• MEAM Seminar: “Recent Evolution of Climate Science: From Greenhouse Gases and Temperature to Aerosol Particles and Precipitation”

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

    On the eve of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, I will present a brief overview of how climate science has evolved since the publication of the Charney Report in 1979, and use a few examples from my recent work to show how one can use numerical models, observations and theories […]

    ESE Seminar: “Large-Scale Quantum Photonic Processors”

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    Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract Photons play a central role in many areas of quantum information science, either as qubit themselves or to mediate interactions between long-lived matter based qubits. Techniques for (1) high-fidelity generation, (2) precise manipulation and (3) ultra-efficient detection of quantum states of light are therefore a prerequisite for virtually all quantum technologies. A quantum photonic […]

    CIS Seminar: Rethinking Operating System and Hardware Abstractions for Good and Evil

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

    Abstract: Current hardware and operating system abstractions were conceived at a time when we had minimal security threats, scarce compute and memory resources, and limited numbers of users. These assumptions are not true today. On one hand, attacks such as Spectre and Meltdown have shown that current hardware is plagued by vulnerabilities. On the other […]

    CBE Seminar: “A Case for Carbon Dioxide Removal from Air”

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

    Abstract: As a global society, we have been burning fossil fuels to meet our energy and transportation needs since the start of the industrial revolution. This has resulted in atmospheric CO2 concentrations much greater than at any other time during the last 650,000 years. That concentration reached a record 415 parts per million in May […]

    MSE Faculty Candidate Seminar: “Engineering non-equilibrium structure and functionality in complex solids”

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    Auditorium, LRSM Building 3231 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Unique macroscopic phenomena, such as high-temperature superconductivity and colossal magnetoresistance, emerge in many complex solids due to the interplay between their electronic, magnetic, and structural degrees of freedom. This interplay also results in properties that can be tuned by manipulating their atomic structure and symmetry. In this talk, Dr. Disa will discuss two complementary “non-equilibrium” […]

    ESE Seminar: “Adapting black-box machine learning methods for causal inference”

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    Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract: I'll discuss the use of observational data to estimate the causal effect of a treatment on an outcome. This task is complicated by the presence of 'confounders' that influence both treatment and outcome, inducing observed associations that are not causal. Causal estimation is achieved by adjusting for this confounding by using observed covariate information. I'll […]

    BE Seminar: “Repurposing bacterial two-component systems as sensors for synthetic biology applications “

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    Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Two-component systems (TCSs) are the largest family of signal transduction pathways in biology, and a treasure trove of biosensors for engineering applications. Though present in plants and other eukaryotes, TCSs are ubiquitous in bacteria. Bacteria use TCSs to sense everything from metal ions to carbohydrates and light, and activate responses such as biofilm formation, antibiotic-resistance, […]

    CIS Seminar: “User Generated Content: Opportunities to Inform Healthcare”

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

    Abstract When individuals post to social media or use wearable devices, data generated through these everyday interactions with technology reveal a great deal about behaviors that influence health in ways that were previously not observable. In my work, I seek to leverage this data to characterize and measure the naturalistic manifestations a.k.a digital phenotyping of […]

    MEAM Seminar: “Cell Polarization and Growth”

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

    Polarization is an essential behavior of living cells, yet the dynamics of this symmetry-breaking process are not fully understood. We have developed a spatial stochastic model of cellular polarization during mating of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Specifically we investigated the ability of yeast cells to sense a spatial gradient of mating pheromone and respond by forming a […]

    ESE Seminar: “Nanophotonics: A High Bandwidth Optical Neural Interface”

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    Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Abstract Light is a powerful tool for interrogating and manipulating biological systems, enabling targeted stimulation, sensing, and imaging. Optical methods such as optogenetics have transformed the study of neural circuits by making it possible to control neural activity using light. However, there remains a critical demand in research and medicine for miniaturized high resolution optical […]

    Technology, Business and Government Lecture Series: Aerospace Prizes Inspire the Five I’s of Success

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

    The United States’ future economic growth and competitiveness depend on our capacity to inno­vate. Americans believe that it is possible to create jobs in the aerospace and defense industry by doing what the United States does well, which is cultivating the creativity and innovative processes developed by its people. Innovation and entrepreneurship in the aerospace […]

    CIS Seminar: One Size Doesn’t Fit Anyone: Tailoring Digital Tools for Personal Health Journeys

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

    Abstract Personal technologies for everyday health management have the potential to transform healthcare by empowering individuals to engage in their own care, scaffolding access to critical information, and supporting patient-centered decision-making. Currently, many personal health tools often focus only on a single task or isolated event. However, chronic illnesses are characterized by information needs and […]