ESE Spring Seminar – “Microresonator-based quantum photonics”
As the only quantum information carrier at atmospheric pressure and temperature, photons play a versatile role in the quantum information ecosystem. Recent progress in fabricating high-quality-factor microresonators has enabled unprecedented […]
2026 Celebration of Community
The Cora Ingrum Center is thrilled to invite you to the Celebration of Community. This annual event showcases Penn Engineering students, staff, faculty, and alumni in their multi-talented richness. The […]
ESE Spring Seminar – “Hybrid Nonlinear Photonic Systems”
Integrated photonics is poised to transform communication, computing, and sensing by shrinking complex optical systems onto scalable chip-scale platforms. Realizing this potential, however, requires next-generation photonic systems that move beyond […]
ESE Spring Seminar – “All-Optical Recording and Control of the Mammalian Cortex”
The mammalian cortex is the most effective and efficient electronic device we know of, yet its immense complexity and large spatial extent make interfacing with it extraordinarily difficult, limiting our […]
FOLDS seminar: Bridging Computational and Statistical Theories of Machine Learning
Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 There are two broad strands of literature on the theoretical underpinnings of machine learning. “Computational“ learning theory traces its origins to theoretical computer science, with an influential paper […]
FOLDS seminar: Surrogate-Model Approaches to Optimizers for LLM Training
Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 The recent empirical success of the Muon optimizer in training large language models has outpaced the theoretical understanding of its matrix-gradient orthogonalization design. To bridge this gap, […]
FOLDS seminar: Global Convergence of Gradient EM for Over-Parameterized Gaussian Mixtures
Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 Learning Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs) is a fundamental problem in machine learning, and the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm and its variant gradient-EM are the most widely used algorithms […]
FOLDS seminar: Differentially Private Space-Efficient Algorithms for Counting Distinct Elements in the Turnstile Model
ATTENTION: NEW DATE AND LOCATION Monday, March 23, 2026 (Noon – 1 pm) Glandt Forum, Singh Center 3205 Walnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104 Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 The turnstile continual release […]
FOLDS seminar: Coherence Mechanisms for Provable Self-Improvement
Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 Large language models are increasingly trained to improve themselves, yet the mechanisms driving this, such as self-reflection or RLAIF, rely almost entirely on empirical heuristics. Is it possible […]
FOLDS seminar & PENN AI seminar: Optimization Challenges in Physics-Informed Neural Networks
Zoom link: https://upenn.zoom.us/j/98220304722 Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) minimize composite losses that penalize PDE residuals alongside boundary and initial conditions. While this resembles multi-task learning, the optimization landscape is fundamentally different. […]