BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Penn Engineering Events - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Penn Engineering Events X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Penn Engineering Events REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20220313T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20221106T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20230312T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20231105T060000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:EDT DTSTART:20240310T070000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST DTSTART:20241103T060000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231024T110000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231024T120000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230829T200102Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230829T200102Z UID:10007655-1698145200-1698148800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ESE Fall Seminar - "Acceleration by Stepsize Hedging" DESCRIPTION:Can we accelerate convergence of gradient descent without changing the algorithm — just by optimizing stepsizes? Surprisingly\, we show that the answer is yes. Our proposed Silver Stepsize Schedule optimizes strongly convex functions in $k^{\log_p 2} = k^{0.7864}$ iterations\, where $p=1+\sqrt{2}$ is the silver ratio and $k$ is the condition number. This is intermediate between the textbook unaccelerated rate $k$ and the accelerated rate $\sqrt{k}$ due to Nesterov in 1983. The non-strongly convex setting is conceptually identical\, and we obtain an analogous accelerated rate $\eps^{-\log_p 2} = \eps^{-0.7864}$. We conjecture and provide partial evidence that these rates are optimal among all possible stepsize schedules. \nThe Silver Stepsize Schedule is an explicit non-monotonic fractal. Why should such stepsizes help? The core intuition is “hedging” between individually suboptimal strategies — short steps and long steps — since bad cases for the former are good cases for the latter\, and vice versa. Properly combining these stepsizes yields faster convergence due to the misalignment of worst-case functions. This talk is based on joint work with Pablo Parrilo that publishes and extends my 2018 Master’s Thesis — which established for the first time that judiciously chosen stepsizes can enable accelerated convex optimization. Prior to this thesis\, the only such result was for the special case of quadratics\, due to Young in 1953. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-fall-seminar-title-tbd-5/ LOCATION:Glandt Forum\, Singh Center for Nanotechnology\, 3205 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Colloquium ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231024T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231024T113000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230817T145900Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230817T145900Z UID:10007640-1698141600-1698147000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Granular and Photoelastic Avalanches" DESCRIPTION:Flowing granular materials arise everywhere around us\, in industry from pharmaceutical processes to bulk good transport lines\, and in nature from snow avalanches to captivating dune fields. \nIn landslides\, we have an interesting interplay between microscale (grain-grain contacts) and macroscale processes (continuum behavior). In order to understand critical macroscale processes such as stability of a slope\, creep and failure\, we need to be able to visualize and characterize the microscale interactions. \nIn this talk\, I will introduce a laboratory technique called photoelasticity to visualize grain-grain contacts in time and space. Collisions between grains create a fascinating network of so-called force chains\, which are responsible for the inhomogeneous distribution of stresses in a granular medium. We discover stress distributions in 2D granular avalanches\, visualized with bespoke\, superior-quality birefringent photoelastic particles. This technique gives us for the first time access to the full velocity\, density and stress fields inside of a dynamic avalanche\, and allows us to experimentally validate granular rheological models. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-granular-and-photoelastic-avalanches/ 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:20231020T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231020T150000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231011T125444Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231011T125444Z UID:10007724-1697806800-1697814000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: "Uncovering Structure-function Relationships in Chromatin Architecture" (Daniel Emerson) DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Jennifer Phillips-Cremins are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Daniel Emerson.\n \nTitle: Uncovering Structure-function Relationships in Chromatin Architecture\n\n \nDate: October 20\, 2023\nTime: 1:00 PM\nLocation: BRB 0253\n\nZoom link\n\n\n\nThe Public is welcome to attend. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-defense-uncovering-structure-function-relationships-in-chromatin-architecture-daniel-emerson/ LOCATION:BRB 253 CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231020T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231020T114500 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230728T145630Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230728T145630Z UID:10007616-1697797800-1697802300@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:Fall 2023 GRASP on Robotics: Leslie Kaelbling\, Massachusetts Institute of Technology\, "Doing for our robots what nature did for us" DESCRIPTION:This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nWe\, as robot engineers\, have to think hard about our role in the design of robots and how it interacts with learning\, both in “the factory” (that is\, at engineering time) and in “the wild” (that is\, when the robot is delivered to a customer). I will share some general thoughts about strategies for robot software design that combine machine learning with insights from natural intelligence and from classical engineering design. I will describe several research projects\, both in the design of an overall architecture for an intelligent robot and in strategies for learning to integrate new skills into the repertoire of an already competent robot. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/fall-2023-grasp-on-robotics-leslie-kaelbling-massachusetts-institute-of-technology-doing-for-our-robots-what-nature-did-for-us/ 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:20231020T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231020T110000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231012T001331Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231012T001331Z UID:10007725-1697796000-1697799600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:PRECISE Seminar: "Co-Optimizing Imaging\, Computer Systems\, and Biological Perception for Next-Generation Visual Computing Platforms" DESCRIPTION:Abstract \nEmerging platforms such as Augmented Reality (AR)\, Virtual Reality (VR)\, and autonomous machines\, while are of a computing nature\, intimately interact with both the environment and humans. They must be built\, from the ground up\, with principled considerations of three main components: imaging\, computer systems\, and human perception. This talk will make a case for this tenet and discuss some of our recent work on this front. \nI will first talk about in-sensor visual computing\, the idea that co-designing the image sensor with the computer systems will significantly improve the overall system efficiency and\, perhaps more importantly\, unlock new machine capabilities. We will show a number of case studies in AR/VR and autonomous machines. I will then discuss our work on human-systems co-optimizations\, where we computationally model biological (human) vision to build energy-efficient AR/VR devices without degrading\, sometimes even enhancing\, human perception. \nIf time permits\, I will briefly discuss how we build fast and robust computing systems for autonomous machines\, many of which are now deployed by a self-driving car start-up. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/precise-seminar-co-optimizing-imaging-computer-systems-and-biological-perception-for-next-generation-visual-computing-platforms/ LOCATION:Levine 307\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ORGANIZER;CN="PRECISE":MAILTO:wng@cis.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231019T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231019T163000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230807T142040Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230807T142040Z UID:10007623-1697729400-1697733000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:BE Seminar: "Robust CRISPR/Cas-based epigenome editing technologies for precision human cell engineering and mechanistic dissection of pathological gene expression" (Isaac Hilton\, Rice University) DESCRIPTION:Recent advances in CRISPR/Cas-based epigenome editing technologies have enabled programmable control over human gene expression\, chromatin states\, and genomic organization. Consequently\, these emerging technologies have created new opportunities to engineer human cells for therapeutic benefit and catalyzed innovative ways to functionally interrogate gene regulatory mechanisms in situ. Toward these ends\, we have recently developed new capabilities in the context of CRISPR/Cas-based transcriptional activation (CRISPRa) modalities. First\, we have identified and repurposed key segments from natural human transcription factors to build potent and compact multipartite transactivation modules and in turn build the CRISPR-DREAM platform. CRISPR-DREAM is specific\, robust across mammalian cell types\, efficacious at diverse human regulatory elements\, and well tolerated in therapeutically important primary cells – including T cells\, MSCs\, neurons\, and iPSCs. We have also leveraged the small size and potency of CRISPR-DREAM components to generate all-in-one CRISPRa AAV systems that expand opportunities for in vivo gene control. Second\, in unpublished studies\, we have isolated intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) from oncogenic fusion proteins associated with therapeutically intractable hematologic malignancies and nuclear phase separation. We find that different IDR compositions exhibit distinct propensities for nuclear import and biomolecular condensation in human cell nuclei. We demonstrate using precision CRISPR-based targeting of IDRs to human loci\, that levels of phase separation can be directly proportional to target gene activation. Interestingly we also find that while core transcriptomic network changes are shared among certain oncogenic IDR fusion proteins\, phase separation behaviors and genomic engagement occur in discrete ways – suggesting divergent IDR-driven routes to cellular oncogenesis\, the control over which could create new possibilities for tailored therapeutic approaches. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-seminar-robust-crispr-cas-based-epigenome-editing-technologies-for-precision-human-cell-engineering-and-mechanistic-dissection-of-pathological-gene-expression-isaac-hilton-rice-university/ LOCATION:216 Moore Building CATEGORIES:Seminar ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231019T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231019T140000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231016T124015Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231016T124015Z UID:10007731-1697716800-1697724000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ESE PhD Thesis Defense: "CyberCardia: Patient-specific Electrophysiological heart model for assisting left atrium arrhythmia ablation" DESCRIPTION:Atrial arrhythmia is a prevalent heart disease that results in weak and irregular contractions of the atria. It affects millions of people worldwide. Cardiac ablation is among the most successful treatment options. During the procedure\, catheters are inserted into the left atrium to map the atrium geometry and record endocardium electrograms that are then converted into electroanatomical maps to pinpoint the arrhythmia source locations. \nHowever\, identifying arrhythmia sources is challenging. The electrograms are asynchronous and can be susceptible to noise. The spatial distribution of sampling sites is non-uniform\, which leads to inaccurate maps. Identifying arrhythmia source locations is not a trivial task. Therefore\, an ablation procedure often lasts from 3 to 6 hours\, and arrhythmia recurrence within 12 months after first ablation is about 45%. \nTo address these challenges\, we developed an integrated computational heart model to guide left atrium arrhythmia ablation. Our system takes in the left atrium geometry and electrograms\, processes them to extract regional tissue properties\, which are used to tune a heart model\, creating a patient-specific whole-atrium model. With this model\, we can simulate and detect arrhythmia sources\, and provide ablation assistance. To build such a system\, we investigated the fiber effects on atrial activation patterns. We developed a fast heart model tuning method which takes only a few seconds of computation time on a personal computer\, enabling real-time assistance during the ablation procedure. We achieved high accuracy in simulating arrhythmias\, which we validated on patient data. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-phd-thesis-defense-cybercardia-patient-specific-electrophysiological-heart-model-for-assisting-left-atrium-arrhythmia-ablation/ LOCATION:Room 313\, Singh Center for Nanotechnology\, 3205 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Dissertation or Thesis Defense ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231019T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231019T120000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230831T185735Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230831T185735Z UID:10007664-1697711400-1697716800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:MSE Seminar: "Bioinspired Polymers for Tissue Repair and Regeneration" (Phillip B. Messersmith University of California - Berkeley) DESCRIPTION:It is of great interest for materials scientists to study wet biological adhesives as inspiration for synthetic adhesives that can perform well in wet conditions. A compelling example is given by the adhesive proteins secreted by marine mussels\, which have inspired the development of synthetic polymer adhesives and coatings for adhesion to wet surfaces. Mussel byssal proteins contain high levels of the amino acid 3\,4-dihydroxy-L-alanine (DOPA)\, which has a catechol functional group that is believed to contribute to both the interfacial adhesive and bulk mechanical performance of the tissue. In this talk\, I will review what is known about the function of DOPA in the mussel byssus and describe our ongoing efforts focused on exploiting catechol-containing polymers to solve practical problems in wet adhesion. Emphasis will be placed on bioinspired adhesives\, hydrogels and coatings for tissue repair. Recently\, we have begun to combine bioinspired tissue adhesives with a releasable pro-regenerative drug that pharmacologically upregulates the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α) to enhance tissue regeneration in mammals. Our early in-vivo results suggest that combining bioinspired tissue adhesives with drug-induced regeneration can produce remarkable results in clinical situations where both tissue repair and regeneration are desired. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/mse-seminar-bioinspired-polymers-for-tissue-repair-and-regeneration-university-of-california-berkeley/ LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Seminar ORGANIZER;CN="Materials Science and Engineering":MAILTO:johnruss@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231018T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231018T163000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230830T170153Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230830T170153Z UID:10007661-1697643000-1697646600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Energetic Constraints on Biological Assembly and Motion" (Murrell\, Yale) DESCRIPTION:On small length-scales\, the mechanics of soft materials may be dominated by their interfacial properties as opposed to their bulk properties. These effects are described by equilibrium models of elasto-capillarity and wetting. In these models\, interfacial energies and bulk material properties are held constant. However\, in biological materials\, including living cells and tissues\, these properties are not constant\, but are ‘actively’ regulated and driven far from thermodynamic equilibrium. As a result\, the constraints on work produced during the various physical behaviors of the cell are unknown. Here\, by measurement of elasto-capillary effects during cell adhesion\, growth and motion\, we demonstrate that interfacial and bulk parameters violate equilibrium constraints and exhibit anomalous effects\, which depend upon a distance from equilibrium. However\, their anomalous properties are reciprocal\, and thus in combination reliably define energetic constraints on the production of work arbitrarily far from equilibrium. These results provide basic principles that govern biological assembly and behavior. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-energetic-constraints-on-biological-assembly-and-motion-murrell-yale/ 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:20231018T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231018T131500 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230928T141146Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230928T141146Z UID:10007705-1697630400-1697634900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ASSET Seminar: "Lifelong Learning for Autonomous Systems: Progress and Challenges" (Eric Eaton\, Penn) DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT:  \nResearch in lifelong or continual machine learning has advanced rapidly over the past few years\, primarily focusing on enabling learned models to acquire new tasks over time while avoiding catastrophic forgetting of previous tasks. However\, autonomous systems still lack the ability to rapidly learn new generalizable skills by building upon and continually refining their learned knowledge—a hallmark of lifelong learning in humans and animals. In this talk\, I will examine our progress toward lifelong machine learning and its application to autonomous systems\, exploring recent work in compositional representations and self-supervision. We’ll then discuss how far we have come and the open problems that remain toward learning generalizable skills in lifelong settings. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-seminar-eric-eaton-penn/ LOCATION:Levine 307\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231018T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231018T131500 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230908T195846Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230908T195846Z UID:10007679-1697630400-1697634900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:Engineering Faculty Teaching Forum: "Awake & Engaged: Making Lectures More Interactive" DESCRIPTION:Lectures can be a useful method for communicating complex information but are most effective when students are engaged with and focused on the material. Drs. Igor Bargatin and Amish Patel will start this informal conversation by sharing their strategies for making lectures more interactive. We’ll consider ways to increase student attention and interaction to promote deeper learning. Lunch will be provided for those who register in advance. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/engineering-faculty-teaching-forum-awake-engaged-making-lectures-more-interactive/ LOCATION:Towne 108\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Faculty END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231017T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231017T163000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231004T190116Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231004T190116Z UID:10007722-1697556600-1697560200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Reliable Quantum Computing Needs Intelligent Software and Hardware" DESCRIPTION:Quantum computers can solve important problems that are beyond the capability of conventional computers. Quantum computing is at an inflection point where small systems with a few tens qubits have been demonstrated and the number of qubits is expected to increase to several thousand over the coming years. As qubits are low-energy devices\, they are susceptible to high error-rates (in the range of 0.1% to 1% per operation). Unfortunately\, quantum error-correction incurs a significant overhead (hundreds of physical qubits per fault-tolerant qubit) and is impractical for near-term machines. Therefore\, hardware errors will continue to severely restrict the length of the program that can be reliably executed on a near-term quantum computer. In this talk\, I will offer a computer-systems perspective of quantum computers and then share some of our recent work that improves the reliability of near-term quantum computers with intelligent software techniques. I will also discuss the hardware support necessary to enable large- scale quantum computers. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-reliable-quantum-computing-needs-intelligent-software-and-hardware/ LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Colloquium ORGANIZER;CN="Computer and Information Science":MAILTO:cherylh@cis.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231017T133000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231017T143000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231013T221142Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231013T221142Z UID:10007728-1697549400-1697553000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:Fall 2023 GRASP Seminar: Donglai Xiang\, Carnegie Mellon University\, "Modeling Dynamic Clothing for Data-Driven Photorealistic Avatars" DESCRIPTION:This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 512 and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nIn this talk\, I will present research on building photorealistic avatars of humans wearing complex clothing in a data-driven manner. Such avatars will be a critical technology to enable future applications such as VR/AR and virtual content creation. Loose-fitting clothing poses a significant challenge for avatar modeling due to its large deformation space. We address the challenge by unifying three components of avatar modeling: model-based statistical prior from pre-captured data\, physics-based prior from simulation\, and real-time measurement from sparse sensor input. First\, we introduce a separate two-layer representation that allows us to disentangle the dynamics between the pose-driven body part and temporally-dependent clothing part. Second\, we further combine physics-based cloth simulation with a physics-inspired neural rendering model to generate rich and natural dynamics and appearance even for challenging clothing such as a skirt and a dress. Last\, we go beyond pose-driven animation and incorporate online sensor input into the avatars to achieve more faithful telepresence of clothing. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/fall-2023-grasp-seminar-donglai-xiang-carnegie-mellon-university-modeling-dynamic-clothing-for-data-driven-photorealistic-avatars/ LOCATION:Levine 512 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:20231017T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231017T113000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231002T152507Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231002T152507Z UID:10007718-1697536800-1697542200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "A Symbiotic Philosophy for Bio-inspired Robotics" DESCRIPTION:Humans have frequently looked to natural phenomena to inspire the design of art\, structures\, and mechanisms. However\, there are as many different ways to learn from nature as there are words for this approach: bioinspiration\, biomimicry\, and biodesign to name a few. In this talk\, I propose a taxonomy for categorizing distinct biodesign approaches and use examples from my own research to illustrate the methodology and benefits of each. In particular\, I introduce the field of Animal-Robot Interactions and describe how bio-inspired approaches can be used to further biological inquiry while advancing robotics. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-a-symbiotic-philosophy-for-bio-inspired-robotics/ 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:20231012T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231012T140000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231003T140425Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231003T140425Z UID:10007720-1697112000-1697119200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ESE PhD Thesis Defense: "Light matter interaction in low-dimensional semiconductors" DESCRIPTION:Light matter interaction holds significant relevance across a range of applications including lasing\, sensing\, communications\, and computing. One prominent method for modulating optical properties is through the use of a Fabry-Perot cavity\, which controls the photonic density of states within optical cavities. Additionally\, plasmonic and high-contrast dielectric cavities represent a cutting-edge approach for photonic dispersion engineering and phase modulation. These techniques confine light field distribution within nanostructures whose dimensions are comparable to\, or smaller than\, the light wavelength. Materials exhibiting resonant quantum confined states\, such as excitons\, phonons\, and magnons\, offer alternate avenues for manipulating light propagation and interaction. This thesis aims to explore light-matter interactions within various innovative low-dimensional semiconductors. This exploration is achieved by generating cavity photons either out-of-plane (Fabry-Perot cavity) or in-plane (plasmonic or dielectric cavity)\, offering an innovative platform for enhancing light matter interactions and tuning optical properties. The talk will present examples of the above using chalcogenide-based excitonic semiconductors showing strong exciton-polariton coupling and antiferromagnetic semiconductors showing near unity linear dichroism and exciton-magnon coupling. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-phd-thesis-defense-light-matter-interaction-in-low-dimensional-semiconductors/ LOCATION:Room 35\, Singh Center for Nanotechnology\, 3205 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Dissertation or Thesis Defense ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231011T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231011T160000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231004T144414Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231004T144414Z UID:10007721-1697036400-1697040000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:Fall 2023 GRASP SFI: Helmut Hauser\, University of Bristol\, "Morphological Computation - Building Smart Bodies for Smart Robots" DESCRIPTION:This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. This week’s speaker will be virtual. \nABSTRACT\nMorphological Computation is a concept in robotics that suggests that the morphology of a robot should play  a crucial role in the design of intelligent machines.  This is inspired by observations in nature\, where we can see that biological systems rely heavily on their morphological features to implement useful functionalities to make them more energy efficient\, robust and resilient.  We work together with biologists and chemists to extract the underlying principles and to translate them into intelligent morphological structures that can be exploited to facilitate control\, improve sensing and accelerate learning.  I will present examples of morphological computation from our group ranging from theoretical models\, to simulations\, to real robot prototypes.  This will include demonstrations of how we can compute with an octopus inspired robot arm\, how we can understand spider webs as mechanical signal processing devices\, and how we can grow robot bodies to help us to learn faster. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/fall-2023-grasp-sfi-helmut-hauser/ 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:20231011T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231011T131500 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230922T174416Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230922T174416Z UID:10007701-1697025600-1697030100@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ASSET Seminar: "Towards Code-Aware Code Models" (Baishakhi Ray\, Columbia University) DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT: \nThe past decade has seen unprecedented growth in Software Engineering— developers spend enormous time and effort to create new products. With such enormous growth comes the responsibility of producing and maintaining quality and robust software. In this talk\, I will discuss how AI can help develop quality products in different stages of the software development life cycle. In particular\, I will discuss how we can build AI models leveraging different static and dynamic code properties for source and binary code to automate diverse Software Engineering tasks\, including code generation\, bug finding\, security analysis\, etc. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-seminar-towards-code-aware-code-models-baishakhi-ray-columbia-university/ LOCATION:Levine 307\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231011T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231011T120000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230921T131934Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230921T131934Z UID:10007700-1697018400-1697025600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: "Investigating cell state plasticity at the gastroesophageal junction with lineage tracing in humans" (Rodrigo Gier) DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. Sydney Shaffer are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Rodrigo Gier.\n \n\nTitle: Investigating cell state plasticity at the gastroesophageal junction with lineage tracing in humans\n \nDate: October 11\, 2023\nTime: 10:00 am\nLocation: Reunion Auditorium\, John Morgan Building\n\nThe public is welcome to attend. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-defense-investigating-cell-state-plasticity-at-the-gastroesophageal-junction-with-lineage-tracing-in-humans-rodrigo-gier/ LOCATION:JMB Reunion Auditorium\, 3620 Hamilton Walk\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231010T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231010T163000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231002T185752Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231002T185752Z UID:10007719-1696951800-1696955400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "An Alternative View on AI: Collaborative Learning\, Incentives\, and Social Welfare" DESCRIPTION:Artificial intelligence (AI) has focused on a paradigm in which intelligence inheres in a single\, autonomous agent.  Social issues are entirely secondary in this paradigm.  When AI systems are deployed in social contexts\, however\, the overall design of such systems is often naive—a centralized entity provides services to passive agents and reaps the rewards.  Such a paradigm need not be the dominant paradigm for information technology.  In a broader framing\, agents are active\, they are cooperative\, and they wish to obtain value from their participation in learning-based systems.  Agents may supply data and other resources to the system\, only if it is in their interest to do so.  Critically\, intelligence inheres as much\nin the overall system as it does in individual agents\, be they humans or computers. This is a perspective that is familiar in the social sciences\, and a key theme in my work is that of bringing economics into contact with foundational issues in computing and data sciences.  I’ll emphasize some of the mathematical challenges that arise at this tripartite interface. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-an-alternative-view-on-ai-collaborative-learning-incentives-and-social-welfare-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:20231010T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231010T113000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230912T133134Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230912T133134Z UID:10007689-1696932000-1696937400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Bringing Microrobots into Biomedicine" DESCRIPTION:Recent progress in diverse disciplines such as soft matter physics\, nanoparticle synthesis\, nanomedicine\, and microbiology has enabled rich opportunities for translation of small-scale robots into medical applications. These robotic systems are providing innovative\, high-precision\, therapeutic and diagnostic approaches for the treatment of diseases associated with microbial biofilms and are rapidly moving from proof-of-concept studies to translational biomedical applications using ex vivo and animal models. I highlight recent progress using directed nanoparticle assembly to create adaptive\, reconfigurable\, microrobotic systems capable of treating and removing microbial biofilms from topographically complex\, difficult-to-access sites. These methods for disruption rely on both chemical and mechanical activity\, using iron oxide nanoparticles with dual functionality: catalytic properties for generating reactive species on-site and magnetic properties for controlled assembly and physical removal. This approach could lead to autonomous\, multifunctional antibiofilm platforms to advance current treatment modalities and other fields contending with harmful biofilms on hard-to-reach surfaces. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-bringing-microrobots-into-biomedicine/ 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:20231006T140000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231006T150000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230928T205210Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230928T205210Z UID:10007716-1696600800-1696604400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:PICS Colloquium: "Wind\, Waves\, and Wakes: Large Eddy Simulation of Full-Scale Offshore Wind Farms under Realistic Atmospheric and Oceanic Conditions" DESCRIPTION:Ambitious targets on aggressive timelines have been heralded for the development of offshore wind energy in the United States\, especially in New Jersey with a target of 11 GW (nearly 2/3 of current generation) of offshore wind energy capacity by 2040. With these targets and timelines\, immense effort is required to minimize risk (financial risk\, energy system risk\, and environmental risk)\, and computational simulations of full-scale offshore wind farms under realistic atmospheric and oceanic conditions will be absolutely critical in siting\, operations\, forecasting\, and understanding potential climate impacts. Such computational simulations are exceptionally challenging due to the multi-physics\, multi-scale nature of the problem from the smallest scales of the waves and the turbulence to the multi-kilometer scales of the farms. As a result\, for full-scale farm simulations with Large Eddy Simulation (LES)\, much of the key physical phenomena will be unresolved. In this seminar\, our efforts toward full-scale farm simulations with LES will be discussed. Our computationally efficient wall-modeled LES framework combines an Actuator Disk Model for the wind turbines with a drag force-based model for the influence of the oceanic waves on the marine atmospheric boundary layer\, which avoids ad hoc parameterization of oceanic waves as a simple roughness but at no increased cost. Our wall-modeled framework is shown to be orders of magnitude less expensive than wall-resolved/wave-phase-resolved simulations without any loss in accuracy. Recent efforts have focused on extending our approach to oceanic wave spectra\, including a dynamic procedure to characterize completely unresolved waves\, and to swell. Finally\, using our framework\, the sensitivity of offshore wind farms to wave characteristics is assessed to demonstrate that the waves are a leading order influence on offshore wind farm performance. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/pics-colloquium-wind-waves-and-wakes-large-eddy-simulation-of-full-scale-offshore-wind-farms-under-realistic-atmospheric-and-oceanic-conditions/ LOCATION:PICS Conference Room 534 – A Wing \, 5th Floor\, 3401 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Colloquium ORGANIZER;CN="Penn Institute for Computational Science (PICS)":MAILTO:dkparks@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231006T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231006T114500 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230906T153356Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230906T153356Z UID:10007671-1696588200-1696592700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:Fall 2023 GRASP on Robotics: Al Rizzi\, Boston Dynamics AI\, "Developing Robots that are both Physically and Cognitively Capable" DESCRIPTION:This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nDr. Rizzi will provide an overview of the recently established Boston Dynamics AI Institute and its developing research efforts. This will include a discussion of the motivation for developing highly capable dynamic robots\, a brief history of some of the robotics research and development work he participated in at Boston Dynamics\, and an overview of the goals and projects being undertaken at the AI Institute. One key goal of the AI Institute is to shift the way we think about improving the capability of robot systems by simultaneously developing systems and algorithms that combine high performance mechanisms with highly capable control systems and cutting edge embodied AI systems. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/fall-2023-grasp-on-robotics-al-rizzi-boston-dynamics-ai-developing-robots-that-are-both-physically-and-cognitively-capable/ 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:20231006T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231006T113000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20231002T004723Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231002T004723Z UID:10007717-1696582800-1696591800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:MSE PhD Defense: "Highly Controlled Transition Metal and Transition Metal Oxide Nanocrystals for Enhanced Catalytic and Magnetic Properties" Daniel Rosen DESCRIPTION:This work presents the precise synthesis\, characterization\, and property analysis of transition metal and transition metal oxide nanocrystals (NCs). Specifically\, the interface between catalytic and magnetic properties is explored using precisely defined NCs. The methods of NC synthesis and characterizations are discussed including an in-depth discussion of Extended X-ray Absorption Fins Structure (EXAFS) based nanothermometry methods developed in this work. The ability to control the atomic structure of NCs is discussed in the context of rapidly induced intermetallic phase transitions for the electrochemical Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR). We discuss the use of these precisely designed NCs for their use in thermal catalysis in the presence of an induction field to show how the magnetic properties of NCs can enhance the catalytic properties specifically CO Oxidation and Cinnamaldehyde Hydrogenation. The discussion of nanothermometry is extended as an in-operando technique to better describe the magnetic effects of inductively enhanced CO Oxidation in flow. In the final chapter\, the precise synthesis of NCs is explored in order to generate both novel materials as well as materials synthesized through non solvothermal methods. The generation of core-shell materials in the context of ORR and the electrochemical Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) are discussed. These core-shell materials show great potential for magnetically enhanced catalysis\, and this possibility is discussed as a possible future work. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/mse-phd-defense-highly-controlled-transition-metal-and-transition-metal-oxide-nanocrystals-for-enhanced-catalytic-and-magnetic-properties-daniel-rosen/ 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:20231006T080000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231006T180000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230911T154248Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230911T154248Z UID:10007686-1696579200-1696615200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ASSET/IBI Symposium on Trustworthy AI for Health Care DESCRIPTION:Organizers: Rajeev Alur (Penn Engineering)\, John Holmes (PSOM)\, Insup Lee (Penn Engineering)\, Qi Long (PSOM)\, Marylyn Richie (PSOM) \nEvent Description: Artificial intelligence and machine learning promise to revolutionize nearly every field\, sifting through massive amounts of data to find insights that humans would miss\, making faster and more accurate decisions and predictions as a result. Applying those insights to healthcare could yield life-saving benefits. Given the stakes\, however\, understanding exactly how these technologies arrive at their conclusions and having assurance guarantees\, is critical for adoption in the practice of medicine. The goal of this symposium is to bring together researchers in artificial intelligence\, biomedical informatics\, machine learning\, and clinical practitioners to develop trustworthy AI technology for health care applications. This day-long symposium is co-organized by ASSET\, a new Penn Engineering center on Trustworthy AI and IBI\, Institute for Biomedical Informatics\, housed in Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM). The program will consist of a keynote by Prof. Tina Hernandez-Boussard of Stanford University\, talks by Penn faculty on collaborative research in trustworthy AI for health care (see list of projects here)\, students’ posters\, and a panel. \n  \nAgenda: \n8:00 AM: Breakfast and registration \n8:30 AM: Welcome by Jonathan Epstein\, Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer\, Perelman School of Medicine and David Meaney\, Senior Associate Dean\, Penn Engineering \n8:40 AM: Introduction to research at Penn in Trustworthy AI for healthcare: Rajeev Alur (Director\, ASSET) and Marylyn Ritchie (Director\, IBI) \n9:10 AM: Keynote: “Creating and Evaluating Ethical AI for Health Decisions” Professor Tina Hernandez-Boussard\, Stanford University \n10:00 AM: Coffee break \n10:20 AM: SEAS/PSOM Collaborative Research Presentations I; Chair: Insup Lee \n10:20 AM: “Combining Domain Knowledge and Data-Driven AI for Building Healthcare Applications with Scallop” Mayur Naik \n10:45 AM: “Utilizing Deep Learning to Diagnose Glaucoma from Fundus Photography in African Ancestry Individuals” Osbert Bastani\, Rebecca Salowe\, and Joan O’Brien \n11:10 AM: “Personalized medicine for hypertensive pregnancy disorders” Paris Pedikaris\, Walter Witschey\, and Nadav Schwartz \n11:35 AM: Lightning talks on poster presentations \n12:15 PM: Lunch and posters \n1:45 PM: SEAS/PSOM Collaborative Research Presentations II; Chair: Qi Long \n1:45 PM: “Multimodal explainable AI for prognostic stratification of glioblastoma patients” MacLean Nasrallah\, Bhakti Baheti\, and Sunny Rai \n2:10 PM: “Optimizing clinical monitoring for delivery room resuscitation using novel interpretable AI” Elizabeth Foglia and Kieran Murphy \n2:35 PM: “Calibrated machine learning methods for mobile health intervention” Ian Barnett\, Edgar Dobriban\, and Pratik Chaudhari \n3:00 PM: “Trustworthy explainable AI to revolutionize breast cancer risk assessment with digital breast tomosynthesis” Despina Kontos and Lyle Ungar \n3:25 PM: Coffee break \n3:45 PM: Panel on “Transitioning Research into Practice”\, Chair: John Holmes \nAllison Dennis; Program Officer\, NIH \nBill Hanson; Chief Medical Information Officer\, UPHS \nJennifer Roberts; Director\, Resilient Systems\, ARPA-H \nSrinivas Sridhara; Chief Data and Analytics Officer\, UPHS \nGoli Yamini; Associate Program Director\, NSF   \nZoom for Panel: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/96075553356 \n5:00 PM: Reception \n6:00 PM: Symposium concludes \nRegistration: \nThe registration is free and open to all members of the Penn community. Fill out the form to register. Please note that space is limited\, and we encourage you to register ASAP. Deadline to register is Friday\, September 22nd.  \nPoster Submissions: \nWe welcome junior researchers at Penn (i.e. doctoral and postdoctoral students\, trainees\, junior faculty) to present their work related to the workshop theme during the poster session. Fill out the form to submit a poster by Friday\, September 15th. Please note that we can accommodate only a fixed number of posters\, and we will notify the authors of accepted posters by Friday\, September 22nd. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-ibi-symposium-on-trustworthy-ai-for-health-care/ LOCATION:Glandt Forum\, Singh Center for Nanotechnology\, 3205 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231005T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231005T163000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230726T135320Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230726T135320Z UID:10007614-1696519800-1696523400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:BE Seminar: "Synthetic mucins: from new chemical routes to engineered cells" (Jessica R. Kramer\, University of Utah) DESCRIPTION:Mucus is essential for life and serves as a barrier to hydrate\, lubricate\, and protect tissues. Mucin glycoproteins are the major component of mucus. There are 20+ mucin genes with variable expression patterns\, splicing\, and post-translational glycosylation that result in structures with discrete biochemical functions. Mucins play roles in infection\, immunity\, inflammation and cancer. Such diversity has challenged study of structure-function relationships. The Kramer lab is developing scalable methods\, based on polymerization of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides\, to synthesize glycoproteins that capture the chemical and physical properties of native mucins. We are utilizing these synthetic mucins to engineer the glycocalyx of live cells to shed light on the role of glycans in health and disease. Areas of focus for our lab are progression of epithelial cancers\, and pathogen infection processes. \n  URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-seminar-synthetic-mucins-from-new-chemical-routes-to-engineered-cells-jessica-r-kramer-university-of-utah/ LOCATION:216 Moore Building CATEGORIES:Seminar ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231005T103000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231005T120000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230730T140144Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230730T140144Z UID:10007617-1696501800-1696507200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:MSE Seminar: "Nanomaterials Enable Delivery of Genetic Material Without Transgene Integration in Mature Plants" University of California - Berkeley DESCRIPTION:Genetic engineering of plants is at the core of sustainability efforts\, natural product synthesis\, and agricultural crop engineering. The plant cell wall is a barrier that limits the ease and throughput with which exogenous biomolecules can be delivered to plants. Current delivery methods either suffer from host range limitations\, low transformation efficiencies\, tissue regenerability\, tissue damage\, or unavoidable DNA integration into the host genome. Here\, we demonstrate efficient diffusion-based biomolecule delivery into tissues and organs of intact plants of several species with a suite of pristine and chemically-functionalized high aspect ratio nanomaterials [1]. Efficient DNA delivery and strong protein expression without transgene integration is accomplished in mature Nicotiana benthamiana\, Eruca sativa (arugula)\, Triticum aestivum (wheat) and Gossypium hirsutum (cotton) leaves and arugula protoplasts [2]. Notably\, we demonstrate that transgene expression is transient and devoid of transgene integration into the plant host genome\, of potential utility for easing regulatory oversight of transformed crops as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) [3\, 4]. We also demonstrate a nanoparticle-based strategy in which small interfering RNA (siRNA) is delivered to mature Nicotiana benthamiana leaves and effectively silence a gene with 95% efficiency. We find that nanomaterials both facilitate biomolecule transport into plant cells\, while also protecting polynucleotides such as RNA from nuclease degradation. DNA origami and nanostructures and gold nanoparticles further enable siRNA delivery to plants [5]\, which we use to elucidate force-independent transport phenomena of nanoparticles to the plant cell wall [6\, 7]. Lastly\, we demonstrate protein delivery with newly-discovered peptide-based nanoparticles towards DNA-free genome editing. Our work provides a tool for species-independent\, targeted\, and passive delivery of genetic material\, without transgene integration\, into plant cells for diverse plant biotechnology applications.  \n1. Demirer\, G.S.\, Zhang\, H.\, Goh\, N.S.\, Grandio\, E.G.\, Landry\, M.P. Carbon nanotube-mediated DNA delivery without transgene integration in intact plants. Nature Protocols (2019)  \n2. Demirer\, G.S.\, Zhang\, H.\, Matos\, J.\, Goh\, N.\, Cunningham\, F.J.\, Sung\, Y.\, Chang\, R.\, Aditham\, A.J.\, \, Chio\, L.\, Cho\, M.J.\, Staskawicz\, B.\, Landry\, M.P. High Aspect Ratio Nanomaterials Enable Delivery of Functional Genetic Material Without DNA Integration in Mature Plants. Nature Nanotechnology (2019)  \n3. Landry\, M.P.‡\, Mitter\, N.‡ How nanocarriers delivering cargoes in plants can change the GMO landscape. Nature Nanotechnology (2019)  \n4. Demirer\, G.S.‡\, Silva\, T.N.\, Jackson\, C.T.\, Thomas\, J.B.\, Ehrhardt\, D.\, Rhee\, S.Y.‡\, Mortimer\, J.C.‡\, Landry\, M.P.‡ Nanotechnology to advance CRISPR/Cas genetic engineering of plants. Nature Nanotechnology (2021)  \n5. Zhang\, H.\, Zhang\, H.\, Demirer\, G.S.\, Gonzales-Grandio\, E.\, Fan\, C.\, Landry\, M.P.‡ Engineering DNA nanostructures for siRNA delivery in plants. Nature Protocols (2020)  \n6. Zhang\, H.*\, Demirer\, G.S.*\, Zhang\, H.\, Ye\, T.\, Goh\, N.S.\, Aditham\, A.J.\, Cunningham\, F.J.\, Fan\, C.\, Landry\, M.P. Low-dimensional DNA Nanostructures Coordinate Gene Silencing in Mature Plants. PNAS (2019)  \n7. Zhang\, H.*\, Goh\, N.S.*\, Wang\, J.\, Demirer\, G.S.\, Butrus\, S.\, Park\, S-J\, Landry\, M.P.‡ Nanoparticle Cellular Internalization is Not Required for RNA Delivery to Mature Plant Leaves. Nature Nanotechnology (2021)  URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/mse-seminar-nanomaterials-enable-delivery-of-genetic-material-without-transgene-integration-in-mature-plants-university-of-california-berkeley/ LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Seminar ORGANIZER;CN="Materials Science and Engineering":MAILTO:johnruss@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231004T153000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231004T163000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230825T194713Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230825T194713Z UID:10007645-1696433400-1696437000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Statistical Teleodynamics: A Unified Theory of Emergent Arbitrage Equilibrium Phenomena in Active and Passive Matter" (Venkatasubramanian\, Columbia University) DESCRIPTION:The physics of active matter\, such as bacterial colonies and bird flocks\, exhibiting interesting self-organizing dynamical behavior has gained considerable importance in recent years. Recent theoretical advances use techniques from hydrodynamics\, kinetic theory\, and non-equilibrium statistical physics. However\, for biological agents\, these don’t seem to recognize explicitly their critical feature\, namely\, the role of survival-driven purpose and the attendant pursuit of maximum utility. In this talk\, I will present a novel game-theoretic framework\, statistical teleodynamics\, that accounts for this feature explicitly and shows how it can be integrated with conventional statistical mechanics to develop a unified theory of arbitrage equilibrium in active and passive matter. \nThe theory proposes a spectrum of self-actualizing capabilities\, going from none to completely strategic decision-making\, and envisions the various examples of active matter systems occupying someplace in this spectrum. I will show how statistical teleodynamics reduces to familiar results in statistical mechanics in the limit of zero self-actualization. At the other extreme\, in an economic setting\, it provides novel insights into the emergence of income distributions and their fairness in an ideal free-market society. As examples of agents in between these limits\, I will discuss how the theory predicts pattern formation in mussel beds\, the emergence of ant craters\, and the flocking of birds. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-statistical-teleodynamics-a-unified-theory-of-emergent-arbitrage-equilibrium-phenomena-in-active-and-passive-matter-venkatasubramanian-columbia-university/ 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:20231004T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231004T160000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230927T151204Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230927T151204Z UID:10007704-1696431600-1696435200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:Fall 2023 GRASP SFI: Andy Zeng\, Google DeepMind\, "From words to actions" DESCRIPTION:This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nThe rise of recent Foundation models (and applications e.g. ChatGPT) offer an exciting glimpse into the capabilities of large deep networks trained on Internet-scale data. They hint at a possible blueprint for building generalist robot brains that can do anything\, anywhere\, for anyone. Nevertheless\, robot data is expensive – and until we can bring robots out into the world (already) doing useful things in unstructured places\, it will be challenging to match the same amount of diverse data being used to train e.g. large language models today. In this talk\, I will briefly discuss some of the lessons we’ve learned while scaling real robot data collection\, how we’ve been thinking about Foundation models\, and how we might bootstrap off of them (and modularity) to make our robots useful sooner. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/fall-2023-grasp-sfi-andy-zeng/ 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:20231004T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231004T150000 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230926T131005Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230926T131005Z UID:10007703-1696424400-1696431600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:BE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: "Leveraging Modeling and Remodeling based Bone Formation in Cyclic Administration of Anabolic Agents for Osteoporosis Treatment" (Tala Azar) DESCRIPTION:The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. X. Sherry Liu are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Tala Azar.\n\n\n\n\n\nTitle: Leveraging Modeling and Remodeling based Bone Formation in Cyclic Administration of Anabolic Agents for Osteoporosis Treatment\n\nDate: October 4\, 2023\nTime: 1:00 PM EST\nLocation: John Morgan Reunion Auditorium.\n\n\nZoom option available: \nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/93038930691?pwd=NTZvUHVUZktvNDdZWm11NXF4eHZMdz09\n\nMeeting ID: 930 3893 0691\nPasscode: 082026\n\nThe public is welcome to attend. URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-doctoral-dissertation-defense-leveraging-modeling-and-remodeling-based-bone-formation-in-cyclic-administration-of-anabolic-agents-for-osteoporosis-treatment-tala-azar/ LOCATION:JMB Reunion Auditorium\, 3620 Hamilton Walk\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States CATEGORIES:Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Dissertation or Thesis Defense ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20231004T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20231004T131500 DTSTAMP:20260404T034302 CREATED:20230911T150915Z LAST-MODIFIED:20230911T150915Z UID:10007684-1696420800-1696425300@seasevents.nmsdev7.com SUMMARY:ASSET Seminar: "Getting Computers to Do What We Want: Programming Meets Machine Learning" (Michael Littman\, Brown University) DESCRIPTION:ABSTRACT: \nIt is immensely empowering to delegate information processing and automation work to machines and have them carry out difficult tasks on our behalf. But programming computers is hard. The traditional approach to this problem is to try to fix people: They should work harder to learn to code. In this talk\, I argue that a promising alternative is to meet people partway. Specifically\, powerful new approaches to machine learning provide ways to infer intent from disparate signals and\, with your help\, could help make it easier for everyone to get computational help with their vexing problems. \n  URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-seminar-getting-computers-to-do-what-we-want-programming-meets-machine-learning-michael-littman-brown-university/ LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States ORGANIZER;CN="AI-enabled Systems%3A Safe%2C Explainable%2C and Trustworthy (ASSET) Center":MAILTO:asset-info@seas.upenn.edu END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR