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Events for the 3rd week of April

  • Chicago, IL - Admitted Student Reception

    Sun, Apr 14, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Hong Kong - Admitted Student Reception

    Sun, Apr 14, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Seattle, WA - Admitted Student Reception

    Sun, Apr 14, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Seattle, WA - HS Junior Program

    Sun, Apr 14, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    Join the Viterbi Admission Team - along with the USC Admission & Financial Aid staff - at the Discover USC Program. This program is perfect for high school juniors who want to get to know USC and the Viterbi School of Engineering a little better.

    Discover USC is a 2-hour info session that will cover: the USC Application Process, Financial Aid, Life on Campus, Plus, an Engineering Session!

    RSVP links will be provided by USC Admission as they become available here.

    Audiences: Prospective Juniors & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Chicago, IL - HS Junior Program

    Sun, Apr 14, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    Join the Viterbi Admission Team - along with the USC Admission & Financial Aid staff - at the Discover USC Program. This program is perfect for high school juniors who want to get to know USC and the Viterbi School of Engineering a little better.

    Discover USC is a 2-hour info session that will cover: the USC Application Process, Financial Aid, Life on Campus, Plus, an Engineering Session!

    RSVP links will be provided by USC Admission as they become available here.

    Audiences: Prospective Juniors & Family Members

    Contact: Bria Jamison

    OutlookiCal
  • Portland, OR - Admitted Student Reception

    Mon, Apr 15, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Repeating EventSpring Explore USC

    Mon, Apr 15, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    Spring Explore is a full-day program running from 8:30am-5pm. The day includes a presentation from the Office of Admission, a USC Campus Tour, and visit with us in the Viterbi School of Engineering. During your time with us you will learn what your life will be like as an engineering student at USC, meet some of our current engineering students, see facilities and labs, and get your questions answered about the enrollment process, housing, and your "next steps".

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Spring Admits & Family Members

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • Ming Hsieh Institute Research and Technology Series

    Mon, Apr 15, 2019 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Mary Czerwinski, Principal Researcher and Research Manager of the Visualization andInteraction (VIBE) Research Group at Microsoft

    Talk Title: Using Technology for Health and Wellbeing

    Series: MHI Research & Technology Seminar

    Abstract: How can we create technologies to help us reflect on and change our behavior, improve our health and overall wellbeing both at work and at home? In this talk, I will briefly describe the last several years of work our research team has been doing in this area. We have developed wearable technology to help families manage tense situations with their children, mobile phone-based applications for handling stress and depression, as well as logging tools that can help you stay focused or recommend good times to take a break at work. The overarching goal in all of this research is to develop tools that adapt to the user so that they can maximize their productivity and improve their health and happiness.

    Biography: Dr. Mary Czerwinski is a Principal Researcher andResearch Manager of the Visualization and Interaction(VIBE) Research Group. Mary's latest research focuses primarily on emotion tracking and intervention design and delivery, information worker task management and health and wellness for individuals and groups. Her research background is in visual attention and multitasking. She holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Indiana University in Bloomington. Mary was awarded the ACM SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award, was inducted into the CHI Academy, and became an ACM Distinguished Scientist in 2010. She also received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University's Brain and Psychological Sciences department in 2014. Mary became a Fellow of the ACM in 2016. More information about Dr. Czerwinskican be found at her website:https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/marycz/

    Host: Ming Hsieh Institute

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Benjamin Paul

    OutlookiCal
  • CS Colloquium: Jeff Clune (University of Wyoming) - Understanding and Improving Deep Neural Networks

    Mon, Apr 15, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Jeff Clune, University of Wyoming

    Talk Title: Understanding and Improving Deep Neural Networks

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: Through deep learning, deep neural networks have produced state-of-the-art results in a number of different areas of machine learning, including computer vision, natural language processing, robotics and reinforcement learning. I will summarize three projects on better understanding deep neural networks and improving their performance. First I will describe our sustained effort to study how much deep neural networks know about the images they classify. Our team initially showed that deep neural networks are "easily fooled," meaning they will declare with near certainty that completely unrecognizable images are everyday objects. These results suggested that deep neural networks do not truly understand the objects they classify. However, our subsequent results reveal that, when augmented with powerful priors, deep neural networks actually have a surprisingly deep understanding of objects, which also enables them to be incredibly effective generative models that can produce a wide diversity of photo-realistic images. Second, I will summarize our Nature paper on learning algorithms that enable robots, after being damaged, to adapt in 1-2 minutes in order to continue performing their mission. This work combines a novel stochastic optimization algorithm with Bayesian optimization to produce state-of-the-art robot damage recovery. Third, I will describe our recent Go-Explore algorithm, which dramatically improves the ability of deep reinforcement learning algorithms to solve previously unsolvable problems wherein reward signals are sparse, meaning that intelligent exploration is required. Go-Explore solves Montezuma's Revenge, considered by many to be a grand challenge of AI research. I will also very briefly summarize a few other machine learning projects from my career, including our PNAS paper on automatically identifying, counting, and describing wild animals in images taken remotely by motion-sensor cameras.

    Biography: Jeff Clune is the Loy and Edith Harris Associate Professor in Computer Science at the University of Wyoming and a Senior Research Manager and founding member of Uber AI Labs, which was formed after Uber acquired a startup he helped lead. Jeff focuses on robotics and training deep neural networks via deep learning, including deep reinforcement learning. Since 2015, a robotics paper he co-authored was on the cover of Nature, a deep learning paper from his lab was on the cover of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, he won an NSF CAREER award, his deep learning papers were awarded honors (best paper awards and/or oral presentations) at the top machine learning conferences (NeurIPS, CVPR, ICLR, and ICML), he was an invited speaker at five ICML and two NeurIPS workshops (including the NeurIPS Deep Reinforcement Learning Workshop), and he was invited to give a forthcoming ICML tutorial. His research is regularly covered in the press, including the New York Times, NPR, NBC, Wired, the BBC, the Economist, Science, Nature, National Geographic, the Atlantic, and the New Scientist. Prior to becoming a professor, he was a Research Scientist at Cornell University and received degrees from Michigan State University (PhD, master's) and the University of Michigan (bachelor's).

    Host: Yan Liu

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

    OutlookiCal
  • Spring 2019 ITP Open House

    Mon, Apr 15, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 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: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) - 155

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tim Gotimer

    OutlookiCal
  • Shanghai, China - Admitted Student Reception

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Miami, FL - Admitted Student Reception

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Repeating EventExplore USC - Admitted Student Day

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    Explore USC is the most comprehensive campus visit program for admitted students. It is a full-day program that allows you to interact with dozens of our current students, tour the campus, learn more about financial aid, gives you opportunities to sit in on classes, and start the morning with the Viterbi School of Engineering.

    Your time with us in the Viterbi School will take you through an informative session on our academic programs. We will arrange a meeting with faculty from the major you are interested in as well as engineering facility tours of that same area. For lunch we will have you hanging out with some of our engineering students for a few hours, eating in the dinning facilities, seeing the residence halls, but most importantly experiencing the full USC atmosphere.

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • CS Colloquium: Owolabi Legunsen (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) - Evolution-Aware Runtime Verification

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Owolabi Legunses, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    Talk Title: Evolution-Aware Runtime Verification

    Series: CS Colloquium

    Abstract: The risk posed by software bugs has increased significantly as software is now essential to many areas of our daily lives. Runtime verification can help find bugs by monitoring program executions against formally specified properties. Over the last two decades, tremendous research progress has improved the performance of runtime verification. However, there has been very little focus on the benefits and challenges of using runtime verification during software testing. Yet, testing generates many executions on which properties can be monitored.

    In this talk, I will describe my work on studying and improving runtime verification during testing. My large-scale study was the first to show that runtime verification during testing is beneficial for finding many important bugs from tests that developers already have. However, my study also showed that runtime verification still incurs high overhead, both in machine time to monitor properties and in developer time to inspect violations of the properties. Moreover, all prior runtime verification techniques consider only one program version and would wastefully re-monitor unaffected properties and code as software evolves. To reduce the overhead across multiple program versions, I proposed the first evolution-aware runtime verification techniques. My techniques exploit the key insight that software evolves in small increments and reduce the accumulated runtime verification overhead by up to 10x, without missing new violations.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium

    Biography: Owolabi Legunsen is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he works with Darko Marinov and Grigore Rosu. Owolabi's interests are in Software Engineering and Applied Formal Methods, with a focus on Software Testing and Runtime Verification. His research goal is to improve software reliability by helping developers find more bugs, find bugs faster, and find bugs more reliably. So far, his techniques and tools helped find more than 450 bugs in over 90 open-source projects. His research on runtime verification during software testing received an ACM SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at ASE 2016. More information is available on his web page: http://mir.cs.illinois.edu/legunsen


    Host: Nenad Medvidovic

    Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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  • Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Ebru K. Bish, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech

    Talk Title: Public Health Screening: Models, Algorithms, and Policies

    Host: Dr. Sze-chuan Suen

    More Information: April 16, 2019.pdf

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Grace Owh

    OutlookiCal
  • MASCLE Machine Learning Seminar: Peter L. Bartlett (University of California, Berkeley) – Optimizing Probability Distributions for Learning: Sampling Meets Optimization

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:20 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Peter L. Bartlett, University of California, Berkeley

    Talk Title: Optimizing Probability Distributions for Learning: Sampling Meets Optimization

    Series: Machine Learning Seminar Series

    Abstract: Optimization and sampling are both of central importance in large-scale machine learning problems, but they are typically viewed as very different problems. This talk presents recent results that exploit the interplay between them. Viewing Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithms as performing an optimization over the space of probability distributions, we demonstrate analogs of Nesterov's acceleration approach in the sampling domain, in the form of a discretization of an underdamped Langevin diffusion. In the other direction, we view stochastic gradient optimization methods, such as those that are common in deep learning, as sampling algorithms, and study the finite-time convergence of their iterates to an invariant distribution.

    Joint work with Xiang Cheng, Niladri S. Chatterji, and Michael Jordan.

    This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.



    Biography: Peter Bartlett is a professor in the Computer Science Division and Department of Statistics and Associate Director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at the University of California at Berkeley. His research interests include machine learning and statistical learning theory. He is the co-author, with Martin Anthony, of the book Neural Network Learning: Theoretical Foundations. He has served as an associate editor of the journals Bernoulli, Mathematics of Operations Research, the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, the Journal of Machine Learning Research, and the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, and as program committee co-chair for COLT and NIPS. He was awarded the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year in Australia in 2001, and was chosen as an Institute of Mathematical Statistics Medallion Lecturer in 2008, an IMS Fellow and Australian Laureate Fellow in 2011, and a Fellow of the ACM in 2018. He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 2015.


    Host: Yan Liu, USC Machine Learning Center

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Computer Science Department

    OutlookiCal
  • Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Seminar - Distinguished Lecture Series

    Tue, Apr 16, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 12:21 PM

    Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Ruth Schwaiger, KIT

    Talk Title: 3D Nano-Architected Metamaterials

    Host: Dr. Andrea Hodge

    Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 200

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Karen Woo/Mork Family

    OutlookiCal
  • Repeating EventPreview USC - Admitted Student Half-Day

    Wed, Apr 17, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    Preview USC is a half-day program covering topics related to housing, financial aid, and transitioning from high school to college. It also offers the opportunity for admitted students to sit in on classes, be part of a session in the Viterbi School of Engineering, and interact with a number of current students in a shorter period of time.

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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  • Atlanta, GA - Admitted Student Reception

    Wed, Apr 17, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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

    Wed, Apr 17, 2019 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Chi Wang, Founder and CEO of TerraQuanta

    Talk Title: Algorithm Development on Planetary Scale Dataset

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

    Abstract: Developing algorithms on satellite data and extracting information useful for industrial applications sounds straightforward, but when the dataset becomes multiple petabytes, life becomes hard in every aspect. In this talk, we will share our experiences in 1) How we deal with large remote sensing datasets with limited infrastructure, 2) How machine learning approach combines with HPC helps with algorithm development, 3) Our application cases, e.g. predicting total planted areas of soybeans to predict soybean futures price. The talk will be tailored for general audience with engineering backgrounds, and will not go deep into technical/mathematical details.

    Biography: Chi Wang obtained his B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2011, and later obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from University of Southern California in 2016. After graduation, he founded TerraQuanta in China, a startup company developing AI platform to analyze multi-PB remote sensing data. TerraQuanta provides data engine of our physical earth with a particular focus on global agriculture. Dr. Wang has successfully raised several million USD from prestigious investors in China, also he is listed "30 under "30 by Forbes China and "30 under "30 by Hurun Report.

    Host: Edmond A Jonckheere

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - RTH 109

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Talyia White

    OutlookiCal
  • Computer Science General Faculty Meeting

    Wed, Apr 17, 2019 @ 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: Michelson 101

    Audiences: Invited Faculty Only

    Contact: Assistant to CS chair

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

    Wed, Apr 17, 2019 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Professor Suman Chakravorty , Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University

    Talk Title: A Decoupling Principle in Stochastic Optimal Control and Its Implications

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

    Abstract: The problem of Stochastic Optimal Control is ubiquitous in Robotics and Control since it is the fundamental formulation for decision-making under uncertainty. The answer to the problem can be computed by solving an associated Dynamic Programming (DP) problem. Unfortunately, the DP paradigm is also synonymous with the infamous "Curse of Dimensionality (COD)", a phrase coined by the discoverer of the Dynamic Programming paradigm, Richard Bellman, nearly 60 years ago, to capture the fact that the computational complexity of solving a DP problem grows exponentially in the dimension of the state space of the problem.

    In this talk, we will introduce a newly discovered paradigm in stochastic optimal control, called Decoupling, that allows us to separate the design of the open and closed loops of a stochastic optimal control problem with continuous control space. This "Decoupled" solution allows us to break the COD inherent in DP problems, while remaining near-optimal, to third order, to the true stochastic control. The implications of the Decoupled design are examined in the context of Model Predictive Control (MPC) and Reinforcement Learning (RL). We shall introduce two algorithms, called the Trajectory Optimized Perturbation Feedback Control (T-PFC), and the Decoupled Data based Control(D2C), for the MPC and RL problems respectively. We shall also examine the consequences of the decoupling principle in partially observed/ belief space planning problems and present the Trajectory optimized Linear Quadratic Gaussian (T-LQG) algorithm.

    Biography: Suman Chakravorty obtained his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering in 1997 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2004. From August 2004- August 2010, he was an Assistant Professor with the Aerospace Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, College Station and since August 2010, he has been an Associate Professor in the department. Dr. Chakravorty's broad research interests lie in the estimation and control of stochastic dynamical systems with application to autonomous, distributed robotic mapping and planning, and situational awareness problems. He is a member of AIAA, ASME and IEEE. He is an Associate Editor for the ASME Journal on Dynamical Systems, Measurement and Control and the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.

    Host: Mihailo Jovanovic

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Talyia White

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  • GSBME Game Night

    Wed, Apr 17, 2019 @ 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Student Activity


    Graduate students are invited to come along to this month's GSBME Game Night, in conjunction with the Graduate Association of Students in Physics. Bring along your board games and enjoy free food from Papa Cristo's.

    Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - DRB 145

    Audiences: Graduate

    Contact: Greta Harrison

    OutlookiCal
  • Beijing, China - Admitted Student Reception

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Repeating EventExplore USC - Admitted Student Day

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    Explore USC is the most comprehensive campus visit program for admitted students. It is a full-day program that allows you to interact with dozens of our current students, tour the campus, learn more about financial aid, gives you opportunities to sit in on classes, and start the morning with the Viterbi School of Engineering.

    Your time with us in the Viterbi School will take you through an informative session on our academic programs. We will arrange a meeting with faculty from the major you are interested in as well as engineering facility tours of that same area. For lunch we will have you hanging out with some of our engineering students for a few hours, eating in the dinning facilities, seeing the residence halls, but most importantly experiencing the full USC atmosphere.

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    View All Dates

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

    OutlookiCal
  • Individual Grammar Tutorials

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    LAST GRAMMAR TUTORIAL OF THE SEMESTER!
    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

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

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Prof. Marco Pavone, Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University

    Talk Title: Autonomous Mobility-on-Demand Systems for Future Urban Mobility

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

    Abstract: In this talk I will discuss the operational and societal aspects of autonomous mobility-on-demand (AMoD) systems, a rapidly developing mode of transportation wherein mobility is provided on demand by robotic, self-driving vehicles. Specifically, I will discuss AMoD systems along three dimensions: (1) modeling, namely mathematical frameworks capable of capturing the salient dynamic and stochastic features of customer demand, (2) control, that is coordination algorithms for the vehicles aimed at throughput maximization, and (3) societal, entailing system-level studies characterizing the interaction between AMoD and other infrastructures, such as the electric power and public transit networks. I will conclude the talk by presenting a number of directions for future research.

    Biography: Dr. Marco Pavone is an Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, where he is the Director of the Autonomous Systems Laboratory and Co-Director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford. Before joining Stanford, he was a Research Technologist within the Robotics Section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. His main research interests are in the development of methodologies for the analysis, design, and control of autonomous systems, with an emphasis on self-driving cars, autonomous aerospace vehicles, and future mobility systems. He is a recipient of a number of awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama, an ONR YIP Award, an NSF CAREER Award, and a NASA Early Career Faculty Award. He was identified by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) as one of America's 20 most highly promising investigators under the age of 40. His work has been recognized with best paper nominations or awards at the IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, at the Field and Service Robotics Conference, at the Robotics: Science and Systems Conference, at the ROBOCOMM Conference, and at NASA symposia. He is currently serving as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Control Systems Magazine.

    Host: Paul Bogdan

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 109

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Talyia White

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  • NL-Seminar-Learning Neural Network Hyperparameters for Machine Translation

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Information Sciences Institute

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Kenton Murray, Notre Dame Univ.

    Talk Title: Learning Neural Network Hyperparameters for Machine Translation

    Series: Natural Language Seminar

    Abstract: In recent years, Neural Networks have reached state-of-the-art performance in a variety of NLP tasks, including Machine Translation. However, these methods are very sensitive to selecting optimal hyperparameters. Frequently this is done by large scale experimentation often through grid or random searches. However, this is computationally expensive and time consuming. In this talk, I will present a few methods for learning hyperparameters during the training process. Thus, instead of training multiple networks with different hyperparameters, we only need to train one network without large grid search experiments. Our methods yield comparable, and often better, results, but at a faster experimentation rate.


    Biography: Kenton Murray is a 5th year PhD Candidate at the University of Notre Dame working with David Chiang on methods for improving Neural Machine Translation for Low Resource and Morphologically Rich Language Pairs. Prior to ND, he was a Research Associate at the Qatar Computing Research Institute focusing on Arabic Machine Translation. He holds a Master's in Language Technologies from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Princeton University.

    Host: Xusen Yin

    More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar

    Webcast: https://bluejeans.com/s/6_8UO

    Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - CR #689

    WebCast Link: https://bluejeans.com/s/6_8UO

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Peter Zamar

    Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar

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  • Best Dissertation Symposium

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Doctoral Programs

    Receptions & Special Events


    All are invited to attend the 5th Annual Viterbi Best Dissertation Symposium. 4 Ph.D. graduates will present their research for a chance to win the William F. Ballhaus, Jr. Prize for Excellence in Graduate Engineering Research, which includes a $10,000 award!

    The finalists for the 2019 William F. Ballhaus, Jr. Prize for Excellence in Graduate Engineering Research are:

    Brendan Colvert
    Aerospace Engineering
    Dissertation Chair: Dr. Eva Kanso
    Dissertation Title: Physics-based and data-driven models for bio-inspired flow sensing and motion planning

    Wolfgang Hoenig
    Computer Science
    Dissertation Chair: Dr. Nora Ayanian
    Dissertation Title: Motion Coordination for Large Multi-Robot Teams in Obstacle-Rich Environments

    Yuan Hu
    Astronautical Engineering
    Dissertation Chair: Dr. Joseph Wang
    Dissertation Title: Kinetic Studies of Collisionless Mesothermal Plasma Flow Dynamics

    Shanyuan Niu
    Materials Science
    Dissertation Chair: Dr. Jayakanth Ravidchandran
    Dissertation Title: Perovskite Chalcogenides: Emerging Semiconductors for Visible to Infrared Optoelectronics

    RSVP requested by April 16 via https://viterbigrad.usc.edu/news-and-events/best-dissertation-symposium/

    The award winner will be recognized at the Viterbi Ph.D. Hooding and Awards Ceremony on May 9, 2019.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Jennifer Gerson

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  • PhD Defense - Jens Windau

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Ph.D. Defense - Jens Windau
    Thu, April 18, 2019
    3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
    Location: MCB 102

    Title:
    Smart Monitoring and Autonomous Situation Classification of Humans and Machines

    PhD Candidate: Jens Windau
    Date, Time, and Location: Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 3:00 pm in MCB 102
    Committee: Prof. Laurent Itti (chair), Prof. Bartlett Mel, and Prof. Hao Li

    Abstract:

    Emerging wearable and cloud-connected sensor technologies offer new sensor placement options on the human body and machines. This opens new opportunities to explore cyber robotics algorithms (sensors and human motor plant) and smart manufacturing algorithms (sensors and manufacturing equipment). These algorithms process motion sensor data and provide situation awareness for a wide range of applications. Smart management and training systems assist humans in day-to-day living routines, healthcare and sports. Machines benefit from smart monitoring in manufacturing, retail machinery, transportation, and construction safety. During my PhD Research, I have developed several approaches for motion analysis and classification. (1) A situation awareness system (SAS) for head-mounted smartphones to respond to user activities (e.g., disable incoming phone calls in elevators, activate video recording while car driving), (2) a filter for head-mounted sensors (HOS) to allow full-body motion capturing by removing interfering head-motions, (3) an Inertial Machine Monitoring System (IMMS) to detect equipment failure or degraded states of a 3D-Printer, and (4) a "Smart Teaching System" (STS) for targeted motion feedback to refine physical tasks. To capture real-world sensor data, we designed hardware prototypes or used state-of-the-art wearable technology. We developed novel sensor fusion algorithms, implemented feature extraction methods based on gist, statistics, physics, frequency diagrams and validated classifiers: SAS achieved high accuracy (81.5%) when distinguishing between 20 real-world activities. HOS reduced the positional error of a traveled distance below 2.5 % with head-mounted sensors for pedestrian dead reckoning applications. IMMS yielded 11-way classification accuracy over 99% when distinguishing between normal operation vs. 10 types of real-world abnormal equipment behavior. STS demonstrated that combining motion sensors and provide targeted feedback yield significantly improved golf swing training (3.7x increased performance score).

    Location: 102

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Lizsl De Leon

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  • Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Gustavo A. Fimbres Weihs, PhD, CONACYT Research Fellow - ITSON, Dept. of Water & Environmental Sciences, Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora

    Talk Title: Reducing the impacts of biofouling in RO through membrane modifications and hydrodynamics -“ Dealing with water scarcity in Sonora, Mexico

    Abstract: Water scarcity affects many regions of the world that already face issues with water supply. The state of Sonora, Mexico, is constantly afflicted by physical water scarcity, and this has led to social conflict in recent years. This work summarizes recent results of the CONACyT Fellowship Research Project at ITSON, which aims to improve the understanding of reverse osmosis membrane biofouling, specifically for the Pacific coast of Mexico, and develop strategies for reducing its impact on seawater desalination. Both experimental and numerical (CFD) efforts are underway. Through the analysis of the microbiological composition and seasonal variability of water from the Sea of Cortez, native seawater bacterium strain (Bacillus halotolerans MCC1) has been isolated and used for accelerated biofouling experiments. The suitability of iron nanoparticles (FeNPs) and graphene oxide (GO) for reducing biofouling has been tested. CFD simulations have been performed to test forced transient flow techniques for improving mass transfers in membrane modules, and for designing novel spacer geometries through 3D printing techniques. Moreover, the use of solar energy for desalination is being assessed and optimized. By means of this multi-prong approach, the aim is to reduce costs and make RO desalination an accessible technology for dealing with water scarcity in Sonora.

    Biography: Dr. Gustavo Fimbres Weihs received his B.Eng. in Chemical and Systems Engineering in 2002 from Monterrey Tech, Campus Monterrey, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2008 from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), in Sydney, Australia, at the UNESCO Membrane Science and Technology Center. During his doctoral work he used numerical simulations of fluid dynamics (CFD) to analyze the flows within the membrane modules that are used for water treatment and desalination. He also worked on a desalination linkage project between the University of New South Wales and the European Union, as part of Framework Programme 6. From 2009 to 2014 he worked as a researcher for the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) in Australia, where he led the research into CO2 Transport Networks and co-led the development of a techno-economic model for the analysis of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects. He has collaborated on consultancy and feasibility studies conducted by CO2CRC. He is currently a CONACYT Research Fellow at the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (ITSON), where he leads collaborative research projects dealing with RO membrane biofouling (IHE-Delft), membrane modifications, solar energy use for desalination (CSIR-CSMCRI India) and CFD modelling of the hydrodynamics in membrane modules (UMP Malaysia). He is a board member of the Mexican Society of Membrane Science and Technology

    Host: Dr. Amy Childress

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Evangeline Reyes

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  • BME Maker Lab Open House

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM

    Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

    Receptions & Special Events


    BME faculty and students are invited to this introduction to the BME Maker Lab, a space for students to develop independent projects, to innovate and test ideas for biomedical devices and products.

    The facility is primarily for mechanical and electronic fabrication and testing, and will function as a gathering place for students to formulate ideas. The lab is aimed at undergraduate students, as well as graduate students who are also interested in working out independent projects, outside of their research.

    For further information about the BME Maker Lab, contact Jean-Michel Maarek at maarek@usc.edu.

    Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - DRB 342, DRB 348, and DRB 351

    Audiences: Department of Biomedical Engineering faculty and students

    Contact: Greta Harrison

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  • Game Careers Industry Night

    Thu, Apr 18, 2019 @ 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM

    Information Technology Program (ITP)

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join us for an exciting night of discussion about careers in the video game industry! Game programmers, level designers, producers, and consultants will be a part of our career panel. We hope you are able to join! All students are invited to attended.

    This event will be on Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 7p.m. in STU B3 at the USC Career Center. No RSVP required. Refreshments will be provided.

    This event is hosted by the Information Technology Program and is organized by Professor Tom Sloper. Professor Sloper brings his experience at Activision, Sega, Atari, and Yahoo to teach courses in video game design, production, and management at the Information Technology Program.

    We look forward to seeing you there!

    More Information: Flyer - Letter.png

    Location: Gwynn Wilson Student Union (STU) - B3

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tim Gotimer

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  • W.V.T. RUSCH ENGINEERING HONORS COLLOQUIUM

    Fri, Apr 19, 2019 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Daniel Cayan, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

    Talk Title: The Future of the California Climate

    Host: EHP and Dr. Prata

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Amanda McCraven

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  • Ming Hsieh Institute Seminar Series on Integrated Systems

    Fri, Apr 19, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Emmanouil M Tentzeris, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology

    Talk Title: 3D/4D Printed Flexible Autonomous Wireless Modules for IoT and Smart City Applications

    Host: Profs. Hossein Hashemi, Mike Chen, Dina El-Damak, and Mahta Moghaddam

    More Information: MHI Seminar Series IS - Emmanouil Tentzeris.pdf

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Jenny Lin

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  • Mumbai, India - Admitted Student Reception

    Sat, Apr 20, 2019

    Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission

    University Calendar


    These Admitted Student Programs, hosted by the Undergraduate Admission Office, provide admitted students and their families an opportunity to meet admission counselors, representatives from academic departments, alumni, and you will have the opportunity to meet other admitted students from your local area. Viterbi and University Admission counselors will be there to answer any questions you might have, tell you more about campus life and your specific academic program, and welcome you to the Trojan Family. The program will last approximately two hours.

    We love seeing our newly admitted students in person! if you live in or near a city we will be visiting, we encourage you to join us!

    Once admitted, students can find the RSVP link in their USC Applicant Portal.

    Audiences: Admitted Students & Family Members

    Contact: Viterbi Admission

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