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Events for October
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ECE Seminar: Efficient Preference Learning for Interactive Robots
Mon, Oct 02, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Erdem Biyik, Assistant Professor, USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Talk Title: Efficient Preference Learning for Interactive Robots
Abstract: In the realm of human-robot interaction and multi-agent systems, decentralized agents often collaborate to achieve a common task. The crux of effective collaboration lies in the ability to predict and anticipate the actions of other agents. While we, humans, excel at this due to our innate capacity to understand intentions, robots currently lag behind. This talk delves into the integration of reward learning and partner modeling as a way to address this challenge. I will present active learning techniques tailored to this challenge and discuss the pivotal role of preference data for learning rewards in the settings where demonstration data may fail. Finally, I am going to show some preliminary results and examples of how partner-modeling enables decentralized agents to cooperate efficiently.
Biography: Erdem Biyik is an assistant professor in Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California. He leads the Learning and Interactive Robot Autonomy Lab (Lira Lab). Prior to joining USC, he was a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence. He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, working at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab (SAIL), and his B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, Türkiye. During his studies, he worked at the research departments of Google and Aselsan. Erdem was an HRI 2022 Pioneer and received an honorable mention award for his work at HRI 2020. His works were published at premier robotics and artificial intelligence journals and conferences, such as IJRR, CoRL, RSS, NeurIPS.
Host: Dr. Somil Bansal, somilban@usc.edu
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96823158282?pwd=MUFrWS94bDBqZ3F2MFZsVlRQZVV0Zz09Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/96823158282?pwd=MUFrWS94bDBqZ3F2MFZsVlRQZVV0Zz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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MHI ISSS Seminar - Dr. Payam Heydari, Friday, 10/6 at 2pm in EEB 248 & Zoom
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Payam Heydari, University of California, Irvine
Talk Title: Novel mm-Wave/Terahertz Integrated Circuits and Architectures for High-Speed Communications
Series: Integrated Systems
Abstract: This seminar will provide an overview of our research in (sub-)terahertz transceiver architectures and design techniques enabling ultra-high data rate communications. The talk commences with a glimpse into the ongoing research projects at the Nanoscale Communication Integrated Circuits (NCIC) Labs. The presentation will unveil the limitations inherent in conventional transceiver designs when targeting data rates beyond 100 Gbps. We will introduce novel "end-to-end" transceiver architectures poised to transcend these constraints. Through three compelling case studies, we will illustrate the transformative potential of this new approach. Additionally, the seminar will provide an in-depth exploration of circuit design techniques, including wideband amplifiers, sub-terahertz signal generation and radiation mechanisms, and high-performance antennas tailored for these cutting-edge applications.
Biography: Payam Heydari is currently the University Chancellor's Professor at the University of California, Irvine. A fellow of IEEE and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Heydari was the Distinguished Lecturer of both IEEE Solid-State Circuits and Microwave Theory and Technology Societies and is the recipient of five Best Paper Awards, the 2023 IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society Distinguished Educator Award, and the 2021 IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Innovative Education Award. He has authored 190 journal and conference papers and graduated more than 40 Ph.D. and M.S. students.
Host: MHI - ISSS, Hashemi, Chen and Sideris
Webcast: Meeting ID: 91998427261 PC: 520437Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
WebCast Link: Meeting ID: 91998427261 PC: 520437
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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ECE-Controls Seminar - Anuradha Annaswamy
Fri, Oct 06, 2023 @ 04:15 PM - 05:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anuradha Annaswamy, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT
Talk Title: Resilience and Distributed Decision-making in a Renewable-rich Power Grid
Abstract: The power grid has evolved from a physical system to a cyber-physical system that consists of digital devices that perform measurement, control, communication, computation, and actuation. With increased penetration in distributed energy resources (DER) that include renewable generation, flexible loads, and storage, these devices can be as large as 8 billion in number just in the US grid, many of whom are capable of monitoring and making crucial decisions. While these devices provide extraordinary opportunities for improvements in efficiency and sustainability, they also can introduce new vulnerabilities in the form of cyberattacks. This in turn can cause significant challenges in ensuring grid resilience, i.e. satisfactory restoration of grid services in the face of severe anomalous behavior. The additional difficulty is to ensure this property even while integrating DERs which are intermittent, uncertain, and distributed. In order to overcome these challenges, a framework that enables distributed decision-making and control is essential, and forms the focus of this talk. With growing presence of DER, owners and stakeholders also increase in number.
In order to leverage disparate ownerships, it is critical to design market structures that enable smooth integration of DERs. Local electricity markets with a hierarchical structure have been proposed that accommodate the distributed ownership of DERs, both in location and time, improve market performance, and at the same time ensure that physical constraints due to power physics are not violated. Such a market structure also enables visibility to grid operators, which can be utilized not only for market performance but also for grid resilience.
This talk will explore the relation between market mechanisms, distributed optimization, and resilience for the grid. A variety of attack surfaces including those that compromise large IoT (internet-of-things) networks will be considered. The use of distributed visibility and the related situational awareness to the operators will be examined through simulation studies of a distribution grid with 100,000 nodes. The role of distributed decision-making principles of optimization and control in prevention, resilience, and detection & isolation will be examined.
Biography: Dr. Anuradha Annaswamy is Founder and Director of the Active-Adaptive Control Laboratory in the Department of Mech. Eng. at MIT. Her research interests span adaptive control theory and its applications to several engineering systems including to aerospace, automotive, propulsion, and energy systems, cyber-enabled energy grids, and urban mobility. She has received best paper awards (Axelby; CSM), Distinguished Member and Distinguished Lecturer awards from the IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS), Best Paper award from IFAC for Annual Reviews in Control (2021-23), and a Presidential Young Investigator award from NSF. She is a Fellow of IEEE and IFAC. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni award from Indian Institute of Science for 2021.
Anu Annaswamy is the author of a graduate textbook on adaptive control and several journal and conference publications, and co-editor of two vision documents on smart grids, two editions of the Impact of Control Technology report, and the 2023 CSS report "Control for Societal-scale Challenges: Road Map 2030". She is also a coauthor of a 2021 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Committee report on the Future of Electric Power in the United States, and a 2023 NASEM report on the Role of Net-metering in the Evolving Electricity System. She served as the President of CSS in 2020. She is a Faculty Lead in the Electric Power Systems workstream in the MIT Future Energy Systems Center.
Host: Dr. Petros Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97468174515?pwd=djJheUlTc0sxNnN5N0Y5ViszOGFtUT09
More Information: ECE-Controls_Seminar_Announcement.pdf
Location: EEB 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: John Diaz
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97468174515?pwd=djJheUlTc0sxNnN5N0Y5ViszOGFtUT09
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Quantum Science & Technology Seminar - Rishabh Sahu, Tuesday, October 10th at 3pm in EEB 248
Tue, Oct 10, 2023 @ 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Rishabh Sahu, Institute of Science and Technology Austria
Talk Title: Quantum Electrooptics
Series: Quantum Science & Technology Seminar Series
Abstract: In the last few decades, a myriad physical systems such as photons, atoms, ions and spins have been explored for various different quantum technologies such as computation, communication and meteorology. Until now, no single physical system has been suitable for all the different quantum applications. As a result, in the future, we can expect a quantum network of spatially separated quantum processing, memory or sensing nodes - all connected via flying qubits or optical photons. Many quantum systems such as solid state qubits and trapped ion qubits have already been successful in entangling multiple nodes separated by long distances owing to optical transitions in these systems which make it easy to bridge these local nodes with optics. However, microwave technologies such as superconducting qubits have been left behind in this matter. This is mostly because of the huge challenge posed by incompatibility of microwave and optical technologies - high energy optics not only thermally heats up the microwave circuitry but also breaks the cooper pairs in the superconducting metal breaking their superconductivity. As a result, it has been hard to establish a quantum bridge between these two frequency domains. In this talk, I will present our bridge between microwave and optical frequencies which is based on electrooptic nonlinearity. I will talk about many important results which show the viability of this platform in future quantum networking applications involving microwave technologies.
Biography: Rishabh completed his bachelor's and master's degree in Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. His research mainly involved studying orbital angular momentum of light, in particular, sorting photons in this basis to get a multidimensional basis for photons. His master's thesis involved simulating Maxwell's equation using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method. Rishabh started graduate school at ISTA in fall of 2018 and joined the Fink group in 2019. He graduated in 2023 and works now as a postdoc on new cavity electrooptics experiments.
Host: Quntao Zhang, Wade Hsu, Mengjie Yu, Jonathan Habif & Eli Levenson-Falk
More Information: Rishabh Sahu Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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ECE-Controls Seminar - Ardalan Vahidi
Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr Ardalan Vahidi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University
Talk Title: Energy and Flow Effects of Optimal Automated Driving in Mixed Traffic
Abstract: Connected and automated vehicles (CAV) are marketed for their increased safety, driving comfort, and time saving potential. With much easier access to information, increased processing power, and precision control, CAVs also offer unprecedented opportunities for energy efficient driving. This talk highlights the energy saving potential of connected and automated vehicles based on first principles of motion, optimal control theory, and practical examples from our previous and ongoing research. Connectivity to other vehicles and infrastructure allows better anticipation of upcoming events, such as hills, curves, state of traffic signals, and movement of neighboring vehicles. Automation allows vehicles to adjust their motion more precisely in anticipation of upcoming events, and save energy. Opportunities for cooperative driving could further increase energy efficiency of a group of vehicles by allowing them to move in a coordinated manner. Energy efficient motion of connected and automated vehicles could have a harmonizing effect on mixed traffic, leading to additional energy savings for neighboring vehicles.
Latest analytical and experimental results will be shown on energy and traffic flow impacts attained by anticipation and coordination. The benefits are shown in simulated scenarios and in experiments on a test track where urban and highway conditions are emulated.
Biography: Ardalan Vahidi is a professor of mechanical engineering at Clemson University, South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 2005, M.Sc. in transportation safety from George Washington University, Washington, DC, in 2002, and B.S. and M.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology in 1996 and 1998, respectively. He has held Visiting Scholar positions at the University of California, Berkeley (2012-2013), and University of California, San Diego (2023), and scientific visiting positions at BMW Technology Office in California (2012-2013), and at IFP Energies Nouvelles, in Paris (2017). He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of ASME, and an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology. His core expertise is in systems and control and his recent publications span topics in automated and connected mobility, electrified transportation, and modeling and optimization of human performance. His research has been sponsored by US Department of Energy, NSF, US Army, and research labs of BMW, Ford, GM, Cummins, and Eaton.
Host: Dr Petros Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu
More Info: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93103284622?pwd=SDg1bVVSMDc1SS84bzdQU1d4TVlVZz09
More Information: ECE-Controls_Seminar_Announcement.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: John Diaz
Event Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93103284622?pwd=SDg1bVVSMDc1SS84bzdQU1d4TVlVZz09
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Photonics Seminar - Bassem Tossoun, Friday, Oct. 13th at 1:30pm in MCB102
Fri, Oct 13, 2023 @ 01:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bassem Tossoun, Hewlett Packard Labs
Talk Title: Energy-Efficient III-V on Silicon Photonics for Next-Generation AI Accelerators
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: Deep learning and the availability of large datasets have created a large drive towards new types of hardware capable of executing these algorithms with higher energy-efficiency. Recently, silicon photonics has emerged as a promising hardware platform for neuromorphic computing due to its inherent capability to process linear and non-linear operations and transmit a high bandwidth of data in parallel. At Hewlett Packard Labs, an energy-efficient III-V-on-Silicon photonics platform has been developed as the underlying foundation for innovative neuromorphic computing architectures. The latest research on our silicon photonic computing platform will be presented and discussed.
Biography: Bassem Tossoun received his PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Virginia in 2019 with his research interests including silicon photonics and the design, fabrication, and characterization of optoelectronic devices for data communications. Currently, he is a Senior Research Scientist at Hewlett Packard Labs working on heterogeneously integrated III-V on silicon photonic devices and architectures for next-generation optical computing and communications.
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani
More Information: Bassem Tossoun Flyer.pdf
Location: Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience (MCB) - 102
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Quantum Science & Technology Seminar - Daniil Lukin, Thursday, Oct. 19th at 2pm in EEB 248
Thu, Oct 19, 2023 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Daniil Lukin, Stanford University
Talk Title: AMO experiments on a chip: Scalability through integrated photonics in Silicon Carbide and Titanium:Sapphire
Series: Quantum Science & Technology Seminar Series
Abstract: A perfect crystal is like a perfect vacuum, in the sense that it admits the propagation of waves without scattering (Bloch waves). It follows that by creating point defects in this "semiconductor vacuum", we can realize eternally-trapped "artificial atoms" (in lieu of suspending atoms in true vacuum as in AMO experiments). These artificial atoms can be straightforwardly integrated into photonic circuits on-chip. It is a highly-attractive proposition in theory, but it has practical challenges. In this talk I will cover the developments of quantum photonics with artificial atoms in Silicon Carbide, and discuss advances in nanofabrication that enabled us to reach the strong-coupling regime between the cavity and artificial atoms. By revisiting the most basic photonic cavity, we combined strong interactions with individual atom addressability to study multi-atom cavity-coupled systems in the solid state. This system is intrinsically scalable, permitting large-scale co-integration of detectors and control lasers. I will discuss the development of the integrated Titanium:Sapphire laser arrays, and scalable control of quantum photonic systems.
Biography: Daniil Lukin did his PhD at Stanford University in the group of Prof. Jelena Vuckovic, where he currently is a postdoctoral researcher. His research interests are in integrated quantum photonics and exploring nanophotonic device nanofabrication for advancing technology and fundamental science.
Host: Quntao Zhang, Wade Hsu, Mengjie Yu, Jonathan Habif & Eli Levenson-Falk
More Information: Daniil Lukin Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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The 2nd Annual A.V. Balakrishnan Awards
Tue, Oct 24, 2023 @ 02:30 PM - 04:15 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
The A.V. 'Bal' Balakrishnan Award for Excellence in Scientific Research in the Mathematics of Systems was established by the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) through a generous gift from Mrs. Sophia Balakrishnan honoring the memory of her late husband Professor A. V. 'Bal' Balakrishnan, a well-known researcher and Professor in the area of the Mathematics of Systems.
More information on the award can be found at https://sites.usc.edu/balakrishnan-library/awards/
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Please join us in celebrating this year's award recipient, Dr. Xudong Chen, Associate Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the Washington University in St. Louis.
More info on this year's award recipient can be found at https://sites.usc.edu/balakrishnan-library/2023-a-v-balakrishnan-early-career-award-winner/
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
University Park Campus
Ronald Tutor Hall (RTH)
Ming Hsieh Boardroom, Room 526
Reception 2:00PM - 2:30PM
Remarks 2:35PM - 3:15PM
Awardee Lecture 3:15PM - 4:00PM
Award Presentation 4:00PM - 4:15PM
RSVP HERE: https://forms.gle/Lg97hSReznusEizN9
This event will be live-streamed and recorded over Zoom.More Information: 2023.10.24 Balakrishnan Awards - Invitation.pdf
Location: RTH 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Miki Arlen
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Photonics Seminar - Julia Gorsch & Andrea Steinfurth, Wednesday, October 25th at 2:30pm in EEB 132
Wed, Oct 25, 2023 @ 02:30 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Julia Gorsch and Andrea Steinfurth, University of Rostock, Institute for Physics
Talk Title: Emulating photonic mesh lattices in coupled optical fiber loops
Series: Photonics Seminar Series
Abstract: The advancements in technology in the field of photonics allow for a precise control over the properties of light and its propagation. This makes experimental photonic platforms highly attractive not only for studying optical phenomena, but also for emulating effects from different fields of physics. By doing so, the underlying physical effect is isolated and transferred to a highly controllable but simplified environment. To make such photonic platforms even more versatile, the concept of synthetic dimensionality has been used as powerful tool to replace spatial dimensions with other degrees of freedom of the system. One of such experimental optical platforms is the coupled optical fiber loop setup, which encodes the spatial dimensions in time to emulate an optical mesh lattice. In this talk we will introduce this particular platform, its working principle, and how it can be adapted to support a large variety of different mesh lattices. The phenomena accessible for investigation on such lattices include topics such as non-Hermitian systems, topological effects, disordered systems, and nonlinear behavior, just to name a few. In the second part of this talk, two examples of recent research are presented in more detail. Firstly, non-Hermitian tailoring was used to observe constant-intensity waves as well as non-Hermitian induced transparency. Secondly, the non-Hermitian skin effect enabled the creation of a topological funnel for light. We will conclude with a brief overview of other topics that have been experimentally realized with the coupled optical fiber loop setup.
Biography: Julia Görsch:
- Master's degree in 2023 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics
- PhD student since 2023 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics, Experimental Solid-State Optics, Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Szameit
Andrea Steinfurth:
- Master's degree in 2020 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics
- PhD student since 2020 at University of Rostock, Institute of Physics, Experimental Solid-State Optics, Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Szameit
Host: Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Michelle Povinelli, Constantine Sideris; Hossein Hashemi; Wade Hsu; Mengjie Yu; Wei Wu; Tony Levi; Alan E. Willner; Andrea Martin Armani
More Information: Gorsch and Steinfurth Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
