Place: G102 Engineering Sciences Building (ESB) - West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: Introduce the graduate seminar series and welcome students.
Speaker Bio: Matthew Valenti is a Professor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University and site director for the Center for Identification Technology Research (CITeR), an NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC). His research is in the area of wireless communications, including cellular networks, military communication systems, sensor networks, and coded modulation for satellite communications. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and his research is funded by NSF, DoD, and industry. He is active in the organization of major IEEE Communication Society (ComSoc) conferences, including serving as the Technical Program Chair for MILCOM 2017 and as chair of the technical steering committee for IEEE GLOBECOM and ICC. He has served as Editor for several IEEE publications and as the Chair of ComSoc's Communication Theory Technical Committee. At WVU, he serves as the Chair of the Faculty Senate and as a faculty representative to the WVU Board of Governors. He teaches several upper-division and graduate courses on wireless networks, communication theory, and coding theory, is recipient of several teaching, research, and advising awards by his College, and is a recipient of the 2013 WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award, the highest teaching award at WVU. He is registered as a Professional Engineer in the state of West Virginia and is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Speaker: Martin Dunlap
Date: September 9th, 2019
Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Place: G102 Engineering Sciences Building (ESB) - West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: He will introduce the services and resources available through the WVU Libraries. These library resources may be critical to your graduate research.
Speaker Bio: He joined WVU in 1998 and has spent 10+ years working in the swamps of Florida as an environmental consultant. Since then he has worked in libraries first in Cleveland, Ohio and then here at WVU in various capacities. He recently got promoted to be the Engineering Librarian at WVU.
Speaker: WVU IT
Date: NA
Time: NA
Place: At your desk
Abstract: There is an online plagiarism tutorial at https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6W3rGjsAaEenYgd
Here are the steps:
View videos.
Take a self-test.
Repeat steps for each module.
Take the Plagiarism Avoidance Test.
How do you progress through this tutorial?
View videos or read material in a module. Take a self-test after reading and viewing materials in a module. This self-test is for practice and taking it will open the next module. Repeat steps for each module, five modules in all. After viewing / reading the material in each module and taking the self-tests, take the Plagiarism Avoidance Test.
Speaker: Michael Kaess
Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Time: 9:30 AM
Place: AERB120 - West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: Factor graphs have become a popular tool for modeling robot perception problems. Not only can they model the bipartite relationship between sensor measurements and variables of interest for inference, but they have also been instrumental in devising novel inference algorithms that exploit the spatial and temporal structure inherent in these problems. I will overview some of the inference algorithms and present two specific applications: Simultaneous localization and mapping for underwater robots and state estimation for aerial robots. For state estimation I will introduce a novel fixed-lag smoother for visual inertial odometry. I will also give a brief overview of factor graphs in the context of other robot perception problems
Michael Kaess is an Associate Research Professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). His research focuses on probabilistic methods for robot perception , in particular efficient algorithms for navigation, mapping and localization. Prior to joining CMU, he was a Research Scientist and a Postdoctoral Associate in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received the Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He was one of the two runners-ups for the 2012 Volz dissertation award for the best U.S. Ph.D. thesis in robotics and automation, and also received four runner -up best paper awards (ICRA 2011, 2013, 2016, IROS 2018). For the past four years he has served as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Robotics.
Speaker: Ani Hsieh
Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Time: 9:30 AM
Place: AERB120 - West Virgina University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: Robotics and autonomous systems provide an interface for us to interact more richly and extensively with the world we live in. Multi-robot systems are fundamental to this interface since they can cover large regions of physical space, collect environmental data, and process the data to obtain a consistent global description of the world. The ability to communicate and share data wirelessly and reliably is fundamental to the success of any multi -robot system. Unsurprisingly , there is a large body of work focused on designing controllers that guarantee the connectivity of the mobile robotic network for all times . Most of these works model the multi-robot network as graphs and employ graph theoretic approaches in the design and analysis of the connectivity preserving control strategies . However, in practice, the uncertainties in the wireless channel makes it near impossible to ensure all-time connectivity. Additionally , all-time connectivity constraints can severely restrict a team's motion making it difficult for the team to complete its assigned tasks. In this talk, we will show how it is possible to create robust mobile robotic networks with intermittent connectivity and how, under certain conditions, the problem is related to the synchronization of coupled oscillators . Leveraging the dynamical systems perspective, we show how intermittent connectivity is often the preferred solution , especially for networks of power constrained robots operating in communication limited environments like the ocean.
Speaker Bio: M. Ani Hsieh is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests lie at the intersection of robotics , multi-agent systems, and dynamical systems theory. Hsieh's group works on designing algorithms for estimation, control, and planning for multi -agent robotic systems with applications in environmental monitoring, estimation and prediction of complex dynamics, and design of collective behaviors. Hsieh is a member of the GRASP (General Robotics, Automation , Sensing, and Perception) Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the recipient of a 2012 Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award and a 2013 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. Prior to joining GRASP and Penn, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Drexel University. She received her B.S. in Engineering and B.A. in Economics from Swarthmore College in 1999 and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 2007 .
Speaker: Layth Silman
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Place: AERB135 Advanced Engineering Research Building - West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: Nowadays, we witness the emergence of new collaborative business models such as virtual market places, sharing economy, Remote Fabrication and distributed supply chain. This has been geared by the rise of new IT technologies, namely Internet of Things technologies and cloud computing. Despite the advantages of these scenarios, managing security and trust are major obstacles that should be studied to spread the collaboration intensive business.
One of the most promising technology that can overcome these obstacles is distributed ledger technology. Distributed ledger technology e.g. Blockchain is a technology that provides a decentralized “database” on a network that is scalable, secure, tamper-proof, and accessible by each peer on the network. However, distributed ledger technologies are basically designed for financial application. Consequently, these technologies are, so far, not adapted to the development and the execution of collaborative business process necessary to meet business needs. In this talk, I will try to answer the questions: how to enable distributed ledger based infrastructures so that they can meet collaborative business needs? What are the fundamental obstacles in the current distributed ledger technologies state that hinder the support of the business collaboration? At what levels in distributed ledger architecture the changes are needed?
Completed his Diploma in Computer Engineering. Then he obtained his masters in Computer Science (Information systems) in INSA Lyon- France and then his Phd from INSA Lyon, in collaboration with the University of the Ryukyus, Japan. In 2003, he underwent training in Development and Implementation program in Computer Software Applications in CMC-TATA, New Delhi, India. In the same year, he also underwent another training in Information and Communication Technologies in MEIO University and Okinawa International Center, Japan. In 2008, 2009 2010, 2012, 2013 and 2014 he did many research stays on Digital Rights Management and image processing in the University of the Ryukyus and Ritsumeikan University - Japan. During the period 2000-2010, he worked as lecturer and assistant professor, did his research and taught Computer Engineering and Information Systems in many universities including INSA, Lyon, the University of the Ryukyus in Japan, Beijing University of Technology, South China University of Technology China, and the Insitute of Visual Informatics in Malaysia. Since September 2010 he is associate professor in EFREI, a French engineering school located in Paris. His is a research fellow in many international institutes. His main topic is Collaborative Information Systems. This involves many topics including Web 2.0, IS Architecture, IoT Security, Cloud Computing, SaaS, Semantic Web and semantic SOA.
He delivered many talks and seminars on the subject of Blockchain in France, Italy, Japan, and Spain. He has chaired and or organized more than 10 international conferences. This include 27th IEEE WETICE, 25th IEEE WETICE, SOCPAR2017 (LNCS), IAS2017 (LNCS), 13th IAS (LNCS), IBICA2017(LNCS), 10th IFIP NTMS2019, 9th NTMS18, 6th NTMS15, 14th ISDA(IEEE), and 10th IAS(IEEE).
Speaker: Steven White
Date: Thursday, October 17, 2019
Time: 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Place: AER120 Advanced Engineering Research Building - West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: An ultra-wide band feed receiver is being developed for prime focus of the Green Bank Telescope, one of the premier instruments in the pulsar timing array used for long wavelength gravitational wave detection. Detection requires estimating timing parameters of many different pulsars spread over the galaxy, each having unique timing errors associated with the observed bandwidth (0.7-4.2 GHz). The feed design presents many challenges in the pursuit of low noise and high efficiency operation over the band. Steven will describe the fundamentals of the GBT optics, give design details of the dielectrically loaded quad ridge feed and cryogenic receiver, and explain pulsar timing properties driving the design.
Steven White currently serves as the Electronics Division Head for the Green Bank Observatory. His contributions to the observatory include development of a seven-pixel K-band cryogenic receiver, a dual beam 4 mm cryogenic receiver, an L-band phase array feed receiver and a gain stabilized analog fiber optic link. Recent projects include research into ultra-wide band feeds, a fiber optic based laser range finder patent, and a high mass flow cryogenic compressor design. Steven obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University and a Master of Science Degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Speaker: Zhaoyu Wang
Date: Monday, November 4, 2019
Time: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Place: G102 Engineering Sciences Building (ESB) - West Virginia University, Morgantown WV
Abstract: This talk will present our research on enhancing power distribution grid observability and resilience using real utility data and machine learning techniques. We have archived a large amount of smart meter, microPMU and SCADA data and associated grid circuit models from collaborating utilities. We will begin the talk by introducing our data and one real utility dataset that we share with the research community. By leveraging the smart meter data, we have proposed a multi-timescale learning model that enables utilities to infer hourly consumption patterns of unobservable customers using only their monthly billing information, thus significantly enhancing the grid observability. Further, the smart meter data has been used to develop a model free framework to estimate cold load pick-up in service restoration. In addition, we have used multi-year data from outage management systems to model distribution grid resilience curves and characterize resilience features.
Dr. Zhaoyu Wang is the Harpole-Pentair Assistant Professor with Iowa State University. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2009 and 2012, respectively, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2012 and 2015, respectively. He was a Research Aid at Argonne National Laboratory in 2013 and an Electrical Engineer Intern at Corning Inc. in 2014. His research interests include power distribution systems, microgrids, renewable integration, power system resilience, and power system modeling. He is the Principal Investigator for a multitude of projects focused on these topics and funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, National Laboratories, PSERC, Iowa Energy Center, and Industry. Dr. Wang received the IEEE PES General Meeting Best Paper Award in 2017 and 2019, and the IEEE Industrial Application Society Prize Paper Award in 2016. Dr. Wang is the Secretary of IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) Award Subcommittee, Co-Vice Chair of PES Distribution System Operation and Planning Subcommittee, and Vice Chair of PES Task Force on Advances in Natural Disaster Mitigation Methods. He is an editor of IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid and IEEE PES Letters and an associate editor of IET Smart Grid.