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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for the 1st week of May
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Phd Defense - Bowen Zhang
Mon, May 02, 2022 @ 09:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Candidate: Bowen Zhang
Committee chair: Prof. Leana Golubchik (CS dept.), Prof. Fei Sha,
Committee members: Prof. Laurent Itti (CS dept.), Prof. Shri Narayanan (EE dept.)
May. 2 Monday 9:00am-10:30am
Title: Visual Representation Learning with Structural Prior
Abstract: Visual representation learning is crucial for building a robust and effective visual understanding system. The goal is to build general-purpose representations to benefit multiple downstream tasks (\ie image/video classification, segmentation, retrieval, etc.) With the accessibility to large-scale datasets and the advance in complex learning methods, sophisticated neural architectures and novel training approaches have been proposed to improve visual representation. However, obtaining a versatile representation is still yet an open question. This thesis aims to leverage the visual structure to obtain more general visual representations. The key observation is that the visual components (\ie images and videos) contain structure. It can be decomposed into atomic components such as objects, attributes, clips, etc. For example, images can be decomposed into objects and can be further described by attributes. Similarly, videos can describe complex scenes composed of multiple clips or shots, where each depicts a semantically coherent event or action. As atomic components are shareable across modalities and tasks, we hope the hierarchical visual representation that is compiled from the atomic representation could achieve better generalization ability. In this thesis, we studied two scenarios to obtain the visual structures: the structure from parallel visual and text data and the pure visual domain. We achieved state-of-the-art performance on video and text retrieval, moment localization in a video corpus, image and text retrieval, action recognition, and visual storytelling with the proposed hierarchically visual representation.WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/92058237989
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Jason Gregory
Mon, May 02, 2022 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Thesis Proposal - Jason Gregory
Title: Decision Support Systems for Adaptive Experimental Design in Field Robotics
Abstract:
Field robots - agents that operate in complex, natural settings - have the potential for making major, tangible impact to human-robot teaming, but also face the toughest of challenges because the physical world is an unforgiving place. Experimentation plays an integral role in the research and development of fieldable systems and this must be performed in representative conditions that leverage human supervision to effectively understand capabilities of the system, assess individual components and their interactions, manage risk, and interpret results. Adaptive decision making led by a human is required for the construction of experiments, referred to as experimental design, to use insights gained from previous experiments and overcome the inherent complexity of autonomous field robotic systems and operational environments. Human experimenters, however, inherently have several shortcomings, including an inability to reason over large-scale data, sub-optimal uncertainty estimation, and biased decision making. These shortcomings can produce disastrous outcomes, including the selection of low-value experiments that introduce unnecessary delays in building system understanding as well as the selection of risky experiments that can result in major equipment damage or physical injury. To mitigate the human's drawbacks while boosting their indispensable skill sets, we seek to develop decision support systems (DSS) that can assist an experimenter during the decision making process of experiment design and reduce experimental costs by constructing more informative experiments. In this talk, I will present recent efforts in human-in-the-loop decision making for adaptive experimental design, specifically in the context of field robotics, through the development of applicable DSSs.
Committee:
Satyandra K. Gupta (advisor, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science)
Gaurav Sukhatme (Computer Science)
Heather Culbertson (Computer Science)
Stefanos Nikolaidis (Computer Science)
Quan Nguyen (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science)
Location: https://usc.zoom.us/j/2562545595?pwd=RnJUdWNTaStveEdQSUFiSjhkL2o5Zz09
Date: Monday, May 2, 2022 at 1-3PM.
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/2562545595?pwd=RnJUdWNTaStveEdQSUFiSjhkL2o5Zz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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BCG Office Hours
Tue, May 03, 2022 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Our purpose is to provide a variety of opportunities for students to have their questions answered, learn more about BCG and our recruiting process.
These sessions are led by recruiters and intended to provide support for students as they navigate the Associate summer internship and full-time application process.
Tuesday, May 3rd 12pm-1pm: Resumes & Cover Letters- Click Here to Register: https://talent.bcg.com/Events?folderId=10047254&source=Event
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participant's responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareers@usc.eduLocation: Virtual
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Dimitrios Stripelis
Tue, May 03, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
Title
Heterogeneous Federated Learning
Abstract
Federated Learning has emerged as a standard computational paradigm for distributed training of deep learning models across data silos. The participating silos may have heterogeneous system capabilities and data specifications. In this thesis proposal, we classify these heterogeneities into computational and semantic. We present federated training policies that accelerate the convergence of the federated model by reducing the communication and processing cost required during training. We show the efficacy of these policies across a range of challenging federated environments with highly diverse data distributions. Finally, we introduce for the first time the federated data harmonization problem and present a comprehensive architecture that addresses both data harmonization, including schema mapping, data normalization, and data imputation, as well as federated learning.
Committee
José Luis Ambite (advisor, CS)
Cyrus Shahabi (co-advisor, CS)
Greg Ver Steeg (CS)
Meisam Razaviyayn (CS)
Paul Thompson (Keck)
Location
https://usc.zoom.us/j/91349269696?pwd=QzlYMFMraVc4RGpKNWxXQnhONlJpdz09
Date
Tuesday, May 3, 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT.
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/91349269696?pwd=QzlYMFMraVc4RGpKNWxXQnhONlJpdz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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DEN@Viterbi - 'Limited Status: How to Get Started' Virtual Info Session
Tue, May 03, 2022 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join USC Viterbi for our upcoming Limited Status: How to Get Started Virtual Information Session via WebEx to learn about the Limited Status enrollment option. The Limited Status enrollment option allows individuals with an undergraduate degree in engineering or related field, with a 3.0 GPA or above to take courses before applying for formal admission into a Viterbi graduate degree program.
USC Viterbi representatives will provide a step-by-step guide for how to get started as a Limited Status student and enroll in courses online via DEN@Viterbi as early as the Spring 2023 semester.
Register Now!WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/uscviterbi/onstage/g.php?MTID=e71754a5ae292005b12d73694b9d519b5
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs
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PhD Defense - Sarah Cooney
Wed, May 04, 2022 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Candidate: Sarah Cooney
Title: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Communities with HCI: Physical Structures and Socio-Cultural Factors
Committee:
Barath Raghavan (Chair), Ramesh Govindan, Bistra Dilkina, Heather Culbertson, Hajar Yazdiha (Outside Member, Sociology)
Abstract: Today more than ever we are faced with urgent, global-scale sustainability challenges. Scientists are urging everyone to contribute, and this includes the computing community. The Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction (SHCI) community has been working on these kinds of sustainability problems for almost two decades now. My research builds on the work of this community, in particular the use of Practice Theory to examine the external structures that act on individuals, often hampering their ability to make sustainable decisions. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods from human-computer interaction, my research aim is to find local solutions to global sustainability challenges while increasing community resilience and individual well-being.
First, I look at physical infrastructure through the lens of ``social infrastructure''. I build a prototype software, PatternPainter, to enable ordinary individuals to create 3D visualizations for designs of new social spaces on abandoned land in their communities. Evaluation shows this prototype allows individuals without design training to successfully create designs in 3D. I then turn to qualitative methods from HCI, specifically photo elicitation and surveys, to add context by examining how trained designers and untrained citizens view their physical environments differently in the CommYOUnity Data Study. The observations from this study can be used to inform building future technologies in the social infrastructure space. Finally, I turn to automation. I create a pipeline using the Pix2Pix style transfer algorithm and semantic segmentation to automate the process of revitalizing city streets for pedestrian use.
In parallel, I also examine religion as a socio-cultural factor impacting sustainable decision making. This builds on previous work in SHCI, which suggests that it is important to understand the social, cultural, and psychological motivations behind sustainable decision making, so that more effective technological solutions to facilitate these decisions can be built. To that end, I conducted an interview study with 14 individuals from Catholic organizations who are involved in sustainability work from a faith-based lens. I show how the insights from this study might be used to build future technology in this space.
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/97131163793?pwd=MXZ0NUNyd1BWK2F4U0lmUWJtNEVLdz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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PhD Defense - Victor Ardulov
Wed, May 04, 2022 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
Title: Modeling and Regulating Human Interaction with Control Affine Dynamical Systems
Author: Victor Ardulov
Committee Members: Shrikanth Narayanan (chair), Maja MatariÄ, Thomas D Lyon
Date: May 5, 2022 3pm Pacific
Location (in-person): Ronald Tutor Hall 320
Virtual Link:
usc.zoom.us/j/98133481247?pwd=d2VqbmNhYWljcnp4d25PVEJvd3U5Zz09
Meeting ID: 981 3348 1247
Passcode: 882255
Abstract:
Human interaction is a vital component to a persons' development and well-being. These interactions enable us to over come obstacles and find resolutions that an individual might not be able to. This subject is particularly well studied in the domains of human psychology, where human behavior is diagnostically categorized and the interaction can be utilized in order to improve somebody's health.
Prior work has explored the use of computational models of human behavior to aide in the diagnostic assessment of behavioral patterns. Most recently, novel machine learning
methods and access data has invited the to study the dynamics of human interaction on a more granular time-resolution. These dynamics have been used to identify specific moments during interactions that are relevant to the over all assessment of a individuals behavior with respect to their interlocutor. By reformulating this system from the perspective of an operator that can be controlled, it invites the possibility to predict how an individual would react to a specific input from their partner, which itself lends the opportunity to plan out interventions and probes more effectively.
This dissertation presents a formulation of human interaction through a systems theoretic paradigm with a control affine element and demonstrates how these frameworks can be utilized to gain insight into improving desired outcomes and approaches towards optimizing interaction strategies. In support of the thesis, we will present the application of these techniques to the domains of forensic interviewing, psychotherapy, and neurodevelopmental diagnostics.
Bio:
Victor is a 5th year Computer Science PhD Candidate with SAIL at the University of Southern California, where his primary research is conducted in the space of modeling and guiding behavioral interactions between people. His work includes analyzing child speaking patterns to determine the truthfulness of their statements during high-stakes interviews, improving screening tools for diagnosing neuro-developmental disorders (e.g. Autism Spectrum Disorder), and building models to improve psychologists-client outcomes during therapy. Besides his work at USC, Victor has experience as a scientific advisor at Calypso AI distilling research to build AI testing software, a research engineer at Hughes Research, working on Human-AI collaborative teams, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on VR tools for science and planning, and received his Bachelor's in Computer/Robotics Engineering at UC Santa Cruz, where he designed and developed assistive exoskeleton to help stroke patients.Location: 320
WebCast Link: usc.zoom.us/j/98133481247?pwd=d2VqbmNhYWljcnp4d25PVEJvd3U5Zz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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NL Seminar-Dungeons and Discourse: Using Computational Storytelling to Look at Natural Language Use
Thu, May 05, 2022 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Information Sciences Institute
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lara Martin, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Dungeons and Discourse: Using Computational Storytelling to Look at Natural Language Use
Series: NL Seminar
Abstract: Although we are currently riding a technological wave of personal assistants, many of these agents still struggle to communicate appropriately. In particular, these systems lack coherence, the ability to adapt to novel situations, creativity, emotional understanding, and collaboration. My work focuses on creating open world storytelling systems and developing agents that leverage speech understanding to communicate with humans more effectively. In this talk, I look at how tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons can be used as motivation for how to improve conversational systems and understand how people communicate.
Biography: Dr. Lara J. Martin is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pennsylvania working with Dr. Chris Callison Burch. In 2020, she earned her PhD in Human Centered Computing from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she worked with Dr. Mark Riedl. She also has a Masters of Language Technologies from Carnegie Mellon University and a BS in Computer Science and Linguistics from Rutgers University New Brunswick. Dr. Martins work resides in the field of Human Centered Artificial Intelligence with a focus on natural language applications. They have worked in the areas of automated story generation, speech processing, and affective computing, publishing in top tier conferences such as AAAI and IJCAI. They have also been featured in Wired and BBC Science Focus magazine.
Host: Jon May and Meryem M'hamdi
More Info: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
Webcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldKVQj863oLocation: Information Science Institute (ISI) - Virtual Only
WebCast Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldKVQj863o
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Pete Zamar
Event Link: https://nlg.isi.edu/nl-seminar/
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DEI Committee Meeting
Thu, May 05, 2022 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Receptions & Special Events
Bi-Weekly DEI Committee meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Aleksei Petrenko
Thu, May 05, 2022 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
Date: 05/05/22 (Thursday)
Time: 2pm
Physical location: RTH 406 conference room
Zoom URL: https://usc.zoom.us/j/8712894950
Committee:
- Gaurav Sukhatme
- Rahul Jain
- Jesse Thomason
- Mike Zyda
- Stefanos Nikolaidis
Abstract:
We propose accelerated methods for deep reinforcement learning that enable state-of-the-art large scale experiments with simulated environments on limited hardware. We break down performance bottlenecks of reinforcement learning and discuss optimization techniques such as asynchronous experience collection for heterogeneous learning systems, large-batch rendering for high throughput simulation, and end-to-end training systems design that leverages fast GPU-based simulators. The proposal includes a case study of multiple reinforcement learning projects which heavily rely on accelerated training: from agents that learn how to execute instructions spoken in natural language to quadrotor drones trained in a simulated environment and deployed in the real world.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 306
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/8712894950
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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Virtual First-Year Admission Information SessionThu, May 05, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Our virtual information session is a live presentation from a USC Viterbi admission counselor designed for high school students and their family members to learn more about the USC Viterbi undergraduate experience. Our session will cover an overview of our undergraduate engineering programs, the application process, and more on student life. Guests will be able to ask questions and engage in further discussion toward the end of the session.
Register Here!
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Virtual First-Year Admission Information Session
Thu, May 05, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Our virtual information session is a live presentation from a USC Viterbi admission counselor designed for high school students and their family members to learn more about the USC Viterbi undergraduate experience. Our session will cover an overview of our undergraduate engineering programs, the application process, and more on student life. Guests will be able to ask questions and engage in further discussion toward the end of the session.
Register Here!
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Remarkable Trajectory/Pioneer Series Joint Seminar: Dr. John Brooks Slaughter
Thu, May 05, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, University Professor, USC
Talk Title: From Kansas to USC: A Surprising Adventure
Series: Electrical Engineering Pioneer Series
Abstract: Growing up during an era in which opportunities were scarce for African Americans, John Brooks Slaughter had a series of unexpected professional experiences, as well as good fortune, that led him to the directorship of the National Science Foundation, the leadership of two educational institutions and culminated in his position as a professor of education and engineering at USC. In this presentation he will talk about that journey, some of the things he learned and the people who helped him on the way.
Lecture 4:00pm Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Building (EEB 132)
Reception 5:00pm Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Building Courtyard
Host: Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Ming Hsieh Institute
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98612826676?pwd=Wm1tY2FQZUR1MUFVaWxpN3h1M3hQZz09More Information: 20220505 Pioneer Slaughter QR Flyer.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98612826676?pwd=Wm1tY2FQZUR1MUFVaWxpN3h1M3hQZz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Webinar for U.S. Active Duty Military & Veteran Prospective Graduate Engineering Students
Fri, May 06, 2022 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Join USC Viterbi to learn about the funding and support provided to U.S. active duty military and veterans who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in engineering or computer science. This virtual information session via WebEx will discuss how USC Viterbi's flexible online DEN@Viterbi delivery enables active duty military and veterans to pursue their degree from anywhere in the world.
The session will discuss military funding and scholarships available, student support, enrollment options, FAQs, and more! Attendees will have the opportunity to connect directly with USC Viterbi representatives.
Register Now!WebCast Link: https://uscviterbi.webex.com/uscviterbi/onstage/g.php?MTID=e8022c29860358a080cff9ed5886852be
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Corporate & Professional Programs
