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Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Events for April
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Sensitivity, Uncertainty and Cost Assessments of Impacts of Climate Change on Air Quality
Wed, Apr 01, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: K.J. Liao,
Environmental Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory,
Argonne, Illinois,
E-mail: kliao@anl.gov Abstract:
Climate change is forecast to affect ambient temperatures, precipitation frequency and stagnation conditions, all of which impact regional air quality. An issue of primary importance for policy-makers is how well currently planned control strategies for improving air quality that are based on the current climate will work under future global climate change scenarios. The US EPA's Regional Air Quality Modeling System, CMAQ, with decoupled direct method (DDM) are used to investigate sensitivities of ground-level ozone and PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 ìm) to emission controls for current and future scenarios. Sensitivities are predicted to change slightly in response to climate change, suggesting that currently planned emission control strategies will continue to be effective in decreasing ozone and PM2.5 levels in the future. Impacts of uncertainties in climate change forecast on regional air quality predictions are investigated using multiple climate futures in order to evaluate the robustness of currently planned emission controls under impacts of climate change. The results show that the impacts of climate uncertainties can be substantial and partially offset the effectiveness of future emission controls in some urban areas and should be included in assessing future air pollutant control requirements. Several mathematical programming models for developing optimal integrated air pollutant control strategies under impacts of climate change will also be discussed. Optimization of emission control strategies for offsetting climate effects on ozone and PM2.5 levels for five U.S. cities (Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and New York) will be presented as an example of single-objective nonlinear programming models based on the least-cost approach.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Reservoir Characterization by Production Data
Thu, Apr 02, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lyman L. Handy Colloquium SeriesPresentsLarry W. Lake,
The University of Texas at AustinAbstractThe history of reservoir characterization has been based on and currently rests on static data. Indeed, entire technologies academic majors, and even commercial enterprises have sprung up to gather, interpret, and use core data, logs, geology and seismic data. The saturations, porosities, permeabilities, relative permeabilitiies, to name a few, from these technologies form the basis of volumetric calculations (original hydrocarbon in place), and recovery estimates (recoverable hydrocarbon). Ironically, it is dynamic data or data from flowing wells that are of commercial interest because revenue streams are directly proportional to it. But, aside from use in pressure transient analysis and as targets in simulation history matching, these data are little used in characterization. This situation is about the change. The large-scale use of near-continuous (real-time) surface and downhole measurements of rates (all fluids), pressures and temperatures will augment\ and in some cases supplant reliance on static measurements. Such measurements are common now on new production facilities. Indications are that they are cost-effective on existing or legacy production. But these measurements will only be useful if there are means to interpret them. The objective of this presentation is to discuss a set of models that will use the coming "tsunami" of data to be generated by production sensor technology too characterize reservoirs.Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Engineering and Epilepsy: Sensing, Analyzing and Intervening to Control the Expression of an Inter
Fri, Apr 03, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Hitten Zaveri, Ph.D.Associate Research Scientist
Department of Neurology
Yale UniversityAbstract: There has been considerable progress in recent years by an interdisciplinary effort composed of engineers, mathematicians and physicists working in close collaboration with neurologists, neurosurgeons and neuroscientists to understand epilepsy. These advances have improved our ability to capture normal and aberrant brain activity, analyze it and intervene to control the expression of seizures and led to the development of brain implantable devices as a therapeutic option. This talk covers several aspects of this effort with particular attention to the time-series analysis of intracranial EEGs to: (1) understand the process of seizure generation, (2) to localize areas of seizure onset and (3) to predict the onset of seizures.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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EE Practical Guide Seminar - Perspective on Screening, Quals, Defense
Fri, Apr 03, 2009 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Seminar Leaders: Profs. Eun Sok Kim Michael G. Safonov
Invitees: All EE students
Organizer: Prof. Alan Willner
Website: http://ee.usc.edu/news/practical-guide/* Pizza will be provided by the EE Department.*Abstract: This seminar is to present the policies of Ph.D. screening
process, qualifying exam and thesis defense in USC's Ming Hsieh EE
Department. While the qualifying exam and thesis defense are conducted
according to the rules set by the graduate division, the screening
process is different for EE-Systems and EE-Electrophysics. That
difference as well as how a Ph.D. student can successfully complete the
three major steps will be discussed.Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Intraocular Camera for Retinal Prostheses
Fri, Apr 03, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture entitled Intraocular Camera for Retinal Prostheses: Optical Design offered by Michelle Hauer, Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Loyola Marymount University.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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Open-Path FTIR Monitoring Technology in Environmental Applications
Fri, Apr 03, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Chia-Yu (Iris) Yang, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Southern CaliforniaAbstract:Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) is a powerful real-time monitoring technique for both detection and quantification of multiple compounds simultaneously even in harsh industrial environments. Several ASTM and EPA measurement protocols using FTIR in industrial or regulatory monitoring have been published in US or in Taiwan.FTIR systems can operate with telescopes transmitting and receiving the IR beam so monitoring of long outdoor paths becomes possible. Such telescope systems are so called "open-path" instruments. Typical environmental applications of open-path monitoring include urban air monitoring in metropolitan areas and fence-line monitoring of industrial sites, other examples such as accidental release detection/identification, and homeland security applications are also seen often. Several cases using open-path FTIR monitoring technology in environmental applications in US and Taiwan will be discussed.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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MIMO Interference: Dont Forget the Spatial Structure!
Fri, Apr 03, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Nicolai Czink
Stanford UniversityAbstract: The capacity of MIMO links under interference is already well known for spatially white channels. However, most channels show a specific spatial structure. In this talk, I will discuss the spatial properties of best-case and worst-case interference (maximizing or minimizing the mutual information), and will present results from a recent measurement campaign supporting our analytic results.Biography: Nicolai Czink received his MSc and PhD degrees from Vienna University of Technology in 2004 and 2008, respectively, both with distinction. Since 2005, he is with the ftw. Telecommunications Research Center Vienna, where he is Senior Researcher in the area of wireless communications at present. In April 2008, he joined the Smart Antennas Research Group at Stanford University as a Postdoctoral Scholar, working on MIMO interference measurements an modeling.Host: Andreas Molisch, 04670, EEB 530, molisch@usc.eduLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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BME 533 Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 06, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Hengchu Cao, PhD, Edwards Distinguished Engineer, Heart Valve Research, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine:
"A principled approach to the development of life sustaining medical devices"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Residence Time Distributions in Dynamically Changing Hydrologic Systems
Wed, Apr 08, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. John L. Wilson, Department of Earth and Environmental Science,
New Mexico Tech,Socorro, NM 87801, USAAbstract:Spatial and temporal variability of weather and climatic forcings induce a dynamic response in hydrologic systems. Regional groundwater systems, mountain watersheds, and stream hyporheic zones are examples of hydrologic systems driven by forcings varying at several time scales, from daily to seasonal to decadal and longer. Hydrologic systems are also characterized by a suite of flow paths, with positions further along flow paths exhibiting older residence time statistics. If a hydrologic flow system is in steady state the flow paths do not change in time and water present at a given point has a stable residence time distribution. But hydrologic flow paths and residence times can change dynamically with weather and climate temporal variability. Traditionally, this dynamic response is ignored and modeled and observed residence times are evaluated as if the flow was in steady state. In dynamic systems the residence time distribution depends on the time of observation and the time at which the water entered the system; in other words, it depends on two different times. A finite element scheme is used to model the transient flow and transport of an ideal tracer into a Thóthian-like domain, and to illustrate the effect of dynamically changing systems on residence-time estimation. Further applications of these concepts to atmospheric and ocean residence times, are also discussed.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Inertial Effects in Fluid Locomotion
Wed, Apr 08, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Steve Childress Professor Courant Institute of Mathematical SciencesNew York UniversityNew York, NY Inertial effects emerge in fluid locomotion as the Reynolds number reaches the range 1-10. The transition to flapping flight in a small mollusc suggests a bifurcation to thrust production at a finite Reynolds number. We describe a simple table-top experiment where this bifurcation could be observed. In order to study models at arbitrary Reynolds number we revisit the classic problem of swimming of a sheet, studied by G.I. Taylor in Stokes flow. At finite and large Reynold number Taylor's result is modified. The known results are reexamined for large Reynolds number using boundary-layer theory, and the nature of the expansions is clarified for wave-like motions of the sheet. We apply this approach to recoil swimming, a mechanism of locomotion that is known to work in a perfect fluid, thus extending the theory to a slightly viscous fluid.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - , Rm 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Microfluidic Actuation by Thermocapillary Forces: Fundamentals, Devices and Sensing Arrays
Thu, Apr 09, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lyman Handy Colloquium SeriesPresents Sandra Troian Professor of Applied Physics, Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering. Caltech, Pasadena CA 91125. Abstract:
Liquid elements with dimensions in the micron to nanometer range manifest exceedingly large surface to volume ratios and are therefore highly susceptible to flow induced by surface stresses. This feature has been used to direct the motion of small, free surface liquid structures for micro-, bio- and optofluidic applications. Both normal and tangential stresses can be used to steer, mix, meter or shape liquid structures on demand. When such structures exhibit an effective zero Reynolds number and small aspect ratio, then inertial forces and phase lag are negligible and the liquid responds instantaneously to boundary stresses. Any time dependence of the flow is then strictly due to actuation of the bounding surfaces. These limits constitute the so-called slender gap approximation used here to investigate thermocapillary actuation of liquid elements with the potential for direct-write of 3D nanostructures. This possibility arises from analysis of several experiments conducted during the past decade in which molten nanoscale polymer films subject to an ultra large transverse gradient undergo spontaneous formation of nanopillar arrays. The formation of these self-assembling protrusions has been attributed to a Casimir-like radiation pressure caused by interfacial reflections of acoustic phonons. We demonstrate instead that thermocapillary stresses play a crucial if not dominant role in this formation process. Simulations of the governing interface equation, used to specify the pillar spacing and time-dependent height, are used to explore construction of nanoscale components for optical and photonic applications.Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Recent Advances in Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Fat - Applications in the Study of Obesity
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Dr. H. Harry Hu, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Southern CaliforniaABSTRACT: Overweight and obesity, particularly in adolescents, is a growing health problem in the U.S. and worldwide. Fat accumulations in the abdomen, organs, and muscles have been linked to a variety of metabolic
and cardiovascular diseases. Fat deposition is a recognized biomarker for obesity risk stratification. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is potentially the most optimal modality for rapid, accurate, and non-invasive
quantification of fat deposition within the human body. MRI is inherently three dimensional, provides sensitive chemical-shift based mechanisms for differentiating fat and lean tissues in organs and across the
abdomen, and allows indefinite repeatability in patients due to the lack of ionizing radiation. This talk will introduce some of the most recent advances in fat-water MRI technology. It will highlight the principles and
algorithms that underline current MRI fat-water image reconstruction, and discuss several technical considerations that are needed to ensure accurate fat quantification. The presentation will also summarize recent applications of fat-water MRI techniques to measure absolute fat mass, percent fat infiltration in organs such as the liver and pancreas, and the ability to identify different types of fat tissues.BIO: H. Harry Hu received a B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering (BME) from USC in 2001. He then went on to study medical physics and magnetic resonance imaging at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he earned a Ph.D. degree in 2006. His doctoral thesis focused on rapid data acquisition strategies and the study of intracranial and whole-body angiography. Since late 2006, he has been a postdoctoral research associate and a member of the Magnetic Resonance Engineering Laboratory at USC, and
has been under the mentorship of Dr. Krishna S. Nayak. Harry's current research focuses on rapid quantitative fat-water MRI in studies of obesity and metabolism, which involves collaboration with colleagues from USC's
Keck School of Medicine and the University of Alabama, Birmingham. His work has resulted in multiple conference presentations, eight first-author manuscripts, and one U.S. patent. Harry is also a co-author on
more than twelve articles in journals including Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and Radiology. He was the recipient of USC's Fred S. Grodin Award in BME in 2001. HOST: Professor Krishna Nayak, knayak@usc.eduLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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On the Efficiency of Random Access Scheduling for Wireless Multi-Hop Networks
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Apoorva Jindal, USCAbstract: We formally establish that random access scheduling with carrier sense yields exceptionally good performance in the context of wireless multi-hop networks. A common misconception is that existing random access schemes, like CSMA-CA, yield unfair and inefficient rates in these networks. This misconception is based on works which study CSMA-CA scheduled multi-hop networks either with TCP or in saturation conditions both of which grossly underutilize the available capacity that CSMA-CA provides, or use topologies which cannot occur in practice due to physical layer limitations.To formally establish our thesis, we derive worst case performance bounds on CSMA-CA scheduling in multi-hop networks. We first derive a methodology to characterize the capacity region for any CSMA-CA-scheduled multi-hop network, thus addressing a long standing fundamental open problem in the research community. We then use this characterization to compare the max-min rate allocation achieved by CSMA-CA and optimal scheduling, and find that: (i) in any realistic topology with geometric constraints due to the physical layer, CSMA-CA is never worse than 30% of the optimal, and (ii) in typical topologies, CSMA-CA attains more than 55% of the optimal throughput. Considering that the state-of-the-art distributed collision-free approximations to optimal scheduling achieve lower worst case bounds than the above, CSMA-CA is surprisingly efficient. To ensure that this good performance is achievable with a distributed rate controller, we design and implement two rate control schemes, WCP and WCP-CAP, which achieve close to optimal performance.Biography: Apoorva Jindal is currently with the Networked Systems Performance and Design Lab at University of Southern California. He received his B.Tech degree in EE from IIT Kanpur in 2002, and then received his PhD degree in EE from USC in January 2009. His research primarily focusses on protocol design, implementation and performance analysis for wireless networks. The research he has been involved with during his thesis has received grants from NSF and Cisco as well as the "Best and Most Compelling Presentation and Demonstration Award" at the networking workshop "Future of TCP: Train-wreck or Evolution" held at the Stanford University and sponsored by Cisco systems. He has been a recipient of the Best Graduate Teaching Assistant award from the Electrical Engineering Department at USC and the best undergraduate research project award at IIT Kanpur from Tata Consultancy Services.Host: Michael Neely, mjneely@usc.edu, EEB 520, x03505
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Think Faster, Focus Better, and Remember More
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture offered by Dr. Michael M. Merzenich, Professor Emeritus, Co-Director of the Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Posit Science Corporation
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission & Student Affairs
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Think Faster, Focus Better, & Remember More
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Michael M. Merzenich, Professor Emeritus, Co-Director of the Coleman Memorial Laboratory, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Posit Science Corporation offers a lecture entitled Think Faster, Focus Better, and Remember More: Rewiring Our Brain to Stay Younger.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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An Air Quality Engineer in Industry
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Patricia G Menjivar, LEED AP, Sr. EHS Engineer, Air QualityAbstract:
California's air pollution control program is one of the most effective in the world. California legislature is continuously in the forefront of newly created air quality regulations that affect not just California but the Nation. Industry in California must keep abreast of newly created regulations, such as AB32. Despite these improvements, California continues to face the nation's greatest air quality challenge. An Air Quality Engineer must work these challenges with Industry for efficient and feasible outcomes while keeping the mission to find and support alternatives or reduce hazards in order to protect the environment and its citizens. Ms. Patricia Menjivar will talk about her experiences as a Senior Air Quality Engineer. 310.334.7388 Business
310.628.2607 Cell
Patricia_G_Menjivar@Raytheon.com
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Integrated Sys Seminar - Pushing CMOS to the Limits (Prof. Ali Niknejad, UCB)
Fri, Apr 10, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker - Prof. Ali Niknejad (UCB)Abstract :Silicon CMOS technology scaling has resulted in fast, tiny, and cheap transistors which are used as building blocks in digital, analog, and increasingly RF and video electronic devices. As the scaling continues, will the performance of analog/RF integrated circuits continue to suffer due to dynamic range limitations? Are there new opportunities or new design paradigms that can be used to overcome the limitations of CMOS? The first part of the talk will review some technological limitations related to noise, distortion, dynamic range, and speed. Performance limitations from a device and technology perspective account for only part of the story. The second part of the talk will highlight circuit design examples that overcome these limitations, allowing operation at record speeds over 100 GHz, relatively high power levels, and high linearity despite using low supply voltages and “digitalâ€ï¿½ transistor technology.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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Opportunities and Challenges in Uncertainty Quantification for Complex Interacting systems
Sun, Apr 12, 2009
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Chaired by Roger Ghanem and Demetrios Spanos, this Workshop will provide a forum where issues of uncertainty quantification and model validation in predictive science will be addressed. It will bring together leading scientists from physics-based modeling, network science and social networks to explore the fundamental similarities and differences in the challenges facing them. Challenges and opportunities will be identified and a community of researchers and collaborators seeded.The Workshop will revolve around survey lectures and break-out sessions and will culminate in a report that summarizes participants' perspective on challenges and opportunities in developing a rational path forward for the discipline.The Workshop begins at 6 p.m. Sunday April 12 with an icebreaker meeting, and continues in all-day sessions the next two days. A complete agenda is at
http://venus.usc.edu/UQ-Workshop09/Location: Davidson Conference Center
Audiences: Graduate/Undergrad/
Contact: Eric Mankin
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Opportunities and Challenges in Uncertainty Quantification for Complex Interacting systems
Mon, Apr 13, 2009
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Chaired by Roger Ghanem and Demetrios Spanos, this Workshop will provide a forum where issues of uncertainty quantification and model validation in predictive science will be addressed. It will bring together leading scientists from physics-based modeling, network science and social networks to explore the fundamental similarities and differences in the challenges facing them. Challenges and opportunities will be identified and a community of researchers and collaborators seeded.The Workshop will revolve around survey lectures and break-out sessions and will culminate in a report that summarizes participants' perspective on challenges and opportunities in developing a rational path forward for the discipline.The Workshop begins at 6 p.m. Sunday April 12 with an icebreaker meeting, and continues in all-day sessions the next two days. A complete agenda is at
http://venus.usc.edu/UQ-Workshop09/Location: Davidson Conference Center
Audiences: Graduate/Undergrad/
Contact: Eric Mankin
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Accident/Incident Response Preparedness - Apr.13-15, 2009
Mon, Apr 13, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
AIP 09-2
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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A Hybrid CMOS/Memristor Circuits as a Future Computing Paradigm
Mon, Apr 13, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SPEAKER: Dr. Dmitri Strukov, Postdoctoral Research Associate,
Hewlett Packard LaboratoriesABSTRACT:I will present a novel computing paradigm, based on hybrid circuits made of a conventional CMOS layer complemented with back-end memristive (short for memory and resistor) crossbar layers. The basic idea of such circuits is to combine the advantages of the CMOS technology including its flexibility and high fabrication yield with those of ultra dense stackable crosspoint memristive devices. Such devices are naturally incorporated into the crossbar fabric enabling very high functional density at acceptable fabrication cost and can be effectively used in various applications which I will describe in my talk.A memristor is a 2-terminal thin-film electrical circuit element that changes its resistance depending on the total amount of charge that flows through the device. We show that the memristance naturally arises in systems for which electronic and dopant equations of motion in a semiconductor are coupled in the presence of an applied electric field. While memristance was observed for at least fifty years it had never been given proper attention; however, it is very promising for a variety of digital and analog applications.Detailed simulations have shown that proposed hybrid CMOS/memristor circuits not only can provide orders of magnitude improvements in density of digital memories and field programmable logic circuits over conventional end-of-the-roadmap counterparts, but also for the first time enable implementation of large scale neuromorphic networks for advanced information processing. This presentation will cover various aspects of the hybrid circuits including physical models of memristive devices, circuit architecture simulations, and some recent experimental results.BIO: A research associate at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories in Palo Alto, CA, Dr. Strukov is working on the theoretical aspects of memristive devices and circuits. His interests include the physical implementation of computation, including device physics, circuit design, and high-level architecture, with emphasis on emerging device technologies. He received a MS in applied physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and a PhD in electrical engineering from Stony Brook University in New York.Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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BME 533 Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 13, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Krishna Nayak, PhD, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering and Cardiovascular Medicine, USC:
"Myocardial Perfusion Imaging"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Opportunities and Challenges in Uncertainty Quantification for Complex Interacting systems
Tue, Apr 14, 2009
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Chaired by Roger Ghanem and Demetrios Spanos, this Workshop will provide a forum where issues of uncertainty quantification and model validation in predictive science will be addressed. It will bring together leading scientists from physics-based modeling, network science and social networks to explore the fundamental similarities and differences in the challenges facing them. Challenges and opportunities will be identified and a community of researchers and collaborators seeded.The Workshop will revolve around survey lectures and break-out sessions and will culminate in a report that summarizes participants' perspective on challenges and opportunities in developing a rational path forward for the discipline.The Workshop begins at 6 p.m. Sunday April 12 with an icebreaker meeting, and continues in all-day sessions the next two days. A complete agenda is at
http://venus.usc.edu/UQ-Workshop09/Location: Davidson Conference Center
Audiences: Graduate/Undergrad/
Contact: Eric Mankin
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CIC-BASED DECIMATORS
Tue, Apr 14, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Guest Speaker: Gordana Jovanovic Dolecek,
Department of Electronics
Institute INAOE, Puebla, MexicoABSTRACT: Sampling rate conversion (SRC) is one of the most frequent and useful tasks in the field of communication. SRC involves resampling which itself causes aliasing and imaging. The elimination of the detrimental effects of these two fundamental characteristics of resampling requires filtering. Thus the design of a SRC system is basically a filter design problem. Whenever the sampling rate exceeds the minimum requirement posed by the Nyquist criterion, it is reasonable to try to reduce it. This means that we can eliminate some of samples, and still have a good representation of the signal. The reduction of a sampling rate is called decimation, because the original sample set is reduced (decimated). Decimation consists of two stages: filtering and downsampling A commonly used decimation filter is the cascaded-integrator-comb (CIC) filter, which consists of two main sections: an integrator and a comb, separated by a down-sampler. This filter has many desirable characteristics making it very attractive for different applications. However, the frequency response of the CIC filter does not satisfy the desired specifications, i.e., the CIC filter has a high passband droop and a low stopband attenuation. The latter can be improved by increasing the number of the cascaded CIC filters resulting in a higher passband droop. Additionally the integrator section works at the higher input data rate resulting in a larger chip area and higher power consumption especially when the decimation factor and the filter order are high. Different methods have been proposed to improve the characteristics of CIC decimator while keeping its simplicity. The methods either improve the passband or stopband of the CIC filter. There exist also methods to improve both, stopband and the passband. We will present CIC filters, and the state of the art in the designing of CIC-based decimators.BIOGRAPHY: Gordana Jovanovic Dolecek received a B.S. degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo, an M.Sc. degree from University of Belgrade, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia. She was a Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Sarajevo until 1993, and from 1993 to 1995 she was with the Institute Mihailo Pupin, Belgrade. In 1995 she joined the Department for Electronics at the Institute INAOE, Puebla, Mexico, where she is presently a professor. During 2001-2002 and also during 2006, she was a visiting scholar at the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara. She is presently at the San Diego State University on a sabbatical leave. She is the author of three books, editor of one book, and author of more than 200 papers. Her research interests include digital signal processing and digital communications. She is a Senior Member of IEEE, a member of Mexican Academy of Sciences, and a member of National Researcher System (SNI), Mexico.Host: Professor Sanjit K. MitraLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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CS Colloq: Jernej Barbic
Tue, Apr 14, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Time: 4 PM - 5:30 PMLocation: SSL 150Talk Title: Real-time Deformable Objects: Graphics, Haptics, Sound, Control
Speaker: Jernej Barbic (MIT)
Host: Prof. Michael ZydaAbstract:
Real-time deformable objects are an exciting research area in computer graphics, with applications to computer games, movie industry, CAD/CAM, and virtual medicine. Deformable objects are well-understood in solid mechanics, however the standard simulation algorithms are too slow for interactive simulation with detailed geometry. How can we support real-time simulation on commodity workstations, while compromising physical correctness as little as possible?I will present reduced nonlinear deformable objects, a novel class of deformable objects obtained by applying statistical model reduction to finite element models of nonlinear elasticity. The idea is to replace the general degrees of freedom of a deformable object for a much smaller set of reduced degrees of freedom, thereby trading accuracy for speed. The reduced degrees of freedom incorporate geometric and material information, and can be chosen automatically from the first principles of continuum mechanics.I will also present a time-critical algorithm for deformable collision detection, and contact force computation between two reduced deformable (or rigid) objects with detailed geometry. The algorithm exploits reduction to achieve haptic update rates (1,000 Hz), and can be applied to deformable object path planning, virtual CAD/CAM, or other high update rate simulations in robotics.Reduction can also provide fast deformable models to drive real-time sound simulations. I will outline an algorithm where both the mechanical vibrations (deformations) that cause sound, and the sound propagation (wave equation) into the surrounding air for detailed geometries, are simulated at audio rates (44,100 Hz).Finally, I will discuss ongoing research on how model reduction can be used not only for fast forward simulation, but also for fast control.
Such control enables faster design of animations, and can provide directable real-time interaction in computer games.Bio:
Jernej Barbic received the computer science PhD degree from Carnegie Mellon University, in 2007. He is currently a postdoc in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, The Stata Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts. His research interests include computer graphics, animation, real-time simulation, FEM deformable objects, haptic rendering of contact for geometrically rich scenarios, sound simulation, and model reduction and control of nonlinear systems.
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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Modeling Air Quality and Climate Interactions: from Urban to Global Scale
Wed, Apr 15, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker:Dr. Yang Zhang,
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NCAbstract:Simulating air quality-climate interactions represents a major challenge in quantifying the impacts of urban/regional air pollution on climate change. A unified global-through-urban fully-coupled online climate and chemistry model provides an excellent model framework to accurately simulate such interactions. Such a unified global-through-urban model is being developed at North Carolina State University based on the U.S. NCAR's Global Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and the U.S. NOAA's mesoscale WRF with Chemistry (referred to as GU-WRF/Chem). This presentation will highlight our recent model development toward GU-WRF/Chem, demonstrate the model's capability with several case studies on urban/regional/global scales, and discuss major challenges and future directions in modeling air quality and climate/meteorology feedbacks.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Processing of bulk nanocrystalline oxide materials for optical and magnetic applications
Wed, Apr 15, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Javier E. GarayDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringMaterials Science and Engineering ProgramUniversity of California, RiversideNanocrystalline materials display significantly different properties and behaviors than their microcrystalline counterparts, yet their direct application in products has been hindered by the difficulty in producing them reliably and efficiently. One reason is that consolidation of nanocrystalline powders usually results in large grain size increase and therefore loss of enhanced nanocrystalline properties. Recently, the versatile material processing technique of spark plasma sintering (SPS) has proven effective in overcoming the grain growth challenge—it is now possible to efficiently produce viable nanocrystalline parts. The method draws its effectiveness from large electric current densities that serve to heat the materials and also alter the processing kinetics. After an overview of our processing techniques, I will present results on large-sized, fully dense oxides with grain sizes much less that 100 nm. The materials have very different properties than traditional materials. Properties presented include improved visible light transmittance, enhanced toughness, and ferri-antiferromagnetic coupling leading to exchange bias. The results will be discussed in terms of crystal length scale effects and proximity of nanoscale phases.
Location: Seaver Science Library, Rm 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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CS Colloq: Lingxiao Jiang
Wed, Apr 15, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Time: 4 PM - 5:30 PMLocation: GFS 223Talk Title: Scalable Detection of Similar Code: Techniques and Applications
Speaker: Lingxiao Jiang (UC Davis)
Host: Prof. Nenad MedvidovicAbstract:
Similar code, commonly known as code clones, often occur in large programs because of various software development practices, such as copying and pasting code and n-version programming. Studies show that code duplication can incur higher maintenance costs and lead to subtle errors. Identifying similar code thus has many important applications, such as program understanding, refactoring, optimization, and bug detection. In this talk, I will present three pieces of my work on techniques and applications of scalable detection of both syntactic and semantic code clones.First, I will present Deckard, a scalable and accurate tree-based code clone detection technique. The key insight is to represent syntax trees of a program as structure-preserving characteristic vectors in the Euclidean space and employ efficient hashing algorithms to cluster these vectors. Our experiments showed that Deckard scales to billions of lines of code with few false positives. Also, Deckard is language-generic, applicable to any language with a formally specified grammar.Second, we will look at a novel application of Deckard to bug detection. In particular, I will describe a general notion of
context-based inconsistencies as strong indicators of clone-related bugs and the application of Deckard to identify such inconsistencies. Many previously unknown bugs in large projects such as the Linux kernel and Eclipse were discovered. These bugs exhibit diverse characteristics and are difficult to detect with any single previous bug detection technique.Third, I will describe EqMiner, the first scalable technique to detect functionally equivalent code for understanding code duplication at the semantic level. Inspired by Schwartz's randomized polynomial identity testing, EqMiner uses automated random testing to quickly determine the functional equivalence of arbitrary code fragments automatically extracted from a large program. Evaluated on the Linux kernel, EqMiner discovered many functionally equivalent code fragments that are syntactically different. I will conclude this talk by discussing future opportunities and challenges related to code clone detection.Bio:
Lingxiao Jiang is a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science at University of California, Davis, where he specializes in software engineering. His current research focuses on techniques and tools for improving software quality and productivity. He received his M.S. in Applied Mathematics and B.S. in Information Science from Peking University, China.
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 223
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Front Desk
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Photography For Aircraft Accident Investigation - Apr.16-17, 2009
Thu, Apr 16, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
PHOTO 09-2
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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Structure and Structure-related Chemistry of Boron Rich Carbon
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 @ 09:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Linda E. Jones, Ph.D.,
Smith CollegeAbstract: Highly boron rich carbon nanofibers have been synthesized via
the CVD reaction of benzene and boron trichloride. The interest is to
synthesize oxidation resistant carbons that are electronically tunable
and maintain mechanical integrity. Auger and XPS analysis identified
boron concentrations of 18.4 and 14.8 atomic % B, respectively when
depositing at 800 °C for 30 minutes at a total flow rate of 65 cc/min. A
TEM investigation along with EELS was undertaken to assess the location
of the boron in the deposited structures. The nanostructure of the
deposited nanofibers and tubes is inhomogeneous yet; these deposited
materials are well ordered and graphite-like. The d-spacings range from
0.3343 to 0.3397 nm and crystallite sizes are 5 to 20 nm. EELS analysis
revealed that the boron concentrations through the tube diameter are
structure related. The details of the development of structure in these
unique boron rich carbon solids will be given in context with a
discussion of the various structures, chemistry and properties
associated with the many allotropes of carbon.Biography: Linda E. Jones is the Hewlett Professor of Engineering and
Director of the Picker Engineering Program at Smith College. Linda is
deeply committed to the advancement of women and underrepresented
individuals in science, technology and engineering. Her expertise is in
the synthesis, structure and degradation of structural carbon and
carbides used in aerospace and other severe environment applications.
The work in her laboratory on high temperature oxidation and corrosion
of structural ceramics has been extended to the study of volatile
emissions produced during the manufacturing of glass. Dr. Jones has 81
publications in these areas and has given over 100 national and
international presentations. She has been named the American Carbon
Society's Graffin Lecturer. Dr. Jones serves on the American Carbon
Society's executive board. She is actively involved in the European and
Asian Carbon Society. She a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society. She
has edited one book and received 9 Teaching Awards including the State
University of New York's Chancellors Award for Teaching Excellence.
Since 2005, Dr. Jones has been the President, Ceramic Education Council,
American Ceramic Society. In addition, Dr. Jones was also recognized by
the State of New York as a SUNY Research Scholar for her work on high
temperature materials.Host: Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu, EEB 540, x04667Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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BME 533 Seminar Series
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Hengchu Cao, PhD, Edwards Distinguished Engineer, Heart Valve Research, Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine:
"A principled approach to the development of life sustaining medical devices"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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CS Distinguished Lecture: Probabilistic Models for the Physical World
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 @ 03:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Daphne Koller (Stanford University)
Host: Prof. Fei ShaAbstract:
Over recent years, computer vision has made great strides towards annotating parts of an image with symbolic labels, such as object categories (things) or segment types (stuff). However, we are still far from the goal of providing a semantic description of an image, such as "a man, walking a dog on a sidewalk, carrying a backpack". In this talk, I will describe some projects we have done that attempt to use probabilistic models to move us closer towards the goal.The first part of the talk will present methods that use a more holistic scene analysis to improve our performance at core tasks such as object detection, segmentation, or 3D reconstruction. The second part of the talk will focus on finer-grained modeling of object shape, so as to allow us to annotate images with descriptive labels related to the object shape, pose, or activity (e.g., is a cheetah running or standing). These vision tasks rely on novel algorithms for core problems in machine learning and probabilistic models, such as efficient algorithms for probabilistic correspondence, transfer learning across related object classes for learning from sparse data, and more.Biography:
Daphne Koller is a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University. Her main research focus is in developing and using machine learning and probabilistic methods to model and analyze complex systems, and she is particularly interested in using these techniques to understand biological systems and the world around us. Professor Koller is the author of over 100 refereed publications, which have appeared in venues that include Science, Nature Genetics, and the Journal of Games and Economic Behavior. She is a Fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence, and has received a number of awards, including the Sloan Foundation Faculty Fellowship in 1996, the ONR Young Investigator Award in 1998, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from President Clinton in 1999, the IJCAI Computers and Thought Award in 2001, the Cox Medal for excellence in fostering undergraduate research at Stanford in 2003, the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2004 and the first-ever ACM/Infosys award in 2008.Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: CS Colloquia
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PROGRAMMING SYNTHETIC BIO MOLECULAR SYSTEMS
Thu, Apr 16, 2009 @ 11:00 PM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Elisa Franco
California Institute of Technology
Dept. of Controls & Dynamical SystemsABSTRACT: The functionalities of every living organism are wired in the biochemical interactions existing among proteins, nucleic acids and all the other molecules that constitute life's building blocks. Understanding how to embed any function in this "hardware of life" via "molecular programming" is an exciting and challenging task for modern bioengineers and synthetic biologists.
A simple in vitro tool kit to investigate molecular programmability can be built by using exclusively nucleic acids and a few protein species for transcription and degradation. Despite its simplicity, this setting allows us to achieve a high computational complexity, which is an attractive feature for the implementation of engineering design principles into synthetic biochemical networks.
In this talk, I will describe the design, modeling and experimental synthesis of molecular circuitry built using in vitro genetic circuits. In particular, I will focus on two alternative modules able to achieve transcription rate regulation, the first based on negative feedback (self-repression), the second based on positive feedback (cross-activation). BIO: Elisa Franco is currently a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, department of Control and Dynamical Systems. She got her Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Trieste, where she also earned a PhD in Automatic Control. Her current research interests are in the field of synthetic and systems biology.Host: Prof. Petros Ioannou ioannou@usc.eduLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Quantum Cascade Lasers
Fri, Apr 17, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Lecture entitled Quantum Cascade Lasers for Revolutionizing Homeland Security and Defense Applications offered by C. Kumar N. Patel, Ph.D., Chairman & CEO of Pranalytica, Inc.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gasses
Fri, Apr 17, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Professor Jeff Kuo, California State University, Fullerton, CAAbstract:This project, Clearinghouse of Technological Options for Reducing Anthropogenic Non-CO2 GHG Emissions from All Sectors, gathered and evaluated information and data that are available in the literature regarding technological options for reducing anthropogenic non-CO2 greenhouse gas (NCGG) emissions from all sectors in California. Emissions sources of the NCGGs (methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride) and black carbon in California were first identified. Data and information of many viable technological options were then gathered, evaluated, and presented in a systematic way for easy comparison and use. This seminar will present the approaches and findings of this project.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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The Alfred E. Mann Innovation in Engineering Serminars 2009
Fri, Apr 17, 2009 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Alfred E Mann Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ta-Shun Chu, Mann Fellow - EE/Electrophysics "Wireless Detection of Human Cardiopulmonary and Gait using Silicon Chip"
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Susan Cooper
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System Safety - Apr.20-May1, 2009
Mon, Apr 20, 2009
Aviation Safety and Security Program
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
SSC 09-2
For more information and to register for Aviation Safety and Security Program courses, please visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/aviation.Audiences: Registered Audiences Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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BME 533 Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 20, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Michael Benser, PhD, Cardiac Rhythm Management Division, St Jude Medical, Sylmar, CA:
"Research and Development at St. Jude Medical's Cardiac Rhythm Management Division"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Japans New Mobile Broadband Business: An Entrepreneurs View
Tue, Apr 21, 2009 @ 04:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Annenberg School for Communications and the Viterbi School of Engineeringinvite you to*Title:* Japan's New Mobile Broadband Business: An Entrepreneur's View
*Speaker: *Dr. Sachio Semmoto*Time/location:* Tuesday April 21, 4:30pm in EEB 248*Abstract:* Dr. Semmoto is an exceptional serial entrepreneur in Japan. He founded several telecom companies, and two of them went public. In 2005, he founded new mobile carrier, EMOBILE Ltd. EMOBILE secured about 3.3 billion US$ for equity and debt, focused on mobile broadband data service, introduced new business model that bundles its HSPA data service and UMPC, and gained more than 1.4 million subscribers in two years.In this seminar, Dr. Semmoto will introduce recent new mobile broadband business trend and entrepreneurial opportunity. It may be beneficial not only from industrial trend point of view but also from entrepreneurial point of view for the next generation.*Biography: *Dr. Sachio Semmoto founded eAccess Ltd in 1999. eAccess is Japan's first true entrepreneurial and global IP/telecom company that provides high-speed broadband telecommunication services using xDSL technology. After 5 years of operation, eAccess grew to a leading broadband IP operator in Japan. Additionally he founded EMOBILE Ltd. which was awarded a 3G spectrum license in 2005 and entered into the mobile broadband market in 2007. EMOBILE completed its financing, total US$3.5 billion, which includes $1.2 billion for equity and $2.3 billion for debt financing, to roll out the nationwide mobile network. EMOBILE launched its data service in March 2007 and voice service in March 2008. Bundled with UMPC, EMOBILE's high speed, flat rate and reasonable pricing mobile data communications service has dramatically changed the existing mobile scene, creating a "broadband revolution" in the mobile industry. Prior to eAccess, Dr. Sachio Semmoto spent 30 years in senior management positions including Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT), Kyocera, and DDI Corporation (DDI), which he co-founded as an Executive Vice President in 1984.Although he spent most of his career in the telecommunication industry, he has also had a long history of academic involvement through extensive lecturing engagements at the world's leading universities, including Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Cambridge in the U.S. and the UK. He was a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University and at the Haas School of Business at University of California Berkeley in 1992-1993 and 2000 respectively, and was a Visiting Research Fellow at Stanford University in 1997. In 1996, Dr. Semmoto became a professor at the Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University to teach in the areas of entrepreneurial management and information technology.
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If you are interested in meeting **Dr. Sachio Semmoto after the seminar, please let me know.**Hosts:* Jonathan Aronson, aronson@usc.edu, KER 206, X31943
Andreas Molisch, molisch@usc.edu, EEB 530, x04670Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Fading Model, MIMO Channel Generation, and Spectrum Sensing in Wireless Communications
Wed, Apr 22, 2009 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Wei-Ho Chung, UCLAAbstract: We investigate the fading channel modelling, MIMO channel generation, and spectrum detection for wireless communications. We propose the modified hidden semi-Markov model (MHSMM) for modeling the flat fading envelope process. The MHSMM incorporate the time-variant statistics of the envelope process in a single model, which facilitates computations of the envelope probability density function and the autocorrelation function. We propose and demonstrate the parameter estimation scheme by simulated and experimental data.Diversity techniques for various communication and MIMO systems exploit the spatial and temporal diversity attributes to mitigate the ill effects of the fading channels. We propose a unified approach capable of generating correlated flat-fading envelope processes with the desired auto-correlation functions, cross-correlation functions, and probability density functions (pdfs). The proposed approach utilizes the Gaussian vector autoregressive process and the inverse transform sampling techniques. Comparing to the past research focusing on generating fading channels of the same family, the novelty of the proposed approach is its capability to generate fading processes of heterogeneous pdfs.Sensor networks have been shown to be useful in diverse applications. One of the important applications is the collaborative detection based on multiple sensors to increase the detection performance. To exploit the spectrum holes in the cognitive radios, we consider the collaborative spectrum sensing by sensor networks in the likelihood ratio test (LRT) frameworks. We provide explicit algorithms to solve the LRT fusion rules, the probability of false alarm, and the probability of detection for the fusion center. We will discuss the single-sensor detection and collaborative detections of multiple sensors under various fading channels.Biography: Wei-Ho Chung was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in 1978. He received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University, Taipei City, Taiwan, in 2000 and 2002 respectively. Since 2005, he has been with the Electrical Engineering Department at University of California, Los Angeles, where he obtained the Ph.D. degree in 2009. From 2002 to 2005, he was a system engineer at ChungHwa Telecommunications Company, where he worked on data networks. In 2008, he was an intern working on CDMA systems in Qualcomm, Inc. Since 2007, he has been a Teaching Assistant at UCLA. His research interests include communications, signal processing, and networks.For more information, please contact Wei-Ho Chung(whc@ee.ucla.edu).
Papers available at http://whc13.bol.ucla.edu/Host: Andreas Molisch, molisch@usc.edu, EEB 530, x04670Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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A Quantitative Monitoring Approach for Assessing Tunnel Safety ...
Wed, Apr 22, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Using a Strain-Based TechniqueSpeaker: Dr. Si-hyun Park,Project Manager, Tunnel Division,
Korea Infrastructure Safety & Technology Corporation.
Goyang-City, Kyunggi-Province, KoreaABSRACT:This presentation discusses a method for the safety assessment of tunnel structures by using the values of measured displacements. Unlike stress measurements, the displacement measurements during the construction of a tunnel have advantages such as simple instrumentation, easy measurements (daily measurements), and economic efficiency. The safety of tunnels has been previously evaluated by using empirical control criteria for the displacement in the construction of tunnels. However, these control criteria have not been validated and do not provide consistent information during the construction phase of tunnels. This presentation introduces the concept of the critical strain for tunnel safety assessment by measuring the displacement instead of the stress-based values. The basic concept behind the critical strain approach was proposed several years ago. However, the concept of critical strain has not been widely applied in the field of the tunnels because until now the concept has not had a convincing engineering interpretation either at the theoretical or the mathematical level. The aim of this presentation is to: (1) compare and collect the control criteria to be used as tools for the measurement and management of the construction of a tunnel, (2) provide an overview the engineering interpretation of the critical strain, using results from prior studies, (3) verify the engineering interpretation of the critical strain, and (4) assess tunnel safety quantitatively by using the measured displacement values. It will be shown that the concept of critical strain can be validated by physical interpretation and be subsequently applied for the safety assessment during the construction of tunnels.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209 (on WebEx)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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How Viruses Make New Viruses: A Single Molecule View
Thu, Apr 23, 2009 @ 12:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Distinguished Lecture SeriesPresentsProfessor Rob PhillipsApplied Physics and Mechanical Engineering California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125Abstract:
Viruses have enormously rich and varied life cycles. Bacterial viruses have a hallowed position in the development of modern biology and recently have become the subject of intensive physical investigation. Using single-molecule techniques, it has become possible to examine viruses both while they package and eject their DNA. One of the intriguing aspects of these processes is that they bring large forces (greater than 50 pN) into play. My talk will give a general introduction to viruses and their life cycles and will then focus on simple physical arguments about the forces that attend viral DNA packaging and ejection, predictions about the ejection process and single-molecule measurements of ejection itself.Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce Sapir
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Identifying Remediation Techniques and Quantifying TMDL Regulated Pollutants for ....
Thu, Apr 23, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Stormwater Runoff in the Los Angeles RegionOral Defense, Jaime Sayre, Ph.D. Student, Sonny Astani, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, USCAbstract:The goals for Los Angeles and southern California water quality included evaluating the capture, treatment, and reuse of stormwater through groundwater infiltration; assessing the costs of stormwater quality control; monitoring virus numbers in stormwater; and developing improved methods for measuring pollutant concentrations.The cost benefit analysis indicated that the treatment of larger regions as one watershed reduces the initial cost to employ the stormwater best management practices, that willingness to pay and value of ecological improvements vary and are difficult to quantify. The new cost estimated for both structural and non-structural BMPs was $12.6 billion, and the total benefit of the BMPs and improvement to the environment was $21.3 billion, for a net benefit of $8.7 billion.
The virus study was less conclusive, finding rather uniform virus counts in the tens of millions per milliliter. Previous research found human viruses in significantly smaller concentrations (1-100 per mL), suggesting that the total counts may reflect high background concentrations of non-human viruses from sources that are not coincident with sources of pollution.Using two passive samplers, polyethylene devices (PEDs) and solid phase microextraction (SPME) fibers, hydrophobic organic contaminants (HOCs) were quantified and the samplers were compared. PEDs were calibrated for 16 model HOCs (PCBs, PAHs, DDTs, and chlordanes) for both partitioning coefficients (KPEW) and exchange rate kinetics (ke). Triplicate PEDs and SPME fibers were exposed for 45 days to a concentration series of water spiked with nine model hydrophobic organic compounds. Model HOCs in SPME were higher than those in PEDs, with SPME measurements matching water concentrations more closely than PEDs for PCBs and chlorinated pesticides. For PAHs, PED and SPME measurements bracketed LLE water concentrations with no apparent bias. The number of detections using PEDs was greater for concentrations less than 0.1 ng/L, indicating that PEDs afford greater sensitivity than single SPME fibers. Researchers are continuing to investigate PEDs, including the use of pre-loaded reference compounds to quantify the "extent" of equilibrium vs. exposure time and possible variations due to polyethylene manufacturer and process.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Progress and Challenges of Multimodal Imaging using MEG, EEG, MRI, and fMRI by Matti S. Hämäläinen
Fri, Apr 24, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Independently, electromagnetic and hemodynamic measurements of brain activity offer compromises between spatial and temporal resolution. fMRI is temporally limited by the slow time course of the hemodynamic response, but can provide a spatial sampling on a millimeter scale. EEG and MEG in turn provide a temporal resolution of milliseconds, but the localization of sources is more complicated because of the ill-posed electromagnetic inverse problem. Elucidating the spatial distribution and temporal orchestration of human brain regions is thus facilitated by combining information provided by both anatomical and functional MRI with EEG/MEG data.It was recognized very early on by the MEG researchers that the spatiotemporal distribution of the magnetic field can be used to estimate the sources of the underlying brain activity. This information can be integrated with anatomical MRI data to associate the source locations with anatomical structures. In addition, anatomical MRI data are now employed routinely to delineate boundaries between regions of different electrical conductivities for forward field computations, to restrict the locations and orientations of the sources, and in advanced visualization techniques involving three-dimensional renderings of the cortical mantle and other structures.The fusion of electromagnetic and hemodynamic data is still in its infancy. In the presently available modeling methods, this is usually accomplished by confining the sources to the cortical gray matter and by computing a distributed current estimate with a stronger a priori weighting at locations with significant fMRI activity. More elaborate methods which attempt to model the two data sets jointly under a common framework are also emerging. Furthermore, basic studies which aim at understanding the relationship between the hemodynamic and electromagnetic signals are ongoing and will eventually result in physiologically motivated rather than partly heuristic source estimation models.Rather surprisingly, relatively little effort has been devoted to combination of MEG with EEG, its most obvious companion. This has been due to difficulties in collecting both types of data simultaneously with truly indentical preprocessing and to challenges in combined modelling of the two data sets. Both simulations and analyses of actual data sets have shown that the combination of these two methods yields more reliable estimates of the sources than using one modality alone. Furthermore, these studies indicate that the improvement is not due to the increased number of measurement channels but is attributable to the different sensitivities of MEG and EEG to the cerebral current sources.Host: Richard Leahy, x04659, leahy@sipi.usc.edu
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gloria Halfacre
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium: Cataract Extraction Equipment Development
Fri, Apr 24, 2009 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Jim Staggs, Senior Project Engineer at Advanced Medical Optics offers a lecture entitled "Cataract Extraction Equipment Development" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admissions & Student Affairs
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Integrated Sys Seminar-Design of multi-standard WLAN transceiver CMOS chips (Dr. Zargari, Atheros)
Fri, Apr 24, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker - Dr. Masoud Zargari (Atheros)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Hossein Hashemi
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BME 533 Seminar Series
Mon, Apr 27, 2009 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Victor Pikov, PhD, Huntington Medical Research Institute, Pasadena, CA:
"Penetrating microelectrode arrays for stimulation and recording in the spinal cord and the brain"Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Seminar: Data Driven and Optimization Techniques for Mobile Health Systems
Mon, Apr 27, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Tammara Massey
PhD Candidate, UCLAAbstract:
A new research paradigm in health care applications investigates how to improve a patient's quality of care with wearable embedded systems that continuously monitor a patient's vital signs as he/she ubiquitously moves about the environment. While previous medical examinations could only extract localized symptoms through snap shots, now continuous monitoring can discretely analyze how a patient's lifestyle may affect his/her physiological conditions and whether additional symptoms occur under various stimuli.
The Advanced Health and Disaster Aid Network (AID-N) used participatory design methods to develop an electronic triage system that replaced the paper triage system and changed how emergency personnel interact, collect, and process data at mass casualty incidents. My research investigated the design of an infrastructure that provided efficient resource allocation by continuously monitoring the vital signs and locations of patients. Medical embedded systems called electronic triage tags contained noninvasive, biomedical sensors (pulse oximeter, electrocardiogram, and blood pressure) that facilitated the seamless collection and dissemination of data from the incident site to key members of the emergency response community. In a mass casualty drill, paramedics were able to triple the number of times they reassessed patients and efficiently manage resources with the electronic triage system.
This real world deployment uncovered numerous research challenges that arose from the complex interactions of the embedded systems with the dynamic environment that they were deployed in. I address the challenge of body attenuation by constructing a model of attenuation in body sensor networks from experimental data. I also use data driven methods to address the challenge of limited storage capacity in mobile embedded systems during network partitions. An algorithm models inter-arrival time, intra-arrival time, and body attenuation to achieve efficiency in storage capacity. My approach mitigates data loss and provides continuous data collection through a combination of optimization, statistical variance, and data driven modeling techniques. In addition, I also leverage statistical variance techniques to detect the physical tampering of portable medical devices. A data driven approach that uses quantitative information from experimental deployments is necessary when building realistic systems for medical applications where failure can result in the loss of a life.Bio:
Tammara Massey is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Computer Science Department and a member of the Wireless Health Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Tammara earned her Masters in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her current research interests are in embedded systems with an emphasis in health informatics. Her dissertation topic takes a data driven approach to developing reconfiguration techniques in embedded systems for medical applications, explores modeling of attenuation in body sensor networks, and leverages statistical power optimization techniques to detect the physical tampering of portable devices. Tammara has published approximately 17 journal and conference papers, co-authored 2 book chapters, and is a named inventor on a provisional patent.Hosted by: Alexander SawchuckLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - -248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
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Overview of Video Processing Methods and Picture Quality Optimization
Tue, Apr 28, 2009 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jorge E. Caviedes,
Intel Corporation,
Chandler, ArizonaAbstract: This talk will present first an overview of the video processing methods for consumer applications, and discuss the components of the video processing chain and the overall processing characteristics. The second part will discuss how to achieve optimum picture quality with the video processing chain. The topics include video quality metrics, overall quality assessment, and methods to introduce automated quality control into the video processing chain.Biography: Dr. Caviedes is a Principal Engineer in the Digital Home Group of Intel Corporation, Chandler, Arizona. He is a multi-disciplinary scientist, expert in video/image processing and system design, no-reference quality metrics for enhanced/degraded video and their applications. He also serves as adjunct professor in the EE department of Arizona State University; co-founder and general co-chair of the annual International Workshop onVideo Processing and Quality Metrics for Consumer Electronics since 2005. Prior to Joining Intel in 2003, Dr. Caviedes was a Principal Member Research Staff at Philips Research. During his affiliation with Philips Research between 1987 and 2002 he worked in the labs at Briarcliff, NY, USA (1987-1998, 2001); Paris, France (1999-2000); and Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2002). In 1998, Dr. Caviedes was a Fulbright scholar at the University of the Andes where he taught graduate level courses on Medical Informatics. He has published over 35 technical papers, and holds 14 US patents (plus 23 pending).Host: Prof. Sanjit MitraLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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Capacity, Cooperation and Cognition in Wireless Networks
Tue, Apr 28, 2009 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Andrea Goldsmith,
Stanford UniversityAbstract: We consider fundamental capacity limits in wireless networks where nodes can cooperate in transmission, reception, and relaying. The key to unlocking capacity of such networks is to characterize the impact of time-varying channels, interference, and feedback. A basic premise of our work is that the best way to manage interference is to exploit it, and such exploitation can lead to large capacity gains. In particular, we propose novel cooperative and cognitive radio methods that use signal transmissions overheard from other nodes to increase network capacity. We also extend these ideas to MIMO nodes, where the spatial dimension provides an additional design degree of freedom. New capacity results for time-varying multiuser channels with feedback and cooperation will also be presented. Finally, we will discuss the impact of feedback, cooperation, and channel dynamics on source-channel coding and separation optimalityBiography: Andrea Goldsmith is a professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, and was previously an assistant professor of Electrical Engineering at Caltech. She is also co_founder and CTO of Quantenna Communications, Inc., and has previously held industry positions at Maxim Technologies, Memorylink Corporation, and AT&T Bell Laboratories. Her research includes work on wireless communication and information theory, MIMO systems and multihop networks, cross_layer wireless system design, and wireless communications for distributed control. She is author of the book ``Wireless Communications'' and co_author of the book ``MIMO Wireless Communications,'' both published by Cambridge University Press. She received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from U.C. Berkeley. Dr. Goldsmith is a Fellow of the IEEE and of Stanford. She has received several awards for her research, including the National Academy of Engineering Gilbreth Lectureship, the Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, the Stanford Terman Fellowship, the National Science Foundation CAREER Development Award, and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award. In addition, she was a co_recipient of the 2005 IEEE Communications Society and Information Theory Society joint paper award. Dr. Goldsmith currently serves as associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory and as editor for the Journal on Foundations and Trends in Communications and Information Theory and in Networks. She previously served as an editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications and for the IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, as well as guest editor for several IEEE journal and magazine special issues. Dr. Goldsmith participates actively in committees and conference organization for the IEEE Information Theory and Communications Societies and is an elected member of the Board of Governors for both societies. She is a distinguished lecturer for the IEEE Communications Society, the president of the IEEE Information Theory Society, and was the technical program co_chair for the 2007 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory. She also founded the student committee of the IEEE Information Theory society and is an inaugural recipient of Stanford's postdoc mentoring award.Host: Urbashi Mitra, ubli@usc.edu, EEB 540, x04667
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Fabrication of Bulk Metallic Glass Foams via Severe Plastic Deformation
Wed, Apr 29, 2009 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Dr. Suveen N. MathaudhuMaterials EngineerWeapons and Materials Research DirectorateU.S. Army Research LaboratoryAbstract:Personnel protection for soldiers requires thin, shock-absorbing components in composite vest plate. Metallic foams exhibit outstanding energy absorption, due to ductile densification by plastic deformation of their struts. Foams based on bulk metallic glasses (BMG), which have the highest strength of any metals, and as such, should be optimal. An obstacle to the use of BMG foams is the brittle behavior. However, recent demonstrations show that the thin, sub-millimeter, struts of BMG foams are ductile in compression, with outstanding energy absorption. The work presented here will demonstrate that equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE) can be used to create composites of BMG powders and metallic powders (Cu, Ni, W) which can subsequently be converted to BMG open-cell foams by leaching of the metallic second phase. These foams show excellent mechanical properties and particularly high energy absorption. Comparisons with similar melt cast BMG foams will be made. The talk will cover the overview of severe plastic deformation processing, metallic glass powder consolidation and foam fabrication by ECAE.Short Bio:
Dr. Suveen Mathaudhu is a Materials Engineer with the Weapons and Materials Research Directorate of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. Dr. Mathaudhu received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Walla Walla College (College Place, WA) and his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University (College Station, TX). Upon graduating, he accepted a post-doctoral fellowship, and subsequently a civil servant position at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD) with the purpose of establishing a deformation processing laboratory for research on advanced materials of interest to the DoD.
Location: Seaver Science Library, Rm 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Venture Capital in the Global Digital Age
Thu, Apr 30, 2009 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Henry Kressel
Warburg PincusAbstract: Everybody knows that digital technology has revolutionized our economy and our lifestyles. But how many of us really understand the drivers behind the technology - the significance of going digital; the miniaturization of electronic devices; the role of venture capital in financing the revolution; the importance of research and development? How many of us understand what it takes to make money from innovative technologies? Should we worry about manufacturing going offshore? What is the role of India and China in the digital economy? Drawing on a lifetime's experience in the industry, as an engineer, a senior manager, and as a partner in a global venture capital firm, Henry Kressel offers an expert personalized answer to all these questions. He explains how the technology works, why it matters, how it is financed, and what the key lessons are for public policy.Biography: Dr. Henry Kressel joined Warburg Pincus in 1983 where he focuses on technology and communications investments. Previously, he was the Vice President at the RCA Laboratories responsible for the worldwide research and development of microelectronics, power electronics and associated software. Dr. Kressel holds 31 U.S. patents covering various electronic and optoelectronic devices. He pioneered the development and commercial introduction of the first semiconductor lasers, which are the basis of fiber optic communications systems, DVDs and other consumer, industrial and military products. He is the co-author of a text with J. K. Butler, "Semiconductor Lasers and Heterojunction LEDs," Academic Press, 1977 and author with T.V. Lento of "Competing for the Future: How Digital Technologies are Changing the World," Cambridge University Press, 2007. He is the recipient of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) David Sarnoff Award for contributions to electronic devices. A graduate of Yeshiva College, Dr. Kressel received an M.S. from Harvard University, an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and a doctorate in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He received an honorary doctorate degree from Yeshiva University. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and is the founding president of IEEE Laser and Electro-Optics Society. Dr. Kressel has served in an advisory capacity to NASA, the U.S. Air Force and the National Science Foundation. He is on the Boards of Sarnoff Corporation, SRI International, Telcordia Technologies, Inc., RMI Corporation, and is a trustee of Yeshiva University.Hosts: Alan Willner, EEB 538, x04664, willner@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Microbial Interactions with Emerging Contaminants: 1,4-Dioxane and Nanoparticles
Thu, Apr 30, 2009 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Shaily Mahendra, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Rice UniversityAbstract:
Emerging contaminants are chemicals being increasingly detected in the environment, which are perceived to cause adverse ecological or human health effects, but are not yet regulated. Some examples of materials that have emerged recently are industrial compounds, gasoline additives, pharmaceuticals, and nanomaterials. It is particularly important to evaluate contaminant-microbe interactions because microorganisms can (a) transform contaminants into non-toxic products, (b) act as convenient models for toxicity to higher organisms, and (c) serve as sensitive indicators of potential environmental impacts. 1,4-Dioxane and quantum dots are selected as representative emerging contaminants for this presentation.
1,4-Dioxane, a probable human carcinogen, is typically found as an environmental contaminant in conjunction with groundwater solvent plumes as it is commonly used as a stabilizer for chlorinated solvents. In my research, a variety of bacteria containing specific monooxygenase enzymes were shown to degrade 1,4-dioxane. Quantitative and biochemical data generated in this research will facilitate the development of monitoring tools for this important emerging contaminant in natural and engineered systems. Thus, an outcome of microbial-emerging contaminant interactions may be effective, inexpensive, in situ, natural or enhanced bioremediation.
Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconductor nanocrystals valuable for electronics, solar energy generation, and medical imaging applications. QDs consist of heavy metal core/shell structures coated with organics to make them biocompatible. These coatings can be easily weathered under certain environmental conditions. In contrast to coated QDs, weathered QDs are bactericidal. QD toxicity to bacteria was primarily due to cadmium and selenite ions. Once QDs are released into the environment, water and soil characteristics, such as pH, pE, salinity, and natural organic matter, affect their bioavailability and consequent toxicity. Therefore, a potential consequence of microbial interactions with emerging contaminants may be ecotoxicity.
It is important to recognize emerging contaminants and their impact on public health and the environment. A proactive understanding of their interactions with microorganisms will allow us to use them in a sustainable manner and also develop systems to biologically remediate them.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Pursuing a Career In Academia
Thu, Apr 30, 2009 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
The Viterbi School of Engineering is starting a new initiative in mentoring
PhD students and postdoctoral researchers toward academic positions.
The first event in the initiative will take place on April 30th.Your attendance is requested at a special panel on "Pursuing a Career in
Academia." Engineering Ph.D. students and Post Docs from all areas and
departments are strongly encouraged to attend. Refreshments will be
served. Five distinguished faculty will discuss their academic paths and those of
their PhD students successfully placed in university positions in the US and
abroad, offer strategic advice, and answer your questions.To register for this event, please click on the link below:http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/phd/career_academia_registration.phpLocation: John Stauffer Science Lecture Hall (SLH) - 200. NEW VENUE!!
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: Tracy Charles
