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CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “A molecular understanding of the structure-property relationships of model end-linked polymer networks” (Han Zhang)

Room 35, Singh Center for Nanotechnology 3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Abstract: Polymer networks, including thermoplastics, thermosets, elastomers and gels, are among the most versatile and widely utilized polymeric materials, with applications spanning drug delivery systems, membranes and implantable devices. A comprehensive understanding of the intricate relationship between the macroscopic properties and the structure and topology of polymer networks is crucial for advancing their utilization and […]

CIS Seminar: “Thinking Outside the GPU: Systems for Scalable Machine Learning Pipelines”

Wu & Chen Auditorium

Scalable and efficient machine learning (ML) systems have been instrumental in fueling recent advancements in ML capabilities. However, further scaling these systems requires more than simply increasing the number and performance of accelerators. This is because modern ML deployments rely on complex pipelines composed of many diverse and interconnected systems.  In this talk, I will […]

ASSET Seminar: “Steering Machine Learning Ecosystems of Interacting Agents”

Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 414 3333 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, United States

Abstract:  Modern machine learning models—such as LLMs and recommender systems—interact with humans, companies, and other models in a broader ecosystem. However, these multi-agent interactions often induce unintended ecosystem-level outcomes such as clickbait in classical content recommendation ecosystems, and more recently, safety violations and market concentration in nascent LLM ecosystems. In this talk, I discuss my […]

Spring 2025 GRASP & CIS Seminar: Yossi Gandelsman, University of California, Berkeley, “Interpreting the Inner Workings of Vision Models”

Heilmeier Hall (Room 100), Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Towne 100 Heilmeier Hall and virtual attendance on Zoom. ABSTRACT In this talk, I present an approach for interpreting the internal computation in deep vision models. I show that these interpretations can be used to detect model bugs and to improve the performance of pre-trained […]

CBE Seminar: “Toward Efficient and Synthesizable In-silico Molecular Design” (Wenhao Gao, MIT)

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

Abstract: The discovery of functional molecules plays a fundamental role in advancing chemical science and engineering, yet it remains a costly and time-intensive process. Recent advances in computational methods, particularly in generative artificial intelligence, have introduced a new approach—generative molecular design—which holds the promise of efficiently identifying molecules with desired properties. However, despite significant progress, […]

IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar

Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 414 3333 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, United States

Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98843354016

BE Seminar – “Engineering cell state-specific gene regulation with AI and synthetic biology” (Sebastián Castillo Hair, University of Washington)

Cells across tissues, developmental stages, and disease conditions adopt distinct intracellular states – epigenomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiles – to compartmentalize function in time and space. The ability to write DNA- and RNA-encoded programs that sense and interface with cellular states has transformative potential for biotechnology, for example in designing gene therapies with cell type- […]

Spring 2025 GRASP Seminar: Hersh Sanghvi, University of Pennsylvania, “Online Controller Adaptation with Meta-Learned Models”

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

This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Wu and Chen and virtual attendance on Zoom. ABSTRACT Control tuning and adaptation present a significant challenge to the usage of robots in diverse environments. It is often nontrivial to find a single set of control parameters by hand that work well across the broad […]

MSE Thesis Defense: “Cryogenic Microscopies of Energy Storage Materials: Insights into Metal Anodes, Solid-Electrolyte Interfaces, and Mxenes”

LRSM Reading Room 3231 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA, United States

The growing global energy demand has driven the development of advanced batteries, particularly lithium metal anodes and anode-free systems, due to their potential for higher energy density at reduced costs. However, characterizing the interfaces within these systems presents a critical challenge due to their susceptibility to decomposition during conventional atomic-resolution analysis. The emergence of Cryogenic […]

MEAM Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Bio-inspired Architected Materials/structures with Enhanced Failure Characteristics”

Towne 319 220 S. 33rd Street, Philadelphia, United States

Structural failure is a critically important design consideration in many engineering applications. Nature provides a number of interesting examples of lightweight structural features that exhibit outstanding failure characteristics. Recent progress in additive manufacturing has facilitated precise control over geometric features, allowing for the implementation of bio-inspired structural designs on a layer-by-layer basis. In this thesis, […]