Penn Engineering Events

Events Search and Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

Spring 2025 GRASP Seminar: Robin Walters, Northeastern University, “Pushing the Limits of Equivariant Neural Networks”

Amy Gutmann Hall, Room 306 3317 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

This will be a hybrid event with in-person attendance in AGH 306 and virtual attendance on Zoom. ABSTRACT Despite the success of deep learning, there remain challenges to progress. Deep models require vast datasets to train, can fail to generalize under surprisingly small changes in domain, and lack guarantees on performance. Incorporating symmetry constraints into […]

MEAM Seminar: “Biomedical Innovations for Global Health Research and Technology (BIGHEART): NOAS, EXODUS, iTEARS, and BOAS”

Wu & Chen Auditorium

This presentation will discuss the concept of BIGHEART and present various illustrative examples of this approach. The initial focus will be on NOAS (Nanoscale Optical Antennas) within the context of quantitative life sciences and transformative medicine. NOAS facilitates the visualization of quantum biological electron transfer processes occurring in mitochondria within living cells, supports the precise […]

CBE Doctoral Dissertation Defense: “Designing Solvent-Based Order Parameters for Characterizing Binding of Surfaces with Different Hydrophobicity Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations” (Jun Lu)

Greenberg Lounge (Room 114), Skirkanich Hall 210 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Abstract: Life is dependent on water: most self-assembly and binding processes of biomolecules take place in water. Water-mediated interactions are an essential driving force behind these processes, which is largely affected by the hydrophobicity of the binding surfaces. As many biomolecular binding interfaces are amphiphilic, the hydrophobic interactions are largely affected by polar and charged […]

ESE Ph.D. Thesis Defense: “Graph Neural Networks for Communication in Multi-Agent Systems”

Room 313, Singh Center for Nanotechnology 3205 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Communication networks support a wide range of applications in multi-agent systems by solving core problems such as routing, scheduling, and resource allocation. In this thesis, we focus on data-driven routing and scheduling strategies using local information subject to constraints using Graph Neural Networks (GNNs). First, we study information routing in communication networks with constant channel […]

ESE Guest Seminar – “Efficient Computing for AI and Robotics: From Hardware Accelerators to Algorithm Design”

Raisler Lounge (Room 225), Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

The compute demands of AI and robotics continue to rise due to the rapidly growing volume of data to be processed; the increasingly complex algorithms for higher quality of results; and the demands for energy efficiency and real-time performance. In this talk, we will discuss the design of efficient tailored hardware accelerators and the co-design […]

ASSET Seminar: “Fake News, Echo Chambers, and Algorithms: A Data Science Perspective”

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

Abstract: American democracy has been undermined by an “infodemic” of fake news, coupled with the widespread segregation of consumers into ideologically homogenous echo chambers by inscrutable algorithms deployed by rapacious social media platforms—or so we are told. In this talk, I will critically examine claims of this sort—made frequently by politicians, journalists, and public intellectuals—summarizing […]

Spring 2025 GRASP SFI: Haimin Hu, Princeton University, “From Gambits to Assurances: Game-Theoretic Integration of Safety and Learning for Human-Centered Robotics”

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 From autonomous vehicles navigating busy intersections to quadrupeds deployed in household environments, robots must operate safely and efficiently around people in uncertain and unstructured situations. However, today’s robots still struggle to robustly handle low- probability events without […]

CBE Seminar: “From Molecules to Supply Chains: Transforming Data to Decisions using Geometry, Optimization, and Machine Learning” (Victor Zavala, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Wu & Chen Auditorium

Abstract: We discuss how geometry, optimization, and machine learning are key technologies that are revolutionizing the way we think about data and the way we transform data into actionable models and decisions. Specifically, we explain how complex data (e.g., text, molecules, time series, images/video, supply chain flows) can be represented as geometrical objects and how […]

MSE Seminar: “Engineered Biomaterials for Regeneration, Therapy, and Beyond” Akhilesh K Gaharwar, Texas A&M University

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

Engineered biomaterials have emerged as powerful tools for a range of biomedical applications, including regenerative medicine, drug delivery, and additive manufacturing. These engineered biomaterials possess tunable biophysical properties, specific biochemical cues, and complex architecture, enabling precise control over cellular behavior. In this talk, I will outline three biomaterials-based approaches developed in our lab for biomedical […]

IDEAS/STAT Optimization Seminar: “Negative Stepsizes Make Gradient-Descent-Ascent Converge”

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

Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 Abstract: Solving min-max problems is a central question in optimization, games, learning, and controls. Arguably the most natural algorithm is Gradient-Descent-Ascent (GDA), however since the 1970s, conventional wisdom has argued that it fails to converge even on simple problems. This failure spurred the extensive literature on modifying GDA with extragradients, optimism, momentum, anchoring, […]