectures can decode well known sequential codes such as convolutional and turbo codes with close to optimal performance on the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel, which itself is achieved by the Viterbi and BCJR algorithms. We also demonstrate that the neural network based decoders are much more robust and adaptive to deviations from the AWGN setting compared to existing decoders. Next, we present the first family of codes obtained via deep learning which significantly outperforms state-of-the-art codes. By integrating information theoretic insights into our design of recurrent-neural-network based encoders and decoders, we are able to construct the first set of practical codes for the Gaussian noise channel with feedback. Up until now, feedback has been known to theoretically improve the reliability of communication, but no practical codes have been able to do so.

    Biography: Hyeji Kim is a researcher at Samsung AI Research Cambridge in the United Kingdom. Before she joined Samsung AI Research, she worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2016 and 2013, respectively, and her B.S. degree with honors in Electrical Engineering from KAIST in 2011. Her research interests include information theory, machine learning, and the interplay between the two areas. She is a recipient of the Stanford Graduate Fellowship and participant of the Rising Stars in EECS Workshop in 2015.

    Host: Professor Salman Avestimehr, avestime@usc.edu

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • Fall 2018 Joint CSC@USC/CommNetS-MHI Seminar Series

    Mon, Mar 18, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Margareta Stefanovic, University of Denver

    Talk Title: Robust stabilization with guaranteed performance in heterogeneous multi-agent systems with nonlinear uncertain couplings

    Abstract: Systems of physically interconnected multiple agents cooperating toward a common goal have received considerable attention lately, with applications in large-scale and cyber-physical systems. Distributed consensus ideas have been recognized as a more attractive approach compared to the centralized and decentralized ones. In this talk I will present recent results on stabilization, decoupling, and cooperative tracking in multi-agent systems subject to various types of challenges, such as mixed order linear dynamics, mixed matched/unmatched state-coupled nonlinear uncertainties in the agents dynamics. A unifying, easy-to-implement framework is developed using graph theory and optimal control formulation, to provide stability and guaranteed cost of the distributed communication topologies.

    This is a joint work with the former PhD student and current postdoctoral DU research associate, Dr. Vahid Rezaei.

    Biography: Margareta Stefanovic received a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering (Control Systems) from the University of Southern California and is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Denver. Her main research interests are in the areas of data-driven robust adaptive control, and distributed control of multi-agent systems. She serves as an Editor-at-Large for Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems and as an Associate Editor of ISA Transactions. Prof. Stefanovic is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

    Host: Prof. Michael Safonov, msafonov@usc.edu

    More Info: http://csc.usc.edu/seminars/2019Spring/stefanovic.html

    More Information: 190318 Margareta Stefanovic CSCUSC Seminar.pdf

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Brienne Moore

    Event Link: http://csc.usc.edu/seminars/2019Spring/stefanovic.html

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  • CS Colloquium: ShiQing Ma (Purdue University) - Transparent Computing Systems Enabled by Program Analysis

    Tue, Mar 19, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: ShiQing Ma, Purdue University

    Talk Title: Transparent Computing Systems Enabled by Program Analysis

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Modern computing systems are complex and opaque, which is the root cause of many security and software engineering problems. In enterprise level system operations, this leads to inaccurate and hard-to-understand attack forensics results. In deep learning systems, such opaqueness prevents us from understanding the misclassifications and improving the model accuracy. Hence, there is a pressing need for improving the transparency of these systems to help us solve the corresponding security and software engineering problems.

    In this talk, I will focus on my research efforts of developing novel program analysis techniques to improve the transparency of such systems and their applications in attack forensics and deep learning systems. For attack forensics, I will first describe a compiler-based execution partitioning technique MPI which helps accomplish accurate, semantics-rich and multi-perspective attack forensics. For deep learning systems, I will introduce novel state differential analysis and input selection techniques to analyze deep learning model internals for addressing the misclassification problem. Finally, I will briefly present my ongoing and future work on intelligent systems (i.e., systems that combine traditional computing components and artificial intelligent components).

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

    Biography: Shiqing Ma is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University, co-advised by Professors Xiangyu Zhang and Dongyan Xu. His research interests lie in solving security and software engineering problems via program analysis techniques with a focus on improving the transparency of modern computing systems. He is the recipient of two Distinguished Paper Awards at ISOC NDSS 2016 and USENIX Security 2017

    Host: Muhammad Naveed

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • PhD Defense - Abdulmajeed Alameer

    Tue, Mar 19, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 01:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    PhD Candidate:
    Abdulmajeed Alameer

    Committee:
    William G.J. Halfond (Chair)
    Nenad Medvidovic
    Sandeep Gupta
    Chao Wang
    Jyotirmoy V. Deshmukh

    Dissertation Title:
    Detection, Localization, and Repair of Internationalization Presentation Failures in Web Applications

    Time and Location:
    3/19 from 11am to 1:30pm - Room PHE 223.

    Abstract:
    Web applications can be easily made available to an international audience by leveraging frameworks
    and tools for automatic translation and localization. However, these automated changes
    can introduce Internationalization Presentation Failures (IPFs) - an undesired distortion of the
    web page's intended appearance that occurs as HTML elements expand, contract, or move in
    order to handle the translated text. It is challenging for developers to design websites that can
    inherently adapt to the expansion and contraction of text after it is translated to different languages.
    Existing web testing techniques do not support developers in debugging these types of
    problems and manually testing every page in every language can be a labor intensive and error
    prone task.

    In my dissertation work, I designed and evaluated two techniques to help developers in debugging
    web pages that have been distorted due to internationalization efforts. In the first part of
    my dissertation, I designed an automated approach for detecting IPFs and identifying the HTML
    elements responsible for the observed problem. In evaluation, my approach was able to detect
    IPFs in a set of 70 web applications with high precision and recall and was able to accurately
    identify the underlying elements in the web pages that led to the observed IPFs. In the second
    part of my dissertation, I designed an approach that can automatically repair web pages that
    have been distorted due to internationalization efforts. My approach models the correct layout
    of a web page as a system of constraints. The solution to the system represents the new and
    correct layout of the web page that resolves its IPFs. The evaluation of this approach showed
    that it could more quickly produce repaired web pages that were rated as more attractive and
    more readable than those produced by a prior state-of-the-art technique. Overall, these results
    are positive and indicate that both my detection and repair techniques can assist developers in
    debugging IPFs in web applications with high effectiveness and efficiency.

    Time and Location:
    3/19 from 11am to 1:30pm - Room PHE 223.

    Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 223

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Lizsl De Leon

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  • Myoung-Gyun Suh Seminar, Tuesday, March 19th at 2PM in EEB 132

    Tue, Mar 19, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Myoung-Gyun Suh, California Institute of Technology

    Talk Title: Optical microcombs: Towards ubiquitous precision measurements and beyond

    Abstract: How do we make a precise clock? How do astronomers find Earth-like exoplanets? At the center of these questions lies a remarkable device, the Optical Frequency Comb. Optical frequency combs, or rulers of light, have revolutionized precision spectroscopy and metrology by enabling two distinct functions: first, the measurement of optical frequency with an unprecedented precision, and second, the counting of cycles of an optical field. The former has enabled the most accurate spectroscopy tools, new forms of LIDAR and astronomical calibration instruments used in the search for exoplanets, while the latter has enabled a new generation of optical clocks with accuracy orders-of-magnitude better than the current time standard[1].
    In recent years, a miniature optical frequency comb (or microcomb) has been demonstrated using chip-based optical micro-resonators. Microcombs offer the prospect of shifting advanced metrology and spectroscopy tools from the realm of laboratory-scale systems to compact portable systems, thereby creating new research opportunities in mobile or space-borne instrumentation[2]. In this talk, I will introduce the principle of microcomb generation and recent developments in microcomb research including our work using high-Q silica micro-resonators[3-5]. Initial results in several application areas including spectroscopy[6], optical communications[7] and astronomy[8] will also be reviewed. Finally, after discussing challenges and opportunities in microcomb research, I will conclude by looking forward at opportunities enabled by microcomb technology, including precision spectroscopy, astronomy, and quantum information science.

    Biography: Myoung-Gyun Suh is an experimental physicist in the Department of Applied Physics and Material Science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he has studied nonlinear optics using optical micro-resonators. His recent work focuses on developing novel chip-based optical sources (Brillouin lasers and micro-resonator soliton optical frequency combs) and exploring applications of these devices for optical sensors, precision spectroscopy, optical communications, and astronomy. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Caltech in 2017, M.S. in Physics from the National Taiwan University (NTU) in 2006, and B.S. in Physics from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in 2004. He is a recipient of Taiwan scholarship and Kwanjeong scholarship. In his earlier research career, he was fascinated by interesting light-matter interaction phenomena in photonics crystal structures and he studied two-dimensional photonic crystal lasers for his B.S. and M.S. degrees. After completing his M.S., Dr. Suh worked at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (2006 - 2011) where he developed high efficiency Gallium Nitride light emitting diodes and III-V multi-junction solar cells.

    Host: ECE-Electrophysics

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651

    Tue, Mar 19, 2019 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Kaibo Liu, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

    Talk Title: Big Data Analytics for Real-time Complex System Monitoring and Prognostics

    Host: Dr. Qiang Huang

    More Information: March 19, 2019.pdf

    Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Grace Owh

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  • Legion: Programming Heterogeneous, Distributed Parallel Machines

    Tue, Mar 19, 2019 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Alex Aiken , Stanford University

    Talk Title: Legion: Programming Heterogeneous, Distributed Parallel Machines

    Abstract: Programmers tend to think of parallel programming as a problem of dividing up computation, but often the most difficult part is the placement and movement of data. As machines become more complex and hierarchical, describing what to do with the data is increasingly a first-class programming concern. Legion is a programming model and runtime system for describing hierarchical organizations of both data and computation at an abstract level. A separate mapping interface allows programmers to control how data and computation are placed onto the actual memories and processors of a specific machine. This talk will present the design of Legion, the novel issues that arise in both the design and implementation, and experience with applications.

    Biography: Alex Aiken is the Alcatel-Lucent Professor of Computer Science at Stanford. Alex received his Bachelors degree in Computer Science and Music from Bowling Green State University in 1983 and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1988. Alex was a Research Staff Member at the IBM Almaden Research Center (1988-1993) and a Professor in the EECS department at UC Berkeley (1993-2003) before joining the Stanford faculty in 2003. His research interest is in areas related to programming languages. He is an ACM Fellow, a recipient of Phi Beta Kappa's Teaching Award, and a former chair of the Stanford Computer Science Department (2014-18).

    Host: Xuehai Qian, xuehai.qian@usc.edu

    More Information: 19.03.19 Alex Aiken_CENG Seminar.pdf

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Brienne Moore

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  • CS Colloquium: Protiva Rahman (Ohio State University) - Amplifying Domain Expertise in Data Pipelines

    Tue, Mar 19, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:20 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Protiva Rahman, Ohio State University

    Talk Title: Amplifying Domain Expertise in Data Pipelines

    Series: Computer Science Colloquium

    Abstract: Digitization of forms and electronic health records (EHR) has made data from diverse domains available for analysis. The specialized nature of the data require domain expert input at every step of the data analysis pipeline, including entry, cleaning, and analysis. Since domain experts (e.g. physicians) are highly skilled in their fields, their time is very valuable and expensive. Moreover, they often do not have any training in computer science or statistics, making it difficult for them to effectively interact with data. Thus, it is crucial that we make data interaction easy, efficient and effortless for experts. This involves amplifying or generalizing their inputs to multiple data points, reducing their time and effort.

    In this talk, I will present Icarus, a system that leverages the database schema to amplify domain expert input during data cleaning. Icarus optimizes a weighted sum to guide the user to high-impact edits. Once a user fills in a cell, the system leverages the many-to-one relations in the database to suggest generalized update queries in the form of rules. These rules apply to a larger number of cells, amplifying the user's single edit.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.


    Biography: Protiva Rahman is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Ohio State University, advised by Professor Arnab Nandi. Her research interests include databases, human-computer interaction, visualization, and clinical informatics. Besides data cleaning, she has also worked on optimizing data entry interfaces for constrained interaction, guidelines for evaluating interactive systems and visualizations for domain expert consensus.

    Host: Computer Science Department

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Computer Science Department

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  • Repeating EventMeet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, and Engineering Talk

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen (HS juniors and younger) and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process, a student led walking tour of campus, and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. During the engineering session we will discuss the curriculum, research opportunities, hands-on projects, entrepreneurial support programs, and other aspects of the engineering school. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process, and financial aid.

    Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m.

    Please make sure to check availability and register online for the session you wish to attend. Also, remember to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!

    RSVP

    Location: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - USC Admission Office

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

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    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • Computer Science General Faculty Meeting

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019 @ 12:00 AM - 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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  • ECE Seminar: Harnessing Nature to Make Wireless Positioning Practical and Accurate

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Manikanta Kotaru, Ph.D. Candidate, Stanford University

    Talk Title: Harnessing Nature to Make Wireless Positioning Practical and Accurate

    Abstract: Positioning has been the Holy Grail of wireless sensing research with a wide range of applications from tracking virtual reality devices to in-body implants. However, despite two decades of active research, a widely deployable system with high accuracy has always been elusive. Wireless signals reflected from objects in the environment interfere with and distort the signal from the intended target device, corrupting the position estimates. In order to fight this 'multipath' phenomenon, previous approaches built specialized wireless devices with huge antenna arrays or large bandwidths making them impractical for ubiquitous deployment. In this talk, I will introduce a new technique called 'Synthetic Aperture Radio' that harnesses, rather than fighting, the multipath that naturally occurs in the environment and exploits the device motion that naturally occurs in these applications. By applying this technique, I have demonstrated the first real-time and centimeter-level accurate positioning system using standard, off-the-shelf WiFi radios. Building on synthetic aperture radio technique, I have developed practical positioning systems for indoor navigation, tracking virtual reality accessories and resource constrained devices like endoscopic capsules. Looking forward, these techniques lay a foundation for utilizing ubiquitous wireless devices for developing important machine vision applications in various domains like medical sensing, physical security and autonomous vehicles.

    Biography: Manikanta Kotaru is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on building widely-accessible computational sensing systems with applications in robotics, virtual reality, Internet of Things and medical sensing. His research bridges RF sensing and machine vision, and brings theory and systems together. His work has appeared in premier conferences in both communications and computer vision such as SIGCOMM and CVPR. He is a recipient of Stanford Graduate Fellowship.

    Updated: 03/15/2019

    Host: Professor Pierluigi Nuzzo, nuzzo@usc.edu

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • AME Seminar

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Ananya Renuka Balakrishna, University of Minnesota

    Talk Title: Microstructural Engineering Of Energy-Related Materials

    Abstract: Future advances in aerospace engineering depend on developing materials with enhanced properties. For example, the next generation of electric aircrafts will need light-weight low-fatigue materials, high-performance sensing and actuation materials, and high-density energy storage materials. Material properties can be drastically enhanced by tuning the materials microstructural features. In my research, I develop and apply phase-field methods to investigate how microstructures form and evolve in materials, and how we can engineer these microstructures to enhance material properties. In this talk, I will present applications of phase-field modeling to two material systems: electro-mechanical -ferroelectrics- and chemo-mechanical -batteries- systems. First, I will show how microstructural engineering of ferroelectric materials generate actuation strains several times greater than piezoceramics in market. Second, I will show that not only the electrodes microstructures but also their crystallographic texture can be tailored to enhance battery materials mechanical strength. Overall, the phase-field models developed in my research provide a theoretical and computation framework to engineer next generation aerospace materials with enhanced properties and extended lifespans.

    Ananya Balakrishna is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota investigating microstructures in magnetic and light-interactive materials. She completed her PhD in Solid Mechanics and Materials Engineering at the University of Oxford, before pursuing postdoctoral research at MIT as a Lindemann Postdoctoral fellow. Broadly, her research focuses on developing mathematical models to investigate the links between material microstructures and properties in energy storage and functional materials. Her research on engineering ferroelectric microstructures has been recognized by the Falling Walls London Lab prize, and the British Federation for Women Graduates Award. She has also won other awards including the ASME Best student paper award, and the Felix scholarship for her graduate study.

    Host: AME Department

    Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tessa Yao

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  • Spring 2019 ITP Open House

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Information Technology Program (ITP)

    Workshops & Infosessions


    All current and prospective students are invited to attend. Learn about our classes, ask questions about our minor programs, and meet our faculty.

    We'll have snacks from Porto's Bakery to enjoy with coffee and tea, and advisers will be available to answer questions about course planning and how to declare minors! Stop by whenever you are able to. No RSVP required.

    More Information: Spring 2019 ITP Open Houses.pdf

    Location: Waite Phillips Hall Of Education (WPH) - B26

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tim Gotimer

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  • Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things and Ming Hsieh Institute Seminar Series

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Antonis Papachristodoulou, University of Oxford

    Talk Title: Exploiting Sparsity in Semidefinite and Sum of Squares Programming

    Series: Center for Cyber-Physical Systems and Internet of Things

    Abstract: Semidefinite and sum of squares optimization have found a wide range of applications, including control theory, fluid dynamics, machine learning, and power systems. In theory they can be solved in polynomial time using interior-point methods. However, these methods are only practical for small- to medium- sized problem instances.

    For large instances, it is essential to exploit or even impose sparsity and structure within the problem in order to solve the associated programs efficiently. In this talk I will present recent results on the analysis and design of networked systems, where chordal sparsity can be used to decompose the resulting SDPs, and solve an equivalent set of smaller semidefinite constraints. I will also discuss how sparsity and operator-splitting methods can be used to speed up computation of large SDPs and introduce our open-source solver CDCS. Lastly, I will extend the decomposition result on SDPs to SOS optimization with polynomial constraints, revealing a practical way to connect SOS optimization and DSOS/SDSOS optimization for sparse problem instances.


    Biography: Antonis Papachristodoulou joined the University of Oxford in 2006, where he is currently Professor of Engineering Science and a Tutorial Fellow in Worcester College. Since 2015, he has been EPSRC Fellow and Director of the EPSRC & BBSRC Centre for Doctoral training in Synthetic Biology. He holds an MA/MEng in Electrical and Information Sciences from the University of Cambridge (2000) and a PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems from the California Institute of Technology, with a PhD Minor in Aeronautics (2005). In 2015 he was awarded the European Control Award for his contributions to robustness analysis and applications to networked control systems and systems biology and the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award. He is an IEEE Fellow for contributions to the analysis and design of networked control systems. He serves regularly on Technical Programme Committees for conferences, and was associate editor for Automatica and IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.

    Host: Paul Bogdan

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Talyia White

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  • CAIS Seminar: Robin Petering, Nick Barr, & AJ Srivastava - MyPath: Intervention for Reduction in Violence among at Risk Youth

    Wed, Mar 20, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Robin Petering, Dr. Nick Barr, & Dr. AJ Srivastava,

    Talk Title: MyPath: Intervention for Reduction in Violence among at Risk Youth

    Series: USC Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society (CAIS) Seminar Series

    Abstract: One in ten young people between ages 18-25 experience homelessness every year in the United States. The lives of youth experiencing homelessness is characterized by violence, more so than their housed counterparts. This is the result of several, often co-occurring, risk factors such as experience of childhood trauma, subsistence survival strategies including drug and alcohol use, and exposure to perpetrators during street tenure. Violence has many consequences from physical injury to heightened mental health distress. Reducing exposure and engagement to violence is critical for safe and successful exit from homelessness. However, to date, implementing a violence reduction intervention in this community has had little success.

    MyPath is a peer-based social network intervention designed to reduce experiences of violence in a community of young persons experiencing homelessness. MyPath utilizes strategic machine learning selection methods to identify potential Mindfulness and Yoga Peer Ambassadors and invites them to participate in an intensive 3-hour mindfulness and yoga retreat that relates the two practices to the impact of violence. The retreat is followed by weekly 1-hour trainer-facilitated mindfulness and yoga classes that are open for attendance of non-peer ambassadors as well. MyPath is novel in that it uses an algorithm, called ViolMin, to identify potential peer ambassadors, which takes into account the uncertainty in links of surveyed network data and identifies "influential" individuals in a network, those who have a history of violent behavior, and yet are open to intervention.

    The MyPath Pilot was implemented in partnership with Safe Place for Youth (SPY) during the summer of 2018. During this project, eight Mindfulness and Yoga Peer Ambassadors, selected by the ViolMin algorithm, participated in the program. Six weeks after the introduction of the MyPath programming, pilot results showed a statistically significant reduction in violence. The number of young people involved in physical fights dropped by 40%. There was also an increase of 85% in number of individuals who practice regular mindfulness and yoga. Moreover, the selected Mindfulness and Yoga Peer Ambassadors were highly engaged in the program. One MyPath ambassador reflected on the program, "People think threatening and violence is the answer. If everyone did mindfulness we would be living in a semi-better world. I didn't know anything about mindfulness, all I did know was violence, how to protect myself. When I got to SPY, I learned mindfulness and learned how to relax with yoga. I feel like a different person when I do it."


    Biography: Dr. Robin Petering is interested in improving the lives of young persons who experience homelessness through community-based research, policy advocacy and program implementation. Her research agenda focuses on reducing violence through innovative intervention approaches. @robinpetering

    Dr. Nicholas Barr is a postdoctoral fellow interested in improving mental and behavioral health outcomes in populations at high risk for adverse experiences. His research agenda focuses on investigating the protective effects of mindfulness and emotion regulation.

    Dr. Ajitesh Srivastava is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Ming Hsieh Institute of Electrical Engineering. His research interests include Data Mining, Social Network Analysis, Graph Algorithms, Optimizations, and Parallel Computing.


    Host: Milind Tambe

    Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Computer Science Department

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  • CS Colloquium: Amy Zhang (MIT) - Systems to Improve Online Discussion

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Amy Zhang, MIT

    Talk Title: Systems to Improve Online Discussion

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Discussions online are integral to everyday life, affecting how we learn, work, socialize, and participate in public society. Yet the systems that we use to conduct online discourse, whether they be email, chat, or forums, have changed little since their inception many decades ago. As more people participate and more venues for discourse migrate online, new problems have arisen, and old problems have intensified. People are still drowning in information and must now juggle dozens of disparate discussion silos in addition. Finally, an unfortunately significant proportion of this online interaction is unwanted or unpleasant, with clashing norms leading to people bickering or getting harassed into silence. My research in human-computer interaction is on reimagining outdated designs towards designing novel online discussion systems that fix what's broken about online discussion. To solve these problems, I develop tools that empower users and communities to have direct control over their experiences and information. These include: 1) summarization tools to make sense of large discussions, 2) annotation tools to situate conversations in the context of what is being discussed, as well as 3) moderation tools to give users more fine-grained control over content delivery.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

    Biography: Amy X. Zhang is a graduate student at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, focusing on human-computer interaction and social computing, and a 2018-19 Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center. She has interned at Microsoft Research and Google Research, received awards at ACM CHI and CSCW, and featured in stories by ABC News, BBC, CBC, and more. She has an M.Phil. in CS at University of Cambridge on a Gates Fellowship and a B.S. in CS at Rutgers, where she captained the Division I Women's tennis team. Her research is supported by a Google PhD Fellowship and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

    Host: Nora Ayanian

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • RASC seminar - How to Make, Sense, and Make Sense of Contact in Robotic Manipulation

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    "How to Make, Sense, and Make Sense of Contact in Robotic Manipulation"

    Dexterous manipulation is still one of the key open problems for many new robotic applications, owing in great measure to the difficulty of dealing with transient contact. From an analytical standpoint, intermittent frictional contact (the essence of manipulation) is difficult to model, as it gives rise to non-convex problems with no known efficient solvers. Contact is also difficult to sense, particularly with sensors integrated in a mechanical package that must also be compact, highly articulated and appropriately actuated (i.e. a robot hand). Articulation and actuation present their own challenges: a dexterous hand comes with a high-dimensional posture space, difficult to design, actuate, and control. In this talk, I will present our work trying to address these challenges: analytical models of grasp stability (with realistic energy dissipation constraints), design and use of sensors (tactile and proprioceptive) for manipulation, and hand posture subspaces (for design optimization and teleoperation). These are stepping stones towards achieving versatile robotic manipulation, needed by applications as diverse as logistics, manufacturing, disaster response and space robots.

    Matei Ciocarlie is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University. His current work focuses on robot motor control, mechanism and sensor design, planning and learning, all aiming to demonstrate complex motor skills such as dexterous manipulation. Matei completed his Ph.D. at Columbia University in New York; before joining the faculty at Columbia, he was a Research Scientist and Group Manager at Willow Garage, Inc., a privately funded Silicon Valley robotics research lab, and then a Senior Research Scientist at Google, Inc. In recognition of his work, Matei has been awarded the Early Career Award by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, a Young Investigator Award by the Office of Naval Research, a CAREER Award by the National Science Foundation, and a Sloan Research Fellowship by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

    Hosted by: Gaurav Sukhatme

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 406

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Lizsl De Leon

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  • Ming Hsieh Institute Medical Imaging Seminar Series

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Xingfeng Shao, Electrical Computer and Engineering, University of Southern California

    Talk Title: Mapping Water Exchange Rate Across the Blood-Brain Barrier

    Abstract: The blood-brain barrier maintains the homeostasis within the brain and the dysfunction of blood-brain barrier has been linked to multiple central nervous system diseases and psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this work is to present a novel MR pulse sequence and regularized modeling algorithm to quantify the water exchange rate, kw, across the blood-brain barrier without contrast, and to evaluate its clinical utility in a cohort of elderly subjects at risk of cerebral small vessel disease. Elderly subjects were recruited and underwent two MRIs to evaluate the reproducibility of the proposed technique. Correlation analysis was performed between kw and vascular risk factors, Clinical Dementia Rating scale, neurocognitive assessments, and white matter hyperintensities. kw was significantly higher in subjects with diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Significant correlations between kw and vascular risk factors, Clinical Dementia Rating scale, executive/memory function, and the Fazekas scale of white matter hyperintensities were also observed. These results suggest that kw may serve as a surrogate imaging marker of cerebral small vessel disease and associated cognitive impairment.

    Biography: Xingfeng Shao is a Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Danny JJ Wang's lab in USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (INI). He obtained his Bachelor degree in Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and joined USC BME department as a Ph.D. student in 2016. His research focus on MRI pulse sequence development. With background in physics and neurobiology, he has developed several MRI sequences for arterial spin labeling (ASL) and proposed a novel technique to measure water permeability across the blood-brain barrier in-vivo.

    Host: Professor Krishna Nayak

    Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Talyia White

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  • PhD Defense - Yuan Shi

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Time and Location: 3/21 10 am - 11:30 am - PHE 223

    PhD Candidate: Yuan Shi

    Committee:
    Craig Knoblock (Chair)
    Yan Liu
    T. K. Satish Kumar
    Daniel Edmund O'Leary (external member)

    Title: Learning to Adapt to Sensor Changes and Failures

    Abstract:
    Many software systems run on long-lifespan platforms that operate in diverse and dynamic environments. As a result, significant time and effort are spent manually adapting software to operate effectively when hardware, resources and external devices change. If software systems could automatically adapt to these changes, it would significantly reduce the maintenance cost and enable more rapid upgrade. As an important step towards building such long-lived, survivable software systems, we study the problem of how to automatically adapt to changes and failures in sensors.

    We address several adaptation scenarios, including adaptation to individual sensor failure, compound sensor failure, individual sensor change, and compound sensor change. We develop two levels of adaptation approaches: sensor-level adaptation that reconstructs original sensor values, and model-level adaptation that directly adapts machine learning models built on sensor data. Sensor-level adaptation is based on preserving sensor relationships after adaptation, while model-level adaptation maps sensor data into a discriminative feature space that is invariant with respect to changes.

    Compared to existing work, our adaptation approaches have the following novel capabilities: 1) adaptation to new sensors even when there is no overlapping period between new and old sensors; 2) efficient adaptation by leveraging sensor-specific transformations derived from sensor data; 3) scaling to a large number of sensors; 4) learning robust adaptation functions by leveraging spatial and temporal information of sensors; and 5) estimating the quality of adaptation.

    Additionally, we present a constraint-based learning framework that performs joint sensor failure detection and adaptation by leveraging sensor relationships. Our framework learns sensor relationships from historical data and expresses them as a set of constraints. These constraints then provide a joint view for detection and adaptation: detection checks which constraints are violated, and adaptation reconstructs failed sensor values. Our framework is capable of handling multi-sensor failures which are challenging for existing methods.

    To validate our approaches, we conduct empirical studies on sensor data from the weather and UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) domains. The results show that our approaches can automatically detect and adapt to sensor changes and failures with higher accuracy and robustness compared to other alternative approaches.

    Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 223

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Lizsl De Leon

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  • ECE Seminar: Millimeter-Wave Computational Imaging

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Andreas Pedross-Engel, Postdoctoral Research Associate/University of Washington, Seattle

    Talk Title: Millimeter-Wave Computational Imaging

    Abstract: This talk gives an overview on mmWave computational imaging. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) imaging has many applications such as remote sensing, autonomous robotics, non-destructive testing, and security screening. Some recent imaging systems will be presented, including compressed sensing and sparse reconstruction to minimize the amount of mmWave hardware, an enhanced resolution stripmap mode (ERSM) that leverages emerging metasurface antennas to improve image resolution by up to 42%, and an orthogonal coded active illumination (OCAI) approach to mitigate hardware imperfections and improve sensitivity by more than 40 dB. Finally, I will present a partitioned inverse reconstruction algorithm, optimized for GPUs, that yields a speedup of up to 300x.

    Biography: Andreas Pedross-Engel is a postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. He is also a co-founder of the millimeter-wave imaging firm ThruWave Inc. He received the Dipl.-Ing. degree and the Ph.D. degree from Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, in 2009 and 2014, respectively. His research interests include microwave and millimeter-wave imaging systems, wireless communications, and nonlinear- and mixed- signal processing. In 2018 he received the ASciNA Young Scientist Award from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research. He is also the recipient of the CoMotion Commercialization Fellows Award from the University of Washington in 2017. Since 2017 he is a Senior Member of the IEEE.

    Host: Professor Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • Individual Grammar Tutorials

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Viterbi graduate and undergraduate students are invited to sign up for individual grammar assistance from professors at the Engineering Writing Program. Sign up for one-on-one individual sessions here: http://bit.ly/grammaratUSC

    Questions? Email helenhch@usc.edu

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 106

    Audiences: Graduate and Undergraduate Students

    Contact: Helen Choi

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  • CS Colloquium: Srijan Kumar (Stanford University) - Data Science for Healthy Online Interactions

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Srijan Kumar, Stanford University

    Talk Title: Data Science for Healthy Online Interactions

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: The web enables users to interact with one another and shape opinion at an unprecedented speed and scale. However, the prevalence of disinformation and malicious users makes the web unsafe and unreliable, for example, 40% of users have experienced online harassment and platforms have disabled user comments because of trolling. In this talk, I will present data science methods that help us to create a better and safer web ecosystem for everyone. In particular, I will present methods to extract knowledge from the social graph structure and augment with behavior signals to characterize, detect, and mitigate the damage of disinformation and malicious users.

    First, I will describe a graph mining collective classification algorithm to identify fake reviews on e-commerce platforms. The method learns trustworthiness scores from the user-to-product review network to identify sophisticated fraudsters. The method is currently being used in production at Flipkart, India's largest e-commerce platform. Next, I will present the first web-scale characterization of multiple account abuse in online discussions and my method of statistical analysis of user interaction graphs to detect them. Finally, I will show how learning embeddings from the social network structure helps to predict online conflicts and to mitigate their damage. These methods power online tools that help administrators in Reddit and Wikipedia.

    I will conclude the talk by describing my future research directions that will enable us to proactively predict how malicious behavior will evolve in the future, both on web platforms and face-to-face interactions

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium


    Biography: Srijan Kumar (https://stanford.edu/~srijan/) is a postdoctoral scholar in Computer Science at Stanford University. His research investigates data science and machine learning to create healthy online and offline interactions, focusing on developing methods to curb deception, misbehavior, and disinformation. His methods have had a tangible real-world impact and are being used at major tech companies, including Flipkart, Reddit, and Wikipedia. His research has received the ACM SIGKDD Doctoral Dissertation Award runner-up 2018, Larry S. Davis Doctoral Dissertation Award 2018, and WWW Best Paper Award runner-up 2017. His research is interdisciplinary and has been included in the curriculum at several universities, including UIUC, University of Michigan, and Stanford University. His research has been included in documentary (Familiar Shapes) and covered in popular press, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and New York Magazine. He did his Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Maryland, College Park, and B.Tech. from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

    Host: Xiang Ren

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar

    Thu, Mar 21, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Issam Najm, Ph.D., PE, Water Quality Treatment Solutions, Inc., Los Angeles

    Talk Title: Cyanotoxins in Drinking Water

    Abstract: See Attachment

    Host: Dr. Amy Childress

    More Information: Dr. Najm Issam_ Seminar Announcement.pdf

    Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • Repeating EventMeet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, and Engineering Talk

    Fri, Mar 22, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen (HS juniors and younger) and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process, a student led walking tour of campus, and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. During the engineering session we will discuss the curriculum, research opportunities, hands-on projects, entrepreneurial support programs, and other aspects of the engineering school. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process, and financial aid.

    Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m.

    Please make sure to check availability and register online for the session you wish to attend. Also, remember to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!

    RSVP

    Location: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - USC Admission Office

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • Individual Grammar Tutorials

    Fri, Mar 22, 2019 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Viterbi graduate and undergraduate students are invited to sign up for individual grammar assistance from professors at the Engineering Writing Program. Sign up for one-on-one individual sessions here: http://bit.ly/grammaratUSC

    Questions? Email helenhch@usc.edu

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 106

    Audiences: Graduate and Undergraduate Students

    Contact: Helen Choi

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  • W.V.T. RUSCH ENGINEERING HONORS COLLOQUIUM

    Fri, Mar 22, 2019 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Mr. Steven Gitlin, Vice President of Corporate Strategy, AeroVironment

    Talk Title: Imagine the Impossible

    Host: EHP and Dr. Prata

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Amanda McCraven

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  • Wei Kong Seminar, Friday, March 22nd at 2PM in EEB 248

    Fri, Mar 22, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Wei Kong, MIT

    Talk Title: 2D/3D hybrid materials towards a multifunctional integration platform

    Abstract: Our society is entering the era of Internet of Things (IoT), which will be built upon a massive network of electronics. Though ever-increasing speed in modern electronics has been a salient metric of progress, other factors such as cost effectiveness, power consumption, biocompatibility, multifunctionality have become equally important. In general, mainstream electronic materials processing fails to fulfill this plurality of requirements.
    Additive stacking of two-dimensional (2D) materials is a promising solution due to its freedom in functional design and reduction of material redundancy. This talk will introduce a new discovery in extracting a monolayer from multi-layer 2D material stacks. Although counterintuitive, this method enables perfect 2D material stacking by providing uniform, monolayer, wafer scale 2D material building blocks for scalable electronic device fabrication.
    The speaker will further introduce the new concept of additive stacking of ultrathin three-dimensional (3D) materials, which has been a missing part to the concept of additive fabrication of electronic materials. The discovery of "remote epitaxy" enables the fabrication of free-standing ultrathin 3D materials as the building blocks for functional stacking. Leveraging the past 50 years of development in conventional 3D materials, 3D material stacking allows immense freedom in electronic design, enabling enhanced device performance and new device architectures.
    These two discoveries further allow the integration of 2D and 3D materials as a new research area, which will allow the discovery of new physical phenomena, and lead to the advancements in wearables, human/machine interface, renewable energy, integrated photonics and quantum computation.

    Biography: Wei Kong is a postdoc researcher at MIT, specializing in multifunctional integration of ultrathin film 2D and 3D materials, including graphene, hBN, TMDCs, and III-V, III-nitride and oxide compound semiconductors. His interests are in material innovation for human/machine interfaces, renewable energy, wearable electronics, integrated photonics and quantum computation. He obtained his B.S. in Physics from Sun Yat-Sen University, M.S. and PhD. in ECE from Duke University working with Prof. April Brown. He is currently a Shell Energy fellow at MIT, working with Prof. Jeehwan Kim in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he is also associated with Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE). His works have been published in Nature, Science, Nature Materials, and Nature Electronics.

    Host: ECE-Electrophysics

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • Hack IoT

    Sat, Mar 23, 2019 @ 10:00 AM - 11:59 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Hack IoT is back for a second year! We will continue to provide hackers with the tools and hardware free of charge to create innovative projects of your own, as well as great workshops to build your knowledge. For 24 hours you will come together with your team to build a great project based around the Internet of Things and the first three places will receive great prizes. Apply now through our google form and check our website for more information: hack-iot.org.

    Location: Frank L. King Olympic Hall Of Champions (KOH) - King Hall

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

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