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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for August
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AI Seminar- Composable Interventions for Language Models
Fri, Aug 09, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arinbjorn Kolbeinsson, University of Virginia
Talk Title: Composable Interventions for Language Models
Abstract: Virtual zoom link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/7042850182?pwd=OTQ3aW9LUjErTC9iWGRFQUg0LzlOdz09&omn=96405030645Meeting ID: 704 285 0182Meeting password: 832239
Abstract: Test-time interventions for language models can enhance factual accuracy, mitigate harmful outputs, and improve model efficiency without costly retraining. But despite a flood of new methods, different types of interventions are largely developing independently. In practice, multiple interventions must be applied sequentially to the same model, yet we lack standardized ways to study how interventions interact. We fill this gap by introducing composable interventions, a framework to study the effects of using multiple interventions on the same language models, featuring new metrics and a unified codebase. Using our framework, we conduct extensive experiments and compose popular methods from three emerging intervention categories — Knowledge Editing, Model Compression, and Machine Unlearning. Our results from 310 different compositions uncover meaningful interactions: compression hinders editing and unlearning, composing interventions hinges on their order of application, and popular general-purpose metrics are inadequate for assessing composability. Taken together, our findings showcase clear gaps in composability, suggesting a need for new multi-objective interventions. All of our code is public: https://github.com/hartvigsen-group/composable-interventions
Biography: Arinbjörn Kolbeinsson is currently serving as a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, focusing on responsible and accurate models for health and biomedicine. His recent research explores the editing and efficiency of language models, along with the development of composable intervention techniques. Previously, Arinbjörn was a machine learning scientist at Evidation Health Inc., where he developed innovative methods to predict health outcomes using high-frequency multi-modal data. His work was pivotal in advancing differential privacy, disease modeling, and reinforcement learning for health applications. Arinbjörn completed his Ph.D. in Biostatistics at Imperial College London in 2020, specializing in deep learning for health outcome prediction.
Host: Abel Salinas and Maura Covaci
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5056/composable-interventions-for-language-models/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/7042850182?pwd=OTQ3aW9LUjErTC9iWGRFQUg0LzlOdz09&omn=96405030645Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual Only
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/7042850182?pwd=OTQ3aW9LUjErTC9iWGRFQUg0LzlOdz09&omn=96405030645
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5056/composable-interventions-for-language-models/
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Aug 23, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Allyssa Panitch, Ph.D., Emory University and Georgia Tech.
Talk Title: Promoting tissue healing and regeneration using proteoglycan mimetics
Abstract: Proteoglycans play an important role in extracellular matrix remodeling, homeostasis, and signaling. Due to their negatively charged glycosaminoglycan chains as well as distinct core protein structures, they interact with a variety of molecules, including matrix proteins, growth factors, cytokines and chemokines, pathogens, and enzymes. Here we focus on two bioconjugates that were designed to mimic features of existing proteoglycans. The first models the biological activity of the small leucine-rich proteoglycan, decorin. Like native decorin, our decorin mimetic plays a key role in collagen organization and wound healing. Recently, we have augmented the decorin mimetic with peptide ligands to the avb3 integrin receptor found on endothelial and endothelial progenitor cells. The avb3 ligand confers angiogenic activity to the decorin mimetic and supports wound healing in an ischemic environment in diabetic animals. The second mimetic is designed to target inflamed endothelium to restore physical barrier function of the endothelial glycocalyx. By restoring barrier function, the glycocalyx mimetic reduces intravascular thrombosis and inflammation thereby improving healing outcomes following ischemia reperfusion injury in animal models.
Biography: Dr. Panitch received bachelor’s degrees from Smith College in Biochemistry and from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in Chemical Engineering. She completed her Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and University of Zurich. She started her first faculty position at Arizona State University in 1999 where she was awarded an NSF CAREER award. She is currently the chair of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Tech. She is a member and Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers (AIMBE)and the National Academy of Inventors. She also serves as an Editor for the Journal of Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces.
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Aug 27, 2024 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Professor Qiang Huang, Daniel J. Epstein Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering, USC
Talk Title: Introduction to first class (enrolled students only)
Location: Social Sciences Building (SOS) - B2
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Fri, Aug 30, 2024 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jonathan Wang, Senior Scientist II - AbbVie , Irvine , CA
Talk Title: Navigating an Early Career in Biopharmaceuticals: From Graduate Research to Industry Expertise
Abstract: In this seminar, we will explore an early-stage career journey through various facets of the biopharmaceutical industry. Starting with a brief introduction that highlights graduate work at the University of Southern California in the Chung lab, we focus on a project utilizing polymeric micelle nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery to treat polycystic kidney disease. The talk will then delve into an industrial application, looking at process development of a pipeline vaccine in late-stage clinical development. Following this, we examine the opposite end of the regulatory approval spectrum and investigate the challenges of commercial production of a viral vector biologic. The seminar will conclude with practical tips and case studies on navigating the industry, to offer valuable insights for aspiring professionals.
Biography: Dr. Jonathan Wang obtained his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. During his graduate studies with Professor Eun Ji Chung, he worked on developing nanoparticles for drug delivery applications such as kidney disease. During his time at USC, he was awarded the USC Best Research Assistant Award, Viterbi Undergraduate Research Mentoring Awards, and was a recipient of the Alfred E. Mann Innovation in Engineering Doctoral Fellowship. After his PhD studies, he has joined industry as Scientist at Emergent BioSolutions and MilliporeSigma, and is now a Senior Scientist II at AbbVie in Irvine, CA.
Host: Eunji Chung
Location: Corwin D. Denney Research Center (DRB) - 145
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
