Embedded sensors, computation, and communication have enabled the development of sophisticated control devices for a wide range of cyber-physical applications that include safety monitoring, surveillance, healthcare, motion planning, search and rescue, traffic monitoring, and power systems. However, the deployment of such devices has been slowed down by concerns regarding their sensitivity to modeling accuracy and their vulnerability to both stochastic failures and malicious attacks. Nowadays the efficiency will be defined by our potentials to adapt (complete autonomy) in decentralized, unknown and complex environments to enable capabilities beyond human limits. Until the achievement of such autonomy, cyber-physical technologies remain a critical issue. In the first part of the talk, I will combine methods from network security and control theory to design a new paradigm of proactive defense control mechanisms. For such a problem, we will define different modes of operation for the system that will let us isolate and identify suspicious actuators and sensors. Following the principles of moving target defense, we seek to maximize the unpredictability, quantified by the information entropy, in order to dynamically and stochastically switch the attack surface while optimally controlling the system. To better understand the behavior of the attackers that act on this system, a framework of bounded reasoning will be introduced to approximate the strategies utilized by attackers of different levels of intelligence. In the second part of the talk, I will present a novel model-free deep Q-learning control framework that will converge online, in real time to game-theoretic control solutions in the presence of persistent adversaries while guaranteeing closed-loop stability of the equilibrium point. The proposed approaches combine networked feedback control, game theory, network security, reinforcement learning, and serve as a tool for approaching difficult problems that without learning-based approaches are hard or impossible to solve.

Bio:

 Kyriakos G. Vamvoudakis was born in Athens, Greece. He received the Diploma (a 5 year degree, equivalent to a Master of Science) in Electronic and Computer Engineering from Technical University of Crete, Greece in 2006 with highest honors. After moving to the United States of America, he studied at The University of Texas and he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2008 and 2011 respectively. During the period from 2012 to 2016 he was a project research scientist at the Center for Control, Dynamical Systems and Computation at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was an assistant professor at the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech until 2018. He is now an assistant professor at The Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. His research interests include optimal control, reinforcement learning, and game theory. Recently, his research has focused on cyber-physical security, and safe autonomy. Prof. Vamvoudakis is the recipient of a 2018 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the 2016 International Neural Network Society Young Investigator (INNS) Award, the Best Paper Award for Autonomous/Unmanned Vehicles at the 27th Army Science Conference in 2010, the Best Presentation Award at the World Congress of Computational Intelligence in 2010, and the Best Researcher Award from the Automation and Robotics Research Institute in 2011. He is a coauthor of one patent, more than 110 technical publications, and two books. He is the Program Chair, of the 8th International Conference on the Internet of Things (IoT 2018). He currently is an associate editor of the IEEE Computational Intelligent Magazine, an associate editor of Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, an associate editor of Control Theory and Technology, a registered electrical/computer engineer (PE) and a member of the Technical Chamber of Greece. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.

The Generalized Moment problem is an  infinite-dimensional LP which takes one line to state in compact form, and whose  list of potential important applications is almost endless. However, in full generality  the GMP  is not solvable. On the other hand, if its data consist of polynomials (or more generally semi-algebraic functions) and semi-algebraic sets then one is able to define a systematic numerical scheme, the Moment-SOS hierarchy, to approximate its optimal value as closely as desired. (One has to solve a sequence of semidefinite-relaxations of increasing size.) It was initially designed for solving global optimization problem and in this context finite convergence of the hierarchy is « generic » and global minimizers can be extracted.  

I will describe the Moment-SOS approach and shows  how it can be applied to help solve several problems outside optimization, e.g. in computational geometry, probability & statistics, control & optimal control, as well as analysis of certain non-linear PDEs.

Bio:

JB Lasserre graduated from "Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Informatique et Mathematiques Appliquees" 
(ENSIMAG) in Grenoble (France),  and got his PhD (1978) and "Doctorat d'Etat" (1984) degrees 
both from Paul Sabatier University in  Toulouse (France). He has been at LAAS-CNRS in Toulouse 
since1980, wherehe is currently Directeur de Recherche. he is also a member of IMT, 
the Institute of Mathematics of Toulouse. He was a one year visitor (1978-79 and 1985-86) at the 
Electrical Engineering Dept. of the University of California at Berkeley with a fellowship from 
INRIA and NSF. He has done several one-month visits to Stanford University, MIT,

and invited visits to several Math Institutes (like MSRI, Berkeley, the Fields Institute,  IMA at Minneapolis, IPAM at UCLA, Cinvestav-IPN, Mexico, the Tinbergen Institute in Amsterdam.

He wrote about 180 papers and authored or co-authored eight books.

Convocation, held from 4:30-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon in McCamish Pavilion, will familiarize new students with Tech's history, traditions and academic standards. The dress code is casual, and all students and their guests are welcome to attend.

At 5:30 p.m., the picnic will begin in McCamish Pavilion (due to inclement weather, the picnic location has been moved from Tech Green to McCamish). This festive event will feature games, photo opportunities, giveaways and fun for the entire family. Local food trucks will be on hand providing free concessions. The event will last until 8:30 p.m.

On-campus students and guests are encouraged to walk to the event, while paid parking will be available in the E81 (Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center) and W23 (State Street) lots for off-campus attendees.

Titled “Deliberate Innovation, Lifetime Education,” the Commission envisions a Georgia Tech that will serve an increasingly diverse population of learners and recommends an ambitious proposal called the Georgia Tech Commitment to a Lifetime Education.

Making this commitment a reality will take adoption of new ideas of fundamental education. The report outlines five exciting initiatives that are aimed at closing knowledge gaps, prototyping new products and services, and building critical technological infrastructure.

About the Commission on Creating the Next in Education: 
In late 2015 Provost Rafael L. Bras launched Georgia Tech’s Commission on Creating the Next in Education to explore and evaluate innovative approaches to higher education in order to provide alternative educational models that reduce costs, improve the effectiveness of our current methodologies, and increase opportunities and accessibility for lifelong learning. The Commission’s work focused on defining Georgia Tech’s educational environment of the future and designing bold and potentially transformational projects that build on the Institute’s legacy of academic excellence, taking into account the economic, social, and scientific changes that will shape the best universities.

The event will be streamed live at gatech.edu/ed-innovation. 

Learn how entrepreneurs, universities, and large enterprises use deliberate innovation practices to avoid common failure paths and productively innovate.

The conference will include a demonstration of Flashpoint techniques in a master class-type setting, with innovation teams from startups*, large companies and from Georgia Tech.

Founders in Flashpoint's Cohort 8 will also share the innovation methods they employed to further their quest for authentic demand. Current enterprise teams include Mercedes-Benz USA and NCR. Following the presentations, guests will have an opportunity to connect with teams and learn more about each other.

Conference Schedule

1 p.m. Registration / Check-In

2 p.m. Building a Deliberately Innovative Culture
Welcome Remarks
Panel Discussion
Keynote Address
Master Class Demonstrations*

4 p.m. Break

4:30 p.m. Cohort 8 Demo Day Presentations

6 p.m. Reception

*Startup founders interested in participating in the master class should send us a note (info@flashpointgt.com).

Come to our BIG information session to learn everything you ever wanted to know about studying at Georgia Tech’s campus in France from staff, and from students who have already been there. A panel of students will share their experiences and answer questions.

Don't miss this BIG info session...It is the last of the semester! Deadline to apply for Fall 2018 is March 20th!

Abstract: My research focuses on the fundamental and applied aspects of nanomechanics, biomolecular interactions, soft materials, and nano-microfabrication for nanoparticle biosensing and unusual electronic system development, with an emphasis on bio-interfaced nanoengineering. In this talk, I will present recent research works on soft, stretchable electronic systems which include biomimetic materials, mechanics designs, and system integration, aiming for advancing human healthcare and wellness. The first part of my talk will be devoted to present mechanics and materials for designing of soft electronics based on nanomembranes. Afterwards, I will talk about applications of the soft bioelectronics for biomedical devices that monitor biopotentials and physiological parameters for human health monitoring and human-machine interfaces.

Bio: Dr. W. Hong Yeo is a TEDx alumnus and biomechanical engineer. Since 2017, Dr. Yeo has been an Assistant Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Program Faculty in Bioengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before joining Georgia Tech, he worked at Virginia Commonwealth University Medicine and Engineering as an assistant professor from 2014-2016. Dr. Yeo received his BS in mechanical engineering from INHA University, South Korea in 2003 and he received his PhD in mechanical engineering and genome sciences at the University of Washington, Seattle in 2011. From 2011-2013, he worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Beckman Institute and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the fundamental and applied aspects of nanomechanics, biomolecular interactions, soft materials, and nano-microfabrication for nanoparticle biosensing and unusual electronic system development, with an emphasis on bio-interfaced translational nanoengineering.Dr. Yeo is an Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) and Scientific Pages of Bioengineering, and Review Editor of Frontiers of Materials (Frontiers Publishing Group). He serves as a technical committee member for IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference and Korea Technology Advisory Group at Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has three issued and more than five pending patents. His research has been funded by NIH, MEDARVA Foundation, Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust, CooperVision, Inc., Korea Institute of Materials Science, Commonwealth Research Commercialization, and State Council of Virginia. Dr. Yeo is a recipient of a number of awards, including BMES Innovation and Career Development Award, Virginia Commercialization Award, Blavatnik Award Nominee, NSF Summer Institute Fellowship, Notable Korean Scientist Awards, and Best Paper/Poster Awards at ASME conferences.

When: Friday, Jan. 12, 2018 @ 11 a.m. - Noon 

Where: Marcus Nanotechnology Building, Room 1116-1117 

Title: Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Massive Text Corpora 

Speaker: Jiawei Han Abel Bliss Professor, 

Department of Computer Science, 

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

Abstract: 

The real-world big data are largely unstructured and interconnected, in the form of natural language text. It is highly desirable to conduct multi-dimensional analysis on massive text data. However, this poses a major challenge on how to transform unstructured text data into structured text and analyze such data in multidimensional space. To facilitate such analytical functionality, we propose a textcube modeling and discuss how to construct such cubes from massive text corpora and how to conduct multidimensional OLAP analysis using such textcubes. In the past several years, we have developed a text mining approach that only requires distant or minimal supervision but relies on massive data. We show (i) quality phrases can be mined from such massive text data, (ii) types can be extracted from massive text data with distant supervision, (iii) entities, attributes and values can be discovered by meta-path directed pattern discovery, (iv) faceted taxonomy can be constructed from massive corpora, (v) textcubes can be constructed from massive text, and (v) multi-dimensional analysis can be conducted on such cubes. We show such a paradigm represents a promising direction at turning massive text data into structured and useful knowledge. 

Bio: 

Jiawei Han is Abel Bliss Professor in the Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been researching into data mining, information network analysis, database systems, and data warehousing, with over 900 journal and conference publications. He has chaired or served on many program committees of international conferences in most data mining and database conferences. He also served as the founding Editor-In-Chief of ACM Transactions on Knowledge Discovery from Data and the Director of Information Network Academic Research Center supported by U.S. Army Research Lab (2009-2016), and is the co-Director of KnowEnG, an NIH funded Center of Excellence in Big Data Computing since 2014. He is Fellow of ACM, Fellow of IEEE, and received 2004 ACM SIGKDD Innovations Award, 2005 IEEE Computer Society Technical Achievement Award, and 2009 M. Wallace McDowell Award from IEEE Computer Society. His co-authored book “Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques” has been adopted as a textbook popularly worldwide. 

The Robotarium project provides a remotely accessible swarm robotics research platform that remains freely accessible to anyone. Opened on August 22, 2017, the 725-square-foot facility houses more than 100 rolling and flying swarm robots that are accessible to anyone. Researchers from around the globe can write their own computer programs, upload them, then get the results as the Georgia Tech machines carry out the commands.

The event includes tours of the facility and demonstrations, following an open house format. Feel free to drop by at any time from 2:00–3:00 p.m. All are welcome.

Ronen Polsky - Sandia National Laboratories, Department of Nano and Micro Sensors

Abstract: We are exploring the prospect of using microneedles to access biomarkers for monitoring exposure to chemical and biological weapons. The development of an on-body diagnostic platform that can continuously monitor physiological markers in real-time will allow early warning capabilities that can signal an exposure event even prior to the onset of symptoms. We will present results on the development of a wearable transdermal diagnostic device to monitor lactate. A microfluidic device, based on microneedles, is being fabricated which can be worn on an individual and can painlessly access biological fluid (e.g., blood and/or interstitial fluid) through the skin for real-time, long-term autonomous diagnostics of health and fitness. From our currently sponsored DTRA project, we have developed non-destructive interstitial fluid extraction methods that do not rely on blister formation, vacuum, or microdialysis. As we avoid methods that may change the native interstitial fluid content, we have enabled studies to determine baseline correlations between interstitial fluid and blood biomarkers. We have also found that exosomes are highly prevalent in interstitial fluid and will show preliminary results for genomic and proteomic analysis of the fluid.

Bio: Dr. Polsky finished his PhD in 2004 at New Mexico State University with Joseph Wang and after a post-doctoral fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under Itamar Willner joined Sandia National Laboratories in 2006. He is currently a Principal Member of Technical Staff in the Department of Nano and Micro Sensors with extensive expertise in biosensors and bioelectronics, surface chemistry, advanced fabrication, and novel nanomaterials. He currently leads a program on microneedle sensors.

Abstract: Nature builds proteins for structure, function and reactivity, which attests to the versatility of placing different chemical groups on the same polymer backbone. Following this same design paradigm, synthetic polypeptides can mimic proteins under some circumstances. One of the more interesting functions is “gatherer”. Gatherer proteins and polypeptides can collect and even align other structures, such as colloidal silica or polymers. From a processing perspective, this function promises latex-like delivery of semiconducting polymers with greatly reduced use of environmentally unfriendly solvents. We also contemplate the polypeptide liquid crystal factory, in which interactions between colloidal particles and polypeptide mesogens assemble particles for covalent, photostimulated crosslinking.

Bio: Dr. Paul S. Russo is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering with a joint appointment in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech with expertise in polymer, biopolymer and particle chemistry. After obtaining a Ph.D. degree from the University of Minnesota in Chemistry in 1981, he undertook postdoctoral studies in Polymer Physics at the University of Massachusetts. His research interests are rooted in rodlike polymers, such as plant viruses, cellulose derivatives and aromatic backbone materials. Particular emphasis has been paid to molecular transport in complex fluids containing rods and to related measurement methods. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers, and served on the editorial advisory board for Macromolecules, the ACS journal of polymers.

www.career.gatech.edu

Need business attire? Check out Campus Closet.

Steps:

1. Get your idea, team, and faculty mentor together

2. Apply at i2p.gatech.edu before Jan 9th @ Noon!

3. Decisions and registration instructions will be sent to teams by January 10th

4. Register for undergraduate research course with permit by end of Spring Phase II registration (Jan 13th)  

Pizza and refreshments will be served at the Kickoff! Hope to see you there!

The event will be held in Klaus 2448 from 5-7pm on January 8th. RSVP Here

Abstract

The stiffness of propulsive appendages, such as feet and fins, is important in locomotory function. In this talk, I show that curvature-induced stiffness is the common principle underlying the stiffness of both primate feet and rayed fish fins. We use mathematical models, physical replicas, and biological experiments to arrive at this conclusion. The principle is evident in a drooping dollar bill that significantly stiffens upon slightly curling in the transverse direction.

Bio

Madhusudhan Venkadesan is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University and studies the biomechanics and control of motor behavior in humans and other organisms. Problems being pursued include locomotion in animals, sun tracking in plants, and differential geometry of joints and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of muscle. His lab also fabricates biologically inspired powered and passive devices to test the mathematical theories emanating from the biomechanical work. The motivation for—and application of­—his work include biomedical sciences, evolutionary biology, robotics, and plain curiosity about everyday observations.

Abstract

Robots generally excel at specific tasks in structured environments, but lack the versatility and adaptability required to interact with and locomote within the natural world. To increase versatility in robot design, my research group is developing robotic skins that can wrap around arbitrary deformable objects to induce the desired motions and deformations. Robotic skins integrate actuation and sensing into a single conformable material, and may be applied to, removed from, and transferred between different objects to create a multitude of controllable robots with different functions to accommodate the demands of different environments. We have shown that attaching the same robotic skin to a deformable object in different ways, or to different objects, leads to unique motions. Further, we have shown that combining multiple robotic skins enables complex motions and functions. During this talk, I will demonstrate the versatility of this soft robot design approach by showing robotic skins in a wide range of applications—including manipulation tasks, locomotion, and wearables—using the same 2D robotic skins reconfigured on the surface of various 3D soft, inanimate objects.

Bio

Rebecca Kramer-Bottiglio is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at Yale University. She earned a B.S. from the Johns Hopkins University, an M.S. from U.C. Berkeley, and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty at Yale, she was an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University for four years. Kramer-Bottiglio currently serves as an associate editor of Frontiers in Robotics and AI: Soft Robotics, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, and IOPscience Multifunctional Materials. She is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the NASA Early Career Faculty Award, the AFOSR Young Investigator Award, the ONR Young Investigator Award, and was named to Forbes’ 2015 “30 under 30 list.”

Please Note: This event has been rescheduled for Wednesday.

​​​​​​Abstract

Soft functional materials could enable physical intelligence for small-scale (from a few millimeters down to a few micrometers overall size) mobile robots by enabling them with unique capabilities such as shape changing and programming, adaptation, and multi-functional and diverse behavior. This talk will explore our recent activities on how to design, manufacture, and control new untethered soft actuators, sensors, robots, and shape-programmable materials at the milli/microscale. First, inflated soft actuators with reversible stable deformations are proposed combining hyperelastic membranes and dielectric elastomer actuators to switch between stable deformations of sealed chambers. Next, new parallel microcracks-based ultrasensitive and highly stretchable soft strain sensors are integrated with gecko-inspired microfiber adhesives for wearable medical devices adhered on the skin. Next, new, untethered milli/microscale swimming robots inspired by spermatozoids and jellyfish are proposed using elastomeric magnetic composite materials. Static and dynamic shapes of such magnetic active soft materials are programmed using a computational design methodology. These soft robots are demonstrated to be able to have seven or more locomotion modalities (undulatory swimming, jellyfish-like swimming, water meniscus climbing, jumping, ground walking, rolling, crawling inside constrained environments, etc.) in a single robot for the first time to be able to move on complex environments, such as inside the human body. Ultrasound-guided navigation of such robots is possible towards medical functions such as local cargo/drug delivery.

Bio

Metin Sitti received BSc and MSc degrees in electrical and electronics engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1992 and 1994, respectively. After receiving a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1999, Sitti served as a research scientist at UC Berkeley until 2002, when he became a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, a position he held until 2016.

Currently, Sitti is the director of the Physical Intelligence Department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany. His research interests include physical intelligence, mobile milli/microrobots, bio-inspired micro/nanomaterials, soft robots, and medical robots. He is an IEEE Fellow and received the SPIE Nanoengineering Pioneer Award in 2011 and an NSF CAREER Award in 2005. Additionally, Sitti has earned many best paper and video awards at major conferences and serves as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Micro-Bio Robotics.

Abstract

Robots manipulate with super-human speed and dexterity on factory floors, but they fail even under moderate amounts of clutter or uncertainty. However, human teleoperators perform remarkable acts of manipulation with the same hardware. My research goal is to bridge the gap between what robotic manipulators can do now and what they are capable of doing.

What human operators intuitively possess that robots lack are models of interaction between the manipulator and the world that goes beyond pick-and-place maneuvers. I will describe our work on nonprehensile physics-based manipulation that has produced simple but effective models, integrated with proprioception and perception, enabling robots to fearlessly push, pull, and slide objects, and reconfigure clutter that comes in the way of their primary task.

Human environments are also filled with humans. Collaborative manipulation is a dance, demanding the sharing of intentions, inferences, and forces between the robot and the human. I will also describe our work on the mathematics of human-robot interaction that has produced a framework for collaboration using Bayesian inference to model the human collaborator, and trajectory optimization to generate fluent collaborative plans.

Finally, I will talk about our new initiative for assistive care that focuses on marrying physics, human-robot collaboration, control theory, and rehabilitation engineering to build and deploy caregiving systems.

Bio

Siddhartha Srinivasa is the Boeing Endowed Professor in the School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. He works on robotic manipulation with the goal of enabling robots to perform complex manipulation tasks under uncertainty and clutter, with and around people. To this end, he founded the Personal Robotics Lab in 2005.

Srinivasa has been a primary investigater on the Quality of Life Technologies NSF ERC, DARPA ARM-S, and the CMU CHIMP team on the DARPA DRC. He is also passionate about building end-to-end systems (HERB, ADA, HRP3, CHIMP, Andy, and others) that integrate perception, planning, and control in the real world. Understanding the interplay between system components has helped produce state-of-the-art algorithms for object recognition and pose estimation (MOPED), and dense 3D modeling (CHISEL, now used by Google Project Tango).

Srinivasa received a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1999, an M.S. in 2001, and a Ph.D. in 2005 from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

Abstract

In late July last year, it came to light that iRobot Corp. intended to sell the maps that modern Roomba vacuum cleaning robots build to help them navigate. This caused a public furor among consumers. This situation and several others (e.g., nuclear inspection, use of untrusted cloud computing infrastructure) suggest that we might be interested in limiting what information a robot might divulge. How should we think about robotic privacy? In this talk I’ll describe a line of research that is concerned with this question, starting by showing that cryptography doesn’t solve the problem. I’ll begin by examining a privacy-preserving tracking task, then look at how one might think about estimators that are constrained to ensure they never know too much. Finally, I’ll talk about planning subject to information disclosure constraints and introduce a useful structure that we call a “plan closure.”

Bio

Dylan Shell is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on systems that exploit their physical embedding to interact with the world, working to understand, design, and build such systems. He has published papers on multi-robot task allocation, biologically inspired multiple-robot systems, estimation of group-level swarm properties, minimalist- and multi-robot manipulation, rigid-body simulation and contact models, human-robot interaction, and robotic theatre. The National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, and DARPA have funded Shell’s work. He has been the recipient of an NSF Career award, the Montague Teaching award, the George Bekey Service award, and multiple best reviewer awards.

Vatican Observatory Director Brother Guy Consolmagno will reflect on the motivations behind our choices, both as individuals and as a society and how they control the sorts of science that gets done. Motivations determine the kinds of answers that are found to be satisfying. And ultimately, they affect how we think of ourselves.

About the Speaker

Guy Consolmagno is a brother in the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus (SJ, the Jesuits), working since 1993 as an astronomer and meteorite specialist at the Specola Vaticana (Vatican Observatory), located in the Papal summer gardens outside Rome. Since 2014, he has been president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, which supports the work of the Observatory and especially its 1.8-meter Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT), in Arizona. In September 2015, Pope Francis named him director of the Vatican Observatory.

Consolmagno's research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar-system bodies. Along with more than 200 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of popular books, including: Turn Left at Orion (with Dan Davis), and most recently, Would You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? (with Fr. Paul Mueller, SJ). He also has hosted science programs for BBC Radio 4, has been interviewed in numerous documentary films, and writes a monthly science column for the British Catholic magazine The Tablet.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Consolmagno earned two degrees from MIT and a doctorate in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989.

Consolmagno has served as chair of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences (AAS/DPS) and on the planetary surfaces nomenclature committee of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Asteroid 4597 Consolmagno was named in recognition of his work. In 2014, he won the American Astronomical Society’s Carl Sagan Medal for excellence in public communication in planetary science.

Sliman Bensmaia, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy
University of Chicago

Our ability to manipulate objects dexterously relies fundamentally on sensory signals originating from the hand. To restore motor function with upper-limb neuroprostheses requires that somatosensory feedback be provided to the tetraplegic patient or amputee. Given the complexity of state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs, and thus the huge state-space they can traverse, it is desirable to minimize the need of the patient to learn associations between events impinging upon the limbandarbitrary sensations. With this in mind, we seek to develop approaches to intuitively convey sensory information that is critical for object manipulation – information about contact location, pressure, and timing – through intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) of primary somatosensory cortex (S1). To this end, we first explore how this information is naturally encoded in the cortex of (intact) non-human primates (Rhesus macaques). In stimulation experiments, we then show that we can elicit percepts that are projected to a specific localized patch of skin by stimulating neurons with corresponding receptive fields. Similarly, information about contact pressure is conveyed by invoking the natural neural code for pressure, which entails not only increasing the activation of local neurons but also recruiting adjacent neurons to signal an increase in pressure. In a real-time application, we demonstrate that animals can perform a pressure discrimination task equally well whether mechanical stimuli are delivered to their native fingers or to a prosthetic one. Finally, we propose that the timing of contact events can be signaled through phasic ICMS at the onset and offset of object contact that mimics the ubiquitous on and off responses observed in S1 to complement slowly-varying pressure-related feedback. We anticipate that the proposed biomimetic feedback will considerably increase the dexterity and embodiment of upper-limb neuroprostheses and will constitute an important step in restoring touch to individuals who have lost it. 

This presentation can be seen via videoconference on the Emory Campus HSRB E260

The viewing on January 25 includes a 30-minute talk with Chris Evans at 7:30 pm. Topic: The Search for Shy Black Holes.

Public nights are contingent on clear weather.

Potential closures and driving directions are on the official website.

Go here for the full schedule.

ALL ARE WELCOME.

Registration Requested - Click Here to Register

Refreshments will be served.

The Cybersecurity Lecture Series at Georgia Tech is a free, one-hour lecture from a thought leader who is advancing the field of information security and privacy. Invited speakers include executives and researchers from Fortune 500 companies, federal intelligence agencies, start-ups and incubators, as well as Georgia Tech faculty and students presenting their research. Lectures are open to all -- students, faculty, industry, government, or simply the curious.

Presented by the Institute for Information Security & Privacy

                                                            Klaus Atrium

                                          Times: Saturday 27th & Sunday 28th

11am- 12pm: registration, team networking and lunch

12pm- hack begins

6pm- Dinner

10pm- Time to Caffeinate

12am- 4th meal

7am- breakfast

11am- hack ends/ lunch break

12pm-2pm: pitches/judging/prizes

Shannon Gourley, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Neuroscience Program
Emory University

Selecting actions based on their consequences is essential to day-to-day function and yet, is impaired in neuropsychiatric diseases like addiction. Goal-directed action selection likely requires the coordinated output of multiple prefrontal cortical structures, but mechanistic factors are still being identified. I will focus on the neurotrophin BDNF in the orbital prefrontal cortex and PI3-kinase in the medial prefrontal cortex, providing evidence that they are key molecular mechanisms by which the brain coordinates goal-directed action. These findings serve as a platform from which to improve goal-directed action selection following developmental cocaine.

Bio-sketch

Gourley’s research team aims to understand why adolescence is a period of vulnerability to the development of multiple psychiatric illnesses. She hypothesizes that pathological stimuli, such as stressors, social isolation and drugs of abuse, significantly impact the adolescent prefrontal cortex. Across mammalian species, this brain region organizes complex decision-making, reward valuation and inhibitory control, and it also undergoes considerable remodeling and development during adolescence. Gourley’s team uses behavioral, pharmacological, biochemical, genetic and cellular approaches to develop and optimize novel therapeutic interventions for vulnerable adolescent populations. Conversely, her research team also aims to better understand the neurobiological mechanisms of resilience to stressors and drugs of abuse at any age.

This presentation can be seen via videoconference on the Emory Campus HSRB E260

Come to our BIG information session to learn everything you ever wanted to know about studying at Georgia Tech’s campus in France from staff, and from students who have already been there. A panel of students will share their experiences and answer questions.

Don't miss this BIG info session...but if you can't make it there will be another BIG session on March 1!

The program is open to all majors and offers engineering, business, humanities, and social sciences courses. Courses are taught in English by Georgia Tech faculty. All students pay in-state tuition and HOPE/Zell Miller apply. Space is still available and the application deadline is February 15, 2018. To learn more about the program, visit www.csp.gatech.edu. 

Please RSVP HERE

Refreshments will be served.

A direct report to President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, the EVPR is the chief research officer for the Institute. The EVPR provides central administration leadership for all research, economic development, and related support units. This includes direct oversight of Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²), the Interdisciplinary Research Institutes and Centers (IRIs/IRCs), the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC), and the Office of Industry Collaboration (OIC). 

Hosted by President Peterson and Provost Bras, the town hall will provide an opportunity for faculty, staff, and students to learn about the search and provide input on criteria for selecting the ideal candidate.

Those who are unable to attend in person may watch via webstream. All questions must be received within 24 hours of the event and should be sent to provostsoffice@gatech.edu.  

Registration Deadline: January 26, 2018

Registration Link: http://ncsce.net/science-and-engineering-for-social-good-2018/

Sign up here!

Eva Dyer, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Georgia Tech

Improvements in neural recording technologies have rapidly increased the number of neurons that it is now possible to record from. Along with these improvements, analyses of neural information processing are moving from single neuron to population-level analyses. One promising approach for understanding information processing across large populations of neurons is to use methods for dimensionality reduction; such approaches aim to find low-dimensional structure in the joint activity of many neurons over time. In this talk, I will describe my lab's efforts to learn low-dimensional structure present in large-scale neural recordings, both from electrophysiology recordings in motor cortex and from two-photon calcium movies in primary visual cortex. Our findings suggest that dimensionality reduction techniques can be used to pull out structure from neural activity to solve a range of decoding and classification problems.

Karunesh Ganguly, M.D., Ph.D. 
Associate Professor
Department of Neurology
University of California, San Francisco

It is commonly hypothesized that restoration of normal neural dynamics in the injured brain can improve function. However, we lack a precise neurophysiological framework for such an approach. Here we show that low-frequency oscillatory (LFO) dynamics play an important role in the execution of skilled behaviors in both the intact and injured brain. We chronically recorded local field potentials and spiking during motor training in both healthy and post-stroke rats. Interestingly, we found that task-related LFOs emerged with skilled performance under both conditions and were a robust predictor of recovery. We further hypothesized that boosting LFOs might improve function in animals with persistent deficits. Strikingly, we found that direct current stimulation could boost LFOs, and when applied in a novel, task-dependent manner, significantly improved function in those with chronic deficits. Together, our results demonstrate that LFOs are essential for skilled controlled and represent a novel target for modulation after injury.
 

John Serences, Ph.D. 
Professor
Department of Psychology
University of California, San Diego

Traversing everyday sensory environments requires representing relevant features or objects in memory while simultaneously processing new inputs. While working memory involves persistent feature-selective recruitment of early visual cortex, recent work suggests that new sensory inputs during maintenance severely disrupt such recruitment. Here we show region-wide multiplexing abilities in classic ‘sensory’ areas, with population-level response patterns in visual cortex concurrently representing short-term memory contents alongside features of new sensory inputs. 

Carol Barnes, Ph.D.
Regents' Professor
Departments of Psychology, Neurology and Neuroscience
University of Arizona 

Aging is associated with specific impairments of learning and memory, some of which are similar to those caused by damage to temporal or frontal lobe structures. For example, healthy older humans, monkeys and rats all show poorer spatial, recognition and working memory, than do their younger counterparts. Rats and monkeys do not develop age-related pathology such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s diseases, which makes them good models for assessing functional alterations associated with normal aging in humans. While many cellular properties of medial temporal lobe cells appear to be intact in aging animals, age-related impairments in synaptic function, plasticity and gene expression have been observed. Because information is represented by activity patterns across large populations of neurons, an understanding of the neural basis of cognitive changes in aging requires the examination of the dynamics of behaviorally-driven neural networks. Ensemble recording experiments are described that suggest fundamental changes in the storage and retrieval of information, as well as in high level perceptual processing in aging hippocampus and perirhinal cortical circuits. In addition, frontal lobe correlates of age-related changes working memory are discussed. The data presented are congruent with recent suggestions that rather than uniform deterioration, the aging brain shows region and cell-specific changes consistent with adaptation and compensation in these altered memory circuits.

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On Friday, Feb. 2, guest speaker Jerry Perullo of the Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) will discuss cybersecurity behind the world's financial markets, including cyptocurrency trading platforms.

Perullo  has served as the Chief Information Security Officer of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) since 2001.  Perullo leads the cybersecurity program for all of Intercontinental Exchange, including the New York Stock Exchange, securing critical economic infrastructure across multiple subsidiaries, geographies, and regulatory jurisdictions.  Further, his team is responsible for cybersecurity across regulated futures and options exchanges, central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs), trade repositories, equities venues, and systemically important financial market utilities (SIFMUs).

Perullo works closely with the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (FSSCC) in addition to many governmental, regulatory, and industry bodies around the world.  Perullo was elected to the Board of Directors of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), where he has been an active leader since 2007.  Within the FS-ISAC and the London-based World Federation of Exchanges, respectively, he co-founded the CHEF and GLEX domestic-US and global information sharing networks of cybersecurity leaders in the Exchange and Clearinghouses spaces, which have served as crucial interface points between the public and private sectors during times of crisis.  Perullo also works closely with the cybersecurity technology industry, serving on several industry advisory boards and working closely with investors and entrepreneurs who are developing solutions to pressing challenges, and has been published and featured as an expert speaker at numerous cybersecurity events.
 
Prior to ICE, Perullo led an Information Security practice providing penetration testing and consulting services to the health-care, energy, and data service industries after successfully building an Internet Service Provider in the mid-1990s.
 
Perullo studied Computer Engineering at Clemson University and earned a BS degree in Legal Studies from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Georgia State University.  He serves on the Industry Advisory Board of the Georgia Tech Institute for Information Security & Privacy (IISP) and has guest-lectured and instructed there and at other universities.

Presented by the Institute for Information Security & Privacy

Come by our table on Tech Walkway Feb. 12-14 to fold origami flowers using recycled paper. Origami flowers are a sustainable, personal way to show your appreciation for that special someone during Valentine's day season.

More information on Orgsync

Abstract: Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) have been widely used in integrated microsystems in the past decades and enabled novel sensing and timing functionalities. They have significantly improved the performance of ICs in terms of noise, power consumption, quality factor, reconfigurability, and size. Considering today’s crowded frequency spectrum, radio-frequency signal processing has to be tailored to allow for higher data rates and higher frequencies towards mm-waves. In this talk, I will discuss the challenges and pose electro-acoustic MEMS-based solutions to build multi-GHz resonators, acoustic filters, and integrated circulators for full-duplex 5G communication.

Furthermore, with the constant shrinking of device dimensions, miniaturized mechanical structures (NEMS) possess easily-reachable nonlinear properties. We exploit such rich nonlinear dynamics to build ultra-low-noise phononic amplifiers, self-sustained oscillators, and frequency combs. Whether for signal conditioning at the RF front-end or detection of a small perturbation with a NEMS sensor, the noise performance of the subsequent circuit is critical and can overwhelm the signal response. I will present our results on piezoelectric acoustic cavities as parametric amplifiers to enhance the signal detection capability and simplify the electronic circuitry.

Bio: Azadeh Ansari received the B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Iran in 2010. She earned the M.S and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2013 and 2016 respectively, focusing upon III-V semiconductor and MEMS devices and microsystems for RF applications. Prior to joining the ECE faculty at Georgia Tech in Fall 2017, she was a postdoctoral scholar in the Physics Department at Caltech from 2016 to 2017. Dr. Ansari is the recipient of a 2017 ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award from the University of Michigan for her research on “Gallium Nitride integrated microsystems for RF applications.” She received the University of Michigan Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for outstanding Ph.D. research in 2016. She is a member of IEEE Sensor’s young professional committee and serves as a technical program committee member of IEEE IFCS 2018.

TI:GER combines classroom instruction, team-based activities, and real world consulting projects into a total educational experience. Whether the student's objective is to work in a university, a new venture, or a corporate setting, TI:GER participants address the multidisciplinary issues that are a part of technology commercialization.

Come by our table on Tech Walkway Feb. 12-14 to fold origami flowers using recycled paper. Origami flowers are a sustainable, personal way to show your appreciation for that special someone during Valentine's day season.

More information on Orgsync

TI:GER combines classroom instruction, team-based activities, and real world consulting projects into a total educational experience. Whether the student's objective is to work in a university, a new venture, or a corporate setting, TI:GER participants address the multidisciplinary issues that are a part of technology commercialization.

Program Details

Registration & Coffee (8:30 – 9:00 A.M.) 

Keynote Address (9:30 A.M. – 10:45 A.M.)
Speaker: Arri Eisen, “What Happens When You Mix Monks, Nuns, and Scientists? The Emory Tibet Science Initiative”

Session 1: Life of the Mind-Body-Spirit (10:45 A.M. -12:15 P.M.)

Lunch (12:15-1:30 P.M.)

Session 2: Life Here on Earth (1:30 - 3:00 P.M.)

Session 3: Life in the Cosmos & Where We Go From Here (3:30 - 5:30 P.M.)

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On Friday, Feb. 9, guest speaker Sharbani Pandit, a Ph.D. student in the School of Computer Science at Georgia Tech, will discuss the effectivness of mobile blacklists in her lecture, "Towards Measuring the Effectiveness of Telephony Blacklists."

The convergence of telephony with the Internet has led to numerous new attacks that make use of phone calls to defraud victims. In response to the increasing number of unwanted or fraudulent phone calls, a number of call blocking applications have appeared on smartphone app stores, including a recent update to the default Android phone app that alerts users of suspected spam calls. However, little is known about the methods used by these apps to identify malicious numbers, and how effective these methods are in practice.

In this talk, Pandit will show the systematic investigation of multiple data sources that may be leveraged to automatically learn phone blacklists, and to explore the potential effectiveness of such blacklists by measuring their ability to block future unwanted phone calls. Specifically, four different data sources are considered: user-reported call complaints submitted to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), complaints collected via crowd-sourced efforts (e.g., 800notes.com), call detail records (CDR) from a large telephony honeypot, and honeypot-based phone call audio recordings. Overall, the results show that phone blacklists are capable of blocking a significant fraction of future unwanted calls (e.g., more than 55%). Also, they have a very low false positive rate of only 0.01% for phone numbers of legitimate businesses. Pandit proposes an unsupervised learning method to identify prevalent spam campaigns from different data sources, and show how effective blacklists may be as a defense against such campaigns.

About the Speaker
Sylvester James Gates Jr. was appointed Ford Foundation Professor of Physics at Brown University in 2017. He also holds an appointment in the Department of Mathematics.

Gates first joined the Brown community in fall 2016, as an inaugural Provost Visiting Professor. Earlier, he was Distinguished University Professor, University Regents Professor, John H. Toll Professor of Physics, and Director of the Center for Particle and String Theory at the University of Maryland.

Gates received the 2011 National Medal of Science and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society. He is a fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society.

He served on the Maryland State Board of Education and was a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). As a PCAST member, he was co-chair of the council's working group on STEM preeminence for the nation. He co-authored a report to the President: ”Prepare and Inspire K-12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America’s Future.”

About Frontiers in Science Lectures
Lectures in this series are intended to inform, engage, and inspire students, faculty, staff, and the public on developments, breakthroughs, and topics of general interest in the sciences and mathematics. Lecturers tailor their talks for nonexpert audiences.

Gates's lecture is made possible by a collaboration between the College of Computing, the College of Sciences, and the School of Physics.

This technology has already made dramatic changes to global commerce, and its influence will only grow to other areas as companies learn how use this technology.

Attend Deep Startups: Blockchain Technology to learn more about how to take advantage of this technology and utilize it to create an innovative startup. 

Please RSVP here.

Refreshments will be served.

New Location:
Scheller College of Business,
100

The event will feature three workshops tailored toward helping your team produce and pitch your idea;

• Developing a Winning Pitch
• Conducting Meaningful Interviews
• Empathy: Understanding Those You Serve

Attend the Bootcamp on March 2, in room 221 at the Scheller College of Business and learn from the pro’s. They will help you fine-tune your pitch and provide you with feedback about your project.

RSVP Here

You can also visit our website to learn more. 

                                 Work at GTRI

Build your career at GTRI. Explore our available positions and take the first step towards joining our renowned team of experts.

Founded in 1934, GTRI has grown to more than 2,000 employees supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country, and performs more than $350 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. 

Each day, GTRI's science and engineering expertise is used to turn ideas into workable solutions for our customers. Discover opportunities to pursue your career as a member of our family of talented researchers, staff, and students. 

Please RSVP HERE

Automation has contributed to sharply increased productivity in virtually all industrial processes, first in developed countries, but now in places with low labor costs as well. What has industrial automation brought society, and where is it going? This talk reviews past expectations of automation, what has flourished and what has fizzled, and what was totally unexpected. Thoughts on the future are offered, amid the backdrop of pervasive computing and communication resources, a rapidly increasing middle class, the skills gap for advanced manufacturing, a heightened interest in sustainability, and the sharing economy.

Date & Time
Wednesday, February 28th, 4-6pm

Location
Ferst Center of Arts, Lobby West

* Coffee, tea, and donuts will be served.

RSVP Here

Please RSVP HERE

Please RSVP HERE

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On Friday, Feb. 23 guest speaker Hong Hu Ph.D. will give a lecture titled "Hacking Data-Flow for Turing-Complete Attacks".

Control-flow hijacking attacks from memory errors become more and more difficult as targeted defense mechanisms gain wide deployment. As an alternative, non-control data attacks do not require diverting the application’s control flow, and thus can bypass existing advanced defense mechanisms. Although it is known that such data-oriented attacks can mount significant damage, we are not clear about their real expressiveness. In this talk, Dr. Hu will first present data-flow stitching, a systematic method to build data-oriented attacks. Instead of corrupting individual data inside the program, data-flow stitching breaks existing data-flows and connects the fragments in a malicious manner, thus enabling systematic construction. Then I will propose data-oriented programming, a novel method to build expressive data-oriented attacks, even Turing-complete attacks. Finally, Dr.Hu will show data-oriented attacks against Chromium that bypass the fundamental SOP policy.

Dr. Hong Hu is a postdoctoral fellow in School of Computer Science, College of Computing, the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interest focuses on system security. Currently, he is working on the memory error detection, exploitation and defense. His research work has been published on Oakland, Usenix, CCS, ESORICS, ICECCS. He has received the Best Paper Award from ICECCS'2014. Before joining Georgia Tech, he obtained his PhD degree from National University of Singapore.

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On Friday, March 2 guest speaker and Ph.D. Student, Erkam Uzun will present his lecture titled, "rtCaptcha: Video, voice, and smarts for secure authentication" about research that was recently unveiled at the Network and Distributed Systems Security Symposium conference in San Diego.

Facial/voice-based authentication is becoming increasingly popular (e.g., already adopted by MasterCard and AliPay), because it is easy to use. In particular, users can now authenticate themselves to online services by using their mobile phone to show themselves performing simple tasks like blinking or smiling in front of its built-in camera. Our study shows that many of the publicly available facial/voice recognition services (e.g. Microsoft Cognitive Services or Amazon Rekognition) are vulnerable to even the most primitive attacks. Furthermore, recent work on modeling a person’s face/voice (e.g. Face2Face) allows an adversary to create very authentic video/audio of any target victim to impersonate that target. All it takes to launch such attacks are a few pictures and voice samples of a victim, which can all be obtained by either abusing the camera and microphone of the victim’s phone, or through the victim’s social media account. In this work, we propose the Real Time Captcha (rtCaptcha) system, which stops/slows down such an attack by turning the adversary’s task from creating authentic video/audio of the target victim performing known authentication tasks (e.g., smile, blink) to figuring out what is the authentication task, which is encoded as a Captcha. Specifically, when a user tries to authenticate using rtCaptcha, they will be presented a Captcha and will be asked to take a “selfie” video while announcing the answer to the Captcha. As such, the security guarantee of our system comes from the strength of Captcha, and not how well we can distinguish real faces/voices from synthesized ones. To demonstrate the usability and security of rtCaptcha, we conducted a user study to measure human response times to the most popular Captcha schemes. Our experiments show that, thanks to the humans’ speed of solving Captchas, adversaries will have to solve Captchas in less than 2 seconds in order to appear live/human and defeat rtCaptcha, which is not possible for the best settings on the attack side. 

Erkam Uzun is a third-year Ph.D. student in the School of Computer Science at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is advised by Professor Wenke Lee, Ph.D., and works as a researcher in the Institute for Information Security and Privacy. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Uzun worked as a research engineer for two years in the Center for Cyber Security at New York University - Abu Dhabi. His research interests span a broad range of topics, focusing largely on audio/visual authentication systems, security and privacy, digital audio and image forensics, multimedia computing, machine learning and optimization. He holds three degrees from TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara, Turkey: a Bachelor of Science degrees in both Computer Engineering and Electrical & Electronics Engineering, and a Master of Science degree in Computer Engineering.

The festival will open with remarks by College of Sciences Dean and Sutherland Chair Paul Goldbart as the festival’s honorary chair.

The program features a robotic jokester, a robotic marimba player, and a bionic arm.

Please RSVP HERE

Marina Picciotto, Ph.D.
Charles B.G. Murphy Professor
Department of Psychiatry
Yale University

Acetylcholine signaling influences behaviors related to diverse functions, including drug abuse, attention, food intake, and mood. The ability of acetylcholine to coordinate the response of neuronal networks in many brain areas makes cholinergic modulation an essential mechanism underlying complex behaviors. Interestingly, increasing acetylcholine signaling using pharmacological or genetic methods can induce symptoms related to anxiety and depression in humans and in rodent models. Studies of anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in mice have identified specific cholinergic receptors and brain areas that are necessary for ACh effects. In addition, mouse studies have identified interactions between ACh and monoamine neurotransmitters that are targeted by most antidepressant medications that are effective in human patients. These studies suggest that abnormalities in the cholinergic system may be critical for the etiology of mood disorders and could represent a novel endophenotype of depression that could be targeted to develop novel antidepressant medications. Thus, ACh signaling could contribute to the balance between adaptive responses to stress and mood disorders.

This presentation can be seen via videoconference on the Emory Campus HSRB E260

Abstract: This presentation will give an overview of efforts in our laboratory to develop microfluidic systems to control cell microenvironments and to perform high precision biochemical measurements. Microfluidic technologies to be discussed include computer-controlled microfluidics, self-switching microfluidic transistor-like circuitry, microfluidics that utilize aqueous two phase droplets, and fracture fabrication of tunable nanochannels. Specific biomedical applications that will be discussed include lung-on-a-chip, microfluidic assisted reproductive technologies and in vitro fertilization, heartbeat-on-a-chip, chromatin analysis in fracture-fabricated nanochannels, and protein biomarker analysis. The long-term goal is to create miniature patients-on-a-chip for understanding disease mechanisms, testing drugs, performing better cell-based therapies, and validating protein biomarkers. 

Bio: Prof. Shuichi Takayama’s research interests (B.S. & M.S. from the University of Tokyo, Ph.D. from the Scripps Research Institute) started with organic synthesis of enzyme inhibitors.  Subsequently he pursued postdoctoral studies in bioengineered microsystems at Harvard University as a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fellow with goal of developing microsystems to perform bioevaluations of the inhibitor molecules he synthesized. He spent 17 years at the University of Michigan in the Biomedical Engineering Department and Macromolecular Science and Engineering Program then moved to the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory School of Medicine in the summer of 2017. He is an associate editor of Integrative Biology and on the board of several other journals. Awards and honors include the NSF CAREER award, Pioneers of Miniaturization Prize, and AIMBE Fellow.

Come to this info session to learn everything you ever wanted to know about studying at Georgia Tech’s campus in France from staff, and from students who have already been there. All your questions will be answered!

Apply now for Fall 2018. Limited spots have opened up for Summer 2018!

Don't miss out on spending a semester at Georgia Tech-Lorraine!

Breazeal, known as a pioneer of social robotics and human-robot interaction, is an associate professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Bio

Dr. Cynthia Breazeal is an associate professor at the MIT Media Lab where she founded and directs the Personal Robots Group. She is also a co-founder and chief experience officer of Jibo, Inc., a startup bringing commercial social robots to the home.

Breazeal is recognized as a pioneer of social robotics and human-robot interaction. Her research encompasses the design, technical innovation, and systematic investigation of the impact of social robots on human behavior, attitudes, and outcomes. Her most recent work explores social robots that engage people over repeated encounters to personalize and build relationships to promote learning, health, and wellbeing.

An award-winning innovator, designer, and entrepreneur in venues such as TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions, the National Design Awards, and Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Breazeal speaks at venues such as CES, SXSW, TED, and the United Nations on topics of AI, innovation, and society.

She completed her graduate work at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab and received her doctorate in 2000 in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

About the Lecture Series

Funded through a generous gift from Dr. Clinton W. Kelly III, a member of IRIM’s and the College of Computing’s advisory boards and a longtime benefactor of Georgia Tech, the Kelly Distinguished Lecture on Robots and Jobs features preeminent scholars who present seminars on topics relevant to robots in the workplace.

Kelly is a recognized expert in leadership and management of research and advanced technology projects for both industry and government. Most recently, he served as the senior vice president for advanced technology development at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). 

Prior to joining SAIC in 1998, Kelly was director of the U.S. Strategic Computing Program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and executive director of the DARPA Information Science and Technology Office. From 1980 until 1987, he was responsible for establishing the direction for research in all areas of the Strategic Computing Program. From 1986 to 1989, Kelly directed the U.S. Department of Defense study on Japanese manufacturing technology. He also directed the DARPA engineering applications office with oversight of all DARPA research programs in robotics and autonomous systems, intelligent processing of materials, multimedia communications, and simulation technology. 

From 1972 to 1980, Kelly was director of research and a founder of Decisions and Designs, Inc., a company specializing in the development and application of decision analysis to public and national security policy problems. 

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Unmanned Ground Vehicles and the Safety, Security, and Rescue Research Center. Kelly received his bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1959, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1967 and 1972, respectively.

RSVP

Kyle Koza is the principal information security engineer for Georgia Tech. He leads the Cyber Security engineering team within the Office of Information Technology which architects, develops, and implements Georgia Tech's information security infrastructure. He is a certified network forensic analyst and Certified Information Security Systems Professional (CISSP). He earned a Master of Science in Information Security from Georgia Tech’s School of Computer Science after also completing his undergraduate degree at Georgia Tech.

On Friday, March 9 guest speaker Principal Security Engineer, Kyle Koza will present his lecture titled, "Enterprise Security at Georgia Tech". 

This discussion will explore the operational security employed for students, faculty, staff and researchers at Georgia Tech as well as strategies and challenges faced by operational security teams inside large enterprises.

Pierre E. Dupont, Ph.D.
Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering 
Edward P. Marram Chair
Boston Children’s Hospital
Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School

My lab creates medical robots not only for minimally invasive surgery, but also for targeted drug delivery and for inducing tissue growth.  This talk will describe three of our technologies. The first is a type of continuum robot that is based on concentrically combining pre-curved elastic tubes. We are using this technology to create cardiac catheters with tip-mounted endoscopic imaging and exploring their application to both teleoperated and semi-autonomous beating-heart interventions. The second technology consists of tetherless robots that are powered, controlled and imaged using an MRI scanner. These devices vary from patient-mounted needle-driving robots to capsules that can move inside fluid-filled body lumens. The third technology is comprised of robotic implants that apply traction forces to induce soft tissue growth. Applications include lengthening the esophagus and bowel for the treatment of congenital defects and disease.

Apply now at atlas.gatech.edu

Each fellow will collaborate with a small cohort of colleagues from their college and a CTL liaison, and will work together to plan and launch programs, services, and initiatives that address the most important teaching and learning needs in their college. 

Provost Teaching and Learning Fellows will serve two year terms from August 2018 to August 2020 and will be supported by an annual stipend.

See the full call for applications here, and apply here by midnight, March 26, 2018.

Mini Course: Nonlinear Control for Robotics

Locations Week 1 (March 26–28): 
All Days—TSRB, Auditorium

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Locations Week 2 (April 2–4): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—Marcus Nanotechnology Bldg., Rooms 1117-1118
W—IBB (Pettit), Rooms 102 A&B

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Instructor: Mark W. Spong, The University of Texas at Dallas
Reading Materials: Slides for lectures will be distributed.

Each lecture is an hour and a half session.

Week 1 (March 26–28)

Lecture 1 (3/26): Review Dynamics of Robot, Feedback Linearization, I/O Linearization and Zero Dynamics

Lecture 2 (3/27): Control of Underactuated Robots I

Lecture 3 (3/28): Control of Underactuated Robots II

Week 2 (April 2–4)

Lecture 4 (4/2): Control of Underactuated Robots III, Control of Nonholonomic Systems I

Lecture 5 (4/3): Control of Nonholonomic Systems II

Lecture 6 (4/4): Control of Nonholonomic Systems III

Instructor Bio

Mark W. Spong received the Doctor of Science degree in systems science and mathematics in 1981 from Washington University in St. Louis. He has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, Cornell University, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, he is a professor of Systems Engineering, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and holder of the Excellence in Education Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was Dean of the Jonsson School at UT Dallas from 2008-2017. During his tenure as dean he added four departments of engineering, nine new degree programs, and more than doubled the number of students and faculty.

Spong is past president of the IEEE Control Systems Society, and a fellow of both the IEEE and the IFAC. His main research interests are in robotics, mechatronics, and nonlinear control theory. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 technical articles, five books, and holds one patent. 

His notable awards include the 2018 Bode Lecture Prize from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the 2016 Nyquist Lecture Prize from the ASME, the 2011 Pioneer in Robotics Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the first IROS Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies in 2007, the Senior Scientist Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Distinguished Member Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the John R. Ragazzini and O. Hugo Schuck Awards from the American Automatic Control Council, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.

Brian Dias, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Emory University

Historical events have generated data indicating that stressors experienced by populations, affect not only the individuals directly exposed to them, but also descendants. Using animal models, our research (and my talk) aims to shed light on the nature and mechanisms by which both ancestral and descendant generations bear imprints of stressful environmental events.

This presentation can be seen via videoconference on the Emory Campus HSRB E260

Mini Course: Nonlinear Control for Robotics

Locations Week 1 (March 26–28): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Auditorium
W—Whitaker Bldg., Room 1103

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Locations Week 2 (April 2–4): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Room 132
W—IBB (Pettit), Rooms 102 A&B

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Instructor: Mark W. Spong, The University of Texas at Dallas
Reading Materials: Slides for lectures will be distributed.

Each lecture is an hour and a half session.

Week 1 (March 26–28)

Lecture 1 (3/26): Review Dynamics of Robot, Feedback Linearization, I/O Linearization and Zero Dynamics

Lecture 2 (3/27): Control of Underactuated Robots I

Lecture 3 (3/28): Control of Underactuated Robots II

Week 2 (April 2–4)

Lecture 4 (4/2): Control of Underactuated Robots III, Control of Nonholonomic Systems I

Lecture 5 (4/3): Control of Nonholonomic Systems II

Lecture 6 (4/4): Control of Nonholonomic Systems III

Instructor Bio

Mark W. Spong received the Doctor of Science degree in systems science and mathematics in 1981 from Washington University in St. Louis. He has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, Cornell University, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, he is a professor of Systems Engineering, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and holder of the Excellence in Education Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was Dean of the Jonsson School at UT Dallas from 2008-2017. During his tenure as dean he added four departments of engineering, nine new degree programs, and more than doubled the number of students and faculty.

Spong is past president of the IEEE Control Systems Society, and a fellow of both the IEEE and the IFAC. His main research interests are in robotics, mechatronics, and nonlinear control theory. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 technical articles, five books, and holds one patent. 

His notable awards include the 2018 Bode Lecture Prize from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the 2016 Nyquist Lecture Prize from the ASME, the 2011 Pioneer in Robotics Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the first IROS Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies in 2007, the Senior Scientist Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Distinguished Member Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the John R. Ragazzini and O. Hugo Schuck Awards from the American Automatic Control Council, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.

Mini Course: Nonlinear Control for Robotics

Locations Week 1 (March 26–28): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Auditorium
W—Whitaker Bldg., 1103

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Locations Week 2 (April 2–4): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Room 132
W—Petit, Rooms 102 A&B

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Instructor: Mark W. Spong, The University of Texas at Dallas
Reading Materials: Slides for lectures will be distributed.

Each lecture is an hour and a half session.

Week 1 (March 26–28)

Lecture 1 (3/26): Review Dynamics of Robot, Feedback Linearization, I/O Linearization and Zero Dynamics

Lecture 2 (3/27): Control of Underactuated Robots I

Lecture 3 (3/28): Control of Underactuated Robots II

Week 2 (April 2–4)

Lecture 4 (4/2): Control of Underactuated Robots III, Control of Nonholonomic Systems I

Lecture 5 (4/3): Control of Nonholonomic Systems II

Lecture 6 (4/4): Control of Nonholonomic Systems III

Instructor Bio

Mark W. Spong received the Doctor of Science degree in systems science and mathematics in 1981 from Washington University in St. Louis. He has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, Cornell University, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, he is a professor of Systems Engineering, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and holder of the Excellence in Education Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was Dean of the Jonsson School at UT Dallas from 2008-2017. During his tenure as dean he added four departments of engineering, nine new degree programs, and more than doubled the number of students and faculty.

Spong is past president of the IEEE Control Systems Society, and a fellow of both the IEEE and the IFAC. His main research interests are in robotics, mechatronics, and nonlinear control theory. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 technical articles, five books, and holds one patent. 

His notable awards include the 2018 Bode Lecture Prize from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the 2016 Nyquist Lecture Prize from the ASME, the 2011 Pioneer in Robotics Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the first IROS Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies in 2007, the Senior Scientist Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Distinguished Member Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the John R. Ragazzini and O. Hugo Schuck Awards from the American Automatic Control Council, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.

Mini Course: Nonlinear Control for Robotics

Locations Week 1 (March 26–28): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Auditorium
W—Whitaker Bldg., Room 1103

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Locations Week 2 (April 2–4): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Room 132
W—IBB (Pettit), Rooms 102 A&B

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Instructor: Mark W. Spong, The University of Texas at Dallas
Reading Materials: Slides for lectures will be distributed.

Each lecture is an hour and a half session.

Week 1 (March 26–28)

Lecture 1 (3/26): Review Dynamics of Robot, Feedback Linearization, I/O Linearization and Zero Dynamics

Lecture 2 (3/27): Control of Underactuated Robots I

Lecture 3 (3/28): Control of Underactuated Robots II

Week 2 (April 2–4)

Lecture 4 (4/2): Control of Underactuated Robots III, Control of Nonholonomic Systems I

Lecture 5 (4/3): Control of Nonholonomic Systems II

Lecture 6 (4/4): Control of Nonholonomic Systems III

Instructor Bio

Mark W. Spong received the Doctor of Science degree in systems science and mathematics in 1981 from Washington University in St. Louis. He has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, Cornell University, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, he is a professor of Systems Engineering, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and holder of the Excellence in Education Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was Dean of the Jonsson School at UT Dallas from 2008-2017. During his tenure as dean he added four departments of engineering, nine new degree programs, and more than doubled the number of students and faculty.

Spong is past president of the IEEE Control Systems Society, and a fellow of both the IEEE and the IFAC. His main research interests are in robotics, mechatronics, and nonlinear control theory. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 technical articles, five books, and holds one patent. 

His notable awards include the 2018 Bode Lecture Prize from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the 2016 Nyquist Lecture Prize from the ASME, the 2011 Pioneer in Robotics Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the first IROS Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies in 2007, the Senior Scientist Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Distinguished Member Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the John R. Ragazzini and O. Hugo Schuck Awards from the American Automatic Control Council, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.

Mini Course: Nonlinear Control for Robotics

Locations Week 1 (March 26–28): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Auditorium
W—Whitaker Bldg., Room 1103

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Locations Week 2 (April 2–4): 
M—TSRB, Auditorium 
T—TSRB, Room 132
W—IBB (Pettit), Rooms 102 A&B

Time: 1:30-3:00 p.m.

Instructor: Mark W. Spong, The University of Texas at Dallas
Reading Materials: Slides for lectures will be distributed.

Each lecture is an hour and a half session.

Week 1 (March 26–28)

Lecture 1 (3/26): Review Dynamics of Robot, Feedback Linearization, I/O Linearization and Zero Dynamics

Lecture 2 (3/27): Control of Underactuated Robots I

Lecture 3 (3/28): Control of Underactuated Robots II

Week 2 (April 2–4)

Lecture 4 (4/2): Control of Underactuated Robots III, Control of Nonholonomic Systems I

Lecture 5 (4/3): Control of Nonholonomic Systems II

Lecture 6 (4/4): Control of Nonholonomic Systems III

Instructor Bio

Mark W. Spong received the Doctor of Science degree in systems science and mathematics in 1981 from Washington University in St. Louis. He has held faculty positions at Lehigh University, Cornell University, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Currently, he is a professor of Systems Engineering, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and holder of the Excellence in Education Chair in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was Dean of the Jonsson School at UT Dallas from 2008-2017. During his tenure as dean he added four departments of engineering, nine new degree programs, and more than doubled the number of students and faculty.

Spong is past president of the IEEE Control Systems Society, and a fellow of both the IEEE and the IFAC. His main research interests are in robotics, mechatronics, and nonlinear control theory. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 technical articles, five books, and holds one patent. 

His notable awards include the 2018 Bode Lecture Prize from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the 2016 Nyquist Lecture Prize from the ASME, the 2011 Pioneer in Robotics Award from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, the first IROS Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies in 2007, the Senior Scientist Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Distinguished Member Award from the IEEE Control Systems Society, the John R. Ragazzini and O. Hugo Schuck Awards from the American Automatic Control Council, and the IEEE Third Millennium Medal.