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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250220T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250220T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250131T195445Z
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SUMMARY:IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: "Theoretical foundations for multi-agent learning"
DESCRIPTION:As learning algorithms become increasingly capable of acting autonomously\, it is important to better understand the behavior that results from their interactions. For example\, a pervasive challenge in multi-agent learning settings\, which spans both theory and practice and dates back decades\, has been the failure of convergence for iterative algorithms such as gradient descent. Accordingly\, a longstanding central question with broad relevance is: how quickly can we compute solution concepts\, i.e.\, equilibria\, in multi-agent settings?\n\nI will discuss results which address this question at a variety of levels\, starting from foundational settings involving normal-form games and building up to complex problems such as multi-agent reinforcement learning which more aptly model realistic situations. First\, I will present a result establishing a near-optimal convergence rate for a simple online learning algorithm in normal-form games\, resolving a decade-long line of work which gave suboptimal bounds. I will then discuss a new algorithm for minimizing swap regret exponentially faster than previous approaches. Our algorithm allows us to answer several open questions\, such as by establishing the first PTAS for correlated equilibria in extensive-form games.\n\nBeyond contending with agents’ differing incentives\, the increasing use of machine learning algorithms presents other challenges\, such as the proliferation of AI-generated content. In the latter part of the talk\, I will discuss an approach to detect such content via watermarking. Our watermarking scheme is the first to embed a watermark in a language model’s output in a way which only leads to negligible changes in the distribution of the output but which is robust to adversarial edits.\n\nZoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98090439937 (Meeting ID: 980 9043 9937)
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ideas-stat-optimization-seminar-noah-golowich/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Colloquium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250220T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250220T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250204T135907Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250204T135907Z
UID:10008265-1740049200-1740052800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "Quantum Simulation of Electronic Materials with a Superconducting Qubit Array"
DESCRIPTION:Arrays of coupled superconducting qubits are a compelling platform for analog quantum simulations of solid-state matter and many-body physics. These devices natively emulate the Bose-Hubbard model while offering a high degree of control\, fast operation rates\, and site-resolved readout. We discuss recent experiments using a 4-by-4 array of transmon qubits. By adopting a parametric coupling scheme\, we emulate a 2D material in an adjustable electromagnetic field and demonstrate the Aharonov-Bohm effect\, Faraday’s law of induction\, and the Hall effect. We then emulate a material with flat bands\, and we study the interplay between band structure and disorder-induced localization and delocalization. We conclude by discussing a near-term path towards utility-scale analog quantum simulators based on superconducting qubit arrays.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-spring-seminar-title-tbd-4/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Colloquium
ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250114T215930Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250114T215930Z
UID:10008221-1739979000-1739982600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE & BE Seminar: "Targeting the Brain and Behavior to Probe the Dynamics of Aging" (Claire Bedbrook\, Stanford University)
DESCRIPTION:Bio & Abstract: \nClaire Bedbrook is an engineer and neuroscientist working to extend lifespan by modulating the brain. Claire was trained in chemical engineering at the University of California\, Berkeley. She completed her Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology with Professor Frances Arnold and Professor Viviana Gradinaru\, where she engineered molecular tools for controlling and recording the brain using machine-learning-based protein engineering. Claire is now a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholar in the labs of Professor Karl Deisseroth and Professor Anne Brunet at Stanford University\, where she is pioneering approaches to understand and engineer the process of aging. Studying intact systems longitudinally over life in high dimensions is a fundamental unmet need in biology. If achieved\, this would uncover key principles of aging\, the leading driver of most chronic diseases. However\, given the long timescale of vertebrate aging\, recording this continuous\, lifelong transformation is highly challenging. Claire’s research seeks to overcome this challenge by leveraging the African killifish\, a genetically tractable vertebrate model with a naturally compressed lifespan that recapitulates key aging features. Using the short-lived killifish\, she engineered a platform to track every moment of a vertebrate animal’s life\, capturing multidimensional behavioral dynamics across timescales from milliseconds to entire lifespans. This system offers an unprecedented\, unbiased view into the progression of aging.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-be-seminar-targeting-the-brain-and-behavior-to-probe-the-dynamics-of-aging-claire-bedbrook-stanford-university/
LOCATION:Wu & Chen Auditorium
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering":MAILTO:cbemail@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250211T152219Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250211T152219Z
UID:10008281-1739977200-1739980800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP SFI: Qinghua Liu\, Microsoft Research\, “When Is Partially Observable Reinforcement Learning Not Scary?”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nPartial observability is ubiquitous in Reinforcement Learning (RL) applications\, where agents must make sequential decisions despite lacking complete information about the latent states of the controlled system. Partially observable RL is notoriously challenging in theory—well-known information-theoretic results show that learning partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) requires an exponential number of samples in the worst case. However\, this does not rule out the existence of interesting subclasses of POMDPs that encompass a diverse set of practical applications while remaining tractable. \nIn this talk\, we identify a rich family of tractable POMDPs\, which we call weakly revealing POMDPs. This family excludes pathological cases where observations provide so little information that learning becomes infeasible. We prove that for weakly revealing POMDPs\, a simple algorithm combining optimism and Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) is sufficient to guarantee polynomial sample complexity. Finally\, we discuss the practical implications of this theory\, including strategies for collecting samples in partially observable tasks and the limitations of purely model-free algorithms.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-sfi-qinghua-liu/
LOCATION:Levine 307\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="General Robotics%2C Automation%2C Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab":MAILTO:grasplab@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250123T200050Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250123T200050Z
UID:10008234-1739966400-1739970900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ASSET Seminar: "Demystifying the Inner Workings of Language Models"
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nLarge language models (LLMs) power a rapidly-growing and increasingly impactful suite of AI technologies. However\, due to their scale and complexity\, we lack a fundamental scientific understanding of much of LLMs’ behavior\, even when they are open source. The “black-box” nature of LMs not only complicates model debugging and evaluation\, but also limits trust and usability. In this talk\, I will describe how my research on interpretability (i.e.\, understanding models’ inner workings) has answered key scientific questions about how models operate. I will then demonstrate how deeper insights into LLMs’ behavior enable both 1) targeted performance improvements and 2) the production of transparent\, trustworthy explanations for human users. \nZoom Link (if unable to attend in-person): https://upenn.zoom.us/j/99113576305
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-seminar-sarah-wiegreffe-ai2/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250219T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250205T222330Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250205T222330Z
UID:10008272-1739960100-1739963700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Real-Time Safe and Energy-Efficient UAV Motion Planning in Windy Urban Environments"
DESCRIPTION:Recent advancements in hardware and software are bringing autonomous aerial vehicles closer than ever to finally delivering on futuristic visions of flying cars and package delivery drones. However\, the safe deployment of autonomous aircraft at scale in urban environments poses significant challenges\, one of which being uncertainties contributed by complex spatial and temporal winds. Clusters of buildings generate dangerous high speed wind flow patterns which increase both the costs and risks for aerial operations. Existing approaches for modeling and planning for urban winds rely on either distributed sensors\, extensive exploration\, or accurate global representations of the environment and expensive offline calculations. \nIn this talk\, we first introduce a novel approach to predicting wind flow fields in real time\, without GPS or prior knowledge of the environment\, and only using on-board sensing with minimal compute requirements. We accomplish this by strategically reducing the problem to predicting the wind flow field on a local robot-centered domain\, and by leveraging the predictability of the wind flow field induced by conservation of mass and momentum constraints from nearby topography. Using vast amounts of simulated winds through procedurally-generated urban environments\, we train deep neural networks to synthesize navigational LiDAR scans with sparse in-situ measurements of the wind\, achieving real-time prediction rates and surprising generalizability. In the latter half of the talk\, we demonstrate how the local wind prediction can be incorporated into a receding horizon optimal control architecture to improve the accuracy of trajectory forecasting and cost functions associated with energy consumption. The result is a system that is capable of perceiving surrounding winds in real time using readily-available on-board sensors\, and then adjusting the planned route accordingly to avoid environmental hazards and maximize energy efficiency along the way.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-real-time-safe-and-energy-efficient-uav-motion-planning-in-windy-urban-environments/
LOCATION:Towne 319\, 220 S. 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Doctoral
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250218T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250218T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250211T010944Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250211T010944Z
UID:10008279-1739892600-1739896200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Efficient Probabilistically Checkable Proofs from High-Dimensional Expanders"
DESCRIPTION:The PCP theorem\, proved in the 90’s\, shows how to encode a proof for any theorem into a format where the theorem’s correctness can be verified by making only a constant number of queries to the proof. This result is a significant milestone in computer science and has important implications for approximation algorithms\, cryptography\, and cloud computing.\nIn this talk\, I will cover some exciting progress on constructing efficient PCPs. My work gives a systematic way to construct PCPs\, improving upon the state-of-the-art PCP constructions from nearly 20 years ago. This implies that many well-known approximation algorithms are nearly-optimal under well-believed complexity-theoretic conjectures. In the process\, we also solve various conjectures in property testing and distributed computing. These advances are facilitated by the newly-emerging theory of high-dimensional expansion and draw upon connections with various areas of theoretical computer science and mathematics.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-efficient-probabilistically-checkable-proofs-from-high-dimensional-expanders/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Computer and Information Science":MAILTO:cherylh@cis.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250218T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250218T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250123T183927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250123T183927Z
UID:10008232-1739876400-1739880000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "AI as a Lens: Expanding Vision for Scientific Discovery"
DESCRIPTION:Conventional approaches to scientific discovery often prioritize building larger sensors\, gathering more data\, and scaling up computational power. In this talk\, I will present a complementary perspective: extracting insights hidden in the data we already have. The key lies in using AI not as a black-box predictor\, but as a tool for interpreting data through its underlying physical process. \nI will demonstrate how AI\, when integrated with the physics of light propagation\, can serve as a computational lens to overcome fundamental limitations in fields ranging from biomedicine to astrophysics. Specifically\, I will showcase two compelling applications: non-invasive imaging through scattering biological tissues\, and detecting faint exoplanets against the overwhelming brightness of their host stars. \nThese methods represent a departure from traditional learning-based approaches that rely on fitting models to training labels and hoping for generalization. Instead\, with physics-informed strategies that decode how light propagates\, we can transform raw measurements into scientifically meaningful insights—without requiring costly hardware upgrades or human-annotated datasets. Finally\, I will outline future directions for combining AI with physical principles\, enabling us to unlock more phenomena once considered hidden and accelerating discoveries in healthcare\, astronomy\, and beyond.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-ideas-spring-seminar-title-tbd/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Colloquium
ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250218T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250218T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250210T155307Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250210T155307Z
UID:10008276-1739873700-1739877300@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Miniaturized Robots and Probes for Precision Health"
DESCRIPTION:Designing miniaturized robots and bioelectronic devices will enable access throughout the entire human body\, leading to novel procedures at the cellular level and offering localized diagnosis and treatment with unprecedented precision and efficiency. However\, the soft\, complex\, and multi-dimensional nature of biological systems poses significant challenges for mechanical design\, manufacturing\, materials engineering\, and functional integration in miniaturized devices. My research focuses on developing miniaturized robots and probes that seamlessly interface with and precisely interact with biological systems. By leveraging precision 3D nanomanufacturing\, novel biomaterials\, and emerging biophysical principles\, we aim to engineer functional microrobots and bioelectronic devices to deepen physiological understanding\, enable predictive diagnostics\, and advance precision therapeutics. In this talk\, I will first provide an overview of the challenges and design rationales behind micro/nanorobotics and mechanically compliant bioelectronics\, followed by highlights of a few recent advances from my lab\, inspired by biological systems or driven by biomedical problems. These include 3D-printed microrobots capable of magnetic actuation\, imaging\, and magnetothermal hyperthermia; hyperelastic microrobots with extreme deformability for navigating complex physiological constraints; adaptive\, skin-conformal soft microelectrode arrays for high-fidelity electromyography recordings and robotic control; and microfabricated neural probe arrays for brain-wide neural circuit interrogation. These miniaturized robots and probes will enable unprecedented interactions across biological\, physical\, and virtual domains\, driving the next generation of precision healthcare.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-miniaturized-robots-and-probes-for-precision-health/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250214T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250214T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250130T152343Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250130T152343Z
UID:10008247-1739541600-1739545200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:PICS Colloquium: Powering decarbonization with modeling and optimization of renewables in the multi-scale atmosphere
DESCRIPTION:To meet net-zero carbon emissions targets by mid-century\, up to a -fold increase in wind power capacity is required. Acceleration to this rate requires urgent improvements to efficiency and reliability of installed wind farms\, as well as cost reductions for future offshore farms. To expand energy production\, wind turbines are rapidly increasing in size\, wind farms are proliferating to new locations and are increasing in size and siting density\, and novel wind farm design and control methods are increasingly deployed. But current engineering models driving wind power design and control rely on idealized theory that neglects key aspects of the rotor aerodynamics and the turbulent atmospheric boundary layer\, which are increasingly important for larger turbines and farms. We revisit the first-principles of mass\, momentum\, and energy conservation to develop a Unified Momentum theory for rotors across operating regimes\, accounting for arbitrary misalignments between rotor and inflow and thrust coefficients. The model is validated against large eddy simulations and generalizes and replaces both classical momentum theory and the Betz limit. Going from the scale of a turbine to a farm\, wake losses\ncan reduce farm energy by 30%\, a significant loss that negatively impacts economics and is increasing given wind power expansion. Using large eddy simulations of wind turbines operating in a range of atmospheric conditions\, we systematically uncover the significant roles of Coriolis effects and stability on wake recovery\, trajectory\, and morphology. A new fast-running wind farm model that accounts for the coupled rotor operational and atmospheric effects on wakes is developed. The wind farm model is\nleveraged for applications including collective control and for control co-design\, applied in both simulations and utility-scale field experiments. Collective control can increase the energy generation of wind farms through software modifications\, without additional turbines or hardware. Going from the scale of a wind farm to the energy system\, we leverage an integrated climate and energy system modeling framework to design minimum-cost decarbonized energy systems. Energy system optimization with high-resolution atmospheric predictions reveals opportunities for complementarity between spatiotemporal variations in wind and solar supply to align with energy demand and to lower the cost of decarbonized energy systems.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/pics-colloquium-with-michael-f-howland/
LOCATION:PICS Conference Room 534 – A Wing \, 5th Floor\, 3401 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Michael-Howland-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Penn Institute for Computational Science (PICS)":MAILTO:dkparks@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250210T190139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250210T190139Z
UID:10008277-1739460600-1739464200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Bridging Informal and Formal AI Reasoning"
DESCRIPTION:Neural language models have opened a fascinating\, flexible platform for reasoning in mathematics\, programming\, and beyond. This talk will explore the intersection of these models and the rigor of formal reasoning. First\, I discuss my work on building foundation models for mathematics and using language to guide the search for formally verified proofs. Then\, I present our research on inference-time reasoning\, which uncovers new scaling laws for reasoning based on optimally combining generators and verifiers. Finally\, I discuss the challenge of building AI systems that improve their reasoning capabilities over time by learning from both formal and informal feedback. I close by discussing opportunities and future directions in mathematics\, programming\, agents\, and beyond.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-bridging-informal-and-formal-ai-reasoning/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Computer and Information Science":MAILTO:cherylh@cis.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250116T201309Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250116T201309Z
UID:10008224-1739460600-1739464200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Seminar - "Engineered bacteria for cancer therapy" (Tal Danino\, Columbia University)
DESCRIPTION:Synthetic biology is driving a new era of medicine through the genetic programming of living cells. One particular focus has been the engineering of bacteria as therapeutic delivery systems for cancer\, where microbes colonize and release payloads within tumors. Here\, genetic circuits are designed to enhance spatial and temporal control of microbial behaviors for improved safety and efficacy. In this talk\, I will highlight our recent efforts to develop bacterial biosensors\, encapsulation strategies\, and effective delivery systems for payloads ranging from cytotoxic to immunomodulatory agents. I will also discuss the progression from bacteria as single agents toward their engineered interactions with other programmable medicines using synthetic biology.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-seminar-engineered-bacteria-for-cancer-therapy-tal-danino-columbia-university/
LOCATION:Berger Auditorium (Room 13)\, Skirkanich Hall\, 210 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250131T190613Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250131T190613Z
UID:10008253-1739448000-1739452500@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: "Foundations of Deep Learning: Optimization and Representation Learning"
DESCRIPTION:Deep learning’s success stems from the ability of neural networks to automatically discover meaningful representations from raw data. In this talk\, I will describe some recent insights into how optimization enables this learning process. First\, I will show how optimization algorithms exhibit surprisingly rich dynamics when training neural networks\, and how these complex dynamics are actually crucial to their success – enabling them to find solutions that generalize well\, navigate challenging loss landscapes\, and efficiently adapt to local curvature. I will then explore how optimization enables neural networks to adapt to low-dimensional structure in the data\, how the geometry of the loss landscape shapes the difficulty of feature learning\, and how these ideas extend to in-context learning in transformers. \n  \nZoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/93151261686 (Meeting ID: 931 5126 1686)
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ideas-stat-optimization-seminar-alexandru-damian/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Colloquium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250131T195139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250131T195139Z
UID:10008254-1739444400-1739448000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Energy Week: "Climate 101: Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence"
DESCRIPTION:The Environmental Innovations Initiative’s Climate 101 series demystifies climate change and its link with a diversity of disciplines. Experts from across Penn share how they think about climate through the lens of their research and teaching\, helping to raise our climate literacy and prepare us to tackle one of the planet’s greatest challenges: the climate crisis. \nJoin us for February’s Climate 101 event with Benjamin Lee\, Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering and Computer and Information Science\, where he will talk about Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence. This event takes place during Energy Week at Penn. \nAll events are Hybrid\, and are held in Annenberg School for Communication\, Room 300. \nRegister Now
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/climate-101-climate-change-and-artificial-intelligence/
LOCATION:Annenberg School for Communication\, Room 300\, 3620 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Symposium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250213T113000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250129T171514Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250129T171514Z
UID:10008243-1739442600-1739446200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE & VIEST Joint Seminar: "Lignin Conversion to Performance-advantaged Fuels\, Chemicals\, and Polymers" (Gregg Beckham\, NREL)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nTerrestrial plants harbor renewable carbon resources in their cell walls that can directly contribute to decarbonization of the transportation and materials sectors\, but the heterogeneous\, aromatic lignin polymer found in plants has long obstructed both natural- and humankind-driven endeavors to deconstruct plant biomass to valuable products. However\, viable methods to valorize lignin are essential to ultimately enable second-generation biorefining\, given that lignin can comprise up to 40% of the carbon in lignocellulose\, but today it is merely burned for low-value heat and power. To this end\, this talk will cover our efforts (with many collaborators) to separate the lignin polymer from the plant cell wall and use both chemical and biological catalysis to convert it into molecules and polymers that are either drop-in replacements for products sourced from fossil carbon today or that exhibit performance-advantaged properties relative to petrochemical incumbents. Specifically\, we are focused on catalytic oxidation to depolymerize lignin into bio-available intermediates coupled to metabolic engineering approaches that convert mixtures of aromatic compounds to single products\, which can find use in performance-advantaged biopolymers. In parallel\, we are also developing and scaling methods to remove lignin from the cell wall through reductive catalysis and to selectively conduct hydrodeoxygenation to produce sustainable aviation fuel blendstocks.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-viest-joint-seminar-lignin-conversion-to-performance-advantaged-fuels-chemicals-and-polymers-gregg-beckham-nrel/
LOCATION:Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology\, Room 121\, 231 S 34th Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering":MAILTO:cbemail@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T200000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250129T145743Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250129T145743Z
UID:10008242-1739383200-1739390400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Energy Week: Viewing of Legion 44 Documentary Film
DESCRIPTION:Vanessa Chan\, the Jonathan and Linda Brassington Practice Professor in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Penn Engineering\, is hosting the premiere of the documentary Legion 44. Special guests include Leila Conners\, the film’s director and producer\, and Dr. Max Pisciotta\, a featured climate scientist in the film and a Penn Engineering alumnus. \nAbout Legion 44: \nLegion 44 chronicles young visionaries\, from all over the world\, who are inventing groundbreaking solutions to combat climate disruption. From Tuvalu’s fight to preserve its culture amid rising seas to innovations in carbon removal using rocks\, water\, and carbon\, the film showcases human ingenuity and collaboration across the globe. Narrated by Walton Goggins\, with stunning visuals and a hopeful score\, this love letter to humanity journeys through Oman\, Kenya\, Morocco\, St. Vincent\, and more\, asking: can we scale these solutions in time to save our planet? Directed by Leila Conners\, it’s her third climate-focused film following The 11th Hour and Ice on Fire.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/viewing-of-legion-44-documentary-film/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250114T215634Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250114T215634Z
UID:10008220-1739374200-1739377800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Genetically Encodable Designer Biomaterials" (Shunzhi Wang\, University of Washington)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nNature harnesses genetic sequences to encode structural information and emergent physical and chemical transformations required by life processes. Such orchestration is achieved through hierarchical self-assemblies driven by weak molecular interactions and optimized via evolution. However\, emulating this level of programmability to create designer biomolecular materials remains a grand challenge. In this seminar\, I will present our recent progress in developing integrated computational and experimental methods to create de novo protein nanomaterials with previously unattainable architectures and properties. I will first introduce a general approach to design 3D de novo protein crystals as genetically encodable materials with promising intracellular applications. Next\, inspired by AlphaGo’s success in playing board games\, we trained AI agents to generate proteins by creating custom rules and rewards. Our approach enables the top-down blueprinting of complex protein architectures with desired system properties and demonstrates the power of reinforcement learning in protein design. Finally\, I will describe a modular bond-centric approach to streamline protein nanomaterial generation from standardized building blocks using simple geometric principles\, which also enables reconfigurable assembly networks. Further\, by deliberately introducing geometric frustration to break perfect point-group symmetry\, we show the predictable formation of quasi-symmetric protein particles with tailorable sizes ranging from 40 to over 200 nm. Thus\, the quasi-symmetry that has long fascinated structural biologists can now be designed\, with immediate applications in biologics delivery and molecular cell biology. Our findings highlight the potential of computational protein design to develop programmable biomaterials\, rapidly approaching and potentially surpassing the capabilities of DNA nanotechnology\, paving the way for transformative advances in human health and sustainable development.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-genetically-encodable-designer-biomaterials-shunzhi-wang-university-of-washington/
LOCATION:Wu & Chen Auditorium
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering":MAILTO:cbemail@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250212T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250124T201053Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250124T201053Z
UID:10008236-1739361600-1739366100@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ASSET Seminar: "Beyond Scaling: Frontiers of Retrieval-Augmented Language Models"
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nLarge Language Models (LMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities by scaling up training data and model sizes. However\, they continue to face critical challenges\, including hallucinations and outdated knowledge\, which particularly limit their reliability in expert domains such as scientific research and software development. In this talk\, I will urge the necessity of moving beyond the traditional scaling of monolithic LMs and advocate for Augmented LMs—a new AI paradigm that designs\, trains\, and deploys LMs alongside complementary modules to address these limitations. Focusing on my research on Retrieval-Augmented LMs\, one of the most impactful and widely adopted forms of Augmented LMs today\, I will begin by presenting our systematic analyses of current LM shortcomings and demonstrate how Retrieval-Augmented LMs offer a more effective and efficient path forward. I will then discuss my work to establish new foundations for further reliability and efficiency by designing and training new LMs and retrieval systems to dynamically adapt to diverse inputs. Finally\, I will demonstrate the real-world impact of such Retrieval-Augmented LMs through OpenScholar\, our fully open Retrieval-Augmented LM designed to assist scientists in synthesizing scientific literature\, now used by more than 25\,000 researchers and practitioners worldwide. I will conclude by outlining my vision for the future of Augmented LMs\, emphasizing advancements in their abilities to handle heterogeneous and diverse modalities\, more efficient and effective integration with diverse components\, and advancing evaluations with interdisciplinary collaboration. \nZoom Link (if unable to attend in-person): https://upenn.zoom.us/j/95663463468
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-seminar-akari-asai-university-of-washington/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250205T132045Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250205T132045Z
UID:10008268-1739287800-1739291400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Leveraging the Wisdom of Clouds for Internet Security"
DESCRIPTION:Over the past decade\, networked systems have consolidated under just a handful of hyperscale cloud providers (e.g.\, AWS\, Azure). While this offers logistical and economic advantages\, attackers specifically target providers and their customers\, a shift that has left traditional network vantage points blind to the most sophisticated adversaries. In this talk\, I’ll explore how we adapt Internet measurement to these new deployment models to regain situational awareness and defend modern service deployments. I’ll introduce DScope\, a new Internet telescope that continuously relocates its vantage point across public cloud infrastructure. Unlike prior approaches that use a fixed vantage point\, this allows us to observe the most sophisticated attackers that actively avoid existing measurement infrastructure. Our dynamic approach also achieves a statistically representative view of cloud-based attacks\, a property that we prove for the first time. \n  \nUsing data from DScope\, I’ll also discuss how the shared networking environment of public clouds leads to new vulnerabilities. We’ll examine the problem of latent configuration\, which occurs when cloud customers reference network resources that are then reused by other tenants. This new security risk is uniquely enabled by public clouds\, but through rigorous analysis and systems design we can make cloud deployments more secure in practice. I’ll conclude by discussing open problems and future work in leveraging Internet vantage points for security\, with a focus on intelligent interactivity and rapid response to emergent threats.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-leveraging-the-wisdom-of-clouds-for-internet-security-2/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Computer and Information Science":MAILTO:cherylh@cis.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250130T164651Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250130T164651Z
UID:10008246-1739282400-1739286000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Energy Week: "Catalyzing Clean Energy Investments in the Private Sector: The Role of the Federal Government"
DESCRIPTION:In this panel\, senior members of the Biden-Harris Administration will discuss the work they did to catalyze the private sector to commercialize critical technologies for the clean energy transition. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act\, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created over 900\,000 new jobs\, catalyzed over 900 new and expanded manufacturing facilities and for every dollar invested by the DOE\, six dollars was brought to the table by the private sector.  Learn more from key leaders on how this was accomplished. \nThe panel discussion will be moderated by Vanessa Chan\, the inaugural Vice Dean of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Penn Engineering and the former Chief Commercialization Officer at DOE under President Biden. \nFeatured panelists: \n\nMaria Robinson\, former Director of the Grid Deployment Office (GDO)\nJigar Shah\, former Director of the Loan Programs Office (LPO)\nGiulia Siccardo\, former Director of the Office Manufacturing Energy & Supply Chain (MESC)\n\nThe event will be followed with light refreshments.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/catalyzing-clean-energy-investments-in-the-private-sector-the-role-of-the-federal-government/
LOCATION:Berger Auditorium (Room 13)\, Skirkanich Hall\, 210 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250123T183636Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250123T183636Z
UID:10008231-1739271600-1739275200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "Machine Learning: Algorithmic and Economic Perspectives"
DESCRIPTION:Algorithms are increasingly integrated into various societal applications\, often directly interacting with people and communities. This highlights the importance of understanding the interplay between algorithmic decisions and economic incentives when designing machine learning algorithms. In this talk\, I will explore two examples of this dynamic through the lens of privacy in data markets and fairness in dynamic resource allocation. \nThe first part of the talk investigates a data marketplace involving users\, platforms\, and data buyers. Users benefit from platform services in exchange for data\, incurring privacy loss when their data\, albeit noisily\, is shared with the buyer. The user chooses platforms to share data with\, while platforms decide on data privacy levels and pricing before selling to the buyer. The buyer finally selects platforms to purchase data from. Using a multi-stage game-theoretic framework\, I demonstrate how platform competition and buyer valuation shape user participation\, platform viability\, and overall welfare. I also discuss privacy regulatory interventions that can enhance user utility in mixed markets of high- and low-cost platforms. \nThe second part of the talk focuses on designing fair resource allocation algorithms through multi-round auctions\, where an auctioneer sells indivisible goods to groups of buyers while adhering to group fairness constraints. I demonstrate that optimal mechanisms can be characterized using a dynamic programming approach and involve dynamic subsidization policies that balance revenue maximization with fairness guarantees. Additionally\, I develop efficient approximations for computing these mechanisms\, providing insights into the computational challenges of designing fair resource allocation algorithms.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-spring-seminar-title-tbd-2/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Colloquium
ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250211T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20241127T150020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241127T150020Z
UID:10008189-1739268900-1739272500@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Flow Architectures\, From Capillary Networks to Blood Transport through Organs"
DESCRIPTION:Flow systems in nature\, whether animate or inanimate\, have evolved in time toward greater efficiency by adapting\, or ‘morphing’\, their configuration to decrease resistance to the currents flowing through them. Observations at various scales indicate that the distribution of flow\, i.e. the connection of a point (source/sink) to a volume (sink/source) or vice-versa\, is the most efficient when it happens through a dendritic architecture. Flow channels function in concert with the structures around them\, as a combination of long and fast flows along the channels\, with short and slow flows through the surrounding medium. The ability to predict flow patterns enables engineers to propose flow designs for heat\, mass\, and fluid flows. Our previous work theorized the deterministic nature of morphing and showed how to obtain efficient flow configurations for combined and sometimes competing objectives. \nIn this talk we will discuss the blood flow architecture of the liver\, the largest organ in the body. The superimposition of three different types of networks (hepatic artery and portal vein trees as inflows\, and hepatic vein tree as outflow) leads to a very complex hierarchical structure made of several millions to billions of blood vessels. Out of the complexity of the blood flow system\, invoking the principles mentioned above\, we can predict the main features of this flow system and represent the hepatic blood circulatory system as a deterministic combination of dendritic networks and porous systems made of rigid or elastic vessels. \nNext\, we will consider the design of capillary networks for the cooling of high-power electronic components and how\, incidentally\, we understood that our theoretical approaches could also predict hydrotropism\, the growth of plant roots towards areas with high moisture level. While the mechanisms are complex and involve several drivers\, we extracted a conceptual understanding of how a plant root system evolves in time to connect more and more water sources while morphing its entire vasculature at every growth step. The network volume grows with the network\, but the volume distribution throughout all the channels morphs to allow enough capillary pressure in each branch and minimum friction losses to pull the maximum flow rate out of the system.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-flow-architectures-from-capillary-networks-to-blood-transport-through-organs/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250210T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250210T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250129T225942Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250129T225942Z
UID:10008245-1739199600-1739203200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Energy Week: Joseph Bordogna Forum
DESCRIPTION:“Creating Lasting Impact at the Interface of Energy\, Technology\, and Society” \nJoin Vijay Kumar\, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering for a discussion with David Turk – the former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy and Vanessa Chan\, the former Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions at the U.S. Department of Energy and the inaugural Vice Dean of Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Penn Engineering. \nThis event will be followed by a reception.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/joseph-bordogna-forum/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Distinguished Lecture
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250207T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250207T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250124T205440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250124T205440Z
UID:10008237-1738942200-1738945800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: "Bio-inspired Architected Materials/structures with Enhanced Failure Characteristics"
DESCRIPTION:Structural failure is a critically important design consideration in many engineering applications. Nature provides a number of interesting examples of lightweight structural features that exhibit outstanding failure characteristics. Recent progress in additive manufacturing has facilitated precise control over geometric features\, allowing for the implementation of bio-inspired structural designs on a layer-by-layer basis. In this thesis\, we will introduce the role of geometry in the failure characteristics of bio-inspired architected materials/structures together with a new bio-mimic manufacturing method designed for these bio-inspired architected materials/structures. We will first present the use of bamboo-inspired void patterns to geometrically improve the failure properties of structures made from brittle polymers under flexural bending. Then\, we will extend this study into a material system with tunable plasticity to study the effect of plasticity on the fracture behavior of different architected voids. Lastly\, we will showcase the concept of employing simulated “swarms” of bio-inspired agents\, such as those mimicking the behavior of bees and ants\, to create novel designs of architected materials/structures that exhibit enhanced fracture properties\, including improved energy dissipation to failure and damage tolerance under complex loading conditions.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-ph-d-thesis-defense-bio-inspired-architected-materials-structures-with-enhanced-failure-characteristics/
LOCATION:Towne 319\, 220 S. 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250207T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250207T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250204T154220Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250204T154220Z
UID:10008266-1738927800-1738933200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MSE Thesis Defense: "Cryogenic Microscopies of Energy Storage Materials: Insights into Metal Anodes\, Solid-Electrolyte Interfaces\, and Mxenes"
DESCRIPTION:The growing global energy demand has driven the development of advanced batteries\, particularly lithium metal anodes and anode-free systems\, due to their potential for higher energy density at reduced costs. However\, characterizing the interfaces within these systems presents a critical challenge due to their susceptibility to decomposition during conventional atomic-resolution analysis. The emergence of Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM)\, recognized by the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry\, has revolutionized structural characterization by enabling near-atomic resolution imaging at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Originally transforming biomolecule imaging\, this technique has now extended to materials science\, making it ideal for investigating degradation-prone battery components and other sensitive materials while significantly reducing beam-induced damage.\nIn this work\, we developed and implemented an integrated characterization approach combining multiple advanced techniques. Our methodology merges aberration-corrected (Scanning) Transmission Electron Microscopy ((S)TEM) with spectroscopic tools including\nEnergy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) for atomic-level structural and chemical analysis. For sample preparation and protection\, we pioneered a novel approach combining Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) with cryogenic Focused Ion Beam (cryo-FIB)\, enabling robust detection and mapping of degradation-prone materials such as lithium hydride in battery anodes. Our systematic investigation revealed crucial insights into battery interfaces and materials. Using an integration of cryo-FIB-SEM\, cryo-(S)TEM\, EDS\, and 4D-STEM\, we uncovered the unique characteristics of solid-electrolyte interfaces (SEI) in sodium metal batteries with solid polymer electrolytes. The analysis revealed a distinctive thin SEI layer with reduced carbon content\, resulting in favorable “round” sodium nucleation patterns that contrast with the dendritic formations typical in liquid electrolyte systems. We extended this approach to examine electron beam-induced defects in titanium carbides and carbonitrides MXenes\, where our observations led to implementing cryo-STEM as a solution for preserving the pristine material structure and exam it as a potential current collector for the batteries.\nThis comprehensive study demonstrates the transformative potential of cryogenic electron microscopy techniques in advancing our understanding of sensitive battery materials and interfaces\, thereby contributing to the development of next-generation energy storage solutions.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/mse-thesis-defense-cryogenic-microscopies-of-energy-storage-materials-insights-into-metal-anodes-solid-electrolyte-interfaces-and-mxenes/
LOCATION:LRSM Reading Room\, 3231 Walnut St.\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Dissertation or Thesis Defense
ORGANIZER;CN="Materials Science and Engineering":MAILTO:johnruss@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250207T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250207T114500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250205T193753Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250205T193753Z
UID:10008271-1738924200-1738928700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP Seminar: Hersh Sanghvi\, University of Pennsylvania\, "Online Controller Adaptation with Meta-Learned Models"
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nControl tuning and adaptation present a significant challenge to the usage of robots in diverse environments. It is often nontrivial to find a single set of control parameters by hand that work well across the broad array of environments and conditions that a robot might encounter. Automated adaptation approaches must utilize prior knowledge about the system while adapting to significant domain shifts to find new control parameters quickly. In this talk\, I will present our work to develop a general framework that deals with these challenges. I’ll discuss how we can train predictive models of controller performance that quickly adapt to online data and can be used as cost functions within efficient sampling-based optimization routines to find new control parameters online that maximize performance. I’ll also demonstrate how our framework can be used to adapt controllers for four diverse systems: a simulated race car\, a simulated quadrupedal robot\, and a simulated and physical quadrotor.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-seminar-hersh-sanghvi-university-of-pennsylvania-online-controller-adaptation-with-meta-learned-models/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="General Robotics%2C Automation%2C Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab":MAILTO:grasplab@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250206T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250206T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250116T200008Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250116T200008Z
UID:10008223-1738855800-1738859400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Seminar - "Engineering cell state-specific gene regulation with AI and synthetic biology" (Sebastián Castillo Hair\, University of Washington)
DESCRIPTION:Cells across tissues\, developmental stages\, and disease conditions adopt distinct intracellular states – epigenomic\, transcriptomic\, and proteomic profiles – to compartmentalize function in time and space. The ability to write DNA- and RNA-encoded programs that sense and interface with cellular states has transformative potential for biotechnology\, for example in designing gene therapies with cell type- and disease-specificity to minimize off-target effects. However\, limited understanding of how cellular processes respond to cellular states remains a major bottleneck. Machine learning (ML) models that learn the regulatory grammar of cell state regulation from large datasets offer a powerful tool to overcome these barriers. In this talk I will present advances in combining ML and high throughput experiments to study and engineer DNA and RNA sequences that recognize cell types\, tissues\, and developmental stages. First\, I will focus on enhancers – DNA sequences that regulate transcription with cell type-specificity. We trained ML models on databases of genomic accessibility – an imperfect proxy of enhancer activity that is available for hundreds of cell types and tissues – and used them to design enhancers targeted to multiple cell types. Experimentally\, these enhancers drove stronger and more specific gene expression than endogenous controls when tested on 10 human cell lines\, including from muscle\, liver\, breast\, and embryonal tissues\, and even in vivo in mouse retinas. In the second part\, I will focus on mRNA sequence engineering. We used ML predictors of translation to optimize performance of an mRNA-delivered gene editor\, and developed predictors of mRNA degradation in response to microRNAs—non-coding RNAs that are differentially expressed across cell types. Using these\, we designed mRNAs with programmable specificity across 10 cell lines. Finally\, I will focus on gene regulation during the dramatic cell state transitions that occur during development. By training ML predictors of chromatin accessibility and mRNA regulation during zebrafish embryogenesis and applying explainable AI methods\, we uncovered regulatory grammar driving differentiation and gene expression dynamics. Our work shows the potential of combining ML\, high throughput experiments\, and synthetic biology to decode and engineer cell state-responsive biological systems.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-seminar-engineering-cell-state-specific-gene-regulation-with-ai-and-synthetic-biology-sebastian-castillo-hair-university-of-washington/
LOCATION:PA
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Postdoctoral
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Castilo-Hair-Headshot.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250206T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250206T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250131T185715Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250131T185715Z
UID:10008252-1738843200-1738847700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98843354016
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ideas-stat-optimization-seminar-2/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar,Colloquium
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250205T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250205T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250114T215417Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250114T215417Z
UID:10008219-1738769400-1738773000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Toward Efficient and Synthesizable In-silico Molecular Design" (Wenhao Gao\, MIT)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nThe discovery of functional molecules plays a fundamental role in advancing chemical science and engineering\, yet it remains a costly and time-intensive process. Recent advances in computational methods\, particularly in generative artificial intelligence\, have introduced a new approach—generative molecular design—which holds the promise of efficiently identifying molecules with desired properties. However\, despite significant progress\, their practical impact in real-world applications has been limited. In this talk\, I will present our efforts to address critical bottlenecks in generative molecular design\, namely synthetic accessibility and sample efficiency. I will present the development of benchmarks that capture real-world complexity and the development of chemistry-tailored solutions to enhance the practicality of generative algorithms. Taken together\, these advances aim to close the gap between computational innovation and practical feasibility\, paving the way for the accelerated\, AI-driven discovery of novel functional molecules.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-toward-efficient-and-synthesizable-in-silico-molecular-design-wenhao-gao-mit/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering":MAILTO:cbemail@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250205T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250205T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T193257
CREATED:20250102T163624Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250102T163624Z
UID:10008207-1738767600-1738771200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP & CIS Seminar: Yossi Gandelsman\, University of California\, Berkeley\, “Interpreting the Inner Workings of Vision Models”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Towne 100 Heilmeier Hall and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nIn this talk\, I present an approach for interpreting the internal computation in deep vision models. I show that these interpretations can be used to detect model bugs and to improve the performance of pre-trained deep neural networks (e.g.\, reducing hallucinations from image captioners and detecting and removing spurious correlations in CLIP) without any additional training. Moreover\, the obtained understanding of deep representations can unlock new model capabilities (e.g.\, novel identity editing techniques in diffusion models and faithful image inversion in GANs). I demonstrate how to find common representations across different models (discriminative and generative) and how deep representations can be adapted at test-time to improve model generalization without any additional supervision. Finally\, I discuss future work on improving the presented interpretation techniques and their application to continual model correction and scientific discovery.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-cis-seminar-yossi-gandelsman/
LOCATION:Heilmeier Hall (Room 100)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ORGANIZER;CN="General Robotics%2C Automation%2C Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab":MAILTO:grasplab@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR