Aluminum Nitride (AlN) is a well-established thin film piezoelectric material. AlN bulk acoustic wave (BAW) radio frequency (RF) filters were one of the key innovations that enabled the 3G and 4G smart phone revolution. Recently, the substitutional doping of scandium (Sc) for aluminum (Al) to form aluminum scandium nitride (AlScN) has been studied to significantly […]
A common theme among many models for spreading processes in networks is the assumption that the propagating object (e.g., a pathogen, in the context of infectious disease propagation, or a piece of information, in the context of information propagation) is transferred across network nodes without going through any modification. However, in real-life spreading processes, pathogens […]
Imagining a new Internet architecture enables us to explore new networking concepts without the constraints imposed by the current infrastructure. What are the benefits of a routing protocol that does not rely on convergence? What about a data plane without inter-domain forwarding tables on routers? How can we build secure systems if a router can […]
Abstract Catalytic processes are central to the goal of a sustainable future. A promising approach in developing catalytic materials is represented by the design of catalytic sites based on the knowledge of reaction mechanisms and structure-property relationships and aided by computation, and in the precise synthesis of these sites at the atomic and molecular level. […]
To apply statistics and data science tools to aid computational designs of materials is under fast development. There are two unique aspects of the applications of these tools in materials science. First, the training sets are usually small. Second, physical mechanisms of material properties can be applied to facilitate the constructions of descriptors and statistics […]
This event will be held virtually on zoom. Check your email for the link and passcode or contact ksas@seas.upenn.edu. Systems biology approaches, including computational models, provide a framework to test biological hypotheses and optimize effective therapeutic strategies to treat human diseases. In this talk, I present recent work in modeling signaling in cancer-targeting immune cells, […]
Using the digital computer to simulate dynamic behavior of elastic and soft objects is a highly desired feature in many scientific and engineering areas: in computer animation, it provides realistic effects of soft characters; in surgical simulation, it delivers vivid visual experiences to the trainee; in digital fabrication, it couples geometry design and mechanical analysis. […]
Data-driven approaches match or outperform humans at a number of tasks, including pattern recognition in images and text or planning and strategy in rule-based games. The application of machine learning techniques is also promising for accelerating materials design. However, experimental data for training is typically scarce and sparse. The interplay between physics-based simulations and data-driven […]
“The DNA Damageome and Cancer” Physical Sciences in Oncology Center PSOC@Penn Fall 2020 Webinar Series Mondays @ Noon (EST) For webinar links, please contact manu@seas.upenn.edu
Wearable haptic devices have seen growing interest in recent years, but providing realistic tactile feedback is not a challenge that is soon to be solved. Daily interactions with physical objects elicit complex sensations at the fingertips. Furthermore, human fingertips exhibit a broad range of physical dimensions and perceptive abilities, adding increased complexity to the task […]
Model reduction methods have grown from the computational science community, with a focus on reducing high-dimensional models that arise from physics-based modeling, whereas machine learning has grown from the computer science community, with a focus on creating expressive models from black-box data streams. Yet recent years have seen an increased blending of the two perspectives […]
Abstract The last decade has seen a remarkable shift in usage and value of semiconductor memory technologies. These changes are driven by the elevation of four particular target applications –(1) mobile multi-media applications, (2) explosive growth in the sheer volume of data that is being created and stored, (3) emphasis from the individual components to […]
Eutectic phase transitions play an important role in many engineering materials, from cast iron to electronic solder. Regular binary eutectics are relatively straightforward and generally well understood, but the additional degree of freedom in three-component alloys introduces a far greater level of complexity, as three solid phases can form simultaneously from the melt. These ternary […]
This event will be held virtually on zoom. Check your email for the link and passcode or contact ksas@seas.upenn.edu. Recent advances in microfluidics and high-throughput sequencing technology have enabled rapid profiling of genomic material in single cells. Valve- and droplet-based microfluidic platforms can precisely and efficiently manipulate, sort, and process cells to generate indexed sequencing […]
This talk will cover how Pixar's crowds pipeline evolved from "A Bug's Life" to "Onward", and how the studio's artists and engineers refined and re-invented their tools over the years to create memorable animated crowd scenes. We'll cover the progression from finite state machine control, to agent based crowd simulation, to sketch based workflows, using […]
Abstract: Thermodynamics provides a robust conceptual framework and set of laws that govern the exchange of energy and matter. Although these laws were originally articulated for macroscopic objects, nanoscale systems also exhibit “thermodynamic-like” behavior – for instance, biomolecular motors convert chemical fuel into mechanical work, and single molecules exhibit hysteresis when manipulated using optical tweezers. To […]
"Manipulating Macrophage Signaling - How macrophages measure 'Eat me' and 'Don't eat me' signals" Physical Sciences in Oncology Center PSOC@Penn Fall 2020 Webinar Series Mondays @ Noon (EST) For webinar links, please contact manu@seas.upenn.edu
The question of "what set of basis functions should be used?" is of fundamental importance to scientific computing. The performance of different choices of basis is assessed primarily by the rate of convergence and robustness. However, when the one-dimensional basis is extended to higher dimensions d, the computational complexity increases exponentially with respect to d. […]
The modern instantiation of a sensor network is a cyberphysical (CPS) system where CPS subsystems can be interconnected by a shared communication network of limited bandwidth. A common problem in CPS networks is the sensing and communication of spatio-temporal signals. However, there are fundamental differences between estimation (sensing) and communication. For example, the type of […]
Abstract Fuels based on hydrocarbons, taken together with the processing of raw hydrocarbons into chemicals, account for about half of the United States’ CO2 emissions. Efforts to lessen the CO2 footprint of these activities have the potential to make a significant impact on total greenhouse emissions. We focus on taking CO2 and – with energy […]
Phase prediction in multicomponent alloys remains one of the most fundamental challenges. Navigating the vast compositional space of these alloys requires a predictive capability to efficiently guide alloy discovery and microstructure design. Recently, Dr. Ghazisaeidi has developed a Multicell Monte Carlo (MC)^2 method, based on first-principles calculations, to study phase formation in multicomponent alloys. This […]
Choosing suitable data representations is one of the most critical topics when installing machine learning on 3D data. This talk discusses several recent works on utilizing uncertainty as a lens to develop suitable data representations and formulations for geometry reconstruction and understanding. We will discuss both theoretical results and applications in multi-scan registration, pose estimation, […]
The Penn Institute for Computational Science (PICS) is proud to host a C++ workshop on Saturday, October 17 from 10:00am – 3:30pm via Zoom. This one day workshop will teach students the basic skills needed to program in C++. We ask that anyone who attends has at least one year of prior programming experience in […]
“A three dimensional extracellular matrix supports organoid phenotype by reducing cortical actin tension to maintain endoplasmic reticulum function” Physical Sciences in Oncology Center PSOC@Penn Fall 2020 Webinar Series Mondays @ Noon (EST) For webinar links, please contact manu@seas.upenn.edu
Acute hemorrhage and hemorrhagic shock result in approximately 60,000 annual deaths in the United States. The vast majority of these deaths are in severely injured patients, but experts in trauma care believe many of these deaths can actually be prevented. Efforts focused on injury prevention and pre-emptive intervention have produced some improvements in survival. However, […]
The recent demonstration of quantum supremacy by Google is a first step towards the era of small to medium scale quantum computers. In this talk I will explain what the experiment accomplished and the theoretical work it is based on, as well as what it did not accomplish and the many theoretical and practical challenges that remain. I will also describe […]
The PICS alumni Spotlight is an opportunity for students to learn from and network with alumni.
Abstract Engineering pathways across biological barriers is entering a new era with the rapid advancement of computational resources. My research group focuses on developing multi-scale simulation methods to elucidate the interfacial phenomena associated with biological barriers that play a role in life-threatening diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, cancer, and chronic infections. Our goal is to influence […]
The Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) has heralded a sea change in the philosophy of materials design. In an increasing number of applications, the successful deployment of novel materials has benefited from the use of computational, experimental and informatics methodologies. Here, we describe the role played by computational and experimental data generation and capture, polymer fingerprinting, […]
We shall examine in our talk concepts and tools for the analysis of social networks. We shall present in particular YouTube and Twitter. For YouTube, we point at shortcomings in ways to measure audience retention and propose new concepts to better quantify desirable properties. We then present a geo-linguistic analysis of Twitter based on daily […]
This event will be held virtually on zoom. Check email for zoom link or email ksas@seas.upenn.edu. CAR T cells—T cells engineered to express a chimeric antigen receptor that redirects their function to a specific antigen—have proven to be an effective therapy for certain B cell cancers, but many issues remain in order to apply CAR […]
Pixar's films rely heavily on physically simulated effects such as the motion of hairs, cloth, and water, to cite a few. Whereas physical accuracy is of paramount importance in engineering applications, the most important aspects of feature film productions are directability and speed. In this talk, I'll survey our recent work in this area, including […]
Many complex nonequilibrium systems, including turbulent flows, are characterized by chaotic dynamics, a large number of degrees of freedom, and hierarchical, multiscale structure in space and time. In two vignettes, we describe some recent work aimed at developing and applying machine learning and data science tools for systems displaying these characteristics. The first vignette builds […]
Abstract: Fluids and solids tend to be addressed using distinct computational perspectives. Solid deformation is most commonly simulated with Lagrangian finite-element methods, whereas fluid flow is amenable to Eulerian-frame approaches such as finite difference and finite volume methods. Problems that mix fluid and solid behaviors simultaneously present interesting numerical challenges. Here we focus on […]
Talk title TBC Physical Sciences in Oncology Center PSOC@Penn Fall 2020 Webinar Series Mondays @ Noon (EST) For webinar links, please contact manu@seas.upenn.edu
In this talk I will provide an overview of our recent work in data-driven methods---mainly machine learning---to enhance computational materials physics models. This body of work has proceeded along two main fronts. The first is system inference, where we seek to identify physical mechanisms via their mathematical signatures as differential or algebraic operators. Our approach […]
With the commercialization of wide-bandgap power semiconductors, multi-MHz switching frequencies are more compelling and critical to meet new applications demanding leaps in power density and efficiency. In the past, studies of these converters reported significant gaps between measured and modeled performance, often attributed to dynamic RDS,ON in GaN HEMTs. In particular, the power semiconductors – […]
A long-standing grand challenge in computing is to enable machines to act autonomously and intelligently: to rapidly and repeatedly take appropriate actions based on information in the world around them. Driven by trends in the data economy, rapid progress in AI, and an increasingly programmable physical world we are at an inflection point that demands […]
Abstract Until now, the natural world has supplied us with antibiotics. Bacteria, however, are increasingly resistant to these drugs. The next generation of antibiotics will likely come not from nature but from computer-based discovery. Computer-driven approaches have the potential to outperform humans, as demonstrated for pattern recognition of images and text. In order for machines […]
The Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania and Dr. David Meaney are pleased to announce the Doctoral Dissertation Defense of Samantha Schumm. The public is welcome to attend the Zoom meeting via the details below. Title: Computational Investigations of Neuronal Network Responses to Traumatic Brain Injury Date: Thursday, October 29th, 2020 Time: 9:00am EST Join Zoom […]
The Graduate Student Symposium will be held on October 30th, 11:00AM-5:00PM EDT. We are excited to share the research conducted in our department with each other and invited industrial representatives, with 14 oral talks and 36 poster presentations from soft matter, biological and biomedical engineering, energy, and catalysis. Information on the program and abstracts can […]
Two fundamental challenges that arise in the development of air-breathing supersonic combustion ramjet engines (scramjets) for hypersonic flight are: 1) the rapid mixing of fuel and oxidizer that must occur prior to combustion, and 2) the coupling between the engine structure and the flow dynamics. Interactions of shock waves and turbulence that characterize the flow […]
