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Events for the 4th week of April

  • Repeating EventIncident Investigation/Analysis IIA 24-2

    Mon, Apr 22, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed for managers and supervisors who may be required to investigate, implement or review safety findings and recommendations resulting from aviation incidents. The course presents the principles of Management, Investigation and Analysis. It will explain how incidents are discovered, investigated, and reported in writing. The student will learn the techniques of data collection and analysis.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 920

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

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    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AIIA2

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  • Repeating EventHuman Factors in Aviation Maintenance

    Mon, Apr 22, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of human factors in the realm of aviation safety with a focus on the role of the maintainer. It presents human factors issues as conditions/hazards that must be managed. Specific issues such as fatigue management, deviations from approved procedures, situation awareness, and the Dirty Dozen are presented. Data collection methodologies such as MEDA and LOSA are examined as viable safety information methods and hazard identification tools in an organization’s SMS. This course satisfies the Human Factors Course requirement for the USC Safety & Security Certificate.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 960

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AHFMX2

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  • Repeating EventEiS Communications Hub Drop-In Hours

    Mon, Apr 22, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Viterbi Ph.D. students are invited to stop by the EiS Communications Hub for one-on-one instruction for their academic and professional communications tasks. All instruction is provided by Viterbi faculty at the Engineering in Society Program.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A

    Audiences: Viterbi Ph.D. Students

    View All Dates

    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home?authuser=0

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  • Repeating EventEiS Communications Hub Drop-In Hours

    Mon, Apr 22, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Engineering in Society Program

    Student Activity


    Drop-in hours for writing and speaking support for Viterbi Ph.D. students

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

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    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home

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  • PhD Thesis Proposal - Qinyuan Ye

    Mon, Apr 22, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Title: Cross-Task Generalization Abilities of Large Language Models
     
    Committee Members: Xiang Ren (Chair), Robin Jia, Swabha Swayamdipta, Jesse Thomason, Morteza Dehghani
     
    Date & Time: Monday, April 22, 10am-11:30am\
    Location: SAL 213
     
    Abstract: Humans can learn a new language task efficiently with only a few examples, by leveraging their knowledge and experience obtained when learning prior tasks. Enabling similar cross-task generalization abilities in NLP systems is fundamental for achieving the goal of general intelligence and enabling broader and more scalable adoption of language technology in future applications. In this thesis proposal, I will present my work on (1) benchmarking cross-task generalization abilities with diverse NLP tasks; (2) developing new model architecture for improving cross-task generalization abilities; (3) analyzing and predicting the generalization landscape of current state-of-the-art large language models. Additionally, I will outline future research directions, along with preliminary thoughts on addressing them.
     
    Zoom Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93269270403?pwd=NVNmN085bm5SWXNnNGErcXczeVkxdz09

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Qinyuan Ye

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93269270403?pwd=NVNmN085bm5SWXNnNGErcXczeVkxdz09

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  • PhD Defense- Tiancheng Jin

    Mon, Apr 22, 2024 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    Student Activity


    PhD Defense- Tiancheng Jin
    Title: Robust and Adaptive Online Reinforcement Learning 
    Committee: Haipeng Luo (Chair), Rahul Jain, Vatsal Sharron
     
    Abstract: Reinforcement learning (RL) is a machine learning (ML) technique on learning to make optimal sequential decisions via interactions with an environment. In recent years, RL achieved great success in many artificial intelligence tasks, and has been widely regarded as one of the keys towards Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). However, most RL models are trained on simulators, and suffer from the reality gap: a mismatch between simulated and real-world performance. Moreover, recent work has shown that RL models are especially vulnerable to adversarial attacks. This motivates the research on improving the robustness of RL, that is, the ability of ensuring worst-case guarantees.

    On the other hand, it is not favorable to be too conservative/pessimistic and sacrifice too much performance while the environment is not difficult to deal with.In other words, adaptivity --- the capability of automatically adapting to the maliciousness of the environment, is especially desirable to RL algorithms: they should not only target worst-case guarantee, but also pursue instance optimality and achieve better performance against benign environments.
    In this thesis, we focus on designing practical, robust and adaptive reinforcement algorithms.

    Specifically, we take inspiration from the online learning literature, and consider interacting with a sequence of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), which captures the nature of changing environment. We hope that the techniques and insight developed in this thesis could shed light on improving existing deep RL algorithms for future applications.

    Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 141

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tiancheng Jin

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  • Computer Science General Faculty Meeting

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 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: TBD

    Audiences: Invited Faculty Only

    Contact: Assistant to CS Chair

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  • Repeating EventIncident Investigation/Analysis IIA 24-2

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed for managers and supervisors who may be required to investigate, implement or review safety findings and recommendations resulting from aviation incidents. The course presents the principles of Management, Investigation and Analysis. It will explain how incidents are discovered, investigated, and reported in writing. The student will learn the techniques of data collection and analysis.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 920

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AIIA2

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  • Repeating EventHuman Factors in Aviation Maintenance

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of human factors in the realm of aviation safety with a focus on the role of the maintainer. It presents human factors issues as conditions/hazards that must be managed. Specific issues such as fatigue management, deviations from approved procedures, situation awareness, and the Dirty Dozen are presented. Data collection methodologies such as MEDA and LOSA are examined as viable safety information methods and hazard identification tools in an organization’s SMS. This course satisfies the Human Factors Course requirement for the USC Safety & Security Certificate.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 960

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AHFMX2

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  • ITEMS Seminar - Claudia Cea, Tuesday, April 23rd at 11:15am in EEB 132 & Zoom

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 11:15 AM - 12:30 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Claudia Cea, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Talk Title: Conformable Neuroelectronics

    Abstract: The diversity of network disruptions that occur in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders creates a strong demand for personalized medicine. Such approaches often take the form of implantable bioelectronic devices that are capable of monitoring pathophysiological activity for identifying biomarkers to allow for local and responsive delivery of intervention. They are also required to transmit this data outside of the body for evaluation of the treatment's efficacy. However, the ability to perform these demanding electronic functions in the complex physiological environment with minimum disruption to the biological tissue remains a big challenge. An optimal fully implantable bioelectronic device would require each component from the front-end to the data transmission to be conformable and biocompatible. For this reason, organic material-based conformable electronics are ideal candidates for components of bioelectronic circuits due to their inherent flexibility, and soft nature. Throughout her research, Claudia pioneered the development of the first all-flexible, standalone neural recording device, composed entirely of soft, biocompatible components. This device enabled recordings at the level of individual neurons and facilitated real-time detection of epileptic discharges in vivo. The wireless data and power transfer system operated on an innovative ion-based communication method, allowing for wireless operation in freely moving animals. Unlike conventional silicon-based devices, every component of this system is soft, conformable, and biocompatible, ensuring long-term performance stability and low-voltage operation to prevent tissue damage. This fully soft and conformable implant enabled recording and transmission of high- resolution neural activity from both the cortical surface and deep within the brain.

    Biography: Claudia Cea earned her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa and completed her M.Sc. in Bioengineering in San Diego, where she focused on developing innovative origami-based neural probes for both epidural and intradural recording and neurotransmitter detection. She then pursued a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Columbia University, specializing in the creation of fast and sensitive soft bioelectronics that that interact with signals generated by the neural tissue. Notably, she developed the first fully-flexible, standalone neuroelectronic devices using organic electrochemical transistors, composed entirely of soft, biocompatible materials-including integrated power supply and data transmission-for high- resolution recordings. Currently, she is a postdoctoral associate in the Bioelectronics group under Professor Polina Anikeeva at MIT, working on developing novel soft bioelectronic devices to explore electrophysiology in the gut-brain axis.

    Host: Keck - Gianluca Lazzi

    More Information: Claudia Cea Flyer.pdf

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Marilyn Poplawski

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  • DEN@Viterbi - 'Limited Status: How to Get Started' Virtual Info Session

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM

    DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join USC Viterbi for our upcoming Limited Status: How to Get Started Virtual Information Session via WebEx to learn about the Limited Status enrollment option. The Limited Status enrollment option allows individuals with an undergraduate degree in engineering or related field, with a 3.0 GPA or above to take courses before applying for formal admission into a Viterbi graduate degree program. USC Viterbi representatives will provide a step-by-step guide for how to get started as a Limited Status student and enroll in courses online via DEN@Viterbi as early as the Summer 2024 semester. 

    WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/rb0160b00ffc7385392734e8450d40c3d

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs

    Event Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/rb0160b00ffc7385392734e8450d40c3d

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  • PhD Dissertation Defense - Arka Sadhu

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Title: Grounding Language in Images and Videos  
     
    Location: SAL 213  
     
    Time: 2 pm on April 23, 2024  
     
    Committee Members: Ram Nevatia (Chair), Xiang Ren, Toby Mintz  
     
    Abstract: My thesis investigates the problem of grounding language in images and videos -- the task of associating linguistic symbols to perceptual experiences and actions -- which is fundamental to developing multi-modal models that can understand and jointly reason over images, videos, and text. The overarching goal of my dissertation is to bridge the gap between language and vision as a means to a ``deeper understanding'' of images and videos to allow developing models capable of reasoning over longer-time horizons such as hour-long movies, or a collection of images, or even multiple videos. In this thesis, I will introduce the various vision-language tasks developed during my Ph.D. which include grounding unseen words, spatiotemporal localization of entities in a video, video question-answering, and visual semantic role labeling in videos, reasoning across more than one image or a video, and finally, weakly-supervised open-vocabulary object detection. For each of these tasks, I will further discuss the development of corresponding datasets, evaluation protocols, and model frameworks. These tasks aim to investigate a particular phenomenon inherent in image or video understanding in isolation, develop corresponding datasets and model frameworks, and outline evaluation protocols robust to data priors.  
     
    The resulting models can be used for other downstream tasks like obtaining common-sense knowledge graphs from instructional videos or drive end-user applications like Retrieval, Question Answering, and Captioning.  
     
    Zoom Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94652316277?pwd=QTdqcklJMjg2UE03ZVZHbmFvWU9nQT09    

    Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Arka Sadhu

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  • Viterbi Graduate Mentorship : 2024 Fall Mentor Training

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM

    USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Student Activity


    This is for MS and Ph.D. students in Viterbi.
    A mandatory training event for Viterbi grad students who wish to become future mentors and for current first-time mentors.
    Training includes mentorship skills, points to cover with mentees during meetings, next steps, etc.

    Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Yadi Wang

    Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=396250

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  • Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM

    Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Aida Khajavirad, Assistant Professor, Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Lehigh University

    Talk Title: Binary Polynomial Optimization Through a Hypergraph Theoretic Lens

    Host: Dr. Giacomo Nannicini

    More Information: April 23, 2024.pdf

    Location: Social Sciences Building (SOS) - SOS Building, B2

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Grace Owh

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  • AME532A AIRCRAFT DYNAMICS AND CONTROLS STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

    Tue, Apr 23, 2024 @ 06:00 PM - 08:40 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: AME 532A students, USC AME

    Talk Title: AME532A AIRCRAFT DYNAMICS AND CONTROLS STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

    Abstract: THE AEROSPACE AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT INVITES YOU TO A SERIESOF PRESENTATIONS FROM OUR GRADUATE STUDENTS WHO HAVE STUDIED AIRCRAFTSIMULATION, DYNAMICS, AND CONTROLS IN THE SPRING OF 2024.PLEASE RSVP AT THE EMAIL BELOW FOR DETAILS ON ATTENDANCE, INCLUDING THE WEBEXLINK FOR REMOTE ATTENDANCE OPTIONS.TOPICS TO INCLUDE: TAKEOFF/LANDING, CAMERA CONTROLS, MONTE CARLO SIMS,LEAVING THE ATMOSPHERE, DYNASTAT, AIRSPACE MANAGEMENT, AND MORE
    AGENDA               
    4:30PM – Pizza/Drinks at USC (South West Part of Campus)               
    6:00PM – Presentations Begin (In Person and On Webex)               
    8:40PM – Presentations End

    Host: Prof. John McArthur of AME

    More Information: StudentPresentations_Invitation_2024_v1.pdf

    Location: TBD

    Audiences: Please RSVP to JMCARTHU@USC.EDU

    Contact: Tessa Yao

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  • PhD Thesis Defense - Pei Zhou

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 02:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    PhD Thesis Defense - Pei Zhou    
     
    Committee Members: Xiang Ren (Chair), Jay Pujara (Co-Chair), Toby Mintz, Jieyu Zhao    
     
    Title: Common Ground Reasoning for Communicative Agents    
     
    Abstract: Effective communication requires reasoning to reach mutual beliefs and knowledge among participants, a process called grounding. Large language model (LLM)-powered conversational AIs have displayed impressive capabilities, showing the potential of building AI agents that can interact with humans and the world smoothly. However, challenges remain unsolved for AI models to become capable communicative agents including understanding implicit intents and reaching goals. My PhD thesis outlines my research aiming to tackle these challenges by teaching models to reason to build common ground to become better communicators. Specifically, I focus on 1) enhancing conversational models with common sense knowledge; 2) modeling theory-of-mind capabilities to build goal-driven dialogue agents; and 3) eliciting metacognition by planning reasoning strategies for diverse scenarios. I will also discuss future directions including life-long self-learning with evolving common ground for personalization, interactive super-alignment to supervise models stronger than us, and measuring and improving safety to deploy agents in the wild.    
     
    Venue: RTH 306 and Zoom https://usc.zoom.us/j/2065614640  
    Date: 04/24/2024, 2-4PM  

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) -

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: CS Events

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/2065614640

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  • Repeating EventIncident Investigation/Analysis IIA 24-2

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed for managers and supervisors who may be required to investigate, implement or review safety findings and recommendations resulting from aviation incidents. The course presents the principles of Management, Investigation and Analysis. It will explain how incidents are discovered, investigated, and reported in writing. The student will learn the techniques of data collection and analysis.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 920

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AIIA2

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  • Repeating EventHuman Factors in Aviation Maintenance

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of human factors in the realm of aviation safety with a focus on the role of the maintainer. It presents human factors issues as conditions/hazards that must be managed. Specific issues such as fatigue management, deviations from approved procedures, situation awareness, and the Dirty Dozen are presented. Data collection methodologies such as MEDA and LOSA are examined as viable safety information methods and hazard identification tools in an organization’s SMS. This course satisfies the Human Factors Course requirement for the USC Safety & Security Certificate.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 960

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AHFMX2

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  • Repeating EventEiS Communications Hub Drop-In Hours

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Viterbi Ph.D. students are invited to stop by the EiS Communications Hub for one-on-one instruction for their academic and professional communications tasks. All instruction is provided by Viterbi faculty at the Engineering in Society Program.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A

    Audiences: Viterbi Ph.D. Students

    View All Dates

    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home?authuser=0

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  • ECE Seminar: Dr. Yuejie Chi, "Solving Inverse Problems with Generative Priors: From Low-rank to Diffusion Models"

    ECE Seminar: Dr. Yuejie Chi,

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Dr. Yuejie Chi, Sense of Wonder Group Endowed Professor in AI Systems | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering | Carnegie Mellon University

    Talk Title: Solving Inverse Problems with Generative Priors: From Low-rank to Diffusion Models

    Abstract: Generative priors are effective countermeasures to combat the curse of dimensionality, and enable efficient learning and inversion that otherwise are ill-posed, in data science. This talk begins with the classical low-rank prior, and introduces scaled gradient descent (ScaledGD), a simple iterative approach to directly recover the low-rank factors for a wide range of matrix and tensor estimation tasks. ScaledGD provably converges linearly at a constant rate independent of the condition number at near-optimal sample complexities, while maintaining the low per-iteration cost of vanilla gradient descent, even when the rank is overspecified and the initialization is random. Going beyond low rank, the talk discusses diffusion models as an expressive data prior in inverse problems, and introduces a plug-and-play posterior sampling method (Diffusion PnP) that alternatively calls two samplers, a proximal consistency sampler solely based on the forward model, and a denoising diffusion sampler solely based on the score functions of data prior. Performance guarantees and numerical examples will be demonstrated to illustrate the promise.

    Biography: Dr. Yuejie Chi is the Sense of Wonder Group Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in AI Systems at Carnegie Mellon University, with courtesy appointments in the Machine Learning department and CyLab. She received her Ph.D. and M.A. from Princeton University, and B. Eng. (Hon.) from Tsinghua University, all in Electrical Engineering. Her research interests lie in the theoretical and algorithmic foundations of data science, signal processing, machine learning and inverse problems, with applications in sensing, imaging, decision making, and generative AI. Among others, Dr. Chi is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the inaugural IEEE Signal Processing Society Early Career Technical Achievement Award for contributions to high-dimensional structured signal processing, and multiple paper awards including the SIAM Activity Group on Imaging Science Best Paper Prize and IEEE Signal Processing Society Young Author Best Paper Award. She is an IEEE Fellow (Class of 2023) for contributions to statistical signal processing with low-dimensional structures.

    Host: Dr. Richard Leahy, leahy@usc.edu

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Mayumi Thrasher

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  • Repeating EventEiS Communications Hub Drop-In Hours

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Engineering in Society Program

    Student Activity


    Drop-in hours for writing and speaking support for Viterbi Ph.D. students

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home

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  • DEN@Viterbi: How to Apply Virtual Info Session

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 12:00 PM - 06:00 PM

    DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission

    Workshops & Infosessions


    Join USC Viterbi representatives for a step-by-step guide and tips for how to apply for formal admission into a Master's degree or Graduate Certificate program. The session is intended for individuals who wish to pursue a graduate degree program completely online via USC Viterbi's flexible online DEN@Viterbi delivery method. Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives and ask questions about the admission process throughout the session. 

    WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/rc27fb4d2eca819b32bd1291a6c684fce

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs

    Event Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/rc27fb4d2eca819b32bd1291a6c684fce

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  • AAI-CCI-MHI Seminar on CPS

    AAI-CCI-MHI Seminar on CPS

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Rose Faghih, Associate Professor New York University

    Talk Title: Smartwatch-Brain Interface Architectures for Mental Well-Being and Productivity

    Series: EE598 Seminar Series

    Abstract: Smartwatch-like wearables have enabled seamless tracking of vital signs and physical activities. An unexploited capability is that the pulsatile physiological time series collected by wrist-worn wearable devices can be used for recovering internal brain dynamics. We design algorithms for a closed-loop brain-aware wearable architecture called MINDWATCH for tracking and regulating neurobehavioral states of arousal and performance. This closed-loop smartwatch-brain interface framework includes (1) an inference engine for recovering arousal-related autonomic nervous system (ANS) activations, (2) Bayesian state-space decoders for tracking cognitive arousal and performance states, (3) control algorithms for maintaining these neurobehavioral states within desired ranges, and (4) neurofeedback experiments for closing the loop via safe actuation. The methods are validated by analyzing experimental data as well as simulation studies. Results demonstrate a promising approach for tracking and regulating neurocognitive arousal and performance states through wearable devices. Since smartwatches can be used conveniently in one’s daily life, smartwatch-brain interface architectures have a great potential to monitor and regulate one’s neurocognitive stress seamlessly in real-world situations.

    Biography: Rose T. Faghih is an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at the New York University (NYU) where she directs the Computational Medicine Laboratory within the NYU Langone Health's Tech4Health Institute. She received a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in Electrical Engineering (Honors Program Citation) from the University of Maryland, and S.M. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She completed her postdoctoral training at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT as well as the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Rose is the recipient of various awards including a 2023 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Maximizing Investigators' Research Award for Early-Stage Investigators, a 2020 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, a 2020 MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 award, and a 2016 IEEE-USA New Face of Engineering award. In 2020, she was featured by the IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine as a “Woman to Watch”. She is on the editorial board of PNAS Nexus by the National Academy of Sciences and IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. Her research interests include wearable technologies, and medical cyber-physical systems, as well as neural and biomedical signal processing.

    Host: Pierluigi Nuzzo

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Ariana Perez

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  • AME Seminar

    Wed, Apr 24, 2024 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Adam Fincham, USC

    Talk Title: The Effect of Reef Geometry On Breaking Wave Shape. Computational and Field Data Comparative Study

    Abstract: With growing demand for inland surfing and interest in artificial surf reefs, CFD methods supplemented with field data constitute an effective tool that allows for analysis, optimization, and verification of the design performance of surfing waves. Bringing surfing to non-coastal areas provides big opportunities for a new market. This led to the formation of a new sub-genre of hydrodynamics engineering, where one is looking at transformation of shallow-water waves through a slightly different lens. In classical coastal engineering, wave characteristics can affect various design conditions of certain structures – however, in the following case, one is looking specifically into analysis, optimization, and verification of design performance of the surf-zone wave itself, i.e. its surfability aspect. This presentation provides a high-level overview of the scientific process behind the creation of the Kelly Slater Wave Company basin in Lemoore, CA. Some details of the new and much larger wave basin opening in Abu Dhabi, where excess energy from the main wave is reformed and broken again providing a secondary surfing experience will also be discussed.

    Biography: Adam Fincham is a Scientist, Engineer and an Entrepreneur. Dr. Fincham is currently the Chief Scientist and Engineer for the World Surf League’s (WSL) Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC). He is a Research Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at USC. He has successfully founded two technology companies and is the primary named inventor on dozens of US and International Patents.
    Fincham’s research interests include; Geophysical Fluid dynamics, turbulence and vortex structures in stratified and/or rotating flows, advanced algorithms for Digital Particle Imaging Velocimetry, particle dynamics in turbulent flows with application to oceanic plankton ecosystems, sonic boom interactions with the ocean surface, turbulent combustions at high Reynolds numbers, surfing wave dynamics, wave erosion and Computational Fluid Mechanics approaches to resolving breaking waves.
    Fincham is from the island of Jamaica, he obtained his PhD in 1994 at the University of Southern California and was Chargé de Recherche at the Laboratoire des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels, CNRS-INPG, Universite Joseph-Fourier, Grenoble, France. From 1995-2004. He has close ties to the University of the West Indies in Kingston Jamaica and interacts with scientists there.

    Host: AME Department

    More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95892885119?pwd=QXZOZUhrcTJRYk5qZzZwVThrTytVZz09

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

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/95892885119?pwd=QXZOZUhrcTJRYk5qZzZwVThrTytVZz09

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tessa Yao

    Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/

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  • Repeating EventIncident Investigation/Analysis IIA 24-2

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed for managers and supervisors who may be required to investigate, implement or review safety findings and recommendations resulting from aviation incidents. The course presents the principles of Management, Investigation and Analysis. It will explain how incidents are discovered, investigated, and reported in writing. The student will learn the techniques of data collection and analysis.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 920

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AIIA2

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  • Repeating EventHuman Factors in Aviation Maintenance

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of human factors in the realm of aviation safety with a focus on the role of the maintainer. It presents human factors issues as conditions/hazards that must be managed. Specific issues such as fatigue management, deviations from approved procedures, situation awareness, and the Dirty Dozen are presented. Data collection methodologies such as MEDA and LOSA are examined as viable safety information methods and hazard identification tools in an organization’s SMS. This course satisfies the Human Factors Course requirement for the USC Safety & Security Certificate.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 960

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AHFMX2

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  • Career & Internship Bootcamp

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 04:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections

    Receptions & Special Events


    Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) -

    Audiences: All Viterbi BS, MS Students

    Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections

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  • PhD Thesis Proposal - Navid Hashemi

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Title: Verification and Synthesis of Controllers for Temporal Logic Objectives Using Neuro-Symbolic Methods
     
    Committee Members: Jyotirmoy Deshmukh (Chair), Guarav Sukhatme, Chao Wang, Pierlggi Nuzzo, Lars Lindemann, Georgios Fainekos (External Member)     
     
    Date & Time: Thursday, April 25th, 10:30am - 12:00pm
     
    Abstract: As the field of autonomy is embracing the use of neural networks for perception and control, Signal Temporal Logic (STL) has emerged as a popular formalism for specifying the task objectives and safety properties of such autonomous cyber-physical systems (ACPS). There are two important open problems in this research area: (1) how can we effectively train neural controllers in such ACPS applications, when the state dimensionality is high and when the task objectives are specified over long time horizons, and (2) how can we verify if the closed-loop system with a given neural controller satisfies given STL objectives. We review completed work in which we show how discrete-time STL (DT-STL) specifications lend themselves to a smooth neuro-symbolic encoding that enables the use of gradient-based methods for control design. We also show how a type of neuro-symbolic encoding of DT-STL specifications can be combined with neural network verification tools to provide deterministic guarantees. We also review how neural network encoding of the environment dynamics can help us combine statistical verification techniques with formal techniques for reachability analysis. We will then propose several directions that we will pursue in the future: (1) We will investigate if our neuro-symbolic encoding approach can extend to other temporal logics, especially those used for specifying properties of perception algorithms (such as Spatio-Temporal Perception Logic or STPL). Our idea is to use a neuro-symbolic encoding of STPL to improve the quality of outputs produced by perception algorithms. (2) We will investigate how control policies generated by our existing algorithms can be made robust to distribution shifts through online and offline techniques. (3) Finally, we will propose scaling our synthesis approaches to higher-dimensional observation spaces and longer horzon tasks. We conclude with the timeline to finish proposed work and write the dissertation.

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Felante' Charlemagne

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  • NL Seminar-How to Steal ChatGPTs Embedding Size, and Other Low-rank Logit Tricks

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Information Sciences Institute

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Matt Finlayson, USC

    Talk Title: How to Steal ChatGPTs Embedding Size, and Other Low-rank Logit Tricks

    Series: NL Seminar

    Abstract: The commercialization of large language models (LLMs) has led to the common practice of restricting access to proprietary models via a limited API. In this work we show that, with only a conservative assumption about the model architecture, it is possible to learn a surprisingly large amount of non-public information about an API-protected LLM from a relatively small number of API queries (e.g., costing under $1000 USD for OpenAI’s gpt-3.5-turbo). Our findings are centered on one key observation: most modern LLMs suffer from a softmax bottleneck, which restricts the model outputs to a linear subspace of the full output space. We exploit this fact to unlock several capabilities, including (but not limited to) obtaining cheap full-vocabulary outputs, auditing for specific types of model updates, identifying the source LLM given a single full LLM output, and even efficiently discovering the LLM’s hidden size. Our empirical investigations show the effectiveness of our methods, which allow us to estimate the embedding size of OpenAI’s gpt-3.5-turbo to be about 4096. Lastly, we discuss ways that LLM providers can guard against these attacks, as well as how these capabilities can be viewed as a feature (rather than a bug) by allowing for greater transparency and accountability.   *Meeting hosts only admit on-line guests that they know to the Zoom meeting. Hence, you’re highly encouraged to use your USC account to sign into Zoom. If you’re an outside visitor, please inform us at (nlg-seminar-host(at)isi.edu) to make us aware of your attendance so we can admit you. Specify if you will attend remotely or in person at least one business day prior to the event Provide your: full name, job title and professional affiliation and arrive at least 10 minutes before the seminar begins. If you do not have access to the 6th Floor for in-person attendance, please check in at the 10th floor main reception desk to register as a visitor and someone will escort you to the conference room location. 

    Biography: Matthew Finlayson is a PhD student studying NLP at the University of Southern California. Previously he was a predoctoral researcher at the Allen Institute for AI (AI2) after completing his bachelors degree in computer science and linguistics at Harvard University. Matthew is interested in the practical consequences of the architectural design of language models, from security to generation, as well as understanding how language models learn and generalize from data.

    Host: Jon May and Justin Cho

    More Info: https://www.isi.edu/research-groups-nlg/nlg-seminars/

    Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9nA-l2YAs

    Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Conf Rm#689

    WebCast Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U9nA-l2YAs

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Pete Zamar

    Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/research-groups-nlg/nlg-seminars/

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  • Phd Dissertation Defence - Haidong Zhu

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Title: Shape-Assisted Multimodal Person Re-Identification
     
    Committee Members: Ram Nevatia (Chair), Ulrich Neumann, Antonio Ortega
     
    Date & Time: Thursday, April 25th, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
     
    Abstract: Recognizing an individual's identity across non-overlapping images or videos, known as person re-identification, is a fundamental yet challenging task for biometric analysis. This task involves extracting and distinguishing unique features such as appearance, gait, and body shape to accurately identify individuals. Different from other representations, 3-D shape complements the body information with external human body shape prior and enhances the appearance captured in the 2-D images. Although 3-D body shape offers invaluable external shape-related information that 2-D images lack, existing body shape representations often fall short in accuracy or demand extensive image data, which is unavailable for re-identification tasks. We explore various biometric representations for comprehensive whole-body person re-identification, with a particular emphasis on leveraging 3-D body shape. We focus on enhancing the detail and few-shot learning capabilities of 3-D shape representations through the application of implicit functions and generalizable Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF). Moreover, we propose the use of 3-D body shape for alignment and supervision during training, aiming to advance the accuracy and efficiency of person re-identification techniques.

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 110

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Haidong Zhu

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  • School of Advanced Computing: Computational Science Distinguished Seminar Series- Towards large scale quantum accuracy materials simulations.

    School of Advanced Computing: Computational Science Distinguished Seminar Series- Towards large scale quantum accuracy materials simulations.

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM

    USC School of Advanced Computing, USC Viterbi School of Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Vikram Gavini, University of Michigan

    Talk Title: Towards large scale quantum accuracy materials simulations

    Series: Computational Science Distinguished Seminar Series

    Abstract: Electronic structure calculations, especially those using density functional theory (DFT), have been very useful in understanding and predicting a wide range of materials properties. Despite the wide adoption of DFT, and the tremendous progress in theory and numerical methods over the decades, the following challenges remain. Firstly, many widely used implementations of DFT suffer from domain-size and geometry restrictions, limiting the complexity of materials systems that can be treated using DFT calculations. Secondly, there are many materials systems (such as strongly-correlated systems) where the widely used model exchange-correlation functionals in DFT, which account for the many-body quantum mechanical interactions between electrons, are not sufficiently accurate. This talk will discuss the recent advances towards addressing the aforementioned challenges, which provides a path for large-scale quantum accuracy materials simulations. In particular, the development of computational methods and numerical algorithms for conducting fast and accurate large-scale DFT calculations using adaptive finite-element discretization will be presented, which form the basis for the recently released DFT-FE open-source code. The computational efficiency, scalability and performance of DFT-FE will be presented, which can compute the electronic structure of systems containing many thousands of atoms in wall-times of few minutes. Some recent studies on the energetics of quasicrystals (ScZn 7.33 ) and dislocations in Mg using DFT-FE will be presented, which highlight the complex systems that can be tackled using DFT-FE. In addressing the second challenge, our recent progress in bridging highly accurate quantum many-body methods with DFT will be discussed, which is achieved by computing and using exact exchange-correlation potentials to improve the exchange correlation functional description in DFT.  

    Biography: Vikram Gavini is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in 2007. His interests are in developing methods for large-scale and quantum-accurate electronic structure calculations, numerical analysis of PDEs and scientific computing. DFT-FE, a massively parallel open-source code for large-scale real-space DFT calculations, has been developed in his group. He is the recipient of NSF CAREER Award in 2011, AFOSR Young Investigator Award in 2013, Humboldt Research Fellowship for Experienced Researchers (2012-14), USACM Gallagher Award in 2015, among others. He led the team that received the 2023 ACM Gordon Bell Prize in high performance computing.  

    More Info: https://sac.usc.edu/events/

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Raymond USC Viterbi

    Event Link: https://sac.usc.edu/events/

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  • PhD Dissertation Defense - Zhaoheng Zheng

    Thu, Apr 25, 2024 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM

    Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

    University Calendar


    Title: Incorporating Large-Scale Vision-Language Corpora in Visual Understanding  
     
    Committee Members: Ram Nevatia (Chair), Mohammad Soleymani, Keith Jenkins  
     
    Date and Time: Thursday, April 25th, 2:00pm - 4:00pm  
     
    Abstract: As key mediators of human perception, vision and language corpora act as critical roles in the development of modern Artificial Intelligence (AI). The size of vision-language corpora has scaled up rapidly in recent years, from thousands to billions, enabling the creation of large foundation models. However, as an emerging concept, there are a series of problems yet to be explored. 
    We start with a study of compositional learning from pre-VLM times to the post-VLM era. We introduce a representation blending approach that creates robust features for compositional image classification and a two-stream architecture that tackles the entanglement in the feature space of the object-attribute detection problem with novel object-attribute pairs. We further design an adaptation approach to leverage CLIP encoders for compositional image classification.
    The second part covers a variety of methods built with multimodal transformer models. For image retrieval, we propose a framework that assembles multimodal inputs into sequences with which a multimodal transformer encoder can be fine-tuned. The pre-training of vision-language models (VLMs) is also explored. Specifically, we introduce a fractional intermediate tower that improves the feature expressibility of dual-tower vision-language models. We further design a unified pipeline that allows a VLM to learn from not only vision-language corpora but unimodal visual and linguistic data. 
    Lastly, we study how to leverage the knowledge of Large Language Models (LLMs) for low-shot image classification, in a data- and computation-efficient way.
     
    Zoom Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96814169370?pwd=NkhSYWFKNCsya0lyaUFBVlVDQkI3Zz09

    Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 110

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Zhaoheng Zheng

    Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96814169370?pwd=NkhSYWFKNCsya0lyaUFBVlVDQkI3Zz09

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  • Incident Investigation/Analysis IIA 24-2

    Fri, Apr 26, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed for managers and supervisors who may be required to investigate, implement or review safety findings and recommendations resulting from aviation incidents. The course presents the principles of Management, Investigation and Analysis. It will explain how incidents are discovered, investigated, and reported in writing. The student will learn the techniques of data collection and analysis.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 920

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AIIA2

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  • Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance

    Fri, Apr 26, 2024 @ 08:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Aviation Safety and Security Program

    University Calendar


    This course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of human factors in the realm of aviation safety with a focus on the role of the maintainer. It presents human factors issues as conditions/hazards that must be managed. Specific issues such as fatigue management, deviations from approved procedures, situation awareness, and the Dirty Dozen are presented. Data collection methodologies such as MEDA and LOSA are examined as viable safety information methods and hazard identification tools in an organization’s SMS. This course satisfies the Human Factors Course requirement for the USC Safety & Security Certificate.

    Location: Century Boulevard Building (CBB) - 960

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Daniel Scalese

    Event Link: https://avsafe.usc.edu/wconnect/CourseStatus.awp?&course=24AHFMX2

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  • Repeating EventEiS Communications Hub Drop-In Hours

    Fri, Apr 26, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM

    Engineering in Society Program

    Student Activity


    Drop-in hours for writing and speaking support for Viterbi Ph.D. students

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    View All Dates

    Contact: Helen Choi

    Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home

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  • VLP Finals Study Slam

    VLP Finals Study Slam

    Fri, Apr 26, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM

    Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs

    Student Activity


    Finals are right around the corner! Join VLP at the last study event of the semester and get ready for exam week with us. Enjoy snacks, study space, and good luck goodie bags all day long at RTH 222! 
    All Viterbi students are welcome. RSVP: https://cglink.me/2nB/r396473

    Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Alex Bronz

    Event Link: https://cglink.me/2nB/r396473

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  • AAI-CCI-MHI Seminar on CPS

    AAI-CCI-MHI Seminar on CPS

    Fri, Apr 26, 2024 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 PM

    Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Joerg Lahann, Professor University of Michigan

    Talk Title: Protein Nanoparticles as multifunctional drug delivery carriers

    Series: EE598 Seminar Series

    Abstract: Precise control of the physical and biochemical properties of nanoparticle-based drug delivery vehicles is a
    prerequisite for effective transport of drugs across a range of biological barriers. To date, the range of biodegradable
    macromolecular systems with appropriate biocompatibility, low levels of immunogenicity and extended structural stability
    that can be prepared at scale remains rather limited. Towards that end, nanoparticles comprised of protein/polymer
    conjugates offer a range of unique features, such as biodegradability and extended in vivo stability, active targeting and
    stimuli-responsiveness, or the potential for delivery of small-molecule drugs and biopharmaceuticals.
    Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) co-jetting, an adaptive manufacturing process that involves transferring two or more
    capillary needles in a side-by-side configuration, can be used to create a wide range of multicompartmental protein/
    polymer nanoparticles. The protein nanoparticles combine the processability of synthetic polymers with the biological
    properties of proteins. In the context of glioblastoma multiforme, protein nanoparticles have been devised that enable
    systemic delivery of RNAi to intracranial brain tumors. Protein nanoparticles that can enable controlled release of
    combination drugs from the same nanoparticle will also be discussed

    Biography: Joerg Lahann is the Wolfgang Pauli Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering. Since 2012, he has been the
    founding director of the University of Michigan Biointerfaces Institute. Prof. Lahann is a co-author of more than 325
    publications including papers in Science, Nature Materials, Nature Biotechnology, or PNAS and has contributed to 50
    patents and patent applications. He is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), the American
    Association for the Advancement of the Sciences (AAAS), and the American Institute for Medical and Biological
    Engineering (AIMBE). He has been selected by Technology Review as one of the top 100 young investigators and the
    recipient of the 2007 Nanoscale Science and Engineering Award, a NSF-CAREER award, and both a single-PI and a
    team Idea award (2006 & 2011) from the US Department of Defense. Prof. Lahann has contributed to the development
    of 3D printing methods for ultraporous, precisely engineered organoids, multicompartmental nanoparticles for drug
    delivery applications, and vapor-based polymer coatings.

    Host: Paul Bogdan

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

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Ariana Perez

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  • AI Seminar: Staring into the Abyss and Eating Glass

    AI Seminar: Staring into the Abyss and Eating Glass

    Fri, Apr 26, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

    Information Sciences Institute

    Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars


    Speaker: Rajiv Maheswaran, Former Second Spectrum CEO, USC Faculty

    Talk Title: Staring into the Abyss and Eating Glass

    Abstract: Rajiv spent a decade as faculty at USC and then a decade building a startup.  He will briefly outline the path that took him from one to the other and answer questions about the adventures and misadventures and the similarities and differences in the journeys.

    Biography: Rajiv Maheswaran was the CEO and Co-Founder of Second Spectrum, a startup that used computer vision and machine learning to automate next-generation data collection and real-time video augmentation in sports, creating software for teams, leagues and media. Second Spectrum clients have spanned the top leagues in sports including the NBA (where all teams are clients), NFL, English Premier League and top media partners such as Amazon (winning an Emmy for NFL Prime Vision), CBS (winning an Emmy for RomoVision), ESPN (NBA Marvel Arena of Heroes), and NBC (Premier League DataCast). Prior to Second Spectrum, Rajiv was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Southern California’s Department of Computer Science and Project Leader at the Information Sciences Institute where he and Second Spectrum COO / Co-Founder Yu-Han Chang co-directed the Computational Behavior Group. Rajiv has written over 100 publications in artificial intelligence, control theory, data visualization, decision theory and game theory. Rajiv and Yu-Han received the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Use-Inspired Research Award, and they are the only two-time winners of the Alpha Award for Best Research Paper at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Rajiv received a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics, Engineering and Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    Host: Craig Knoblock

    More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/4889/ai-seminar-staring-into-the-abyss-and-eating-glass/

    Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/99736587279?pwd=TnZXTzdYOWFNZlJmQ0dYYlF2QURDZz09

    Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 1135/1137

    WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/99736587279?pwd=TnZXTzdYOWFNZlJmQ0dYYlF2QURDZz09

    Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

    Contact: Tricia Olmedo

    Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/4889/ai-seminar-staring-into-the-abyss-and-eating-glass/

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