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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250225T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250225T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
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SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: " Specializing LLMs for Reliability"
DESCRIPTION:Large language models (LLMs) have advanced the frontiers of AI reasoning: they can synthesize information from multiple sources\, derive new conclusions\, and explain those conclusions to their users. However\, LLMs do not do this reliably. They hallucinate facts\, convincingly state incorrect deductions\, and exhibit logical fallacies like confirmation bias. In this talk\, I will describe my lab’s work on making LLM systems reliable by introspecting their behavior. First\, I will demonstrate that better understanding of LLMs helps us train them to be more reliable reasoners. Our work shows that model interpretation techniques can advance training methodology and dataset curation for reasoning models. Second\, I will argue that automating fine-grained evaluation of LLM output provides a level of understanding necessary for further progress. I will describe the ingredients of effective automated evaluators and a state-of-the-art factuality evaluation system\, MiniCheck\, showing that analyzing the nature of hallucinations can help reduce them. Finally\, I will describe how deeper understanding of LLMs will let us tackle their most fundamental limitations\, such as their inconsistency when given different inputs. I will propose how these pieces might soon be combined to form reliable AI systems.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-specializing-llms-for-reliability/
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:20250226T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250226T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250220T192225Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250220T192225Z
UID:10008299-1740582000-1740585600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP SFI: Harshil Parekh\, BotBuilt\, “From GRASP to BotBuilt: Using Robotics and AI to Revolutionize Construction”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nConstruction remains one of the least automated industries\, struggling with labor shortages\, inefficiencies\, and rising costs. At BotBuilt\, we are revolutionizing the way homes are built by leveraging robotics and AI to automate framing\, making construction faster\, safer\, and easier. \nIn this talk\, I will discuss the key challenges we are solving at BotBuilt\, from automating complex construction tasks to integrating robotics seamlessly into existing workflows. I will then share how my experiences at the GRASP Lab have equipped me to tackle these problems. By bridging research with real-world applications\, I’ll highlight how the skills I developed at Penn directly contribute to advancing robotics and AI in construction.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-sfi-harshil-parekh/
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:20250226T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250226T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20241216T191410Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241216T191410Z
UID:10008199-1740583800-1740587400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Prioritization of Research\, Development\, and Deployment Pathways for a Circular Bioeconomy" (Jeremy Guest\, UIUC)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \n\nSocieties have prospered using a linear “take-make-use-dispose” approach\, extracting natural resources to make products\, using them\, and ultimately discarding them or their residues. This unsustainable approach has exploited natural resources at a rate that has caused excessive pollution and loss of biodiversity\, and is leading to a global climate crisis. In response to this challenge\, industries are seeking technological solutions that will meet societal needs in a way that is financially viable while supporting the pursuit of broader goals for sustainability (e.g.\, resource circularity\, carbon neutrality\, equity). This transition has become a catalyst for research and development\, but a critical challenge to achieving rapid and transformative innovations has been the expansive landscape of technology development pathways and the lack of a transparent and consistent framework to target investment. \nThis presentation will focus on the prioritization of research\, development\, and deployment (RD&D) pathways for the conversion of renewable resources into biofuels and bio-based products. Using a structured methodology – Quantitative Sustainable Design (QSD) – we integrate process design\, simulation\, techno-economic analysis (TEA)\, and life cycle assessment (LCA) under uncertainty to elucidate drivers of system sustainability\, identify performance gaps\, evaluate tradeoffs and optimize across alternatives\, and assess context-specific implications of technology advancement and deployment. Leveraging examples from the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI)\, we will focus on the conversion of perennial grasses (Miscanthus\, switchgrass\, sugarcane) and agricultural residues to biofuels (sustainable aviation fuel [SAF]) and bioproducts (e.g.\, 3-hydroxypropionic acid [3-HP]\, triacetic acid lactone [TAL])\, including the exploration of opportunities for the integration of decarbonized processes with existing infrastructure (e.g.\, co-processing of SAF). In addition to demonstrating specific potential pathways to advance the circular bioeconomy\, this presentation will make the process of QSD more accessible to researchers and technology developers across disciplines\, including for the broader prioritization of RD&D for novel technologies.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-prioritization-of-research-development-and-deployment-pathways-for-a-circular-bioeconomy-jeremy-guest-uiuc/
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:20250227T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250204T161118Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250204T161118Z
UID:10008267-1740651300-1740654900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Machine-learning-assisted Atomistic Modeling and Design of Complex Ionic Conductors for Next-Generation Energy Storage" (KyuJung Jun\, MIT)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \nFast solid-state Li-ion conductors are a crucial class of materials with the potential to enable all-solid-state batteries\, offering enhanced safety and energy density. However\, these materials remain rare\, and progress in developing novel solid electrolytes has been hindered by a lack of clear descriptors for superionic conductivity and a limited understanding of ion transport mechanisms across diverse conductors\, from inorganic crystals to polymers. Building on recent advances in computing power\,machine-learning algorithms\, material representations\, and analysis tools\, my research directly addresses these challenges\, guiding experimental efforts to discover new superionic conductors. In this talk\, I will present three of my representative efforts in this direction. First\, I will discuss how identifying structural features of superionic conductors enabled high-throughput screening\, leading to the discovery of over 20 novel inorganic superionic conductors. Second\, I will share how my research has resolved a long-standing debate on the lithium transport mechanism—known as the ‘paddlewheel effect’ in plastic crystal phases—by providing temporally and spatially resolved correlation insights. Third\, I will introduce new algorithms that I have developed to decompose Onsager transport coefficients\, allowing us to identify and quantify the contributions of various transport mechanisms in lithium polymer electrolytes\, with potential applications to inform mechanistic understanding in any complex ion-conducting medium. Bringing these efforts together\, I will discuss how these correlation analysis tools\, machine learning interatomic potentials\, and generative models represent a breakthrough in achieving both high accuracy and computational efficiency\, opening up unprecedented opportunities to model and understand complex dynamic phenomena that were previously inaccessible with traditional ab initio calculations or classical models.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-machine-learning-assisted-atomistic-modeling-and-design-of-complex-ionic-conductors-for-next-generation-energy-storage-kyujung-jun-mit/
LOCATION:Glandt Forum\, Singh Center for Nanotechnology\, 3205 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:20250227T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250131T195622Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250131T195622Z
UID:10008256-1740657600-1740662100@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: "ML for an Interactive World: From Learning to Unlearning"
DESCRIPTION:The remarkable recent success of Machine Learning (ML) is driven by our ability to develop and deploy interactive models that can solve complicated tasks by understanding and adapting to the ever-changing state of the world. However\, the development of such models demands significant data and computing resources. Moreover\, as these models increasingly interact with humans\, new post-deployment challenges emerge\, including privacy concerns\, data integrity\, and the potential for model misuse. Addressing these issues necessitates innovative algorithmic solutions. \nReinforcement Learning (RL) is the preferred method for training interactive models. In the first part of my talk\, I will discuss my work on Hybrid RL\, which has led to the development of the first general-purpose\, computationally efficient\, and theoretically rigorous algorithms for RL. Our method learns effective policies by integrating the trial-and-error processes of RL with pre-collected interaction data logs\, demonstrating strong performance in practical applications.  \nIn the second half of my talk\, I will discuss my work on the foundations of machine unlearning\, a newly emerging field with significant practical applications. Machine unlearning involves updating trained ML models to exclude specific data samples from the trained model upon their deletion request\, without retraining from scratch. I will delve into how machine unlearning presents a more viable alternative to traditional methods like differential privacy for data deletion\, thus providing a more practical solution for ensuring data privacy post-deployment. \n  \nZoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/94999851890 Meeting ID: 949 9985 1890
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ideas-stat-optimization-seminar-3/
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:20250227T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250116T202115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250116T202115Z
UID:10008225-1740670200-1740673800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Seminar - "Scaffold-Modulated Healing in Irradiated Bone" (Katie Hixon\, Dartmouth Engineering)
DESCRIPTION:Bone is the third most common site for cancer metastasis\, affecting ~66% of patients with common cancers—breast\, lung\, prostate\, renal\, thyroid—incurring skeletal events in up to 400\,000 people in the US/year. Metastatic bone disease (MBD) results in weakened bone\, leading to refractory pain and pathological fracture that increase disease state morbidity. Despite bone tissue’s dynamic nature and robust capability to remodel and regenerate following injury\, MBD-affected bone does not heal according to normal principles\, with average fracture healing rates for pathological fractures reported to be 8% at six months following injury. Further\, the use of bone grafts for treatment offers additional complications including infection potential and donor site morbidity\, where an improved treatment option is necessary. To combat this\, cryogel scaffolds have been identified as ideal constructs to support bone formation following traumatic injury/disease. Preliminary work by our group has shown that cryogels do not lose their advantageous physical properties following radiation therapy (RT). Therefore\, our overall premise is that MBD patients require alternative treatment options to i) improve bone formation and ii) accelerate healing. The central hypothesis of this study is that chitosan/gelatin cryogels will induce osseointegration and bone formation in MBD patients\, while modulating tissue damage caused by RT. This hypothesis is based on current literature reviews\, as well as previously published work by our group demonstrating cryogels and animal models for studying and improving bone formation. Our approach for creating a cost-effective\, time-sensitive\, and biologically improved targeted treatment option consists of optimized cryogel fabrication for MBD patients.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/scaffold-modulated-healing-in-irradiated-bone-katie-hixon/
LOCATION:Berger Auditorium (Room 13)\, Skirkanich Hall\, 210 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Katherine.Hixon_-scaled-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250217T180146Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250217T180146Z
UID:10008290-1740670200-1740673800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Realizing the Promise of Language-level Security in Real Systems"
DESCRIPTION:Promises are cheap. Software vendors routinely describe their offerings as “secure”\, but few are based on designs that can guarantee even the most basic security properties. To address this problem\, services like Cloudflare\, Android\, and Firefox are increasingly relying on languages like Rust and WebAssembly to provide safety by design. But these promises too can fall short: any vulnerability in the execution stack—compiler\, runtime\, OS\, or hardware—can undermine language-level security. \n  \nIn this talk\, I present my research towards delivering on the promise of language-level security by building an execution stack that guarantees that these security properties are preserved. In particular\, I will describe how three of my systems\, VeriWasm\, WaVe\, and VTock\, guarantee safety of the compiler\, language runtime\, and OS respectively. I will focus on how the designs of these systems provide formal guarantees while still adhering to production constraints that allow them to be deployed in real systems used by millions of users. I will conclude by discussing some future directions for this work\, such as retrofitting formal safety guarantees to safety-critical embedded systems and clean-slate OS design using language-level isolation.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-realizing-the-promise-of-language-level-security-in-real-systems/
LOCATION:Levine 307\, 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:20250228T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250228T110000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250218T180040Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250218T180040Z
UID:10008293-1740736800-1740740400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Privacy\, Copyright\, and Data Integrity: The Cascading Implications of Generative AI"
DESCRIPTION:The rapid adoption of generative AI has created a cycle where personal information cascades perpetually: from people to models to applications and online platforms\, then back through scrapers into the system. Simple blanket rules such as “don’t train on this data” or “don’t share sensitive information” are inadequate\, as we face training data scarcity while these models are already deeply integrated into people’s daily lives. In this talk\, rather than examining data\, people\, and models in isolation and setting rigid rules\, we will reason about their interplay by discussing three research directions: (1) measuring the imprint of data on models through novel membership inference attacks and uncovering memorization patterns\, (2) developing algorithmic approaches to help people control the exposure of their data while preserving utility\, and (3) grounding model evaluations in legal and social frameworks\, particularly the theory of contextual integrity. Looking ahead\, we discuss emerging directions in building on-device privacy controls and nudging mechanisms\, formalizing semantic memorization\, and developing model capabilities such as abstraction\, composition\, and inhibition to enable controllable generation of outputs.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-privacy-copyright-and-data-integrity-the-cascading-implications-of-generative-ai/
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:20250228T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250228T114500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250127T211320Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250127T211320Z
UID:10008240-1740738600-1740743100@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP on Robotics: Bruno Olshausen\, University of California\, Berkeley & Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience\, “Invariance and equivariance in brains and machine”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nThe goal of building machines that can perceive and act in the world as humans and other animals do has been a focus of AI research efforts for over half a century. Over this same period\, neuroscience has sought to achieve a mechanistic understanding of the brain processes underlying perception and action. It stands to reason that these parallel efforts could inform one another. Here I propose an approach to the long-standing problem invariant and equivariant representation in vision – that is\, how do we recognize objects independent of pose\, lighting and other variations\, and how do we perceive such variations independent of object shape? The approach is rooted in observations of animal behavior and informed by both neurobiological mechanisms (recurrence\, dendritic nonlinearities\, phase coding) and mathematical principles (group theory\, residue numbers). What emerges from this approach is a neural circuit for factorization that can learn about shapes and their transformations from image data\, and a model of the grid-cell system based on high-dimensional encodings of residue numbers. These models provide efficient solutions to long-studied problems that are well-suited for implementation in neuromorphic hardware or as a basis for forming hypotheses about visual cortex and entorhinal cortex.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-on-robotics-bruno-olshausen-university-of-california-berkeley-redwood-center-for-theoretical-neuroscience-invariance-and-equivariance-in-brains-and-machine/
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:20250228T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250228T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250221T161620Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250221T161620Z
UID:10008301-1740740400-1740744000@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Intelligence Augmentation for Scientific Researchers"
DESCRIPTION:Special location for this talk: 105  Amy Gutmann Hall \nRecent advances in Artificial Intelligence are powering revolutionary interactive tools that will transform the very nature of the scientific enterprise. We describe several large-scale projects at the Allen Institute for AI aimed at developing open models\, agentic platforms\, and novel interaction paradigms in order to amplify the productivity of scientists and engineers.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-intelligence-augmentation-for-scientific-researchers/
LOCATION:PA
ORGANIZER;CN="Computer and Information Science":MAILTO:cherylh@cis.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250228T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250228T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250212T171423Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T171423Z
UID:10008285-1740747600-1740754800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MSE Thesis Defense: "Chain and Pendant Architecture Effects in Associating Polyolefins" Eli Jared Fastow
DESCRIPTION:The United States recycles less than 9% of plastic waste\, representing a tremendous environmental catastrophe and a loss of embodied value. This dissertation presents the structure-property relationships of functional polymers made from an upcycling approach targeting polyolefins for polymer-to-polymer conversions. The overall strategy proceeds by first dehydrogenating polyolefins\, then functionalizing the resulting C=C to generate functional polymers. This upcycling route retains the backbone architecture and enables control of the pendant\, accessing architectures otherwise unattainable by the free radical polymerization (FRP) that is typically used to produce polyolefin copolymers. Within this larger strategy\, this dissertation explores the chain and pendant effects on the structure-property relationships of the resulting associating polymers. Starting with polycyclcooctene (PCOE)\, a model for partially dehydrogenated polyethylene\, the polymer is functionalized with alcohol\, carboxylic acid\, and acrylate groups. These polymers have a linear backbone\, in contrast to commercial functional polymers with branched backbones. \nX-ray scattering reveals that long pendants terminating in OH (-S(CH2)2OH\, or SC2OH) do not incorporate into polymer crystals when added to PCOE. By contrast\, when added directly to the backbone\, OH incorporates into crystals. Linear OH-PCOE crystallizes faster and to a greater extent than commercial branched EVOH\, as demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry and in situ X-ray scattering. This difference in structure as a consequence of pendant architecture tunes the surface and adhesive properties. The more crystalline OH-PCOE exhibits a higher contact angle (lower surface polarity) than commercial EVOH or SC2OH-PCOE; this difference in contact angle is explained by the distribution of OH groups between the amorphous and crystalline regimes. The difference in surface polarity leads SC2OH-PCOE to exhibit greater adhesive strength than OH-PCOE at functionalization <15 % of ethylene units. At higher functionalization\, the loss of crystallinity in SC2OH-PCOE decreases adhesive strength below that of OH-PCOE due to a loss of bulk strength. \nFunctionalizing PCOE with COOH-terminated pendants with a variety of methylene spacers (-S(CH2)nCOOH\, where n = 1\, 2\, 7) enables further exploration of pendant effects on mechanical properties. Dynamic mechanical analysis identifies that the storage modulus in the rubbery plateau (E’ rubbery) depends on both the extent of functionalization and pendant length. Similarly\, functionalizing PCOE with ethyl acrylate (EA) decreases E’ rubbery and tunes tensile mechanical properties. From 0 to 18 mol% EA functionalization\, extensibility increases to over 4000% strain at break. An increase in molar mass between entanglements facilitates the high elongation of EA-PCOE. Ultimately\, the polymer-to-polymer upcycling route discussed here enables a greater degree of control over the chain and pendant architecture than is conventionally achievable by FRP. This dissertation elucidates the structure-property relationships tuned by the chain and pendant architecture of associating polyolefins\, contributing to a broader strategy for polymer-to-polymer upcycling.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/mse-thesis-defense-chain-and-pendant-architecture-effects-in-associating-polyolefins/
LOCATION:Wu & Chen Auditorium
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:20250228T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250228T150000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250218T144201Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250218T144201Z
UID:10008292-1740751200-1740754800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP Seminar: James Tompkin\, Brown University\, “Joint Depth and 3D Motion Estimation Two Ways”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 512 and virtual attendance on Zoom. This seminar will NOT be recorded. \nABSTRACT\nDynamic scene reconstruction from monocular cameras often requires us to simultaneously estimate depth and 3D motion\, where knowledge of either one would help to constrain the other. I will review two different approaches to resolving this problem\, describe their relative merits\, and discuss what they tell us (if anything!) about this fundamental problem. The first approach uses active illumination to augment the scene via continuous-wave time of flight measurements. I will explain how this additional depth input only superficially helps—itself introducing new problems—and how we can resolve them using self-supervision and physically-based rendering. This lets us reconstruct objects under fast motion like swinging baseball bats (ECCV 2024\, ongoing work\, and arXiv). The second uses supervised learning to directly predict depth and 3D scene flow from two RGB images only. Here\, providing generalization is the key challenge\, where factors like motion parameterization and data scaling are critical. Careful empirical work lets us use a single feed-forward neural network to predict depth and motion for casual videos\, robotic manipulation videos\, and autonomous driving videos (arXiv). Finally\, after all that hard work\, if there’s time then I’ll show some pretty pictures of shiny objects\, because who doesn’t like those (SIGGRAPH Asia 2024)?!
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-seminar-james-tompkin-brown-university-joint-depth-and-3d-motion-estimation-two-ways/
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:20250303T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250303T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250207T144501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250207T144501Z
UID:10008275-1740999600-1741003200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "Versatile RF Interconnects and Electronics for Extreme Environment Sensing and Communications"
DESCRIPTION:Future emerging applications like extreme environment electronics\, high-performance computing\, space sensing\, and brain-machine interfaces share a critical goal: massive bandwidth and deployment scalability. To this end\, my research group is investigating energy-efficient and scalable sensing and communication techniques\, emphasizing circuits\, advanced packaging\, and signal processing innovations for the above applications. \nTo begin with\, I will briefly discuss technology gaps in information-carrying wiring harnesses and illustrate the new use cases of millimeter-wave dielectric fibers and short-distance wireless interconnects as alternative mediums\, mainly as thermal isolating channels. Then\, I will describe the challenges of hypersonic radio interference and harsh environment antenna remoting systems for the DoD and aerospace industries. I will introduce the high-temperature electronics framework as my future work to address the above challenges\, focusing on high-temperature metrology and scalable signal-harnessing techniques at millimeter-wave frequencies. To show the feasibility of the new methods\, I will illustrate the ceramic fiber’s capability of electromagnetic wave propagation\, extreme heat tolerance\, and extreme heat isolation\, assisted by automatic gain-controlled millimeter-wave CMOS transceivers. \nIn the second part\, I will discuss the need for large-scale cryogenic interconnects for future high-performance computing and demonstrate the potential adoption of wireless interconnects between cryogenic devices and room-temperature electronics. As an initiative\, our lab demonstrated the feasibility of removing thermally loaded wires/connectors between 7K and 290K thermal break and efficiently packing more data in a millimeter-wave carrier enabled by multi-level signaling and digital pre-distortion in CMOS technologies. As a part of the scalable interconnect theme within high-performance computing\, I will also describe my collaborative efforts with academic and industry partners on massively scalable RF connectors for future artificial intelligence and data centers. \nLastly\, I will elaborate further on my research activities in space sensing and brain-machine interface\, where massive scalability matters most. I will discuss their challenges\, opportunities\, and future directions.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-spring-seminar-title-tba-2/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium,Symposium
ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250304T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250304T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250212T144723Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T144723Z
UID:10008283-1741083300-1741086900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Engineering Soft Medical Robots and Devices to Solve Hard Health Problems in Extreme Body Environments"
DESCRIPTION:Advances in engineering have enabled a new generation of soft medical robots and devices with unique theranostic capabilities for interfacing with delicate organs. However\, challenges remain in achieving spatial and temporal precision in extreme body environments\, particularly within the digestive system. This talk will highlight three recent preclinical innovations addressing these challenges: (i) BIOSENTER: a bioinspired soft enteroscopic robot for locomotion\, steering\, and intervention in the deep small intestine. (ii) IngRI: an ingestible\, battery-free\, tissue-adhering robotic interface for prolonged gut electrostimulation. (iii) e-GLUE: an electroadhesive hydrogel interface for enhanced mucosal retention of ingestible devices. These platforms demonstrate significant potential for managing chronic digestive conditions and beyond.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-engineering-soft-medical-robots-and-devices-to-solve-hard-health-problems-in-extreme-body-environments/
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:20250305T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250305T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250121T213015Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250121T213015Z
UID:10008227-1741176000-1741180500@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ASSET Seminar: "From Data to Insights: Trustworthy Solutions for Imaging Problems"
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:  \nExtracting insights from imaging data used to be straightforward: every component of imaging systems was engineered by humans\, the analysis and interpretation of the collected data was driven by human understanding and experience\, and only humans were responsible for the impact of the decisions stemming from such insights. Today\, however\, machine learning permeates every stage of image acquisition and analysis\, challenging our understanding of robustness\, interpretability\, and fairness in automated decision making. This talk will present three approaches to leverage the power of data-driven models for imaging applications while increasing their trustworthiness\, focusing on biomedical imaging. These approaches enable precise mathematical claims about what modern networks compute in the context of inverse problems (via learned proximal networks)\, facilitate efficient and rigorous testing for interpretable concepts for classification problems (via testing by betting)\, and ensure compliance with fairness guarantees even in incomplete-data regimes (via proxy attributes). \nZoom Link (if unable to attend in-person): https://upenn.zoom.us/j/93115449335
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/asset-seminar-jeremias-sulam-johns-hopkins-university-2/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250305T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250305T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250226T162835Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250226T162835Z
UID:10008306-1741186800-1741190400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP SFI: John Suehle\, Image Engineering\, “The Magic of Lasers in Entertainment – Behind the Technology”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nIt was not long after Theodore Maiman published the first demonstration of the ruby laser in the August 6\, 1960 issue of Nature1 that it was realized that such a unique light source could be used in many applications\, including entertainment. In fact\, four years later a laser was initially used and then simulated in a scene from the James Bond movie Goldfinger. Later in the 1970s high-speed galvanometers were developed to quickly scan laser beams to produce 2-dimensional images. The laser light show was born in 1973 when filmmaker Ivan Dryer formed Laser Images\, Inc. and performed “Laserium” at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. The show was expanded to 46 cities. \nToday\, advanced material science allows the fabrication of laser diodes emitting in the red\, blue and green wavelengths with optical powers exceeding 4 watts from a single emitter. Lasers are now exhibiting 40% efficiency up from .05% compared to their ion laser ancestors. Such an increase in efficiency and decrease in size have made the laser ubiquitous in entertainment. Hundreds of watts of optical power are routinely used by my company Image Engineering\, Inc\, in live tours such as Paul McCartney and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It is now possible to use a large number of laser sources to produce compelling volumetric kinetic displays of laser light. \nMy presentation will cover the many applications we used this unique light source in visually captivating displays in concert touring\, professional sports\, and architectural lighting. I will also discuss projects of using lasers in new lighting technologies such as laser stimulated phosphor light engines.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-sfi-john-suehle/
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:20250305T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250305T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20241216T192515Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241216T192515Z
UID:10008200-1741188600-1741192200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CBE Seminar: "Multifunctionality of MXenes for Sensor Technologies" (Lia Stanciu\, Purdue University)
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: \n\nMXenes\, a versatile family of 2D materials\, have garnered interest for applications in sensing technologies due to their unique combination of conductivity\, hydrophilicity\, and surface tunability. This talk explores the integration of MXenes into sensor platforms\, and discusses their potential in electrochemical\, optical\, and environmental sensing. Their surface functional groups can be leveraged for biomolecular interactions and their ability to increase signal transduction can be exploited for low-concentration analyte detection. \nThe presentation will discuss a few case studies: hybrid MXene-MoS₂ composites for the detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)\, which uses their high surface area and conductivity; nucleic acid biosensors employing MXenes for the detection of viral RNA\, which takes advantage their excellent biocompatibility and signal transduction capabilities; and surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) sensors incorporating MXenes for the highly sensitive detection of Listeria monocytogenes in food safety applications. The presentation will also address current challenges for in the deployment of these materials at scale and discuss their potential in real-world applications that require high sensitivity\, selectivity\, and scalability.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cbe-seminar-multifunctionality-of-mxenes-for-sensor-technologies-lia-stanciu-purdue-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:20250306T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250306T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250224T152316Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250224T152316Z
UID:10008303-1741256100-1741259700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Exploring Structure\, Mechanics\, and Function in Soft Biological Systems Across Scales"
DESCRIPTION:Soft biological systems exhibit intricate hierarchical organization\, with structures spanning multiple length scales\, from tissues to cells and molecules. This structural complexity gives rise to rich mechanical behaviors that profoundly influence biological function. My research integrates soft matter physics and biology to establish a unified framework that connects structure\, mechanics\, and function in soft biological systems. \nIn this talk\, I will demonstrate how this framework applies to diverse biological components\, including biomaterials\, cells\, and molecular assemblies. At the bulk material level\, I reveal how the hierarchical microstructure of biomaterials\, such as fibrin\, underpins their extraordinary resilience and complex mechanical behavior. At the cellular level\, I uncover the distinct roles of cytoskeletal components in shaping the cell’s internal mechanical environment. At the molecular level\, I explore biomolecular condensates\, which are dynamic\, membrane-less compartments that are essential for cellular processes\, highlighting how chromatin organization and mechanics influence their formation and behavior. Building on these insights\, I will demonstrate how stem cells sense and respond to structural cues in their microenvironment\, influencing key processes such as spreading\, migration\, and differentiation. \nBy integrating insights across these scales\, my work advances our understanding of the physical principles that govern soft biological systems\, and informs strategies for designing cell-instructive biomaterials and guiding cellular behavior for tissue engineering applications.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-exploring-structure-mechanics-and-function-in-soft-biological-systems-across-scales/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics":MAILTO:meam@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250306T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250306T131500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250131T195817Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250131T195817Z
UID:10008257-1741262400-1741266900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: "Data-Driven Algorithm Design and Verification for Parametric Convex Optimization"
DESCRIPTION:Zoom link \nhttps://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 \n  \nAbstract\nWe present computational tools for analyzing and designing first-order methods in parametric convex optimization. These methods are popular for their low per-iteration cost and warm-starting capabilities. However\, precisely quantifying the number of iterations required to compute high-quality solutions remains a key challenge\, especially in real-time applications. First\, we introduce a numerical framework for verifying the worst-case performance of first-order methods in parametric quadratic optimization. We formulate this as a mixed-integer linear program that maximizes the infinity norm of the fixed-point residual after a given number of iterations. Our approach captures a broad class of gradient\, projection\, and proximal iterations through affine or piecewise-affine constraints\, with strong polyhedral formulations. To improve scalability\, we incorporate bound-tightening techniques that exploit operator-theoretic bounds. Numerical results show that our method closely matches true worst-case performance\, achieving significant reductions in worst-case fixed-point residuals compared to standard convergence analyses. Second\, we present a data-driven approach for analyzing the performance of first-order methods using statistical learning theory. We establish generalization guarantees for classical optimizers using sample convergence bounds and for learned optimizers using the Probably Approximately Correct (PAC)-Bayes framework. We then apply this framework to learn accelerated first-order methods by directly minimizing the PAC-Bayes bound over key algorithmic parameters (e.g.\, gradient steps and warm-starts). Numerical experiments demonstrate that our approach provides strong generalization guarantees for both classical and learned optimizers\, with statistical bounds that closely match true out-of-sample performance.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ideas-stat-optimization-seminar-bartolomeo-stellato/
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:20250306T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250306T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250220T194447Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250220T194447Z
UID:10008300-1741275000-1741278600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Pareto-efficient AI systems: Expanding the quality and efficiency frontier of AI"
DESCRIPTION:We have made exciting progress in AI by massive models on massive amounts of data center compute. However\, the demands for AI are rapidly expanding. I identify how to maximize performance under any compute constraint\, expanding the Pareto frontier of AI capabilities.\n \nThis talk builds up to an efficient language model architecture that expands the Pareto-frontier between quality and throughput efficiency. In motivation\, the Transformer\, AI’s current workhorse architecture\, is memory hungry\, severely limiting its throughput\, or amount of text it can process per second. This has led to a Cambrian explosion of alternate efficient architecture candidates proposed across prior work. Prior work has painted an exciting picture: there exists architectures that are asymptotically faster than Transformers\, while also matching quality. However\, I ask\, if we’re using asymptotically faster building blocks\, are we giving something up in quality?\n\n\nIn part one\, we build understanding. Indeed\, there’s no free lunch! I present my work to identify and explain the fundamental quality and efficiency tradeoffs between different classes of architectures. Methods I developed for this analysis are now ubiquitous in the development of language models.\n\n\nIn part two\, we measure how AI architecture candidates fare on the tradeoff space. A major hurdle\, however\, is that we lack implementations of the architectures that that run at peak-efficiency on modern hardware. Further\, many proposed architectures are asymptotically fast\, but not wall-clock fast. I present ThunderKittens\, a new programming library I built to help AI researchers write simple\, hardware-efficient algorithms across hardware platforms.\n\n\nIn part three\, we expand the Pareto-frontier of the tradeoff space. I present the BASED architecture\, which is built from simple\, hardware-efficient components. I released the state-of-the-art 8B-405B Transformer-free language models\, per standard evaluations\, all on an academic budget.\n\n\nGiven the massive investment into language models\, this work has had significant impact and adoption in research\, open-source\, and industry.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-pareto-efficient-ai-systems-expanding-the-quality-and-efficiency-frontier-of-ai/
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:20250306T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250306T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250304T142140Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250304T142140Z
UID:10008312-1741275000-1741278600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Grace Hopper Distinguished Lecture: Melody Swartz
DESCRIPTION:“Immunoregulatory Roles of Lymphatic Vessels in Cancer and Opportunities for Immunoengineering” \nMelody Swartz will discuss her pioneering research on the lymphatic system. This talk will highlight her translational work in immunotherapy\, including lymph node-targeting vaccines and engineering tumor microenvironment models for therapeutic discovery.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/grace-hopper-distinguished-lecture-series/
LOCATION:Berger Auditorium (Room 13)\, Skirkanich Hall\, 210 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Distinguished Lecture
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250307T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250307T110000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250304T141006Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250304T141006Z
UID:10008311-1741341600-1741345200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Next Generation Operating Systems for the Cloud"
DESCRIPTION:Modern datacenters must handle an ever-growing array of real-time and data-intensive workloads\, such as interactive web services and AI models\, that demand both low latency and high throughput. However\, traditional operating systems introduce significant I/O overhead\, degrading performance and reducing efficiency. A common solution is to let applications directly communicate with hardware\, bypassing the operating system altogether. While this greatly improves performance\, it sacrifices compatibility with existing software and requires operators to dedicate hardware to each application\, ultimately reducing overall resource utilization. \nIn this talk\, I will present a new datacenter operating system design that achieves high I/O performance without making these tradeoffs. First\, I will introduce Shenango\, which allows applications that directly access hardware to efficiently share CPU cores with other tasks\, maintaining high performance without requiring dedicated resources. Next\, I will discuss Caladan\, a system that prevents performance degradation by managing interference among co-located applications. Finally\, I will describe Junction\, a library operating system that extends these benefits to unmodified applications\, unlocking higher performance and efficiency across diverse workloads.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-next-generation-operating-systems-for-the-cloud/
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:20250307T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250307T114500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20241213T192945Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241213T192945Z
UID:10008197-1741343400-1741347900@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP on Robotics: Terry Fong\, NASA Ames Research Center\, “The NASA Volatiles Inspecting Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) Mission”
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nThe Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) is a NASA mission designed to explore the extreme environment of the Moon in search of water ice. VIPER is intended to land at the South Pole of the Moon and spend approximately 100-days mapping and surveying four different “ice stability regions”. Determining the distribution\, physical state and composition of water ice deposits will help increase understanding the sources of lunar polar water\, as well as providing insight into the distribution and origin of volatiles across the solar system. \nIn this talk\, I will present an overview of the VIPER mission\, the rover’s design\, lunar surface simulation\, and mission operations. During VIPER’s exploration of the Moon\, the rover will endure extreme temperature conditions\, dynamic lighting and complex terrain\, while near-real-time rover driving will present new planetary mission operational challenges.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-on-robotics-terry-fong-nasa-ames-research-center-the-nasa-volatiles-inspecting-polar-exploration-rover-viper-mission/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
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:20250311T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250311T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250225T222029Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250225T222029Z
UID:10008305-1741688100-1741691700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Three-Dimensional Biointerfaces: Soft Bioelectronics for Complex Biological Geometries"
DESCRIPTION:Cutting-edge biological and medical research demands innovative methods for sensing and modulating complex tissues\, organs\, and organ systems. Recent progress in bioelectronics enables multimodal interfacing for broad fundamental and therapeutic applications. However\, key challenges persist in interfacing with complex biological geometries\, particularly for applications requiring conformal contact in electrical\, chemical\, or mechanical biointerfaces. In this talk\, I will introduce our work on three-dimensional biointerfaces to address this challenge. These 3D biointerfaces feature precisely programmable geometries and/or ultrasoft nature that enable conformal contacting with multiscale tissues and organs. The first part of the talk focuses on our work in full-surface 3D interface for 3D-shaped neural organoids. These 3D programmable frameworks enable nearly complete surface accessibility of neuronal populations for the first time. They support high-resolution recording and stimulation via hundreds of individual channels and allow for 3D reconstruction for spatial electrophysiology. These capabilities enable monitoring 3D network-level neural activities\, supporting broad biological and medical research as demonstrated with neural activity manipulation\, pharmacological studies\, and modeling neural disease phenotypes. Next\, I will discuss our work on organ interface. We develop hydrogel-based ultrasoft thin platforms that enable real-time pH sensing. These platforms integrate ultrasound imaging for deep tissue monitoring\, and address the long-standing clinical challenge of early detection of gastrointestinal (GI) system leakage after surgery. In the last part of the talk\, I will present our work on novel nanofabrication techniques for large scale and aligned 3D nanostructured surfaces which match the scale of cellular and subcellular sensing. Together\, these works open new possibilities for precision engineering of advanced bioelectronics with 3D features that allow sufficient interfacing with complex geometries\, enabling transformative applications in organoid research and neural engineering\, precision medicine\, and spatial characterization platforms for complex in vitro and in vivo biological systems for advanced medical and therapeutic applications.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-three-dimensional-biointerfaces-soft-bioelectronics-for-complex-biological-geometries/
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:20250312T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250312T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250212T181014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250212T181014Z
UID:10008286-1741775400-1741780800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Seminar: "Merging Bio-integrated Materials and Devices with Ultrasound: Opportunities in Sensing\, Modulation and Actuation" - Dr. Jiaqi Liu\, Ph.D.
DESCRIPTION:Soft\, bio-integrated materials and devices exhibit the ability to collect physiological signals and offer therapeutic functions\, posing a substantial impact on our understanding of biology and paving the way for precision medicine. With the assistance of advanced ultrasound technology\, the innovative integration holds immense promise for sensing\, modulation and actuation in deep tissues and complex anatomical structures that are otherwise difficult to approach. In this talk\, I will highlight our recent advances in bioresorbable\, shape-adaptive materials structures that enable real-time monitoring of deep-tissue homeostasis using ultrasound instruments. I will showcase another example of a bioresorbable implant based on radio-frequency coupling for chemical sensing. I will then summarize our previous efforts in materials design that lead to programmable dual responsive soft actuators. Finally\, I will discuss opportunities in leveraging functional soft materials\, ultrasound imaging and its various forms of energy for measuring biosignals\, provide targeted modulation and programmable actuation to decipher biological systems and improve healthcare.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/seminar-merging-bio-integrated-materials-and-devices-with-ultrasound-opportunities-in-sensing-modulation-and-actuation-dr-jiaqi-liu-ph-d/
LOCATION:LRSM Reading Room\, 3231 Walnut St.\, 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:20250313T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250313T153000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250305T185928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250305T185928Z
UID:10008313-1741876200-1741879800@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2025 GRASP Seminar: Shubham Tulsiani\, Carnegie Mellon University\, "Reconstructing and Generating 3D"
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Raisler Lounge (Towne 225) and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nModern reconstruction systems\, leveraging advances in pose estimation and generative modeling\, can reconstruct everyday objects and scenes from casually captured images. In this talk\, I will highlight recent work from our group that pushes these frontiers. I will first present a learning-based approach to the structure-from-motion task\, highlighting how we can rethink camera parametrization for neural prediction methods. Building on this\, I will describe a framework for combining generative priors and pose estimation for high-fidelity 3D reconstruction ‘in-the-wild’. Finally\, I will outline an approach for ‘ultra-fast’ 3D generation that allows users to synthesize high-fidelity 3D assets in under a second.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2025-grasp-seminar-shubham-tulsiani-carnegie-mellon-university-reconstructing-and-generating-3d/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, 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
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250313T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250313T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250205T192804Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250205T192804Z
UID:10008270-1741879800-1741883400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:BE Seminar - “Probing nuclear structure and function with novel genomic tools” (Sofia Quinodoz\, Princeton University)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/be-seminar-probing-nuclear-structure-and-function-with-novel-genomic-tools-sofia-quinadoz-princeton-university/
LOCATION:Berger Auditorium (Room 13)\, Skirkanich Hall\, 210 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Quinodoz_Sofia_Headshot17159514.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Bioengineering":MAILTO:be@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250318T101500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250318T111500
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20241231T195411Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241231T195411Z
UID:10008206-1742292900-1742296500@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Bioinspired Robotic Sensorimotor Systems via 3D Printed Soft and Architected Materials"
DESCRIPTION:Animals can easily adapt their bodies and movements to new\, unstructured environments and situations. Robots cannot. While engineers construct robots from rigid\, motorized mechanisms to precisely control their movements\, vertebrates leverage compliant\, deformable musculoskeletal systems to adaptively navigate complex environments and produce dynamically stable gaits and motions. Providing robots with an equivalent musculoskeletal system will open new opportunities for achieving bioinspired motility\, adaptability\, robustness\, and performance. However\, this vision is stymied not only by limitations in current materials and manufacturing methods\, but also in how to strategically integrate soft and rigid materials in robot bodies. With these challenges in mind\, I will present approaches for engineering artificial musculoskeletal systems via 3D printed soft and architected materials. First\, I will introduce a flexible\, architected soft actuator unit for motorized extensional motion. I will introduce techniques for sensorizing these architected actuators\, assembling them for locomoting soft robots\, and interfacing them with skeletal elements for force transmission. Finally\, I will discuss new strategies for architecting soft ionic conductors for distributed sensing. These efforts aim to embody both physical and computational intelligence into real-world-deployable soft robots with practical task capabilities.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-bioinspired-robotic-sensorimotor-systems-via-3d-printed-soft-and-architected-materials/
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:20250318T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250318T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250206T140537Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250206T140537Z
UID:10008273-1742295600-1742299200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "Generalization\, Memorization\, and Privacy in Trustworthy Machine Learning"
DESCRIPTION:Machine learning is transforming numerous aspects of modern society\, and its expanding use in high-stakes applications calls for responsible development. In this talk\, I will present my research on the foundations and methodologies for building trustworthy ML\, centered on three interconnected challenges: generalization\, memorization\, and privacy. First\, I will show how information-theoretic tools can be used to analyze generalization across different learning setups. Next\, I will describe my work on the fundamental limits of memorization in certain high-dimensional convex settings\, showing a precise trade-off between memorization and accuracy. Finally\, I will propose adaptive and efficient optimization algorithms under differential privacy—a well-established framework designed to protect sensitive data and limit memorization risk—that adapt to the properties of the dataset\, resulting in smaller error. My results highlight how these three pillars interact\, and I will conclude by outlining my plans for future research.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-spring-seminar-title-tba/
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:20250318T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250318T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T174248
CREATED:20250313T165613Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250313T165613Z
UID:10008317-1742311800-1742315400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Probabilistic Experimental Design for Petascale DNA Synthesis"
DESCRIPTION:Generative modeling offers a powerful paradigm for designing novel functional DNA\, RNA and protein sequences. In this talk\, I introduce probabilistic experimental design methods to efficiently manufacture samples from generative models of biomolecules in the real world. These algorithms merge computational techniques for approximate sampling with physical randomness. I also develop tools to rigorously evaluate the quality of manufactured samples\, including nonparametric\ntwo-sample tests with consistency guarantees and scalable algorithms. I demonstrate synthesizing ~10^16 samples from a generative model of human antibodies\, at a sample quality comparable to state-of-the-art protein language models\, and a cost of ~$10^3. The library yields candidate therapeutics for “undruggable” cancer targets. Using previous methods\, manufacturing a DNA library of the same size and quality would cost roughly ~$10^15.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/13596/
LOCATION:Amy Gutmann Hall\, Room 414\, 3333 Chestnut Street\, Philadelphia\, 19104\, United States
ORGANIZER;CN="Computer and Information Science":MAILTO:cherylh@cis.upenn.edu
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