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Events for the 3rd week of February
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Polar Codes and Power Blackouts
Mon, Feb 14, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Edmund Yeh, Yale University
Talk Title: Polar Codes and Power Blackouts
Abstract: Achieving the fundamental capacity limits of noisy communication channels with low complexity coding schemes has been a major challenge for over 60 years. Recently, a new coding construction, called polar coding, has been shown to provably achieve the capacity of discrete memoryless single-user channels. Whereas a number of practical coding constructions (e.g. Turbo and Low Density Parity Check codes) can empirically approach the capacity of single-user communication channels, there is still a shortage of good practical coding schemes for multi-user communication channels. In the first part of the talk, we extend the polar coding method to two-user multiple-access communication channels. We show that if the two users use the channel combining and splitting construction, the resulting multiple-access channels will polarize to one of five possible extremals, on each of which uncoded transmission is optimal. Our coding technique can achieve some of the optimal transmission rate pairs obtained with uniformly distributed inputs. The encoding and decoding complexity of the code is O(n log n) with n being the block length, and the block error probability is roughly O(2^{-\sqrt{n}}). Our coding construction is one of the first low-complexity coding schemes which have been proved to achieve capacity in multi-user communication networks.
In electrical power networks, cascading failure associated with power blackouts often result from a small number of initial line failures triggering a global failure event affecting the whole network, inflicting enormous socioeconomic cost. In spite of the increasing frequency of blackout events, there is still a shortage of understanding regarding the structures and properties which lend the network susceptible to cascading failure. In the second part of the talk, we show how the theory of percolation can be used to analyze the problem of cascading failure from a network perspective. For large-scale networks modeled by random geometric graphs, we use a simple but descriptive model to show that the cascading failure problem is equivalent to a dependent percolation process. Within this context, we obtain analytical conditions for the occurrence and non-occurrence of cascading failure, respectively.
Joint work with Eren Sasoglu, Emre Telatar, Zhenning Kong, and Hongda Xiao.
Biography: Edmund Yeh received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering with Distinction from Stanford University in 1994, his M.Phil in Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1995, and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT in 2001. He is currently an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, and Statistics at Yale University.
Professor Yeh is the recipient of a Humboldt Research Fellowship, an Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, the Winston Churchill Scholarship, the National Science Foundation and Office of Naval Research Graduate Fellowships, the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, the Frederick Emmons Terman Engineering Scholastic Award, and the Presidentâs Award for Academic Excellence (Stanford University). He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi.
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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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Feb 14, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Arkadiusz Gertych, Cedars Sinai Hospital
Talk Title: Nuts and Bolts of Bio-Image Informatics in Translational Medicine Continuum
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Engineering for the 21sr Century
Mon, Feb 14, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. David Allen, Gertz Regents Professor and Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Resources, University of Texas
Talk Title: Engineering for the 21st Century
Abstract: The profession of engineering is in a period of rapid change. Although the most basic elements of engineering education and practice will remain relatively constant, engineers of the 21st century will need to operate in global environments and adapt to an explosion of knowledge. Engineers will need to design products and infrastructures for increasingly urban populations and will require innovation and entrepreneurship skills. And, as societies and their technologies become more intertwine engineers will need to become engaged in public policy development.
All of these changes have implications for engineering education and research. Leading departments of engineering will respond to these changes in the profession of engineering. This presentation will describe a vision for a leading engineering program addressing the engineering challenges of megacities
and their populations.
Biography: Dr. David Allen is the Gertz Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering, and the Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of six books and over 200 papers in areas ranging from coal liquefaction and heavy oil chemistry to the chemistry of urban atmospheres. For the past decade, his work has focused primarily on urban air quality and the development of materials for environmental education. Dr. Allen was a lead investigato for the first and second Texas Air Quality Studies, which involved hundreds of researchers drawn from around the world, and which have had a substantial impact on the direction of air quality policies in Texas. He has also developed environmental educational materials for engineering curricula and for the Universityâs core curriculum, as well as engineering education materials for high school students. The quality of his work has been recognized by the National Science Foundation (through the Presidential Young Investigator Award), the AT&T Foundation (through an Industrial Ecology Fellowship), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (through the Cecil Award for contributions to environmental engineering and through the Research Excellence Award of the Sustainable Engineering Forum), the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (through their Distinguished Lecturer Award), and the State of Texas (through the Governorâs Environmental Excellence Award). He has won teaching awards at UCLA and the University of Texas.
Dr. Allen received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, with distinction, from Cornell University in 1979. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering were awarded by the California Institute of Technology in 1981 and 1983. He has held visiting faculty appointments at the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Department of Energy.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Distinguished Lecturer Series
Mon, Feb 14, 2011 @ 04:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. R. Srikant, University of Illinois
Talk Title: Network Optimization
Abstract: Resource allocation problems in many different types of networks can often be posed as convex optimization problems, and duality theory can then be used to derive optimal algorithms. The talk will illustrate the applications of this rich theory at the intersection of optimization, stochastic networks, combinatorial optimization and stochastic approximation. Specifically, we will present applications of this paradigm to problems ranging from wireless networks to online advertising with budget constraints.
Biography: R. Srikant received his B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in 1985, his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1988 and 1991, respectively, all in Electrical Engineering. He was a Member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1991 to 1995. He is currently at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is the Fredric G. and Elizabeth H. Nearing Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a Research Professor in the Coordinated Science Lab. His research interests include communication networks, stochastic processes, and game theory.
Host: Bhaskar Krishnamachari
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Estela Lopez
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/dls/
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GOPA IT Consultants Information Session
Mon, Feb 14, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Please join us to learn about career opportunities in fast growing areas of SAP Enterprise Cloud Computing, System Virtualization and SAP Transportation Management.
GOPA is a high-end, focused SAP boutique firm today with ambitious goals for tomorrow. We are on our way to becoming a leading SAP services company based on a well-defined strategy and vision. This is an excellent opportunity for you to become one of the key members of the GOPA team in the US, and help drive our continued success.
Please bring your resume. GOPA is hiring BS/MS students with backgrounds in Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Industrial Engineering with a strong SAP focus. MIS and MBAs are also encouraged to apply.
For more information on opportunities at GOPA, please visit us at: http://usa.gopa-itc.de/career.html
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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Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Info Session
Mon, Feb 14, 2011 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Join representatives of this company as they share general company information and available opportunities.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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EPSTEIN INSTITUTE SEMINAR
Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Soundar Kumara, Pearce Chair Professor of Industrial Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University
Talk Title: "Why Study Complex Networks"
Abstract: The last decade has seen an explosion of research in network science, a science whose initial work and subsequent developments are grounded in statistical physics applied to natural systems. The field of Complex networks has become an important area of research in many disciplines. In recent years, researchers in the engineering discipline have also taken a keen interest in complex networks, which has resulted in several application areas being investigated in engineering. Due to the connectivity, reach and pervasiveness offered by IT and embedded systems, networks are going to be much more prevalent in the future. In this talk, we will briefly explore the foundations of network science and some relevant applications in web service composition, health care and computer virus heredity and provenance detection. We will conclude with some important research problems.
Biography: Dr. Kumara is the Allen, E and Allen, M. Pearce Professor of Industrial Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. He also holds joint appointments with Computer Science and Engineering, and an affiliate appointment with the School of Information Sciences and Technology. He holds an adjunct position with C.R. Rao Institute of Advanced Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of Hyderabad, India. His research interests are in studying chaos in physical systems, sensor data fusion, sensor networks and large scale complex networks. He got his Ph.D., from Purdue University. He is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of Production Research (CIRP) and the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). Dr. Kumara has won several awards at Penn State including the Graduate Faculty Teaching Award, University Faculty Scholar Medal, and Penn State Engineering Society- Premier Research Award. His publications have appeared in IIE Transactions, ASME Transactions, IEEE Transactions, Applied Mathematics, Physics Reviews, and Sensor Networks.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Roxana Geambasu, University of Washington
Talk Title: Regaining Control Over Mobile and Cloud Data
Abstract: Emerging technologies, such as cloud and mobile computing, offer previously unimaginable global access to data; however, they also threaten our ability to control the use of our data, its lifetime, accessibility, privacy, management properties, etc. My research focuses on restoring to users control they've ceded to the cloud and mobile devices. In this talk I will describe two examples of this work. First, I'll present Keypad, an auditing file system for theft- and loss-prone mobile devices that permits users to track and control accesses on their mobile data, even after a device has been stolen.
Second, I'll describe Vanish, a global-scale distributed-trust system that allows users to cause all copies of desired Web data objects, online or offline, to simultaneously self destruct at a specified time. A common thread of these efforts is the integration of systems and crypto techniques to solve new problems in data management brought on by technological change.
Biography: Roxana Geambasu is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. Her interests span broad areas of systems research, including cloud and mobile computing, operating systems, file systems, and databases, with a focus on security and privacy. She received her B.S. in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in 2005 and was the recipient of the first Google Fellowship in Cloud Computing in 2009.
Host: Prof. Ramesh Govindan, USC
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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The Texas Air Quality Studies: State of teh Science of air quality in Texas and implications for air qualilty policy
Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: David Allen , Gertz Regents Professor and Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Resources. University of Texas
Talk Title: Engineering for the 21st Century
Abstract: The Texas Air Quality Studies (TexAQS I and II), conducted in the summers of 2000 and 2006 were the largest air quality field studies ever undertaken in Texas. During August and September of 2000 and 2006, approximately 300 air quality investigators from around the world converged on the eastern half of Texas. Multiple aircraft and a large research vessel were deployed; multiple ground sites were established for collecting meteorological and chemical data.
This presentation, by one of the lead investigators for the Texas Air Quality Studies, will provide an overview of the studies and will discuss, in more detail, both the overall policy implications of the studies and the enhanced understanding of urban atmospheric chemistry that emerged from the studies. Specifically, the role of routine and episodic emissions of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs) will be discussed, and the emission cap and trade program developed to limit the emissions of HRVOCs will be described.
Biography: Dr. David Allen is the Gertz Regents Professor of Chemical Engineering, and the Director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Resources at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of six books and over 200 papers in areas ranging from coal liquefaction and heavy oil chemistry to the chemistry of urban atmospheres. For the past decade, his work has focused primarily on urban air quality and the development of materials for environmental education. Dr. Allen was a lead investigator for the first and second Texas Air Quality Studies, which involved hundreds of researchers drawn from around the world, and which have had a substantial impact on the direction of air quality policies in Texas. He has also developed environmental educational materials for engineering curricula and for the Universityâs core curriculum, as well as engineering education materials for high school students. The quality of his work has been recognized by the National Science Foundation (through the Presidential Young Investigator Award), the AT&T Foundation (through an Industrial Ecology Fellowship), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (through the Cecil Award for contributions to environmental engineering and through the Research Excellence Award of the Sustainable Engineering Forum), the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (through their Distinguished Lecturer Award), and the State of Texas (through the Governorâs Environmental Excellence teaching awards at UCLA and the University of Texas.
Dr. Allen received his B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering, with distinction, from Cornell University in 1979. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering were awarded by the California Institute of Technology in 1981 and 1983. He has held visiting faculty appointments at the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the Department of Energy.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Got a Brand? Writing an Effective Cover Letter
Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Do you need a cover letter? What is the purpose and what should it contain? If you need help writing a cover letter come to this workshop and learn how to make a cover letter that will be another powerful marketing tool.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: All Viterbi Students
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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Flowers Aren't Enough: Confronting Domestic Violence through Art and Dialogue
Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 06:30 PM - 09:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Admission is free.
Reception to follow.
Using performance to raise awareness, this event will bring our community together to challenge, confront and conquer domestic violence. Actor and activist Naomi Ackerman will perform Flowers Arenât Enough, her acclaimed one-woman show about Michal, a young woman in an abusive relationship. Michal describes how her partner gradually narrows her world, isolating her from her surroundings. Witness her denial, her guilt and how social conditioning intensifies her shame and despair. Then watch how Michal emerges from darkness to take charge of her life and rediscover herself.
Woven from true stories, Flowers Arenât Enough is a compelling and powerful program that has fostered critical discussion about violence, gender, self-worth and self-esteem throughout the world. The performance will be followed by a panel examining the ramifications of domestic violence. Moderated by USC social-work and psychology professor Penelope K. Trickett, the panel will feature Ackerman along with USC dean of religious life Varun Soni, psychology and pediatrics professor Gayla Margolin and cinematic-arts professor Doe Mayer.
Organized by Penelope K. Trickett (Social Work and Psychology). Co-sponsored by the USC School of Social Work; the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; the USC Hillel Foundation; and the USC Office of Religious Life.
For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.eduLocation: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - Forum Room
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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Join us for the first human vs. computer Jeopardy contest!
Tue, Feb 15, 2011 @ 06:30 PM - 08:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Information Sciences Institute, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Student Activity
IBM's Watson computer will be challenging the all-time human greatest Jeopardy champions on Feb. 14, 15, and 16th at 7PM on KABC.
IBM will be hosting a watch party Tuesday, Feb 15th, 6:30 - 8PM, and inviting USC students, including the Schools of Cinematic Arts, Annenberg, Business and Engineering and residents of University Gateway Apartments to attend.
Steve Canepa, IBM's General Manager, Global Media & Entertainment Industry, will host the event live.
When: Tuesday, February 15th, 6:30 - 8:00PM (Jeopardy! starts at 7pm)
Where: The new University Gateway Apartments, 3335 South Figueroa St.
Enter through the main entrance on Figueroa, midway between Jefferson and 32nd Street.
The party will be at the 25-monitor video wall behind the security desk and in the adjacent lounge.
Check out the background on this unique happening:
http://www.jeopardy.com/news/watson1x7ap4.php
Free Pizza! Win a Watson T-Shirt (if you're lucky)! See you there!
Location: University Gateway Apartments, 3335 South Figueroa St
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Eric Mankin
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San Diego Lunch and Learn
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Executive Education, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
Join us for lunch to learn more about the engineering programs available for working professionals at USC! Representatives from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering will give a short presentation, followed by Q&A, while you enjoy a hosted lunch with other industry professionals.
Who Should Attend:
Professionals interested in learning more about USC's engineering Master's degrees & continuing education offerings available on-campus or online through the Distance Education Network. Interested friends and colleagues also welcome (all attendees must complete the registration form below).
To RSVP: Please visit http://mapp.usc.edu/lunchandlearnAudiences: RSVP Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Robert Dudley , Professor, University of California at Berkeley
Talk Title: From Gliding Ants to Andean Hummingbirds and Giant Dragonflies: The Origins and Evolution of Animal Flight
Abstract: Unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms underpinning animal flight have recently been intensively studied, but less well understood are those evolutionary pathways leading to the acquisition and subsequent elaboration of flapping flight. Recently discovered behaviors in Neotropical canopy ants demonstrate directed aerial descent in the complete absence of wings; controlled aerial behavior appears to have preceded the origin of wings in insects and other flying animals. Variation in atmospheric composition during the late Paleozoic may have influenced the initial evolution and subsequent diversification of insects, as well as the widespread phenomenon of arthropod gigantism, including but not limited to dragonflies with a 70 centimeter wingspan. For fully flighted forms, judicious use of helium to create physically variable gas mixtures permits decoupling of physiological from aerodynamic constraints on hovering performance. Such constraints are revealed in natural contexts through the study of hummingbird and bumblebee flight capacity across steep altitudinal transects.
Host: Prof. G. Spedding
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/2-16-11-dudley.shtmlLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/2-16-11-dudley.shtml
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CS Colloquium
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dieter Gawlick, Oracle
Talk Title: Classification based data base management
Abstract: Patient care - as IT support in other domains - is typically managed by several incompatible programs in terms of their data models and semantics. These programs are focused on specific situation and give doctors a limited view at patient data. The IT technology, however, has evolved to a point that it is now possible to develop a generic patient care application that manages all patient data for all situations requiring none or little domain specific procedural code. This application provides also a framework for capturing medical knowledge. With this knowledge the application is able to extract in real time medically relevant information from data, even if the extraction is outside of the medical expertise of a doctor or if the extraction is outside of the capability of the human brain. By transforming (quantitative) data into (qualitative) information, applications adjust to the way humans absorb and use information. Provisioning - covering data, information, and knowledge - ensures that the fuzziness of qualitative information is always backed by the precision of quantitative data. This approach depends heavily on the classification of data and the management of these classifications; it also requires a new look at event processing, which is used as a major underlying technology.
Biography: Dieter is an architect in Oracle's database division; he has developed key concepts for high-end OLTP, storage management, messaging, workflow, and information dissemination. He is currently focusing on the evolution of data base based event processing, history management, and provenance. He has written numerous papers and served in numerous program committees. Before joining Oracle, he worked at IBM, Ahmdahl (Fujitsu), and Digital (HP).
Talk will be held between 3:30 - 4:30 pm, followed by reception at 4:30 pm
Host: Prof. Shahram Ghandeharizadeh
Location: RRI 101
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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A Bright Future for The Sonny Astani Department of Civil and
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Stanley Grant, Professor, University of California, Irvine
Abstract: With this talk I would like to initiate a dialog among faculty, students, staff, alumni, and the professional community about the future of Civil and Environmental Engineering at USCâ where it should be going, and how best to get there. Much effort and thought has gone into crafting the departmentâs Megacities theme, which I believe is pitch perfect for this time and place. Translating the theme into action will require, sine quo non, departmental consensus and commitment, and I suspect willingness to partner with other successful urban research programs at USC, such as the USC Sea Grantâs Urban Ocean Program, and the Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies. By adopting the Megacities theme, the department has taken a bold step toward redefining civil and environmental engineering education, and becoming a campus and international leader in this exciting new research domain.
Biography: Dr. Stanley Grant is a Professor in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (primary) and Civil and Environmental Engineering (courtesy) at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Grant also has a summertime appointment as a Visiting Chair of Hydrology and Water Resources in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Melbourne (Australia). Dr. Grant received a B.S. in Geology from Stanford University, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science (minor in Applied Biology)from the California Institute of Technology. His professional interests include coastal water quality, environmental dispersion of pathogens, and fate and transport modeling. Professor Grant served on the US EPAâs Science Advisory Board (Drinking Water Panel, Science and Technological Achievement Awards Panel) from 2000 to 2009.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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AIChE Joint SoCal Meeting
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 05:30 PM - 08:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Come out to meet students from other AIChE chapters and also professional members at this Joint SoCal AIChE meeting.
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Time: 5:30-8:00pm
Location: KAP 156
Event Speaker Topic:
Producing biofuel Ethanol from lingocellulosic feedstocks is still a potential alternative to conventional petroleum based transportation fuels. In this presentation we will discuss the different feedstocks, overall process and touch couple of potential routes to achieve it.
As the need and production of biofuels ramps up, it will raise concerns about expected conflicts and challenges. Some of these are political, economical, social or technological. Briefly we will illustrate some of these conflicts and challenges in this presentation.
Hatem Harraz's Profile:
Over 14 years of Experience in Oil/Gas and energy as a process engineer
4 years of R&D in Biomass-to-Ethanol
Master's of Science (MSc.) In Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, Auburn AL, 2007
MSc. in Chemical Engineering from Salford University, Salford England, 1995
BSc. In Chemical Engineering from Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt 1992
US Patent; Production of Non-Crystalline Cellulose (NCC)
Dinner will be provided and there will be time to network with other AIChE members and industry contacts.Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 156
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: USC American Institute of Chemical Engineers
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Tau Beta Pi El Cholo Dinner
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 06:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Come have dinner with your favorite Tau Bates at El Cholo. Bring your student IDs to get a student discount. RSVP to tbp@usc.edu.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tau Beta Pi
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AIChE Joint SoCal Meeting
Wed, Feb 16, 2011 @ 06:30 PM - 08:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Location: TBA (on campus)
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: USC American Institute of Chemical Engineers
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IMSC Retreat
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 07:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Information Sciences Institute, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
An Overview of Research at the USC Integrated Media Systems Center. An all-day program introduced by Viterbi School Dean Yannis C. Yortsos and IMSC Director Cyrus Shahabi will present overviews of three major IMSC Projects: iCampus ("Intelligent Campus"); iWatch ("Intelligent Surveillance"); and CT Project ("Intelligent Transportation"). Additionally the event will feature demos, posters and a special panel, "The Geo-Social Revolution: Hype or Real?" moderated by Shahabi. A schedule is available at http://imscwww.usc.edu/pdfs/IMSC_Retreat-agenda.pdf
Location: Charlotte S. & Davre R. Davidson Continuing Education Conference Center (DCC) -
Audiences: at capacity; email website contacts if interested in attending
Contact: Eric Mankin
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Craig Boutilier, University of Toronto
Talk Title: Computational Social Choice: A Decision-theoretic Perspective
Abstract: Social choice, an important topic of study for centuries, has recently been the subject of intense investigation and application within computer science. One reason for this is the increasing ease with which preference data from user populations can be derived, assessed, or estimated, and the variety of settings in which preference data can be aggregated for consensus recommendations. However, much work in computational social choice adopts existing social choice schemes rather uncritically. We adopt an explicit decision-theoretic perspective on computational social choice in which an explicit objective function is articulated for the task at hand. With this is place, one can develop new social choice rules suited to that objective; or one can analyze the performance of existing social choice rules relative to that criterion.
We illustrate the approach with two different models. The first is the "unavailable candidate model." In this model, a consensus choice must be selected from a set of candidates, but candidates may become unavailable after agents express their preferences. An aggregate ranking is used as a decision policy in the face of uncertain candidate availability. We define a principled aggregation method that minimizes expected voter dissatisfaction, provide exact and approximation algorithms for optimal rankings, and show experimentally that a simple greedy scheme can be extremely effective. We also describe strong connections to the plurality rule and the Kemeny consensus, showing specifically that Kemeny produces optimal rankings under certain conditions.
The second model is the "budgeted social choice" model. In this framework, a limited number of alternatives can be selected for a population of agents. This limit is determined by some form of budget. Our model is general, spanning the continuum from pure consensus decisions (i.e., standard social choice) to fully personalized recommendation. We show that standard rank aggregation rules are not appropriate for such tasks and that good solutions typically involve picking diverse alternatives tailored to different agent types. In this way, it bears a strong connection to both segmentation problems and multi-winner election schemes. The corresponding optimization problems are shown to be NP-complete, but we develop fast greedy algorithms with theoretical guarantees. Experimental results on real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of our greedy algorithms.
Host: Dr. Milind Tambe, USC
Location: Seeley Wintersmith Mudd Memorial Hall (of Philosophy) (MHP) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Downtown Los Angeles Lunch and Learn
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
DEN@Viterbi, Executive Education, Viterbi School of Engineering Graduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
Join us for lunch to learn more about the engineering programs available for working professionals at USC! Representatives from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering will give a short presentation, followed by Q&A, while you enjoy a hosted lunch with other industry professionals.
Who Should Attend:
Professionals interested in learning more about USC's engineering Master's degrees & continuing education offerings available on-campus or online through the Distance Education Network. Interested friends and colleagues also welcome (all attendees must complete the registration form below).
To RSVP: Please visit http://mapp.usc.edu/lunchandlearnAudiences: RSVP Only
Contact: Viterbi Professional Programs
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Minors Workshop for the Arts
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Workshops & Infosessions
Come learn about the various minors offered through the School of Fine Arts, School of Theater, School of Cinematic Arts, Thornton School of Music, and the Institute for Multimedia Literacy.
We will have representatives from each of those schools come and talk about their minor programs and application process. If you are interested in minoring in any of these areas, be sure to join us!
Please RSVP by emailing viterbi.studentservices@usc.edu with "RSVP Minor Workshop 2/17" in the subject.Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: Jeffrey Teng
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2010 - 2011 Munushian Visiting Seminar Series
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Carver Mead, Professor, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: The Next Revolution in Physical Law
Abstract: For the past 50 years, Carver Mead has dedicated his research, teaching, and public presentation to the physics and technology of electron devices. This effort has been divided among basic physics, practical devices, and seeing the solid state as a medium for the realization of novel and enormously concurrent computing structures. He has made a number of contributions, with his most recent listed below:
Biography: With M. A. Mahowald, described the first analog silicon retina (61). The approach to silicon models of certain neural computations expressed in this chip, and its successors, foreshadowed a totally new class of physically based computations inspired by the neural paradigm. More recent results demonstrated that a wide range of visual and auditory computations of enormous complexity can be carried out in minimal area and with minute energy dissipation compared with digital implementations (1984). The book Analog VLSI and Neural Systems was published (52). This book condensed the insights gained during the previous eight years of work into a single volume, accessible to students with a wide range of backgrounds. Several recent reviews have spelled out in some detail the compelling advantages of realizing adaptive systems directly in analog VLSI. Reduction of system power dissipation by a factor of 10,000, and of silicon area by a factor of 100 are being demonstrated (1984). Experience gained in using photo-response of semiconductor structures for barrier-energy and band-gap studies led to system-level structures that sensed and processed images in various ways. With numerous collaborators, a large variety of imaging structures were developed. One branch of this effort resulted in CMOS imagers, now the most prevalent of all image sensors. A particular subset of these, the X3 sensors, have produced some of the finest images ever captured by any photographic technology (1985 â 1998). Throughout the entire period, worked to bring about a general awareness of Computation as a physical process, rather than purely a mathematical one. Strongly advocated the importance of unifying technology and architecture into a single discipline, and emphasized the importance of this unity for the future of the field at large (1972 â 2000). The book Collective Electrodynamics: Quantum Foundations of Electromagnetism, published by MIT Press, unifies electromagnetic phenomena with the quantum nature of matter (1) (2000). Recent work on Collective Electrodynamics is evolving an entire introductory level physics course based on macroscopic quantum systems. This approach allows students to develop a deep intuition for fundamental physical processes by way of simple laboratory experiments (2007 â Present).
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: http://ee.usc.edu/news/munushianLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: http://ee.usc.edu/news/munushian
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Graduate Seminar
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 02:00 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Andrew Peterson, Standford University, Standford, CA
Talk Title: Catalysis Design for Sustainable Fuels
Series: Graduate Seminar
Abstract: Quantum mechanics-based tools have advanced to the point where the computational design of catalysts from first principles is becoming possible. In concert with experiments, these tools can be used for improving catalytic processes for sustainable fuel synthesis. First, I will describe how we are employing density functional theory (DFT) to understand the (photo-)electrocatalytic activity of materials to reduce CO2 to hydrocarbons (solar fuels). We have identified the elementary mechanisms that make this transformation possible and have shown that the protonation of adsorbed CO dictates the overall efficiency of the transformation. By using computational screening tools, we are discovering new candidate materials that can reduce the overpotential of this step, which may help to make solar fuels technologically and economically feasible. In the second part of the talk, I will show how creative catalyst design can enable the development of an efficient and adaptable biorefinery that produces the light end (C0-C3) product spectrum of a conventional refinery. The design of catalysts that can perform decarboxylation reactions without being subject to CO fouling will be key in this development, as will the design of catalysts for the selective synthesis of gasoline-range hydrocarbons from light-end feedstocks. These advances can lead to flexible biorefineries that are adaptable to changing market dynamics.
More Info: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/colloquia.htmLocation: James H. Zumberge Hall Of Science (ZHS) - 159
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Petra Pearce
Event Link: http://chems.usc.edu/academics/colloquia.htm
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CS Colloquium
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Virginia Vassilevska Williams, UC Berkeley
Talk Title: Path, matrix and triangle problems -- subcubic algorithms and equivalences
Abstract: Many graph and matrix problems studied in optimization have relatively simple algorithms which run in time cubic in the number of vertices or rows. Some examples include matrix multiplication and all-pairs shortest paths. These problems have widespread applications, and developing more efficient algorithms for them would have a big impact. In 1969, Strassen gave a clever truly subcubic algorithm for matrix multiplication, and this insight has since lead to faster algorithms for many of the graph and matrix problems solvable in cubic time.
Nevertheless, several stubborn problems remain for which the best known running time is essentially cubic. The prototypical of these problems is all-pairs shortest paths. Other stubborn problems include the minimum weight cycle (girth) problem, the replacement paths problem, the second shortest simple path problem, and the simplest of them all, the problem of detecting a negative weight triangle in a graph. We have recently been able to show, perhaps surprisingly, that all these problems are equivalent, in the sense that if one has a truly subcubic algorithm, then all of them do. To accomplish this, we define a new, more refined notion of reduction, preserving "subcubicity" (the notion can easily be extended for any time exponent other than 3 as well).
One of our major goals is to develop a theory of equivalences between problems within P, analogous to that of NP-completeness. One reason P vs NP looks so hard to resolve is that many researchers from different areas have all been working on essentially the same (NP-complete) problem with no success. Our situation is entirely analogous: either these problems require essentially cubic time, or we are missing a fundamental insight which would make all of them simultaneously easier. In this talk I will give an overview of my results in the area, both algorithms and equivalences.
Biography: Virginia Vassilevska Williams is currently a postdoctoral fellow working with Prof. Satish Rao, sponsored by a Computing Innovations Fellowship. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in mathematics and engineering and applied science from the California Institute of Technology in 2003. She completed her Ph.D. in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in 2008 under the guidance of Prof. Guy Blelloch. She also spent a year as a postdoctoral member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, in Avi Wigderson's group. Her primary research interests are in graph algorithms and computational social choice.
Host: Prof. Ming-Deh Huang, USC
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Fecal pollution in urban streams: ecology, transport, and policy
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Stanley Grant, University of California, Irvine
Talk Title: Fecal pollution in urban streams: ecology, transport, and policy
Abstract: Fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) are the number one cause of river and stream impairment in the
United States. In this talk I describe field and modeling studies aimed at identifying dry weather
sources of FIB in the Santa Ana River, a wastewater effluent dominated stream in southern
California. Multiple lines of evidence support the hypothesis that FIB in this stream originate
primarily from in situ growth in streambed sediments. The measured flux of FIB from the
streambed is >10 times the flux predicted from prevailing models of interfacial mass transfer
across turbulent boundary layers, but similar to the flux of water between the stream and its
hyporheic zone estimated from dye injection experiments. Thus, hyporheic exchange appears
to control the trafficking of fecal bacteria, and perhaps other types of particulate organic
matter, across the sediment‐water interface. From a policy perspective, in situ growth of FIB in
riverbed sediments may lead to a decoupling of FIB and pathogen concentrations, and thus
limit the utility of FIB as an indicator of recreational waterborne illness in southern Californiaâs
inland and coastal waters. These results also point to a possible environmental trade‐off
associated with hyporheic zone restoration, in which increased nutrient processing by riverbed
sediments is accompanied by increased flux of FIB to the overlying water column.
Biography: Dr. Stanley Grant is a Professor in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Materials
Science (primary) and Civil and Environmental Engineering (courtesy) at the University of
California, Irvine. Dr. Grant also has a summertime appointment as a Visiting Chair of Hydrology
and Water Resources in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the
University of Melbourne (Australia). Dr. Grant received a B.S. in Geology from Stanford
University, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering Science (minor in Applied Biology)
from the California Institute of Technology. His professional interests include coastal water
quality, environmental dispersion of pathogens, and fate and transport modeling. Professor
Grant served on the US EPAâs Science Advisory Board (Drinking Water Panel, Science and
Technological Achievement Awards Panel) from 2000 to 2009.
Host: Sonny Astani Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Erin Sigman
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Women's Transportation Seminar-L.A. Info Session
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 05:30 PM - 06:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Attention engineers, urban planners, environmental planners, public policy and logistics students with a career interest in transportation:
Have a slice with WTS-LA! Learn how participation will benefit your professional development in all phases of your career!
Pizza and drinks will be provided.
Please RSVP to Melissa Reggiardo at melissa.reggiardo@stvinc.com by February 16, 2010
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 106
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Services
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USC NSBE - Roscoe's and Outing at the Comedy Union
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
University Calendar
Join USC NSBE as we go out to eat at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and then enjoy a night at the Comedy Union. Rides will leave the Lyon Center at 6:00. Email nsbe@usc.edu if you need a ride.
Location: 5000 Block West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: NSBE National Society of Black Engineers
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Dog Day Afternoon with Frank Pierson
Thu, Feb 17, 2011 @ 07:00 PM - 09:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Frank Pierson won the 1975 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for Dog Day Afternoon, one of American cinemaâs most riveting crime pictures. The film will be screened as part of a two-part series entitled "Itâs All True?," which will explore how filmmakers have translated true stories into feature films and how those films have impacted our sense of history, events and politics. Following the screening, Pierson will join USC cinematic-arts professors Mark J. Harris and Ted Braun to discuss the challenges filmmakers face when turning a true story into a screenplay, including sorting through competing claims of veracity, the need to keep paying customers in their seats, legal requirements and the obligations screenwriters have to the subjects of a film.
Pierson also co-wrote the Academy Awardânominated screenplay Cool Hand Luke and directed and co-wrote A Star Is Born. He has directed several notable films for television, including Dirty Pictures, Citizen Cohn, Conspiracy and Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture. His direction on Truman and Soldierâs Girl both garnered Peabody Awards. Pierson joined the crew of the AMC drama Mad Men as a consulting producer for the seriesâ third season, for which he won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama.
Admission is free.
For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.eduLocation: The Ray Stark Family Theatre, School of Cinematic Arts 108
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Daria Yudacufski
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ASCE Popscile Stick Bridge
Fri, Feb 18, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Popsicle Stick Bridge!
Feb. 18th
Exact Times TBA
Description: USC has been chosen by the Local ASCE branch to host competition of students. We will need volunteers to help the day run smoothly. It acts as our own E-Week Kick off!Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: American Society of Civil Engineers
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Controls Group - EE-Systems Seminar
Fri, Feb 18, 2011 @ 09:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Matthew J. Barth, Univ. of California - Riverside
Talk Title: ECO-Routing Navigation System based on Multi-Source Historical and Real-Time Traffic Information
Abstract: Due to increased public awareness on global climate change as well as other energy and environmental problems, a variety of strategies are being developed and used to reduce the energy consumption and environmental impact of roadway travel. In the area of Advanced Traveler Information Systems, recent efforts have been made in developing a new navigation concept called âeco-routingâ that finds a route requiring the least amount of fuel and/or producing the least amount of emissions. This paper presents an eco-routing navigation system that determines the most eco-friendly route between a trip origin and a destination. It consists of several components, including: (a) a Dynamic Roadway Network database, which is a digital map of roadway network that integrates historical and real-time traffic information from multiple data sources through an embedded data fusion algorithm; (b) an Energy/Emissions Operational Parameter Set, which is a compilation of energy/emission factors for a variety of vehicle types under various roadway characteristics and traffic conditions; (c) a routing engine, which contains shortest-path algorithms used for optimal route calculation; and
(d) user interfaces that receive origin-destination inputs from users and display route maps to the users. Each of the system components and the system architecture are described. Example results are also presented to prove the validity of the eco-routing concept and to demonstrate the operability of the developed eco-routing navigation system.
Biography: Matthew Barth is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at UC Riverside, holds the Yeager Family Chair, and is also the Director of the College of Engineering Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE¬CERT). Dr. Barthâs research focuses is in Transportation Systems, in particular how it relates to energy and air quality issues. Current research interests include Intelligent Transportation System Technology, Transportation/Emissions Modeling, Vehicle Activity Analysis, and Vehicle Navigation.
Host: Petros Ioannou
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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EE-Electrophysics Seminar
Fri, Feb 18, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Igor Bargatin, Stanford University
Talk Title: Hard-boiled Electrons: Using Thermionic Emission for Solar Energy Generation
Abstract: An interdisciplinary team of Stanford researchers is currently building MEMS-based prototypes of a new types of heat-to-electricity and solar-to-electricity energy converters. The first type of the device converts very high-temperature heat (>1000 C) to electricity the evaporation of electrons from solid surfaces (thermionic effect).
The second type of the device simultaneously transforms light and heat energy provided by the sun into electricity and is based on the recently demonstrated effect of photon-enhanced thermionic emission (PETE). Both types of converters may be used to dramatically improve the efficiency of future solar thermal power plants. I will describe the principle of operation, the initial experiments, and the maximum theoretical efficiency of both types of these high-temperature MEMS devices.
Biography: Dr. Igor Bargatin is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Roger T. Howe in the Stanford EE department. A native of western Siberia, he received an undergraduate degree in theoretical physics from Moscow State University in 2000. Subsequently, Igor did his Ph.D. Studies with Prof. Michael L. Roukes at Caltech, where he became an experimentalist and studied sensor applications of high-frequency nanomechanical resonators, graduating with a Ph.D. in Physics and a minor in EE. In the summer of 2008, he was a visiting scientist at CEA/LETI in Grenoble, France, where he enjoyed the ambiance and developed new types of gas sensors.
Host: EE-Electrophysics
More Info: ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eepLocation: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Marilyn Poplawski
Event Link: ee.usc.edu/news/seminars/eep
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Controls Group - EE-Systems Faculty Candidate Seminar
Fri, Feb 18, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dennice Gayme, California Institute of Technology - CalTech
Talk Title: Energy Efficiency: From Fundamental Physics to Power Systems
Abstract: Global warming and security concerns are driving the need to find more efficient and renewable energy sources and systems. In this talk we look at two such energy problems; fuel efficiency in aerodynamic applications and grid integration of renewable energy sources. Turbulence is undesirable in many applications because it increases drag, which leads to decreased fuel efficiency. We use a âbottom upâ (physics based) approach to understanding energy efficiency through a control theoretic analysis of shear flow turbulence. A 2D/3C model in a robust control framework is used to rigorously connect experimental observations of streamwise coherence to the shape of the mean velocity profile. We demonstrate how this model allows us to isolate mechanisms responsible for profile blunting, which is directly connected to increased drag and decreased fuel efficiency. In power systems we approach energy efficiency from the opposite direction, using a âtop downâ (system level) approach to examine issues associated with integrating renewable sources into a smart electric grid. A couple of case studies are described. The first demonstrates the benefits of grid integrated storage in the current power generation network paradigm. The second looks at how a combination of storage and ancillary services can be used to mitigate the intermittency of renewable sources. In the long term, a combination of physics based and systems level approaches are needed to analyze the technical and market issues that will arise as renewable penetration is increased.
Biography: Dennice Gayme is a postdoctoral scholar in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department at the California Institute of Technology. She received her doctorate in Control and Dynamical Systems in 2010 under the supervision of John C. Doyle and Beverley J. McKeon, also at the California Institute of Technology where she was a recipient of the P.E.O. scholar award in 2007 and the James Irvine Foundation Graduate Fellowship in 2003. She received a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1998. Prior to her doctoral work she was a Senior Research Scientist in the Systems and Control Technology and Vehicle Health Monitoring Groups at Honeywell Laboratories from 1999-2003. Denniceâs research interests are in the study of large-scale interconnected systems in the broad area of energy with applications focused in the areas of control theoretic analysis of shear flow turbulence and the integration of renewable power sources into a âsmartâ electric power system.
Host: Edmond Jonckheere
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Shane Goodoff
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USC PSOC Monthly Seminar Series
Fri, Feb 18, 2011 @ 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Simon Lin, M.D., Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Northwestern University
Talk Title: Reducing Time-to-action in Clinical Genomics Studies by Using an
Abstract: A major bottleneck in large-scale clinical genomics studies, especially those utilizing next generation sequencing and microarrays, is the bioinformatics analysis. A delayed time-to-action of six months by bioinformatics may lose the first-mover advantage and waste the initial capital investment as much as 46%. We propose a two-step strategy to accelerate the biomarker prioritization process: 1) reducing the noise of a biological system by integrating multiple-omics data, and 2) utilizing the disease ontology annotation of potential biomarkers to prioritize the disease-relevant ones. This strategy is based on our strategic investment of annotating the human genome with Disease Ontology (BMC Genomics 2009) and the development of the GeneAnswers package in Bioconductor (BMC Research Notes 2010). In this talk, I will demonstrate our success in a recent collaborative study with the Bulun Lab on leiomyomata. Uterine leiomyomata (uterine fibroids) are benign smooth muscle tumors that occur in up to 80% of all women of reproductive age and a leading cause of hysterectomies. By overlaying epigenetic data onto gene expression data, we narrowed down more than one thousand biomarkers to the most valuable 55 with a 20:1 prioritization rate. In addition, a disease ontology analysis allowed us to further categorize the 55 biomarkers into 8 disease pathways for follow-up evaluation in the wet lab. A major advantage of this strategy is that my team can finish this study within one day using the open-source GeneAnswers package we created.
Location: Harkness Auditorium, CSC 250, IGM Building
For Additional information contact: 323-442-3849 or 323-442-2596
Biography: Simon Lin, M.D.
Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, Northwestern University.
Host: Dr. Parag Mallick, Center for Applied Molecular Medicine
Location: Clinical Science Center (CSC) - CSC 250, Harkness Auditorium, IGM Building
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Yvonne Suarez
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W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Blue Language: Exploring Na'vi, Avatar's Native Voice
Fri, Feb 18, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 01:50 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the Marshall School of Business
Talk Title: W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Colloquium; Blue Language: Exploring Na'vi, Avatar's Native Voice
Abstract: Prof. Paul Frommer, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Management Communication at the Marshall School of Business, will present "Blue Language: Exploring Na'vi, Avatar's Native Voice" as part of the W.V.T. Rusch Engineering Honors Program.
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: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Amanda Atkinson
Event Link: http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/honors/schedules/
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Optical Switching for Next Generation Data Centers
Fri, Feb 18, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Madeleine Glick, Principal Engineer at Intel Labs and Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University
Talk Title: Optical Switching for Next Generation Data Centers
Abstract: Data intensive applications are driving up bandwidth requirements and creating new challenges that state-of-the-art data center networks cannot satisfy. Optical solutions are seen as a means to alleviate these bandwidth bottlenecks. Optical point-to-point links are making increasing commercial headway in data centers and supercomputers as high bandwidth links. In addition, optically switched networks could reduce latency and power consumption, however, technical challenges must be overcome and end-to-end solutions demonstrated to achieve acceptance of optical switching as commercially viable for data center applications. We have been exploring dynamic reconfiguration of low cost, high bandwidth optical networks that can adapt to application communication patterns. A hybrid packet-switched/circuit-switched network has potential to provide the functions of current networks, while providing high bandwidth for a large class of applications at lower cost and power. I will present the background motivation and current results of this research.
Biography: Madeleine Glick is a Principal Engineer at Intel Labs and an adjunct professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests focus on optical interconnection networks including signal processing and coding for data centers and high performance computers. She is an associate editor of the IEEE Photonics Technology Letters and the Journal of Optical Communications and Networking. Madeleine is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and on the Board of Governors of the IEEE Photonics Society. She received the Ph.D. degree in physics from Columbia University, New York.
Host: Prof. Alan Willner, willner@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 539
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gerrielyn Ramos
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Technical Entrepreneurship Conference
Sat, Feb 19, 2011 @ 09:00 AM - 06:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Various - See Sample Conference Sessions, Various - See Sample Conference Sessions
Talk Title: Various - See Sample Conference Sessions
Abstract: Given the current state of the global economic climate the subject of entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly important and appealing worldwide. The relative scarcity and declined security of corporate jobs in this economic climate yield stronger motivation for entrepreneurship, which provides a rewarding career option with a better potential for one's utilization of his or her creative abilities, not only in advancing in professional career and in attaining financial security but also in making lasting impacts for the society at large.
This timely Technical Entrepreneurship Conference effectively utilizes the knowledge and experience of successful technical entrepreneurs and recognized practitioners and academicians in the related fields.
The conference aims at highlighting:
Attitudes and behaviors needed for stimulating innovation
Knowledge and experience needed as entrepreneurial skills
Issues related to intellectual property
Raising the needed funds
Starting up a company
Product development and commercialization
See Sample Conference Sessions
Conference web site:
http://www.apsih.org/index.php/events/apsih-conferences
Sample conference sessions:
Creating Opportunity in Uncertain Times
Kathleen Allen â Professor of Entrepreneurship, USC
The days of writing in-depth business plans before executing a new venture are over. An uncertain economic environment, global competition, and chaotic markets require that entrepreneurs engage in sense-and-respond experiments to recognize opportunity, develop business models, and design sustainable businesses. Dr. Allen will present a micro-experimental approach to assessing the feasibility of new ventures and rapidly achieving proof of concept.
Dr. Kathleen Allen is the author of more than 15 books in the field of entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. She is a professor of entrepreneurship and the Director of the USC-Marshall Center for Technology Commercialization. Allen has started and operated four companies, including two technology ventures, and is a director of a NYSE company.
There's an Easy Way and a Hard Way: The 5 Concepts an Entrepreneur Must Understand
Tom Tsao â Hi Tech Entrepreneur
Abstract: The path a start-up takes is stochastic, not deterministic. The key is to make choices that have high probabilities of success. Despite having an extensive history available to them, many first time entrepreneurs make the same crippling mistakes made by their predecessors. Using actual examples, this presentation will give the rationale behind the best advice that is often ignored.
Dr. Tom Tsao is an experienced high tech entrepreneur who has raised capital from both venture capitalists and the government. He has aided over a dozen high tech start-ups evolve from concept through funding and product development. He guest lectures at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and teaches a seminar on raising VC capital at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. He received his PhD in electrical engineering from Caltech.
How to Establish a Start-up with SBIR Funding
Fred Mohamadi â CEO, Tialinx
Establishing a start-up that can benefit from SBIR funding as an alternative to raising seed from venture capital will be elaborated with focus on how to use effectively the entityâs intellectual properties. Challenges in continuation of funding, dealing with the contracting offices, meeting the funding agency requirements and expectations, maintaining the pipeline of IPs while focusing on generating revenue through productization will be addressed.
Dr. Fred Mohamadi is the CEO of TiaLinx, Inc. He has held senior and executive management positions at National Semiconductor, Lucent technologies, Broadcom Corporation, and start-up companies involved with the development of radar and communication component and products for thirty years. He received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He also holds an MBA from Santa Clara University. He founded TiaLinx, Inc. envisioning convergence of smart antenna beamforming technology and wafer scale integration for ultra wide bandwidth (UWB) wireless applications.
Developing the perfect investor pitch
John Sweet â Senior Licensing Associate, USC Stevens Institute
Tips will be given on how to construct presentations that succinctly answer investors' most important questions and maximize the chance that you'll get funded. If your hope is to attract venture capital or other sources of funding from investors who you don't personally know, then you will certainly need a salient presentation that portrays who you are and why you are deserving of investment.
Mr. John Sweet is a Senior Technology Advancement and Licensing Associate for the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation at USC. He is also an active member of the Pasadena Angels, a network of early-stage angel investors in Southern California. He was a software engineer and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and launched two companies. He earned his BS degree in Integrative Biology from the University of California at Berkeley, and received his MBA with Honors specializing in investment finance at USC.
How venture capitalists evaluate and how venture firms operate
Shahin Farshchi â Senior Associate, Lux Capital
Significant improvements in computerized design & simulation, as well as accessibility to high-throughput test and characterization tools have accelerated the development and demonstration of cutting edge technology. However, funding a startup to bring the technology to the mainstream has turned into a longer, more expensive process than ever before â especially in areas relating to semiconductors and energy. An introduction to how venture capitalists evaluate new investment opportunities with respect to how venture firms operate will be provided, in addition to several case studies.
Dr. Farshchi is a senior associate with Lux Capital, focusing on investments in semiconductor, wireless, and alternative energy technologies. He has held technical positions at General Motors and several Silicon Valley technology startups. He has also served as a postdoctoral scholar at the UCLA department of Electrical Engineering where he received his PhD. His research on wireless biosignal telemetry has been widely published. He has sourced Luxâs investments in Silicon Clocks (NASDAQ:SLAB) and SiBeam, in addition to assisting with Everspin and Luxtera, while supporting Luxâs energy and semiconductor portfolio.
Challenges and Best Practices for Fundraising
Saeed Amidi - CEO/President & Founder, Plug and Play Tech Center
The presentation covers the basics of setting the right strategy, choosing the right Venture Capitalists, and the right partner at the firm to champion the projects, as well as getting the right introduction to a VC, having the right pitch and addressing the right points which substantially increase fundraising chances. Several case studies will be presented on reasons for success or failure, based on presenter's experience in raising more than $100M.
Mr. Amidi is the Founder, President and CEO of Plug and Play Tech Center, a premier technology startup accelerator with over 300 companies which collectively have raised an excess of $700 million. He is a serial entrepreneur and a seasoned executive with over 28 years of experience in founding, operating, and growing successful companies. He is also a general partner in Amidzad which holds successful investments in companies such as PayPal, DropBox, etc.
Stock Market Reflection of Entrepreneurialism
Scott OâNeil â President, MrketSmith
Entrepreneurialism is the key driver of the stock market. The stock market is a true reflection of the success or failure of new innovations and follow-on technologies. It is the vehicle for many entrepreneurs to achieve significant societal impact. We will look at a sampling of key innovations over the last 110 years from stock market perspective.
Scott OâNeil received a degree in Business Management from Loyola Marymount University and later graduated from Harvard Business Schoolâs Program for Management Development. He has over 25 years experience in the financial industry. Mr. OâNeil joined Investorâs Business Daily in 1986 and was promoted to Publisher in 1994. In 2000, he became a Portfolio Manager and now also acts as President of MarketSmith, an investment research tool.
Entrepreneurial Business Organizations: Structure Mirrors Function
Dana Sherman â Engineering, Business and Law Professor, USC
Professor Sherman will simplify much of the confusion regarding the legal aspects of starting a new business by providing a framework that explains how to focus on just four key considerations.
Professor Dana Sherman has been a USC faculty member for over 30 years and has taught in the Viterbi School of Engineering, the Marshall School of Business, and the USC Law Center. He is an active member of the California State Bar and has advised many businesses from small companies to Fortune 500 corporations. Among his five degrees are a MS in public administration from Harvard and a MS in Business Taxation from USC.
Basics of Inventive Thinking
Behrokh Khoshnevis â Engineering Professor, USC
Great products, processes and systems are typically resulted from inventive thinking which unfortunately is not effectively nurtured by academic education as ihas been practiced. Creativity is induced by a particular state of mind and a matching life style. Some guidelines about the essentials will be given in this presentation.
Dr. Khoshnevis is a Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering at USC. He has extensive experience in invention and commercialization of products and processes and has numerous innovations in diverse fields ranging from medical devices to oil and gas and construction fields. His inventions, especially in robotics construction, have received worldwide coverage in acclaimed media.
Intellectual Property Fundamentals and Patent Portfolio Management
Clifford Cousin â Patent Portfolio Manager, Boeing
The fundamentals of intellectual property (IP) are introduced and an overview of the different types of IP including: Copyrights, Trademarks, Trade Secrets, and Patents is presented. After this introduction, a more in-depth presentation will cover the patenting process from disclosure to patent grant, and building and managing a patent portfolio.
Mr. Cliff Cousins is a Registered Patent Agent, and is admitted to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office in patent cases. Cliff currently works as a Patent Portfolio Manager for The Boeing Company. Before his legal career, Cliff was a chip designer working for TRW and then two Dot-Com electronics companies PairGain Technologies, and GlobeSpan. Cliff holds an MSEE from the Viterbi School of Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in Technology Commercialization from the Marshall School of Business, both at USC.
Royalty Audits of Technology License Agreements
Keith Johanns â Managing Director, Quids, Ltd.
An audit of a license agreement is an important part of the technology commercialization process. The audit provides a licensor with an independent assessment on the correct amount of royalties to be paid by a licensee under the terms of the agreement. This presentation will review key terms in a license agreement, and the steps involved during a royalty audit.
Mr. Keith Johanns is the Founder and Managing Director of Quids Ltd, a license management and royalty audit company incorporated during 2005. Mr. Johanns is also the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Avant-Garde Patents Ltd, a commercialization company incorporated during 2010 for patent applications filed by international inventors at the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
The art of patent searching - Patentability, Validity and Infringement
Parham Fatehi â Patent Analyst
Patent searching is a powerful business and engineering development process and is critical to patent strategy. Through patent searching one can determine whether an invention is novel and warrants further development investment. This presentation will focus on Patent Law and Examination as context for patent searching, types of patent searches, the mechanics of searching, patent analysis, and search tools.
Mr. Fatehi is a former Electrical Engineering Patent Examiner with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). He is currently a Patent Analyst at Landon IP, a global patent support firm, where he provides written opinion to the USPTO regarding international patent applications published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and performs commercial searches for leading technology firms.
Product Design and Realization Considerations for the Entrepreneur
Everette Philiips â President, Global Manufacturing Network
In an era when it seems most new business models are oriented towards software or service, it can be challenging for an entrepreneur to realize a new physical product. Mr. Phillips will discuss current trends and issues related to designing and manufacturing of products in our global economy. What considerations should an entrepreneur consider when designing and planning the realization of the design and review trends for international production of high technology products.
Everette Phillips is President of Global Manufacturing Network (GMN). GMN is a contract manufacturing firm and international sourcing organization with production and resources in the US and Asia. Mr. Phillips has nearly 20 years of experience in robotics, machine vision and advanced manufacturing technologies in diverse industries. He is on the board of Entrepreneurship@Cornell. He received his BS in Bioengineering from Cornell. He also has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School is participates in programs that involve both USC and Anderson alumni in Southern California.
Host: Association of Professors and Scholars of Iranian Heritage
Location: Seeley G. Mudd Building (SGM) - Room 123
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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SWE's Try It Riot!
Sat, Feb 19, 2011 @ 09:00 AM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
Want a chance to introduce Girl Scout Brownies (1st & 2nd graders!) to science and engineering? SWE will be hosting our very own themed Try It Riot, called "Engineer It!", including workshops on Alternative Energy, Weird Gloop, Magnetic Box, Static Electricity, and more! We will also be serving lunch and ending with a technology scavenger hunt!
We need help! Workshop leaders, troop "tour guides", and other assistants are needed to help pull this day together! If you are interested in volunteering, e-mail uscswe.outreach@gmail.com by Thursday, February 11th, 2011 by 5PM.Location: Von Kleinsmid Center For International & Public Affairs (VKC) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Society of Women Engineers
