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John A. Quinn Distinguished Lecture: “Some Uses and Misuses of Equilibrium Thermodynamics”

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

We will discuss a number of legitimate and of wrongful applications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, in particular, in the screening of chemical processes. We consider how ideas of equilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics can be of value in some non-equilibrium situations, particularly in the cases of very slow diffusion and reaction.

CIS Seminar: “Machine Learning: Why Do Simple Algorithms Work So Well?”

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

While state-of-the-art machine learning models are deep, large-scale, sequential and highly nonconvex, the backbone of modern learning algorithms are simple algorithms such as stochastic gradient descent, or Q-learning (in the case of reinforcement learning tasks). A basic question endures---why do simple algorithms work so well even in these challenging settings? This talk focuses on two […]

MEAM Seminar: “Force, Shape, and Motion in Collective Cell Migration”

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

Cells migrate collectively to form tissues, to heal wounds, and, in cancer, to metastasize. During these biological processes, the collective migration exhibits a transition from a solid-like state, wherein cell positions remain fixed, to a fluid-like state, wherein cells flow freely and rearrange their positions with their neighbors. Recent mechanics-based models and experiments have demonstrated […]

CIS Seminar: “Computer Security for Emerging Technologies”

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

As our world becomes more computerized, security and privacy takes on a prominent role in allowing us to enjoy the benefits of new technologies without the risks. Addressing the new challenges that come with this role requires a change in how we approach and solve problems in computer security. My vision is that we must […]

ESE Seminar: “Control of Light and Heat for New Energy Applications”

Light carries energy and heat, and plays a key role in many energy-conversion processes. The capabilities to tailor electromagnetic energy transfer at the nanoscale represent important opportunities for novel energy applications. In this talk I will present two sets of studies integrating experiments and theory. In the first part, I will discuss how to use […]

BE Seminar Series: Applied Topology in Biological Systems

Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Though rooted in pure mathematics, algebraic topology has recently enabled novel analysis techniques for biological data. Specifically, the method called persistent homology which employs ideas from topology to characterize the voids in a complex network. In this talk, I will briefly introduce persistent homology and give an overview of how we have recently applied this […]

BE Seminar Series: Synchronization is Robust in a Computational Model of Neuronal Network Dynamics and Injury

Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

At the macroscale, synchronization between brain regions is believed to be important for memory and attention. Injury, including mild traumatic brain injury, can both increase and decrease synchronization as measured by functional MRI, but these changes are not well understood and are unknown at a smaller spatial scale. Here, we examined how injury affects the […]

BE Seminar Series: Heterogeneous, Multi-Scale and Patient-Speci C Pharmacodynamic Systems Models for Cancer with Clinical Applications

Room 337, Towne Building 220 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Abstract: Systems models of key signaling pathways in cancer have been extensively used to understand and explore the mechanisms of action of drugs and growth factors on cancer cell signaling. In general, such models predict the effect of mechanical or chemical stimuli (for e.g. drug dosage) in terms of activity of one or more key […]