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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for October
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Wed, Oct 02, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Kostas Papakonstantinou, Penn State University
Talk Title: Computational decision-making under uncertainty in engineering systems: Linking UQ to the action space
Abstract: At the core of every engineering problem lies a decision-making quest, either directly or indirectly. Sophisticated UQ methods are essentially providing decision support through efficient quantification of selected metrics and quantities of interest, and sensitivity analysis. Nonetheless, despite significant progress in UQ methods and techniques, the actual decision-making process is still largely dependent on the static and rather limited traditional cost-benefit analysis framework, and dedicated rigorous computational methodologies for engineering decisions under uncertainty are practically elusive. In this talk, an approach for a seamless integration of stochastic models and data with computational decision-making, able to directly and autonomously offer optimal actions to decision-makers/agents is analyzed. As shown, challenging sequential decision-making problems in nonstationary dynamic environments can be efficiently formulated along the premises of optimal stochastic control, through Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), and mixed approaches thereof. In systems with relatively low dimensional state and action spaces, MDPs and POMDPs can be satisfactorily solved to global optimality through appropriate dynamic programming algorithms. However, optimal planning for large systems with multiple components is computationally hard and severely suffers from the curse of dimensionality. New developments on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) methods and their capacity of addressing this problem are discussed, with emphasis on our developed DRL formulations and novel algorithmic schemes, specifically tailored to the needs of large engineering systems, able to solve otherwise intractable problems with immense state and action spaces. DRL relations to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are also explained and techniques are demystified down to their fundamental mathematical attributes, underlying computational aspects and connections to engineering. The talk concludes with numerous ongoing efforts along these lines, from centralized/decentralized infrastructure management, to emergency response of cooperating agents, to autonomous robotic navigation and wildfire prevention.
Biography: Dr. Kostas Papakonstantinou is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Penn State. He obtained a five year Diploma in Civil Engineering and a M.S. in Structural Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of California, Irvine. Prior to joining Penn State, he was an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University. Dr. Papakonstantinou work focuses on probabilistic analysis and stochastic mechanics, decision-making under uncertainty, machine learning, optimization-inverse methods, and their integration with computational structural mechanics and engineering applications. His research has been funded by various programs and his work has received several awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2018.
Host: Dr. Roger Ghanem
More Information: Abstract-Bio-K. Papakonstantinou.pdf
Location: Ray R. Irani Hall (RRI) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Sonny Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Thu, Oct 10, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dennis Lettenmaier, Ph.D., Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles
Talk Title: If extreme precipitation is increasing, why are not floods?
Abstract: Despite evidence of increasing precipitation extremes, corresponding evidence for increases in flooding remains elusive. If anything, flood magnitudes are decreasing despite widespread claims by the climate community that if precipitation extremes increase, floods must also. Based on a recent 2018 WRR paper Sharma, Wasko, and Lettenmaier I suggest reasons why increases in extreme rainfall are not resulting in corresponding increases in flooding. Among them are decreases in antecedent soil moisture, decreasing storm extent, and decreases in snowmelt. I further discuss a recent analysis that investigates linkages between antecedent soil moisture and flooding along the U.S. west coast both historically 1950-present and projected into the future using downscaled global climate model output. Our analysis shows some evidence of mitigation of extreme floods in a warmer climate due to changes in antecedent soil moisture and shifts in the seasonal timing of extreme precipitation. I also discuss an ongoing analysis of flood records from 110 stream gauges for unregulated streams across the western U.S. for the period 1950-2015, where each event was classified into one of six flood-generating mechanisms. This analysis shows few trends in the mix of flood generating mechanisms over the last 50 years, of flood magnitudes, or of the seasonal timing of floods. I argue that understanding the link between changes in precipitation and changes in flooding past and future is a grand challenge for the hydrologic community and is deserving of increased attention.
Host: Dr. George Ban-Weiss
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Mon, Oct 14, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Yves Weinand, Director and Head of Laboratory for Timber Construction (IBOIS)
Talk Title: Advanced Timber Construction Using Digital Fabrication and Robotics Assemblies
Abstract: Please see Attached.
Host: Dr. Erik Johnson
More Information: Y. Weinand Talk_10-14-19.pdf
Location: Ray R. Irani Hall (RRI) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Thu, Oct 24, 2019 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mike Chester, Arizona Stare University
Talk Title: Infrastructure and the Anthropocene
Abstract: See attached
Host: Drs. Burcin Becerik and Felipe de Barros
More Information: Mike Chester_Abstract 10-24-19.pdf
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Thu, Oct 31, 2019 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Shengqiang Cai, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Soft Materials: from fundamental mechanics to applications
Abstract: In recent years, soft materials have been extensively explored in a myriad of engineering applications including wearable devices and soft robotics. In the talk, I will discuss some of our recent work on soft materials. The presentation will mainly contain two parts. In the first part, I will talk about recent progress made in our group on a newly emerging polymer: liquid crystal elastomer (LCE). I will show some examples of the applications of liquid crystal elastomer as artificial muscle in the design of soft robots. I will also discuss several very intriguing phenomena associated with the large deformation and soft elasticity of liquid crystal elastomers. In the second part of the talk, I will discuss the challenges of studying the mechanics of soft materials. Electromechanical instabilities of dielectric elastomer balloons and nonlinear instability of an everted tube will serve as two examples.
Biography: Professor Shengqiang Cai is currently an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering program at the University of California, San Diego. He obtained his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 2011. After graduating from Harvard, he spent one year as postdoc at MIT. His research is mainly focused on mechanics of materials, especially soft materials and active materials. He received NSF CAREER award in 2016.
Host: Dr. Qiming Wang
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes