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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for March
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Collective Motion in Engineered and Natural Multi-Agent Systems
Wed, Mar 01, 2006 @ 12:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
For more information, go to:http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Integrating Models and Experiments: Synthetic Ecosystems and Molecular Switches
Wed, Mar 01, 2006 @ 12:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
GRADUATE SEMINARIntegrating Models and Experiments: Synthetic Ecosystems and Molecular SwitchesDr. Xiaoxia (Nina) Lin
Harvard Medical SchoolABSTRACTIn this talk, I will focus on two of my current projects that aim to advance our understanding of important biological processes through a systems biology and synthetic biology approach.
1. Construction and evolution of synthetic microbial symbiotic systems. Mutualistic symbiosis exists widely in nature. It is of fundamental importance to understand its origin, evolution, and the principles of its working. A synthetic system would be ideal for such study, as it would allow us to focus on relevant features by simplifying the system and make precise measurements that are difficult for much more complicated natural mutualistic ecosystems. We engineered a microbial symbiotic system that consists of two cross-feeding E. coli amino acid auxotrophs and investigated its evolutionary adaptation in minimal medium in serial batch cultures. We observed that different lineages all showed an overall trend of improving fitness. Interestingly, the growth rate did decrease occasionally. To identify the genetic basis for the observed mutualistic adaptation, we utilized new polony based whole-genome sequencing technology to analyze an isolated clone of one of the auxotrophs after 40 rounds of passaging in the evolution and pindowned a number of relevant mutations. We also developed an ordinary differential equation (ODE) model to investigate the dynamics of the system, which has provided important insights into the interactions between the two auxotrophs.
2. Mechanisms of biological switching through multi-site modifications of single molecules. A widespread feature of biological systems is their switch-like response to external or internal signals, also termed ultrasensitivity, which is crucial for the regulation of numerous biological processes. Multi-site modifications of single molecules have been known to contribute to ultrasensitivity. However, the underlying mechanism has largely remained unclear. We proposed a new mathematical model that describes how ultrasensitivity can emerge at a system level through multi-site modifications of a single protein. The fundamental features include: i) a chain of different phosphorylation states of the substrate protein caused by not-fully processive kinase/phosphatase; and ii) change of substrate protein activities along the phosphorylation chain. We have further quantitatively characterized how the degree of ultrasensitivity is affected by various properties of a multi-site system. The proposed model is capable of explaining mechanistically the switch-like behavior of many biological systems and the revealed mechanism may constitute a major paradigm for achieving biological switching.
Finally, I will discuss my future research plan. The directions in which I would like to continue and expand my current research include: 1) mechanisms of multi-site based ultrasensitivity; 2) engineering of genetic circuits; and 3) system-level modeling and engineering of micro-organisms.Wednesday, March 1, 2006
12 noon – SGM 101
The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Enabling Technologies for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Analysis of Microscopic & Surface-Bound Sample
Wed, Mar 01, 2006 @ 03:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
For more information, go to: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Coherent detection for fiber optic networks
Thu, Mar 02, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Michael G. Taylor, University College LondonAbstract: Years ago coherent detection appeared the best choice for high bit rate receivers in fiber optic communications networks. Then the idea was abruptly discarded after the arrival of the EDFA. Today coherent detection once again offers an attractive solution to many of the issues facing long haul and metro optical transmission. In the latest incarnation real time digital signal processing is used to extract the signal from the coherent mixing products, and it is possible to apply processing in the digital domain to compensate for unlimited amounts of chromatic dispersion and other impairments. The results of experiments will be presented showing how coherent detection is implemented and how it can outperform direct detection in many ways. The flexibility offered by the DSP to modify the optical signal to fit each fiber link has benefits for optical network design, and some of these will be discussed.Bio: Dr. Taylor has 15 years experience in the development of fiber optic transmission products. After completing the Ph.D. degree at University College London in 1990 he joined STL Laboratories (subsequently Nortel) to work on the development of transmission products using optical amplifiers. In 1996 he moved to Ciena Corporation, where he worked on long haul transmission products. He led the development of the 10Gb/s product, and contributed to innovative design features such as the four wave mixing tolerant WDM solution. In 2003 he took an Honorary Senior Lecturer position at University College London, where he began work on new applications for optical coherent detection. He has published over 25 papers and been awarded 14 patents.Host: Professor Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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The FHWA Long- Term Bridge Performance Program
Thu, Mar 02, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Hamid Ghasemi
Program Manager
Turner- Fairbank Highway Research Center
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown pike
McLean, VA 22101
202-493-3042
hamid.Ghasemi@fhwa.dot.govABSTRACTWith the passage of SAFETEA-LU, the FHWA Office of Infrastructure R&D (HRDI) is initiating the Long-Term Bridge Performance (LTBP) Program, an ambitious multi-year research program which is modeled somewhat after the Long-Term Pavement Performance program. The LTBP Program has been designed as a 20-year effort that will include detailed inspections and periodic evaluations and testing on a representative sample of bridges throughout the United States in order to monitor and document their performance over an extended period of time. The LTBP Program will also include a set of instrumented bridges that can provide continuous, long-term, structural performance data, and may include detailed forensic autopsies on structures that are decommissioned by State transportation agencies. The intent is to collect performance data on deterioration, corrosion, or other types of degradation; structural impacts from overloads; and the effectiveness of various maintenance and improvement strategies typically used throughout the United States. It is anticipated that the resulting LTBP database will provide high quality, quantitative performance data for highway bridges that will support improved designs, improved predictive models, and better bridge management systems in the future. HRDI will be conducting several workshops during 2006 to acquaint FHWA, DOT staff, and researchers on the elements of the program.The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Thu, Mar 02, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Ladan GharaiISI-EastLexture TBD
Location: TBD
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Thu, Mar 02, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Ladan GharaiISI-EastLecture TBD
Location: TBD
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Delay, feedback, and the price of ignorance
Fri, Mar 03, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Dr. Anant Sahai, UC BerkeleyABSTRACT: In 1959, Shannon made a profound comment:"[The duality between source and channel coding] can be pursued further and is related to a duality between past and future and the notions of control and knowledge. Thus we may have knowledge of the past and cannot control it; we may control the future but have no knowledge of it."This comment cannot be understood in the traditional block-code setting and as a result, has remained entirely mysterious. To understand it, we must step back and consider end-to-end delay, since delay is what fundamentally allows the exploitation of the laws of large numbers to give reliability.In channel coding, we show that while feedback often does not improve fixed block-length reliability functions, it can significantly improve the reliability with respect to fixed delay! (Contrary to a "theorem" by Pinsker claiming otherwise.) A new bound, that we call the "focusing bound," allows us to calculate the limit of what is possible when the encoder is not ignorant of the channel's past behavior. In source coding, the price of ignorance is demonstrated by considering what happens when receiver side-information is withheld from the transmitter. Block-codes perform equally poorly, but nonblock codes can use side-information to dramatically improve the fixed-delay error exponent. Furthermore, a closer look at the dominant error events for these cases gives Shannon's otherwise cryptic comment a precise interpretation.These results suggest that the traditional information theoretic recommendation of using messages as big as possible is flawed as far as architectural guidance is concerned. When encoders are not ignorant, messages should be as *small* as possible while avoid integer effects, and queueing ideas should be employed to do appropriate flow control, even when facing hard end-to-end latency constraints.BIO: Anant Sahai received the B.S. degree in EECS in 1994 from U.C. Berkeley, and both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in EECS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1996 and 2001, respectively. In 2001, he developed adaptive signal processing algorithms for software radio GPS at the startup Enuvis in South San Francisco. He joined the EECS department at Berkeley as an Assistant Professor in 2002. His current research interests are in information theory and wireless communication, particularly the area of opportunistic spectrum reuse by cognitive radios.Host: Professor Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Effective Remediation Methods for clean up of MGP Sites
Fri, Mar 03, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Dr. Shala Craig, PEParsons
Pasadena, CAAbstract:Manufactured Gas Plants (MGP) were an important fuel source for most domestic and light industrial applications in 19th Century. These plants extracted the lighter components of coal/heavy oil, and after removal of impurities from the fluidized stream, transported the manufactured gas to households and the industry vial local pipe lines. Wastes generated as a result of operating these sites were usually retained on-site, buried, or applied to the land due to lack of regulatory barriers. Major residual contamination form these operations include arsenic, cyanide, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many components of the PAHs are known carcinogens, for which the State of California (as well as FED EPA) have strict limits. Operation of MGP plants, which continued through out the 1800s, was stopped in the beginning of 20th Century, after discovery and the commercial use of natural gas. However, due to the persistent nature of the residual contaminants from the MGP sites, almost all contamination buried within these sites are still remaining and in need of remedial work. Utilities in Southern California are currently in the process of remedial work at these sites. The presentation will discuss technical and regulatory challenges in the process of identifying the contaminants extent and remedial work within these sites. Special technology and tools used for investigation and remediation of the sites will be presented.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Diagnosis and Exploration of Massively Univariate Neuroimaging Data
Fri, Mar 03, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Thomas E Nichols, PhDDept. Biostatistics,
University of Michigan, Ann ArborHost: Prof. Richard LeahyAbstract:For either fMRI or EEG/MEG, the massively univariate approach a linear model at each of, say, 100,000 spatial elements in the brain. The p-values computed at each voxel depend on assumptions on the data, and inferences can not be trusted unless these assumptions are checked. However, distributional assumptions are rarely checked in neuroimaging due to the sheer scale of the data. In lieu of examining 100,000 diagnostic plots, we propose a combination of statistical and graphical techniques to efficiently diagnose model fit. We create images of diagnostic statistics sensitive to typical model-violations, and time series of summaries that detect problem scans. Together with an interactive spatiotemporal viewer, we demonstrate how summaries can be used to swiftly find rare anomalies in millions of data elements We demonstrate the method on single-subject fMRI data as well as group-level fMRI data. One specific finding is that, while the popular SPM software assumes the temporal autocorrelation tis spatially homogeneous, we find dramatic variation of the autocorrelation strength over the brain, suggesting that fMRI data requires spatially-varying autocorrelation modeling.Biography:Thomas Nichols is an Assistant Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Michigan. He received his Ph.D. in statistics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2001 where he also trained in cognitive neuroscience at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. He has been active in the field of functional neuroimaging since 1992 when he joined the University of Pittsburgh's Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center as a programmer and statistician. Dr. Nichols' research focuses on modeling and inference of functional neuroimaging data, including PET and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). He has developed methods and software for: Nonparametric analysis of PET fMRI data, inference methods which account for the multiplicity of searching the brain for changes in activity (SnPM); diagnosis and exploration of massively univariate models fit on imaging data (SPMd); and high temporal resolution reconstruction methods for PET.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Regina Morton
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Viterbi Early Career Chair Lecture Series
Fri, Mar 03, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Integrated Media Systems Center
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
CURTIS ROADS: Synthesis, Analysis, and Visualization of Sound based on Gabor's Atomic Model Professor of Media Arts and Technology / Music, UCSBEvent poster: http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/20060303-roads.pdfABSTRACT: This laboratory report covers a range of projects developed over the past five years. Thanks to the collaboration of other researchers, this work is able to proceed in several directions simultaneously, unified by a common thread. Some of this research is purely scientific; some is purely artistic; most of it combines scientific and aesthetic concerns. All the research is based on a granular or atomic model of sound proposed by Dennis Gabor in the 1940s. Granular analysis and synthesis of sound has evolved over more than five decades from theories and primitive experiments into a broad range of applied techniques. Specific to the granular model is its focus on the micro time scale (typically 1 to 100 ms). Granular techniques treat sound as a stream of acoustic atoms in both the time domain of waveforms and the time-frequency domain of analyzed sounds. First I will briefly trace the history of the idea of sound particles. Next I present PulsarGenerator, an application that realizes a specific type of particle synthesis with links to past analog techniques. I will also present the SweepingQGranulator, a software tool that I wrote for the microfiltration of granulated sound. The latest threads in this line of research go in two directions. The first is a time-frequency analysis method known as matching pursuit wavelet analysis. The second is a new prototype for generalized synthesis and control of particle synthesis called Emission Control. Finally, I present some of the sounds and visualizations that we have been developing in conjunction with this research, some of which are motivated by scientific aims, others of which are artistically motivated, and some that attempt to satisfy both aims.BIOSKETCH: Curtis Roads (b. 1951) holds a joint appointment as Professor in Media Arts and Technology and in Music at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He is also Vice Chair of MAT and Associate Director of the Center for Research in Electronic Art Technology (CREATE) at UCSB. He studied music composition and computer programming at California Institute of the Arts, the University of California, San Diego (B. A. Summa Cum Laude), and the University of Paris VIII (PhD). From 1980 to 1986 he was a researcher in computer music at the MIT Experimental Music Studio and the MIT Media Laboratory. He then taught at the University of Naples "Federico II," Harvard University, Oberlin Conservatory, CCMIX (Paris), and the University of Paris VIII. He has led masterclasses at the Australian National Conservatory (Melbourne) and the Prometeo Laboratorio (Parma), among others. He is co-organizer of international workshops on musical signal processing in Sorrento, Capri, and Santa Barbara (1988, 1991, 1997, 2000). He has served on the composition juries of the Ars Electronica (Linz) and the International Electroacoustic Music Competition (Bourges, France). Certain of his compositions feature granular and pulsar synthesis, methods he developed for generating sound from acoustical particles. At UCSB he developed the Creatophone, a system for spatial projection of sound in concert, and the Creatovox, an expressive instrument for virtuoso performance developed in collaboration with Alberto de Campo. de Campo and Roads and developed PulsarGenerator, a program for sound particle synthesis. Together with programmer David Thall, he recently developed EmissionControl, a new program for generalized particle synthesis.Host: Elaine Chew, Viterbi Early Career, Assistant Professor of Industrial and Systems EngineeringSupported in part by the Viterbi Early Career Chair Funds, the Integrated Media Systems Center, and the Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.For other lectures in the series, please see http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~mucoaco/events/vecc0506.html
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Elaine Chew
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MESA Math Physics Technology Institute
Sat, Mar 04, 2006 @ 08:30 AM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Follow-up sessions to the MESA Summer Math Physics Technology Institute using Texas Instruments Calculator technology
Location: Mark Taper Hall Of Humanities (THH) - 214
Audiences: MESA Advisors
Contact: Larry Lim
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Probabilistic Risk Assessment in Return-to-Flight Efforts
Mon, Mar 06, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Luc Huyse
Southwest Research InstituteAbstract:Since the loss of the Columbia in February 2003 and the conclusion of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, Southwest Research Institute has been involved in several return to flight efforts. This presentation summarizes some of the findings of two probabilistic risk assessments. The first risk assessment is related to fatigue cracking of the feedline flowiners that supply liquid hydrogen to the main engines of the Space Shuttle. The second risk analysis is related to the damage to the leading edge RCC panels and the Thermal Protection Shield due to foam debris impact. The first assessment was performed as part of an Independent Technical Assessment (ITA) for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC). The overall goal was to establish a flight rationale in light of a history of fatigue cracking due to flow induced vibrations in the feedline flowliners that supply liquid hydrogen to the space shuttle main engines. Prior deterministic analyses using worst-case assumptions predicted failure in a single flight. The current work formulated statistical models for dynamic loading and cryogenic fatigue crack growth properties, instead of using worst-case assumptions. New weight function solutions were developed to describe the crack "driving-force". Monte Carlo simulations showed that low flowliner probabilities of failure (POF = 0.001 to 0.0001) are achievable, provided pre-flight inspections for cracks are performed with adequate probability of detection (POD) -- specifically, 20/75 mils with 50%/99% POD. The second assessment was performed for NASA Johnson. NASA and SwRI engineers are developing and refining methodology to quantify the probability of damage to the thermal protection system. The primary debris sources during ascent are the insulating foam covering the external tank (ET), and the ice that can form on the ET before and during launch. Upon detachment, aerodynamic drag forces act to slow the speed of the debris, thereby increasing the relative velocity between the debris and the orbiter. Also during transport, lift forces act to disperse the debris about their idealized trajectories. Therefore, the farther downstream the debris travels before impact, the greater the potential impact kinetic energy and crossrange (dispersion). Damage depends on the concurrence of three events: debris release, debris impact, and impact kinetic energy exceeding panel capacity. The total probability of damage is obtained as the product of these three event probabilities summed over all release and impact locations. Current work with NASA Johnson focuses on removing some of the conservatism of the analysis and transforming the semi-probabilistic analysis into a full probabilistic analysis.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Synthetic gene-metabolic oscillators: Computer aided design and experimental implementations
Mon, Mar 06, 2006 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 AM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Jason Suen, PhD, NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, UCLA
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Wyatt Adam
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A Review of Maximum Entropy Principles and Applications to Stochastic Estimation
Tue, Mar 07, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:
Sonjoy Das
USC - CE Graduate StudentLocation: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Process Systems Engineering in Semiconductor Processing
Tue, Mar 07, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
GRADUATE SEMINARProfessor S. Joe Qin
Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Texas, AustinAbstract:The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a technology transition from 200mm to 300mm wafers to gain manufacturing efficiency and reduce manufacturing cost per chip. These technological changes present a unique opportunity to optimally design the control systems to achieve fab-wide control.In this seminar we introduce systems engineering approaches to semiconductor manufacturing and present a hierarchical optimization and control framework for semiconductor fab control. The equipment level control involves real-time feedback control of tool parameters. The next level run-to-run control involves sharing information from multiple steps to achieve feedforward and predictive control. The top level of the hierarchy is the fab-wide control which is the highest level optimization to achieve desired electrical properties by recalculating the optimal targets for the lower level. Challenges due to multiple, different tools in each module and multiple products being processed in the same module of tools are discussed. Stability analysis results are given for single product runs and mixed product runs. Fault detection and process monitoring needs at various levels are discussed as well. In summary, various systems engineering issues and opportunities are demonstrated in the large scale but nano-sized semiconductor manufacturing processes.Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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BIOLOGICAL CIRCUITS
Tue, Mar 07, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERINGDISTINGUISHED LECTURER SERIES"BIOLOGICAL CIRCUITS"Prof. Jehoshua (Shuki) BruckComputation and Neural Systems and Electrical EngineeringCalifornia Institute of TechnologyAbstract:Motivated by the intriguing functionality of gene regulatory networks we study chemical reactions (biological) circuits. We observe that those circuits are vastly different when compared to existing computing structures like logic circuits. In particular, the two strikingly different ingredients in biological circuits are feedback in memoryless computation and the stochastic behavior of devices in deterministic systems. Are these two biologically inspired concepts useful in improving the design of existing computing structures? I will provide a positive answer to this question and argue that progress in our understanding of biology depends on the development of new abstractions for reasoning about computation.Bio:Jehoshua (Shuki) Bruck is the Gordon and Betty Moore Professor of Computation and Neural Systems and Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. He was the founding Director of the Caltech Information Science and Technology (IST) program. His research combines work on the design of distributed information systems and the theoretical study of biological circuits and systems. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, in 1982 and 1985, respectively and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1989. Dr. Bruck has an extensive industrial experience, including working with IBM Research for ten years where he participated in the design and implementation of the first IBM parallel computer. He was co-founder and Chairman of Rainfinity (acquired in 2005 by EMC), a spin-off company from Caltech that focused on software products for management of network information systems. Dr. Bruck is a Fellow of the IEEE, the recipient of an IBM Partnership Award, a Sloan Research Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, six IBM Plateau Invention Achievement Awards, an IBM Outstanding Innovation Award and an IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award. He published more than 200 journal and conference papers in his areas of interests and he holds 25 US patents. His papers were recognized in journals and conferences, including, winning the 2005 S. A. Schelkunoff Transactions prize paper award from the IEEE Antennas and Propagation society (joint with M. Franceschetti and L. J. Schulman) and the 2003 Best Paper Award in the 2003 Design Automation Conference (joint with M. Riedel). Host: Prof. Keith Chugg, ext. 07294
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - ontology Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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The Moral Morass of Contemporary Life
Tue, Mar 07, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Dialogues series continues with a panel discussion on the moral morass of contemporary life. Panelists include Rabbi Leonard Beerman and Rev. George Regas. The series is sponsored by the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and the USC Libraries.
Location: Estelle Doheny Eye Foundation (DOH) - eny Intellectual Commons, Room 233
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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Mike Eldred, Sandia National Labs: Overview of Optimization Under Uncertainty Capabilities in DAKOTA
Wed, Mar 08, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Uncertainties must be properly modeled in order to quantify risk and enable the design of systems that are both robust and reliable. A number of capabilities for optimization under uncertainty (OUU) have been developed at Sandia National Laboratories and deployed to users through the DAKOTA software toolkit. This talk will overview these capabilities, as well as describe the uncertainty quantification and optimization foundations on which they are based. Of particular interest are surrogate-based OUU and reliability-based design optimization methods. Application of these techniques to robust design of inertial confinement fusion capsules and reliability-based design of micro-electro-mechanical systems will be presented.Mike Eldred is Principal Member of Technical Staff, Optimization and Uncertainty Estimation Dept., at Sandia National Laboratories.http://venus.usc.edu/seminars/CAM/
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Roger Ghanem
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Ensemble Kalman Filter For History Matching
Wed, Mar 08, 2006 @ 11:30 AM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Dean Oliver, Professor and Director,
Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geology Engineering
The University of OklahomaThe problem of reservoir characterization through automatic history matching has been extensively studied in recent years. Efficient applications have, however, required either an adjoint or a gradient simulator method to compute the gradient of the objective function or a sensitivity coefficient matrix for the minimization. Both computations are expensive when the number of model parameters or the number of observation data is large. The codes for gradient-based history matching methods are also complex and time-consuming to write.This talk reports the use of the Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) for automatic history matching. EnKF is a Monte Carlo method, in which a collection of reservoir models is used to estimate various relationships for history matching. An estimate of uncertainty in future reservoir performance can also be obtained from the ensemble.Unlike traditional history matching, the source code of the reservoir simulator is not required, which allows this method to be used with any reservoir simulator. Also, the assimilation of the data in EnKF is done sequentially rather than simultaneously as in traditional history matching. By so doing the reservoir models are always kept up-to-date, which may be important when the frequency of data is fairy high.In this talk, the application of the EnKF to the problem of history matching the PUNQ-S3 test modelwill be described. It is a small (19x28x5) three-phase reservoir engineering model that was developed by research units in the European Union to compare methods for quantifying uncertainty assessment in history matching. The model is also tested on a synthetic problem in which the locations of geologic facies must be determined. In both cases, the EnKF provided satisfactory history matching results while requiring less computation than traditional methods.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - CO 116
Audiences: The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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Towards Verification and Validation of Adaptive Systems for Safety Critical Applications
Wed, Mar 08, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Naira Hovakimyan, Associate Professor
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State UnivFor more information, go to:http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - Rm, 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series
Thu, Mar 09, 2006 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Professor Efthimios (Tim) Kaxiras Department of Applied Physics Harvard University
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Mar 09, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Solution Quality in Routing and Network Formation Games"Prof. Eva TardosCornell UniversityAbstract:Traditional network design assumes that the network designer has the information and power to decide on the whole network. However, many networks operate and evolve through interactions of large numbers of participants.
Such networks play a fundamental role in many domains, ranging from communication networks to social networks. In this talk we will consider settings where multiple agents each pursue their own selfish interests, each represented by his own objective function, caring only about his cost and his part of the network. We will consider settings modeling routing and network formation. In each setting our goal is to quantify the degradation of quality of solution caused by the selfish behavior of users, comparing the selfish outcome to a centrally designed optimum, or comparing outcomes with different levels of cooperation.Refreshments served.Host: David KempeLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Andrew J. Viterbi Distinguished Lecture with Dr. Toby Berger
Thu, Mar 09, 2006 @ 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Information Exchange Among Neurons in Sensory Cortex"PROF. TOBY BERGERProfessor of ECE, University of VirginiaProfessor Emeritus, Cornell UniversityReception at 5:00p.m.Lecture at 6:00p.m.Abstract:Each of the tens of millions of neurons in primate sensory cortex receives information in the form of neural spike trains from some 10,000 other such neurons, referred to collectively as its "afferent cohort". The axon of each neuron in the afferent cohort of neuron N is incident to a synapse on N's dendritic tree. In response to this "bombardment," neuron N generates a spike train of its own which propagates along its axon to the some 10,000 neurons in its afferent cohort. The nature of this "neural code" and of the information that it does and does not communicate has long been a subject of intense study by both theoreticians and experimentalists. For several decades much of this debate was concerned with whether the neural code is a timing code or a rate code. Recent experiments have established that the firing patterns of individual neurons in primary visual cortex (i.e., brain regions LGN, V1, V2,...) are highly reproducible when stimulus intensities are made to vary nearly identically during each of a series of experimental trials. This finding speaks heavily in favor of timing codes being the dominant information-conveying mechanism in primary cortex.We propose and analyze a simple, biologically feasible model of neural coding in primary cortex in which the time variation in bombardment intensity that each neuron experiences gets accurately encoded into differential delays between the successive spikes it emits. That is, we proffer that neurons in primary sensory cortex exchange information via what communication theorists refer to as differential pulse position modulation (DPPM) and neuroscientists refer to as interspike interval (ISI) durations. This form of neural information exchange has several highly desirable properties including low delay, low complexity, high throughput, and energy efficiency.Three sources of error in the conveyance of data via ISI durations are analyzed: (i) timing jitter in spike generation instants (ii) timing jitter engendered by differential rates of axonal propagation of successive spikes, and (iii) timing jitter in the accuracy with which spike arrival times can be estimated and remembered at synapses. The analysis reveals that neural spiking thresholds must decay with time; preliminary experimental results suggest that this is indeed the case.The mathematical tools employed include Stein-Chen Poisson approximation theory, analysis of the variance of the threshold crossings times of filtered Poisson processes, and classical analysis of the estimation of the arrival time of a known pulse shape corrupted by additive Gaussian noise.Bio: Toby Berger was born in New York, NY on September 4, 1940. He received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Yale University, New Haven, CT in 1962, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied mathematics from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA in 1964 and 1966, respectively. From 1962 to 1968 he was a Senior Scientist at Raytheon Company, Wayland, MA, specializing in communication theory, information theory, and coherent signal processing. From 1968 through 2005 he was a faculty member at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY where he held the position of Irwin and Joan Jacobs Professor of Engineering. In 2006 he became a professor in the ECE Department of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Professor Berger's research interests include information theory, random fields, communication networks, wireless communications, video compression, voice and signature compression and verification, neuroinformation theory, quantum information theory, and coherent signal processing. He is the author of Rate Distortion Theory: A Mathematical Basis for Data Compression and a co-author of Digital Compression for Multimedia: Principles and Standards, and Information Measures for Discrete Random Fields.HOSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERINGCelebrating 100 years of Engineering!For more information: http://csi.usc.edu/news/viterbi-invitation.pdf
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - ontology Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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Analytical Methods in Compositional Modeling
Fri, Mar 10, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Tara LaForce
Stanford UniversitySubsurface flow of several phases occurs in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), geological carbon dioxide storage, coal-bed methane production, and surfactant enhanced remediation of non-aqueous phase liquid contaminants in aquifers. The thermodynamic processes that allow for efficient flow of multiple fluids simultaneously are poorly understood, yet this knowledge is the key to developing a successful hydrocarbon production strategy. Using the method of characteristics (MOC) it is possible to construct analytical solutions to the conservation laws governing dispersion-free multicomponent, multiphase flow in one dimension. Analytical solutions provide insight into the behavior of multiphase flow and can also be used in streamline simulators and as benchmarks for traditional simulators. The first analytical solutions presented are for an analogue ternary system modeling gas injection into an oil reservoir. Three components are present and up to three phases may form. In this study the analytical solutions are compared to core flood data. The analytical solutions accurately predict core flood effluents for most of the experiments. A single set of relative permeability parameters is insufficient to model all of the experiments, indicating hysteresis in the relative permeabilities.Analytical solutions are also constructed to model surfactant enhanced remediation of a contaminated aquifer. Like the previous example up to three phases may form. Three realistic sets of relative permeability parameters are studied. The phase relative permeabilities have a substantial impact on the recovery efficiency. In some cases the recovery of oil declines with increasing surfactant in the injection mixture. Current research on four-component three-phase flow will be discussed. This extension of MOC theory is critical because at least four components are needed in order to accurately model CO2 or WAG injection into a water-flooded reservoir. Future analytical and numerical research into multiphase flow with adsorption and hysteresis and discuss further applications of MOC theory to coal-bed methane production, CO2 sequestration and EOR will also be proposed.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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ENERGY USAGE
Fri, Mar 10, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Paul Liu
Former Lecturer of Environmental Engineering at USCAbstract:
Topics to be discussed include renewable energy, and fossil fuels, both in its natural and converted forms with an emphasis on bio-environmental impact.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - RIELIAN HALL, ROOM 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Opportunities in Nanomagnetism
Fri, Mar 10, 2006 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Samuel BaderSenior Scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and
Scientific Director of the Argonne Center for Nanoscale MaterialsOpportunities in NanomagnetismABSTRACTNanomagnetism is the discipline dealing with magnetic phenomena specific to structures having dimensions in the submicron range. This talk addresses the challenges and scientific problems in this emerging area, including its fabrication strategies, and describes experiments that explore new spin-related behaviors in metallic systems as well as theoretical efforts to understand the observed phenomena. As a subfield of nanoscience, nanomagnetism shares many of the same basic organizing principles such as geometric confinement, physical proximity, and chemical self-organization. These principles are illustrated by means of several examples drawn from the quests for ultrastrong permanent magnets, ultra-high-density magnetic recording media, and nanobiomagnetic sensing strategies. As a final example showing the synergetic relationships to other fields of science, the manipulation of viruses to fabricate magnetic nanoparticles is discussed.**ALL FIRST YEAR MATERIALS SCIENCE MAJORS ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND**Location: Vivian Hall of Engineering (VHE) - 217
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Overview of Innovative Remedial Technologies used in Groundwater Cleanup
Mon, Mar 20, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Paris Hajali, Vice President
Blasland, Bouck & Lee Inc.Abstract:
The lecture will provide an overview of groundwater remediation and a brief description on the evolution of technologies utilized in the remediation of impacted groundwater for the last two decades. In addition, selected innovative technologies will be presented along with their applications, advantages, and limitations. The presentation will also include a summary of the technology evaluation and selection processLocation: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Simulation: The past, present, and future of surgical practice
Mon, Mar 20, 2006 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Shirin Towfigh, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Wyatt Adam
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A Review of Markov Chain Monte Carlo
Tue, Mar 21, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 12:50 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Alireza Doostan
CE Graduate StudentLocation: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Numerical Simulations of Biological Locomotion in Fluid Media
Wed, Mar 22, 2006 @ 03:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Jeff Eldredge, Asst. Professor UCLA
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - , Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Rethinking Sensor Networks from the Physical Layer Up
Wed, Mar 22, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Prof. Upamanyu Madhow, UCSBABSTRACT: Sensor networks open up the exciting possibility of "googling" the physical world, with potential applications going well beyond the current focus on environmental monitoring, homeland security, and defence. Recent research activities in sensor networks at a variety of institutions have produced valuable experience in deploying networks of hundreds of sensor motes. While such moderate-sized networks are adequate for a large class of applications in the near term, we remain far from realizing the vision invoked by the phrase "Smart Dust", of hundreds of thousands of nodes providing comprehensive coverage of large geographic areas. In addition to the fundamental difficulties of networking such large numbers of nodes, another key constraint that is likely to persist for the foreseeable future is energy consumption: for large-scale deployments, sensor nodes must survive for long periods on a small battery, or to operate by scavenging energy from the environment. In this talk, we first provide a brief overview of the broad range of research activities in our group. We then focus on new concepts, and associated prototyping efforts, for scaling sensor nets up in size and ease of deployment, and down in energy consumption per node. These concepts include massively scalable Imaging Sensor Nets, in which "dumb" sensor nodes play the role of pixels imaged by sophisticated collector nodes, and distributed beamforming, in which "smart" sensor nodes collaborate to increase energy efficiency or range by emulating an antenna array.BIO: Upamanyu Madhow is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His prior appointments include serving as a faculty in the ECE Department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and as a research scientist at Bell Communications Research (now Telcordia). He received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1985. He received the M. S. and Ph. D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1987 and 1990, respectively.Dr. Madhow's research interests are in wireless communication, sensor networks and multimedia security. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, and recipient of the NSF CAREER award. He has served as Associate Editor for Spread Spectrum for the IEEE Transactions on Communications, and as Associate Editor for Detection and Estimation for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. He is a "highly cited" researcher (http://www.isihighlycited.com), and is among the top 10 most cited authors in computer science over the period 1993-2003, according to the ISI Web of Science (http://in-cites.com/top/2003/first03-com.html).Host: Professor Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Fri, Mar 24, 2006
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Betsy SklarCUNYLecture topic TBA
Location: TBD
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Challenges in Reducing High Volume Manufacturing Test Cost for Micro-processors
Fri, Mar 24, 2006 @ 10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
CENG SEMINAR SERIES"Challenges in Reducing High Volume Manufacturing Test Cost for Micro-processors "Dr. Sreejit ChakravartyIntelABSTRACT:This talk is aimed at a general audience who are not familiar with Microprocessor testing. The basics of high volume manufacturing (HVM) testing will be introduced. The major cost components of HVM testing and the challenges going forward will be highlighted. Detailed discussion on any given topic will be left to the Q&A session.BIO:Dr. Sreejit Chakravarty spent about 11 years in academia as an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Since 1997 he has been with Intel Corporation where he is a Principal Engineer in the Test Technology group. He is the technical lead in various test research projects targeted at Intel's microprocessor products, including advanced fault models, various aspects of at-speed testing and PV-si correlation issues. He serves on the program and organizing committees of several IEEE conferences and has delivered several keynote addresses at IEEE sponsored conferences. Dr. Chakravarty is a Fellow of the IEEE. Host: Prof. Melvin Breuer, x04469
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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Design for Fault Prevention & Health Management in Complex Aerospace Systems
Fri, Mar 24, 2006 @ 11:00 AM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Irem Y. Tumer Senior
Research Scientist
NASA Ames Research Center
For more information, go to:
ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - , Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Tires 101
Fri, Mar 24, 2006 @ 12:00 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Joe Brown,
Senior Tire Researcher,
Michelin Americas Research and Development Corp.Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - Rm 221
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Cytomimicry: Fabrication of Biofunctionalized Materials Through Biotic-Abiotic Interfacing
Fri, Mar 24, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
GRADUATE SEMINARDean Ho, Ph.D.
Research Associate
Departments of Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering
California Institute of Technology and
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
University of California, Los AngelesABSTRACTThe concept of biotic-abiotic interfacing has enabled the assembly of structures that integrate synthetic and biological components towards functional micro/nano engineering systems. This talk will highlight our recent applications of biomolecule-functionalized thin films as a platform for converting light energy into electrical energy, as well as a platform of modifying cell patterning through cellular mechano-sensors. These thin films possess the advantages of configurable characteristics based upon desired functionality. In order to develop the films as the platform for the nano/micro energy system and cell-film interaction study, we need to be able to understand and control its material and chemical properties. For example, block lengths, compositions, and stiffness properties can be altered, and UV-reactive endgroups can be added to undergo free-radical polymerization to increase membrane mechanical stability which can in turn enhance protein stability and resistance to a wide range of environments (pH, temp., etc.). We have recently demonstrated the use of composite thin film vesicles functionalized with embedded membrane proteins (BR/COX) to generate light-dependent currents with no applied voltage. Our configuration has enabled each vesicle to serve as a dedicated energy producing unit which serves as an optimized failure management system. In addition, characterization of the mechanical properties of these biofunctional thin films has revealed their dramatic increase in robustness over conventional lipid systems towards the development of devices driven by inherent biomolecular activity. Furthermore, this talk will highlight a myriad of achievements in vectorial orientation of proteins in polymers for device engineering purposes. In addition, integrating the membrane with cell matrix proteins such as collagen serves as a powerful modality for studying cell patterning process. The cellular mechano-sensors can detect the relative Young's modulus variation of the film which can then induce the formation of various patterns and architectures. The understanding and control of these mechano-sensing and cell system responses to the received signal will provide us with a powerful pathway towards tissue engineering through next generation devices engineered at the biotic-abiotic interface.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Digital Circuits Using Carbon Nanotubes: Modeling, Design, and Architectures
Fri, Mar 24, 2006 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
CENG SEMINAR SERIES"Digital Circuits Using Carbon Nanotubes: Modeling, Design, and Architectures "Dr. Ali KeshavarziCircuit Research Labs, IntelBSTRACT:Scaling of Silicon technology continues while research has started in other novel materials for future technology generations beyond year 2015. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with their excellent carrier mobility are a promising candidate. We have studied the promise that carbon nanotube-based electronics hold for digital circuit design. We investigated different carbon nanotube based field effect transistors (CNFETs) for an optimal switch. Schottky Barrier (SB) CNFETs, MOS CNFETs, and state-of-the-art Si MOSFETs were systematically compared from a circuit/system design perspective. A simulation environment incorporating an atomistic device description and a look-up table based circuit solver has been used. The role of parasitics in CNFET design shows that performance is limited by the gate overlap capacitance and the quality of nano contacts to these promising transistors. Optimal geometries and transistor architecture have been proposed to provide maximum performance while minimizing parasitics. Analysis of high performing single tube SB CNFET transistor structures revealed 1 to 1.5 nm to be the optimum CNT diameter for high speed digital application. We determined optimal spacing and layout of CNT arrays, an architecture that is most likely required for driving capacitive loads and interconnects in digital applications. Circuit applications impact the choice of packing density in CNFET arrays. Highest packing density is required for driving large capacitive loads for example this is achieved by placing CNTs of 1 nm in diameter at 1.6nm apart in an array formation. However, if CNT arrays are driving other CNT arrays, a looser packing density will be sufficient.CNTs with their high current density, despite several serious technological barriers, show potential for performance improvement. For benchmarking purposes, we will discuss a figure of merit for evaluating CNTs. From a process technology perspective, further research is required on material quality of the CNTs, on the growth of the nanotubes in a predetermined direction with good control of diameter thickness (for control of variation), on making doped CNTs for MOS CNFETs, on fabricating CNT-based transistor arrays, and also on producing reliable nano-contacts to the nanotubesBIO:Dr. Ali Keshavarzi received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. He is a senior staff research scientist at Circuit Research Laboratories (CRL) of Intel Corporation, Portland, Oregon. He is currently focusing on long-term research in low-power/high-performance circuit techniques and transistor device structures for future generations of microprocessors. Ali has been with Intel for thirteen years, has published more than 20 papers and has more than 30 patents (20 issued and the rest are pending patents). Ali has received the best paper award at 1997 IEEE International Test Conference at Washington, D.C. on testing solutions of intrinsically leaky integrated circuits. Ali is a member of the ISLPED & ISQED technical program committees.Host: Prof. Massoud Pedram, x04458
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Rosine Sarafian
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Transfer from Practice into Research: Performative Infrastructure and Architecture
Mon, Mar 27, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Thomas Spielgelhalter
School of Architecture
University of Southern California
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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TRANSFER FROM PRACTICE INTO RESEARCH: PERFORMATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE
Tue, Mar 28, 2006 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER:Thomas Spiegelhalter. R.A. EU, ISES, LEED AP
Architect, Engineer, Industrial Designer, Town Planner
University of Southern California, School of ArchitectureAbstract:From the controversy discussion of climate change, to power deregulation, to suburban sprawl to the rapid proliferation of information technology, change is ocurring at a more rapid pace than at any other time in our history.The 21st century is marked by a necessary reengagement of Architecture, Engineering, Building Science, Urban Design and Landscape Architechture with the environment.Building infrastructure, and the landscape are inextricably linked. Energy, materials, water and land are all consumed in the development and operation of cities and infrastructure, while the urban environment itself affects our living conditions, social well being and health.Japan and the European Union, faced with higher energy costs and high density building conditions, have been leading the way globally with innovative ideas and financial incentives to produce better performing infrastructures, operative landscapes and buildings. For example, thes o called European "low", "zero" and "plus" energy buildings and city districts state-of-the-art codes are well known, anchored in nationwide energy-saving policies and performative post occupancy monitoring, guidelines and certifications, to approve the annual energy balance of states, neighborhoods and buildings wih respect to resources, the public grid operation, and to stabilize CO2 emission according to the Kyoto Protocol of the UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE.Designing sustainable and performative measurerable projects in Europe-and particularly in Germany, where sustainability is imbued in the natinal culture, provides architects,engineers and researchers with valuable experiences into the broad spectrum of public policy, energy security, financing , utility infrastructure, and building codes that cumulatively support sustainability and resource efficient building systems and infrastructures.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Tue, Mar 28, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Karl BöhringerUWLecture title TBD Biosketch:
Karl Böhringer is currently an associate professor in Electrical Engineering with adjunct appointments in Computer Science & Engineering and in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Cornell University and his Diplom-Informatiker degree from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. During his dissertation work on distributed micromanipulation he designed, built, and tested multiple micro actuator arrays at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility. He also spent a year as a visiting scholar at the Stanford Robotics Lab and Transducer Lab, where he collaborated on research in MEMS cilia arrays. From 1996 to 1998 he investigated techniques for parallel micro selfassembly as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. His current interests include micromanipulation and microassembly, as well as biomedical implants and bioMEMS for single-cell genomics and proteomics. At the University of Washington, he is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology and the NIH Microscale Life Sciences Center. His Ph.D. thesis was nominated for the ACM doctoral dissertation award. He received an NSF postdoctoral associateship in 1997, an NSF CAREER award in 1999, and was an NSF New Century Scholar in 2000. His work was featured among the Top 100 Science Stories in Discover Magazine's "Year in Science" in January 2003. He received the 2004 Academic Early Career Award from the IEEE Robotics and Autoation Society.Location: TBA
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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USC CS Colloquium Series
Tue, Mar 28, 2006 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Prof. Karl BöhringerUWLecture title TBDBiosketch:Karl Böhringer is currently an associate professor in Electrical Engineering with adjunct appointments in Computer Science & Engineering and in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington, Seattle. He received both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Cornell University and his Diplom-Informatiker degree from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. During his dissertation work on distributed micromanipulation he designed, built, and tested multiple micro actuator arrays at the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility. He also spent a year as a visiting scholar at the Stanford Robotics Lab and Transducer Lab, where he collaborated on research in MEMS cilia arrays. From 1996 to 1998 he investigated techniques for parallel micro selfassembly as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. His current interests include micromanipulation and microassembly, as well as biomedical implants and bioMEMS for single-cell genomics and proteomics. At the University of Washington, he is a member of the Center for Nanotechnology and the NIH Microscale Life Sciences Center. His Ph.D. thesis was nominated for the ACM doctoral dissertation award. He received an NSF postdoctoral associateship in 1997, an NSF CAREER award in 1999, and was an NSF New Century Scholar in 2000. His work was featured among the Top 100 Science Stories in Discover Magazine's "Year in Science" in January 2003. He received the 2004 Academic Early Career Award from the IEEE Robotics and Autoation Society.
Location: TBA
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Large Microwave Antenna Arrays for Radio Astronomy and Space Communications
Wed, Mar 29, 2006 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
DR. SANDER WEINREB
California Institute of Technology
ETA KAPPA NU SEMINAR SERIESAbstract: Much greater collecting area for microwave signals impinging on Earth is needed for three major objectives: 1) wide bandwidth communication to manned or robotic space probes at planetary distances, 2) radio astronomy observations which provide fundamental information about the origin and composition of the universe, and 3) search for radio communications due to extraterrestrial civilizations. In the past increases in collecting area were achieved by increasing the diameter of large radio telescopes – essentially more steel. The current system approach to this problem is to replace the large mechanical structures with innovative use of electronics, computers, and mass production of small antennas. Current large array projects will be described and technology developments in the areas of wideband antenna feeds and very low noise amplifiers will be discussed. Bio:Sander Weinreb's interests and expertise are in the area of instrumentation for radio astronomy and communications. He introduced digital correlation techniques into radio astronomy (1960), was a co-discoverer of the first molecular line (OH, 1963), led the electronics system design for the Very Large Array (1966-1975), and introduced and developed cooled field-effect transistor amplifiers for radio astronomy (1978-1988). Since leaving NRAO in 1989 he has worked on microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMICs) applied to military applications at Martin Marietta, astronomy applications at U. of Massachusetts, and space-borne meteorological applications at JPL. At JPL he is currently leading the design of the electronics of a large microwave array for the NASA Deep Space Network. He received BS (1958) and Ph.D (1963) degrees from MIT and is presently a Principal Staff Member at JPL and a Faculty Associate at Caltech. http://www-scf.usc.edu/~hkn/Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 100
Audiences: EE Graduate Undergrad and Faculty Invited
Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht
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Kinetic Modeling of Microscale Gas Flows
Wed, Mar 29, 2006 @ 03:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Alina Alexeenko,WiSE Postdoctoral Fellow Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department,University of Southern California For more info, go to:http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - Rm 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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PrimeSense Technology
Thu, Mar 30, 2006 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Alex Shpunt and Aviad Maizels
PrimeSenseTime: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Location: EEB 248Abstract: Prime sense has developed a novel, inexpensive method of providing accurate real-time mapping of 3D objects within a given space.We currently target a volume of 3x3x3m. At this volume, 10.6 points per frame will be provided (giving the target resolution of 3x3x3mm), at the video rates of 30 frames per second and more.Host: Gerard Medioni
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Art and Science: A Da Vinci Detective History
Fri, Mar 31, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Engineering Honors Colloquium lecture given by Professor John Brewer, the Eli and Edye Broad Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences from Caltech.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty/Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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BME@USC: Honoring the Past, Inventing the Future
Fri, Mar 31, 2006 @ 01:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
BME will be hosting the VSoE Centennial Symposium ("BME@USC: Honoring the Past, Inventing the Future") on Friday March 31 from 1 to 6 pm in the Gerontology Auditorium. The symposium will begin with a Keynote Lecture, entitled "The Promise of Emerging Technologies in 21st Century Medicine", delivered by Dr. Roderic I. Petigrew, Director of the NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The talks that follow will be given by our own faculty and will provide an overview (with historical perspectives) of the research areas that form the core of USC-BME.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - ontology Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Wyatt Adam
