• Fall 2024 GRASP SFI: Gioele Zardini, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Compositional Design of Complex Systems: From Autonomy to Future Mobility”

    /
    Levine 307 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This seminar will start at 3:30 PM instead of 3:00. This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. ABSTRACT When designing complex systems, we need to consider multiple trade-offs at various abstraction levels and scales, and choices of single components need to be studied jointly. For […]

    MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Tribosintering of Metal Oxide Nanocrystals”

    /
    Glandt Forum, Singh Center for Nanotechnology 3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Machinery relies on lubrication to regulate friction and wear at contacting interfaces. As lubricants become less viscous to save energy and cost, and as new technologies like electric vehicles operate in harsher conditions, the risk of surface-initiated failure grows. We show that metal oxide nanocrystals (NCs) dispersed in lubricants form protective coatings, or tribofilms, in […]

    THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED: ESE Fall Seminar – “A changing grid powered by the new generations of power conversion, control, and energy management”

    /
    Towne 337

    The electric grid is undergoing a transformative paradigm shift, driven by sweeping changes in generation, demand, and energy storage. By 2035, solar PV alone is expected to supply 40% of U.S. electricity, with substantial additional contributions from wind, geothermal, and hydroelectric sources—creating a renewable-dominant energy landscape. Meanwhile, electricity demand is accelerating due to rapid growth […]

    MSE Seminar: “Nano to Mesoscale: Structure, Composition, and Transport Processes in Human Dental Enamel”

    /
    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Mineralized tissues are paradigmatic hierarchical materials that reap synergy from structural and compositional gradients at multiple length scales in ways that are challenging to reproduce by conventional means. My laboratory studies the formation, functional properties, and degradation of mineralized tissues. We use model systems ranging from single crystalline endoskeletal elements deposited by single cells to […]

    Fall 2024 GRASP on Robotics: Robert Katzschmann, ETH Zürich, “Building Life-like Robots: From Musculoskeletal Designs to Biohybrid Innovations”

    /
    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. ABSTRACT Nature’s musculoskeletal design can inspire both artificial and living robots to create systems that can better interact within our unstructured world. There is value in rethinking how we design and control robots by replacing traditional designs […]

    ESE PhD Thesis Defense: “A Dynamical Systems Perspective on Optimization Algorithms”

    /
    Zoom - Meeting ID: 946 6798 0381

    The intersection of machine learning (ML) and dynamical systems and control (S&C) has become a prominent area of research in recent years. While most work applies ML to S&C problems, this dissertation explores the reverse direction: using S&C tools to address challenges in ML and optimization. This thesis is comprised of three parts: In part […]

    Innovative Approaches in Data-Driven Chemistry and Reaction Optimization

    /
    PICS Conference Room 534 - A Wing , 5th Floor 3401 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Research in the Zahrt group focuses on creating new tools to advance organic synthesis by integrating automation and machine learning workflows to enhance molecular function, reaction efficiency, and sustainability. We develop and use active learning strategies for catalyst design, reaction conditions, and other molecular properties. To accelerate the implementation of these algorithms, we pair them […]

    ESE PhD Thesis Defense: “Software-like Incremental Refinement on FPGA using Partial Reconfiguration”

    /
    Raisler Lounge (Room 225), Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    To improve FPGA design productivity, our goal is to create a development experience for FPGAs that aligns closely with widely accepted software design principles. Software programmers quickly test their minimally completed design, identify the bottleneck, and incrementally refine the design. In FPGA design, however, such incremental refinement is not currently supported. (1) FPGA compilation is long, […]

  • MSE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Polymer Infiltrated Nanoporous Gold: Kinetics and Optical Properties of Novel Polymer Nanocomposites” (Weiwei Kong)

    /
    LRSM Reading Room 3231 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: One of the biggest challenges in the field of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) is to disperse high nanofiller loadings into the polymeric matrix. The high loading and uniform dispersion are limited by the unfavored polymer/nanofiller thermodynamics and the tendency for nanofiller to aggregate. In this thesis, these are circumvented by using nanoporous gold (NPG) as […]

    CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Utilization of Atomic Layer Deposition for Heterogeneous Catalysis in Biomass Upgrading Applications” (Mengjie Fan)

    /
    Raisler Lounge (Room 225), Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: The need for sustainable energy sources has intensified interest in biomass upgrading, where biomass-derived feedstocks are transformed into fuels and valuable chemicals. A major challenge in biomass upgrading is the development of highly active, selective, and stable catalysts for complex reactions. Traditional synthesis methods often result in heterogeneous catalysts with poor dispersion of active […]

    MEAM Seminar: “Differentiable Algorithms for Non-differentiable Robotics: Dexterous Manipulation via Implicit Learning and Control”

    /
    Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101), Levine Hall 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    As we ask our robotic systems to become more capable, with the ultimate aim of deploying robots into complex and ever-changing scenarios, the vast space of potential tasks drives the need for flexibility and generalization. For all the promise of big-data machine learning, what will happen when robots deploy to our homes and workplaces and […]