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MEAM Seminar: “Sticky Situations: Cohesion in Granular Flows”

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

From silo discharge and granular avalanches to the erosion of granular beds, granular materials play a central role in many industrial and environmental processes. While significant advances have been made in understanding the statics and dynamics of cohesionless grains, the role of interparticle adhesion, which fundamentally alters bulk rheology and transport mechanisms, remains elusive. In […]

CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Tailoring MXene Chemistry through Composition and Undercoordination for Applications in Hydrogen Chemistries” (Yamilée Morency)

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

Abstract: Global transition to clean energy relies on the development of efficient hydrogen storage materials and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts—two primary chemistries investigated in this thesis. MXenes, a family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides and nitrides, have emerged as promising candidates for hydrogen technologies due to their high electrical conductivity, chemical tunability, and structural […]

CIS Seminar: “Generative Computer Vision for the Physical World”

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

Generative models are revolutionizing our world, with the ability to generate photorealistic visual content that are indistinguishable from reality. Despite their overwhelming presence in the cyber world, they haven’t been very useful in the physical world that we live in. In this talk, I will present how the rich priors learned by large-scale generative models—ranging […]

AI Across Disciplines: A Penn Initiative

Amy Gutmann Hall, Auditorium 3333 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Join President J. Larry Jameson and Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. along with the Penn AI Council for the launch of Penn AI. Senior Vice Provost for Research Dawn Bonnell will lead a discussion with members of the Penn AI Council to explore AI’s societal implications and Penn’s potential to influence a more sustainable future. […]

ASSET Seminar: “Getting Lost in ML Safety Vibes”

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

Abstract:  Machine learning applications are increasingly reliant on black-box pretrained models. To ensure safe use of these models, techniques such as unlearning, guardrails, and watermarking have been proposed to curb model behavior and audit usage. Unfortunately, while these post-hoc approaches give positive safety ‘vibes’ when evaluated in isolation, our work shows that existing techniques are quite brittle when deployed […]

Spring 2025 GRASP SFI: Ke Li, Simon Fraser University, “The Devil Is in the Gaps: How (Not) To Interpolate Between Discrete Points”

Levine 307 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in Levine 307 and virtual attendance on Zoom. ABSTRACT What do diffusion models/flow matching, Gaussian splatting and efficient transformer architectures have in common? Under the hood, they all turn a discrete set of points into a function defined everywhere. In the case of diffusion models/flow matching, […]

CBE Seminar: “Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology for a Sustainable Future” (Hal Alper, UT Austin)

Wu & Chen Auditorium

Abstract: Recent technical advances are leading to a rapid transformation of the chemical palette available in cells, thus making it conceivable to produce nearly any organic molecule of interest—from biofuels to biopolymers to pharmaceuticals. However, these feats require the ability to “hijack” native cellular machinery and metabolism and navigate the complexity inherent in cellular regulation. […]

MSE Seminar: “Multifunctional Nanoparticles for Targeted Cancer Imaging and Treatment,” Miqin Zhang – Kyocera Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering University of Washington

Wu & Chen Auditorium

One of our key research areas focuses on developing innovative nanoplatforms for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and therapy-response monitoring. We aim to understand material-biosystem interactions and design nanoparticles capable of delivering effective therapeutic payloads. This presentation will discuss strategies for synthesizing and engineering nanoparticles to ensure stability, extended blood circulation, and controlled drug release while overcoming […]

IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: “Stochastic-Gradient-based Algorithms for Solving Nonconvex Constrained Optimization Problems”

Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 615

Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722   Abstract I will present recent work by my research group on the design and analysis of stochastic-gradient-based algorithms for solving nonconvex constrained optimization problems, which may arise, for example, in informed supervised learning.  I will focus in particular on algorithmic strategies that have consistently been shown to exhibit the best practical […]

CIS Seminar: “Learning, Reasoning, and Planning with Neuro-Symbolic Concepts”

Levine 307 3330 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

I aim to build complete intelligent agents that can continually learn, reason, and plan: answer queries, infer human intentions, and make long-horizon plans spanning hours to days. In this talk, I will describe a general learning and reasoning framework based on neuro-symbolic concepts. Drawing inspiration from theories and studies in cognitive science, neuro-symbolic concepts serve […]