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CIS Seminar: “Leveraging the Wisdom of Clouds for Internet Security”

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

Over the past decade, networked systems have consolidated under just a handful of hyperscale cloud providers (e.g., AWS, Azure). While this offers logistical and economic advantages, attackers specifically target providers and their customers, a shift that has left traditional network vantage points blind to the most sophisticated adversaries. In this talk, I’ll explore how we […]

ASSET Seminar: “Beyond Scaling: Frontiers of Retrieval-Augmented Language Models”

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

Abstract: Large Language Models (LMs) have demonstrated remarkable capabilities by scaling up training data and model sizes. However, they continue to face critical challenges, including hallucinations and outdated knowledge, which particularly limit their reliability in expert domains such as scientific research and software development. In this talk, I will urge the necessity of moving beyond […]

CBE Seminar: “Genetically Encodable Designer Biomaterials” (Shunzhi Wang, University of Washington)

Wu & Chen Auditorium

Abstract: Nature harnesses genetic sequences to encode structural information and emergent physical and chemical transformations required by life processes. Such orchestration is achieved through hierarchical self-assemblies driven by weak molecular interactions and optimized via evolution. However, emulating this level of programmability to create designer biomolecular materials remains a grand challenge. In this seminar, I will […]

Postponed Energy Week: Viewing of Legion 44 Documentary Film

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

Vanessa Chan, the Jonathan and Linda Brassington Practice Professor in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Vice Dean of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Penn Engineering, is hosting the premiere of the documentary Legion 44. Special guests include Leila Conners, the film’s director and producer, and Dr. Max Pisciotta, a featured climate scientist in the film […]

CBE & VIEST Joint Seminar: “Lignin Conversion to Performance-advantaged Fuels, Chemicals, and Polymers” (Gregg Beckham, NREL)

Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology, Room 121 231 S 34th Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Abstract: Terrestrial plants harbor renewable carbon resources in their cell walls that can directly contribute to decarbonization of the transportation and materials sectors, but the heterogeneous, aromatic lignin polymer found in plants has long obstructed both natural- and humankind-driven endeavors to deconstruct plant biomass to valuable products. However, viable methods to valorize lignin are essential […]

Energy Week: “Climate 101: Climate Change and Artificial Intelligence”

Annenberg School for Communication, Room 300 3620 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

The Environmental Innovations Initiative's Climate 101 series demystifies climate change and its link with a diversity of disciplines. Experts from across Penn share how they think about climate through the lens of their research and teaching, helping to raise our climate literacy and prepare us to tackle one of the planet's greatest challenges: the climate […]

IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: “Foundations of Deep Learning: Optimization and Representation Learning”

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

Deep learning's success stems from the ability of neural networks to automatically discover meaningful representations from raw data. In this talk, I will describe some recent insights into how optimization enables this learning process. First, I will show how optimization algorithms exhibit surprisingly rich dynamics when training neural networks, and how these complex dynamics are […]

BE Seminar – “Engineered bacteria for cancer therapy” (Tal Danino, Columbia University)

Berger Auditorium (Room 13), Skirkanich Hall 210 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Synthetic biology is driving a new era of medicine through the genetic programming of living cells. One particular focus has been the engineering of bacteria as therapeutic delivery systems for cancer, where microbes colonize and release payloads within tumors. Here, genetic circuits are designed to enhance spatial and temporal control of microbial behaviors for improved […]

CIS Seminar: “Bridging Informal and Formal AI Reasoning”

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

Neural language models have opened a fascinating, flexible platform for reasoning in mathematics, programming, and beyond. This talk will explore the intersection of these models and the rigor of formal reasoning. First, I discuss my work on building foundation models for mathematics and using language to guide the search for formally verified proofs. Then, I […]

PICS Colloquium: Powering decarbonization with modeling and optimization of renewables in the multi-scale atmosphere

PICS Conference Room 534 - A Wing , 5th Floor 3401 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

To meet net-zero carbon emissions targets by mid-century, up to a -fold increase in wind power capacity is required. Acceleration to this rate requires urgent improvements to efficiency and reliability of installed wind farms, as well as cost reductions for future offshore farms. To expand energy production, wind turbines are rapidly increasing in size, wind […]