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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for the 4th week of August
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PhD Thesis Defense - Zunchen Huang
Mon, Aug 21, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Defense - Zunchen Huang
Committee Members: Chao Wang (chair), Srivatsan Ravi, and Pierluigi Nuzzo
Title: Constraint Based Analysis for Persistent Memory Programs
Abstract: Emerging persistent memory technologies are beginning to bridge the gap between volatile memory and nonvolatile storage in computer systems, by allowing high speed memory access, byte addressability, and persistency at the same time. However, PM programming remains a challenging and error prone task due to reliance on ordinary developers to write correct and efficient PM software code. In this dissertation, I propose a framework to detect and repair PM bugs automatically using a set of new symbolic analysis techniques. Unlike existing techniques that rely on patterns and heuristics to detect and repair a small subset of PM bugs, the proposed techniques can handle a wide range of PM bugs. This is achieved by first encoding the program semantics, correctness properties, and PM requirements as a set of logical constraints, and then solving these constraints using off the shelf SMT solvers. By reasoning about these logical constraints symbolically, the proposed techniques can detect, diagnose, and repair PM bugs efficiently. Furthermore, I propose a new method to automatically infer PM requirements using a combination of static and dynamic analysis techniques. Finally, I demonstrate the feasibility of applying the proposed techniques to programs that rely on both PM and multi threading, by reasoning about persistency and concurrency simultaneously.
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/4326990557
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PhD Thesis Defense - Umang Gupta
Tue, Aug 22, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Defense - Umang Gupta
Committee Members: Greg Ver Steeg (Chair), Paul Thompson, Bistra Dilkina, Fred Morstatter
Title: Controlling Information in Neural Networks for Fairness and Privacy
Abstract: As machine learning becomes more prevalent in mission critical domains, the harms of unintended information captured by these models are becoming more apparent. These models can inadvertently introduce biases and memorize training data, leading to potential unfairness, inequitable outcomes, or risking privacy. These phenomena are especially alarming in applications where data privacy needs to be upheld, such as medical imaging, or where unfairness can lead to disparate outcomes, such as hiring decisions. This thesis examines ways to control and limit information in deep learning models, focusing on fairness and privacy. Specifically, we discuss ways to ensure fairness in decision making by learning fair data representations and preventing unfair language generation by correctly modulating information in neural networks. Concerning privacy, we demonstrate that releasing neuroimaging models may reveal private information about the individuals participating in the training set and discuss ways to mitigate these privacy leakages. Among these methods, differential private training is promising as it protects against all possible privacy attacks. However, differential private training can drastically hurt utility since the magnitude of noise in the outputs scales with the model parameters. To this end, we explore techniques to reduce effective model parameters during training.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/7354464916
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Aug 22, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Yigal Arens, Research Professor, Daniel J. Epstein Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering
Talk Title: Introduction/First Class
Location: SOS Building, B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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Tue, Aug 22, 2023 @ 06:00 PM - 07:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
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Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kevin Giang
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=390216
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Computer Science General Faculty Meeting
Wed, Aug 23, 2023 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Receptions & Special Events
By-weekly regular faculty meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Assistant to CS Chair
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AME Seminar
Wed, Aug 23, 2023 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Pradeep Sharma, Chair of Mechanical Engineering Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Houston
Talk Title: Flexoelectricity and Electrets
Abstract: The ability of certain materials to convert electrical stimuli into mechanical deformation, and vice versa, is a prized property. Not surprisingly, applications of such so-called piezoelectric materials are broad-”ranging from energy harvesting to self-powered sensors. In this presentation, I will highlight a relatively understudied electromechanical coupling called flexoelectricity that appears to have implications in topics ranging from biophysics to the design of next-generation soft multifunctional materials. Specifically, I will argue, through computational examples, the tantalizing possibility of creating apparently piezoelectric materials without piezoelectric materials-”e.g. graphene, emergence of giant piezoelectricity at the nanoscale, and (among others) the mechanisms underpinning magnetoreception in certain animals.
Biography: Pradeep Sharma is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Physics. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park in the year 2000. Subsequent to his doctoral degree, he was employed at General Electric R & D for more than three years as a research scientist. He joined the department of mechanical engineering at University of Houston in January 2004. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. His other honors and awards include the Young Investigators Award from Office of Naval Research, Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award from the ASME, Texas Space Grants Consortium New Investigators Program Award, the Fulbright fellowship, the Melville medal, the James R. Rice medal from the Society of Engineering Science, ASME Charles R. Russ medal, the Guggenheim, and the University of Houston Research Excellence Award. He is a fellow of the ASME, the associate editor of the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, chief-editor of the Journal of Applied Mechanics and serves on the editorial board of several other journals. He specializes in the broadly defined fields of continuum mechanics of solids and theoretical and computational materials science.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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PhD Thesis Defense - Sarik Ghazarian
Wed, Aug 23, 2023 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Defense - Sarik Ghazarian
Committee Members:Aram Galstyan, Nanyun Peng, Kallirroi Georgila, Gaurav Sukhatme, Morteza Dehghani
Title: Automatic Evaluation of Open Domain Dialogue Systems
Abstract: With the rapid development of open domain dialogue systems in recent years, it is imperative to have precise evaluation metrics that correctly assess the quality of these systems. To this end, many researchers resort primarily to human evaluation which is time consuming, expensive and it does not facilitate the model comparisons across research papers. Therefore, the existence of accurate automatic evaluation metrics that can accelerate the development cycle by assisting the process of architecture search and hyperparameter tuning is necessary. Reference based metrics such because BLEU or ROUGE fail to correlate well with human judgment in open domain settings as there can be potentially many plausible generations that do not overlap significantly with the limited set of given references. This failure leads the research towards learning based evaluation metrics that are more sophisticated and reliable.
Automatic evaluation of open domain dialogue systems has a multifaceted nature with many fine grained quality aspects. This dissertation explores both turn level and conversation level facets of open-domain dialogue evaluation. We train models that automatically assess the relevance, engagement, coherence, and commonsense aspects of the responses generated by dialogue models. We formulate the evaluation as a classification task to identify the quality of the responses. To this end, we focus on training data and model architecture of these metrics as two main components that metrics quality strongly relies on them. We start with heuristic text level manipulations such as random swapping of utterances to create negative samples for training evaluation metrics. Then, we show that such manipulations are insufficient to appropriately reflect the issues that occur in interactions between advanced dialogue models and human. To tackle this issue, we move forward toward proposing advanced semantic level perturbations of human written responses to generate challenging negative responses that are more likely to be generated by state of the art dialogue models. Next, we complete our investigation on dialogue evaluation by concentrating on the model architecture of these metrics by incorporating knowledge from knowledge bases and leveraging prompt based generative models in a low resource setting. Finally, in addition to dialogue assessment, the main goal of automatic evaluation metrics, we leverage them as influential control factors to guide dialogue models and generate higher quality responses.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97105095544?pwd=Q05tWTdLSFdhNS9EY2JRMklWbHRkUT09
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PhD Thesis Defense - Jingbo Wang
Thu, Aug 24, 2023 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Defense - Jingbo Wang
Committee Members: Prof. Chao Wang (chair), Prof. Nenad Medvidovic, Prof. Jyotirmoy Deshmukh, Prof. Mukund Raghothaman, and Prof. Pierluigi Nuzzo
Title: Side channel Security Enabled by Program Analysis and Synthesis
Abstract: The objective of my dissertation research is to develop rigorous methods and analysis tools for improving the security of software systems. I focus on a class of emerging security threats called side channel attacks. During a side channel attack, the adversary relies on exploiting statistical dependencies between the secret data e.g. passwords or encryption keys and seemingly unrelated non functional properties e.g. power consumption or execution time of the computer. In particular, power side channel leaks are caused by statistical dependencies instead of syntactic or semantic dependencies between sources and sinks. Thus, existing techniques that focus primarily on information flow security e.g. taint analysis would not work. To detect and then automatically remove these statistical dependencies in software code, I have developed a set of type inference rules to capture and quantify the leaks, and then a set of transformation based methods to mitigate the leaks. To adapt these type inference rules to constantly evolving program characteristics, I have also proposed a data driven method for learning provably sound side channel analysis rules from annotated programs. To ensure the correctness of the mitigation, I have developed new methods to help prove the equivalence of the original and mitigated programs. All of these methods aim to identify and then eliminate the side channel related statistical dependencies, which in turn leads to more secure software for critical applications.
Location: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 213
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Melissa Ochoa
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Viterbi Mandarin Students Welcome Fall 2023
Thu, Aug 24, 2023 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Student Activity
Announcing the USC Mandarin Discussion Forum for Viterbi Students!
Join us for an engaging session where Mandarin-speaking students come together to mingle together. Hosted by the VASE office, USC CSSA, and USC CGSA, this exclusive event provides a platform for networking, support, and insightful discussions. Enhance your academic journey and reserve your spot now!
Seize this golden opportunity to make your first semester a truly memorable one! We can't wait to welcome you to the USC Mandarin Discussion Forum. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with your Mandarin-speaking peers and make your first semester unforgettable!Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Experience USC Viterbi
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=389590
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DEN@Viterbi: How to Apply Virtual Info Session
Thu, Aug 24, 2023 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join USC Viterbi representatives for a step-by-step guide and tips for how to apply for formal admission into a Master's degree or Graduate Certificate program. The session is intended for individuals who wish to pursue a graduate degree program completely online via USC Viterbi's flexible online DEN@Viterbi delivery method.
Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives and ask questions about the admission process throughout the session.
Register Now!WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r43071aaaa4efe0760b5558e0f148c1b1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs
Event Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/weblink/register/r43071aaaa4efe0760b5558e0f148c1b1
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Aug 25, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Ajit Yoganathan, Professor and the Wallace H. Coulter Distinguished Faculty Chair Wallace H. Coulter School of Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University
Talk Title: Cardiovascular Engineering - A 'Personal' Journey from Bench to Bedside
Abstract: Over the past few decades, significant contributions have been made by engineers to healthcare. The successful translation of fundamental engineering concepts has helped improve patient care and diagnosis. This impact has been particularly evident in the field of cardiovascular medicine where the roles of fluid and solid mechanics, and imaging are critical. In ~45 years of pioneering research, Professor Ajit Yoganathan's Cardiovascular Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology & Emory University, has been in the vanguard of this movement: advancing knowledge and technology in native and replacement heart valves, cardiovascular diagnostic techniques, and pediatric surgical/interventional planning. Using state-of-the-art fluid dynamic measurement techniques, Dr.Yoganathan and his group have developed methods to enable the optimization of replacement heart valve designs. Novel techniques in the assessment of native heart valve function have provided clinicians with improved tools to assess disease severity and helped identify effective treatment options. For the treatment of congenital heart defects, the development of novel computational modeling tools to simulate surgical procedures and their fluid dynamics outcomes have provided clinicians with new ways to plan for treatments for individual patients to increase the probability of success. Combined, these advances have helped bridge the lab bench to the patient's bedside/bassinet and integrate engineering science with the art of medicine.
Biography: For over 45 years Dr. Ajit Yoganathan has been a pioneer in basic and translational cardiovascular research, especially experimental and computational fluid mechanics as it pertains to artificial heart valves, the whole heart, and congenital heart diseases. His work involves the use of optical techniques such as laser Doppler velocimetry, digital particle image velocimetry, and clinical tools such as cardiac ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging to non-invasively study and quantify blood flow patterns and parameters in the cardiovascular system, both on the bench and in vivo. In his effort to take an interdisciplinary and translational approach to his research, Dr. Yoganathan has established collaborations with clinicians, scientists, and industry professionals world-wide and has played an important role in the development of U.S. and international standards for cardiovascular devices as Chair of the Cardiovascular Sub-Committee (SC2), International Standards Organization Technical Committee (TC 150) on Implants for Surgery since 2005. He has published over 40 book chapters and 450 peer reviewed articles in leading scientific journals; has given over 300 invited talks around the world; has more than 20 issued patents; and has mentored more than 50 doctoral students, 35 masters' students, and 40 post-doctoral trainees. Dr. Yoganathan has received a number of high honors and awards including membership to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, the ASME H. R. Lissner Award in Bioengineering; the ASEE Theo Pilkington Award for Biomedical Engineering Education; the BMES Robert A. Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship Award; the AIMBE Professional Impact Award for Education; the Heart Valve Society's Inaugural HVS Lifetime Achievement Award; and AAMI Foundation's Laufman-Greatbatch Award. He is also a Founding Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), an Honorary Fellow of the American Association of Thoracic Surgery (AATS), and a Fellow of both the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASEE) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). It is noteworthy to mention that since 1975, all prosthetic heart valves implanted in the U.S. -“ more than two dozen valve designs - have been studied and evaluated in Dr. Yoganathan's Cardiovascular Fluid Mechanics lab.
Host: Peter Yingxiao Wang- Chair of Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
More Info: zoom link available upon request
Location: 136
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
Event Link: zoom link available upon request
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Where are the Jobs? Uncovering the Hidden Job Market
Sat, Aug 26, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
THIS EVENT WILL BE HOSTED HYBRID: IN-PERSON & ONLINE SIMULTANEOUSLY
Increase your career and internship knowledge on networking by attending this professional development Q&A moderated by Viterbi Career Connections staff.
To access the ZOOM link and for more information on this workshop, log into Viterbi Career Gateway>> Events>>Workshops: https://shibboleth-viterbi-usc-csm.symplicity.com/sso/
For more information about all workshops, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
For In-Person: Attendance is limited to room capacity
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
