BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//College of Engineering - University of Wisconsin-Madison - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu X-WR-CALDESC:Events for College of Engineering - University of Wisconsin-Madison REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Chicago BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20250309T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20251102T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20260308T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20261101T070000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0600 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:CDT DTSTART:20270314T080000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0600 TZNAME:CST DTSTART:20271107T070000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260305T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260305T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105957 CREATED:20260115T160258Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T173029Z UID:10001405-1772726400-1772730000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ME 903 Graduate Seminar: Professor Dakotah Thompson DESCRIPTION:The ME 903: Graduate Student Lecture Series features campus and visiting speakers who present on a variety of research topics in the field of mechanical engineering. Professor Dakotah Thompson is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. \n\n\n\nPresentation Title: Misbehaving metals: from anomalous radiative transport to non-Drude behavior. \n\n\n\nAbstract: Classical theories governing radiative heat transfer are based on geometrical optics\, which presumes that light is a ray. While useful for most engineering applications\, this conception is not completely general because it does not account for wave effects like optical interference and diffraction. In this talk\, I discuss a limiting case where the size of the objects exchanging heat is much smaller than the radiation wavelengths. Recent work from my group highlights the limitations of Planck’s blackbody law\, and reveals that radiative transport between nanoscale objects comprised of polar dielectrics and metals may exhibit qualitatively different size scaling. Overall\, these transport characteristics are largely determined by electromagnetic surface modes which are highly dependent on the material’s optical properties. In the second part of the talk\, I discuss how optical properties and their frequency dispersion are modeled. Specifically\, I will introduce an extended Drude model that can ensure Kramers-Kronig consistency and can accurately predict the optical properties of disordered conductors in the far infrared. Examples of such materials include liquid metals\, ionic liquids\, cuprate superconductors\, and transparent conducting oxides. Overall\, the results underlying these studies were obtained using advanced calorimetric and ellipsometric techniques\, so experimentalists are highly encouraged to attend. \n\n\n\nBio: Dakotah Thompson has been a faculty member in the Mechanical Engineering department at UW-Madison since 2019. Dakotah earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 2018\, and his B.S. at Georgia Tech in 2012. Dakotah’s core technical expertise is in nanofabrication and heat flow calorimetry\, and he has published several high-impact works in the field of radiative thermal transport. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/me-903-graduate-seminar-professor-laura-grossenbacher/ LOCATION:3M Auditorium\, rm 1106 Mechanical Engineering Building\, 1513 University Ave\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-12-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260306T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260306T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105957 CREATED:20260120T211709Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260123T142121Z UID:10001421-1772798400-1772802000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Mechanics Seminar: Professor Theresa Saxton-Fox DESCRIPTION:The Mechanics Seminar Series is a weekly seminar given by campus and visiting speakers on topics across the spectrum of mechanics research (solids\, fluids\, and dynamics). Professor Theresa Saxton-Fox is a professor at University of Illinois\, Urbana-Champaign. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/mechanics-seminar-professor-theresa-saxton-fox/ LOCATION:1227 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-11-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260309T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260309T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105957 CREATED:20260226T173837Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T174052Z UID:10001474-1773072000-1773075600@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE RISE-AI SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Jingfeng Wu DESCRIPTION:Towards a Less Conservative Theory of Machine Learning: Unstable Optimization and Implicit Regularization\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract: Deep learning’s empirical success challenges the “conservative” nature of classical optimization and statistical learning theories. Classical theory mandates small stepsizes for training stability and explicit regularization for complexity control. Yet\, deep learning leverages mechanisms that thrive beyond these traditional boundaries. In this talk\, I present a research program dedicated to building a less conservative theoretical foundation by demystifying two such mechanisms:  \n\n\n\n1. Unstable Optimization: I show that large stepsizes\, despite causing local oscillations\, accelerate the global convergence of gradient descent (GD) in overparameterized logistic regression.  \n\n\n\nDr. Jingfeng Wu\n\n\n\n2. Implicit Regularization: I show that the implicit regularization of early-stopped GD statistically dominates explicit $\ell_2$-regularization across all linear regression problem instances. \n\n\n\nI further showcase how the theoretical principles lead to practice-relevant algorithmic designs (such as Seesaw for reducing serial steps in large language model pretraining). I conclude by outlining a path towards a rigorous understanding of modern learning paradigms. \n\n\n\nBio: Dr. Jingfeng Wu is a postdoctoral fellow at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on deep learning theory\, optimization\, and statistical learning. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. Prior to that\, he received a B.S. in Mathematics and an M.S. in Applied Mathematics\, both from Peking University. In 2023\, he was recognized as a Rising Star in Data Science by the University of Chicago and UC San Diego. \n\n\n\nLocation details: Discovery Building – Research’s Link\, 2nd floor of Discovery Building (access through glass doors behind information desk) URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-rise-ai-seminar-series-dr-jingfeng-wu/ LOCATION:Discovery Building\, 330 N. Orchard St.\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53715 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260310T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260310T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260227T172358Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T172400Z UID:10001479-1773158400-1773162000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:CBE Seminar Series: Alexandra Bayles DESCRIPTION:Alexandra BaylesChemical and Biomolecular EngineeringUniversity of DelewareNewark\, Delaware \n\n\n\nAdvective processing strategies for architecting functional soft materials\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNatural and engineered soft materials often derive their functionality from the hierarchical arrangement of chemically distinct building blocks. Self- and directed-assembly strategies that organize nano- and microscale elements into mesoscopic architectures have transformed our ability to realize materials with macroscopic properties superior to those of their individual components. However\, challenges associated with adapting these processes across diverse chemistries and production volumes can limit their practical utility and deployment in advanced manufacturing. In this context\, our research group leverages principles of chaotic advection to continuously architect functional soft materials. \n\n\n\nIn this talk\, I will describe how we design modular fluidic devices to sculpt the spatial distribution of building blocks along laminar streamlines. Inspired by static mixers optimized to layer polymeric melts\, these devices incorporate junctions that split\, rotate\, and recombine serpentine flows. We demonstrate the ability to assemble an extensive library of geometric patterns by ordering junctions in deliberate sequences. Serial combinations of certain junctions multiply patterns while preserving their relative spacing and orientation. This implementation of the baker’s transformation rapidly thins the characteristic feature size in layered\, fibrous\, and dendritic architectures. Combining junctions in parallel breaks symmetry\, providing access to previously unattainable voxelated structures. Because organization is primarily governed by rheology rather than chemistry\, these advective assembly processes provide an adaptable framework for patterning long-range order in extruded materials with rheologically similar precursors. We illustrate this versatility by processing viscoplastic materials to advance emerging applications. For extrusion-based 3D printing\, we sculpt multimaterial filaments in advective assembly nozzles prior to deposition. Preassembling lower levels of the hierarchy in flow circumvents challenges of layer-by-layer deposition\, including maintaining high throughput while preserving resolution. For soft actuator fabrication\, we organize contrasting polymer solutions in flow and secure distributions after extrusion via UV polymerization. Including specific moieties induces swelling in response to light\, temperature\, and salt stimuli\, while the mesoscale arrangement directs motion without delamination. For synthetic tissue engineering\, we exploit the gentle laminar flows organize mammalian cells in biomimetic\, fine architectures while mitigating shear-induced damage. Overall\, the modular extrusion platform expands the assembly toolbox\, unlocking new opportunities in designing functional soft and living materials. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/cbe-seminar-series-alexandra-bayles/ LOCATION:WI CATEGORIES:Chemical & Biological Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CBE-sem-series-web-header-scaled.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260312T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260312T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260115T160546Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260311T131902Z UID:10001406-1773331200-1773334800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ME 903 Graduate Seminar: Professor Harley Johnson DESCRIPTION:The ME 903: Graduate Student Lecture Series features campus and visiting speakers who present on a variety of research topics in the field of mechanical engineering. Professor Harley Johnson is a professor at the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign. \n\n\n\nPresentation Title: Defects in Quantum Materials and Perspectives on the Future of Quantum Computing \n\n\n\nAbstract: Electronic and quantum materials\, which are central to the development of devices for future applications in quantum information science\, host a variety of crystalline defects that give rise to interesting properties. In order to harness these properties for new applications\, it is necessary to understand the mechanics and physics of the defects and their interactions. \n\n\n\nIn this talk\, I will first present results on defects in layered two-dimensional materials\, including dislocations either in-plane or out-of-plane with respect to the 2D layered structure. Recently\, twisted multilayer 2D material structures have been of interest due to the presence of flat bands and other emergent properties — including unconventional superconductivity — associated with moiré superlattices. Periodic regions of crystalline commensurability making up these superlattices are now understood to be separated by interlayer dislocations\, with Burgers vectors and line directions in the plane of the 2D material\, and having either edge or screw character. Using density functional theory and quantum Monte Carlo-fitted total energy tight-binding calculations\, I show that out-of-plane relaxation of the structures makes possible unique helical dislocations in bilayer graphene\, and that the presence of these helical dislocation lines coincides precisely with the so-called magic-angle condition at which unconventional superconductivity is observed. I then describe a different dislocation structure\, with line direction oriented out-of-plane\, but which also has a helical structure. Such a screw dislocation\, which adopts a double-helix dislocation core configuration in bilayer structures\, is expected to create conditions for exotic transport properties in certain classes of layered topological insulator materials. \n\n\n\nI will then take a broader perspective and briefly describe some major efforts to scale up quantum applications\, focusing on an historic new public-private partnership developing in Chicago – the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. This effort will be discussed in the context of university\, national lab\, and industry partnerships across the region\, with a goal of describing opportunities for engagement and targets for the scale-up of quantum computing hardware and algorithms over the next 5-10 years. \n\n\n\nBio: Harley T. Johnson is a Founder Professor in Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign\, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2001. He is the Executive Director and CEO of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park\, a $1B+ public-private partnership dedicated to scale-up of quantum computing\, located on 128 acres of the former US Steel Southworks site in Chicago. From 2019-2024 he served as the Associate Dean for Research in The Grainger College of Engineering\, a role in which he oversaw and supported the $320M annual research portfolio in Engineering at UIUC. In this position he supported faculty research\, led corporate relations\, and oversaw all major engineering partnerships with the federal funding agencies. \n\n\n\nJohnson’s research focuses on electronic and quantum materials\, addressing the role of defects and deformation in their functional properties. He served as PI and Director of the Illinois Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (I-MRSEC)\, an $18M NSF center (2023-2029) focused on fundamental research in electronic\, ionic\, and quantum materials. In 2019 he founded the NSF “DIGI-MAT” Center on Materials and Data Science\, based in UIUC’s National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). He has received the NSF CAREER Award\, the ASME Thomas J. R. Hughes Young Investigator Award\, and is a former Fulbright US Scholar. Johnson has received numerous recognitions for his teaching\, and campus awards for his leadership in diversity\, and for outstanding faculty leadership. In 2021 he received the University of Illinois Presidential Medallion for his leadership efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. He is a Fellow of ASME and a Fellow of the Society of Engineering Science (SES). He received his graduate degrees from Brown University\, and his undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/me-903-graduate-seminar-professor-harley-johnson/ LOCATION:3M Auditorium\, rm 1106 Mechanical Engineering Building\, 1513 University Ave\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-12-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260313T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260313T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260120T211905Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260311T132018Z UID:10001422-1773403200-1773406800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Mechanics Seminar: Professor Xiaobo Tan DESCRIPTION:The Mechanics Seminar Series is a weekly seminar given by campus and visiting speakers on topics across the spectrum of mechanics research (solids\, fluids\, and dynamics). Professor Xiaobo Tan is a professor at Michigan State University. \n\n\n\nPresentation Title: Control of Underwater Robots with Localization Constraints \n\n\n\nAbstract: A key challenge for underwater robots and vehicles is the difficulty in obtaining location measurements for them or for targets they are tasked to track. In this talk I will share a few examples of our recent work on control of underwater robots with localization constraints. I will first discuss a distributed estimation approach to cooperative localization\, where a group of robots need to track a moving target (e.g.\, an acoustically tagged fish) based on time-difference-of-arrivals (TDOAs) of a signal emitted by the target. Then I will introduce a control barrier function approach to the incorporation of observability constraints and show its application to target tracking with only the range measurement. Finally\, I will present the problem of adaptive sampling under localization uncertainties\, and discuss how a multi-fidelity Gaussian process model is instrumental for best utilizing the measurement data for the reconstruction of the environmental field being sampled. Experimental results will be shown to illustrate the approaches. \n\n\n\nBio: Dr. Xiaobo Tan is an MSU Research Foundation Distinguished Professor and the Richard M. Hong Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in automatic control from Tsinghua University\, Beijing\, China\, in 1995\, 1998\, respectively\, and his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Maryland in 2002. His research interests include underwater robotics\, soft robotics\, smart materials\, and control systems. He has published over 300 papers and been awarded 7 US patents in these areas. Dr. Tan is a Fellow of IEEE and ASME. He was a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award (2006)\, MSU Teacher-Scholar Award (2010)\, MSU College of Engineering Withrow Distinguished Scholar Award (2018)\, Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Maryland (2018)\, MSU William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award\, and multiple best paper awards. Dr. Tan is keen to integrate his research with educational and outreach activities\, and has served as the PI of an NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program on addressing real-world water problems (2023-2028)\, Director of an NSF-funded Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site program (2009 – 2016)\, and Curator of a robotic fish exhibit at MSU Museum (2016-2017). He has served the professional community in different capacities\, including the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics\, a member of ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division Executive Committee\, and the general chair of 2018 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference and 2023 American Control Conference. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/mechanics-seminar-professor-xiaobo-tan/ LOCATION:1227 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-11-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260313T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260313T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260227T161039Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260227T161338Z UID:10001477-1773403200-1773406800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE RISE-AI SEMINAR SERIES: Kunhe Yang DESCRIPTION:Designing and Evaluating AI Algorithms in Strategic Environments\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKunhe Yang\n\n\n\nAbstract: As AI models are increasingly deployed in environments shaped by complex human behaviors\, there is a critical need for algorithmic principles that account for human values and strategic incentives. In this talk\, I will introduce my research on the theoretical foundations for designing and evaluating AI in human-centered strategic environments. I will focus on two key representative lines of my research: first\, I will discuss incentive-aware evaluation\, with the goal of designing metrics that remain robust even when they become targets of optimization. I will illustrate this in the context of online probability forecasting and introduce algorithmic principles for designing calibration measures that incentivize truthful predictions. Second\, I will discuss AI alignment with heterogeneous human preferences by introducing a framework called the distortion of AI alignment. Within this framework\, I will characterize the information-theoretic limits of learning from sparse heterogeneous feedback\, and compare the robustness of different alignment approaches including RLHF and NLHF. I conclude by discussing future directions and a broader vision for integrating these algorithmic principles into the design of trustworthy\, human-centric AI. \n\n\n\nBio: Kunhe Yang is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California\, Berkeley\, where she is advised by Professor Nika Haghtalab. Her research focuses on the theoretical foundations of AI in human-centered environments by drawing on tools from machine learning theory and algorithmic economics. Her work has been recognized by several awards\, including EECS Rising Star\, invited speaker at the Cornell Young Researchers workshop\, finalist for the Meta Research PhD Fellowship in the Economics and Computation track\, and a SIGMETRICS best paper award. \n\n\n\nLocation details: Discovery Building – Research’s Link\, 2nd floor of Discovery Building (access through glass doors behind information desk) URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-rise-ai-seminar-series-kunhe-yang/ LOCATION:Discovery Building\, 330 N. Orchard St.\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53715 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260316T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260316T110000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260226T190059Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T190100Z UID:10001475-1773655200-1773658800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE QUANTUM ENGINEERING SEMINAR SERIES: Joshua Viszlai DESCRIPTION:A Systems Approach to Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoshua Viszlai\n\n\n\nAbstract: We are beginning a remarkably exciting time for quantum computing. There is a growing consensus that quantum error correction (QEC) is needed to reach scales necessary for quantum advantage\, and recent major demonstrations have led to a new generation of error-corrected quantum computers. These demonstrations transition QEC from a theoretical idea introduced in 1995 to an experimental reality. Underlying this milestone is rapid progress in the scale of quantum hardware\, with systems today featuring up to 1\,000 qubits and error rates nearing 0.1%. However\, looking towards the future\, significant work is still needed to organize and scale quantum hardware to create fault-tolerant quantum computers (FTQC) capable of practical quantum advantage.While the theory of FTQC is promising\, effectively connecting it to real devices poses significant challenges. In this talk I will discuss the role of systems and architecture research in efficiently addressing these challenges\, focusing on two examples of my work. First\, I will describe the problems involved in large-scale\, real-time QEC decoding\, and detail a speculative window decoder that reduces decoder reaction time by up to 50%. Second\, I will show how insights from decoding lead to a heuristic for compiling QEC codes that reduces logical error rates by 2.5x-4x and helps automate QEC design space exploration. Together\, these works fit into a larger vision on a full-stack view of FTQC and highlight opportunities for interdisciplinary\, systems-level research to accelerate the realization of large-scale quantum computing. \n\n\n\nBio: Joshua Viszlai is a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago advised by Fred Chong. His research spans both theory and experiment with a focus on bridging the gap between current quantum devices and fault-tolerant quantum computing. His work has been implemented in quantum hardware and has been published in top-tier conferences in the fields of computer architecture and quantum computing leading to two best paper awards and a best poster honorable mention award. Joshua is also a consultant at Infleqtion\, a company developing neutral atom quantum computers\, where he helps lead research on quantum error correction. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-quantum-engineering-seminar-series-joshua-viszlai/ LOCATION:2534 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website-1.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260316T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260316T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260121T162225Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260309T194054Z UID:10001436-1773662400-1773666000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:BME Seminar Series: Wan-Ju Li\, PhD\, FIOR DESCRIPTION:From Development to Repair: Using Skeletal Development Principles to Advance Stem Cell-Mediated Cartilage Regeneration\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWan-Ju Li\, PhD\, FIORAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Orthopedics and RehabilitationUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison \n\n\n\nAbstract:Why does cartilage regeneration still fall short despite major progress in stem cell engineering? In this seminar\, I will argue that one important reason is that cartilage repair strategies are often developed without fully accounting for the developmental programs that shape cartilage formation in vivo. I will present our lab’s recent work showing that developmental origin strongly influences the identity and regenerative potential of human iPSC-derived chondrocytes. \n\n\n\nUsing isogenic differentiation models\, we compared mesoderm-derived and neural crest-derived chondrocytes and found that neural crest-derived chondrocytes more closely resemble native articular chondrocytes and perform better in cartilage repair settings. Building on these findings\, I will also discuss our efforts to develop a stepwise induction strategy for generating chondrocytes from human iPSC-derived neural crest cells in a more controlled and efficient manner. \n\n\n\nTogether\, these studies support a broader message that developmental biology is not simply background knowledge for regenerative medicine\, but a practical framework for selecting better cell sources\, asking more precise biological questions\, and overcoming major barriers in the field. \n\n\n\nPrint PDF URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/bme-seminar-series-7/ LOCATION:1003 (Tong Auditorium) Engineering Centers Building\, 1550 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Biomedical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Seminar-Graphic-Fall2024-1.avif ORGANIZER;CN="Department of Biomedical Engineering":MAILTO:bmehelp@bme.wisc.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260317T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260317T110000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260226T192925Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260226T193013Z UID:10001476-1773741600-1773745200@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE QUANTUM ENGINEERING SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Shai Tsesses DESCRIPTION:Unlocking New Capabilities for Quantum Computation with Neutral Atom Arrays\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDr. Shai Tsesses\n\n\n\nAbstract: Neutral atom arrays have become a frontrunner in the race for utility scale quantum computation [1]\, building on their reconfigurability [2]\, scalability [3] and high fidelity for all operations [4] – idling\, detection\, single- and two-qubit gates. However\, they still suffer from key bottlenecks that constrain their operational speed and their implementation of deep quantum circuits. In this talk\, I will show how my recent work can bend these constraints and sometimes completely break them. I will present results on accelerated detection of the atoms via high-lying energy states (Rydberg states) [5] and introduce novel protocols for reconfigurable multi-qubit gates [6]\, promoting improved circuit implementation speed for error correction. I will then update on our current progress in building a continuously operating neutral atom quantum processor\, which mitigates the negative influences of atom loss\, and present a new scheme we developed to operate atom array systems for this purpose [7]. Lastly\, I will touch on the final frontier – how to increase system size to a utility scale number of qubits and provide my own solution to it: free electron quantum interconnects between neutral atom quantum processing modules. \n\n\n\nBio: Dr. Shai Tsesses is a postdoctoral associate at the MIT–Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms\, working with Prof. Vladan Vuletić. At MIT\, he is leading a team developing the next generation of neutral atom quantum processors\, able to implement deep and high-fidelity quantum circuits. Dr. Tsesses earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology\, where he made key experimental contributions to topological and quantum nano-photonics\, as well as free-electron–light interactions. His research explores the frontiers of light–matter interaction\, bridging atomic physics\, electron beam physics\, and quantum information science. He has authored more than 30 publications in leading journals such as Science and Nature\, and is a recipient of numerous fellowships and awards\, including the Rothschild and Adams Fellowships\, as well as the OPTICA Tingye Li Innovation Prize. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-quantum-engineering-seminar-series-dr-shai-tsesses/ LOCATION:2317 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website-1.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260317T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260317T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260213T215030Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260213T215423Z UID:10001462-1773763200-1773766800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Founder's Day Lecture: Nedim Emil Altaras DESCRIPTION:Room 1610 Engineering Hall \n\n\n\nNedim Emil AltarasSVP Technical Development LeadModerna Therapeutics\, Cambridge\, MA \n\n\n\nPressure Is a Privilege: Industrializing an mRNA Platform for Speed\, Scale\, and Reliability\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAs a chemical engineer\, I think of our profession as the discipline of translating fundamentals into working systems: reducing complex problems to first principles\, quantifying constraints\, and designing processes that perform in the real world. Over the past decade at Moderna\, that mindset was tested in the most consequential setting. I built the Technical Development capabilities that supported pandemic readiness and then worked from Day 1 of the Covid-19 pandemic to translate an mRNA vaccine from sequence to reproducible clinical and commercial supply. \n\n\n\nThis lecture is about industrialization—moving from a working process to a scalable\, controlled manufacturing system. It is not simply “making more.” It is establishing a platform that can execute with short cycle times while maintaining process capability and product quality. I will describe what it takes to industrialize an mRNA platform when time becomes the first-class design constraint: parallelizing development\, standardizing unit operations/interfaces\, and using modular manufacturing approaches so performance can be robustly replicated across equipment\, sites\, and teams. \n\n\n\nThe same platform and operational discipline that proved itself under pandemic pressure has continued to translate beyond a single product—supporting additional licensed vaccines and extending into therapeutics\, including individualized oncology programs and rare-disease efforts. \n\n\n\nI will frame the experience around three engineering priorities: speed\, scale\, and reliability. Speed comes from clear decision rules under uncertainty\, risk-based development plans\, and rapid feedback from analytics and manufacturing. Scale is achieved by designing robustness to variability\, building standard work for technology transfer\, and ensuring consistent execution across the network. Reliability—and the assurance to defend it—is built through characterization\, a defined control strategy\, comparability to enable lifecycle changes\, and documentation discipline that makes data and decisions defendable. \n\n\n\nUltimately\, pressure is a privilege because it reflects responsibility: responsibility to solve problems that matter\, to build systems that hold up under scrutiny\, and to translate engineering work into human impact with life changing mRNA medicines. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/founders-day-lecture-nedim-emil-altaras/ LOCATION:WI CATEGORIES:Chemical & Biological Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CBE-sem-series-web-header-scaled.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260318T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260318T110000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260303T203811Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260303T203814Z UID:10001482-1773828000-1773831600@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE QUANTUM ENGINEERING SEMINAR SERIES: Hezi Zhang DESCRIPTION:Quantum Computing Systems: Toward Scalable and Efficient Quantum Computation\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHezi Zhang\n\n\n\nAbstract: Quantum computing has emerged as a transformative frontier of computation. In recent years\, quantum hardware has scaled at an unprecedented rate. As this momentum continues\, the central challenge is shifting upward in the stack—from hardware-level feasibility toward system-level scalability. This talk will focus on quantum computer architecture and compiler systems\, introducing the challenges and opportunities to efficiently harness device capabilities and lower the demands on hardware technology\, thereby accelerating timelines for practical quantum advantage. \n\n\n\nBio: Hezi Zhang is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department at the University of California\, San Diego (UCSD). She received her M.S. in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT) and her B.S. in Physics from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Her current research interests lie in quantum computing architecture and compiler optimization\, including supporting scalable quantum computing and exploring different quantum computing paradigms. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-quantum-engineering-seminar-series-hezi-zhang/ LOCATION:2534 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website-1.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260320T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260320T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260120T212217Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260313T135744Z UID:10001423-1774008000-1774011600@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Mechanics Seminar: Professor Debanjan Mukherjee DESCRIPTION:The Mechanics Seminar Series is a weekly seminar given by campus and visiting speakers on topics across the spectrum of mechanics research (solids\, fluids\, and dynamics). Professor Debanjan Mukherjee is a professor at University of Colorado Boulder. \n\n\n\nPresentation Title: The Biofluid Dynamics Of Thrombosis: what doors can custom in silico models open for us? \n\n\n\nAbstract: Thrombosis\, or the pathological clotting of blood in the human body\, is the key underlying cause of severe cardiovascular disease like heart attack and stroke; which together comprise major global causes of death and disability. Fluid dynamics plays an intricate underlying role in pathological clot initiation\, formation and growth\, and subsequent clot deformation and potential fragmentation (or embolization). There exists a significant body of evidence on this underlying role of flow\, and flow-mediated transport from in vivo murine models\, and microfluidic assays with whole human blood. Yet\, the recapitulation of dynamic clot-flow interactions within real human vascular segments continues to remain a major challenge; and there are currently limited avenues to probe and understand these interactions via standard-of-care imaging. Here\, we will showcase custom numerical modeling frameworks that we have developed over the years to address the aforementioned challenge; enabling deep quantitative insights on local clot-flow interactions\, clot mechanical response to flow-induced loading\, and biochemical transport within and around clots. We will specifically illustrate approaches that resolve key features of real human clots\, such as heterogeneous structure and micro-composition\, and their interplay with locally non-linear fluid flows. We will also illustrate numerical methods that help model and investigate physiologically critical processes such as clot contraction mechanics\, which are otherwise challenging to replicate in an in silico setting. We will close by showcasing our efforts on releasing these computational modeling tools to the broader community as open-source tools. \n\n\n\nBio: Debanjan Mukherjee is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a program faculty for the Biomedical Engineering program\, and a faculty council member at the BioFrontiers Institute at CU Boulder. He leads an inter-disciplinary flow physics and biofluids research group named FLOWLab. Prof. Mukherjee completed his undergraduate studies at IIT Madras in India\, and subsequently his doctoral and post-doctoral training at the University of California\, Berkeley. He has received several awards in recognition of his work: including the National Institutes of Health Trailblazer Award for new and early-career investigators; the ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award; the American Heart Association post-doctoral fellowship award; and has recently been selected as a Research and Innovation Office Faculty Fellow and a Dean’s Excellence Fellow in Generative AI at the University of Colorado Boulder. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/mechanics-seminar-professor-dabanjan-mukherjee/ LOCATION:1227 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-11-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260323T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260323T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260121T162320Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260316T202428Z UID:10001437-1774267200-1774270800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:BME Seminar Series: Christopher Konop\, PhD DESCRIPTION:How Serious Fun (and Mild Panic) Led Me from Academia to Venture Innovation\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nChristopher Konop\, PhDInnovation and Commercialization SpecialistIsthmus ProjectUW Health \n\n\n\nAbstract:Most scientific careers don’t follow a straight line—and mine certainly didn’t. I’ve moved from academia to startups\, consulting\, and eventually venture innovation. I’ll share a few brief stories from building WiSolve\, stepping into life‑science consulting\, and helping develop the Isthmus Project to spark conversation and address the career-development questions that are top of mind for graduate students and postdocs. I’m glad to offer practical insights\, hot tips\, and lessons learned along the way. Spoiler: none of it would have been possible without great mentors and a generous network. \n\n\n\nPrint PDF URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/bme-seminar-series-8/ LOCATION:1003 (Tong Auditorium) Engineering Centers Building\, 1550 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Biomedical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Seminar-Graphic-Fall2024-1.avif ORGANIZER;CN="Department of Biomedical Engineering":MAILTO:bmehelp@bme.wisc.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260323T150000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260323T160000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260313T134115Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260323T153320Z UID:10001494-1774278000-1774281600@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Mihir Pendharkar DESCRIPTION:Closing the Loop: Shrinking Materials Discovery Cycles for the Quantum Era\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract: As utility-scale quantum computing appears on the horizon\, the field faces a scaling challenge comparable in magnitude to the pursuit of artificial general intelligence. Success in this endeavor hinges on reducing decoherence by improving materials systems at the fundamental electronic device scale — the single-qubit level — and\, crucially\, developing tools that enable rapid experimental feedback. This talk explores two paradigms where shrinking the characterization loop has catalyzed breakthroughs in quantum materials as well as materials for quantum hardware. \n\n\n\nThe first part focuses on the development of high-mobility III-V semiconductor quantum wells and quantum wires (nanowires). By optimizing the integration of superconductors with these low-dimensional electron systems\, we have realized the high-quality hybrid interfaces necessary for topological quantum computing. I will highlight how rapid feedback was the primary driver for achieving proof-of-concept devices. \n\n\n\nIn the second part\, I will address the “imaging bottleneck” in 2D moiré heterostructures. While these systems offer a rich playground for correlated quantum physics\, the inability to rapidly visualize moiré superlattices has historically limited materials optimization. I will present the development of Torsional Force Microscopy (TFM)\, a technique that enables the visualization of moiré landscapes in minutes\, bypassing the need for weeks-long cryogenic transport measurements. \n\n\n\nFinally\, I will put forward a vision for improved materials\, device geometries\, and rapid feedback techniques that can be ported to superconducting qubit platforms\, with the hope of providing a boost to bridge the gap between laboratory prototypes and useful quantum computers. \n\n\n\nDr. Mihir Pendharkar\n\n\n\nBio: Mihir Pendharkar is a researcher at Stanford University\, where he works with Prof. David Schuster on advancing materials for superconducting qubit-based quantum computing. As a Q-FARM Bloch Postdoctoral Fellow working with Prof. David Goldhaber-Gordon\, Mihir developed Torsional Force Microscopy (TFM) to image moiré superlattices and atomic lattices in 2D materials. This imaging technique has since been adopted by four major AFM manufacturers and dozens of research institutions worldwide. Mihir earned his MS and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of California\, Santa Barbara working with Prof. Chris Palmstrom\, where his doctoral research specialized in Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) of superconductor-semiconductor hybrid heterostructures for Majorana Zero Mode-based topological quantum computation. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-semiconductor-materials-seminar-series-dr-mihir-pendharkar/ LOCATION:3609 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website-2.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260324T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260324T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260227T163616Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T120233Z UID:10001478-1774353600-1774357200@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Alex Honghyuk Kim DESCRIPTION:Development of Novel III–V Semiconductor Heterostructures: Overcoming Physical Limits\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlex Honghyuk Kim\n\n\n\nAbstract: Recent advances in the epitaxial growth of III–V compound semiconductors have enabled high-performance electronic and photonic devices. However\, conventional III–V and III–N material systems remain fundamentally limited by intrinsic physical and chemical constraints\, including substrate-dependent lattice and bandgap properties. These limitations hinder progress in emerging applications such as neuromorphic photonics\, monolithic integration with silicon photonics\, and full-color micro-LED arrays. In this talk\, strategies to overcome these intrinsic limitations will be discussed\, with a focus on the development of novel III–V compound semiconductor material systems enabled by precise control of lattice mismatch\, phase stability\, and miscibility gaps. The role of metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) in kinetic material design will be highlighted\, together with the realization of chemically and physically metastable III–V heterostructures beyond conventional epitaxial limits. \n\n\n\nBio: Alex Honghyuk Kim is an Assistant Professor in the School of Semiconductor Convergence Engineering at Hanyang University\, South Korea. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison\, where his research focused on the epitaxial growth of III–V compound semiconductors for advanced optoelectronic applications. His research interests include MOVPE-based epitaxy of III–V compound semiconductor materials\, metastable heterostructures\, and the design and characterization of advanced optoelectronic devices. Prior to joining Hanyang University\, he held research positions at Lumileds LLC\, Northwestern University\, and the Korea Photonics Technology Institute. He has authored and coauthored over 30 peer-reviewed journal papers and currently serves as a co-principal investigator on multiple nationally funded semiconductor research projects. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-semiconductor-materials-seminar-series-dr-alex-honghyuk-kim/ LOCATION:2355 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website-2.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260324T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260324T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260320T193426Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260320T193430Z UID:10001500-1774368000-1774371600@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:CBE Seminar Series: Carl D. Laird DESCRIPTION:Carl D. LairdJohn E. Swearingen Professor and Department HeadCarnegie Mellon UniversityPittsburgh\, Pennsylvania \n\n\n\nSystems\, Surrogates\, Solutions: Optimization and Machine Learning for Decision-Making at Scale\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nEmerging global challenges are pushing the limits of today’s scientific computing tools. To overcome these barriers\, our group develops open-source solutions for large-scale optimization problems. At the intersection of data science and mathematical programming\, new capabilities support optimization-based decision-making with embedded machine-learning and data-driven models. Leveraging high-level languages like Python\, we are democratizing these capabilities\, placing powerful tools in the hands of a broader research community. Two vignettes illustrate the effectiveness of these capabilities to tackle challenging science and engineering problems at scale. \n\n\n\nThe first vignette highlights our rapid-response work during COVID-19. The pandemic exposed significant challenges in mitigating emerging infectious diseases. I will discuss our work to efficiently estimate county-level transmission parameter dynamics using a fully-coupled\, national-scale model. With full spatio-temporal transmission parameter profiles\, we were able to estimate the impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions on the spread of COVID-19. Our current work focuses on developing accessible\, advanced optimization capabilities that enable inference on very large-scale\, nonlinear dynamic systems. \n\n\n\nMachine learning (ML) models are increasingly used as surrogates for complex processes within engineering. Here\, I will discuss the need for surrogates in large-scale decision-making and introduce the Optimization and Machine Learning Toolkit (OMLT)\, a Python framework developed in collaboration with Imperial College London and Sandia National Laboratories. This package supports solution of mathematical programming problems with embedded ML models. I will showcase several applications that illustrate the use of machine learning surrogates\, including for example\, process design and operations\, bioprocess modeling\, and process family design. We will discuss our most current work on the use of conformal methods for optimization under uncertainty and advanced decomposition approaches for training hybrid models. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/cbe-seminar-series-carl-d-laird/ LOCATION:WI CATEGORIES:Chemical & Biological Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CBE-sem-series-web-header-scaled.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260326T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260326T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260319T135955Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260319T135958Z UID:10001499-1774526400-1774530000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE RISE-AI SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Andrew Wagenmaker DESCRIPTION:Physical Agents that Learn from Experience\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract: Humans fundamentally learn through interaction with the physical world\, yet modern AI-based approaches in robotics rely primarily on learning from static\, offline sources of data. While this approach has enabled exciting capabilities in some domains\, it has proven notoriously difficult to scale to the demands of fully open-world autonomy.  \n\n\n\nDr. Andrew Wagenmaker\n\n\n\nIn this talk\, I will investigate how we can overcome the limitations of learning with only static data sources\, and enable robots to learn from experience as they interact with the physical world. In particular\, I will consider how we can collect the experience—explore—that allows for learning and improvement\, and how the limited sources of data that are often available to us in the physical world—simulators and human demonstrations—can enable this. I will consider how simulators\, even coarse simulators that are insufficient for obtaining effective task-solving policies\, can enable efficient exploration\, and how the resulting exploration allows for learning performant task-solving robotic behaviors. I will then show how generative robot policies trained on human demonstrations can be utilized to achieve highly focused exploration and enable fast online improvement\, and how we can pretrain generative policies on human demonstrations that can themselves collect the experience necessary to learn and improve. Across these examples\, I will argue that the insights gained through rigorous analysis are key to uncovering the algorithmic approaches that enable learning from experience\, and ultimately bringing AI to the physical world. \n\n\n\nBio: Andrew Wagenmaker is a postdoctoral scholar in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley working with Sergey Levine. Previously\, he completed a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Washington\, where he was advised by Kevin Jamieson. Andrew’s research focuses on learning in dynamic\, interactive settings\, spanning fundamental algorithm development to practical approaches for real-world learning and decision-making\, particularly toward enabling efficient learning in robotic systems. His work has been recognized by a Best Paper nomination at the Conference on Robot Learning\, and he is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-rise-ai-seminar-series-dr-andrew-wagenmaker/ LOCATION:Orchard View Room – Third Floor – Discovery Building\, 330 N. Orchard St.\, Madison\, 53715 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260326T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260326T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260116T194600Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T154848Z UID:10001413-1774540800-1774544400@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ME 903 Graduate Seminar: Laura Grossenbacher DESCRIPTION:The ME 903: Graduate Student Lecture Series features campus and visiting speakers who present on a variety of research topics in the field of mechanical engineering. Professor Laura Grossenbacher is the Director of Technical Communication with the College of Engineering at UW-Madison. \n\n\n\nTitle: Navigating Ethical Challenges in Mechanical Engineering Research and Industry Contexts: Strategies for Ethical Leadership – and Followership \n\n\n\nAbstract: This workshop will provide a brief background on engineering ethics challenges and the behavioral science that suggests we must think both with and beyond a Code of Ethics to deal with the moral ambiguities that can emerge in complex workplace contexts\, including in university research labs and large engineering organizations. We will explore questions that engineering leaders should ask themselves – but also some “followership” strategies for those engineers who are not yet leaders.My hope is to engage the ME 903 students in discussion of a couple of unique cases to practice voicing\, listening\, and productively responding to the values of their peers. \n\n\n\nBio: Laura Grossenbacher is Director of Undergraduate Program Review and Director of the Technical Communication Program in the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and has been teaching courses in engineering communication and ethics for over twenty-five years to both undergraduates and graduate students in the UW Madison College of Engineering. Since year 2012 she has been developing ethics cases for use with a variety of different Professional Engineering groups\, including engineers working for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation\, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources\, American Transmission Company\, Madison Gas and Electric\, WE Energies\, Realtime Utility\, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District\, and the American Water Resources Administration; she has also held ethics workshops for the Wisconsin Structural Engineering Code Refresher Annual Conference\, the Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association\, the Wisconsin Society for Landscape Architects\, and the American Society for Heating\, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers. \n\n\n\nHer ethics workshops are designed to engage engineers and other professionals in discussing and applying codes of ethics\, moral theory\, and behavioral science to practical cases.She is a member of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (APPE)\, and a current co-chair\, with Rider Foley\, of the Online Ethics Center Community of Practice in Teaching Engineering Ethics. Her most recent conference workshops have been for the annual ABET Symposium and at the American Society for Engineering Education on using applied ethics cases to interrogate challenges with power and inclusivity. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/me-903-graduate-seminar-professor-dakotah-thompson/ LOCATION:3M Auditorium\, rm 1106 Mechanical Engineering Building\, 1513 University Ave\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-12-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260327T100000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260327T110000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260317T143742Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260317T143950Z UID:10001495-1774605600-1774609200@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE QUANTUM ENGINEERING SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Yun Zhao DESCRIPTION:Microresonator-based quantum photonics\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYun Zhao\n\n\n\nAbstract: As the only quantum information carrier at atmospheric pressure and temperature\, photons play a versatile role in the quantum information ecosystem. Recent progress in fabricating high-quality-factor microresonators has enabled unprecedented control of photons through nonlinear optical interactions. Here\, I will focus on optical squeezing\, which is a foundational process in both photonic quantum metrology and computing. I will first discuss the generation of squeezed vacuum states on a CMOS-compatible platform. Then I will present a fundamentally new way of applying optical squeezing in optical frequency metrology\, with applications in optical frequency division and narrow-linewidth lasers. Finally\, I will briefly discuss other micro- resonator-based applications\, including quantum frequency conversion and spatial light modulation. \n\n\n\nBio: Yun Zhao is currently a postdoc at Stanford University in the Applied Physics department\, advised by Prof. Amir Safavi-Naeini. He earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University\, advised by Prof. Alexander Gaeta. He has broad research interests in quantum and nonlinear photonics. His work spans optical squeezing\, Kerr frequency comb\, frequency conversion\, optical frequency division\, and spatial light modulation\, etc. He served as the postdoctoral community chair for the DOE Codesign Center for Quantum Advantage in 2023 and 2024 and hosted a webinar series for the center’s graduate students and postdocs. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-quantum-engineering-seminar-series-dr-yun-zhao/ LOCATION:2534 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/2026-Faculty-Recruiting-Seminars-Plain-for-website-1.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260327T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260327T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260120T212420Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T154711Z UID:10001424-1774612800-1774616400@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Mechanics Seminar: Professor Xiangru Xu DESCRIPTION:The Mechanics Seminar Series is a weekly seminar given by campus and visiting speakers on topics across the spectrum of mechanics research (solids\, fluids\, and dynamics). Professor Xiangru Xu is a professor at UW-Madison. \n\n\n\nTitle: Safe Control for Learning-Enabled Autonomous Systems \n\n\n\nAbstract: This talk presents recent advances in provably safe control for learning-enabled autonomous systems. In the first part\, I will discuss reachability analysis and controlled invariance of neural network control systems. I will introduce methods for safety verification and safe control synthesis based on forward and backward reachable set computations using constrained and hybrid zonotopes\, together with an interval-based invariance operator for computing the maximum controlled invariant set. In the second part\, I will present hierarchical safe control architectures that integrate a high-level optimization-based motion planner with a low-level safety filter\, providing formal guarantees of continuous-time safety constraint satisfaction. I will demonstrate their effectiveness through two case studies: safe trajectory planning and tracking for quadrotors\, and occlusion-free visual servoing of robotic manipulators. \n\n\n\nBio: Xiangru Xu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and held postdoctoral positions at the University of Michigan and the University of Washington. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award and the Best New Application Paper Award from IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control\, Control Theory and Technology\, and Autonomous Intelligent Systems\, and is a member of the IEEE Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/mechanics-seminar-professor-xiangru-xu/ LOCATION:1227 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-11-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260406T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260406T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260121T162400Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260326T213522Z UID:10001438-1775476800-1775480400@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:BME Seminar Series: Natasah Seybani\, PhD DESCRIPTION:Bench-to-Bedside Engineering of Precision Immunotherapy Paradigms with Focused Ultrasound\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNatasha Sheybani\, PhDAssistant Professor of Biomedical EngineeringResearch Director at UVA Focused UltrasoundImmuno-Oncology (FUSION) CenterUniversity of Virginia \n\n\n\nAbstract:Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment\, but significant limitations remain across solid tumor indications. This talk will highlight advances in the use of image-guided focused ultrasound (FUS) as a non-invasive\, multi-pronged interventional tool for potentiating multiple classes of immunotherapy\, including vaccine adjuvants\, checkpoint inhibitors\, and CAR T cells. We will showcase integration of non-invasive surveillance approaches such as positron emission tomography (PET) and liquid biopsy with FUS to inform precision\, adaptation\, and de-intensification of combinatorial treatment regimens. We will also showcase development of novel image-guided ultrasound instrumentation toward these objectives. Applications spanning high-risk breast cancer and adult/pediatric brain cancers will be discussed. Finally\, this talk will overview clinical translation and insights from first-in-human trials investigating FUS for immuno-oncology applications. \n\n\n\nPrint PDF URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/bme-seminar-series-9/ LOCATION:1003 (Tong Auditorium) Engineering Centers Building\, 1550 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Biomedical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Seminar-Graphic-Fall2024-1.avif ORGANIZER;CN="Department of Biomedical Engineering":MAILTO:bmehelp@bme.wisc.edu END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260407T000000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260407T000000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20251002T133320Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260320T144535Z UID:10001316-1775520000-1775520000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:POSTPONED - ECE Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series: Professor Seth Ariel Tongay DESCRIPTION:This event has been postponed. We look forward to hosting Professor Tongay for our 2026-2027 Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPushing the Limits of 2D Janus Layers\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract:Named after the two faced Roman God Janus\, 2D Janus layers contain two different atomic types on its top and bottom faces. Previous theoretical studies have shown that broken mirror symmetry together with large change transfer across the top and bottom face opens up completely new quantum properties including Rashba effect\, colossal Janus field\, dipolar excitons\, and Skyrmion formation. Despite the theoretical advances in the field\, experimental results are still limited due to limitations in high quality 2D Janus layer synthesis. In this talk\, I will introduce recent discoveries made at Arizona State University towards different types of Janus layers. The growth process relies on Plasma enhanced low pressure chemical vapor deposition (PE-LPCVD). With this all room temperature technique\, our team can synthesize different Janus layers as well as their vertical / lateral heterojunctions\, and Janus nanoscrolls. Further studies from our team will introduce on-demand fabrication of 2D Janus layers with unique in-situ growth capabilities that allows us to collect spectroscopy data during the course of Janus material growth. Results are presented along with microscopy\, spectroscopy\, high – pressure studies\, and electronic transport datasets for complete understanding of these systems. \n\n\n\nProfessor Seth Ariel Tongay\n\n\n\nBio:Professor Seth Ariel Tongay is an internationally recognized materials scientist and engineer whose research bridges fundamental discoveries and real-world manufacturing of next-generation semiconductors. He serves as one of the research directors of College of Engineering at Arizona State University\, home to the largest engineering college in the United States.Prof. Tongay’s research focuses on lab-to-fab integration of emergent semiconductor materials\, addressing key challenges in metal interconnects\, stress liner technologies\, and advanced device architectures such as FinFETs and gate-all-around (GAA) transistors. He is particularly known for his seminal contributions to two dimensional (2D) materials\, including Janus semiconductors and the discovery of quasi-one- dimensional (quasi-1D) layered systems.He has published over 350 peer-reviewed papers and holds an h-index of 86\, reflecting his high impact across materials science\, nanotechnology\, and semiconductor physics. His work has been recognized with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)\, NSF CAREER Award\, and fellowships from the American Physical Society\, Royal Society of Chemistry\, and the Institute of Physics.Prof. Tongay is also an associate editor for Applied Physics Reviews (AIP) and npj 2D Materials and Applications (Nature). His research is supported by the CHIPS Act\, NSF\, DOE\, ARO\, and industry leaders including Intel and Applied Materials. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-distinguished-speaker-seminar-series-prof-seth-ariel-tongay/ LOCATION:WI CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Distinguished-Speaker-Seminar-Series-3.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260407T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260407T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260326T134206Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260326T134209Z UID:10001504-1775577600-1775581200@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:CBE Seminar Series: Kayla Sprenger DESCRIPTION:Kayla SprengerUniversity of Colorado BoulderBoulder\, CO \n\n\n\nTowards Modeling Antibody–Virus Coevolution and Escape: Integrating Evolutionary Modeling\, Molecular Dynamics Simulations\, and Interpretable Machine Learning\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the Rationally Designed Immunotherapeutics and Interfaces (RDI) Lab\, we integrate computational modeling\, immuno-engineering\, molecular biophysics\, and machine learning to understand—and ultimately control—how immune systems respond to rapidly evolving viral pathogens. A key challenge in designing vaccines against such pathogens is engineering immunogens that elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs)\, which target conserved regions of viral surface proteins and thereby bind diverse viral variants. Yet\, even the most potent bnAbs isolated from infected individuals to date have proven susceptible to escape by viral mutations that weaken or abolish bnAb binding. Notably\, neutralization datasets frequently reveal escape mutations at sites distal to the antibody-bound epitope\, suggesting that allosteric and epistatic effects play a key role in modulating binding. In most cases\, the mechanistic basis by which these distal mutations confer escape remains poorly understood\, limiting our ability to design vaccine immunogens or antibody-based therapeutics that are resistant to escape mutations. \n\n\n\nTo address this gap\, this talk will highlight our use of evolutionary frameworks to model B cell affinity maturation against static sequences of HIV-1–derived immunogens administered via time-varying immunization protocols. This approach enables us to understand how different vaccine strategies shape antibody lineages and guide them toward broadly neutralizing responses. In parallel\, coupling these models of immune evolution with dynamic viral fitness landscapes enables identification of escape pathways that may be exploited in vivo\, thus informing the iterative design of immunogens and immunization strategies capable of eliciting fully escape-resistant bnAbs. To further resolve the mechanistic basis of escape\, this talk will also describe our use of atomistic molecular dynamics simulations and interpretable machine learning to characterize how distal mutations propagate dynamical changes through the structure of HIV-1’s Envelope (Env) spike protein to abrogate antibody binding and neutralization. Complementing these structural insights\, we have developed an interpretable protein language model framework trained on HIV-1 sequence data and bnAb neutralization profiles. This framework identifies context-dependent mutational effects that rewire long-range residue-level communication networks governing antibody sensitivity. Together\, our work provides a mechanistic foundation for designing next-generation immunogens against highly mutable pathogens like HIV-1\, as well as antibody-based therapeutics that are more robust to rapid viral evolution. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/cbe-seminar-series-kayla-sprenger/ LOCATION:WI CATEGORIES:Chemical & Biological Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CBE-sem-series-web-header-scaled.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260409T113000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260409T123000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260330T210830Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260402T130501Z UID:10001505-1775734200-1775737800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE RISE-AI SEMINAR SERIES: Dr. Omar Chehab DESCRIPTION:Toward efficient inference in complex systems\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract: I will present a line of work on efficient inference in complex systems\, spanning both the foundations of machine learning and applications to brain imaging data. The talk is organized around two complementary directions. \n\n\n\nIn the first part\, I will study modern algorithms for sampling\, estimating normalizing constants\, and estimating likelihoods. These methods often rely on a probability path that connects a complex target distribution to a simple base distribution\, such as a Gaussian. I will highlight fundamental limitations of classical approaches\, and show how path-guided algorithms can substantially improve efficiency. I will also discuss principled strategies for designing these probability paths\, explaining when and why such methods succeed. \n\n\n\nIn the second part\, I will turn to machine learning algorithms that are applied in neuroscience\, presenting recent results on learning representations and discovering causal structure from brain imaging data. This line of work is a step toward using machine learning to obtain new scientific insights. \n\n\n\nI will conclude with open questions in the field and future directions at the intersection of generative modeling\, sampling\, and their scientific applications. \n\n\n\nOmar Chehab\n\n\n\nBio: Omar Chehab is a postdoctoral researcher in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his graduate training in France\, earning a PhD in Mathematical Computer Science at Inria under the supervision of Aapo Hyvärinen and Alexandre Gramfort\, followed by a postdoctoral position in the Statistics Department of ENSAE/CREST with Anna Korba. \n\n\n\nHis research focuses on principled methods for efficient inference from complex probability distributions. This includes estimating likelihoods from data\, generating samples from unnormalized densities\, as well as learning representations and discovering causal structure from brain imaging data. His work draws on a range of modern methods\, including diffusion models\, annealed MCMC\, score matching\, multi-view independent component analysis\, and noise-contrastive estimation. More broadly\, he studies these algorithms through the lens of computational and statistical efficiency\, aiming to understand their fundamental limits and guide their design. \n\n\n\nHe regularly publishes at leading machine learning conferences such as NeurIPS\, ICML\, and ICLR\, where his work has been recognized with a spotlight and top reviewer awards. \n\n\n\nLocation details: Discovery Building – Room 2329\, 2nd floor of Discovery Building (access through glass doors behind information desk) URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-rise-ai-seminar-series-omar-chehab/ LOCATION:Discovery Building\, 330 N. Orchard St.\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53715 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Rising-Stars-Seminars-Plain.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260409T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260409T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260115T163008Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260115T163011Z UID:10001408-1775750400-1775754000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ME 903 Graduate Seminar: Professor Riley Barta DESCRIPTION:The ME 903: Graduate Student Lecture Series features campus and visiting speakers who present on a variety of research topics in the field of mechanical engineering. Professor Riley Barta is a professor at Purdue University. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/me-903-graduate-seminar-professor-riley-barta/ LOCATION:3M Auditorium\, rm 1106 Mechanical Engineering Building\, 1513 University Ave\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-12-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260410T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260410T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260120T212617Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T154612Z UID:10001425-1775822400-1775826000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Mechanics Seminar: Professor Ricardo Vinuesa DESCRIPTION:The Mechanics Seminar Series is a weekly seminar given by campus and visiting speakers on topics across the spectrum of mechanics research (solids\, fluids\, and dynamics). Professor Ricardo Vinuesa is a professor at Michigan University. \n\n\n\nTitle: Explainable deep learning and foundation models: control and scientific discovery \n\n\n\nAbstract: In this seminar we discuss a unified framework that combines explainable deep learning\, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) and foundation models to advance both understanding and control of turbulence\, with direct implications for accelerated design and discovery. First\, we will show how explainable deep learning techniques can be used to identify the flow features that are truly responsible for key turbulent processes in wall-bounded flows. By systematically interrogating trained neural networks\, we uncover the most influential coherent structures driving momentum transport and drag. Our results reveal that classically studied structures (while important) provide only a partial and sometimes misleading perspective\, motivating a more data-driven and physics-aware view of turbulence organization. Building on these insights\, we will demonstrate how deep reinforcement learning can be used to actively control turbulent flows by targeting the dynamically relevant structures identified through explainability. This approach achieves over 30% drag reduction in canonical wall-bounded turbulence and extends naturally to more complex configurations\, including turbulent wings\, highlighting the scalability of learning-based control strategies. Finally\, we will introduce a foundation-model-based framework for accelerated design\, optimization and scientific discovery. By learning compact\, interpretable latent representations of high-dimensional flow physics\, these models (combined with agentic-AI systems) enable rapid exploration of design spaces\, causal reasoning and closed-loop optimization\, bridging the gap between expensive simulations\, control and engineering decision making. Together\, these results illustrate how explainable and agentic AI are becoming essential for turbulence physics\, flow control and next-generation engineering design. \n\n\n\nBio: Dr. Ricardo Vinuesa is the Associate Chair for Research and an Associate Professor at the Department of Aerospace Engineering\, University of Michigan. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain)\, and he received his PhD in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. His research combines numerical simulations and data-driven methods to understand\, control and predict complex wall-bounded turbulent flows\, such as the boundary layers developing around wings and the flow in urban environments. Dr. Vinuesa has received\, among others\, an ERC Consolidator Grant\, the Harleman Lecture Award\, the TSFP Kasagi Award\, the MST Emerging Leaders Award\, the Goran Gustafsson Award for Young Researchers\, the IIT Outstanding Young Alumnus Award and the SARES Young Researcher Award. He received the Outstanding Reviewer Prize of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and he is also a member of the Young Academy of Science of Spain. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/mechanics-seminar-professor-ricardo-vinuesa/ LOCATION:1227 Engineering Hall\, 1415 Engineering Drive\, Madison\, WI\, 53706\, United States CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar-11-jpg.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260410T120000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260410T130000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260402T131700Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260402T131702Z UID:10001513-1775822400-1775826000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ECE RISE-AI SEMINAR SERIES: Associate Professor Salman Asif DESCRIPTION:Learning to See\, Adapt\, and Forget: From Computational Imaging to TrustworthyMultimodal AI\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAbstract: A central challenge in modern AI is that the world at test time does not match what was assumed at training time. Physical sensors operate under constraints\, modalities go missing\, data shift out of distribution\, and models retain information they were never meant to keep. Building systems that remain robust and reliable under incomplete\, shifted\, or misaligned information is the organizing question of my research program. \n\n\n\nIn this talk\, I will present our research spanning physically grounded inverse problems to large-scale trustworthy AI\, showing how robust behavior across different applications can be achieved through principled\, low-dimensional representations and adaptations. I will begin with computational imaging\, where we seek robust recovery of multidimensional data from indirect or incomplete measurements. I will discuss domain expansion and wavefront sensing\, showing how principled algorithmic innovations lead to robust models for challenging inverse problems. I will then discuss multimodal learning\, where we seek robustness against missing and imbalanced modalities at train or test time via parameter-efficient adaptation\, proxy token generation\, and model merging across modalities. Finally\, I will discuss targeted adversarial attacks and unlearning\, where we seek to exploit model vulnerabilities or remove targeted information (e.g.\, identities\, concepts\, unsafe content) without affecting unrelated capabilities. \n\n\n\nI will close with a discussion of ongoing work and open problems spanning robust multimodal AI at scale\, continual learning with efficient unlearning\, and AI-guided sensing for medical\, agricultural\, and scientific applications. \n\n\n\nSalman Asif\n\n\n\nBio: M. Salman Asif is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California\, Riverside. Dr. Asif received his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology\, Atlanta\, Georgia. He worked as a Senior Research Engineer at Samsung Research America\, Dallas (2012–2014) and as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Rice University (2014–2016). He has received an NSF CAREER Award (2021)\, Google Faculty Research Award (2019)\, Hershel M. Rich Outstanding Invention Award (2016)\, and UC Regents Faculty Fellowship (2017) and Faculty Development (2021) Awards. Dr. Asif currently serves as Senior Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Computational Imaging and as Area Chair for several top-tier venues including CVPR\, NeurIPS\, ICLR\, and AAAI. His research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning\, signal processing\, and computational imaging\, with a focus on building robust and trustworthy AI systems that perform reliably under incomplete\, shifted\, or misaligned information. Current research directions include robust multimodal learning\, model editing and unlearning\, and domain adaptation and generative models for computational imaging and inverse problems. \n\n\n\nLocation details: Discovery Building – Room 2329\, 2nd floor of Discovery Building (access through glass doors behind information desk) URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/ece-rise-ai-seminar-series-associate-professor-salman-asif/ LOCATION:Discovery Building\, 330 N. Orchard St.\, Madison\, Wisconsin\, 53715 CATEGORIES:Electrical & Computer Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Rising-Stars-Seminars-Plain.avif END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260414T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260414T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260324T141447Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260324T141449Z UID:10001501-1776182400-1776186000@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:Bird\, Stewart and Lightfoot Lecture: Daniel Hammer DESCRIPTION:Room 1610 Engineering Hall \n\n\n\nDaniel HammerAlfred G. and Meta A. Ennis Professor of BioengineeringUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia\, PA \n\n\n\nA Tale of Two Motilities\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIn the spirit of Bird\, Stewart and Lightfoot\, we have been studying an important problem in transport phenomena\, the biological and bio-inspired motility of cells. \n\n\n\nMotility is important for the functioning of the immune system\, mostly because immune recognition requires molecular transfer by direct cell to cell contact. We have been studying a fascinating form of cell motility in which T-lymphocytes can migrate against the direction of flow\, much like a salmon can swim upstream. Upstream migration is solely due to interactions between a specific lymphocyte receptor\, LFA-1\, and its natural ligand; no other receptor can support upstream migration. Our lab has found that many actively motile cells in the immune system have the ability to migrate upstream. Using CRISPR-Cas9 deletion\, we have identified several molecules in cells that are critical for upstream migration; deletion using Cas9 reverses the direction of migration. We have also made the first traction maps of forces exerted by upstream migrating cells. We found that during upstream migration\, cells maintain their “architecture\,” with active forces in the front and rear\, but the magnitude of the forces greatly increases\, allowing cells to exert sufficient traction to overcome the applied hydrodynamic forces. \n\n\n\nOur laboratory is also interested in making synthetic cells\, or protocells\, that can mimic the behavior of biological cells. In collaboration with Daeyeon Lee at Penn\, we have been making inert capsules using microfluidic assembly that can display motility in solution. By attaching urease to the surface of a capsule\, we can drive autonomous motion of the capsule in a field of urea. We find that asymmetry of the capsule\, in geometry or chemistry\, or both\, greatly enhances capsule motion. In gradients of urea\, our capsules display negative phoresis (move down the gradient). We have preliminary results for the urease-driven motion of Janus capsules\, made by microfluidic assembly from mixtures of phase-separating polymers\, as a function of the geometry of the capsules. \n\n\n\nIn the end\, we draw analogies between our biological and bio-inspired motile systems\, ultimately finding they have little in common. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/bird-stewart-and-lightfoot-lecture-daniel-hammer/ LOCATION:WI CATEGORIES:Chemical & Biological Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023_CBE-sem-series-web-header-scaled.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260416T161500 DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260416T170000 DTSTAMP:20260404T105958 CREATED:20260115T171040Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260401T153438Z UID:10001409-1776356100-1776358800@engineering.wisc.edu SUMMARY:ME 150th Celebration: Distinguished Alumni\, Dr. Kelly Senecal DESCRIPTION:To celebrate 150 years of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison\, the Department of Mechanical Engineering will feature distinguished alumni in mechanical engineering and engineering mechanics who have made a lasting impact on the field. Kelly Senecal\, who received his master’s (’97) and PhD (’00) in mechanical engineering\, is the cofounder of Convergent Science. Kelly also received the 2025 Luminary Award! To learn more about Dr. Kelly Senecal’s experience\, please join us for this installment of our ME 903: Graduate Student Lecture series. \n\n\n\nTitle: From Graduate Research to Global Impact: Building a CFD Company That Challenged Convention \n\n\n\nAbstract: This seminar reflects on the journey from graduate student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison to co-founding a company built on the idea that even established engineering fields can be reimagined. I will share formative experiences from my time at UW–Madison\, the early vision behind building a different kind of CFD company\, and the challenges of pursuing an approach that did not always align with conventional thinking. \n\n\n\nAlong the way\, I will highlight how computational fluid dynamics has grown from a specialized research tool into a technology with global impact across transportation\, energy\, and other critical industries. More importantly\, I will reflect on the lessons learned: that meaningful innovation often requires patience\, resilience\, and the courage to trust fundamentals over trends. \n\n\n\nFor students and researchers\, the message is simple: protect your curiosity\, question assumptions\, and be willing to take the long path. The most impactful ideas are not always the most popular at the start\, `but they are the ones worth pursuing. \n\n\n\nBio: Dr. Kelly Senecal is a co-founder of Convergent Science\, an industry-leading computational fluid dynamics software company. He is a visiting professor at the University of Oxford and a co-founder and director of the Computational Chemistry Consortium (C3). Dr. Senecal is a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)\, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)\, and the Combustion Institute (CI). He is the Chair of the executive committee of the ASME Transportation Systems Division and a member of the board of directors of the Combustion Institute. Recent accolades include the 2019 ASME ICE Award\, the 2023 SAE John Johnson Diesel Engine Research Medal\, the 2023 ASME Dedicated Service Award\, the 2025 ASME Soichiro Honda Medal\, and the 2025 University of Wisconsin Alumni Association Luminary Award. \n\n\n\nDr. Senecal has long been an advocate of creating cleaner propulsion systems\, with a particular focus on using CFD and HPC to enable faster design. Starting with his TEDx talk in late 2016\, he has promoted a diverse mix of transportation technologies through invited talks\, articles\, and social media. Dr. Senecal is co-author of the book Racing Toward Zero: The Untold Story of Driving Green\, winner of the 2022 Independent Press Award for Environment. URL:https://engineering.wisc.edu/event/me-903-graduate-seminar-dr-kelly-senecal/ LOCATION:3M Auditorium\, rm 1106 Mechanical Engineering Building\, 1513 University Ave\, Madison\, 53711 CATEGORIES:Mechanical Engineering,Seminar ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://engineering.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Event-Graphics-for-Calendar.avif END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR