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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240325T110000
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SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "Catch M(oor)e If You Can: Agile Hardware/Software Co-Design for Hyperscale Cloud Systems"
DESCRIPTION:Global reliance on cloud services\, powered by transformative technologies like generative AI\, machine learning\, and big-data analytics\, is driving exponential growth in demand for hyperscale cloud compute infrastructure. Meanwhile\, the breakdown of classical hardware scaling (e.g.\, Moore’s Law) is hampering growth in compute supply. Building domain-specific hardware can address this supply-demand gap\, but catching up with exponential demand requires developing new hardware rapidly and with confidence that performance/efficiency gains will compound in the context of a complete system. These are challenging tasks given the status quo in hardware design\, even before accounting for the immense scale of cloud systems. \nThis talk will focus on two themes of my work: (1) Developing radical new agile\, end-to-end hardware/software co-design tools that challenge the status quo in hardware design for systems of all scales and unlock the ability to innovate on new hardware at datacenter scale. (2) Leveraging these tools and insights from hyperscale datacenter fleet profiling to architect and implement state-of-the-art domain-specific hardware that addresses key efficiency challenges in hyperscale cloud systems. \nI will first cover my work creating the award-winning and widely used FireSim FPGA-accelerated hardware simulation platform\, which provides unprecedented hardware/software co-design capabilities. FireSim automatically constructs high-performance\, cycle-exact\, scale-out simulations of novel hardware designs derived from the tapeout-friendly RTL code that describes them\, empowering hardware designers and domain experts alike to directly iterate on new hardware designs in hours rather than years. FireSim also unlocks innovation in datacenter hardware with the unparalleled ability to scale to massive\, distributed simulations of thousand-node networked datacenter clusters with specialized server designs and complete control over the datacenter architecture. I will then briefly cover my work co-creating the also widely used Chipyard platform for agile construction\, simulation (including FireSim)\, and tape-out of specialized RISC-V System-on-Chip (SoC) designs using a novel\, RTL-generator-driven approach. \nNext\, I will discuss my work in collaboration with Google on Hyperscale SoC\, a cloud-optimized server chip built\, evaluated\, and taped-out with FireSim and Chipyard. Hyperscale SoC includes my work on several novel domain-specific accelerators (DSAs) for expensive but foundational operations in hyperscale servers\, including (de)serialization\, (de)compression\, and more. Hyperscale SoC demonstrates a new paradigm of data-driven\, end-to-end hardware/software co-design\, combining key insights from profiling Google’s world-wide datacenter fleet with the ability to rapidly build and evaluate novel hardware designs in FireSim/Chipyard. This instance of Hyperscale SoC is just the beginning; I will conclude by covering the wide-ranging opportunities that can now be explored for radically redesigning next generation hyperscale cloud datacenters.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-spring-seminar-tbd-9/
LOCATION:Glandt Forum\, Singh Center for Nanotechnology\, 3205 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240326T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240326T113000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240119T164138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240119T164138Z
UID:10007818-1711447200-1711452600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "3D Modeling of the Intervertebral Disc: Direct Relationships Between Tissue Composition and Model Parameters"
DESCRIPTION:Finite element models provide a valuable tool for studying disease progression\, risk of tissue failure\, or repair strategies. To date\, many models for biological tissues employ hyperelastic material descriptions with material properties that have no direct physical interpretation. This seminar will focus on development\, validation\, and application of a multi-scale structure-based model developed for the intervertebral disc. \nThe disc is a fiber-reinforced composite structure. Model development was initiated by calibrating model parameters to mechanical behavior at the sub-tissue scale. Fiber bundles and non-fibrous material were modeled as separate materials using triphasic mixture theory\, allowing for direct physical interpretation of the material properties. The resulting parameters were used to create tissue- and joint-level models of the disc and the model-predicted mechanical behavior was compared to experimental data in the literature for model validation. Lastly\, the model was uses to assess the impact of complex loading on the relative risk of tissue failure. Specifically\, the model was used to predict the risk of disc herniation. Findings from this work highlight significant challenges in replicating clinically relevant disc herniation using commonly applied experimental techniques.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-3d-modeling-of-the-intervertebral-disc-direct-relationships-between-tissue-composition-and-model-parameters/
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:20240326T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240326T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240321T133443Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240321T133443Z
UID:10007908-1711449000-1711454400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:ESE Spring Seminar - "Advancing the Endless Frontier- Opportunities to Engage on Basic Research at the DoD"
DESCRIPTION:The Department of Defense (DoD)’s Basic Research Office (BRO) sets scientific priorities aimed toward ensuring DoD is a leader in scientific discovery and identifying new paths for investigation. The office is responsible for oversight and management of DoD’s ~$2.9 B basic research investment in high risk\, high pay-off research and manages programs including the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship\, MURI\, Minerva\, and pilot programs such as the Newton Award. In this presentation\, Dr. Nair\, the DoD’s Director of Basic Research will discuss the BRO approach to basic research\, which includes the use-inspired questions on fundamental processes\, but also true ‘blue sky’ science with no application in mind. After presenting the BRO framework for supporting basic research\, Dr. Nair will discuss intriguing developments and future directions for funding at BRO.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/ese-spring-seminar-advancing-the-endless-frontier-opportunities-to-engage-on-basic-research-at-the-dod/
LOCATION:Greenberg Lounge (Room 114)\, Skirkanich Hall\, 210 South 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ORGANIZER;CN="Electrical and Systems Engineering":MAILTO:eseevents@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240326T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240326T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240318T183501Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240318T183501Z
UID:10007905-1711467000-1711470600@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: " Empowering Large Language Models with Efficient and Automated Systems"
DESCRIPTION:Large Language Models (LLMs) have brought remarkable advancements to the computing industry. However\, a high barrier exists between the LLMs and the vast majority of researchers and practitioners\, brought by the engineering challenges with the enormous model sizes and the substantial compute requirements. In this talk\, I’ll discuss my research on system innovations to democratize LLMs\, which includes (1) Alpa and AlpaServe\, the first system to automate model-parallel training and accelerate serving with model parallelism\, and (2) vLLM\, a high-throughput and memory-efficient serving engine for large language models\, accelerated with PagedAttention. I will conclude by presenting the short-term research challenges and long-term trends in LLM systems.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-empowering-large-language-models-with-efficient-and-automated-systems/
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:20240327T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240327T133000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240220T185833Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240220T185833Z
UID:10007868-1711540800-1711546200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIS Seminar: "Practical Machine Learning for Networked Systems"
DESCRIPTION:The growing complexity and heterogeneity of networked systems have spurred a plethora of machine learning (ML) solutions\, each promising a tantalizing improvement in performance. However\, their path to real-world adoption is fraught with obstacles due to concerns from system operators about ML’s generalization\, transparency\, robustness\, and efficiency. \nMy research takes a holistic approach to enabling practical ML for networked systems: 1) building open research platforms to lay the foundation for ML-based algorithms; 2) complementing ML with classical techniques (e.g.\, time-tested heuristics\, control algorithms\, or optimization methods) for enhanced deployability; and 3) validating ML-augmented methods through extensive empirical evidence gathered from real users or production systems. In this talk\, I will demonstrate this research approach using three studies: Puffer/Fugu learns to adapt video bitrate in situ on a live streaming service we developed (with over 280\,000 users to date)\, Autothrottle learns to assist resource management for cloud microservices\, and Teal learns to accelerate traffic engineering on wide-area networks. Finally\, I will conclude by outlining my research agenda for further pushing the boundaries of practical ML in networked systems.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-practical-machine-learning-for-networked-systems/
LOCATION:Raisler Lounge (Room 225)\, Towne Building\, 220 South 33rd 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:20240327T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240327T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240314T162404Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240314T162404Z
UID:10007901-1711551600-1711555200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2024 GRASP SFI: Eric Jang\, 1X Technologies\, "Data Engines for Humanoid Robots"
DESCRIPTION:This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom.  \nABSTRACT\n1X’s mission is to create an abundant supply of physical labor through androids that work alongside humans. I will share some of the progress 1X has been making towards general-purpose mobile manipulation. We have scaled up the number of tasks our androids can do by combining an end-to-end learning strategy with a no-code system to add new robotic capabilities. Our Android Operations team trains their own models on the data they gather themselves\, producing an extremely high-quality “farm-to-table” dataset that can be used to learn extremely capable behaviors. I’ll also share an early preview of the progress we’ve been making towards a generalist “World Model” for humanoid robots.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2024-grasp-sfi-eric-jang/
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:20240328T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240328T113000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240315T205552Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240315T205552Z
UID:10007904-1711620000-1711625400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:MEAM Seminar: "Physics and Engineering of Moisture-Capturing Hydrogels for Freshwater and Heat Harvesting"
DESCRIPTION:Humidity in the air is a vast water and energy resource available in any location. Air in the atmosphere contains six times more freshwater than that of all rivers and lakes. This moisture also carries over a thousand times more power than the global electricity demand. For over two centuries\, numerous water sorbent materials have attempted to harness these resources. However\, their performance\, scalability\, and durability have severely limited their potential. In this talk\, I will discuss the material-level to application-level development of hydrogel-salt composites that capture record amounts of water from the air with low-cost (<$0.1/kg of material) and high durability. \nI first developed physics-based models elucidating the key thermodynamic interactions and transport mechanisms in hydrogel-salt composites. Through comprehensive synthesis and characterization\, I demonstrated that these models accurately predict the key sorption performance metrics (uptake\, enthalpy\, and kinetics) of hydrogel-salt composites from their composition. I then used these insights to 1) synthesize hydrogels with the highest capability ever demonstrated of any material to capture and store water from the air (~2 kg of water/kg of material)\, even in arid conditions (30% relative humidity)\, 2) design and demonstrate a device capable of producing >1 L/m2/day of water from humidity\, and 3) develop a heat exchanger that converts moisture capture into heat. Beyond performance\, I studied the hydrogel degradation mechanisms\, probing an unexplored\, yet critical parameter. Specifically\, by preventing metal ion-mediated hydrogel degradation\, I demonstrated >8-month material durability\, exceeding previous state-of-the-art works and providing a path towards <$0.01/L water production from the air. \nMy rational\, physics-based development of hydrogel-salt composites represents a significant step towards the utilization of ambient moisture and its energy for a wide range of applications. These results also open exciting scientific opportunities for leveraging the unconventional transport properties of hydrogels to address grand humanity challenges in the water-food-energy nexus.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/meam-seminar-physics-and-engineering-of-moisture-capturing-hydrogels-for-freshwater-and-heat-harvesting/
LOCATION:Towne 319\, 220 S. 33rd Street\, Philadelphia\, 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:20240328T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240328T163000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240312T202318Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240312T202318Z
UID:10007899-1711639800-1711643400@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:CIs Seminar: "Privacy-Preserving Systems for a Data-Driven World"
DESCRIPTION:The potential of data to transform science and society has spurred unparalleled efforts to collect it in increasingly sensitive and granular forms\, which has raised a variety of societal concerns about how this data is handled and used. Though today\, at-rest and in-transit encryption are standard practices\, these alone are insufficient to address the security and privacy needs of emerging complex data-driven applications in inherently privacy-sensitive domains. Moreover\, these applications frequently require sharing and disclosing data for legitimate reasons. Nonetheless\, prevailing data-sharing practices in these systems often disregard privacy considerations\, leading to numerous instances of data misuse and abuse. \nIn the past few decades\, cryptographers have developed an array of theoretical techniques that\, in principle\, could address the security and privacy needs of these applications\, including secure computation and privacy-enhancing techniques. The increasing urgency in addressing security and privacy concerns within these complex environments has generated a growing demand for the transition of these theoretical techniques into practice. While these techniques promise to enhance privacy and security for sensitive data\, realizing their full potential in practice remains a challenging task. \n  \nIn this talk\, I will present my work on developing systems and abstractions that simplify the use of advanced cryptographic techniques for enhancing data privacy\, making them accessible to a broader audience and feasible to apply in complex settings. Additionally\, I will discuss my work on bringing the advantages of these techniques to challenging and resource-constrained environments. Throughout the talk\, I will discuss the prevalent challenges of efficiency\, functionality\, and accessibility in this research area\, my approach to addressing these challenges\, and future directions that will help bring cryptography and privacy tools to a broader range of applications.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/cis-seminar-privacy-preserving-systems-for-a-data-driven-world/
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:20240329T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240329T114500
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20231220T152929Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231220T152929Z
UID:10007787-1711708200-1711712700@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:Spring 2024 GRASP on Robotics: Zac Manchester\, Carnegie Mellon University\, "Composable Optimization for Robotic Motion Planning and Control"
DESCRIPTION:This is a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. \nABSTRACT\nContact interactions are pervasive in real-world robotics tasks like manipulation and walking. However\, the non-smooth dynamics associated with impacts and friction remain challenging to model\, and motion planning and control algorithms that can fluently and efficiently reason about contact remain elusive. In this talk\, I will share recent work from my research group that takes an “optimization-first” approach to these challenges: collision detection\, physics\, motion planning\, state estimation\, and control are all posed as constrained optimization problems.  We then build a set of algorithmic and numerical tools that allow us to flexibly compose these optimization sub-problems to solve complex robotics tasks involving discontinuous\, unplanned\, and uncertain contact mechanics.
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/spring-2024-grasp-on-robotics-zac-manchester-carnegie-mellon-university-composable-optimization-for-robotic-motion-planning-and-control/
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:20240329T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240329T180000
DTSTAMP:20260403T172240
CREATED:20240301T203327Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240301T203327Z
UID:10007885-1711724400-1711735200@seasevents.nmsdev7.com
SUMMARY:2024 Celebration of Diversity
DESCRIPTION:The Office of Diversity\, Equity & Inclusion is hosting another Celebration of Diversity gala.\n\nThe gathering is intended to showcase students\, staff\, and faculty from Penn Engineering in their cultural richness and heterogeneity. The event will consist of guest speakers\, special performances\, presentations from student affinity groups\, and a variety of cuisines for all to enjoy in the final hour. The bulk of the programming will take place in Wu & Chen before moving to Levine Lobby and Quain Courtyard (weather permitting) for a 5pm Penn Lions performance\, closing statements\, and food.\n\nWe hope to see you there!
URL:https://seasevents.nmsdev7.com/event/celebration-of-diversity-2/
LOCATION:Wu and Chen Auditorium (Room 101)\, Levine Hall\, 3330 Walnut Street\, Philadelphia\, PA\, 19104\, United States
CATEGORIES:Faculty,Doctoral,Graduate,Student,Master's,Postdoctoral,Undergraduate,Diversity, Equity and Inclusion,Staff
ORGANIZER;CN="Office of Diversity%2C Equity and Inclusion":MAILTO:odei@seas.upenn.edu
END:VEVENT
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