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Events for the 5th week of April
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Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, & Engineering Talk
Mon, Apr 25, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen 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. 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 visit http://usconnect.usc.edu/ to check availability and make an appointment. Be sure to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!
Location: USC Admission Center
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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BME 533 - Seminar in Biomedical Engineering
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 @ 12:30 PM - 10:50 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Takahiro Ohyama, House Ear Institute
Talk Title: Developmental Patterning of the Inner Ear
Host: Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC
Location: Olin Hall of Engineering (OHE) - 122
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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Seminar: Fate and Transport of nano-TiO2 in Aquatic Environments
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Sharon L. Walker Associate Professor and the John Babbage Chair in Environmental Engineering University of California Riverside,
Abstract: Fate and transport of nanoparticles in aquatic environments have been investigated utilizing nano-TiO2, as it is one of the most widely used nanomaterials in industry. The project was developed to identify the fundamental mechanisms involved in the transport of nano-TiO2 and the contribution of various environmental parameters including solution chemistry (pH, ionic strength, and ion valence), hydrodynamic effects, and the presence of natural organic matter(NOM). Complementary transport studies have been conducted in both macroscopic (packedbed column) and microscopic (parallel plate flow cell) systems. Additionally, extensive
physical-chemical characterization of the nanoparticles was conducted under these various solution conditions. The combination of these transport and characterization tools has
demonstrated the critical role that pH, ionic strength and valence, NOM, and aggregation state play in the transport. Results from both transport systems and particle characterization will be presented, as well as the proposed transport and retention mechanisms observed. Additionally, a
brief overview of Walkerâs research in bacterial pathogen fate and transport will be discussed as well.
Biography: Sharon Walker received her Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Yale University in 2004. She earned her M.S. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale in 2000 and two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Southern California in Environmental Engineering and Environmental Studies in 1998. She is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), American Society of Microbiology (ASM), Association for Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), Air and Waste Management
Association (AWMA), Association of Women in Science (AWIS), and Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She is also a member of Chi Epsilon and Tau Beta Pi. She is currently a faculty advisor to the UC Riverside Alpha Beta chapter of Tau Beta Pi and campus chapter of SWE. She was awarded the 2010 NSF Career Award and she was a Fulbright Scholar at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel during the 2009-2010 school year.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Oral Defense Dissertation: Enabling Geotechnical Data for Broader Use by the Spatial Data Infrastructures
Mon, Apr 25, 2011 @ 03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Amir Zand, Civil Engineering Ph.D. Candidate,
Abstract: Geotechnical data is one of the most prevalent data types in civil engineering projects. Majority of the civil engineering projects that are in use today are designed using site-specific geotechnical data.
The usage of geotechnical data is not limited to construction projects. This data is used in a wide range of applications, including seismic hazard analysis, planning and zoning studies, risk analysis and other infrastructure development projects. Demand for geotechnical data in this type of applications has increased in the past few decades, due to proliferation of geographic information systems (GIS) and variety of applications that take advantage of GIS and spatial data.
Considering the widespread collection and usage of geotechnical data in various disciplines, one might expect that this data is readily available for most developed areas. However, unlike other types of spatial data that are available in spatial data infrastructures (SDI), geotechnical data is often managed using traditional and ineffective methods. Consequently, for a lot of projects it is difficult to find and acquire this data. This issue is frequently encountered in civil engineering projects, and more importantly, in large-scale multi-disciplinary studies that need large volumes of geotechnical data.
In order to address this problem, the current methods used for management, archiving and distribution of geotechnical data need to be improved upon. The most viable solution is to leverage the existing information technology infrastructure and adopt the methods that are already in use for other types of spatial data. These technologies include geography markup language (GML), spatial databases and web services developed for spatial data exchange.
Following this concept, in the subject dissertation development of a spatial data model for geotechnical data is discussed. The discussion includes an overview of the geotechnical data collection, processing and current methods that are used to archive and exchange this data. The proprietary software and data formats that are used for geotechnical data exchange, including the association of geotechnical and geoenvironmental specialists (AGS) data format, are covered in this review. In addition, the current state of information technology for other types of spatial data is evaluated. This background study includes spatial databases, spatial data infrastructures and various standards that are adopted by the industry and regulating agencies for management and dissemination of spatial data.
Based on this framework, a data model is proposed for integration of geotechnical data in SDIs. This data model uses the terminology of the AGS geotechnical data exchange format, and combines it with a GML-conformant schema. GML is the industry-standard markup language for modeling spatial data for use in SDIs.
The developed data model is compared with similar proposals from other research groups. The functionality of the data group is verified using several examples involving visualizing the geotechnical data, and using it for analyses such as site response analysis and liquefaction hazard assessment. A case study is presented which demonstrates the potential benefits of these analysis scenarios in real-world studies.
Finally, the achievements of the dissertation are summarized and suggestions are made in order to improve the results of the current study. Also, some related research topics are suggested to continue and further expand the concepts presented in this dissertation.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Epstein ISE Research Seminar
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Julia L. Higle, Professor and Chair, Dept. of Integrated Systems Engineering, The Ohio State University
Talk Title: "Decisions and Data under Uncertainty"
Abstract: From its very inception, Operations Research has grappled with problems of Decisions under Uncertainty. Even in the early days of linear programming, Dantzig recognized that "the real problem"
involved programming under uncertainty! Progress with algorithmic methods, and advances in computing technology have made it possible to address "industrial-strength" applications which integrate data and decisions to deliver convincing real-world solutions.
Applications compel us to make decisions about the data that we use, a fact that we recognize with varying degrees of formality. In this talk, we will motivate a stochastic programming approach to "decision modeling" and "data modeling" using two applications emerging from the service sector. Following a presentation of the models that describe these applications, we provide an overview of Stochastic Decomposition (SD), a stochastic programming solution methodology. We report results that illustrate the quality of the policies that can be developed through this approach.
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - Room 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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CS Colloquium
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Luc Vincent, Director of Engineering, Google Inc.
Talk Title: Google Street View: Image Acquisition and Computer Vision at Global Scale
Abstract: Unveiled in May 2007, the Street View feature of Google Maps is the result of a substantial engineering effort by a team including software engineers, mechanical engineers, UI designers, computer vision scientists, operations experts, and scores of others. The initial vision for Street View was provided by Google co-founder Larry Page, who personally collected street scene videos from his moving car in order to bootstrap research in this area. Turning this initial vision into a product required developing major new pieces of technology, including robust data collection platforms (vans, cars, tricycles, snowmobiles, etc.), systems for computing accurate pose from imperfect sensors, various software components to stitch, blend, color correct and warp collected imagery, efficient systems to manage a Gargantuan flow of data, a number of systems to address privacy issues, AJAX software components to integrate Street View to Google Maps, and many others. This presentation will go over some of these components and give the audience a peek at the Street View project from behind the scene.
Host: Dr. Cyrus Shahabi, USC
Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Integrating speech science and technology: New models for speech and audio processing
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Eric Fosler-Lussier, The Ohio State University
Talk Title: Integrating speech science and technology: New models for speech and audio processing
Abstract: Traditional speech recognition techniques adopt a hierarchical, top down approach to modeling speech data; linguistic information such as word pronunciations or language models typically act as priors in statistical models for automatic speech recognition (ASR). One line of research has started to integrate linguistic information within the representation of the underlying speech data. However, the top down approach typically used in ASR (Hidden Markov Models) does not easily allow for combining evidence from different linguistic representations.
Similarly, in speech separation (removing background noise from a speech-noise mixture), different cues have been identified that indicate speech or background noise. However, the techniques that have utilized multiple cues typically combine them in an ad hoc manner.
In this talk, I will discuss a line of research from my lab that looks at combining evidence using Conditional Random Fields: CRFs have been utilized within the NLP community for many tasks, but their use in the speech community is only starting to take off. Applications of CRFs to the ASR and speech separation problems show that this type of model can be an effective combiner of information, and can allow us to easily integrate ideas from speech science into working systems.
Biography: Eric Fosler-Lussier is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, with a courtesy appointment in Linguistics, at The Ohio State University. After receiving a B.A.S. (Computer and Cognitive Science) and B.A. (Linguistics) from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993, he received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of California, Berkeley, performing his dissertation research at the International Computer Science Institute under the tutelage of Prof. Nelson Morgan. He has also been a Member of Technical Staff at Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, and a Visiting Researcher at Columbia University. In 2006, Prof. Fosler-Lussier was awarded an NSF CAREER award, and in 2010 was presented with a Lumley Research Award by the Ohio State College of Engineering. He is also the recipient (with co-author Jeremy Morris) of the 2010 IEEE Signal Processing Society Best Paper Award. He has published over 90 papers in speech and language processing, is a member of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the International Speech Communication Association, and a senior member of the IEEE.
Fosler-Lussier serves on the IEEE Speech and Language Technical Committee (2006-2008, 2010-2013), as well as on the editorial boards of the ACM Transactions on Speech and Language Processing and the Journal of Experimental Linguistics. He is generally interested in integrating linguistic insights as priors in statistical learning systems.
Host: Professor Shrikanth Narayanan
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 320
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mary Francis
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Application Deadline for the VSC Funding Board
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 03:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
If you are interested in being on Viterbi Student Council's Funding Board for 2011-12, please submit your application to RTH 110 by 3pm. More information and the application can be found at http://http://viterbistudents.usc.edu/vsc/funding/. Questions? Email vscfb@usc.edu.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 110
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: VSC
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Epstein Institute Seminar Series / ISE 650 Seminar
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:50 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Ge Wang, Assistant Professor, CCRMA, Stanford University/CCO, Chief Creative Officer, Smule
Talk Title: "THE WORLD IS YOUR STAGE: SOCIAL MUSIC-MAKING ON MOBILE PHONES"
Abstract: Due to their mobility, computing power, and sheer strength in numbers, mobile phones have become much more than simply "a phone" (and mobile devices more than simply "portable computers"), increasingly serving as personal and "natural" extensions of ourselves. Therein lies, we believe, immense potential to reshape the way we think and do, and especially in how we engage one another expressively and socially. This presentation explores the research we are doing on mobile music at Stanford and at Smule - including mobile phone orchestras, iPhone's Ocarina, I Am T-Pain, and Magic Piano and Magic Fiddle on the iPad. We also trace their origins to laptop orchestras, programming languages for music, and an intersection of music, computer science, and the simple joy of building things together.
Biography: GE WANG, is an Assistant Professor at Stanford University in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), and researches interactive software systems for computer music, programming languages, mobile/social music, and education at the intersection of computer science and music. Ge is the author of the ChucK audio programming language, the founding director of the Stanford Laptop Orchestra (SLOrk), and the cofounder and director of the Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra (MoPhO). Ge is the Co-founder, CTO, and Chief Creative Officer of Smule, and the designer of the iPhone's Ocarina and the iPad's Magic Piano.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - Room 105
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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United States Air Force Information Session
Tue, Apr 26, 2011 @ 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Technical Degree Sponsorship Program (TDSP)
Now Hiring Electrical and Computer Engineering Students!
If you are interested in getting paid while earning your degree without working full time and having a guaranteed electrical or computer engineering job waiting for you when you graduate then the TDSP program may be for you! Get the experience and training you need to put you above the rest! Many major companies give priority to those who have served in the military.
The United States Air Force is looking for qualified and motivated electrical and computer engineering students to apply between now and May 14th. To find out more come out to our information session this Tuesday at 5pm Grace Ford Salvatori Hall (GFS) 106.. You can email crystal.caslin@us.af.mil or call (310) 863-5771 to RSVP for this event or to schedule an interview. Secure your engineering future today!
Come and learn about this opportunity within the United States Air Force this Tuesday!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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Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, & Engineering Talk
Wed, Apr 27, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen 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. 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 visit http://usconnect.usc.edu/ to check availability and make an appointment. Be sure to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!
Location: USC Admission Center
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Threat and Error Management Development (TEM)
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 08:00 AM - 04:00 PM
Aviation Safety and Security Program
University Calendar
Threat and Error Management Development is being implemented by operators throughout the world. This course is designed to train those who wish to develop a TEM program within their own organizations. Taught by a leader in TEM development, this course provides an applied, practical approach to explaining TEM principles.
Location: Aviation Safety & Security Campus
Audiences: Aviation Professionals
Contact: Harrison Wolf
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Petroleum Engineering Seminar
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 12:45 PM - 01:30 PM
Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dr. Mohammad Piri, University of Wyoming, Dept. of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
Talk Title: Multiphase Flow Properties in Mixed-Wet Porous Media:
Abstract: Development decisions for hydrocarbon fields or CO2 storage sites are based on reservoir performance predictions under different putative development strategies. These predictions use numerical simulation of multiphase fluid flow through a geological description of the reservoir. Much attention has been given to the assignment of properties - such as porosity and permeability - that faithfully represent the expected spatial heterogeneity and are consistent with a variety of different measurements of reservoir properties. In comparison, multiphase properties, particularly relative permeability, are given less attention, and a single set of relative permeabilities is often assigned to a given rock type, or even to the whole field. For many improved/enhanced hydrocarbon recovery projects and CO2 sequestration schemes, accurate estimates of relative permeabilities are crucial. The uncertainties associated with assigning multiphase flow properties often mean that the development projects are not carried out, with lost opportunity costs that may be hundreds of millions of dollars for a single field. This problem is even more acute for recovery of hydrocarbons from unconventional resources such as tight gas reservoirs.
In recent years there has been a surge in interest in pore-scale modeling as a physically-based tool to predict macroscopic properties such as relative permeabilities. The displacement physics for two- and three-phase flow in mixed-wet porous systems has been worked out at the pore scale. In this seminar, two distinct groups of state-of-the-art physically-based pore-level models will be presented: 1) A three-dimensional random network model will be discussed that is capable of simulating two- and three-phase flow processes at the pore level using faithful representations of the pore space. The displacement mechanisms incorporated in the model are based on the physics of multiphase flow observed in micromodel experiments. The model computes relative permeabilities, saturation paths, and capillary pressures for a variety of displacement sequences. The predicted two- and three-phase relative permeabilities are successfully compared against their experimental counterparts. Other applications of the technique, for instance, in fractured systems, will also be discussed. 2) A dynamic particle-based model for direct pore-level simulation of incompressible flow and contaminant transport in disordered porous media will be presented. The model is capable of simulating flow directly in three-dimensional high-resolution microtomography images of rock samples. The model is based on moving particle semi-implicit (MPS) method and is used to predict various flow and transport properties such as longitudinal dispersion coefficient. The accuracy of the model is validated against analytical, numerical, and experimental data available in the literature. The validated model is then used to simulate both unsteady- and steady-state flow and transport directly in representative elementary volume (REV) size microtomography images of naturally-occurring porous systems.
The need for better experimental measurements in order to improve the predictive capabilities of the aforementioned models will be discussed next. A state-of-the-art three-phase flow laboratory, established from scratch at the University of Wyoming, will be presented. The facility can be used to study a wide range of two- and three-phase flow experiments at reservoir conditions using a medical CT scanner to measure in-situ fluid saturations. The experiments may be carried out using vertically-placed core samples as the scanner can be rotated to the horizontal orientation. An extensive experimental program designed to complement the modeling effort will be discussed. Recently generated experimental data on the permanent trapping of supercritical CO2, relevant to CO2 sequestration in deep saline aquifers, and results related to a novel EOR technique will be presented.
Biography: Dr. Mohammad Piri is an Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Wyoming (UW). He received his PhD in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College London in 2004. Before joining the faculty at UW, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University. His research interests include pore-level physics of multiphase flow and transport in disordered porous media with applications in energy and the environment as well as measurement and prediction of macroscopic properties in multiphase flow systems. In particular, he works on three-phase flow systems with applications to oil and gas recovery, CO2 sequestration and leakage, effects of saturation history, trapping, and wettability on three-phase relative permeability, and direct pore-level modeling of flow in microtomography images. He currently leads a research group with seven graduate students and one postdoctoral research associate and is the Associate Director of the Center for Fundamentals of Subsurface Flow of the School of Energy Resources at UW.
Host: Mork Family Department
Location: Hedco Pertroleum and Chemical Engineering Building (HED) -
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Takimoto Idania
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Epstein ISE Seminar
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Dennice Gayme, Postdoctoral Scholar, Control and Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology
Talk Title: "Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Sources"
Abstract: Global warming and security concerns are driving the need to find more efficient and renewable energy sources and systems. In this talk we examine issues associated with integrating renewable sources into a smart electric grid. Two 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. These studies are used to demonstrate the different trade-offs necessary in developing a system that effectively integrates renewable resources. A full characterization of energy systems that combine a variety of generation schemes, storage and ancillary services is required before the full potential of a âsmartâ and clean power generation system can be achieved.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - Room 309
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Georgia Lum
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AME Department Seminar
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bill Henshaw, Centre for Applied Scientific Computing, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Talk Title: Deforming Composite Grids for Fluid Structure Interactions
Abstract: For some years we have been developing an open source software framework called Overture for the solution of partial differential equations in complex moving geometry. We use overlapping grids (also know as overset or Chimera grids) to efficiently represent complex geometry with structured grids. I will begin this talk by giving a brief overview of Overture and its capabilities. The focus of the talk will be on our recent work for fluid structure interaction problems. I will describe the use of deforming composite overlapping grids for the solution of problems coupling fluid flow and deforming solids. The method is based on a mixed Eulerian Lagrangian technique. Local moving boundary-fitted grids are used near the deforming interface and these overlap non-moving grids which cover the majority of the domain. The approach is described and validated for some fluid structure problems involving high speed compressible flow and linear elastic solids.
Host: Prof. V. Eliasson
More Info: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcomingLocation: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: April Mundy
Event Link: http://ame-www.usc.edu/seminars/index.shtml#upcoming
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CS Colloquium
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Yevgeniy Dodis, NYU
Talk Title: Leftover Hash Lemma, Revisited
Abstract: The famous Leftover Hash Lemma (LHL) states that (almost) universal hash functions are good randomness extractors. Despite its numerous applications, LHL-based extractors suffer from the following two drawbacks:
(1) Large Entropy Loss: to extract v bits from distribution X of min-entropy m which are e-close to uniform, one must set v = 2*log(1/e).
(2) Large Seed Length: the seed length n of universal hash function required by the LHL must be linear in the length of the source.
Quite surprisingly, we show that both limitations of the LHL --- large entropy loss and large seed --- can often be overcome (or, at least,
mitigated) in various quite general scenarios. First, we show that entropy loss could be reduced to L=log(1/e) for the setting of deriving secret keys for a wide range of cryptographic applications, including *all* "unpredictability" applications (signatures, MACs, etc.) and also some prominent "indistinguishability" applications, including chosen plaintext (or ciphertext) attack secure (public- or symmetric-key) encryption schemes. Specifically, the security of these schemes gracefully degrades from e to at most e + sqrt(e * 2^{-L}).(Notice that, unlike standard LHL, this bound is meaningful even for negative entropy loss, when we extract more bits than the the min-entropy we have!)
Second, we study the soundness of the natural *expand-then-extract* approach, where one uses a pseudorandom generator (PRG) to expand a short "input seed" S into a longer "output seed" S', and then use the resulting S' as the seed required by the LHL (or, more generally, any randomness extractor). Unfortunately, we show that, in general, expand-then-extract approach is not sound if the Decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption is true. Despite that, we show that it is sound either: (1) when extracting a "small" (logarithmic in the security of the PRG) number of bits; or (2) in *minicrypt*.
Implication (2) suggests that the sample-then-extract approach is likely secure when used with "practical" PRGs, despite lacking a reductionist proof of security!
The paper can be found at http://eprint.iacr.org/2011/088
Biography: Yevgeniy Dodis is an Associate Professor of computer science at New York University, which he joined in 2001 after receiving his PhD at MIT in 2000 and being a post-doc at IBM T.J.Watson Research center.
He also spent 2007-2008 academic year visiting the CRCS center at Harvard University.
Dr. Dodis' research is primarily in cryptography and network security.
In particular, he worked in a variety of areas including leakage-resilient cryptography, cryptography under weak randomness, cryptography with biometrics and other noisy data, hash function and block cipher design, protocol composition and information-theoretic cryptography. Dr. Dodis has more than 90 scientific publications at various conferences, journals and other venues, has been on program committees of many international conferences (including FOCS, STOC, CRYPTO and Eurocrypt), and gave numerous invited lectures and courses at various venues. Dr. Dodis is the recipient of National Science Foundation CAREER Award, IBM Faculty Award, Google Faculty Award and Best Paper Award at 2005 Public Key Cryptography Conference. As an undergraduate student, he was also a winner of the US-Canada Putnam Mathematical Competition in 1995.
Host: Prof. David Kempe
Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 118
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Tau Beta Pi Engineering Futures
Wed, Apr 27, 2011 @ 06:30 PM - 07:30 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Organizations
Student Activity
This is a 2 point leadership development workshop
organized by the National HQ to give advice on analytical problem
solving--this is a great event for Seniors who need points for a stole as graduation is a month away (almost)! Panda Express will be
provided. Location TBA.Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tau Beta Pi
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Defense Dissertation: Prediction of Extreme Events in Southern California
Thu, Apr 28, 2011 @ 02:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Bennington J. Willardson, Ph.D. Candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Abstract: The prediction of extreme runoff events has significant risk and financial implications when dealing with hydraulic infrastructure. This is especially true in highly urbanized areas such as Southern California. Two methods for determining extreme runoff exist: extrapolation of existing runoff data using extreme event probability distributions, or hydrologic modeling using design rainfall events and watershed characteristics to generate an estimate of the extreme runoff event. This research investigates both methods to evaluate usefulness and limitations in providing guidance for risk and financial analysis.
Design of levees and flood protection channels often focuses on providing protection from events with a 50- to 100-year recurrence interval. In many areas of the country, stream gage record sets do not contain records of this length. The effects of record length, probability distribution selection, and the method of parameter estimation are evaluated to determine the impacts on prediction of the extreme runoff event used for levee and channel design.
Design storms are often used with hydrologic models to predict runoff for events larger than those measured through systematic stream gaging. The Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) - Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) methodology is widely used. This research evaluates the use of this standard on design for major hydraulic structures such as dam spillways within Southern California. Two standard PMP methodologies are evaluated based on rain gage frequency analysis within Los Angeles County. The effects of soils, watershed characteristics, and wild fire on extreme runoff events are also evaluated using Monte Carlo Simulation of 27 watersheds within the County.
The Monte Carlo Simulations evaluates two design storms, two soil loss methodologies, and the effects of fire within a watershed. The structure and development of the model will be discussed, as well as the results for the different cases in determining extreme runoff events. Conclusions will be drawn regarding prediction of extreme runoff events in Southern California.
Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 209
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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Distinguished Lecture
Thu, Apr 28, 2011 @ 03:30 PM - 05:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Prof. Stuart Russell, University of California, Berkeley
Talk Title: Open universes and nuclear weapons
Abstract: I will discuss a formal unification of probability theory and full (open-universe) first-order logic that allows for uncertain reasoning about unknown objects and events within a general-purpose formal language. Applications range from citation information extraction to monitoring ompliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. The second half of the talk will describe the latter application in detail.
Biography: Stuart Russell was born in Portsmouth, England in 1962. He received his B.A. with first-class honours in physics from Oxford University in 1982, and his Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford in 1986. He then joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley, where he is Professor (and formerly Chair) of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery at UC San Francisco. In 1990, he received the Presidential Young Investigator Award of the National Science Foundation, and in 1995 he was cowinner of the Computers and Thought Award. He was a 1996 Miller Professor of the University of California and was appointed to a Chancellor's Professorship in 2000. In 1998, he gave the Forsythe Memorial Lectures at Stanford University and in 2005 he received the ACM Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award. He is a Fellow and former Executive Council member of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.
He has published over 150 papers on a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence including machine learning, probabilistic reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, real-time decision making, multitarget tracking, computer vision, computational physiology, and global seismic monitoring. His books include "The Use of Knowledge in Analogy and Induction" (Pitman, 1989), "Do the Right Thing: Studies in Limited Rationality" (with Eric Wefald, MIT Press, 1991), and "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" (with Peter Norvig, Prentice Hall, 1995, 2003, 2010).
Host: Prof. Fei Sha, USC
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Kanak Agrawal
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Meet USC: Admission Presentation, Campus Tour, & Engineering Talk
Fri, Apr 29, 2011
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Receptions & Special Events
This half day program is designed for prospective freshmen 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. 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 visit http://usconnect.usc.edu/ to check availability and make an appointment. Be sure to list an Engineering major as your "intended major" on the webform!
Location: USC Admission Center
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering Research Festival hosted by the Ming Hsieh Institute
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Poster Sessions, Graduating PhD Student Presentations, Awards Ceremony , Details TBD
Talk Title: SAVE THE DATE
Abstract: Schedule:
10:00am - 12:00pm Poster Session #1
10:00am - 12:00pm Graduating Ph.D. Presentations
12:00pm - 01:00pm Lunch (invite only)
01:00pm - 03:00pm Graduating Ph.D. Presentations
01:00pm - 03:00pm Poster Session #2
03:00pm - 04:00pm Awards Ceremony
04:00pm - 05:00pm Reception (invite only)
Host: Ming Hsieh Institute
More Info: http://mhi.usc.edu/ee-research-festival/Location: Gerontology Auditorium/Patio
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Danielle Hamra
Event Link: http://mhi.usc.edu/ee-research-festival/
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USC Water Institute Seminar
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Yoram Cohen , Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Water Technology Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 90095 Email: yoram@ucla.edu
Talk Title: Strategies for RO Process Integration and Cost Reduction
Abstract: The widespread use of membrane filtration and desalination RO desalination is rapidly gaining momentum in water reuse application including municipal wastewater and agricultural drainage (AD) water reclamation and reuse. Also, RO desalination of both seawater and inland brackish water is currently being considered in various locations around the world, with a growing number of large-scale desalination plants in the planning and/or construction stages. Considerable efforts, dating back to the initial days of RO development in the early 1960s, have been devoted to minimizing the energy consumption of water desalination, development of fouling and chlorine resistant membranes, as well as deployment of effective feed pretreatment. Reduction of the cost of RO desalination necessitates lowering process energy consumption, decreasing the volume of the generated concentrate stream (specifically for inland water desalination) and improving feed filtration effectiveness. At the same time one must meet the target permeate water quality while keeping overall water production cost at a reasonable level. Accordingly, the present seminar presents a formalized theoretical framework to systematically evaluate various options for minimizing RO energy consumption (with and without energy recovery devices), considering membrane module cost and the challenge of brine management. A comparison is presented of single versus multi-stage and multi-pass membrane desalting including considerations of stream mixing and recycling. An important element of robust RO process operation requires adequate process monitoring and control and dynamic optimization that respond (in real-time) to changing feed water conditions and product quality requirements. Recent advances have made it feasible to develop and deploy smart water desalination systems that enable effective integration and robust operation (with added automated fault detection and self-corrective action) of integrated UF and RO systems with reduced use of chemical cleaning and fault detection. Such systems and operational strategies can be utilized for distributed water desalination systems of reduced footprint. Results from both laboratory and field studies, for both agricultural and municipal wastewaters, with recently developed smart water desalination systems will be presented to demonstrate the feasibility of improving RO process optimization and operability for challenging water sources of high fouling and scaling propensities and for high recovery operation for brackish water desalting. In addition, reduction of the cost of concentrate management in inland water desalination will be discussed with respect to a newly developed chemically enhanced seeded precipitation (CESP) for high recovery desalination. Based on the above theoretical and field studies, various areas of further necessary improvements in RO desalination will be discussed focusing on needed reduction in process costs and improved operability for both large-scale and small-scale distributed systems.
Biography: Dr. Yoram Cohen received his B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., in 1975 and 1977, respectively, both in Chemical Engineering, from the University of Toronto, and his Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1981. He has been on the Faculty of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) since 1981. He is the founder and Director of the Water Technology Research Center and the Center for Environmental Risk Reduction, and a member of the UCLA/National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEIN). Dr. Cohen is an Adjunct Professor at Ben-Gurion University and a member of the International Advisory Committee to the Stephen and Nancy Grand Water Research Institute at the Technion. He was a Visiting Professor at the Technion (1987-1988), at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (1944) and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Victoria University (2006). Dr. Cohen is a UCLA Luskin Scholar and a recipient of the 2008 Ann C. Rosenfield Community Partnership Prize in recognition of his environmental research. He received the 2003 Lawrence K. Cecil award in Environmental Chemical Engineering from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), as well as the AIChE Separations Division Outstanding Paper Award (1997 and 2009). In 2008 he received a County of Los Angeles Commendation (2008), a State of California Senate Certificate of Recognition, and a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition (US) for contributing to legislation to protect public health and dedicated service to the Los Angeles community. Dr. Cohen has published over one hundred and fifty research papers and book chapters in water technology, separations processes, transport phenomena, polymer science, surface nano-structuring and environmental engineering. He is also the Editor of three environmental volumes. Dr. Cohen developed patented technologies in membrane synthesis, reverse osmosis desalination, surface nanostructuring and chemical sensors. He has served on numerous Government Advisory Committees, and organized over thirty scientific conferences, including the 2008 International Congress on Membranes and membrane processes (ICOM) and the 2009 West Coast Water Technology Transfer workshop. He also was appointed as the Meeting Program Chair of the 2010 AIChE Meeting.
Host: Ellis Meng
Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 150
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Mischalgrace Diasanta
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KIUEL Senior Design Expo
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Student Affairs
Receptions & Special Events
Join students, faculty, staff, and industry partners in recognizing the capstone projects of Viterbi students. Attendees can vote for their favorite project. See what opportunities are available to you senior year or show off your work if you're graduating!
To learn more about KIUEL, visit viterbi.usc.edu/kiuel
Location: Equad
Audiences: Undergrad
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Oral Defense Dissertation: Chromium Remediation in Groundwater Using Integrated Microbial Fuel Cells and Electrokinetic Systems
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Lewis Hsu, Environmental Engineering Ph.D. Candidate
Abstract: Hexavalent chromium (CrVI) is a common metallic carcinogen heavily used in industrial applications such as electroplating and leather tanning. Improper handling and disposal, along with the high solubility of CrVI, have led to widespread contamination of soil and water systems. Several remediation methods have been proposed, including biologically based techniques.
Bioremediation of CrVI is a promising approach due, in part, to the ability of the technique to rapidly lower CrVI concentrations. The research presented here focuses on the development of a CrVI remediation approach based on microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. MFC technology has been proposed as a source of renewable energy and as a remediation tool. While much work has been done on developing the technology as a renewable energy source, relatively little work has been performed to assess its capabilities as a remediation tool.
To address this shortcoming, the research presented here will showcase several aspects of using an MFC as a remediation tool. These include (i) a predictive modeling approach for biological CrVI remediation, (ii) an evaluation of Shewanella bacteria as biocatalysts, (iii) the selection and analysis of mixed communities in a CrVI-reducting MFC, and (iv) the integration of a CrVI-reducing MFC with an electrokinetic system.
These findings show that CrVI removal to low parts-per-billion concentration levels is possible with MFC systems and that integration with existing technologies is a valuable application to consider when designing remediation strategies.
Location: Charles Lee Powell Hall (PHE) - 333
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Evangeline Reyes
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2011 International Students Graduation Reception & Awards Ceremony
Fri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 04:00 PM - 06:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Receptions & Special Events
Every spring OIS celebrates the achievements of our graduating international students and also recognizes those students, staff and faculty who illustrated their passion and commitment in supporting our international student community.
Join us for the 29th annual International Students Graduation Reception & Awards Ceremony! Please visit the program page at http://sait.usc.edu/ois/workshops-events/ois-programs/graduation.aspx to find additional information on this event.
Please contact the Office of International Services (OIS) at Intlgrad@usc.edu with any questions or concerns.Location: USC Radisson Hotel
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: MAPP Office
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The Birth of Aerospace in Southern California:
A Conversation about Engineering, History & ArtFri, Apr 29, 2011 @ 04:30 PM - 06:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
University Calendar
For the last century, Southern California has provided the primary home for the U.S. aerospace industry. This panel considers some of the consequences for USC, the engineering profession, and for Southern California itself, as aerospace influence ranged from art and architecture to pop culture.
Panelists:
Ron Blackwelder, Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering, USC
Robert McEliece, Allen E. Puckett Professor, Electrical Engineering, CalTech
Ken Richardson, former President & COO, Hughes Aircraft Company
Laif Swanson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jason Weems, History of Art, UC Riverside
Peter Westwick, History, USC
Organized by Bill Deverell, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West and Urbashi Mitra, Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering
Sponsored by the the Center for Excellence in Research, Ming Hsieh Institute, and the Viterbi School of Engineering.
Location: Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center (GER) - auditorium
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Eric Mankin