ESE Seminar: “Demystifying (Deep) Reinforcement Learning: The Optimist, The Pessimist, and Their Provable Efficiency”

Zoom - Email ESE for Link jbatter@seas.upenn.edu

Coupled with powerful function approximators such as deep neural networks, reinforcement learning (RL) achieves tremendous empirical successes. However, its theoretical understandings lag behind. In particular, it remains unclear how to provably attain the optimal policy with a finite regret or sample complexity. In this talk, we will present the two sides of the same coin, […]

MEAM Seminar: “Control of Turbulent Wall Shear Flows and the Potential for ‘Designer Turbulence'”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

The financial and environmental cost of turbulence is staggering: manage to quell turbulence in the thin boundary layers on the surface of a commercial airliner and you could almost halve the total aerodynamic drag, dramatically cutting fuel burn, emissions and cost of operation. Yet systems-level tools to model scale interactions or control turbulence remain relatively […]

ESE Seminar: “Surpassing Fundamental Limits through Time Varying Electromagnetics”

Zoom - Email ESE for Link jbatter@seas.upenn.edu

Surpassing the fundamental limits that govern all electromagnetic structures, such as reciprocity and the delay-bandwidth-size limit, will have a transformative impact on all applications based on electromagnetic circuits and systems. For instance, violating principles of reciprocity enables non-reciprocal components such as isolators and circulators, which find application in full-duplex wireless radios, radar, bio-medical imaging, and […]

Spring 2021 GRASP SFI: “Considerations for Human-Robot Collaboration”

Zoom

Abstract: The field of robotics has evolved over the past few decades. We’ve seen robots progress from the automation of repetitive tasks in manufacturing to the autonomy of mobilizing in unstructured environments to the cooperation of swarm robots that are centralized or decentralized. These abilities have required advances in robotic hardware, modeling, and artificial intelligence. […]

ESE Seminar: “Synthetic dimensions: harnessing light’s internal degrees of freedom for quantum, nonlinear and topological photonics”

Zoom - Email ESE for Link jbatter@seas.upenn.edu

Scaling up next-generation photonic systems in a resource-efficient manner is a ubiquitous challenge for quantum technologies such as quantum networks, quantum simulation and computation, and for classical technologies such as photonic neural networks, LiDAR and communications. From a fundamental perspective, high-dimensional lattices hold promise for realizing and manipulating exotic states of light and matter, complementing […]

BE/Biochem/Biophys Seminar: “The Coming of Age of De Novo Protein Design” David Baker

This seminar will be held virtually on Zoom (check email or contact ksas@seas.upenn.edu). This seminar is jointly hosted by the Department of Bioengineering and the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics. Proteins mediate the critical processes of life and beautifully solve the challenges faced during the evolution of modern organisms. Our goal is to design a […]

GRASP On Robotics: “One Robot for Every Task”

Zoom

Abstract: The digitization of practically everything coupled with advances in machine learning, the automation of knowledge work, and advanced robotics promises a future with democratized use of machines and wide-spread use of AI, robots and customization. While the last 60 years have defined the field of industrial robots, and empowered hard bodied robots to execute […]

PSOC Webinar: Robert T. Tranquillo

Physical Sciences in Oncology Center PSOC@Penn Spring 2021 Webinar Series Mondays at 12:00 noon (EST) For webinar links, please contact manu@seas.upenn.edu.

MEAM Seminar: “Exploring the Structure of Sediment-Laden Turbidity Currents”

Zoom - Email MEAM for Link peterlit@seas.upenn.edu

Turbidity currents are sediment-laden turbulent shear flows that run over a sloping bed, submerged beneath a deep layer of quiescent ambient fluid, driven by the excess hydrostatic pressure. As the current travels downslope, the flow interacts with the ambient fluid layer above through entrainment at the interface. In this process, the ambient fluid is continuously […]