Past ECpE seminar and event info.
Event: Nationwide Insurance Company Information Meeting
Date: November 8, 2011
Time: 6:15 p.m.
Location: 1011 ECpE Building Addition
Details: Nationwide Insurance is hosting an information session for students to learn about the company, as well as internship and full-time job opportunities in software development. The information session is hosted by the Computer Science and Software Engineering Club (CSE).
Growth-control and Microstructure Characterization of Magnetic Thin Films
Speaker: Masaaki Futamoto, Professor, Chuo University, Bunkyo-ku Tokyo and Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Magnetics Society (2011-12)
Date: November 7, 2011
Time: 1:10 p.m.
Location: 3043 ECpE Building Addition
Abstract: Various magnetic thin films are used for recording media and heads of hard disk drives. The magnetic properties have been greatly improved to cope with a continuous areal density increase of nearly 105 times over the past quarter century. The improvement has been realized by tailoring the composition and microstructure of magnetic thin films.
This lecture covers the technology and physics for controlling the microstructure of magnetic thin films, focusing mainly on perpendicular recording media and related magnetic materials. Initially, technological developments will be briefly reviewed, then the following topics will be discussed: (1) nucleation and growth of magnetic thin films on nonmagnetic underlayers, (2) nanostructure and nano-composition characterization, (3) application to perpendicular magnetic recording media, (4) magnetization structure analysis, (5) epitaxial growth of single-crystal and meta-stable magnetic thin films, and (6) patterned-type perpendicular recording media for higher densities. The relationships between film microstructure and magnetic properties will also be discussed.
Speaker bio: Dr. Masaaki Futamoto received B.E., M.E., and Dr. degrees in material science from Osaka University in 1971, 1973, and 1982, respectively. He joined Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., in 1973 working on electron emissive materials. From 1982 to 1983, he was a visiting scientist at the University of Sussex, U.K. From 1983 to 2003, he has engaged in the research and development of high density magnetic recording, in particular the development of perpendicular magnetic recording media. From 1996 to 2001, he served as the leader of a research group in a Japanese National Project that was established to develop future-oriented magnetic recording technologies. In 2004, he was appointed as a professor of the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University.
Seminar: Spatial Sampling Design and Wireless Sensor Networks
Speaker: Zhengyuan Zhu, Associate Professor, Department of Statistics & Statistical Laboratory, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Iowa State University
Date: November 4, 2011
Time: 1:10 p.m.
Location: 3043 ECpE Building Addition
Abstract: Spatial sampling design problem has been studied by statisticians for a long time in different application areas such as agriculture, soil science, and ecology. Both probability based sampling such as simple random sampling and stratified random sampling and model based optimal spatial sampling approaches have been used in practice for different applications. Though many of the methodologies in spatial sampling design can be used to help design the sampling plan of wireless sensor network (WSN), WSN has some characteristics which is not present in a traditional network, such as the energy constraints and the communication constraints, which poses new challenges to statisticians. In this talk we will give a general discussion on the connection between classical spatial sampling design and the sampling design for WSN, and present some preliminary results on the optimal sampling design of a WSN for parameter estimation under energy and communication constraints.
Speaker bio: Zhengyuan Zhu is interested in optimal design for correlated observations, modeling of spatio-temporal processes, anomaly detection for correlated observations, long range dependent processes, and applications in environmental statistics, survey sampling, biostatistics, astrostatistics, and Internet traffic modeling. He received his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Chicago in 2002 and had a previous appointment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Event: ECpE Open Lab Night
Date: November 1, 2011
Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Location: ECpE Building Addition Atrium
Details: Come and see research labs in the department–from the robotics and bioengineering labs to sensors and power systems!
Seminar: Dynamic Hyperspaces for Enhanced Applicability of Structural Control
Speaker: Simon Laflamme, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University
Date: October 31, 2011
Time: 1:10 p.m.
Location: 3043 ECpE Building Addition
Abstract: An effective mitigation strategy for structural systems subjected to natural (e.g., wind and earthquake loads) and manmade (e.g., blast) hazards is to include structural control mechanisms. Despite the advancements of this technology, broad implementation of structural control mechanisms for effective structural hazard mitigation is rare. In the seminar, fundamental control issues impeding the applicability of structural control will be discussed. Those include large parametric uncertainties, limited sensing, unavailability of input-output data sets, and immediate performance requirements. To address the problem, a new type of controllers is proposed. It consists of control representations with adaptive hyperspaces, for which the inputs are selected sequentially and online. Large-scale simulations on an existing structure located in Boston, Mass., show the substantial performance of control representations with dynamic hyperspaces over those with static hyperspaces.
Speaker bio: Simon Laflamme recently joined the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering as an assistant professor. He received a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Engineering both from McGill, and an M.Eng. in high-performance structures as well as a Ph.D. in Structures and Materials from MIT. His research interests include intelligent and adaptive systems, structural control, structural health monitoring, and nonlinear time series.
Event: Friday Activities at Noon (FAN) Event – Sparking Excitement with Electricity – Critical Tinkers Live
Date: October 28, 2011
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Location: ECpE Building Addition Atrium
Details: All undergraduate and graduate students are invited to attend this FAN event to learn about and see the exciting and challenging projects Critical Tinkers is developing. The Critical Tinkers team members will be demonstrating LED Video Display Board, a wheelchair controllable via webcam, and a switching power box used to monitor power usage. Stop by, check it out, and get a coupon for two free slices of pizza!
Event: CSE/IASG/IEEE/Digital Women Halloween Bash
Date: October 26, 2011
Time: 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Location: Howe Hall Atrium
Details: Come celebrate Halloween with the Computer Science and Software Engineering Club (CSE), the Information Assurance Student Group (IASG), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Student Chapter, and the Digital Women Student Group. There will be costume contests, cookies, candy, punch, and more.
Seminar: Revisiting and Testing Stationarity
Speaker: Patrick Flandrin, CNRS Senior Researcher, Physics Department, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France
Date: October 26, 2011
Time: 1:10 p.m.
Location: 3043 ECpE Building Addition
Abstract: Albeit ubiquitous as an assumption or as a pre-requisite in many signal processing tasks, the concept of stationarity is often implicitly understood in a loose sense. The purpose of this lecture is to revisit it from an operational perspective that explicitly takes into account the observation scale. A general, time-frequency-based, framework is described for testing such a relative stationarity via the introduction of stationarized surrogate data. Two variations are discussed, based on either dissimilarity measures between local and global spectra, or machine learning approaches. Different extensions, including wavelet-based tests for images and transient detection, are considered.
Speaker bio: Patrick Flandrin (F) received the engineer degree from ICPI Lyon, France, in 1978, and the Doct.-Ing. and Docteur d’Etat degrees from INP Grenoble, France, in 1982 and 1987, respectively. He joined CNRS in 1982, where he is currently a Research Director. Since 1991, he has been with the Signals, Systems, and Physics Group, Physics Department, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France.
Prof. Flandrin has been a major contributor to the theory of (bilinear) Time-Frequency representations and non-stationary signal analysis. He played a major role in the developments of the wavelet theory and the analysis of fractional Brownian motion. Recently, he opened a new research direction studying the Empirical Mode Decomposition and revisiting stationarity with significant contributions on stationarity tests.
Prof. Flandrin is author of the book titled, Time-Frequency/Time-Scale Analysis and has authored more than 250 journal and conference proceeding research articles.
Prof. Flandrin received several research awards including Philip Morris Prize in Mathematics (1991); SPIE Wavelet Pioneer Award (2001); “Prix Michel Monpetit” from the French Academy of Sciences (2001); and Silver Medal from CNRS (2010).
Prof. Flandrin has served as a guest co-editor of the Special Issue “Wavelets and Signal Processing” of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (1993); Technical Program Chairman, IEEE-International Symposium on Time-Frequency and Time-Scale Analysis (1994); and Program Chairman, French GRETSI Symposium on Signal and Image Processing, every two years since 2001. He has been Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (1990-93, 2008-present); and Associate Editor, EURASIP Signal Processing (1994-05). Prof. Flandrin is currently on the Editorial Board of Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, The Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications, Signal Image and Video Processing, and Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis. He has also been Member, IEEE Signal Processing Theory and Methods Technical Committee (1993-04). Prof. Flandrin spent one semester in Cambridge, UK, as an invited long-term resident of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (1998). Finally, Prof. Flandrin is a Fellow of the IEEE (2002) and of EURASIP (2009).
Event: Lockheed Martin Company Information Meeting
Date: October 25, 2011
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: 1312 Gilman Hall
Details: Come learn more about Lockheed Martin and opportunities within the company. This event is hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NBSE). Food and drink will be provided.
Event: Lockheed Martin Company Information Meeting
Date: October 25, 2011
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: 3560 Memorial Union (Pioneer Room)
Details: Recruiters will be present to answer questions and provide information about career opportunities within Lockheed Martin. All pre-selected candidates who will be interviewing with Lockheed Martin are urged to attend this informative session. For more information on Lockheed Martin, visit their Web site. For additional information on company information sessions or to RSVP, visit the ISU CMS site.