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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April
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Looking Out/Looking In: Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Sun, Apr 01, 2007 @ 06:30 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Looking Out/Looking In series features several important classical and contemporary films viewed through the lens of social-work theory and practice.Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (directed by Andrew Douglas, 2005) takes a captivating road trip through the creative and religious spirit of the South. The documentary travels to churches, prisons, biker bars and coal mines, revealing misfits, loners and a world of marginalized white people and their sometimes haunting culture. The film challenges notions of normality and allows us to enter the phenomenological world of the "outsider." In a discussion following the screening, Rafael C. Angulo will use the literature of Southern writer Flannery O' Connor to examine the characters and culture of the South and help us recognize redemption in the most unlikely people and places.
Location: George Lucas Instructional Building Room 108
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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BME Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 02, 2007 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Human Embryonic Stem Cells: State of the Art"Martin Pera, PhD
Director, Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative MedicineLocation: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adam Wyatt
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“Energy-Optimal Scheduling with Dynamic Channel Acquisition in Wireless Downlinksâ€
Tue, Apr 03, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Mr. Chih-Ping Li, Communication Sciences InstituteAbstract: We consider a wireless base station serving L users through L time-varying channels. It is well known that opportunistic scheduling algorithms with full channel state information (CSI) can stabilize the system and achieve the full capacity region of a wireless downlink. However, opportunistic scheduling algorithms with full CSI may not be energy efficient when the cost of channel acquisition is high and traffic rates are low. In particular, under the low traffic rate regime, it may be sufficient and more energy-efficient to transmit data with no CSI, i.e., to transmit data blindly, since no power for channel acquisition is consumed. However, pure channel-aware or pure channel-blind strategies are not necessarily optimal, and we must consider mixed strategies. We derive a unified scheduling algorithm that dynamically chooses to transmit data with full or no CSI based on queue backlog and channel statistics. Through Lyapunov analysis, we show that the unified algorithm can stabilize the downlink with optimal power consumption. Bio: Chih-ping Li received B.S. and M.S. degree in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University, Taiwan, in 2001 and University of Southern California in 2005, respectively. He is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in USC. His research interests are in the areas of queueing theory and Markov decision processes.Host: Michael Neely, mjneely@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Organic Pollutant Transformations in the Natural Environment and in Engineered Processes
Thu, Apr 05, 2007 @ 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Inez Hua, Ph.D.,
Purdue University,
School of Civil Engineering,AbstractThis seminar will focus on two major themes: the abiotic, environmental transformation
of emerging contaminants, and the accelerated destruction of water pollutants via engineered
photochemical reactors. Photolysis and free-radical reaction mechanisms are the scientific basis
for each theme.The first research topic is part of a multi-disciplinary project focused on an emergingcategory of pollutants, the brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Certain BFRs have been widely detected in the environment, in wildlife, and in people. Photochemical reaction of BFRs provides an abiotic transformation mechanism in the environment, and the process occurs under a variety of conditions. Data will be presented which demonstrates the photolytic debromination of BFRs when the compounds are irradiated with either artificial or natural sunlight. The decomposition kinetics and products, and the quantum yield (for selected wavelengths of natural sunlight) will be discussed. The BFRs were either dissolved or adsorbed to mineral surfaces during irradiation. Complementing the research on environmental fate of BFRs is additional work that quantifies the inventory of BFRs in existing products (including electronics). We also investigate the potential pathways of BFRs to the environment from products and materials during their manufacture, use, recycle or disposal. The second research theme is focused on water pollution control. Critical infrastructure in the United States includes the water sector, and it is necessary to develop and optimize technologies that remove or destroy a range of known and potential water contaminants. The aim of this project is to explore the effectiveness of photochemical oxidation in destroying chemical threat agents. The destruction of nicotine and several organophosphate compounds has been investigated. The reaction kinetics and mechanism for each compound will be discussed. Also, the results of a process optimization study will be reported; a central composite Design of Experiments (DOE) was completed to provide quantitative information for optimizing the destruction of nicotine and phosphamidon.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Thoughts on Mixing for EXIT Charts
Thu, Apr 05, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Dr. Jossy Sayir, Telecommunications Research Center (FTW)ABSTRACT: EXIT charts and density evolution are two analysis techniques
to predict the peformance of iterative algorithms. EXIT charts
track the evolution of the average bitwise mutual information,
while density evolution tracks the evolution of the average
message distributions. In this talk, I will investigate the
difference between averaging mutual informations and averaging
distributions. A recent paper by Lechner, Kramer and Pedersen
shows that for messages that satisfy the symmetry condition
(e.g., Log-Likelihood Ratios), averaging distributions or
mutual informations are equivalent. For sub-optimal algorithms
(e.g., min-sum, Gallager A&B, etc.), where messages do not satisfy
the symmetry condition, they suggest a modification of EXIT chart
analysis that averages distributions in order to get the correct
prediction. We show that this does not necessarily yield the
correct prediction in all cases, and propose an alternative method
based on averaging mutual informations that does.This is joint work with Ingmar Land.BIO: Dr. Jossy Sayir received his Dipl. El.-Ing. degree from the ETH Zurich
in 1991. From 1991 to 1993, he worked as a development engineer for
Motorola Communications in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributing to the
design of a digital mobile radio system. He returned to ETH from 1993
to 1999, getting his PhD in 1999 under the supervision of Prof. J.L. Massey.
His thesis "On Coding by Probability Transformation" covered topics in
data compression, joint source-channel coding using arithmetic
codes, and capacity computation algorithms. Since 2000, he
has been employed at the Telecommunications Research Center (FTW) in
Vienna, Austria, as a senior researcher. His research interests
include iterative decoding methods, sub-optimal and quantized decoders,
and wireless ad hoc and sensor networks. Since July 2002, he manages
part of the strategic research activities at FTW and supervises a group
of researchers. He has taught courses on Turbo and related codes at
Vienna University of Technology, at the University of Aalborg,
Denmark, and at the University of Adelaide, Australia. He has served on
the organization committees of several international conferences and
workshops. In his spare time, he loves to cook, and plays the alto saxophone
in various jazz ensembles.HOST: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Bekey Keynote Speaker
Thu, Apr 05, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Ed LazowskaBill & Melinda Gates Chair
in Computer Science & Engineering University of WashingtonTitle: Computer Science: Past, Present, and FutureAbstract:The National Science Foundation has created the Computing Community Consortium to engage computing researchers in an ongoing process of visioning - of imagining what we might contribute to the world, in terms that we and the world might both appreciate.This process is just beginning, and I'd like to take this opportunity to engage you. The next ten years of advances in computer science should be far more significant, and far more interesting, than the past ten. I will review the progress that our field has made, and I will present a number of "grand challenge" problems that we should be prepared to tackle in the coming decade. I'll invite your contributions.Biography:Ed Lazowska holds the Bill & Melinda Gates Chair in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, where he has been on the faculty since 1977. Lazowska's research and teaching concern the design, implementation, and analysis of high performance computing and communication systems. He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, ACM, IEEE, and AAAS. He has chaired the NSF CISE Advisory Committee, the DARPA Information Science and Technology (ISAT) Study Group, and the Computing Research Association Board of Directors. He has been an advisor to Microsoft Research since its inception in 1991, and serves as a board member or technical advisor to a number of high-tech companies and venture firms.Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Did the Trojan War Really Happen
Thu, Apr 05, 2007 @ 07:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
How much of this fabled conflict is true and how much is myth? Acclaimed ancient-military historian Barry Strauss describes recent archaeological research that shows that the war probably did happen. But it was a different kind of war than we usually imagine: more foreign, but, in some ways, all too familiar. Barry Strauss is well-noted author and professor of history and classics at Cornell University
Location: Annenberg Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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Honors Program Colloquium: Digital Communications in the Third World
Fri, Apr 06, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture offered by Mr. Fred Baker, Fellow at Cisco Systems
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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CS Colloquium- Even-Dar
Fri, Apr 06, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Title:Limitations and Challenges in No Regret AlgorithmsEyal Even-DarUniversity of PennsylvaniaAbstract:No regret algorithms have been studied extensively since the pioneering works of Blackwell, Hannan and Robbins in 1950s. In a sequential decision making problem where you are given an advice by N experts at each time step, the no regret algorithms guarantee that you will always do almost as good as the best expert in hindsight. Equipped with such strong theoretical guarantee, no regret algorithms have been applied successfully in many fields including machine learning, economics and game theory.In this talk I will present several challenges to and limitations of no regret algorithms. More specifically, I will consider adding natural constraints and adapting no regret algorithms to dynamic environments. Such scenarios will shed a light on how far these algorithms can be "pushed", while still satisfying the no regret property. Finally, I will consider a routing game where all users use no regret algorithms, and study the efficiency and the stability of such game.Biography:Eyal Even-Dar received his Ph.D. from Tel Aviv University in
2005 and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. His interests include computational learning theory, machine learning, game theory and their intersection.Hosted by David KempeRefreshments will be served.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Mapping of Probabilities (a Theory for the Interpretation of Uncertain Physical Measurements)
Mon, Apr 09, 2007 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Albert Tarantola, University of Paris VI.While the usual way for "assimilating" uncertain observations goes through the use of conditional probabilities, one may try to introduce different concepts, directly borrowed from set theory. It is argued that these new concepts complete the traditional Kolmogorov point of view. The resulting theory seems well adapted for facing real world problems, where observations are only used to "falsify" models (à la Popper), these falsifications defining the transition from a prior distribution of models into a posterior distribution (à la Bayes).
Location: 118 Zumberge Hall
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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BME Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 09, 2007 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
"Vision as Bayesian Inference: Analysis by Synthesis"Alan Yuille, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Adam Wyatt
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The Worlds Energy Problem and What We Can Do About It
Tue, Apr 10, 2007 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Steven ChuDirector, Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryProfessor, University of California, BerkeleyNobel laureate, Physics, 1997AbstractAmong America's most serious concerns are (i) national security, which is intimately tied to energy security, (ii) economic competitiveness, and (iii) the environment. These issues transcend our national
boundaries and have serious implications for the world. At the core of these problems is need to secure, clean, affordable and sustainable sources of energy. Solutions must come from a combination
of improvements on both the demand and supply side, and science and technology will be an essential part of the solution. After briefly describing the energy problem, the remainder of the talk will describe areas of research that may lead to transforming technologies.BioSteven Chu is Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Professor of Physics, Molecular
and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Previously, he was at Stanford and Bell Laboratories. His research includes tests of fundamental physics, the development of methods to laser cool and trap atoms, polymer physics, and single molecule biology. He is become active in the energy problem and is co-chairing an InterAcademy Council (IAC) study "Transitioning to Sustainable
Energy". Chu has numerous awards, including the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academia Sinica, and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Korean Academy of Science and Engineering. At Stanford, he helped start Bio-X, a multi-disciplinary initiative linking the physical and biological sciences with engineering and medicine. He serves on the Boards of the Hewlett Foundation, the University of Rochester, NVIDIA and the Scientific Board of the Moore Foundation. He has served on a number of other committees such as the Augustine Committee that produced the report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm", the Advisory
Committee to the Directors of the NIH and the National Nuclear Security Agency, the Executive
Committee of the NAS Board on Physics and Astronomy. Professor Chu received A.B. and B.S. degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Rochester, a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley, and eight honorary degreesLocation: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - 124 (Auditorium)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht
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Energy and Geotechnology
Wed, Apr 11, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Carlos Santamarina,
Georgia TechAbstract:
Energy is critical to growth. There will be a pronounced increase in energy demands in the next decades. This will exacerbate issues related to the spatial distributions of supply and demand, the dependency on fossil fuels, and their consequences. Geotechnology is at the center of the energy challenge, in all its stages, from production, transportation, consumption and conservation, to waste management. The case of hydrate bearing sediments is of particular interest. Their study requires a wide range of disciplines, anchored around geomechanics, and the development of new numerical and experimental tools to understand their intricate formation history and complex behavior.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, 203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Modeling the Flow Response of Severely Processed Metals: Application to Copper and Zirconium
Wed, Apr 11, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Irene J. Beyerlein Staff Scientist Theoretical Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, NM 87545 Irene@lanl.gov Severe plastic deformation techniques have received considerable attention for their potential in producing nanocrystalline metals with outstanding properties. As the name suggests, these techniques involve deforming metals up to extremely large strains, from 100% to 1600%. To measure their mechanical performance, subsequent uniaxial tests or hardness measurements are conducted on the heavily processed samples. In most situations, the severely processed material is plastically anisotropic, meaning that the yield stress and hardening evolution depend on the strain mode and direction imposed by the test. So for example the tensile strength of the material could be stronger along the billet axis than transverse to it. The opposite may occur in compression. Furthermore, subsequent loading most often imposes a strain-path change to the material. Both strain-path changes and large plastic straining have for some time challenged development of models for metal deformation. We are currently developing micromechanical hardening laws and multi-scale models for the deformation behavior of metals with a large strain processing history. The resulting constitutive model accounts for contributions to anisotropy by texture and microstructural evolution in pre-straining and re-loading. In this talk, the predictions will be compared with the measured responses in copper and zirconium after they have been processed by equal channel angular extrusion. The model forecasts significant asymmetry in the tension and compression responses and directional dependence of these metals after ECAE, in agreement with observation
Location: Seaver Science LIbrary (SSL) Rm 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Lyman L. Handy Colloquium
Thu, Apr 12, 2007 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Promise of Computational Science: Opportunities for Computational MaterialsLyman L. Handy Colloquium presents The Promise of Computational Science: Opportunities for Computational Materials Professor Sidney Yip
Departments of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Abstract
As advanced computational methods are being developed and used to solve complex problems, the intersection of computational science and materials research presents a unique opportunity for ensuring the scientific and technological competitiveness of our nation. We explore the notion of designing a "Concept Material" through the process of multiscale modeling and simulation with verification and validation. Several types of applications, from grand challenge problems suitable for a national initiative to small-group projects linking colleagues across the campus, will be offered as examples, concluding with an outlook on global synergy in educating a new community of scientists and engineers. Suggested reading: S. Yip, "Synergistic Science: Computational Materials", Nature Materials, 2, 3 (2003). Thursday, April 12, 2007
Seminar at 12:45 p.m. OHE 122 Refreshments will be served after the seminar in the HED Lobby The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited.Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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CS Distinguished Lecture Series
Thu, Apr 12, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
This lecture has been cancelled.Dr. John GrayMicrosoft eScience GroupTitle: eScience -- bringing all the world's science data and literature online and cross-indexing it.Hosted by Prof. Shahram Ghandeharizadeh
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Parallel Multifrontal Sparse Solvers
Thu, Apr 12, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Robert LucasDirector of the Computational Sciences Division
USC Information Sciences InstituteAbstract:Solving large sparse systems of linear equations is the computational bottleneck in many applications. These include such diverse fields as mechanical computer aided engineering (MCAE) and interior point methods from optimization. Therefore, over the last three decades, a great deal of research has gone into porting such algorithms to large-scale, parallel systems. This talk will review the multifrontal method for factoring such linear systems and the experience gained porting it to distributed memory (MPI), shared memory (OpenMP), and SIMD systems. The talk will conclude with lessons learned and a discussion of some of the open research problems in this area.Biography:Dr. Robert F. Lucas is the Director of the Computational Sciences Division of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI). There he manages research in computer architecture, VLSI, compilers and other software tools. Prior to joining ISI, he was the Head of the High Performance Computing Research Department in the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. There he oversaw work in scientific data management, visualization, numerical algorithms, and scientific applications. Prior to joining NERSC, Dr. Lucas was the Deputy Director of DARPA's Information Technology Office. He also served as DARPA's Program Manager for Scalable Computing Systems and Data-Intensive Computing. From 1988 to 1998 he was a member of the research staff of the Institute for Defense Analyses, Center for Computing Sciences. From 1979 to 1984 he was a member of the Technical Staff of the Hughes Aircraft Company. Dr. Lucas received his BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1980, 1983, and 1988 respectively.Host: Aiichiro Nakano
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Science, Serendipity and the Search for Truth: Point of View
Thu, Apr 12, 2007 @ 07:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Science, Serendipity and the Search for Truth puts science on stage in an informal series of conversations and performances alongside music, theater, journalism, religion, film, dance and other disciplines to see what serendipitous connections might bubble up. For the second Point of View program, relativist Don Marolf of UCSB will tell us what Einstein's relativity REALLY means to the physicists who study our world. Poet, author and LMU professor Michael Datcher, will talk about the role of the writer as a witness and also his newly launched journal of literary nonfiction, The Truth about the Fact. L.A.-based choreographer Rosanna Gamson will show and tell us about her work, "Grand, Hope, Flower," which pretends to be a lecture on quantum electrodynamics, but is actually about L.A. For more information about the series, please visit:
http://www.usc.edu/webapps/events_calendar/custom/113/index.php?category=Item&item=0.861403&active_category=DayLocation: Gin Wong Conference Center
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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Floppy Forensics: Why you need a Ph.D from USC 20 years later
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 @ 12:30 PM - 01:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Fred Cohen: On June 21, 2005, I received the one and only floppy disk purported to have been originally written in the 1980s that was the key piece of evidence in a legal matter worth at least tens of millions of dollars. The reason I got it was that nobody else could read it. This talk is about how I extracted the contents, how sure I am that what I extracted is what was originally written some 20 years earlier and not a forgery created to win millions of dollars in a legal battle, and why I am that sure. It involves a hundred floppy disk drives, aging computers and long ago software libraries, flux density, electromechanical systems, a custom version of an operating system, a spiral disk, a trip to a military base in the desert that I made when I was a graduate student, coding and finite state machines, a trip to Alaska, and more. It is the proof that 20 years later, the things you learn on the way to getting your Ph.D. are still useful.
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Hydrocarbons in Air Pollution: A Chemists View - 2007
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Leo Zafonte Ph.D.Staff Air Pollution Research Specialist
Haagen-Smit Laboratory of the California Air Resources Board((ABSTRACT))A primary focus of the California Air Resources Board is the measurement of those hydrocarbons which either directly or indirectly contributes to air pollution within the State.Hydrocarbons are an all-important focus for all air quality measurements in California because so much impact of its pollution is related to hydrocarbons.This talk will survey those major areas where the activities of the Air Resources Board, and specifically of the Monitoring and Laboratory Division, Southern Laboratory Branch in El Monte, California, measures hydrocarbons in support of California's effort to improve our air quality.The presentation will both focus on the facilities and instrumentation used, while giving a broader overview of the importance of this data.It will present some progress being made at El Monte on the construction of a new laboratory for being used to analyze for particulate matter. Some aspects of the new California legislation, AB32, the Greenhouse Gas Initiative that will be a part of California¹s future, will also be summarized.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - -156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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Honors Program Colloquium: New Technologies for Feature Films
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture offered by Dr. Richard Weinberg, Research Associate Professor in the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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Cognition, Computers, and Managing Perception - Dr. Fred Cohen
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
People who break into computers lie all the time in their attacks, but what happens to the attackers when the computers lie back to them? In this talk, Dr. Cohen will describe what is believed to be the largest and most complete scientific experiments ever undertaken to test out an information security approach, the methodologies developed to carry out these experiments, the laboratory facilities used to support these experiments, and of course the underlying theory, experiments, and outcomes. Along the way, magic tricks will be used to demonstrate and clarify the theoretical underpinnings of the use of deception for information protection.
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Annie Yu
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Quantized Feedback Design for MIMO Broadcast Channels
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Professor Mikael Skoglund, KTH, SwedenABSTRACT: Low-rate feedback design for multiple-input multiple-output broadcast channels is studied under a vector quantization framework. Iterative algorithms are proposed to design the partial feedback link, the scheduler, and the linear precoding codebook. It is demonstrated that the gain due to multi-user diversity can be significant even with heavily quantized channel state information at the transmitter. Our results highlight the potential of multi-user diversity, even with simple schemes and extremely-low-rate feedback.BIO: Mikael Skoglund received the Ph.D. degree in 1997 from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. In the same year he joined the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. Here he held various positions until he was appointed Professor of Communication Theory in 2003.Dr. Skoglund's research interests are in information theory, communications, and detection and estimation. He has worked on problems in vector quantization, combined source-channel coding, coding for wireless communications, and statistical signal processing. Dr. Skoglund has authored some 100 scientific papers. Several of these have received best paper awards, and one recent journal paper ranks as 'highly cited' according to the ISI Essential Science Indicators.Dr. Skoglund is frequently serving as area expert and reviewer for research grants and publications, and he is an Associate Editor with the IEEE Transactions on Communications. Dr. Skoglund has also consulted for industry, and he holds 6 patents. He is a senior member of the IEEE.Host: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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An Overview Of BPs Activities In The Area Of Pushing The Reservoir Technical Limits
Mon, Apr 16, 2007 @ 03:15 PM - 04:15 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Reza FassihiExploration and Production Technology, BPIn this presentation Dr. Fasshi will discuss the current BP activities within the area of pushing the reservoir technical limits. He will introduce the Ultimate Recovery factor and discuss some of the new methods for increasing oil Recovery. Two key technologies that are being developed and field tested within bp are Low Salinity Waterflood (LoSalTM ) and Bright WaterTM injection. The latter technology uses a special polymer that gels at reservoir conditions and plugs the thief zones. He'll present the latest simulation and field results in detail.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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Quantum Algorithms and Quantum State Identification
Tue, Apr 17, 2007 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Andrew Childs
California Institute of TechnologyHost: Todd Brun, tbrun@usc.eduABSTRACT:
Quantum mechanical computers would be much faster than ordinary classical computers at solving certain problems, such as factoring integers. However, the full extent of the computational power of quantum mechanics is not well understood. In this talk, I will describe recently developed quantum algorithms that outperform classical computation. These algorithms are based on efficient procedures for identifying quantum states. A simple example of a problem that can be solved in this way is the abelian hidden subgroup problem (HSP), the core problem solved by the factoring algorithm. I will explain how entangled measurements can be used to extend this approach to certain nonabelian HSPs. I will also describe how a similar approach can be applied to a new generalization of the abelian HSP, namely a problem of finding hidden nonlinear structures.BIOGRAPHY:
I received a B.S. in physics in 2000 from Caltech, and a Ph.D. in physics in 2004 from MIT, where I was a Hertz Foundation Fellow. Currently, I am a Lee A. DuBridge Postdoctoral Scholar at the Caltech Institute for Quantum Information. My primary research interest is the theory of quantum information processing, and I am especially interested in quantum algorithms that dramatically outperform classical computation.Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Alma Hernandez
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Game Theoretic Analysis of Wireless MAC
Tue, Apr 17, 2007 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Abstract:
Many wireless network standards include Quality-of-Service (QoS) features at the MAC layer. These features provide nodes transmitting real-time traffic such as voice and video preferential access to the channel over nodes carrying best-effort traffic. The success of these QoS mechanisms requires that nodes be honest and truthfully report their application's QoS category. However rational nodes will, if they can, deviate from a standard's specification to maximize their utility. Network interfaces are becoming increasingly programmable and it is possible for nodes to falsely classify their best-effort traffic as real-time traffic to obtain increased throughput. In this talk, we will provide a game-theoretic analysis for a slotted Aloha like MAC that resembles the IEEE 802.11e MAC in many essential respects. Our MAC model allows traffic to be classified as either high-priority (HP) or low-priority (LP), and allows for both random access (contention) and polled (contention-free) channel access. We advocate the use of the contention-free access feature as an efficient and protocol-compliant mechanism to incentivize LP users to be truthful. We discuss appropriate utility functions for HP and LP traffic and analyze the performance of the system using the Nash bargaining solution (NBS) concept from cooperative game theory. The NBS concept is used to find a fair and Pareto-optimal operating point for our system. Since users are strategic, we then use the framework of non-cooperative game theory to find the set of Nash equilibria. Somewhat remarkably, we find that the NBS operating point is a Nash equilibrium, implying that our strategy is both efficient and strategy-proof.
Bio:
Pavan Nuggehalli received the M.Sc (Engg.) degree in electrical sciences from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1998 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, in 2003. His research focuses on architectures, protocols and performance analysis of wireless ad hoc and sensor networks.
He is an Assistant Professor in the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and currently visiting the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) at UC San DiegoHost: Prof. Bhaskar Krishnamachari, Ext. 12528 http://engineering.usc.edu/calendar/Location: Frank R. Seaver Science Center (SSC) - 319
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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The transformation design method and metamaterials: tools to realize invisibility cloaks and other i
Wed, Apr 18, 2007 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
David SchurigMing Hsieh
Department of Electrical EngineeringSEMINAR
"The transformation design method and metamaterials: tools to realize invisibility cloaks and other interesting devices"Abstract:
I will explain how the transformation design method works. One begins this design process by imagining a fictitious space with an interesting or useful property, for example, a hole for hiding things, or a "dense" region that concentrates energy. I will explain how such fictitious spaces can be described mathematically by a coordinate transformation. Then I will explain how the theories of such coordinate transformations and the form invariance of Maxwell's equations leads directly to a material specification. This material specification can implement the electromagnetic properties of the interesting fictitious spaces in the boring, approximately "flat", three dimensional spaces in which we live.
We have used this method to design invisibility cloaks, but the method is quite general and can be used to design a wide variety of interesting devices that guide, concentrate or shape electromagnetic fields in ways that would be difficult to manage with other design methodologies. Applications range from stealth to energy conversion and distribution to wireless communications to biomedical imaging.
The drawback of the method is the complexity of the material specifications that it produces, which have particular anisotropy (variation with angle) and inhomogeneity (variation with position). Only with recent advances in the field of metamaterials can these specifications be realized. I will discuss how metamaterials accomplish this and what their limitations are, e.g. bandwidth, absorption, frequency range etc.
I will discuss in detail the recent implementation of an invisibility cloak in the microwave spectrum. Unlike, traditional stealth, an invisibility cloak reduces both reflection and shadow. Thus both these ways of detecting an object, (the reflection of electromagnetic waves incident on the front of an object and the blocking of electromagnetic waves originating from behind the object) are weakened. If such a cloak were implemented for visible light (a daunting task), then when one looked at the cloaked object one would see the scene behind it.Biography:
David Schurig received his BS in Engineering Physics from U.C. Berkeley, and then worked at Lawrence Berkeley Lab on laser ablation and photoacoustic spectroscopy. He attended physics graduate school at U.C. San Diego and received a PhD in 2002 for his thesis on negative index media, the perfect lens and related structures. David also worked for the California Space Institute, performing space mission feasibility studies, and for Tristan Technologies, designing and building, cryogenically cooled, SQUID-based instruments. David is now a post doctoral fellow at Duke University. He is designing invisibility cloaks and other interesting devices using the transformation method and implementing them with metamaterials.
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht
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Modeling and Simulation of Geological CO2 Sequestration Processes
Wed, Apr 18, 2007 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lyman L. Handy ColloquiumpresentsDr. Margot GerritsenPetroleum Engineering Program, Stanford UniversityGeological sequestration of CO2 in depleted oil or gas reservoir, deep aquifers or coalbeds is increasingly looked at as a viable way to reduce the atmospheric concentration of this greenhouse gas. To address the important questions of the feasibility, risks and costs of geological CO2 sequestration processes, researchers frequently turn to computer simulations. Reliable simulation is however quite challenging. We will discuss the state-of-knowledge in geological sequestration, the numerical challenges and research required to advance this field.
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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Modeling and Simulations of Earthquake Phenomena
Wed, Apr 18, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
DR. NADIA LAPUSTA, CalTechIn earthquake studies, the most important practical problems are the assessment of earthquake hazard and possibility of earthquake prediction. To address these issues in a satisfactory manner, detailed understanding of physics and mechanics of earthquakes is needed.How do earthquakes nucleate and arrest? What are the appropriate descriptions and parameters of fault friction during both quasi-static and dynamic deformation? How do thermal effects - such as flash heating, pore-fluid pressurization, and melting - influence dynamic rupture propagation? What is the stress state on faults and the surrounding crust? Such fundamental questions still evade understanding or consensus. Our studies are directed towards answering these questions by formulating earthquake models with constitutive laws motivated by experimental observations and physically-based theories of how fault materials respond. The goal is to simulate the response of those models in terms of spontaneous sequences of earthquakes and to find the relevant models by comparing simulated features of individual events and event sequences with observations.While most earthquake modelers consider dynamic rupture propagation in a single earthquake, we have been developing a methodology that allows us to simulate spontaneous sequences of earthquakes while fully resolving all stages of each model earthquake: quasi-static accelerating slip during the nucleation process, the resulting inertially-controlled rupture, post-seismic deformation, and ongoing slippage throughout the loading period in creeping fault regions. The resulting simulations are very challenging because of the wide range of temporal and spatial scales involved.We will present our modeling efforts and results on features of the shear rupture sequences, the process of the instability nucleation, modes of dynamic rupture propagation, and strong but brittle interface behavior.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - -203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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Laufer Keynote Lecture
Wed, Apr 18, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Reflections on the Turbulence Problem Anatol Roshko Theodore von Kármán Professor of Aeronautics Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories California Institute of TechnologyPasadena, CAReception: 2:30PM-3:30 PMSeminar 3:30PM-4:30PM The turbulence problem has been around a long time—since the latter part of the 19th century. Toward the end of his large book on Hydrodynamics, Edition 3, 1906, Lamb opens the section on "Turbulent Motion" with the statement, "It remains to call attention to the chief outstanding difficulty of our subject." Since then the importance has not diminished and the "difficulty" continues to get unprecedented attention. Because of its importance as an "unsolved problem" of physics and an ongoing problem for engineering, ideas about its solution and support for its clarification continue to develop. But just what is the "turbulence problem", or problems, and what might be the "solution", or solutions? This talk explores those questions in the historical background of the various developments, ideas and characters that have participated.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - ontology Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Geological Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide: A Viable Option for Mitigating the Greenhouse Effect
Thu, Apr 19, 2007 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
byProfessor Dongxiao ZhangMewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological EngineeringThe University of OklahomaAbstractA dramatic increase in anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions since the
Industrial Revolution is thought to be responsible for current global warming trends.
Carbon dioxide comprises more than half of all atmospheric GHG emissions, resulting
primarily from combustion of fossil fuels. Carbon management is a broad national
and international policy response to address these climate change issues.
Sequestration is the most direct carbon management strategy for long-term removal
of CO2 from the atmosphere, and is likely to be needed for continuation of the US
fossil fuel-based economy and high standard of living. National and international
investments in research on carbon sequestration are ramping up rapidly. At the same
time, carbon sequestration is becoming a new branch of science and engineering.
During this seminar, I will address R&D issues and opportunities associated with
geological carbon sequestration as well as some of our recent research activities in
this area. In particular, a recent pilot study of sequestrating CO2 in a depleted oil
reservoir as well as results for some key issues associated with geological carbon
sequestration (e.g., viscous fingering and wormhole formation) will be discussed in
detail.Thursday, April 19, 2007
Seminar at 12:45 p.m.
OHE 122Refreshments will be served after the seminar in the HED Lobby
The Scientific Community is Cordially Invited.Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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QoS Maps for Mobile Wireless Networks: Coherence Time versus Node Mobility
Thu, Apr 19, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Prof. Volkan Rodoplu, Dpt. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Santa BarbaraABSTRACT: The wireless networks of the next 10 years will consist of a plethora of microprocessor-sensor units embedded in clothes, shoes, cars, buses, as well as the more traditional portable handhelds, and laptops. Today, information flows in wireless networks via a limited number of wireless gateways. In the future, information is expected to flow through thousands to millions of wireless devices themselves. Most of these devices will be mobile and energy-limited, and will have to make decisions on the fly on how to communicate information through thousands to millions of other devices in between to reach destination nodes, as well as gateways into the wired domain. It will no longer be possible to track individual paths and individual nodes; hence, it is essential that an aggregate view of the essential qualities of the mobile network be built and be made available. Quality-of-Service (QoS) decisions regarding energy consumption, delay, and throughput will still play a prominent role in making intelligent decisions to conserve the limited energy supply of devices, and meet delay and throughput requirements in these future networks that consist of thousands to millions of mobile, microprocessor-sensor devices.With this vision, in this talk, we develop new methodologies for mobile, large-scale wireless sensor networks. We propose a novel framework to share, retain and refine end-to-end QoS metrics in the joint memory of the nodes, over time scales over which this information can be spread to the network and utilized for energy planning decisions. In analogy with the point-to-point link concepts, we introduce the "coherence time" of end-to-end QoS metrics for mobile wireless networks. We show that as long as the coherence time of QoS metrics is much larger than the "spreading period", mobile wireless networks can track end-to-end QoS metrics. This is a surprising conclusion given our current understanding of mobile networks, which correlates tractability with the amount of individual node mobility rather than the coherence time of QoS metrics.As an example of this methodology, we construct "energy maps," which are maps of the end-to-end energy metrics in space. We show how to (1) compute the spatial derivatives of energy potentials in mobile networks, (2) construct energy maps on-demand via path integration methods, and (3) distribute, share, fuse, and refine energy maps over time by information exchange during encounters. In order to put the energy maps to use, we present an algorithm for energy optimization, based on the energy maps, that finds the optimal bit allocation strategy to minimize the energy consumption, subject to a delay constraint. We show that significant energy savings are obtained by leveraging network mobility and the energy maps, when compared with a competing algorithm that allocates the traffic at a constant rate without utilizing the energy map. These techniques show how future, large-scale, mobile wireless sensor networks can be handled via new techniques, and how to generalize physical layer concepts such as coherence time, to network-layer concepts related to QoS issues.
This is joint work with Min Kyoung Park (Ph.D. alumna, UCSB)BIO: Volkan Rodoplu received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering (summa cum laude) from Princeton University in 1996 and his M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1998. He worked for Texas Instruments (Dallas, TX) in the summer of 1998, on multiuser detection and interference cancellation algorithms, and for Tensilica, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) in 2000-2001, on turbo decoding algorithms and architectures for reconfigurable processors. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003, and subsequently joined the Department of Electrical and ComputerEngineering at UCSB as an Assistant Professor. His research investigates the limits of minimum energy networks as well as the delivery of minimum energy networking solutions. His research areas span underwater networks, terrestrial wireless mobile sensor networks, and applications of cooperative game theory to wireless networks. He is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2007), UC Regents' Junior Faculty Fellowship (2006), Department of Electrical Engineering Outstanding Service Award at Stanford (2000), B.George B. Wood Legacy Prize, and G. David Forney Prize (1996), and the John W. Tukey Award (1995).Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari, bkrishna@usc.eduLocation: Frank R. Seaver Science Center (SSC) - 319
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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CS Colloquium - Rubenstein
Thu, Apr 19, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Network Resilience: Improving Survivability, Security, and Robustness of Emerging Network SystemsDan RubensteinAssociate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Columbia UniversityAbstract:Computer networks of today and tomorrow need to be deployed rapidly and operate in environments where there is limited cooperation and trust among the nodes composing the network. Examples of such networks include sensor network deployment in a disaster setting, competing 802.11 hotspots, cooperative mesh networks, and delay tolerant networks (DTNs). Such networks are inherently less predictable and more susceptible to accidental or intentional abuses. Our research at Columbia has focused on resilience for this more vulnerable space of networks: how to make them function properly and efficiently when the infrastructure is unplanned, untrusted, insecure, undergoes rapid change, or is attacked.I will begin by describing the various projects in resilience that our lab has focused on over the past several years, and then focus specifically on the problem of control plane monitoring for routing protocols. Distributed routing protocols traditionally assume that all nodes executing the protocol can be trusted to truthfully and correctly report control plane information, but history has demonstrated that sometimes inaccurate information can be propagated with devastating consequences. We develop a theoretical framework that allows us to understand when, using state information provided by a distributed routing protocol, this information can be used to detect erroneous propagation of information. We derive a polynomial-time algorithm for distance vector (Bellman-Ford) and Path-Vector (BGP) style protocols called Strong Detection and prove that if our algorithm cannot detect an error, then the error is undetectable, given the existing state information. We conclude by showing our ongoing work on applicability of Strong Detection to wireless ad-hoc network settings.Biography:Dan Rubenstein is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Columbia University. He received a B.S. degree in mathematics from M.I.T., an M.A. in math from UCLA, and a PhD in computer science from University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His research interests are in network technologies, applications, and performance analysis, with a substantial emphasis on resilient and secure networking, distributed communication algorithms, and overlay technologies. He has received an NSF CAREER Award, an IBM Faculty Award, the Best Student Paper award from the ACM SIGMETRICS 2000 conference, and a Best Paper award from the IEEE ICNP 2003 Conference.Hosted by Leana GolubchikRefreshments will be served.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Nancy Levien
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Honors Program Colloquium: The Ecology of Architecture -- Biomimicry as Progenitor of Form
Fri, Apr 20, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture offered by Mr. David Hertz, AIA of David Hertz AIA Architects, Inc. Studio of Environmental Architecture.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Faculty and Honors Program Students
Contact: Erika Chua
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Real Time Aerosol Measurement Technologies
Fri, Apr 20, 2007 @ 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
(( SPEAKER ))Dr. Manisha SinghApplications Engineer
TSI Incorporated(( ABSTRACT ))The seminar will provide short reviews of new aerosol science measurement technologies using TSI Particle Research Instrument. Some of the techniques covered are:• Scanning Mobile Particle Sizer (SMPS) Technology
• Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) Technology
• Time-of-flight Technology for real time aerodynamic particle sizing.In addition, Nano Technology measurements such as Health Exposure and Environmental Monitoring in the research community will be highlighted.Instruments will be available for Hands-on experimentation and will provide an opportunity to learn about many of TSI's new instruments including the Fast Mobility Particle Sizer™, Nanoparticle Surface Area Monitor™, Water-based CPC, New CPC Technology, and New SMPS Diffusion Loss Algorithm, DataMerge and Nanoparticle Aggregate Mobility Analysis. TSI personnel will be available to discuss specific applications.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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First-principles engineering of advanced hydrogen storage materials
Fri, Apr 20, 2007 @ 02:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials SciencepresentsFirst-principles engineering of advanced hydrogen storage materialsVidvuds OzoliòðDepartment of Materials Science & Engineering, University of California, Los AngelesHydrogen-fueled vehicles require a cost-effective, light-weight material that binds hydrogen strongly enough to be stable at ambient pressures and temperatures but weakly enough to liberate H2 with minimal heat input. Since none of the simple metal hydrides satisfy all the requirements for a practical H2 storage system, recent research efforts have turned to complex hydrides and advanced multicomponent material compositions. We will show that first-principles density-functional theory (DFT) calculations have become a valuable tool for understanding and predicting novel hydrogen storage materials. Recent studies in our group have used DFT calculations to (i) predict crystal structures of new solid-state hydrides, (ii) determine phase diagrams and thermodynamically favored reaction pathways in multinary hydrides, and (iii) study microscopic kinetics of hydrogen release reactions. We have developed theoretical methods for determining crystal structures and thermodynamic properties of novel complex hydrides, which allow accurate theoretical predictions of hydrogenation enthalpies without any experimental input. Using Li-Mg-N-H and Li-Mg-B-N-H as examples, we will demonstrate that phase diagrams and hydrogenation reactions in multicomponent systems can be determined entirely from the first principles. Finally, we will show recent DFT results that elucidate the kinetics of H2 release and mass transport in the prototypical complex hydride, sodium alanate.Friday, April 20, 2007
Seminar at 2:45 pm
SLH 102
Refreshments will be served at 2:30pm
**ALL FIRST YEAR MATERIALS SCIENCE MAJORS ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND**
Location: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
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Distributed and Networked Systems: An Overview, and New Directions
Mon, Apr 23, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Demetri Spanos Post-Doctoral ScholarCalifornia Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA This talk will address some of the main themes in distributed and networked systems engineering, as well as some specific research results focused on a modeling and design framework for certain distributed systems. We will begin with a (very) short history, and discuss why this field has experienced a revival in academia, industry, and government spending over the last decade. We will also present some less traditional views on future applications of distributed systems engineering, especially in the design of aerospace, mechanical, structural, and other "physically embedded" systems. The latter part of the presentation will address a collection of recent research results, a modeling and design framework based on the concept of a "distributed gradient". As an application, we will discuss a widely studied architecture for control based on spatially averaged quantities, and show this to be a special case of the distributed gradient framework. If time permits, we will also discuss a wide variety of novel systems following from the principles of a distributed gradient system
Location: Seaver Science Library )SSL) Rm 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Photophysics of Carbon Nanotubes
Wed, Apr 25, 2007 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Mildred DresselhausInstitute Professor,
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyAbstractThe use of resonance Raman spectroscopy to reveal the remarkable optical properties of carbon nanotubes arising from their one-dimensionality will be briefly reviewed. Particular emphasis will be given to the difference in behavior between semiconducting and metallic nanotubes and the dependence of these behaviors on diameter and chirality. Some of the recent advances in single nanotube photophysics based on both resonance Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence will be discussed. A brief summary will then be given of current photophysics research directions pursued
in my research group.BioMildred Dresselhaus is an Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at MIT. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and has served as President of the American Physical Society, Treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences,
President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and on numerous
advisory committees and councils. Dr. Dresselhaus has received numerous awards, including
the National Medal of Science and 22 honorary doctorates worldwide. She is the co-author of four books on carbon science and is particularly well known for her work on carbon nanotubes and other nanostructural systems. Her research over the years has covered a wide range of problems in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. She is presently co-chair of a National Academy Decadel Study of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics and is coming out this year with two new books, one entitled "Applications of Group Theory to the Physics of Condensed Matter" and the second entitled "Carbon Nanotubes: New Topics in the Synthesis, Structure, Properties and Applications." In February she was named the North American Laureate for the 2007 L'Oreal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science.More Information visit: http://ee.usc.edu/munushianLocation: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht
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Optimization of maintenance and replacement policies for a system of heterogeneous infrastructure fa
Wed, Apr 25, 2007 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
(( SPEAKER ))Dr. SAMER MADANAT, Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS), University of California, Berkeley(( ABSTRACT ))This research addresses the determination of optimal maintenance and replacement policies for a system of heterogeneous facilities. The problem of optimizing maintenance and replacement policies at the system level is formulated in a reliability-based framework, based on policies that are optimal at the facility level. The facility-level policies are determined using a finite-state, finite horizon Markov decision process in which the state of the Markov chain contains information on the history of maintenance and deterioration.Optimality conditions for the continuous-case system-level problem are derived and explained intuitively. A numerical study shows that the results obtained in the discrete-case implementation of the solution are valid approximations of the continuous-case results. The computational efficiency of the system-level solution makes the formulation suitable for systems of realistic sizes.Bio: Samer Madanat is the Xenel Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and the Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.He received a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Jordan in 1986, and a M.S and Ph.D. in Transportation Systems from MIT in 1988 and 1991 respectively.His research and teaching interests are in the area of Transportation Infrastructure Management, with an emphasis on modeling facility performance and the development of optimal management policies under uncertainty. He has published extensively in refereed archival journals and conference proceedings.In 2000, he received the Science and Technology grant from the University of California Office of the President, an award given annually to one faculty member in the UC system. Since 2001, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems. Several of his former students are faculty members at universities in the US and abroad.
Location: Ralph And Goldy Lewis Hall (RGL) - -215
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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Particulate Matter Emitted By Vehicles in Freeway and Roadway Tunnel Environments:
Wed, Apr 25, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
(( SPEAKER ))DR. MICHAEL D. GELLER, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, USC(( ABSTRACT ))Individual organic compounds such as hopanes and steranes (originating in lube oil), selected polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs) (generated via combustion), and trace metals found in particulate emissions from vehicles have proven useful in source apportionment of ambient particulate matter.Currently, little ambient data exists for a majority of these species. Three sampling campaigns have been carried out in four different environments with similar ambient conditions: a gasoline only freeway, a heavy-duty diesel influenced freeway (~20% diesel), a gasoline only tunnel, and a mixed-vehicle (~4% diesel) tunnel.Trace organic species in the ultrafine (Very good agreement is observed between CA-110 (gasoline freeway) and light duty vehicle tunnel emission factors as well as I-710 (~20% diesel freeway) measurements and corresponding reconstructed emission factors from the tunnel for selected species. This study demonstrates the effective use of CO2-estimated dilution to associate assorted vehicle-emitted PM bound compounds in distinct vehicle-dominated environments.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - -203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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Constrained Variation in Multiscale Simulations of Micro- and Nano-Fluidics and Subgrid-Scale Stress
Wed, Apr 25, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Shiyi Chen Alonzo G. Decker Jr. Chair in Engineering and Science Department of Mechanical Engineering The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD Finding physically consistent solutions in multiscale methods is crucial for various multiscale modeling and simulations. A framework for continuum and molecular dynamics hybrid multiscale method has been recently developed to simulate micro- and nano-fluid flows. In this approach, the continuum Navier-Stokes equation is used in one flow region and atomistic molecular dynamics in another. The spatial coupling between two methods is achieved through the constrained dynamics in an overlap region. The proposed multiscale method has been validated in simple fluid flows, including sudden-start Couette flow and channel flow with nano-scale wall roughness, showing quantitative agreement with results from analytical solutions and full molecular dynamics simulations. The hybrid method is then used to study the singularity problems in the driven cavity and moving contact lines. Following the stress over more than six decades in length in systems with characteristic scales of millimeters and milliseconds allows us to resolve the singularity and determine the force for the first time. The speedup over pure atomistic calculation is more than fourteen orders of magnitudes. The similar idea of constrained variation has also been used for developing constrained dynamic subgrid-scale (C-SGS) stress model of fluid turbulence. In the C-SGS, we impose physical constraints in the dynamic procedure of calculating the SGS coefficients. In particular, we study dynamic mixed models with energy flux and helicity flux constraints. The comparison between the large eddy simulation results in steady and decaying isotropic turbulence using constrained and non-constrained SGS models and those from direct numerical simulation (DNS) will be presented. It is found that the C-SGS not only predicts the turbulent dissipation more accurately, but also shows a strong correlation between the model stress and the real stress from a priori test, which is a desirable feature combining the advantages of dynamic Smagorinsky and traditional mixed models.
Location: Seaver Science Llibrary (SSL) Room 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Tsunami-Induced Sediment Transport and Scour
Thu, Apr 26, 2007 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
:SPEAKER:Yin Lu (Julie) YoungCivil & Environmental Engineering Department
Princeton University:ABSTRACT:As demonstrated by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, high intensity wave runup and drawdown can mobilize substantial amount of sediment deposits. The resulting erosion and scour damage can undermine building foundations, roadways, sea walls, embankments, and may even lead to eventual collapse of the coastal structure. In this seminar, we will focus on the numerical and experimental analysis of tsunami-induced sediment transport. We will talk about the development and validation of the numerical model, including the effect of wave breaking, dispersion, and interaction with sediments and underlying soil layer. In addition, we will also talk about two sets of experiments to be conducted this year to examine the complex physics and various scaling effects of tsunami-induced sediment transport. The first experimental study focuses on the effect of enhanced transport due to pore pressure gradients, and will be conducted at the 30-ft long flume in the hydraulics lab at the University of Hawaii using multiple grain sizes. The second experimental study focuses on tsunami-induced sediment transport, and will be conducted at the 160-ft long tsunami wave basin at Oregon State University using fine Oregon beach sand. The experimental setups are shown, and scaling issues for the two movable bed physical models are discussed. Comparisons of the differences and similarities in transport mechanisms for tsunami cross-shore environment and river-type environment are presented.:SHORT BIOGRAPHY:Julie Young received her B.S. from University of Southern California in 1996, where she did research on shear-band failure of soil particles under Prof. J.P. Bardet. She then went on to the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) to get her M.S. degree (1998) under Profs. J. Roesset and K. Stokoe II on numerical modeling and SASW testing of stress-induced anisotropy of soil surrounding a borehole. Julie stayed in UT Austin for her PhD degree, where she studied under Prof. S. Kinnas on numerical modeling of the cavitating marine propellers. Since 2002, she is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. In 2005, Julie received both the ONR Young Investigator Award and the Rheinstein SEAS Junior Faculty Award. Her current active research areas include multiphase modeling (sediment transport, porous flows, and bubbly flows) and fluid-structure interaction modeling (tsunami-sediment-soil interactions and hydroelastic tailoring of composite structures).Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - -203
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Masako Okamoto
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Optical Forces and Slow Light in Nanophotonics
Mon, Apr 30, 2007 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Michelle L. PovinelliStanford UniversityMonday, April 30, 2007SSC 150 @ 3:30 PM to 4:30 PMAdvances in nanofabrication techniques now allow us to pattern materials on a scale
smaller than the wavelength of light. I will show how computational simulations can be used to explore novel optical phenomena in nanofabricated devices such as photonic
crystals and guide device design. First, I explore the use of optical (or radiation-pressure)forces for reconfiguration and positioning of integrated optical devices. Calculations on waveguide, microsphere, and photonic-crystal systems show that light forces should lead to significant displacements, opening a new route for all-optical control. Second, I describe how dynamically-tuned photonic crystals can be used to slow down the speed of light onchip, mimicking atomic systems. Thirdly, I describe mechanisms for reducing the propagation losses due to disorder and light leakage in miniaturized nanophotonic waveguides.Dr. Michelle L. Povinelli is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in the Ginzton Laboratory and the Department of Electrical Engineering. She received a PhD in Physics from MIT in 2004, an M. Phil. in Physics from the University of Cambridge in 1998, and a BA with Honors in Physics from the University of Chicago in 1997. She was awarded several graduate fellowships for her doctoral work, including the Lucent Technologies GRPW Fellowship, the NSF Graduate Fellowship, the MIT Karl Taylor Compton Fellowship, and the Churchill Fellowship. In 2006, she was selected as one of five national recipients of a $20,000 L'Oréal For Women in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship grant. She has co-authored twenty refereed journal articles and holds two US Patents.Location: Frank R. Seaver Science Center (SSC) - 150 @ 3:30 PM
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht
