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Events for the 5th week of March
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Hack IoT
Sun, Mar 24, 2019 @ 12:00 AM - 02:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Workshops & Infosessions
Hack IoT is back for a second year! We will continue to provide hackers with the tools and hardware free of charge to create innovative projects of your own, as well as great workshops to build your knowledge. For 24 hours you will come together with your team to build a great project based around the Internet of Things and the first three places will receive great prizes. Apply now through our google form and check our website for more information: hack-iot.org.
Location: Frank L. King Olympic Hall Of Champions (KOH) - King Hall
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
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Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, and Engineering Talk
Mon, Mar 25, 2019
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen (HS juniors and younger) and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process, a student led walking tour of campus, and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. During the engineering session we will discuss the curriculum, research opportunities, hands-on projects, entrepreneurial support programs, and other aspects of the engineering school. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process, and financial aid.
Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m.
Please make sure to check availability and register online for the session you wish to attend. Also, remember to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!
RSVPLocation: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - USC Admission Office
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Embracing Inclusion in Faculty Hiring and Retention
Mon, Mar 25, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 01:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
University Calendar
The Campus Climate Committee of the Academic Senate invites you to a presentation and lunch with Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, Executive Director of The Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University.
Ms. Mackenzie will be presenting a talk on Embracing Inclusion in Faculty Hiring and Retention and sharing case studies and practical tips for hiring committees.
As space is limited, please RSVP by Wednesday, March 20: https://events.usc.edu/esvp/ (enter code: cccspring19).
Lunch will be served.Location: The Vineyard Room
Audiences: Faculty and Staff
Contact: Helen Choi
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CS Colloquium: Anand Iyer (University of California, Berkeley) - Scalable Systems for Large-Scale Dynamic Connected Data Processing
Mon, Mar 25, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Anand Iyer, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Scalable Systems for Large-Scale Dynamic Connected Data Processing
Series: CS Colloquium
Abstract: As the proliferation of sensors rapidly make the Internet-of-Things (IoT) a reality, the devices and sensors in this ecosystem-”such as smartphones, video cameras, home automation systems and autonomous vehicles-”constantly map out the real-world producing unprecedented amounts of connected data that captures complex and diverse relations. Unfortunately, existing big data processing and machine learning frameworks are ill-suited for analyzing such dynamic connected data, and face several challenges when employed for this purpose.
In this talk, I will present my research that focuses on building scalable systems for dynamic connected data processing. I will discuss simple abstractions that make it easy to operate on such data, efficient data structures for state management, and computation models that reduce redundant work. I will also describe how bridging theory and practice with algorithms and techniques that leverage approximation and streaming theory can significantly speed up computations. The systems I have built achieve more than an order of magnitude improvement over the state-of-the-art and are currently under evaluation in the industry for real-world deployments.
This lecture satisfies requirements for CSCI 591: Research Colloquium.
Biography: Anand Iyer is a PhD candidate at the University of California, Berkeley advised by Prof. Ion Stoica. His research interest is in systems with a current focus on enabling efficient analysis and machine learning on large-scale dynamic, connected data. He is a recipient of the Best Paper Award at SIGMOD GRADES-NDA 2018 for his work on approximate graph analytics. Before coming to Berkeley, he was a member of the Mobility, Networking and Systems group at Microsoft Research India. He completed his M.S at the University of Texas at Austin.
Host: Barath Raghavan
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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ECE Seminar: Specification-Driven Design for Modular and Safe Robotics
Mon, Mar 25, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Petter Nilsson, Post-Doctoral Researcher, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Specification-Driven Design for Modular and Safe Robotics
Abstract: Robotic systems of tomorrow will be increasingly interconnected and operate among us, which implies a two-fold engineering challenge of great complexity and no tolerance for mistakes. This talk will explore specification-driven design methods that enforce or utilize formally written specifications for principled design, modularity, and decision-making.
The first part will be centered on safety-critical control via invariance: I will show how invariance specifications in the form of assume-guarantee contracts can be leveraged to decompose problems and thus enable modular design, and how certificates for invariance can be used to formally relate low-level dynamics to a high-level abstract roadmap for planning. The second part of the talk will cover specification-guided methods for multi-robot systems, and how problem structure can be leveraged to overcome scalability challenges. The talk will be concluded with a few words about current research topics and directions for the future.
Biography: Petter Nilsson received his B.S. in Engineering Physics in 2011, and his M.S. in Optimization and Systems Theory in 2013, both from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2017 from the University of Michigan. In addition to his technical degrees, he holds a B.S. in Business and Economics from the Stockholm School of Economics.
He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology where he conducts research on specification-driven control and autonomy for safety-critical cyber-physical systems, with applications in autonomous driving, space exploration, and multi-agent coordination.
Host: Professor Justin Haldar, jhaldar@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Fall 2018 Joint CSC@USC/CommNetS-MHI Seminar Series
Mon, Mar 25, 2019 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michael Demetriou, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Talk Title: Dynamic-data driven real-time estimation of plumes using adaptive sampling
Abstract: The goals in disaster management, characterized by hazardous plumes in indoor or outdoor environments, are the quickest detection of the disaster presence, its prompt reconstruction and the adaptive evacuation policy. In this talk, a very particular type of disaster is considered, namely the one resulting in hazardous plumes that are harmful to humans, and possibly to equipment. Such plumes are modeled by advection-diffusion partial differential equations with static or mobile sources that release harmful substances to the environment. The goal is to reconstruct the plume in real time, capturing all features of the plume. A model-based state estimator of the plume concentration is proposed and which combines estimation techniques with computational fluid dynamics and smart computing to arrive at real-time implementable plume concentration estimators. Some of the challenges in implementing a real-time state reconstruction scheme are presented. Solutions to these challenges are presented and include the use of mobile sensors to improve spatial resolution, spatial grid switching and refinement/coarsening for computational load reduction, and domain decomposition methods for code parallelization.
Biography: Michael Demetriou is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He received his PhD degree from USC in Electrical Engineering-Systems in 1993. He served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, and the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization. In 2003 he established the IEEE-CSS Technical Committee on Distributed Parameter Systems and he served as his first chair (2003-2012). He currently serves as the Secretary of the SIAM Control and Systems Theory activity group, as a member of the SIAM/SIAG Advisory Committee, and as a member of the SIAG/CST Conference Steering Committee. He is the IEEE/CSS-SIAM/SIAG Liaison and is serving as the SIAM Director in the the American Automatic Control Council (AACC) Board. His current research interests include optimization and control of mobile sensor and actuator networks in spatially distributed systems with applications to intrusion detection and containment.
Host: Petros A Ioannou, ioannou@usc.edu
More Info: http://csc.usc.edu/seminars/2019Spring/demetriou.html
More Information: 190325_Michael Demetriou.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Brienne Moore
Event Link: http://csc.usc.edu/seminars/2019Spring/demetriou.html
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CS Colloquium: TBA
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: TBA, TBA
Talk Title: TBA
Series: CS Colloquium
Host: Ramesh Govindan
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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Epstein Institute Seminar - ISE 651
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Maryam Fazel, Associate Professor, University of Washington
Talk Title: The Many Faces of Regularization: from Signal Recovery to Online Algorithms
Host: Dr. Meisam Razaviyayn
More Information: March 26, 2019_room change.pdf
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 115
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
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Special Q&A Session with Albert Dorman
Tue, Mar 26, 2019 @ 08:00 PM - 09:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Albert Dorman, Founder and Past Chairman of the Board, AECOM Technology Corporation
Talk Title: Special Q&A Session with Albert Dorman
Host: Professor Henry Koffman
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 116
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
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Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, and Engineering Talk
Wed, Mar 27, 2019
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen (HS juniors and younger) and family members. Meet USC includes an information session on the University and the Admission process, a student led walking tour of campus, and a meeting with us in the Viterbi School. During the engineering session we will discuss the curriculum, research opportunities, hands-on projects, entrepreneurial support programs, and other aspects of the engineering school. Meet USC is designed to answer all of your questions about USC, the application process, and financial aid.
Reservations are required for Meet USC. This program occurs twice, once at 8:30 a.m. and again at 12:30 p.m.
Please make sure to check availability and register online for the session you wish to attend. Also, remember to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!
RSVPLocation: Ronald Tutor Campus Center (TCC) - USC Admission Office
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Computer Science General Faculty Meeting
Wed, Mar 27, 2019 @ 12:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Receptions & Special Events
Bi-Weekly regular faculty meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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ECE Seminar: Exploiting Terrain Responses for Effective Locomotion in Complex Environments
Wed, Mar 27, 2019 @ 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Feifei Qian, Postdoctoral Researcher, GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania
Talk Title: Exploiting Terrain Responses for Effective Locomotion in Complex Environments
Abstract: Today, robots are expected to take on increasingly important roles in human society. However, state-of-the-art robots still struggle to move on natural terrain, due to the lack of understanding of the interactions between robots and non-flat, non-rigid surfaces. My research aims to generate simplified models and representations of locomotor-terrain interactions, and improve robot mobility in complex environments.
In this talk, I will demonstrate how I integrate granular physics, bio-inspired robotics, and locomotion biomechanics to create interaction models that can guide design and control of bio-inspired robots to produce effective movement on challenging terrains. First, I will briefly review my previous work of animal and robot locomotion on granular terrain such as sand, debris, and gravel, and discuss how locomotors can manipulate granular responses and achieve effective locomotion on sand through adjustments in morphological parameters or contact strategy. Then I will present my recent work on creating simplified representations of robot interaction with perturbation-rich environments such as cluttered rubble or fallen tree trunks, and discuss how a multi-legged robot can adjust its gait patterns to exploit obstacle disturbances and generate different dynamics from the same physical environment. I will conclude with a vision of how these models and representations can lead to innovative strategies for obstacle-aided locomotion, better understanding of animal gait transition behaviors, and embodied sensing of environment properties.
Biography: Feifei Qian is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the GRASP lab at University of Pennsylvania. She received her PhD degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2015. She is interested in understanding interactions between legged robots and complex terrains, and creating solutions for robots to exploit obstacles and disturbances to improve mobility. Her work was awarded the best student paper at Robotics: Science and Systems, and has been covered by media press including BBC, R&D Magazine, Phys.org, and PennCurrent.
Host: Professor Paul Bogdan, pbogdan@usc.edu
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mayumi Thrasher
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Mathematical Foundations of Learning from Signals and Data (Math-FLDS)
Wed, Mar 27, 2019 @ 03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alex Cloninger, University of California, San Diego
Talk Title: Crafting Laplacian Eigenfunctions to the Data Science Task
Series: MHI
Abstract: We will discuss two topics related to the importance of selecting particular eigenfunctions of the graph Laplacian. First, we discuss the geometry of Laplacian eigenfunctions on compact manifolds and combinatorial graphs. We will use a notion of similarity between eigenfunctions that allows to reconstruct a dual geometry, which recovers classical duals in particular cases. We will focus on the applications of discovering such a dual geometry, namely in constructing anisotropic graph wavelet packets and anisotropic graph cuts. A second topic will be the relevance of selecting import eigenfunctions for two sample testing, namely kernel Maximum Mean Discrepancy. This creates a more powerful test than the classical MMD while still maintaining sensitivity to common departures. We examine this two-sample testing in several medical examples.
Biography: Alex Cloninger is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at UCSD. He received his PhD in Applied Mathematics and Scientific Computation from the University of Maryland in 2014 and was then an NSF Postdoc and Gibbs Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Yale University until 2017, when he joined UCSD. Alex researches problems around the analysis of high dimensional data. He focuses on approaches that model the data as being locally lower dimensional, including data concentrated near manifolds or subspaces. These types of problems arise in a number of scientific disciplines, including imaging, medicine, and artificial intelligence, and the techniques developed relate to a number of machine learning and statistical algorithms, including deep learning, network analysis, and measuring distances between probability distributions
Host: Mahdi Soltanolkotabi and Paul Bogdan
More Information: Cloninger, Alex Seminar.pdf
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 132
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Gloria Halfacre
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AME Seminar
Wed, Mar 27, 2019 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Hangbo Zhao, Northwestern University
Talk Title: Advanced Manufacturing of Unconventional 3D Micro- and Meso-Structures: From Strain-Engineered Growth to Mechanically Guided Assembly
Abstract: The growing availability of methods for three-dimensional (3D) manufacturing methods has implications across diverse areas ranging from energy systems to microelectronics, yet few techniques offer the necessary capabilities in geometric complexity, materials compatibility and design versatility. In this talk, I will discuss two novel manufacturing approaches to creating 3D functional material systems that are not feasible by conventional manufacturing methods: 1) strain-engineered growth of complex 3D carbon nanotube microarchitectures, and 2) mechanically guided 3D assembly of a broad range of functional materials and electronics. I will show how strain-engineered growth of carbon nanotubes, in combination with conformal coatings, enables direct formation of hierarchically structured surfaces with tailorable mechanical and interfacial properties for controlling liquid wetting and adhesion. Next, I will describe novel manufacturing technologies that exploit structural buckling and local twisting to create morphable 3D mesoscale structures in diverse advanced materials, and show how these can be used to make tunable optical metamaterials. I will also outline a microphysiological platform fabricated by mechanically guide assembly for tissue engineering and biomedical research. I will conclude by discussing new opportunities in designing and manufacturing multifunctional, adaptive material systems.
Hangbo Zhao is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics in Prof. John Rogers group at Northwestern University, where he works on multifunctional 3D materials systems and bio-integrated electronics for applications in tissue engineering and healthcare. He received his Ph.D. degree in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT in 2017, supervised by Prof. A. John Hart. His Ph.D. thesis focused on developing engineered, hierarchical surfaces for controlling liquid wetting and adhesion. He received his masters degree also in mechanical engineering at MIT in 2014, supervised by Prof. Carl V. Thompson. He received his bachelors degree in precision instruments at Tsinghua University in China in 2011.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
3:30 PM
Seaver Science Library, Room 150 (SSL 150)
Refreshments will be served at 3:15 pm.
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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Spring 2019 ITP Open House
Thu, Mar 28, 2019 @ 09:30 AM - 11:30 AM