Northeastern University College of Engineering

Tau Beta Pi Virtual Graduate School Recruiting Fair
2021-10-19 10:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Join the Graduate School of Engineering admissions team at the Tau Beta Pi Virtual Graduate School Recruiting Fair. Representatives from the admissions team will be available from 10am-5pm on October 19 to answer your questions and to provide you with information.

ECE PhD Proposal Review: Tirthak Patel
2021-10-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
PhD Proposal Review: Toward System Software Stack for NISQ–era Quantum Computers
Tirthak Patel
Location: Zoom Link
Abstract: Despite rapid progress in quantum computing in the last decade, the limited usability of quantum computers remains a major roadblock toward the wider adoption of quantum computing. Prohibitively high error rates on existing Near-term Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) computers limit their usability even for quantum-advantage-proven algorithms (that is, algorithms that are infeasible or orders of magnitude slower on classical computers). As a result, the executions of these algorithms on existing quantum computers are highly erroneous and produce noisy program outputs. Currently, quantum computing programmers lack system software tools and methods to estimate the correct output from these erroneous executions.
This dissertation demonstrates how to extract correct program output from noisy executions on today’s erroneous quantum computers. In particular, this dissertation describes the design and implementation of a suite of cross-layer system software for extracting meaningful output from the erroneous executions using hardware-level quantum pulse control, noise-aware quantum compilation, and post-execution error mitigation. The real-system prototypes and experimental evaluation on IBM quantum computers demonstrate how specific quantum mechanics properties, hardware-level pulse control, and post-execution statistical processing can be put together to improve the usability of today’s quantum computers transparently. This dissertation achieves this without requiring user intervention, domain knowledge about quantum algorithms, or additional quantum hardware support.
This dissertation opens up new research avenues for hybrid quantum-classical computing and lowers the barrier to entry for quantum computing research via open-sourcing multiple novel datasets and system software frameworks (independently verified and results reproduced by other researchers in the community).

Getting Started with EndNote for Windows
2021-10-14 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn how to use EndNote for Windows to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

Engineering Graduate School Virtual Fair
2021-10-14 11:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Join the Graduate School of Engineering as they participate in a graduate school fair for engineering programs across the US. Representatives from the admissions team will be available from 11am-3pm on October 14 to answer your questions and to provide you with more information.

ChE Seminar Series: Chemo-mechanics and solid-state batteries
2021-10-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 108 SN
ChE Seminar Series Presents:
Dr. Kelsey Hatzell, Ph.D
Assistant Professor in the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton University
Chemo-mechanic and solid-state batteries
Abstract: Transportation accounts for 23% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions and electrification is a pathway toward ameliorating these growing challenges. All solid-state batteries could potentially address the safety and driving range requirements necessary for widespread adoption of electric vehicles. However, the power densities of all-solid-state batteries are limited because of ineffective ion transport at solid|solid interfaces. New insight into the governing physics that occur at intrinsic and extrinsic interfaces are critical for developing engineering strategies for the next generation of energy-dense batteries. However, buried solid|solid interfaces are notoriously difficult to observe with traditional bench-top and lab-scale experiments. In this talk, I discuss opportunities for tracking phenomena and mechanisms in all solid-state batteries in-situ using advanced synchrotron techniques. Synchrotron techniques that combine reciprocal and real space techniques are capable of tracking multi-scale structural phenomena from the nano- to meso-scale. This talk will discuss the role microstructure plays on transport and interfacial properties that govern adhesion. Quantification of salient descriptors of structure in solid-state batteries is critical for understanding the mechanochemical nature of all solid-state batteries.
Biography: Dr. Hatzell is an assistant professor at Princeton university in the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment and department of Mechanical and aerospace engineering. Hatzell’s group primarily work on energy storage and is particularly interested at using non-equilibrium x-ray techniques to probe batteries during operando experimentation.
Dr. Hatzell earned her Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering at Drexel University, her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, and her B.S./B.A. in Engineering/Economics from Swarthmore College. Hatzell’s research group works on understanding phenomena at solid|liquid and solid|solid interfaces and works broadly i9n energy storage and conversion. Hatzell is the recipient of several awards including the ORAU Powe Junior Faculty Award (2017), NSF CAREER Award (2019), ECS Toyota Young Investigator Award (2019), finalist for the BASF/Volkswagen Science in Electrochemistry Award (2019), the Ralph “Buck” Robinson award from MRS (2019), Sloan Fellowship in Chemistry (2020), and POLiS Award of Excellence for Female Researchers (2021).
Please contact a.ramsey@northeastern.edu for the seminar link.

BioE Seminar Series Presents: Jared Auclair
2021-10-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 010 Behrakis, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Jared Auclair Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Professional Program and Graduate Affairs, College of Science, Northeastern University

“Northeastern’s COVID19 Testing Response in 2020 through Today”
Behrakis 010

ABSTRACT:
In March of 2020, Northeastern made the announcement to go to full online teaching modalities in response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A few short weeks later, Northeastern sent all students home and closed the campus. Almost immediately after the closing of the University a reopening committee went to work to plan to reopen campus for AY20/21. As part of the reopening committee, a Testing Task Force was instituted. In this talk, I’ll give some insight into the discussions that lead to our AY20/21 testing strategy, how we leveraged the Biopharmaceutical Analysis and Training Laboratory, as well as share some of the data we have collected over the last 12 months. Then, I’ll transition to our thought process regarding Fall 2021 testing, highlighting the differences from our AY20/21 strategy. I will also share some of our variant and next-generation sequencing data.
BIOGRAPHY:
Jared R. Auclair is currently the Associate Dean of Professional Program and Graduate Affairs in the College of Science at Northeastern University and Associate Teaching Professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology. In addition, Dr. Auclair is the Director of the Biopharmaceutical Analysis Laboratory (BATL), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Center of Regulatory Excellence in Biotherapeutics and Advanced Therapies, and oversees the International Council for Harmonisation training. Lastly, Prof. Auclair serves as the Technical Supervisor for the Life Science Testing Center at Northeastern University, which is a state and CLIA-certified lab. Dr. Auclair collaborates with both academic researchers, industry and government in the area of biopharmaceutical and cell/gene therapy development and analysis. He has expertise in mol. biology, protein biochemistry, analytical chemistry, protein crystallography, and biological mass spectrometry; and is interested in use-inspired research for the biotechnology industry

Getting Started with BibTeX
2021-10-13 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn how to use BibTeX to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

Experiential Learning at Northeastern Seattle
2021-10-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
On October 12, Northeastern in Seattle will be hosting a virtual session about the ways that our graduate students gain real-world experience throughout their academic programs, from short-term projects to internships and co-ops.
Patrick Chidsey, associate director, career development and experiential learning, will be in conversation with Stephanie Curtiss, assistant director of student recruitment and enrollment. An open Q&A will provide attendees the chance to ask questions of the Seattle staff.
Chidsey earned a master’s degree in education focusing on college student services administration from Oregon State University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Western Washington University. He has spent his entire career working in higher education and career services. Chidsey supports Northeastern students in all aspects of career development, while also engaging employers to hire students into co-ops, internships, and sponsored XN projects.

The Evolution of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness and Response in the Context of COVID-19
2021-10-12 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Raytheon Amphitheater (240 Egan), 360 Huntington Ave, 240 Egan, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
The Vinod Sahney Distinguished Lecture Series on Health Systems Innovation welcomes Paul Biddinger, Chief Preparedness and Continuity Officer at Mass General Brigham, to Northeastern University, as he presents his research on “The Evolution of Healthcare Emergency Preparedness and Response in the Context of COVID-19.” Dr. Biddinger is an active researcher in the field of emergency preparedness and has lectured nationally and internationally on topics of preparedness and disaster medicine. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters on multiple topics related to disaster medicine and emergency medical operations and has responded to numerous prior disaster events, including Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, the Boston Marathon bombings, the Nepal earthquakes, and many others.

Launch of ALLIED Project
2021-10-12 14:30 - 15:30 (America/New_York)
The ALLIED (Allies for Leading, Learning, Inclusion, and Education of Disabilities) Project at Northeastern University is working to open discussions and raise awareness about disabilities on campus. This ALLIED program is taking the first steps towards connecting disability services and planting the seed for future disability programming.
In-person launch happening in 655 ISEC (Interdisciplinary Science & Engineering Complex).
You can also join us on Zoom: https://northeastern.zoom.us/j/98915783606

Getting Started with Zotero
2021-10-12 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn how to use Zotero to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

Getting Started with RefWorks
2021-10-07 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn how to use RefWorks to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

Showcase of Opportunities for Undergraduate Research and Creative Endeavor (SOURCE)
2021-10-06 17:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Curry Student Center, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Calling all Huskies! Learn more about what cutting-edge research and creative endeavor look like at Northeastern. This is your chance to talk one-on-one with faculty from across the colleges about their research – and how you can get involved in projects during your time at Northeastern. Not everyone will have open positions right now but you’ll get a chance to see the range of work that’s happening and begin to make connections that you can build for the rest of your time at Northeastern.
Before you attend, here’s some advice to consider.

Take a look and see who’ll be there. We have an online database of attendees. Go through it and learn more about the project areas and visit the researcher/creative practitioner web pages. This will help prepare you for a conversation and help you ask any questions you might have.
Get ready for a conversation from your end. Think about goals you have , as well as your current interests and skills and those that you want to develop. How does what you have read about the various projects align with what you know about yourself and your interests? Take a minute to practice a simple declarative sentence, “My name is ____________. I study ____________. I think that this part of your work ____________ is interesting because of this intellectual reason/moral imperative/grand impact ____________. I’d love to learn more about it because of this previous experience ____________ and these skills ____________ and my long-term interest in ____________. How I can get involved?” You might not know how to fill in all of the blanks right now (that’s why you’re in school) but see how close you can get. When you know who you are, what you value, and how you can contribute — and get some practice saying it out loud– being confident becomes easier.
Remember, not every faculty member will have open positions now — but a good impression lasts a long time. You can’t go wrong with being polite and courteous. Address faculty members as Professor until told otherwise (better to err on the side of formality).
Keep in mind your time! If you want to be involved in research or creative practice, a good thing to keep in mind is that faculty members will commit a lot of time to training and mentoring their undergraduates. They’re investing time, energy, and expertise in their mentees and want to know that you will make time for the projects, show up consistently, and ideally be with them for longer than a semester if possible. The learning curve of most projects is steep and it takes some time to get to the meatiest parts of the work. Be honest with yourself about the commitment you can make, be frank with your faculty mentors, and stick to your word. Communication and honesty in relationships, including the mentoring relationship, is key.

SOURCE is a collaboration between Bouvé College of Health Sciences; College of Arts, Media and Design; College of Engineering; College of Science; College of Social Sciences and Humanities; D’Amore-McKim School of Business; and Khoury College of Computer Science. It is coordinated by Undergraduate Research and Fellowships on behalf of the Office of the Chancellor.

BioE Seminar: The Case for Diversity and Inclusion, From An Engineer’s Perspective
2021-10-06 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 010 Behrakis, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Department of Bioengineering
Seminar Series
Karl W. Reid, Ed.D., CDP
Senior Vice Provost and Chief Inclusion Officer, Northeastern University “The Case for Diversity and Inclusion, From An Engineer’s Perspective”
Behrakis 010
ABSTRACT:
This talk makes the case for why diversity and inclusion matter and offers steps to creating more equitable and inclusive campuses and workplaces.
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Karl W. Reid was appointed Senior Vice Provost and Chief Inclusion Officer at Northeastern University on April 1, 2021. He also holds the title of Professor of Practice in the Graduate School of Education in the College of Professional Studies. Prior to joining Northeastern, Dr. Reid served for seven years as the Executive Director of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), marking his return to the organization that gave him his first major leadership experience 32 years earlier. A certified diversity professional, Dr. Reid has been a leading national advocate for diversity and inclusion, and increasing college access, opportunity, and success for low-income and minority youth.
Dr. Reid came to NSBE from the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), where he oversaw new program development, research, and capacity building for the organization’s 37 historically black colleges and universities and held the title of Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Member College Engagement. Before his service at UNCF, he worked in positions of progressive responsibility to increase diversity at his alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which he left as Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Minority Education. While working at MIT as Director of Engineering Outreach Programs, Dr. Reid earned his Doctor of Education degree at Harvard University. His dissertation explored the interrelationship of race, identity, and academic achievement for African American males in college. He is the author of “Working Smarter, Not Just Harder: Three Sensible Strategies for Succeeding in College…and Life.” Dr. Reid is also a founding member of the 50K Coalition, a national effort to produce 50,000 diverse engineering graduates annually by 2025.
Dr. Reid was born in the Bronx, New York, and grew up in Roosevelt, New York, a mostly working-class, African-American community on Long Island. The high value his parents placed on education, and his admission to a well-resourced, magnet high school near Roosevelt, put him on a track to follow his older brother to MIT, where he earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in Materials Science and Engineering and was a Tau Beta Pi Scholar. He credits his membership in the NSBE chapter at MIT with giving a vital boost to his self-confidence and leadership skills. He joined the Society during his freshman year, was elected chapter Vice President during his junior year, and subsequently served as NSBE National Chair.
After graduating from MIT, Dr. Reid worked in the computer industry for 12 years in product management, marketing, sales, and consulting. In 1991, five years into a successful career in sales and marketing with IBM Corporation, Dr. Reid read Jonathan Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities,” a seminal book about educational disparities in the U.S., which sparked his passion for bringing about positive change through the education of African Americans and other underserved populations.
Dr. Reid sits on the National Council for Expanding American Innovation at the US Patent and Trademark Office; the Committee on Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Technology at the National Academy of Engineering; the American Society for Civil Engineers Industrial Leaders Council; the Dean’s advisory cabinets for the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the University of Michigan College of Engineering. He holds memberships in the American Society for Engineering Education and the Council of Engineering and Scientific Society Executives.
He is a frequent contributor to the national diversity engineering dialogue and author of several commentary pieces, and he has been quoted in numerous articles in publications such as Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hechinger Report.

Getting Started with EndNote for Mac
2021-10-06 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn how to use EndNote for Mac to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

ECE PhD Proposal Review: Bin Sun
2021-10-06 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
PhD Proposal Review: Lightweight Neural Networks via Factorization
Bin Sun
Location: Zoom Link
Abstract: Deep learning has become popular in recent years primarily due to powerful computing devices such as GPUs. However, many applications such as face alignment, image classification, and gesture recognition need to be deployed to multimedia devices, smartphones, or embedded systems with limited resources. Thus, there is an urgent need for high-performance but memory-efficient deep learning models. For this, we design several lightweight deep learning models for different tasks with factorization strategies.
Specifically, we constructed a lightweight face alignment model by proposing a factorization-based deep convolution module named Depthwise Separable Block (DSB) and a light but practical module based on the spatial configuration of the faces. Experiments on four popular datasets verify that Block Mobilenet has better overall performance with less than 1MB storage size. Besides the face analysis application, we also explored a general, lightweight deep learning module for image classification with low-rank pointwise residual (LRPR) convolution, called LRPRNet. Essentially, LRPR aims at using a low-rank approximation to factorize the pointwise convolution while keeping depthwise convolutions as the residual module to rectify the LRPR module. Moreover, our LRPR is quite general and can be directly applied to many existing network architectures.
Due to the success of the factorization strategy on image-based data, we extended factorization on time sequence data for Sign Language Recognition (SLR). We achieved the first rank in the challenge of SLR with the help of our proposed novel Separable Spatial-Temporal Convolution Network (SSTCN), which divides a 3D convolution on joint features into several stages , which help the SSTCN achieve higher accuracy with fewer parameters.

Further Education Expo
2021-10-06 09:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Join the Graduate School of Engineering admissions team at the Further Education Expo. The fair is open to Ontario Tech and Durham College students. An admissions representative will be available throughout the day to answer your graduate school questions.

Getting Started with Mendeley
2021-10-04 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn how to use Mendeley to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

Introduction to Citation Managers
2021-09-30 12:00 - 12:45, 2021-09-27 12:00 - 12:45 (America/New_York)
Start your fall 2021 research off on the right foot with Northeastern University Library’s series of online workshops and webinars!
In this webinar, learn the basics of how to manage citations for yourself or your research group.
Register here: bit.ly/citationmgmtworkshops
All times are in Eastern Time.

ChE Seminar Series: Learning about Biological Interactions, Recognition, and Targeted Delivery Through Surface Forces
2021-09-29 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
ChE Seminar Series Presents:
Dr. Tonya Kuhl
Professor and Chair, Department of Chemical Engineering, UC Davis
Learning about biological interactions, recognition, and targeted delivery through surface forces
Abstract:
The promoters of cell adhesion are ligands, which are often attached to semi-flexible tethers that bind to surface receptors on adjacent cells. Drug delivery systems, such as Stealth Liposomes, have also attempted to use biological specificity to target therapeutic payloads. Using a combination of Monte Carlo simulations, diffusion reaction theory, and direct experiments (surface force measurements), we have quantified how polymer tethers alter the interaction and binding/capture based on biospecificity (ligand-receptor binding). Experimental and theoretical results as a function of molecular weight and bi-modal distributions will be discussed to enable rational design.
Biography:
Tonya Kuhl, is Professor and Chair of Chemical Engineering, the co-Director of the UC Davis Coffee Center (and co-instructor and developer of ECH 1 “The Design of Coffee”), and a faculty member of the Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering Graduate Groups. Her Bachelors was from the University of Arizona and Ph.D. from UCSB, both in chemical engineering. Her research interests are in the general area of colloidal science, self-assembly, and complex fluids. In particular, the Kuhl group studies a wide range of systems from surfactants, lipids and proteins to polymer coatings, nanoparticles and confined fluids. The common theme is that “interfaces are where stuff happens”. Her group studies interfaces by directly measuring the normal interactions (attractive and repulsive) between surfaces and their lateral friction using specialized high resolution force spectroscopy. Complementary x-ray and neutron scattering measurements are used to measure the exact film structure on a molecular level, enabling a fundamental understanding of how surface film structure and experimental conditions yield the measured properties. Rather than more empirical, “guess and test”, approaches for improvement in properties or functionality – the Kuhl group uses direct measurements and theory to enable predictive modeling and rational design.

Dialogue of Civilizations Info Session
2021-09-29 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 420 Shillman Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
This info session is designed to introduce you to Dialogues of Civilization. Listen to students share their experiences. Presenters for this event are Joy Erb, COE and Amanda Earley, Global Experience Office who will be on hand to provide the details you need for this exciting opportunity.
Location: 135 Shillman Hall
Time: 12:00 – 1:00pm

ECE PhD Proposal Review: Tianyu Dai
2021-09-27 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
PhD Proposal Review: Data-Driven Control and Estimation
Tianyu Dai
Location: Zoom Link
Abstract: During the last two decades, data-driven control (DDC) has attracted growing attention in the control community. Unlike model-based control (MBC) that first uses the collected data to identify the system, then designs the controller according to the certainty equivalence principle, DDC skips the system identification (SYSID) step and leads to a control law directly from data. One important feature of DDC is that some fundamental limitations of MBC such as uncertainty versus robustness, inevitable modeling error, and possible expensive cost of SYSID are avoided in the DDC framework. These benefits enable the researcher to design controllers with better performance and accuracy.
The aim of this proposal is to summarize our contributions to the DDC field. We mainly discuss the following problem: given a single trajectory of noisy data and a few priors of the model structure, how to design a state feedback controller to stabilize the system with unknown dynamics and in addition, to meet some performance criteria. The main idea hinges on duality theory to establish the connection between two sets, one compatible with the noisy data, and the second satisfying some design properties such as stability or optimality. Our main results show that for all possible systems compatible with the data, the data-driven control law can be obtained by solving a convex optimization problem.
This proposal is organized as follows: to start with, we propose a DDC framework for switched linear systems relying on the Farkas’ lemma to search for a common polyhedral control Lyapunov function using the theory of moments. Then to reduce the computational burden, we provide another method called data-driven quadratic stabilization control for linear systems that is based on quadratic Lyapunov function. To deal with nonlinear system, we first design data-driven controllers for polynomial systems using the dual Lyapunov theorem. Then to handle general nonlinearities, we propose a method based on state-dependent representations. Finally, a data-driven estimator is proposed that gives the worst-case optimal estimation of the trajectory of a switched linear system.

From Concept to Company: Navigating a Non-Linear Path
2021-09-23 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Raytheon Amphitheater (240 Egan), 360 Huntington Ave, 240 Egan, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Please join the Edward G. Galante Engineering Business Program in welcoming guest speaker Christina Chase for her presentation From Concept to Company: Navigating a Non-Linear Path. This talk will explore the different aspects of entrepreneurship, what it means to be entrepreneurial, and the concepts, tools and frameworks the most successful entrepreneurs employ to go from concept to company.
Christina Chase is a Lecturer at the MIT School of Engineering and the Managing Director of the MIT Sports Lab, which she co-founded in 2015. The lab works with global leaders across the field of sports to advance research in the fields of artificial intelligence, computer vision, mechanics, human and institutional behavior, machine learning, and statistics in areas, such as athlete health and performance, talent identification and development, game strategy, and fan engagement. The Sports Lab also focuses on the design and discovery of new materials and products to advance high-performance personal and protective equipment.
Chase teaches a number of courses in the School of Engineering, including Sports Technology: Engineering & Innovation, which she established to work with pro-sports teams, leagues and brands to tackle the challenges at the intersection of sports, engineering and data. She is also one of the contributing authors of 21st Century Sports: How Technologies Will Change Sports in the Digital Age (Springer 2021).
Chase also teaches in the MIT Sloan Executive Education in the field of sports analytics, as well as for international programs, such as MIT-Skoltech and the MIT-Portugal, in the field of innovation. In 2015, she helped establish and co-chair MIT’s Start6, now StartMIT, a bootcamp for MIT entrepreneurs and innovators.
Prior to this she was the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at MIT’s Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship where she helped hundreds of teams go from concept to company. In 2013, she was named one of the 25 Most Influential Women in the Boston Tech Community and in 2014, Mashable named her one of the 15 People Shaping Boston’s Tech Scene.
Chase started her first company at the age of 18 and is a former cyclist where she was one of 12 women selected by the US Cycling Federation to train at the US Olympic Training Center.
Chase serves on the External Evaluation Board for EIT Health, the European Union’s Institute of Innovation and Technology, is a Techstars mentor, and advisor and board member for multiple startups.

ChE Seminar Series: Materials Innovation in Nanotechnologies
2021-09-22 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 108 SN
ChE Seminar Series Presents:
Dr. Paulette Clancy, Ph.D
Head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University
Materials Innovation in Nanotechnologies
Abstract
There are many problems at the forefront of materials chemistry whose solution is stymied by its inherent complexity. Such problems are characterized by a rich landscape of parameters and processing variables that is combinatorially too large for either an experimental or a computational approach to solve through an exhaustive search. In such cases, the usual approach is an Edisonian trial-and-error approach, which inevitably leaves areas of parameter space unexplored. The problems that we have explored are also characterized by a scarcity of data, since the data are expensive to acquire, both experimentally and computationally. This makes it an ideal candidate to solve using a Bayesian optimization (BayesOpt) approach.
We have used a Bayesian approach to study several problems in self-assembly processes involving materials chemistry. This talk will discuss two mature test cases in which we used BayesOpt extensively to study (1) how to optimize the choice of solvent and halides to produce high quality thin films of lead-based hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites and (2) identify stable and metastable polymorphs of an organic semiconducting material. I will end with some ideas of where the BayesOpt field can expand its use in the chemical sciences and share some “lessons learned” in implementing BayesOpt and machine learning, which may be helpful to others who decide to start adding machine learning to their research repertoire.
Biography
Paulette Clancy is a Professor and the inaugural Head of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is also the Samuel and Diane Bodman Professor Emerita of Chemical Engineering at Cornell. She is the Associate Director of the Hopkins Center for Integrated Structure-Materials Modeling and Simulation. She was the inaugural Director of the Cornell Institute for Computational Science and Engineering for almost 10 years and is reprising a similar role at Hopkins, chairing our petascale research computing resources, ARCH.
Her research group is recognized as one of the country’s leading computational groups in atomic- scale modeling of materials and algorithm development. Her current thrust is to develop machine learning algorithms to accelerate the search for optimal materials processing protocols. Her group has always been focused on electronic materials, but it also includes more esoteric projects include xenobiology (Life on Titan) and a screening of therapeutic oligomers to maximize antibacterial ability. She has won numerous awards for mentoring, service learning and civic engagement, and promoting those from under- represented groups.

Distinguished Lecture: Dr. Elliot Eichen
2021-09-20 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
The Institute for the Wireless Internet of Things is pleased to host a distinguished lecture on Real-time Geo-spatial Spectrum Sharing by Dr. Elliot Eichen.
When: Monday, September 20th, 1pm.
Location: Zoom Link
Abstract: New technology and new applications for wireless communications have created competition for frequency bands traditionally allocated to remote sensing and defense applications. Competition for spectrum is particularly intense in mm (and sub-mm) wave bands where the requirements for 5G/6G transmissions overlap with measurements made by passive radiometers (Earth Exploration Satellite Services – EESS) that are used for weather forecasting and as baseline data for climate models. Real-time Geospatial Spectrum Sharing (RGSS) enables EESS radiometers and 5G/6G networks to gracefully share spectrum by modifying network traffic during the time window (~ 10s of msec) that a base station (gNB) and its connected endpoints (UEs) are within the effective field of view (eFOV) of a radiometer. RGSS is based on existing network infrastructure rather than Monte-Carlo network simulations (the ITU model); it can provide better isolation between 5G/6G transmissions and EESS radiometers than the ITU’s hardware-based Out-of-Band (OOB) emission limits (e.g., -32 dBW/200MHz-gNB and -29 dBW/200MHz-UE) in dense urban environments, while simultaneously enabling carriers to create larger cell sizes and use network repeaters in suburban and rural settings. In addition, RGSS can adapt to changes in network or remote sensing technology by modifying the underlying network or EESS ecosystem descriptions (schemas).
In this talk, we show that RGSS:

Can prevent 5G/6G transmissions from corrupting EESS measurement data
Has sufficient geolocation accuracy to provide a realistic solution, based on experimental confirmation of predicted measurement pixels vs. actual measurement pixels
Applies to all mm-wave and submm-wave bands (e.g., a single system can be used for all bands, such as 24, 51, and 90 GHz, although the modification time windows for each band may be different)
Enables carriers to optimize network performance by geography and time of day, rather than designing for the worst-case scenario across the entire network (i.e., avoids the ” one size fits all” OOB emissions model)
Includes the effect of massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) beamforming antennas
Is commensurate with existing 5G architectures and deployment models, and
Provides a simple mechanism to test and police compliance compared with over the air TRP OOB measurements.

Bio: Elliot Eichen retired as Director of R&D at Verizon in 2017, after a 35-year career (except for 2½ years on staff at MIT) at GTE Labs, GTE/BBN, and Verizon Labs. From 2018-2019, he was an IEEE-USA/AAAS congressional fellow, which is where he became interested in spectrum management and the overlap between 5G/6G and EESS passive sensors. Dr. Eichen received a Ph.D. in Optics from The University of Arizona, and a B.S in Physics from SUNY Stony Brook. His contributions to the technical community include associate editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, committee chair of Optical Fiber Communications (OFC), chair of the IEEE/OSA Optical Amplifier Conference, Visiting Industry Professor at Tufts University, and adjunct faculty at NEU. He has more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and about 60 US patents.

ECE PhD Proposal Review: Nirjhar Bhattacharjee
2021-09-16 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
PhD Proposal Review: Sputtered Topological Insulator/Ferromagnet Heterostructures for Energy Efficient Spintronic Device Applications
Nirjhar Bhattacharjee
Location: Zoom Link
Abstract: Topological insulators (TI) are Van der Waals (VdW) layered materials which possess enormous spin-orbit coupling (SOC) strength and spin-momentum locked robust surface states. TIs in presence of time-reversal symmetry breaking magnetic order can also exhibit chiral quantum anomalous (QAH) or Axion insulator edge channels. These and myriad of other material properties predicted, and achievable utilizing TIs, magnetic-TIs (MTI) and TI based heterostructures can open the path towards realization of a diverse class of energy efficient spintronic devices for information processing and storage. Crystalline oriented TIs which possess topologically nontrivial properties are grown using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) which is incompatible with industrial CMOS processes. Magnetron sputtering, on the other hand is the CMOS industry stand thin film growth technique because of the advantages of high throughput, large area, and high quality thin film growth capability. In this work, first the growth of high quality TI: Bi2Te3 thin films using CMOS compatible magnetron sputtering process is introduced. Next, room temperature characterization of magnetic and SOT properties of TI/ferromagnet (FM) heterostructures will be presented. Finally, fascinating magnetic properties of material systems with FM species intercalated in TIs will be reported which can possibly house exotic quantum material phases.
By varying process temperature between 20-250ºC, growth of Bi2Te3 with stoichiometric composition and varying crystalline order from disordered to highly c-axis oriented VdW layered films were obtained. Using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) imaging, the crystalline property of the TI film was confirmed. Further, coupling the sputtered TI films with ferromagnetic (FM) thin films surprisingly showed a giant enhancement in Gilbert damping with c-axis oriented TI which is crucial for energy efficient SOT-MRAM devices. This suggested enhancement in spin-orbit coupling strength for c-axis oriented TI thin films compared to disordered ones. Formation of interface layers because of elemental diffusion has been reported in literature. But, literature reports on SOT characteristics have largely assumed atomically sharp interfaces between TI and FM layers. We observed crystalline order dependent interface thickness and composition in Bi2Te3/Ni80Fe20 heterostructures because of diffusion of Ni across the interface. An enhancement in damping-line SOT in crystalline ordered Bi2Te3 was observed. The spin-charge conversion efficiency was however found to be larger for granular and lowest for polycrystalline disordered Bi2Te3 samples considering the interface layers. Further, with the intercalation of Ni in Bi2Te3, emergence of an antiferromagnetic VdW phase was observed in Ni-intercalated Bi2Te3 interface. This AFM VdW interface resulted in a large spontaneous exchange bias in Bi2Te3/Ni80Fe20 and Bi2Te3/NiZn-Ferrite heterostructures at temperatures below ~63 K which is higher than the transition temperatures of MTIs reported in literature. Structural and chemical characterization of the Ni-intercalated Bi2Te3 showed evidence of formation of Ni-Te bonds and indicated towards formation of MTI compounds. These results open new avenues for experimental exploration of fascinating high-temperature QAH and other topologically nontrivial material phases in interfaces of industrial CMOS process compatible sputter-grown TI/FM heterostructures. Understanding the properties of these TI based material systems can lead to realization of robust energy efficient spintronic devices.

From Food to Resilience and Everything In Between
2021-09-14 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York)
This unique, interactive 7-part open seminar (attend one or all!) will feature guest speakers that explore the challenges and opportunities for implementing sustainable and resilient programs at Northeastern University. The class topics will include energy, recycling, ecology, resilience, sustainable food, and climate justice, as taught by Northeastern faculty and administrative staff. Civil and Environmental Engineering Assistant Professor Michael Kane is the guest speaker on 9/21/21.
When: Tuesdays, September 14 through October 26
Where: 305 Shillman | Via Zoom
Time: 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. EST
Registration and Details: https://facilities.northeastern.edu/sustainability/open-classroom-2021/

ECE PhD Dissertation Defense: Vageeswar Rajaram
2021-09-14 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | 432 ISEC, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
PhD Dissertation Defense: Near-Zero Power Microelectromechanical Sensors for Large-Scale IoT Sensor Networks
Vageeswar Rajaram
Location: ISEC 432
Abstract: The Internet-of-things revolution has ushered the development of sensing technologies aimed towards establishing large-scale remote sensor networks to monitor the environment continuously and with high spatial resolution. However, with existing sensor technologies this goal has so far been limited in terms of scalability (i.e., the number of sensors in a network, areal coverage and spatial granularity). A major impeding factor is sensor power consumption: state-of-the-art remote sensor technologies need to be actively powered (i.e., by a battery) to continuously monitor the environment for an object of interest, even at standby (when it is not present). This is because all signals collected by the sensor from the environment need to be processed by active signal conditioning circuits to distinguish a signal of interest from other signals. Therefore, in applications where an event or signal of interest occurs only occasionally, most of the battery is drained by processing irrelevant signals. The result is that as the sensor network scales up, so do the costs and labor associated with the sensors’ battery replacements. This makes it unfeasible to deploy and maintain large numbers of sensors for any application and greatly limits the scale of sensor networks. Extremely low power consumption therefore is critical in enabling large sensor networks by reducing or even eliminating costs associated with frequent battery replacements.
This work describes the development of a revolutionary new sensing platform aimed at creating sensors with battery lifetimes limited only by the self-discharge of the battery itself (>10 years). The ultimate goal for the technology is to enable maintenance-free sensor nodes for truly large-scale “deploy-and-forget” sensor networks. In particular, this work details the development of novel infrared sensors based on micro-electro-mechanical photoswitches that are capable of detecting and distinguishing specific infrared signatures associated with objects of interest (hot gases, fire, human body, etc.) while remaining dormant with near-zero power consumption at standby. This unique sensor technology aims to break the paradigm of requiring a power supply to perform sensing by instead relying on the energy contained in the infrared signals emitted by the object of interest itself to perform its detection. This dissertation presents a comprehensive summary of the sensor’s design, its capabilities, and the various technical developments that have led this technology to evolve from a concept to a prototype near-zero power wireless infrared sensor with orders of magnitude lesser power consumption compared to the state-of-the-art.

GEM Annual Conference and Graduate Resource Fair
2021-09-11 08:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
The GEM Annual Conference will take place from September 9-11 in Houston Texas. During this event, GEM University and Employer Representatives will exhibit to promote their graduate and undergraduate (REU) research programs.
