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Events for April 04, 2025
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EiS Communications Hub - Tutoring for Engineering Ph.D. StudentsFri, Apr 04, 2025 @ 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Viterbi Ph.D. students are invited to drop by the Hub for instruction on their writing and speaking tasks! All tutoring is one-on-one and conducted by Viterbi faculty.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 222A
Audiences: Viterbi Ph.D. Students
Contact: Helen Choi
Event Link: https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/eishub/home
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
AI Seminar-Experiments in Scaling Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards
Fri, Apr 04, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nathan Lambert, Allen Institure
Talk Title: Experiments in Scaling Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards
Series: AI Seminar
Abstract: With the release of DeepSeek’s R1 reasoning model, interest in reinforcement learning may be at an all time high. Academics are pouring energy into the space, trying to replicate DeepSeek’s results and establish clear trade-offs and capabilities of this new era of reinforcement learning on language models. This talk discusses these new results with language models trained with Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR), our efforts at scaling them for Ai2’s OLMo and Tülu language models, hints that we may have missed indicating that RL is more effective than people give credit for, and some history from my background in model-based RL/robotics. The goal of the talk is to present a mix of (recent) historical context on language modeling and cutting edge research with RL to forecast how the rapidly expanding industry of language models may change in the near future.
Biography: Nathan Lambert is a Senior Research Scientist and post-training lead at the Allen Institute for AI focusing on building open language models. At the same time he founded and operates Interconnects.ai to increase transparency and understanding of current AI models and systems.
Previously, he helped build an RLHF research team at HuggingFace. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley working at the intersection of machine learning and robotics. He was advised by Professor Kristofer Pister in the Berkeley Autonomous Microsystems Lab and Roberto Calandra at Meta AI Research. He was lucky to intern at Facebook AI and DeepMind during his Ph.D. Nathan was was awarded the UC Berkeley EECS Demetri Angelakos Memorial Achievement Award for Altruism for his efforts to better community norms.
If speaker approves to be recorded for this seminar it will be posted on the USC/ISI YouTube page within 1-2 business days: https://www.youtube.com/user/USCISI.
Subscribe here to learn more about upcoming seminars: https://www.isi.edu/events/ .
Host: Eric Boxer and Justina Gilleland
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5553/experiments-in-scaling-reinforcement-learning-with-verifiable-rewards/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/94409584905?pwd=Sm5LVkd0bndUdEluM3piK0NWTUQrUT09Location: Information Science Institute (ISI) - 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/5553/experiments-in-scaling-reinforcement-learning-with-verifiable-rewards/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
Alfred E.Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering - Seminar series
Fri, Apr 04, 2025 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Xiaoping P. Hu, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Bioengineering;Director, Center for Advanced Neuroimaging Reza Abbaschian Chair Professor University of California, Riverside
Talk Title: Some Recent Advances in MRI of Neurodegeneration
Abstract: MRI is a widely used modality in neuroimaging in both clinical medicine and research. For neurodegeneration, in addition to providing exquisite anatomic measures, MRI can assess function, connectivity, and neurobiologically relevant biomarkers such as iron and melanin. In this talk, I will first present our work on the development of neuromelanin imaging and applying it, in conjunction with iron imaging and diffusion tensor imaging, to the diagnosis and assessment of Parkinson’s disease. Our data demonstrate that both neuromelanin and iron imaging could provide potential biomarkers for the early detection of Parkinson’s disease. Second, I will describe our more recent endeavor in imaging the integrity and structural connectivity of locus coeruleus and investigation of their relevance to aging and cognition. I will demonstrate that MR imaging of locus coeruleus could provide highly relevant measure in studying aging.
Biography: Xiaoping Hu obtained his Ph.D. in medical physics in 1988 from the University of Chicago. From 1990 to 2002, he was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota where he became a full professor in 1998. In 2002-2016, he was Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Imaging in the Wallace H. Coulter joint department of biomedical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. In July 2016, Dr. Hu joined UC Riverside as professor and chair of bioengineering and director of the center for advanced neuroimaging. Dr. Hu has worked on the development and biomedical application of magnetic resonance imaging, with an emphasis on the brain, for almost 4 decades. He has authored or co-authored 325 peer-reviewed journal articles, with a total of 33,000+ citations and an h-index of 101. He is currently on the editorial board of Brain Connectivity and is an associate editor of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He is a fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, a fellow of IEEE, a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, a fellow of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a fellow of the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineers. He was named Reza Abbaschian Chair in July, 2023 and promoted to distinguished professor in July, 2024.
Host: Qifa Zhou
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 109
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Carla Stanard
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
CA DREAMS - Technical Seminar Series
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Fri, Apr 04, 2025 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Shaya Fainman, Professor, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Foundry Enabled Chip-scale Photonics Technology and Applications
Abstract: Dense photonic integration requires miniaturization of materials, devices, circuits and systems, including passive components (e.g., engineered composite metamaterials, filters, etc.), active components (e.g., modulators and nonlinear wave mixers) and integrated circuits (Fourier transform spectrometer, programmable phase modulator of free space modes, linear algebra processors, etc.). In this talk we will discuss recent progress in developing CMOS compatible nonlinear optical materials as well as examples of foundry enabled silicon photonic circuits and systems. Specifically, we will review silicon photonics-based Fourier transform spectrometer (Si-FTS) that can bring broadband operation and fine resolution to the chip scale. Here we will present the modeling and experimental demonstration of a thermally tuned Si-FTS accounting for dispersion, thermo-optic non-linearity, and thermal expansion. We show how these effects modify the relation between the spectrum and interferogram of a light source and we develop a quantitative correction procedure through calibration with a tunable laser. Providing design flexibility and robustness, the Si-FTS is poised to become a fundamental building block for on-chip spectroscopy. Moreover, taking advantage of nanofabrication we will discuss on-chip spectrometers using stratified waveguide filters and machine learning. Moving forward, we will discuss chip-scale integrated circuit/system that will allow to realize linear algebra accelerators with superior performance in speed, energy consumption and size compared to its electronic counterpart. Such system can be manufactured using monolithic CMOS process and impact such applications as 5G/6G and beyond wireless MIMO systems as well as deep learning and artificial intelligence.
Biography: Yeshaiahu (Shaya) Fainman is an inaugural ASML/Cymer Chair of Advanced Optical Technologies and Distinguished Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He received the M. Sc and Ph. D degrees from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in 1979 and 1983, respectively. He is directing research of the Ultrafast and Nanoscale Optics group at UCSD and made significant contributions to near field optical phenomena, nanoscale science and engineering of ultra-small, sub-micrometer semiconductor light emitters and nanolasers, inhomogeneous and meta-materials, nanophotonics and plasmonics, non-conventional imaging and silicon photonics. His current research interests are in near field optical science and optical technology with applications targeting information technologies and biomedical sensing. He contributed over 360 manuscripts in peer review journals and over 560 conference presentations and conference proceedings. During his career he has led as Director and Deputy Director of numerous large size interdisciplinary projects and centers supported by BMDO, DARPA, NSF-ERC, and ONR. He is a Fellow of the OSA, IEEE, SPIE, and a recipient of the Miriam and Aharon Gutvirt Prize, Lady Davis Fellowship, Brown Award, SPIE Gabor Award, OSA Emmett N. Leith Medal, OSA Joseph Fraunhofer Award/Robert M. Burley Prize and OPTICA (former OSA) Nick Holonyak Jr Award.
Host: Dr. Steve Crago
More Info: https://www.isi.edu/events/5445/foundry-enabled-chip-scale-photonics-technology-and-applications/
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/5445/foundry-enabled-chip-scale-photonics-technology-and-applications/
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
USC Fullbright US Student Program - Writing Workshop
Fri, Apr 04, 2025 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Ready to take the first step toward your Fulbright journey? This interactive workshop wll break down the application process, share key resources, and show you how USC Academic Honors & Fellowships can support you along the way. Whether youâre just starting to explore Fulbright or already committed to applying, this session will help you build a strong foundation.
USC has been named a Top Producing Institution of Fulbright U.S. Students and Scholars and is one of only 19 institutions named as top producers for both of the prestigious programs for 2024-2025.As you begin to define your postgraduate plans, we would like to personally invite you to explore the Fulbright U.S. Student Program (https://us.fulbrightonline.org/). Fulbright is a U.S. government-funded program that supports an academic year of research, English teaching, graduate study, and other opportunities outside of the United States once your undergraduate degree is completed. While it may seem early to be thinking about an opportunity post-USC, it is necessary to plan well-in advance to meet campus and national deadlines. *U.S. citizenship is required
As a first step, we recommend that you watch a Fulbright U.S. Student Program General Information Session hosted by the Fulbright national team (https://vimeo.com/930424149?share=copy#t=0). Applications for the 2026-27 grant year are projected to open in April 2025.Location: Online Event
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Noe Mora
Event Link: https://engage.usc.edu/viterbi/rsvp?id=403871
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor. -
PhD Thesis Proposal - Soumyaroop Nandi
Fri, Apr 04, 2025 @ 02:45 PM - 04:45 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
Title: Context-Aware Semantic Forgery Detection in Biomedical and Natural Images
Committee: Dr. Premkumar Natarajan (Chair), Dr. Emilio Ferrara, Dr. Daniel O’Leary, Dr. Erdem Biyik, and Dr. Gale Lucas
Abstract:Copy-move forgery is one of the most common and challenging forms of image manipulation, where regions within an image are duplicated and repositioned to conceal or falsify visual evidence. Detecting these manipulations becomes especially difficult in the case of semantic or context-aware forgeries, where duplicated content is strategically placed to mislead interpretation or alter meaning. This challenge is further compounded in specialized domains such as biomedical imaging, where image tampering can undermine scientific integrity by distorting experimental results. In the proposed thesis, we explore and develop state space model-based attention networks to advance the detection of copy-move and semantic image forgeries in both natural and biomedical images. We begin by introducing a visual state space modeling approach that uses normalized attention maps to locate and compare similar regions within an image. A region-based block-attention mechanism, integrated with this model, enables precise identification of manipulated and authentic areas, producing detailed localization maps of both the source and duplicated regions. To address the limitations of existing datasets, we propose a comprehensive copy-move forgery detection dataset designed to capture a wider range of sophisticated tampering techniques. Furthermore, we extend our methods to biomedical images, leveraging state space models as similarity detectors that focus on duplicated regions, enabling effective detection of manipulations that traditional models often fail to identify. This thesis aims to advance the field of semantic forgery detection by providing efficient and robust techniques for identifying both low-level pixel alterations and high-level, context-driven forgeries across diverse imaging applications.
Location: Ginsburg Hall (GCS) - 402C - 4th Floor
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ellecia Williams
This event is open to all eligible individuals. USC Viterbi operates all of its activities consistent with the University's Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.
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