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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for February
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CS Colloquium: Justin Solomon (MIT) - Navigating, Restructuring and Reshaping Learned Latent Spaces
Mon, Feb 03, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Justin Solomon, MIT
Talk Title: Navigating, Restructuring and Reshaping Learned Latent Spaces
Abstract: Modern machine learning architectures often embed their inputs into a lower-dimensional latent space before generating a final output. A vast set of empirical results---and some emerging theory---predicts that these lower-dimensional codes often are highly structured, capturing lower-dimensional variation in the data. Based on this observation, in this talk I will describe efforts in my group to develop lightweight algorithms that navigate, restructure, and reshape learned latent spaces. Along the way, I will consider a variety of practical problems in machine learning, including low-rank adaptation of large models, regularization to promote local latent structure, and efficient training/evaluation of generative models. This talk will cover collaborative research with Rickard Gabrielsson, Kimia Nadjahi, Chris Scarvelis, Tal Shnitzer, Mikhail Yurochkin, Jiacheng Zhu, and others.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Justin Solomon is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. He leads the Geometric Data Processing Group in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), which studies problems at the intersection of geometry, large-scale optimization, and applications.
Host: Yue Wang
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone (USC) is invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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Photonics Seminar - Alexander Szameit, Monday, February 3rd at 2pm in EEB 248
Mon, Feb 03, 2025 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alexander Szameit, Professor, Chair for Experimental Solid-State Optics, University of Rostock
Talk Title: Topology in space, time, and space-time
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: In recent years, topological phenomena in photonic systems have attracted much attention, with their striking features arising from robust states in the energy gaps of spatially periodic media. However, light waves are entities that extend in space as well as time, such that one may ask whether topological effects can also occur in the temporal domain, or even space-time. Intuitively, systems that are periodic in time may be gapped in momentum, leading to topological states localized at time interfaces. However, time - in contrast to space - exhibits a unique unidirectionality often referred to as the "arrow of time". Inspired by these features, I will present our most recent experiments on topological states residing at temporal interfaces. Moreover, I will discuss the formation of spacetime-topological events and demonstrate unique features such as their limited collapse under disorder and causality-suppressed coupling.
Biography: Alexander Szameit (*1979 in Halle, Germany) studied Physics at the Universities of Halle and Jena, Germany. He obtained his Diploma and PhD in 2004 and 2007, respectively. After spending time in Australia and Israel, he returned to Jena as an Assistant Professor in 2011. After receiving his habilitation in 2015, he was appointed as Full Professor at the University of Rostock in 2016, where he holds the chair for Experimental Solid-State Optics. His work deals with all aspects of complex light evolution in large-scale integrated photonic waveguide circuits, with a particular focus on topological photonics.
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan and Demetri Christodoulides
More Information: Alexander Szameit Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Computational Science Distinguished Seminar
Mon, Feb 03, 2025 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
USC School of Advanced Computing
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: George Haller, ETH Zürich
Talk Title: Nonlinear Spectral Model Reduction from Data
Abstract: Machine learning has been a major development in applied science and engineering, with impressive success stories in static learning environments like image, pattern, and speech recognition. Yet the modeling of dynamical phenomena—such as nonlinear vibrations of solids and transitions in fluids—remains a challenge for classic machine learning. Indeed, neural net models for nonlinear dynamics tend to be complex, uninterpretable and unreliable outside their training range.
In this talk, I discuss a dynamical systems alternative to neural networks in the data-driven reduced-order modeling of nonlinear phenomena. Specifically, I show that the recent concept of spectral submanifolds (SSMs) provides very low-dimensional attractors in a large family of mechanics problems ranging from wing oscillations to transitions in shear flows. A data-driven identification of the reduced dynamics on these SSMs gives a mathematically justified way to construct accurate and predictive reduced-order models for solids, fluids and controls without the use of governing equations. I illustrate this on physical problems including the accelerated finite-element simulations of large structures, prediction of transitions to turbulence, reduced-order modeling of fluid-structure interactions, extraction of reduced equations of motion from videos, and model-predictive control of soft robots.
Biography: George Haller is a professor of Mechanical Engineering at ETH Zürich, where he holds the Chair in Nonlinear Dynamics and heads the Institute for Mechanical Systems. His prior appointments include tenured faculty positions at Brown, McGill and MIT. He also served as the inaugural director of Morgan Stanley’s fixed income modeling center. Professor Haller is a recipient of a Sloan Fellowship in mathematics, an ASME Thomas Hughes Young Investigator Award, a School of Engineering Distinguished Professorhip (McGill), and the Stanley Corrsin Award of the APS. He is an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Science and an elected fellow of SIAM, APS and ASME. He currently serves as feature editor at Nonlinear Dynamics and senior editor at the Journal of Nonlinear Science. His research focuses on nonlinear dynamical systems with applications to mechanical vibrations, coherent structures in turbulence, and data- and equation-driven model reduction for physical systems. He has authored three monographs in these areas.
Host: School of Advanced Computing
More Info: https://sac.usc.edu/events/
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://sac.usc.edu/events/
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 04, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Xiao Zang, Assistant Professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management, at University of Minnesota
Talk Title: Engineering Better Health: From Industrial and Systems Engineering to Health Decision Modeling
Host: Dr. Shinyi Wu
More Information: FLYER 651 Xiao Zang 2.4.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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Fred Grodins Distinguished Keynote Seminar
Fri, Feb 07, 2025 @ 03:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shana O. Kelley, Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Talk Title: Continuous monitoring of protein biomarkers using implantable sensors
Abstract: To put disease-related biomarkers to work for continuous monitoring of health and disease, new high-performance technologies are needed to enable rapid and sensitive analysis of proteins and other biomarkers. Electrochemical methods providing sensitive and direct biomarker readout have attracted a great deal of attention for this application. Recently we developed reagentless sensors that are powerful detectors for in vivo protein sensing (Nature Chemistry, 2021, J. am. Chem. Soc. 2023, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. 2023) as well as implantable sensors for continuous monitoring (Science 2024, Nature Biomedical Engineering 2025). This talk will summarize the development of these sensors, their application to a variety of clinical problems, and the development of a range of implatable sensors for in vivo monitoring.
Biography: Dr. Shana Kelley is the President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago and the Neena B. Schwartz Professor at Northwestern in the Departments of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. The Kelley research group has pioneered new methods for tracking molecular and cellular analytes with unprecedented sensitivity. Dr. Kelley’s work has been recognized with the ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award, the Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award, the Steacie Prize, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, a NSF CAREER Award, a Dreyfus New Faculty Award, and she was also named a “Top 100 Innovator” by MIT’s Technology Review. Kelley is also a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Her work is extensively cited and she has over 80 papers cited more than 80 times. Kelley is an inventor on over 50 patents issued worldwide. She is a founder of four life sciences companies, GeneOhm Sciences (acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2005), Xagenic Inc. (acquired by General Atomics in 2017), CTRL Therapeutics (founded in 2019) and Arma Biosciences (founded in 2021).
Host: Maral Mousavi/ Peter Wang
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 07, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. M.C. Frank Chang, Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering and Distinguished Professor, UCLA
Talk Title: Future System-on-Chip for Full Spectrum Utilization from RF to Optics
Abstract: The ever-increasing bandwidth requirement due to explosively growing 5/6G and AIoT data flows has compelled global commission authorities to release EM-spectra up to millimeter-wave (30-300GHz) and even (sub)-millimeter-wave frequency regimes (>300GHz) for massively expanded sensing and network applications. In this talk, we will exemplify novel CMOS-embedded technologies and methodologies developed at UCLA to enable System-on-Chip (SoC) realizations for multi-broadband radio, wideband radar, contactless/plastic interconnect, 3D-imaging and gas-phase rotational spectrometry at (sub)-mm-Wave frequencies. We will also address challenges encountered in both design and implementations that may hinder further development of such systems, especially the major shortcomings in silicon technologies with limited dynamic range and power handling capabilities. We therefore propose replacing CMOS n-FET’s drain with selectively grown wide bandgap cubic-phase GaN (c-GaN) for >10X improved breakdown voltages to secure desired sensing/communication range/coverage with cost-effectiveness. Additionally, we will elaborate on the possible growth of multi-wavelength light-emitting sources and detectors directly atop n-FinFET’s c-GaN Drain with various indium contents of InGaN/GaN super-lattice for RF-optical combined radio/radar/interconnect applications by creating unprecedented “Photonic System-on-Chip” with full EM-spectrum utilization from RF to optics.
Biography: Dr. M.C. Frank Chang is the Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering and Distinguished Professor of UCLA. Throughout his career, he has focused on the research & development of high-speed semiconductor devices and integrated circuits for radio, radar, imager, spectrometer, and AIoT System-on-Chip applications. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, the European Academy of Science and Arts, and an academician of Academia Sinica, Taiwan. He also received the IEEE David Sarnoff Award (2006), IET JJ Thomson Medal for Electronics (2017), IEEE/RSE (Royal Society Edinburgh) James Clerk Maxwell Medal (2023), and AASF’s Asian American Pioneer Medal (2024) for his seminal contributions to heterojunction technology and realizations of (sub)-mm-Wave System-on-Chip with unprecedented bandwidth and re-configurability. He also took a leave of absence from UCLA during 2015-2019 to serve as the President of National Chiao Tung University, Hsin-Chu, Taiwan. He earned his B.S. in Physics from the National Taiwan University (1972), his M.S. in Material Science from the National Tsing Hua University (1974), and his Ph.D. in Electronics from the National Chiao Tung University (1979).
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5417/future-system-on-chip-for-full-spectrum-utilization-from-rf-to-optics/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5417/future-system-on-chip-for-full-spectrum-utilization-from-rf-to-optics/
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Feb 07, 2025 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shana O. Kelley, Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
Talk Title: Continuous monitoring of protein biomarkers using implantable sensors
Abstract: To put disease-related biomarkers to work for continuous monitoring of health and disease, new high-performance technologies are needed to enable rapid and sensitive analysis of proteins and other biomarkers. Electrochemical methods providing sensitive and direct biomarker readout have attracted a great deal of attention for this application. Recently we developed reagentless sensors that are powerful detectors for in vivo protein sensing (Nature Chemistry, 2021, J. am. Chem. Soc. 2023, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. 2023) as well as implantable sensors for continuous monitoring (Science 2024, Nature Biomedical Engineering 2025). This talk will summarize the development of these sensors, their application to a variety of clinical problems, and the development of a range of implatable sensors for in vivo monitoring.
Biography: Dr. Shana Kelley is the President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago and the Neena B. Schwartz Professor at Northwestern in the Departments of Chemistry, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. The Kelley research group has pioneered new methods for tracking molecular and cellular analytes with unprecedented sensitivity. Dr. Kelley’s work has been recognized with the ACS Inorganic Nanoscience Award, the Pittsburgh Conference Achievement Award, the Steacie Prize, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award, a NSF CAREER Award, a Dreyfus New Faculty Award, and she was also named a “Top 100 Innovator” by MIT’s Technology Review. Kelley is also a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, and the American Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors. Her work is extensively cited and she has over 80 papers cited more than 80 times. Kelley is an inventor on over 50 patents issued worldwide. She is a founder of four life sciences companies, GeneOhm Sciences (acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2005), Xagenic Inc. (acquired by General Atomics in 2017), CTRL Therapeutics (founded in 2019) and Arma Biosciences (founded in 2021).
Host: Maral Mousavi/Peter Wang /WISE
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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2025 IISE Western Regional Conference (February 28 - March 2, 2025)
Mon, Feb 10, 2025
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract: The USC IISE Student Chapter, in partnership with the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will be hosting the 2025 IISE Western Regional Conference from February 28 to March 2, 2025 at USC.
This is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to connect with industry leaders, explore innovative ideas, and grow their professional networks.
USC students are eligible for a 50% discount on registration. Students can register at https://conference.usciise.org/ using the coupon code USCSTUDENT to access the discounted price. *The 50% discount code is good until Wednesday, 02/12/25*.
We hope you can attend!
More Information: IISE Western Regional Conference One-Pager Final.pdf
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 11, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jun Zhuang, Associate Dean for Research at the School of Engineering and Morton C. Frank Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Department Industrial and Systems Engineering at University of New York at Buffalo
Talk Title: Game Theory, Data Analytics, and Disaster Management
Host: Dr. Qiang Huang
More Information: FLYER 651 Jun Zhuang 2.11.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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AME Seminar - CANCELED
Wed, Feb 12, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Pedro Ponte Castaneda, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Soft Elastic Composites: Microstructure evolution, macroscopic multi-physics response, instabilities and associated soft modes
Abstract: Soft elastic composite materials can undergo large deformations under normal operating conditions and, in many applications, such as in robotics and prosthetics applications, they are designed with the objective of undergoing controlled deformation by means of externally applied magnetic, electrical, pneumatic or other types of fields. They include porous, particle- and fiber-reinforced rubbers, thermoplastic and magnetorheological elastomers, dielectric elastomer composites, polymer foams, muscle and other biological tissues. As a consequence of the finite deformations involved, their microstructure evolves with the deformation and their constitutive or rheological behavior can be highly nonlinear and strongly anisotropic. This presents a challenge for the application of homogenization methods, which were originally developed to characterize the effective material parameters of composites, such as, for example, the thermal conductivity of a two-phase composite material, or the Young’s modulus of an isotropic metal polycrystal. In this presentation, I will give an overview of several methods that have been recently developed to characterize the multi-physics constitutive response of soft composites, as well as the evolution of the microstructure and the possible development of instabilities in such material systems. In addition, I will present some explicit examples, including those leading to a certain type of ‘twining’ instabilities and associated soft modes of deformation.
Biography: Pedro Ponte Castañeda is Raymond S. Markowitz Faculty Fellow and Professor in the departments of Mechanical Engineering & Applied Mechanics, as well as Member ofthe Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics & Computational Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematicsfrom Lehigh University in 1982, and an S.M. in Engineering Sciences and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1983 and 1986, respectively. Prior to joining Penn, he was Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University (1987-90). He was also Professor of Mechanics at the École Polytechnique (2004-06). He has held visiting positions at the C.N.R.S. in Marseilles, the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics and Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University, as well as the University of Stuttgart. He is currently Associate Editor of the Journal of Mechanics and Physics of Solids and of the Journal of Elasticity. He is an ASME Fellow and his honors include the ASME Thomas J.R. Hughes Young Investigator Award (2000), the George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research from Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (2007), the Humboldt Senior Research Award (2013) and the ASME Warner T. Koiter Medal (2016).
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Feb 14, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael S. Bienkowski , Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience Director, USC Center for Integrative Connectomics USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute Keck School of Medicine of USC
Talk Title: Hippocampal cell types in health and disease: toward targeted treatment strategies
Abstract: Neurodegeneration of the hippocampus is a key hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive impairment. Previously, Dr. Bienkowski developed the mouse Hippocampus Gene Expression Atlas (HGEA), a foundational roadmap for understanding hippocampal cell types by integrating gene expression and connectivity data within the multiscale hierarchical hippocampal network. Using the HGEA as a guide, we have been investigating how hippocampal cell types change across the course of Alzheimer's disease both in humans and AD mouse models. Our data suggest that specific hippocampal cell types are more susceptible to AD and their neurodegenerative morphology changes across the disease timeline. As neuronal morphology is sensitive to electric fields and deep brain stimulation has been explored as an effective treatment for AD cognitive impairment, we are investigating how electrical stimulation treatment affects the dendritic morphology of vulnerable hippocampal cell types.
Biography: Dr. Bienkowski is Assistant Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience and the director of the USC Center for Integrative Connectomics within the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute. Dr. Bienkowski's multi-disciplinary translational research program at USC investigates neuronal cell type susceptibility to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and retinal diseases with a focus on 3D neuronal morphology, connectomics, and spatial transcriptomics. The research team's collaborations with clinicians, engineers, and computer scientists explore how we can reliably identify vulnerable cell types within the changing diseased brain and develop targeted electrical stimulation treatment strategies to effectively slow, prevent, or reverse the neurodegenerative process.
Host: Qifa Zhou
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 14, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Bobby Brar, President, Teledyne Scientific Company
Talk Title: Teledyne Scientific Advanced Technology Overview
Abstract: Teledyne Scientific Company is the Central R&D Lab for Teledyne Technologies. We are also a merchant supplier of advanced compound semiconductor technology for InP, GaN, MEMS and Heterogeneous Integration. The talk will review our current foundry offerings and new technologies in the pipeline, with an emphasis on what differentiates our offerings. The technologies developed and produced in our foundry are suitable for high-speed and broadband electronics for 5G/6G communication, high power RF sources, high-dynamic range sensors, electromagnetic warfare, and test and measurement applications.
Biography: Berinder “Bobby” Brar received his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering at UCSB in 1995, conducting research on the lnAs/AISb/GaSb semiconductor materials for high-speed electronic and optoelectronic applications. After completing his graduate work, he joined the Nanoelectronics branch in the Central Research Labs at Texas Instruments and worked on lnP- and Si-based resonant tunneling devices and field effect transistors for high-speed mixed-signal applications. Dr. Brar joined the Teledyne Scientific Company in 1999 to manage the Advanced III-V Devices and Materials department. Dr. Brar is presently the President of Teledyne Scientific Company, a technology leader in high performance compound semiconductor devices and integrated circuits, and high-performance imaging systems for military, space, astronomy, and commercial applications. Dr. Brar has previously worked at R&D labs for Rockwell, Texas Instruments, and Raytheon. Dr. Brar has published over 100 papers in conference proceedings and technical journals and has over 35 patents pending or awarded.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5386/teledyne-scientific-advanced-technology-overview/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5386/teledyne-scientific-advanced-technology-overview/
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2025 IISE Western Regional Conference from February 28 to March 2, 2025
Mon, Feb 17, 2025
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract: The USC IISE Student Chapter, in partnership with the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, will be hosting the 2025 IISE Western Regional Conference from February 28 to March 2, 2025 at USC.
This is an excellent opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to connect with industry leaders, explore innovative ideas, and grow their professional networks.
Students can register at https://conference.usciise.org/.
We hope you can attend!
More Information: IISE Western Regional Conference One-Pager Final.pdf
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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Technology for Business LeadersMon, Feb 17, 2025
Executive Education
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Bhaskar Krishnamachari, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Talk Title: Technology for Business Leaders
Abstract: This course is designed for current and aspiring business leaders seeking to navigate the complexities of digital transformation and drive organizational change effectively. The course consists of five modules, each containing multiple lessons, and is designed to be completed as an asynchronous course, offering flexibility for busy professionals. Upon successful completion of the program, participants receive a University of Southern California Continuing Education Certificate.
Host: USC Viterbi Corporate and Professional Programs
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: VASE Executive Education
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AI Seminar-Building World-class AI Innovation Ecosystems: Experience and FutureBuilding World-class AI Innovation Ecosystems: Experience and Future
Tue, Feb 18, 2025 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amit Sheth, Univ of South Carolina
Talk Title: Building World-class AI Innovation Ecosystems: Experience and Future
Series: AI Seminar
Abstract: In the first part of this two-part talk, I will share my experience in building two high-impact innovation ecosystems focused on foundational, interdisciplinary, and translational AI. Key components of these ecosystems include visionary leadership—identifying and establishing a presence on topics and themes before they become trends—as well as creating high-performance, highly motivated collaborative teams. This involves recruiting exceptional faculty and students and providing world-class resources and facilities. The outcomes of these efforts include outstanding student success, interdisciplinary collaborations that merge foundational research with real-world applications, high-impact and well-cited publications, competitive funding, regional technical leadership, partnerships with industry, and support for startups and entrepreneurship. Additionally, there are significant regional economic impacts, along with national and international recognition for overall excellence.
https://usc.zoom.us/j/96128473400?pwd=RKbkQ0o8WLB0rxcTQVf2sxQbL0S6Oc.1
Meeting ID: 961 2847 3400
Passcode: 247398
Biography: Prof. Amit Sheth (Home Page, LinkedIn, GScholar) is an Educator, Researcher, and Entrepreneur. He is the NCR Chair & Professor of Computer Sc & Engg. He founded the university-wide AI Institute at the University of South Carolina in 2019 which now has ~50 researchers. Earlier, he was the Ohio Eminent Scholar and Exec. Director of Ohio Center of Excellence in Knowledge-enabled Computing and BioHealth Innovation at Wright State University. He is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, ACM, and AAIA. His major awards include IEEE CS W. Wallace McDowell and IEEE TVSVC Research Innovation awards. He has (co-)founded four companies based on his university research, including the first Semantic Search company in 1999 that pioneered technology similar to what is found today in Google Semantic Search and Knowledge Graph, ezDI, which developed knowledge-infused clinical NLP/NLU, and Cognovi Labs at the intersection of emotion and AI. He is particularly proud of the success of his >>45 Ph.D. advisees and postdocs in academia, industry research, and entrepreneurship.
Host: Craig Knoblock and Karen Rawlins
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5400/building-world-class-ai-innovation-ecosystems-experience-and-future/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96128473400?pwd=RKbkQ0o8WLB0rxcTQVf2sxQbL0S6Oc.1Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - CRs #1135-1137
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96128473400?pwd=RKbkQ0o8WLB0rxcTQVf2sxQbL0S6Oc.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5400/building-world-class-ai-innovation-ecosystems-experience-and-future/
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 18, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Peter Frazier, Professor & UBER Scientist at the Department of Operations Research and Information Engineering at Cornell University
Talk Title: Bayesian preference learning for democratizing optimization
Host: Dr. Qiang Huang
More Information: FLYER 651 Peter Frazier 2.18.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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CS Colloquium: Amit Sheth (University of South Carolina) - Intelligent, Robust and Trustworthy AI: Managing GenAI Challenges, Next Phase of Hybrid AI Models and Enterprise AI for Mission-Critical Applications
Wed, Feb 19, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amit Sheth, University of South Carolina
Talk Title: Intelligent, Robust and Trustworthy AI: Managing GenAI Challenges, Next Phase of Hybrid AI Models and Enterprise AI for Mission-Critical Applications
Abstract: This talk will present my team's current and future research themes. The first theme is the development of Civilized and Human-inspired AI. This encompasses addressing challenges associated with Generative AI (GenAI) and finding ways to mitigate its limitations, such as detecting AI-generated content, combating hallucinations, misinformation, and toxicity, and exploring methods for their reduction. The second theme involves the next phase of post-GenAI strategies aimed at creating robust and trustworthy AI solutions. This includes the development of a new generation of custom, compact, agile and neurosymbolic (CCAN) AI models for a more intelligent, robust and trustworthy AI with support for grounding, alignment, instructability, user-level explainability, attribution, safety, reasoning, planning, analogy and abstraction. Lastly, I will provide a brief demonstration of how these AI models, along with AI copilots and agents, are utilized for complex, enterprise-class, mission-critical decision-making applications in diverse fields such as behavioral and mental health, personalized nutrition, autonomous vehicles and smart manufacturing. This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Prof. Amit Sheth (Home Page, LinkedIn, GScholar) is an Educator, Researcher, and Entrepreneur. He is the NCR Chair & Professor of Computer Sc & Engg. He founded the university-wide AI Institute at the University of South Carolina in 2019 which now has ~50 researchers. Earlier, he was the Ohio Eminent Scholar and Exec. Director of Ohio Center of Excellence in Knowledge-enabled Computing and BioHealth Innovation at Wright State University. He is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAI, AAAS, ACM, and AAIA. His major awards include IEEE CS W. Wallace McDowell and IEEE TVSVC Research Innovation awards. He has (co-)founded four companies based on his university research, including the first Semantic Search company in 1999 that pioneered technology similar to what is found today in Google Semantic Search and Knowledge Graph, ezDI, which developed knowledge-infused clinical NLP/NLU, and Cognovi Labs at the intersection of emotion and AI. He is particularly proud of the success of his >>45 Ph.D. advisees and postdocs in academia, industry research, and entrepreneurship.
Host: Emilio Ferrara
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 19, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Kyriakos Vamvoudakis , Georgia Tech
Talk Title: Learning-based Model-Free Sensor and Actuator Selection in Intelligent Complex Adaptive Systems
Abstract: Intelligent complex adaptive systems (ICAS) are heterogeneous systems that integrate analog and digital components, along with communication channels through which these components exchange data. Some of the prime components of an ICAS -- having a measurable impact on its operational efficiency and productivity -- are its sensors and actuators. These are the devices that allow the ICAS to collect data from its environment, as well as to use these data to steer itself toward a desirable direction. Generally speaking, they should be carefully selected to ensure that the system has a good level of observability and controllability, though additional specifications may also be placed depending on the underlying application's specifics. This problem of properly choosing the ICAS' sensors (or actuators) is called the sensor (or actuator) selection problem. In this talk, I will present data driven actuator and sensor selection algorithms, which choose the actuators and sensors of the ICAS while maximizing resiliency. Specifically, model-free learning-based actuator and sensor selection schemes will be proposed to optimize metrics of controllability, observability, and attack resilience for ICAS. I will show how you can use reinforcement learning to select such sensors and actuators with state and output feedback in continuous and discrete-time systems. I will finally present simulation examples with large-scale systems.
Biography: Kyriakos G. Vamvoudakis was born in Athens, Greece. He received the Diploma (a 5-year degree, equivalent to a Master of Science) in Electronic and Computer Engineering from the Technical University of Crete, Greece in 2006 with highest honors. After moving to the United States of America, he studied at The University of Texas at Arlington with Frank L. Lewis as his advisor, and he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2008 and 2011 respectively. During the period from 2012 to 2016 he was project research scientist at the Center for Control, Dynamical Systems and Computation at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was an assistant professor at the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech until 2018. He currently serves as the Dutton-Ducoffe Endowed Professor at The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. His expertise is in reinforcement learning, control theory, game theory, cyber-physical security, bounded rationality, and safe/assured autonomy. Dr. Vamvoudakis is the recipient of a 2019 ARO YIP award, a 2018 NSF CAREER award, a 2018 DoD Minerva Research Initiative Award, a 2021 GT Chapter Sigma Xi Young Faculty Award and his work has been recognized with best paper nominations and several international awards including the 2016 International Neural Network Society Young Investigator (INNS) Award, the Best Paper Award for Autonomous/Unmanned Vehicles at the 27th Army Science Conference in 2010, the Best Presentation Award at the World Congress of Computational Intelligence in 2010, and the Best Researcher Award from the Automation and Robotics Research Institute in 2011. He currently is a member of the IEEE Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board, an Associate Editor of: Automatica; IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control; IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems; IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine; IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems; IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligence; Neurocomputing; Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications; and of Frontiers in Control Engineering-Adaptive, Robust and Fault Tolerant Control. He had also served as a Guest Editor for, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (Special issue on Learning from Imperfect Data for Industrial Automation); IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems (Special issue on Reinforcement Learning Based Control: Data-Efficient and Resilient Methods); IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (Special issue on Industrial Artificial Intelligence for Smart Manufacturing); and IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (Special issue on Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management). He is also a registered Electrical/Computer engineer (PE), a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece, an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and a Senior Member of IEEE.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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ECE Seminar - John Hennessy, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Thursday, February 20th at 10am in EEB 248
Thu, Feb 20, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John Hennessy, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Talk Title: Atomic layer processing to optimize the performance of ultraviolet coatings and sensors
Series: ECE Seminar
Abstract: The talk will describe the development of atomic layer deposition (ALD) and atomic layer etching (ALE) processes that utilize hydrogen fluoride as a co-reactant. At JPL this work has been motivated by the development of sensors and coatings operating in the far ultraviolet (λ = 90-200 nm) with an eye towards the emerging requirements of the Habitable Worlds Observatory, NASA's next astrophysics flagship mission of the 2030's. This talk will discuss the integration of these ALD/ALE coatings into two technologies at JPL: detector-integrated UV bandpass filters on silicon imaging sensors to enable solar- or visible-blind operation, and the demonstration of reflective aluminum mirror coatings protected by ALD fluorides. In both cases additional performance enhancement can also be obtained using novel atomic layer etching (ALE) processes to remove residual oxide contamination. Other applications of these processes in selective-area deposition, superconducting detectors, and lithium-ion batteries will be discussed.
Biography: John Hennessy is a microdevices engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the Advanced Detectors and Nanomaterials Group. His current research interests include the development of atomic layer deposition processes for optical and electrical applications related to UV detector-integrated filters, UV reflective coatings, and semiconductor surface passivation. He is currently the JPL institutional PI of the Caltech-led UVEX astrophysics mission, and the chair of the IEEE Metro LA Photonics Chapter. He received his BE and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from The Cooper Union in 2002, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. He is a recipient of the SPIE Rising Researcher Award in 2017 and a NASA Early Career Public Achievement Medal in 2020.
Host: Richard Leahy
More Information: John Hennessy Seminar Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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AI Seminar- Evaluating Sparse Autoencoders with Board Game Models
Fri, Feb 21, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Adam Karvonen, Machine Learning Researcher with the ML Alignment & Theory Scholars
Talk Title: Evaluating Sparse Autoencoders with Board Game Models
Abstract: Join Zoom Meeting: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94409584905?pwd=Sm5LVkd0bndUdEluM3piK0NWTUQrUT09 Meeting ID: 944 0958 4905Passcode: 822247 Sparse Autoencoders (SAEs) have recently become one of the most popular approaches in interpretability. As a result, there has been a flurry of new proposed SAE approaches. However, we struggle to evaluate these new approaches because there isn’t an underlying ground truth in natural language that we can use to create objective metrics for interpretability. We examine the setting of board games, using OthelloGPT and ChessGPT, and create two supervised metrics: “coverage” to assess individual feature quality and “board reconstruction” to measure overall state capture. Additionally, we propose a new SAE training approach called “p-annealing”. Our metrics reveal improvements that were hidden by existing proxy metrics, and the p-annealing approach performs the best on our metrics. While SAEs achieve high performance on board reconstruction (F1 scores of 0.85 and 0.95 on Chess and Othello), they don’t match the performance of linear probes, suggesting current techniques may not capture all of a model’s board state information. Papers: Intro to Sparse Autoencoders: What are SAEs? How do they work? What are the next steps for the field to take? Similar to this blog post: https://adamkarvonen.github.io/machine_learning/2024/06/11/sae-intuitions.html Board Game Models: Covers this paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.00113 and this blog post: https://adamkarvonen.github.io/machine_learning/2024/06/12/sae-board-game-eval.html
Biography: I am mostly interested in machine learning and software engineering. Lately, a lot of my focus has been on Large Language Models - both in using them as a tool when combined with formal methods, and in understanding and interpreting them. Outside of work, I race dirt bikes. I race A class in hard enduro, and B class in regular enduro and hare scrambles.
Host: Abel Salinas and Justina Gilleland
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5368/evaluating-sparse-autoencoders-with-board-game-models/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94409584905?pwd=Sm5LVkd0bndUdEluM3piK0NWTUQrUT09Location: Virtual Only
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94409584905?pwd=Sm5LVkd0bndUdEluM3piK0NWTUQrUT09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5368/evaluating-sparse-autoencoders-with-board-game-models/
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Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Feb 21, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Corina Amor Vegas, Assistant Professor, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Talk Title: "Deconstructing aging with senolytic CAR T cells"
Abstract: Senescent cells accumulate in organisms over their lifespan and play a key role in age-related tissue decline and the development of chronic aging pathologies. Thus, effective strategies to eliminate senescent cells (senolytics) could have broad therapeutic implications. In a departure from conventional chemical approaches we developed the first cell-based senolytic therapy based on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting uPAR, a cell-surface protein upregulated on senescent cells. Our initial proof of concept showed their efficiency in young animal models of liver fibrosis and cancer. We now show that uPAR-positive senescent cells accumulate during physiological aging and characterize their cell types and expression profiles. Importantly, we find that they can be safely targeted with senolytic CAR T cells in aged animals where they result in significant improvements in both tissue regeneration and metabolic function. Of note, we find that the beneficial effects of senolytic CAR T cells are long lasting; single administration of a low dose is sufficient to safely achieve long-term therapeutic and preventive effects in healthspan.
Biography: Corina received an M.D. from Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain and a PhD from the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NY. Following graduation she established her own research group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory as an Independent Fellow in January 2022 and was rapidly promoted to assistant professor in January 2024. She is also the Co-chair of the department of cellular communication at the CSHL Cancer Center. The Amor laboratory studies aging biology with a focus on cellular senescence. The long-term goal of their research is to elucidate the contribution of senescent cells to the aging process and to develop novel cell-based therapeutic strategies to treat age-related pathologies. This work has lead to several awards including the the Chairman’s Prize award from MSKCC, listing as Forbes 30 under 30 and the the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5).
Host: Peter Wang
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 21, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jeong-sun Moon, HRL Laboratories
Talk Title: HRL's Millimeter-wave GaN Technologies
Abstract: This talk will present HRL’s millimeter-wave GaN technologies developed under the DARPA DREAM program to advance millimeter-wave GaN transistor technologies with higher linearity, efficiency, and power density, leveraging HRL’s long history of GaN technology development.
Biography: Dr. Jeong-sun Moon is a Principal Scientist at HRL Laboratories, Malibu, CA and a Fellow of IEEE. He has been with HRL since 2000 and working on developing next-generation advanced RF/EO/IR technologies and has been a PI for numerous contracts from DARPA, ONR, and USG. Before joining the HRL, he worked at the Sandia National Laboratories. He has over 200 technical publications and holds 30 patents.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5342/hrls-millimeter-wave-gan-technologies/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5342/hrls-millimeter-wave-gan-technologies/
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CS DISTINGUISHED LECTURE feat. Noah A. Smith, PhD
Fri, Feb 21, 2025 @ 02:00 PM - 04:15 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Noah A. Smith, PhD, Amazon Professor of Machine Learning - Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
Talk Title: OLMo, Tulu, and Friends: Accelerating the Science of Language Modeling
Abstract: Neural language models with billions of parameters and trained on trillions of words are powering the fastest-growing computing applications in history and generating discussion and debate around the world. Yet most scientists cannot study or improve those state-of-the-art models because the organizations deploying them keep their data and machine learning processes secret. I believe that the path to models that are usable by all, at low cost, customizable for areas of critical need like the sciences, and whose capabilities and limitations are made transparent and understandable, is radically open development, with academic and not-for-profit researchers empowered to do reproducible science. In this talk, I’ll share the story of the work our team is doing to radically open up the science of language modeling. We've released multiple iterations of OLMo, a strong language model with fully open pretraining data, including a strong mixture-of-experts model, OLMoE. From these we also built Molmo, an open language-vision model. We’ve also built and released Tülu, a series of models that systematically explore the post-training landscape. All of these come with open-source code and extensive documentation, including new tools for evaluation. Together these artifacts make it possible to explore new scientific questions and democratize control of the future of this fascinating and important technology.
The work I’ll present was led by a large team at the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle, with collaboration from the Paul G. Allen School at the University of Washington and various kinds of support and coordination from many organizations, including the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University, AMD, CSC - IT Center for Science (Finland), Databricks, Together.ai, and the National AI Research Resource Pilot.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
RSVP Deadline: Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Biography: Noah Smith is a computer scientist working in several fields of artificial intelligence research. He recently wrote Language Models: A Guide for the Perplexed, a general-audience tutorial, and he co-directs the OLMo open language modeling effort with Hanna Hajishirzi.
Broadly, his research targets algorithms that process data encoding language, music, and more, to augment human capabilities. He also works on core problems of research methodology like evaluation. You can watch videos of some of his talks, read his papers, and learn about his research groups, Noah’s ARK and AllenNLP. Smith is most proud of his mentoring accomplishments: as of 2024, he has graduated 29 Ph.D. students and mentored 15 postdocs, with 27 alumni now in faculty positions around the world. 20 of his undergraduate/masters mentees have gone on to Ph.D. programs. His group’s alumni have started companies and are technological leaders both inside and outside the tech industry.
Host: Prof. Jieyu Zhao
More Info: https://forms.gle/FDsJM8mjfCw8M6Rk9
Location: Ginsburg Hall (GCS) - Auditorium (LL1)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Event Link: https://forms.gle/FDsJM8mjfCw8M6Rk9
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WIE Leadership Conference - Waves of Change
Sat, Feb 22, 2025 @ 09:30 AM - 03:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
You don't want to miss out; register today! Women in Engineering Leadership Conference will be held on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at USC Hotel from 10 am - 3 pm. We have an outstanding lineup of women leaders who will be sharing valuable insights into overcoming imposter syndrome, how to build a strong network, and how to step into leadership roles even when you're the only or one of the few women or non-binary individuals. Excited to have Malia Lym, PE, as our keynote speaker, CAREER STRATEGIST FOR WOMEN IN STEM-Empowering Women in STEM to Lead with Confidence using the F.A.N.C.Y. FRAMEWORKâ¢
Location: Sign into EngageSC to View Location
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Thelma Federico Zaragoza
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/WIE/rsvp?id=401633
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CS Colloquium: Angela Zhou (USC / Marshall School of Business) - Robust Fitted-Q-Evaluation and Iteration under Sequentially Exogenous Unobserved Confounders
Mon, Feb 24, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Angela Zhou, USC / Marshall School of Business
Talk Title: Robust Fitted-Q-Evaluation and Iteration under Sequentially Exogenous Unobserved Confounders
Abstract: Offline causal decision making and reinforcement learning is important in domains such as medicine, economics, and e-commerce where online experimentation is costly, dangerous or unethical, and where the true model is unknown. However, most methods assume all covariates used in the behavior policy's action decisions are observed. Though this assumption, sequential ignorability/unconfoundedness, likely does not hold in observational data, most of the data that accounts for selection into treatment may be observed, motivating sensitivity analysis. We study robust policy evaluation and policy optimization in the presence of sequentially-exogenous unobserved confounders under a sensitivity model. We consider the single-timestep and the sequential setting. For the sequential setting, we propose and analyze orthogonalized robust fitted-Q-iteration that uses closed-form solutions of the robust Bellman operator to derive a loss minimization problem for the robust Q function, and adds a bias-correction to quantile estimation. Our algorithm enjoys the computational ease of fitted-Q-iteration and statistical improvements (reduced dependence on quantile estimation error) from orthogonalization. We provide sample complexity bounds, insights, and show effectiveness both in simulations and on real-world longitudinal healthcare data of treating sepsis. In particular, our model of sequential unobserved confounders yields an online Markov decision process, rather than partially observed Markov decision process: we illustrate how this can enable warm-starting optimistic reinforcement learning algorithms with valid robust bounds from observational data. This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Angela Zhou is an Assistant Professor in Data Sciences and Operations at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. She received her PhD from Cornell ORIE and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Berkeley / the Simons Institute. She works on data-driven decision making, including the interface of causal inference and machine learning, (offline) reinforcement learning, and equitable social prediction in consequential domains. She was a program co-chair for ACM EAAMO 2022 (a new conference on Equity and Access in Algorithms, Mechanisms and Optimization). Her research interests are in statistical machine learning for data-driven sequential decision making under uncertainty, causal inference, and the interplay of statistics and optimization. Her work has received oral-equivalent or featured designations at machine learning venues (Neurips, TMLR) and has won the INFORMS Data Mining Best Student Paper award, while she has received various designations as a Rising Star in AI, Data Science, and AI Fairness.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone (USC) is invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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ECE Seminar: Novel Materials for Next-Generation Electronics: From Low-Power to Extreme Environment Computing
Tue, Feb 25, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Deep Jariwala, Peter & Susanne Armstrong Distinguished Scholar, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Novel Materials for Next-Generation Electronics: From Low-Power to Extreme Environment Computing
Abstract: Silicon has been the dominant material for electronic computing for decades and very likely will stay dominant for the foreseeable future. However, it is well-known that Moore’s law that propelled Silicon into this dominant position is long dead. Therefore, a fervent search for (i) new semiconductors that could directly replace silicon or (ii) new architectures with novel materials/devices added onto silicon or (iii) new physics/state-variables or a combination of above has been the subject of much of the electronic materials and devices research of the past 2 decades.
The above problem is further complicated by the changing paradigm of computing from arithmetic centric to data centric in the age of billions of internet-connected devices and artificial intelligence as well as the ubiquity of computing in ever more challenging environments. Therefore, there is a pressing need for complementing and supplementing Silicon to operate with greater efficiency, speed and handle greater amounts of data. This is further necessary since a completely novel and paradigm changing computing platform (e.g. all optical computing or quantum computing) remains out of reach for now. The above is however not possible without fundamental innovation in new electronic materials and devices. Therefore, in this talk, I will try to make the case of how novel layered two-dimensional (2D) chalcogenide materialsˆ1 and three-dimensional (3D) nitride materials might present interesting avenues to overcome some of the limitations being faced by Silicon hardware. I will start by presenting our ongoing and recent work on integration of 2D chalcogenide semiconductors with siliconˆ2 to realize low-power tunnelling field effect transistors. In particular I will focus on In-Se based 2D semiconductorsˆ2 for this application and extend discussion on them to phase-pure, epitaxial thin-film growth over wafer scales,ˆ3 at temperatures low-enough to be compatible with back end of line (BEOL) processing in Silicon fabs.
I will then switch gears to discuss memory devices from 2D materials when integrated with emerging wurtzite structure ferroelectric nitride materialsˆ4 namely aluminium scandium nitride (AlScN). First, I will present on Ferroelectric Field Effect Transistors (FE-FETs) made from 2D materials when integrated with AlScN and make the case for 2D semiconductors in this application.ˆ5-7 I will then switch resistive memory devices made from AlScN termed Ferrodiodes (FeDs)ˆ8 which show multi-bit operationˆ9 as well as compute in memory (CIM)ˆ10. Finally, I will make a case as to why AlScN FeDs are uniquely suited as a high temperature non-volatile memory demonstrating stable operation upto 600 Cˆ11 and how AlScN can be integrated onto SiCˆ12 for stable data retention in ferroelectric capacitors upto 800 C.ˆ13 I will end by providing a broad outlook on both AI computing hardware as well as high-temperature computing.ˆ14
References:
(1) Song, S.; Rahaman, M.; Jariwala, D. ACS Nano 2024, 18, 10955–10978.
(2) Miao, J.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Electronics 2022, 5 (11), 744-751.
(3) Song, S.; et al. Jariwala, D. Matter 2023, 6, 3483-3498.
(4) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Nanotechnology 2023, 18 (5), 422-441.
(5) Liu, X.; et al. Jariwala, D.. Nano Letters 2021, 21 (9), 3753-3761.
(6) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Nanotechnology 2023, 18, 1044–1050.
(7) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. ACS Nano 2024, 18 (5), 4180-4188.
(8) Liu, X.; et al. Jariwala, D. Applied Physics Letters 2021, 118 (20), 202901.
(9) Kim, K.-H.; et al. Jariwala, D. ACS Nano 2024, 18 (24), 15925-15934.
(10) Liu, X.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nano Letters 2022, 22 (18), 7690–7698.
(11) Pradhan, D. K.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Electronics 2024, 7 (5), 348-355.
(12) He, Y.; et al. Jariwala, D. Applied Physics Letters 2023, 123 (12).
(13) He, Y.; et al. Jariwala, D. arXiv preprint arXiv:2411.16652 2024.
(14) Pradhan, D. K.; et al. Jariwala, D. Nature Reviews Materials 2024, 9 (11), 790-807.
Biography: Deep Jariwala is an Associate Professor and the Peter & Susanne Armstrong Distinguished Scholar in the Electrical and Systems Engineering as well as Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). Deep completed his undergraduate degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. Deep was a Resnick Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at Caltech before joining Penn to start his own research group. His research interests broadly lie at the intersection of new materials, surface science and solid-state devices for computing, opto-electronics and energy harvesting applications in addition to the development of correlated and functional imaging techniques. Deep’s research has been widely recognized with several awards from professional societies, funding bodies, industries as well as private foundations, the most notable ones being the Optica Adolph Lomb Medal, the Bell Labs Prize, the AVS Peter Mark Memorial Award, IEEE Photonics Society Young Investigator Award, IEEE Nanotechnology Council Young Investigator Award, IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize in Semiconductors, the SPIE Early career achievement award and the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. He has published over 150 journal papers with more than 22000 citations and holds several patents. He serves as the Associate Editor for ACS Nano Letters and has been appointed as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Nanotechnology Council for 2025.
Website: jariwala.seas.upenn.eduEmail: dmj@seas.upenn.edu
Host: Host: Dr. Richard M. Leahy, leahy@usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91519073492?pwd=569WY2cozJtQ7ipwWpTExkG02fH5wq.1More Information: ECE-Seminar-Jariwala-022525.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91519073492?pwd=569WY2cozJtQ7ipwWpTExkG02fH5wq.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Epstein Institute, ISE 651 Seminar Class
Tue, Feb 25, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Julia Yan, Assistant Professor of Operations and Logistics at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Talk Title: Pricing shared rides
Host: Dr. Qiang Huang
More Information: FLYER 651 Julia Yan 2.25.25.png
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 206
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Casi Jones/ ISE
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CS Colloquium: Paul Bogdan (USC / ECE) - Theoretical Foundations of NeuroAI: Challenges and A Gedanken Modeling Framework Motivated by Living Neuronal Networks Dynamics
Wed, Feb 26, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Paul Bogdan, USC / ECE
Talk Title: Theoretical Foundations of NeuroAI: Challenges and A Gedanken Modeling Framework Motivated by Living Neuronal Networks Dynamics
Abstract: Brains build compact models or discover governing laws of the world from just a few assumptions or noisy and conflicting observations. Biological brains can also predict uncanny events via memory-based analogies even when resources are limited. The ability of biological intelligence to discover, generalize, hierarchically reason and plan, and complete a wide range of unknown heterogeneous tasks calls for a comprehensive understanding of how distributed networks of interactions among neurons, glia, and vascular systems enable animal and human cognition. Such an understanding can serve as a basis for advancing the design of artificial general intelligence (AGI). In this talk, we will discuss the challenges and potential solutions for inferring the theoretical foundations of biological intelligence and NeuroAI which can guide the design of future A(G)I, expanding the limit of human discovery. To infer network structures from very scarce and noisy data, we propose a new mathematical framework capable of learning the emerging causal fractal memory from biological neuronal spiking activity. This framework offers insight into the topological properties of the underlying neuronal networks and helps us predict animal behavior during cognitive tasks. We will also discuss an AI framework for mining the optical imaging of brain activity and reconstructing the weighted multifractal graph generators governing the neuronal networks from very scarce data. This network generator inference framework can reproduce a wide variety of network properties, differentiate varying structures in brain networks and chromosomal interactions, and detect topologically associating domain regions in conformation maps of the human genome. We will discuss how network science-based AI can discover the phase transitions in complex systems and help with designing protein–nanoparticle assemblies. To infer the objectives and rules by which distributed networks of neurons attain intelligent decisions, we discuss an AI framework (multiwavelet-based neural operator) capable of learning, solving, and forecasting sets of coupled governing laws. We thus learn the operator kernel of an unknown partial differential equation (PDE) from noisy scarce data. For time-varying PDEs, this model exhibits 2-10X higher accuracy than state-of-the-art machine learning tools. Inspired by the multifractal formalism for detecting phase transitions in biological neuronal networks, we explore the principles of self-organization in Large Language Models (LLMs). Through the lens of multifractal analysis, we reveal the intricate dynamics of neuron interactions, showing how self-organization facilitates the emergence of complex patterns and intelligence within LLMs.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium
Biography: Paul Bogdan is the Jack Munushian Early Career Chair associate professor in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Southern California. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His work has been recognized with a number of honors and distinctions, including the 2021 DoD Trusted Artificial Intelligence (TAI) Challenge award, the USC Stevens Center 2021 Technology Advancement Award for the first AI framework for SARS-CoV-2 vaccine design, the 2019 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Director’s Fellowship award, the 2018 IEEE CEDA Ernest S. Kuh Early Career Award, the 2017 DARPA Young Faculty Award, the 2017 Okawa Foundation Award, the 2015 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award, the 2012 A.G. Jordan Award from Carnegie Mellon University for an outstanding Ph.D. thesis and service, and several best paper awards. His research interests include cyber-physical systems, new computational cognitive neuroscience tools for deciphering biological intelligence, the quantification of the degree of trustworthiness and self-optimization of AI systems, new machine learning techniques for complex multi-modal data, the control of complex time-varying networks, the modeling and analysis of biological systems and swarms, new control techniques for dynamical systems exhibiting multi-fractal characteristics, performance analysis and design methodologies for heterogeneous manycore systems.
Host: CS Department
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone (USC) is invited
Contact: CS Faculty Affairs
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AME Seminar
Wed, Feb 26, 2025 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, USC School of Advanced Computing
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Jessica Zhang, Carnegie Mellon University
Host: The School of Advanced Computing
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1Location: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 252
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96060458816?pwd=8LmoG2q6vBCQubqqWpcizd2F1bxqsH.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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AI Seminar-Can We Blame the Chatbot if it Goes Wrong?
Fri, Feb 28, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sun-Gyoo Kang, National Bank of Canada
Talk Title: Can We Blame the Chatbot if it Goes Wrong?
Abstract: Zoom Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93148797047?pwd=ebx0kDpoHqrXACc24lWM1Y8fZw89qO.1 Webinar ID: 931 4879 7047 Passcode: 621721 Reg Link: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CE_lGmAHQ7SVwxK9PBwJ0Q This presentation examines the complex issue of accountability for AI chatbots, particularly in light of recent tragic incidents where chatbots contributed to suicides. The presentation will be mainly on the Air Canada case, which established corporate responsibility for chatbot errors. It will then define key concepts like accountability, responsibility, and liability, and then explores the importance of transparency and explainability in achieving accountability and identifies various actors—developers, data providers, deployers, and even users—who might share responsibility. Finally, it will compare the EU's AI Act and Canada's AIDA, highlighting their shared responsibility models and the ongoing challenges of assigning liability in the rapidly evolving field of generative AI.
Biography: Sun Gyoo Kang is a lawyer and compliance officer in the financial industry, specializing in the banking sector. He is currently the Chief Compliance Advisor at National Bank of Canada. Sun Gyoo is also the founder of Law and Ethics in Tech, a private research lab focusing on AI and FinTech law and regulations, as well as ethical considerations surrounding these technologies. His research on AI ethics is demonstrated through publication such as the “Analysis of artificial intelligence and data act based on ethical frameworks" in the International Journal of Law, Ethics, and Technology. He often writes columns for the Montreal AI Ethics Institute talking about different ethical issues with artificial intelligence.
Host: Abel Salinas and Pete Zamar
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5349/ai-seminar-can-we-blame-the-chatbot-if-it-goes-wrong/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93148797047?pwd=ebx0kDpoHqrXACc24lWM1Y8fZw89qO.1Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual Only
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93148797047?pwd=ebx0kDpoHqrXACc24lWM1Y8fZw89qO.1
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://www.isi.edu/events/5349/ai-seminar-can-we-blame-the-chatbot-if-it-goes-wrong/
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CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Feb 28, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Gabriel M. Rebeiz, Professor, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Silicon-Based Phased-Arrays for SATCOM and 5G/6G: Lessons Learned from a Life in Microwaves
Abstract: Affordable phased-arrays, built using low-cost silicon chips, have become an essential technology for high data-rate terrestrial (5G) systems to their high gain, electronically steerable patterns, narrow beamwidths, high tolerance to interference and adaptive nulling capabilities. These advances are reshaping our communication and sensor systems, as we work to change our world from the Marconi-Era driven by low-gain antenna systems to the Directive Communications era where every antenna, every beam, every sensor is electronically steered. This talk summarizes our work in this area and concludes with future 5G-Advanced and 6G systems with wideband frequency coverage and where every device will be connected at Gbps speeds. The talk will also present life-long lessons that Professor Rebeiz learned from his work in microwaves.
Biography: Professor Gabriel M. Rebeiz is Member of the National Academy (elected for his work on phased-arrays) and is a Distinguished Professor and the Wireless Communications Industry Endowed Chair at the University of California, San Diego. He is an IEEE Fellow and is the recipient of the IEEE MTT Microwave Prize (2000, 2014, 2020) all for phased-arrays. His 2x2 and 4x4 RF-beamforming architectures are now used by most companies developing communication and radar systems. All SATCOM affordable phased-arrays are based on his work. He has published 900 IEEE papers with an H-index of 102 and has graduated 124 PhD students including the former CEO of Qualcomm and several VPs in the communications and defense industry.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5339/silicon-based-phased-arrays-for-satcom-and-5g-6g-lessons-learned-from-a-life-in-microwaves/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addonWebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97017422125?pwd=Dbrt8MNMrmBV3xalKQJcAiNsggFJjJ.1&from=addon
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amy Kasmir
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