Concurrent Engineering/MBA Informational Lunch and Learn

Event: Concurrent Engineering/MBA Informational Lunch and Learn

Date: October 18, 2011

Time: 12 to 1 p.m.

Location: 2004 Black Engineering Building

Details: Interested in the concurrent Engineering/MBA program? Attend the Concurrent Engineering/MBA Lunch and Learn to learn about the MBA curriculum, application requirements, and student selection process. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP by e-mailing jreitano@iastate.edu or by calling 515 294-7819 by Friday, October 14. If you cannot attend but would like to learn more about the concurrent program, please e-mail jreitano@iastate.edu to schedule an individual appointment.

Computer Science/Statistics Joint Lecture

Seminar: In-situ Computing

Speaker: Michael Coen, Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics and Department of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Date: October 17, 2011

Time: 4:10 p.m.

Location: 1312 Hoover Hall

Abstract: My work addresses a new framework for data analysis that bridges statistics, optimization theory, and machine learning. I introduce a family of computational methods that are heavily tied to the shapes and densities of datasets. This approach is visual and intuitive, while being mathematically formal, non-parametric, and distribution free. Applications are broad, including: medical informatics and imaging; clustering; protein homology; spatial-based kernels; and a new class of highly powerful goodness-of-fit and hypothesis tests. This talk will focus on both the theory and applications of this work, specifically examining some of its novel mathematical techniques. No prior background is assumed. (This work is joint with Hidayath Ansari, Marissa Phillips, and Timothy Chang.) 

Speaker bio: Mike Coen is an assistant professor at UW-Madison. His primary research interest is self-supervised machine learning, based on biologically inspired models of learning in animals. His Ph.D., S.M, and S.B. degrees are from MIT, where his doctoral thesis received the Sprowls Award for best dissertation in Computer Science.

This lecture was made possible in part by the generosity of F. Wendell Miller, who left his entire estate jointly to Iowa State University and the University of Iowa. Mr. Miller, who died in 1995 at age 97, was born in Altoona, Illinois, grew up in Rockwell City, graduated from Grinnell College and Harvard Law School and practiced law in Des Moines and Chicago before returning to Rockwell City to manage his family’s farm holdings and to practice law. His will helped to establish the F. Wendell Miller Trust, the annual earnings on which, in part, helped to support this activity.

Society of International Engineers CAFÉ Informational Meeting

Event: Society of International Engineers CAFÉ (Creating a Fellowship of Engineers) Informational Meeting

Date: October 16, 2011

Time: 6 p.m.

Location: Howe Hall Atrium

Details: Want to study abroad? The Society of International Engineers (SIE) is holding an informational meeting about studying abroad. The meeting is a great way for students to learn more about studying abroad and network with students who have studied or worked abroad.

ISU Cyber Defense Competition

Event: ISU Cyber Defense Competition

Date: October 15, 2011

Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Location: Howe Hall Atrium

Details: Cyber Defense Competitions are a chance to learn and teach about practical information assurance in a fast-paced and real-world environment. Teams of competitors are given a limited amount of time to build and secure a network that provides required services. These networks are then attacked by a team of experienced intrusion specialists whose only goal is to compromise these networks, and even bring them down. Teams are scored based upon the security of their networks, quality of their documentation, usability of their systems (as scored by competition guests on the Green Team), and their participation in other fun events during the course of the competition.

ISU students will be participating in 20 teams total (Blue Teams) in building and defending computer networks against information assurance professionals acting as hackers (Red Team). The event is open to the public for observation. A Red Team debriefing and awards ceremony will take place at the end of the event. Registration for the upcoming CDC has closed. However, if you still wish to participate, e-mail msulliv@iastate.edu.

Burns & McDonnell Company Information Meeting

Event: Burns & McDonnell Company Information Meeting

Date: October 11, 2011

Time: 5 p.m.

Location: 2245 Coover Hall

Details: Please join Burns & McDonnell Representatives to learn more about the company, projects and culture. Employees and Interns will be available to talk one-on-one and answer questions. For more information on Burns & McDonnell, visit their Web site. For additional information on company information sessions or to RSVP, visit the ISU CMS site.

ECpE Department Seminar

Soura Dasgupta
Soura Dasgupta

Seminar: Maintaining Formations with a Directed Information Structure and Cycles

Speaker: Soura Dasgupta, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iowa

Date: October 10, 2011

Time: 1:10 p.m.

Location: 3043 ECpE Building Addition

Abstract: Dasgupta will address the n-agent formation shape maintenance problem in the plane. The objective is to design decentralized control laws so that the agents cooperatively restore a prescribed formation shape in the presence of small perturbations from the prescribed shape. We consider directed, cyclic information architectures associated with so-called minimally persistent formations. In our framework the formation shape is maintained by controlling certain interagent distances. Only one agent is responsible for maintaining each distance. We propose a decentralized control law where each agent executes its control using only the relative position measurements of agents it must maintain its distance to. The resulting nonlinear closed-loop system has a manifold of equilibria, which implies that the linearized system is nonhyperbolic. We apply center manifold theory to show local exponential stability of the desired formation shape. Choosing stabilizing gains is possible if a certain submatrix of the rigidity matrix of the graph representing the desired formation, has all leading principal minors nonzero, and we show that this condition holds for all minimally persistent formations with generic agent positions.

Speaker biography: Soura Dasgupta is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematical and Computational Sciences, and a researcher for the Center for Computer-Aided Design at the University of Iowa. His special fields of knowledge include control theory, signal processing, and communications. Currently, his research interests are focused on synchronization, localization, control of multiagent systems, and consensus theory. Soura holds a PhD degree in systems engineering from the Australian National University (1985) and a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Queensland (1980). He is a fellow of IEEE.

Dr. Dasgupta is hosted by Aditya Ramamoorthy. Contact him (4-1583) if you would like to meet with Soura on Monday. 

College of Engineering Diversity Workshop: Panel Discussions on Effective Mentoring

Event: College of Engineering Diversity Workshop: Panel Discussions on Effective Mentoring

Date: October 7, 2011

Time: 1 to 2 p.m.

Location: 114 Marston Hall

Details: This student workshop is focused on improving mentoring of underrepresented students. Panelists include the 2011 Diversity Workshop Keynote Speaker, Professor Isiah Warner, Louisiana State University, and Professor Craig Ogilvie, Assistant Dean, Graduate College, Iowa State University. Questions? Contact mfrank@iastate.edu.

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