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SUNMONTUEWEDTHUFRISAT
Events for the -48th week of January
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Talk Title: Martin Luther King Day (No Seminar)
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Technical Resume Workshop
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 12:30 AM - 01:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Does your resume highlight the skills that will land an interview? Learn how to create a resume that will serve as the marketing tool that will get your foot inside industry's door!
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Legal Aspects of Aviation Safety (LEGAL)
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Aviation Safety and Security Program
University Calendar
This course is designed to provide information on the legal risks inherent in aviation operations and an overview of the legal system as it relates to aviation safety. The judicial process, current litigation trends, legal definitions and procedures will be covered.
Location: Aviation Safety & Security Campus
Audiences: Aviation Professionals
Contact: Harrison Wolf
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Efficient Solution of Large Overdetermined Systems of Equations by a Monte Carlo Method
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yunsong Huang , Ph.D. student
Talk Title: Efficient Solution of Large Overdetermined Systems of Equations by a Monte Carlo Method
Abstract: Large overdetermined system of linear equations, expressed as A x = b, arises from applications such as seismic imaging. The rows of the matrix A can be randomly encoded and lumped up, resulting in a matrix with much fewer number of rows, thereby allowing a more efficient solution. This manipulation step can be embedded in least-squares iterative solution of the original system of equations. At each iteration, an independently encoded and lumped matrix is in effect, guiding the update of x, in the least-squares sense. Overall, this approach results in significant savings in computational cost. Experiments in seismic imaging validate the merits of the proposed method.
Biography: Yunsong Huang received a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Science and Technology of China, and a master's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Earth Science and Engineering Program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). His research interests include seismic imaging and signal processing.
Host: Prof. B. Keith Jenkins
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - EEB 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Talyia Veal
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2011 Ming Hsieh Institute Ph.D. Scholar Finalist Competition
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Each finalist will present a 12-minute talk about their research, Ming Hsieh Institute
Talk Title: MHI Ph.D. Scholar Finalist Presentation
Abstract: You are all invited to an exciting event being held for the first time in our department: talks by nine stellar Ph.D. students competing to become 2011 Ming Hsieh Institute Ph.D. Scholars. The Ph.D. Scholar Program is a venture of the newly-founded Ming Hsieh Institute, that aims to support senior Ph.D. students interested in pursuing an academic career. These finalists have been selected from nominations submitted by faculty. At the event each finalist will present a 12-minute talk about their research. It is anticipated that five MHI Scholars will be selected from this pool, based on an evaluation of their talks by a faculty panel.
All Electrical Engineering students and faculty are invited. Light refreshments will be served.
Please find below the list of finalists and the titles of their talks.
â¢Firooz Aflatouni- "Electronically Assisted Phase Control of Semiconductor Lasers"
â¢Chiranjib Choudhuri -"On the Capacity and State estimation of Networks"
â¢Prasanta Ghosh - "A computational framework for exploring the role of speech production in speech recognition"
â¢Longbo Huang -"Improving the Lyapunov Network Optimization Technique"
â¢Chih-ping Li - "Delay and Power-Optimal Control in Multi-Class Queueing Systems"
â¢Jason Sanders "Megawatts in Nanoseconds: Engineering New Pulsed Power Systems that Enable Scientific Discovery"
â¢Samir Sharma - "Accelerated Water-Fat MRI"
â¢Chuan Wang - "High-Performance Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors for Macroelectronic Integrated Circuit and Display Electronic applications"
â¢Omer Yilmaz - "Advanced Nonlinear Optical Signal Processing Techniques for High Speed, Reconfigurable Optical Fiber Networks"
Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari, Co-Director - Ming Hsieh Institute
Location: Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Memorial Hall (of Philosophy) (MHP) - 106
Audiences: Department Only
Contact: Danielle Hamra
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Astani Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lea Hildebrandt, Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Chemical Engineering
Talk Title: Atmospheric Organic Nanoparticles:Importance, Challenges and Progress
Abstract: Atmospheric nanoparticles (aerosols) affect society in multiple ways. For example, they affect human health by damaging the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, they degrade visibility, and they perturb Earthâs climate by reducing the penetration of solar radiation and by influencing cloud formation and lifetime.
Organic aerosol globally comprises a significant fraction (20-90%) of the submicron particle mass. It is composed of thousands of species, many of them unidentified, and has a myriad of sources â both anthropogenic and biogenic, particle phase and gas phase. Furthermore, organic aerosol is dynamic: most of its components are semi-volatile and can evaporate, can be transported and further processed in the atmosphere, and can repartition to the particle phase, making it very challenging to trace the organic aerosol sources. Three-dimensional chemical transport models often significantly under-predict the concentration, oxidation state and diurnal cycle of organic aerosol, suggesting that our understanding of organic aerosol and, more generally, atmospheric nanoparticles is incomplete. We need to better understand atmospheric nanoparticles and update our models which will then allow us to develop effective policy actions to mitigate atmospheric particles and their adverse effects.
I will present recent results from our laboratory experiments and ambient measurements which shed light on organic aerosol formation, the interaction of different organic aerosol types, and their chemical transformation (aging). Firstly, aerosol production experiments using a state-of-the-art environmental chamber showed that aerosol mass yields from anthropogenic organic aerosol precursors such as toluene (methylbenzene) are much higher than previously reported. Secondly, in order to understand the interaction of organic aerosol from different sources, we developed a new experimental method using isotopically labeled compounds (13C or D) and a High Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer. Our results are consistent with pseudo-ideal mixing of anthropogenic and biogenic organic aerosol components at equilibrium. This confirms that the presence of anthropogenic organic aerosol enhances the concentration of biogenic organic aerosol. Finally, our measurements at a remote coastal site on the island of Crete suggest that the variability between different organic aerosol types decreases significantly with chemical transformation (aging). The photochemical age of organic aerosol may be just as important as the aerosol source in understanding its concentrations and characteristics.
All of these findings have been used to more accurately represent organic aerosol in chemical transport models. The updated models agree well with observations of organic aerosol concentrations, approximate oxidative states and diurnal cycles in highly polluted (Mexico City) as well as pristine environments (Crete).
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. David DeVault, USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT)
Talk Title: Toward flexible, robust, and rapid understanding of user speech in natural language dialogue systems
Abstract: This talk presents recent research that targets two of the major limitations in current natural language dialogue systems. One limitation is that while systems face substantial uncertainty in understanding user speech, they usually have only a rudimentary ability to overcome uncertainty in their dialogues. A second and related limitation arises from the fact that human speakers are by nature highly interactive while speaking, using incremental responses such as backchannels, interruptions, and overlapping speech to signal their understanding and resolve uncertainty when it arises. However, most implemented dialogue systems have little or no support for incremental interaction.
In the first part of the talk, I will present a probabilistic approach to dialogue management, called "contribution tracking", which I developed as a way to improve the flexibility of dialogue systems in overcoming uncertainty. On this approach, when faced with an ambiguous utterance, systems can spawn multiple threads of interpretation to track the likely meanings as the dialogue proceeds. I will highlight several concrete results and benefits of this approach in an implemented dialogue system that plays a collaborative reference game. These benefits include improved robustness to clarification failure, flexible aggregation of information across utterances with probabilistic inference, and the use of successful
ambiguity resolution to automatically improve the agent's understanding models with machine learning.
In the second part of the talk, I will present more recent work, carried out within the dialogue group at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, which has aimed to enable incremental interaction and overlapping speech in our SASO-EN virtual humans. This work has created a data-driven approach to incremental understanding and prediction of user utterance meaning during user speech. Among the results I will discuss is a prototype system that often enables a virtual human to anticipate how a user's utterance will end, and to quickly generate and utter a completion of the user's utterance for them. (Joint work with Kenji Sagae and David Traum.)
Biography: David DeVault is a Research Scientist at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), where he is a member of the natural language dialogue group. David obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science at Rutgers University in 2008, and was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at USC/ICT from 2008-2010. David's research focuses on the development of techniques to enable dialogue systems to respond to the inevitable uncertainties of communication in a way that is more flexible, more robust, and more human-like. His work spans the areas of natural language understanding, dialogue management, and natural language generation.
Host: Prof. Kevin Knight
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Epstein Institute Seminar
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: John Fontanesi, PhD., Director, Ctr for Mgmt Science in Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine
Abstract: Health care delivery in the U.S. is wasteful, fragmented, difficult for patients to navigate and too often lethal. Application of modern management techniques have failed to improve Emergency Room overcrowding or ambulance diversion, Operating Room under-utilization or staff overtime, reduce âno-showâ rates or improve access in ambulatory care. A fundamental reason is the failure to establish either a descriptive or explanatory theory of health care quality. This presentation will offer a framework for developing a quantitative model of health care delivery from the perspectives of individual patients, provider, health care organizations and society as a whole generating extensive form sub-game Bayesian Nash Equilibrium.
Biography: Dr. Fontanesi is a professor in the School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego with joint appointments to the Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. He is a member of a number of national committees committees including a core member of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee for the Federal government
Dr. Fontanesi is the Principle Investigator for a number of studies examining the operational conditions and organizational structures that facilitate or constrain organizational effectiveness in providing quality care. Recent studies include work flow analysis and simulation in emergency department re-design, optimized scheduling in ambulatory specialty care clinics, the logistical and fiscal requirements of alternative delivery sites for influenza vaccinations, improving patient compliance through work re-design and restructuring the role and relationships between the Vaccines for Children field staff and Providers. Recent publications range form the cost and efficiencies of mass vaccination clinics, discrete event simulation of ambulatory clinics, modeling patient arrival times and the role of measurement in improving quality of care in ambulatory care clinics.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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Preparing for the Career Expo
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Make a great first impression! Learn how to optimize your time, approach employers and prepare for the recruiting event of the semester.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Alpha Omega Epsilon Info Night
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Workshops & Infosessions
In Alpha Omega Epsilon, we promote individual integrity and honesty, while stressing the importance of character and self-confidence. As a sorority, we promote unity, friendship and professionalism. As an integral part of the Viterbi School of Engineering, we strive to achieve high scholastic standards and a strong relationship with faculty and fellow students.
Come enjoy an hour of fun with the sisters of AOE. Our info nights are a great way to learn more about the sorority. Food and drink will be provided.Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) -
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Alpha Omega Epsilon USC
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An Optimization-Based Framework for Automated Market-Making
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Jenn Wortman Vaughan , UCLA
Talk Title: An Optimization-Based Framework for Automated Market-Making
Abstract: A prediction market is a financial market designed to aggregate information. To facilitate trades, prediction markets are often operated by automated market makers. The market maker trades a set of securities with payoffs that depend on the outcome of a future event. For example, the market maker might offer a security that will pay off $1 if and only if a Democrat wins the 2012 presidential election. A risk neutral trader who believes that the probability of a Democrat winning is p should be willing to purchase this security at any price below p, or sell it at any price above p. The current market price can then be viewed as the traders? collective estimate of how likely it is that a Democrat will win the election.
Market-based estimates have proved to be accurate in a variety of domains, including business, entertainment, and politics. However, when the number of outcomes is very large, it is generally infeasible to run a simple prediction market over the full outcome space. There has been a surge of recent research examining the tractability of running standard prediction market mechanisms (such as the popular Logarithmic Market Scoring Rule) over combinatorial outcome spaces by limiting the space of available securities. While this line of research has led to a few positive results, it has led more often to hardness results or to markets with undesirable properties such as unbounded worst case market maker loss.
We take a different approach. Building on ideas from convex optimization, we propose a general framework for the design of efficient prediction market mechanisms over very large or infinite outcome spaces. We start with an arbitrary space of securities with bounded payoff, and establish a framework to design markets tailored to this space. We prove that any market satisfying a set of intuitive conditions must price securities via a convex potential function and that the space of reachable prices must be precisely the convex hull of the security payoffs. We then show how the convex potential function can be defined in terms of an optimization over the convex hull of the security payoffs. The solution to the optimization problem gives the security prices. Using this framework, we provide an efficient prediction market mechanism for predicting the landing location of an object on a sphere. In addition, we show that we can relax our "no-arbitrage" condition to design a new eff icient market maker for "pair betting" on rank orderings, which is known to be #P-hard to price using existing mechanisms. This relaxation also allows the market maker to charge transaction fees so that the depth of the market can be dynamically increased as the number of trades increases.
This talk is based on joint work with Jake Abernethy and Yiling Chen.
Biography: Jenn Wortman Vaughan is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at UCLA. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 2009. Before arriving at UCLA, she spent a year as a Computing Innovation Fellow at Harvard. Her research interests are in machine learning, algorithmic economics, social computing, and algorithms, all of which she studies using techniques from theoretical computer science. Her recent research has won several best student paper awards, as well as Penn's 2009 Rubinoff dissertation award for innovative applications of computer technology. In her spare time, she is involved in a variety of efforts to provide support for women in computer science; most notably, she co-founded the Annual Workshop for Women in Machine Learning, which was held for the fifth time this year.
Host: Prof. David Kempe
Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - Auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Preparing for the Career Expo
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Make a great first impression! Learn how to optimize your time, approach employers and prepare for the recruiting event of the semester.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Munushian Seminar -CANCELED
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Julie Brown, Senior Vice President, Universal Display Corporation
Talk Title: âLighting the way with Organic Lighting Emitting Devicesâ
Abstract: Organic lighting emitting diodes or OLEDs are now catching the attention of the consumer. OLED smart phones can be found in every store, and are offered by all the major carriers. Fabulous early entry small area OLED TVs are now available and offer truly spectacular visual experiences with large area prototypes being exhibited at leading tradeshows. While the early focus of OLED development was for flat panel display applications, through the use of phosphorescent OLEDs, energy efficient solid state lighting is now also being realized. Lighting is now at a cross roads. Incandescent lamps are being banned world wide because of their environmental impact, while compact fluorescent lamps have limited visual appeal, as well as safety concerns for residential lighting due to their mercury content. Both inorganic LEDs and OLEDs provide safe and efficient replacements for these older lighting technologies, and can complement each other in how they are used. Here we will focus on the global interest in solid state lighting and recent rapid progress in OLED lighting panel prototypes and discuss the next set of research, development and commercialization challenges to insure future impact.
Biography: Dr. Brown is Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at Universal Display Corporation (UDC). UDC is an entrepreneurial company pursuing the research, development and commercialization of organic light emitting device (OLEDs) technology into two key growth markets, namely flat panel displays and solid state lighting. UDCâs key position in the industry, along with their academic research teams at USC and U of M, is as pioneers of phosphorescent OLEDs to enable âgreenâ energy efficient OLED solutions for these markets. Under her leadership, UDC is also pursuing the creation of new product concepts based on flexible OLED displays and light sources.
Prior to joining UDC in 1998, she was a Research Manager at Hughes Research Laboratories where she was involved in the pilot line production of high speed Indium Phosphide-based integrated circuits for insertion into advanced airborne radar and satellite communication systems. Dr. Brown received her B. S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University (1983) and then worked at Raytheon Company (1983-1984) and AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984-1986) before returning to graduate school. Dr. Brown received an M.S. (1988) and Ph.D. (1991) in Electrical Eng./Electrophysics at the University of Southern California under the advisement of Professor Stephen R. Forrest.
Dr. Brown was nominated to IEEE Fellow in 2007 and inducted into the New Jersey High Tech Hall of Fame in 2007. She is actively involved in the Society of Information Display and over the past years been involved in a number of other professional societies. She has authored or co-authored numerous publications and patents in the fields of high speed compound semiconductor devices, microelectro-
mechanical systems (MEMs) and organic light emitting devices (OLEDs).
Host: EE-Electrophysics
Location: Donald P. & Katherine B. Loker Hydrocarbon Institute (LHI) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
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Feedback Role in Interference Networks
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Changho Suh, University of California at Berkeley
Talk Title: Feedback Role in Interference Networks
Abstract: Traditionally, it is believed that feedback has had little impact on increasing capacity. This is mainly due to Shannon's original result on feedback capacity, where he showed that feedback cannot increase the capacity in point-to-point communication links. Hence the use of feedback has been so far limited to improving the reliability of communication, usually in the form of ARQ.
In this talk, I will present a promising role of feedback in networks. What we have shown is that when there are two interfering point-to-point links, not only can feedback increase capacity of each link, but it can in fact provide an unbounded increase in capacity as the signal-to-noise ratio of the links increases. In the process of deriving this conclusion, we characterize the feedback capacity of the two-user Gaussian interference channel to within 2 bits, an open problem for more than 30 years.
Furthermore, I will show the potential impact of feedback on practical systems that take feedback cost into account. Specifically, I will present an interesting scenario in the context of multiple (more than 3) interfering point-to-point links, where 1 bit of feedback can provide a capacity increase of an arbitrarily large number of bits.
Biography: Changho Suh received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2000 and 2002, respectively. Since 2006, he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the University of California at Berkeley, where he is pursuing the Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Prof. David Tse. Prior to that, he had been with the Telecommunication R&D Center, Samsung Electronics.
He is a recipient of the Best Student Paper Award of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory 2009 and the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2010. He awarded several fellowships: the Vodafone U.S. Foundation Fellowship in 2006 and 2007; Kwanjeong Educational Foundation Fellowship in 2009; and Korea Government Fellowship from 1996 to 2002.
Host: Alex Dimakis, dimakis@usc.edu, EEB 532, x09264
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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AME Dept. Seminar
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Alfredo Sedun, University of Southern California
Talk Title: Engineering the Human Eye
Abstract:
The human eye reflects elements of design that represent an interesting tension between the rules of evolution (you need a path between steps and each step must at least not have a negative value added) and all sorts of tradeoffs between benefits that would have selection value. We will look at this process by asking how we might design such a system taking the following steps.
1) How big should it be?
a. Too small and you have >1.2mm aperture limit of diffraction
b. Too large and itâs neurologically (and metabolically) expensive
2) Do you grow it after birth (axial length changes require new focal lengths)?
3) How many pixels (separation of less than 30 seconds of arc = diffraction gratings)?
4) Scotopic vs Photopic (predator or prey)?
5) Transient or sustained (integrating over space or time)?
6) Duality approach of M & P cells (How is the hawk eye superior?)
7) Color vs B&W
8) How many color cones do we want (predator vs prey)?
9) Did you forget the heat sink?
10) Super-sustained RGCs (melanopsin) for
a. Pupils
b. Circadian rhythms
How do you get there from here: 10 step plan notwithstanding that evolution doesnât have a trajectory.
1) Discriminating light vs dark = photopigment on a membrane (phototaxis and circadian rhythm)
2) Direction of light (light wall or just a cup)
3) Focus for better resolution (almost close the cup for pinhole aperture)
4) Maintain transparency (close with cornea, use aqueous and vitreous and IOP for sphere).
5) Movable iris to increase light
6) Lens to focus when pupil is not a pinhole
7) Deal with optic nerve that leaves the eye and makes a big blind spot (how do you keep the pressure in when you have an exit?).
8) Put psychophysical filters into the eye to decrease data and limit optic nerve head size by using Bipolars, Horizontals, Amacrine). Edges matter more than filler.
9) Fovea and eye movements
10) M & P cell parallel processing
Biography: Flora Thornton Chair of Vision Research, Professor of Ophthalmology and Neurological Surgery, Doheny Eye Institute, USC-Keck School of Medicine
Host: Professor Firdaus Udwadia
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
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Southern California Edison IT Info Session
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Join representatives of this company as they share general company information and available opportunities.
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Alpha Omega Epsilon Info Night
Wed, Jan 19, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Workshops & Infosessions
In Alpha Omega Epsilon, we promote individual integrity and honesty, while stressing the importance of character and self-confidence. As a sorority, we promote unity, friendship and professionalism. As an integral part of the Viterbi School of Engineering, we strive to achieve high scholastic standards and a strong relationship with faculty and fellow students.
Come enjoy an hour of fun with the sisters of AOE. Our info nights are a great way to learn more about the sorority. Food and drink will be provided.
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - Lobby
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Alpha Omega Epsilon USC
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Role of Technical Witness in Litigation (TWW)
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Aviation Safety and Security Program
University Calendar
This course is designed to improve the quality of technical testimony. Attorneys and experience technical witnesses teach the course to provide a balanced presentation.
Location: Aviation Safety & Security Campus
Audiences: Aviation Professionals
Contact: Harrison Wolf
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Aleksander Madry , MIT
Talk Title: Electrical Flows and Laplacian Systems: A New Tool for Graph Algorithms
Abstract: In recent years, the emergence of massive computing tasks that arise in context of web applications and networks has made the need for efficient graph algorithms more pressing than ever. In particular, it lead us to focus on reducing the running time of the algorithms to make them as fast as possible, even if it comes at a cost of reducing the quality of the returned solution. This motivates us to expand our algorithmic toolkit to include techniques capable of addressing this new challenge.
In this talk, I will describe how treating a graph as a network of resistors and relating the combinatorial properties of the graph to the electrical properties of the resulting circuit provides us with a powerful new set of tools for the above pursuit. As an illustration of their applicability, I will use these ideas to develop a new technique for approximating the maximum flow in capacitated, undirected graphs that yields the asymptotically fastest-known algorithm for this problem.
Biography: Aleksander is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at MIT, advised by Michel Goemans and Jonathan Kelner. His research focuses on algorithmic graph theory, i.e. design and analysis of very efficient (approximation) algorithms for fundamental graph problems. He also enjoys investigating topics in combinatorial optimization - especially the ones involving dealing with uncertainty.
Host: Prof. David Kempe
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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William Spitzer Lecture
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:45 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Harry Atwater, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: New Photonic Material Designs for Solar Energy Conversion
Series: William Spitzer Lecture
Abstract: Solar energy is currently enjoying substantial growth and investment, owing to worldwide sensitivity to energy security and climate change, and this has spurred basic research on light-matter interactions relevant to solar energy. Dr. Atwater will describe approaches to control of light-matter interactions leading to enhanced light-trapping and absorption, as well as increased open circuit voltage and enhanced quantum efficiency in solar photovoltaic structures. Conventionally, photovoltaic cells have a physical thickness comparable to their âoptical thicknessâ for full light absorption and photocarrier current collection. Solar cell design and material synthesis considerations are strongly dictated by this simple optical thickness requirement. Dramatically reducing the absorber layer thickness or volume confers several fundamental and practical benefits, including increased open circuit voltage and conversion efficiency, and also expansion of the scope and quality of absorber materials that are suitable for photovoltaics. He will describe light absorption in thin film and wire array solar cells that demonstrate enhanced absorption compared with conventional photovoltaic cells, and limits to enhanced absorption will be explored. Plasmonics and metamaterials design can also be exploited advantageously in photovoltaics. He will describe design approaches using metallic nanostructures to enhance the radiative emission rate and hence also the photovoltaic material quantum efficiency relative to conventional light-trapping structures. Finally, future design metamaterials for broadband resonant absorption and spectrum-splitting will be discussed.
Biography: Harry Atwater is currently Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests center around two interwoven research themes: photovoltaics and solar energy; and plasmonics and optical metamaterials. Atwater and his group have been active in photovoltaics research for more than 20 years. Recently they have created new photovoltaic devices, including the silicon wire array solar cell, and layer-transferred fabrication approaches to III-V semiconductor III-V and multijunction cells, as well as making advances in plasmonic light absorber structures for III-V compound and silicon thin films. He is an early pioneer in surface plasmon photonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001.
Host: Mork Family Dept of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/w-01-20-11.htmLocation: Henry Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) - 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/10-11/w-01-20-11.htm
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Technical Resume Workshop
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Does your resume highlight the skills that will land an interview? Learn how to create a resume that will serve as the marketing tool that will get your foot inside industry's door!
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Ukoo Flani: Pioneers of Kaya Hip Hop
Thu, Jan 20, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Join us for a performance by Kenyan rap group Ukoo Flani, pioneers of kaya hip hop. The performance will be followed by a discussion about the role of African youth in the development of hip hop as a global art form and the issues facing urban youth in Africa.
Ukoo Flani is an acronym for Upendo Kwote Olewenu Ombeni Funzo La Aliyetuumba Njia Iwepo, which means âlove everywhere all who seek teachings of the Creator; there is a way.â The group is composed of thirteen men from Mombasa slum neighborhoods in Kenya who have transcended religious and tribal differences to make groundbreaking music. Among the Mijikenda people of Kenyaâs coastal province, âkayaâ means homestead or temple. The young rappers have embraced the historic term to form a style of hip hop that is positive, innovative, peaceful and socially conscious.
Admission is free
Organized by Joanna Demers (Music), Patrick James (International Relations) and Francille Rusan Wilson (American Studies and Ethnicity). Co-sponsored by the USC Center for International Studies, the USC Thornton School of Music, the USC Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, the USC Office of the Vice Provost for Globalization, the USC Levan Institute for Humanities and Ethics and Amagezi Gemaanyi Youth Association (AGYA).
For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.eduLocation: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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E-LAB (Engineering, Leadership and Business) RetreatFri, Jan 21, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
This year, KIUELâs annual leadership retreat is an opportunity for Marshall and Viterbi students to participate in leadership development.
Undergraduates from Viterbi and Marshall will learn more about the complexities of technical entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary business solutions. Led by experts at the Disney Institute, the retreat will focus on team-building, communication, creativity, and innovation.
To learn more about KIUEL or to download an application for the retreat, visit the website at viterbi.usc.edu/kiuel.
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: KIUEL
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USC Transfer Day: Engineering & Admission Talk, Financial Aid Presentation, Tour and Advisement
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 09:00 AM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Transfer Day features a Viterbi School of Engineering workshop designed to answer all your questions about admission guidelines, our admission process and more. The program also includes a campus tour and special presentations for transfer students about admission, financial aid, and transfer credit. In addition, Viterbi transfer counselors will be available for individual coursework advisement on a first-come, first-serve basis in the afternoon following the program (transcripts required for advisement). Reservations required. Please call (213) 740-6616 for more information and to make a reservation.
Location: USC University Park Campus
Audiences: Perspective Transfer students and their families
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Sensing Compressed Signal, Codes on Graphs and Reliability of Memories
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Arya Mazumdar, University of Maryland, College Park
Talk Title: Sensing Compressed Signal, Codes on Graphs and Reliability of Memories
Abstract: Almost all areas of Electrical Engineering are rich sources of problems concerned with discrete mathematical structures. In this talk, we describe an array of such problems dealing with issues of communication, signal processing and storage. To highlight the methods being used, we describe in more detail our work on codes for flash memory and the rank modulation scheme. We reduce this problem to a set of combinatorial questions for the Kendall tau metric space defined on the set of permutations of n elements.
Our results are related to the areas of error-correcting codes (codes on graphs, constrained codes and codes for high-density magnetic recording), data reliability (flash memories), and compressed sensing. We also point out that similar combinatorial and probabilistic methods offer promise in such areas as group testing in Biology and data security.
Biography: Arya Mazumdar is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. He received the B.E. degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and the M.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering (Information Systems) respectively from Jadavpur University, India, and Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), India. During the summers of 2008 and 2010, he visited the Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Palo Alto, and IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, as a research intern. His research interests include Information and Coding Theory, Communications, Networking, Signal Processing, Combinatorics and Probability.
Mr. Mazumdar won the Student Paper Award in the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, 2010. He is a recipient of the ECE Fellowship award in University of Maryland. He was awarded scholarships from Ministry of Human Resource and Development and National Council for Educational Research and Training in India during his graduate and undergraduate studies respectively.
Host: Giuseppe Caire, caire@usc.edu, EEB 528, x04683
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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USC Water Institute Seminar
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Thomas C. Harmon, University of California, Merced & UCLA Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)
Talk Title: Whole Stream Metabolism as a Beacon for Change in Aquatic Ecosystems: Results from a Study of the Human-Dominated River Basin
Abstract: Metabolism estimates (gross primary production, GPP and community respiration, CR), based on the continuous monitoring of flow and water properties (primarily dissolved oxygen, temperature), can provide an integrative assessment of the effects of various disturbances on aquatic ecosystem function. The long-term goal of this work is to learn how to relate GPP/CR responses in lotic ecosystems to natural and anthropogenic disturbances, such as short- or long-term reservoir operational changes for drought management, flood control, fish habitat enhancement, or salinity and nutrient discharges due to land management practices. This presentation highlights observations from a GPP/CR observational network embedded in the human-dominated San Joaquin River Basin (SJRB) including reaches of the SJR and the Lower Merced River, located in the Central Valley of California. The network enables spatial (both longitudinal and transverse gradients) and temporal (daily, seasonal and interannual) variation of these metabolism estimates. The observational network will be described in terms of: (1) design and installation of a reproducible infrastructure of GPP/CR observational nodes, (2) analysis aimed linking the spatiotemporal metabolic trends to natural factors such as the seasonal radiation availability or nutrient input from leaf decay, and (3) separating natural effects from the ones triggered by human disturbances in order to better inform water resources management decisions. For example, observations over the 2009-10 water year, demonstrate that the Lower Merced River behaves as a heterotrophic system, with significant human-triggered temporal changes in metabolism clearly observable by the monitoring network. For example, the GPP/CR ratio decreased from 0.6 to 0.2 as a consequence of a large flow disturbance associated with short-term reservoir releases mandated biannually to support salmon migration. This and other examples set at different temporal and spatial scales will be presented and discussed in terms of management implications.
Biography: Tom Harmon is Professor and Chair of the School of Engineering and Founding Faculty member at the University of California, Merced. He is also affiliated with the Sierra Nevada Research Institute. He directs contaminant transport observation and management research for the UCLA Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS), and maintains an adjunct position in the UCLA Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Professor Harmon earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. As an environmental engineer, his teaching and research focuses on a variety of topics pertaining to understanding and solving soil, groundwater, and surface water problems in natural and engineered environmental systems.
Host: Prof. Gaurav Sukhatme
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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USC PSOC Monthly Seminar Series
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Robert Getzenberg, Ph.D., Professor and Director of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute,
Talk Title: Cancer cell stress response and the evolution of resistance â the connection between the physical microenvironment and nuclear structure
Abstract: The ability of cancer cells to evolve resistance is one of the major limitations in the efficacy of cancer therapies today. This enhanced evolutionary capability appears to have influenced how the cancer cell responds to physical microenvironmental changes. These microenvironmental influences appear to be act, at least in part, through nuclear structural elements and DNA organization, which have been shown to be involved in the development of resistance. Additionally, the disordered nature of protein structure appears to be central to cancer cell responses to stresses. Modification of the physical microenvironment may enhance the efficacy of currently used therapeutic agents as well as open new avenues for the development of novel types of approaches.
Location: Harkness Auditorium, CSC 250, IGM Building
For additional information contact: 323-442-3849 or 323-442-2596
Biography: Robert Getzenberg, Ph.D.
Professor and Director of the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Host: Dr. Parag Mallick, Center for Applied Molecular Medicine
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yvonne Suarez
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CiSoft Seminar Series 2011
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: SPE Distinguished Lecturer, Jim Crompton, Chevron, Global Upstream IT
Talk Title: âPutting the Focus on Dataâ
Abstract: Data is a critical business asset which drives decisions on where to invest, when to divest and how to operate more efficiently. The business wants to focus on using data and expects IT to manage data. However, IT often focuses on the technology to capture, store data and even to visualize data but the ownership of the lifecycle of data is often ill defined.
This is not a new problem. Many studies point out the productivity loss felt when a lot of time is spent looking for data and making sure what is found is correct, complete and in the right format. While some of the issues are mitigated by our current experienced workforce, what will happen when the experience leaves? The new workforce is digitally literate with high expectations but can they perform at a high level with a poor understanding of data? Can the new engineer recognize when critical data is missing or wrong? Will they be able to recognize when a logical conclusion is not the right one?
The importance of data should be a business priority. Managing data in silos (structured data, documents, transactions, models) increases the resistance to efficient data flow. As many different people are involved in new workflows, a solution design for one specific discipline becomes a barrier for others. In some applications, the need to see the bigger picture becomes more important than reaching specific answers.
Data silos continue to survive waves of new technology development. The data explosion and the availability of powerful desktop tools create hundreds more data silos for the organization to manage. There is not a simple answer or technology to fix the current situation but there are practical recommendations to help us get back on the road to ââtrusted data, easily found.â
The approach starts through a better understanding of business process and how information flow leads to decisions. Other practical steps include: data governance, common reference and master data, data quality management, and looking at the data lifecycle by managing data from its capture/creation, storage, access, use, archive and disposal.
Biography: Jim Crompton holds the position of Manager of Upstream Architecture in the Chevron Global Upstream IT organization. He earned a BS in Geophysical Eng., MS in Geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from Our Lady of the Lake University. In 1993, as IT Manager for the Gulf of Mexico Business Unit, Crompton led one of the first desktop PC standardization projects in Chevron. In 1997, Jim was names the Principal Technical Advisor for IT, where he was responsible assessment of emerging technology and strategic planning for the IT function. He served as chair of the API general committee for electronic commerce ( PIDX) and was able to influence the direction of the standards setting activities towards emerging technologies, such as XML, and new electronic business models in the industry. Jim participated in the IT merger integration study team in 2001 as part of the Chevron & Texaco merger which developed the IT organization structure and IT strategic direction for the corporation, where he received a President's Award for this activity. In 2002, Jim was selected to be a Chevron Fellow. Jim also works on Chevronâs i-field program in the area of emerging solutions.
This CiSoft Seminar will also be webcast.
Please register at:
http://usccisoft.omnovia.com/register/68421291748863
Host: CiSoft & SPE Student Chapter
More Info: http://cisoft.usc.edu/Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) -
Audiences: Please RSVP: legat@usc.edu
Contact: Juli Legat
Event Link: http://cisoft.usc.edu/
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; The Search for Exoplanets
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Jakob van Zyl, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; The Search for Exoplanets
Abstract: Dr. Jakob van Zyl of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will present "The Search for Exoplanets" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium.
Host: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium
More Info: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - 101
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
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Dinner with Alpha Omega Epsilon Alumnae
Fri, Jan 21, 2011 @ 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Interested in Alpha Omega Epsilon? Learn about our sorority, meet the sisters, and network with our Alumnae over dinner in Old Town Pasadena.
Meet in the GFS Lobby and we will carpool to Bucca di Beppo in Pasadena.Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - Lobby
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Alpha Omega Epsilon USC
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E-LAB (Engineering, Leadership and Business) Retreat
Sat, Jan 22, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
This year, KIUELâs annual leadership retreat is an opportunity for Marshall and Viterbi students to participate in leadership development.
Undergraduates from Viterbi and Marshall will learn more about the complexities of technical entrepreneurship and interdisciplinary business solutions. Led by experts at the Disney Institute, the retreat will focus on team-building, communication, creativity, and innovation.
To learn more about KIUEL or to download an application for the retreat, visit the website at viterbi.usc.edu/kiuel.
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: KIUEL
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The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity and Utter Confusion
Sat, Jan 22, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 10:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
A Visions and Voices Signature Event
Admission is free. Reservations required. To RSVP, the event page http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/873342 beginning Tuesday, December 7, at 9 a.m.
Reception to follow.
âFunny, poignant, absurd and thought-provoking . . . this brilliant ensemble brings the stories to life with staggering talent and dedication . . . wonderfully entertaining ride through genetic coding, self-examination and human interaction.ââVenus Zarris, Chicago Stage Review
Chicagoâs Silk Road Theatre Project will present a concert reading of The DNA Trail: A Genealogy of Short Plays about Ancestry, Identity and Utter Confusion. Theatre meets science when a diverse group of playwrights each agree to take a genealogical DNA test and revisit their assumptions about identity politics and the perennial question, âWho am I?â Self, family, community and ethnicity are all up for grabs.
The DNA Trail is composed of seven unique, identity-defying short plays conceived by Jamil Khoury and directed by Steve Scott. Featured plays include the following:
* Child Is Father to Man by Philip Kan Gotanda
* Mother Road by Velina Hasu Houston
* A Very DNA Reunion by David Henry Hwang
* WASP: White Arab Slovak Pole by Jamil Khoury
* Bolt from the Blue by Shishir Kurup
* That Could Be You by Lina Patel
* Finding Your Inner Zulu by Elizabeth Wong
The concert reading will be followed by a discussion with the playwrights, actors and directors.
For more information on the featured playwrights, visit the event page http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/873342
Location: George Finley Bovard Administration Building (ADM) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
