<< May 2017 >>

## Monday, May 1, 2017

### Computational Challenges in Machine Learning

Workshop | May 1 – 5, 2017 every day |  Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)

The aim of this workshop will be to bring together a broad set of researchers looking at algorithmic questions that arise in machine learning. The primary target areas will be large-­scale learning and algorithms for Bayesian estimation.

Organizers:
Santosh Vempala (Georgia Institute of Technology; chair), David Blei (Columbia University), Katherine Heller (Duke University), John Langford...   More >

### Dissertation Talk: Provably Secure Computing using Certified Software and Trusted Hardware

Presentation | May 1 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | 531 Cory Hall

Rohit Sinha

Security-critical applications constantly face threats from exploits in lower computing layers
such as the OS and Hypervisor, or even attacks from malicious datacenter insiders.
This dissertation explores building cloud applications with provable security guarantees,
including only these hardware primitives (i.e. nearly zero software) in the trusted computing base.

### $K$-theory seminar: The Chern Character in twisted $K$-theory

Seminar | May 1 | 11:10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Evans Hall, 740 and then 959

German Stefanich, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

We will recall the construction of the (equivariant) Chern character in $K$-theory and proceed to construct its twisted version.

Seminar | May 1 | 12-1:30 p.m. | 489 Minor Hall

Rachel Albert, PhD Candidate (O’Brein Lab); Paul Cullen (Flanagan Lab)

Rachel Albert's talk title is:

Latency Requirements for Foveated Rendering

&

Paul Cullen's talk title is:

Under Pressure: Understanding Glaucoma through the Lens of Astrocyte Reactivity

### Anthropology on the Frontlines: Honoring the work of Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Conference/Symposium | May 1 | 1-7 p.m. |  Alumni House

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, Dean of Education, UCLA; Juan Thomas Ordóñez, Professor of Anthropology, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá; Naomar Monteriro Almeida-Filho, Chancellor, Federal University Southern Bahia, Brazil; Sherry Ortner, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, UCLA; Kimberly Theidon, Professor of Anthropology, Fletcher School of Diplomacy; Francisco J. Ferrándiz, Spanish National Research Council; Donald Boström, Investigative Journalist, Sweden; Michael Montgomery, Center for Investigative Reporting; Dr. Jorge Pérez Ávila, Former Director, Pedro Khori Institute, Havana; Meira Waiss, Professor Emerita of Antropology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem

Gail Kligman, Assoc. Provost, Professor of Sociology, UCLA

Nicholas B. Dirks, Professor of Anthropology, Chancellor, UCB

Department of Anthropology, Center for Latin American Studies, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, Humanities Research Institute, Center for Law and Society

The Anthropology department is hosting an international conference with special guests to honor the life and work of Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes during May 1st and 2nd. Several of our own UCB Anthropology PhD alumni and other distinguished anthropologists, social scientists, doctors, epidemiologists, investigative journalists will also be speaking at the two day event.

### String-Math Seminar: Geometry behind the shuffle conjecture

Seminar | May 1 | 2-3 p.m. | 402 LeConte Hall

Erik Carlsson, UC Davis

Department of Mathematics

The original "shuffle conjecture" of Haglund, Haiman, Loehr, Ulyanov, and Remmel predicted a striking combinatorial formula for the bigraded character of the diagonal coinvariant algebra in type A, in terms of some fascinating parking functions statistics. I will start by explaining this formula, as well as the ideas that went into my recent proof of this conjecture with Anton Mellit, namely the...   More >

### Northern California Symplectic Geometry Seminar: Contact and symplectic foliations/Skeleta of Weinstein manifolds

Seminar | May 1 | 2:30-5 p.m. | Stanford University Mathematics Department, 384H/383N

Alvaro del Pino/Laura Starkston, ICMAT, University of Madrid/Stanford University

Department of Mathematics

In dimension 3, every foliation...   More >

### Deepak Rajan - Distributed-memory branch-and-bound tree search for stochastic Mixed-Integer Programs (MIPs)

Seminar | May 1 | 3:30-5:30 p.m. | 3108 Etcheverry Hall

Deepak Rajan, University of California Berkeley

In this talk, I present and compare two frameworks for distributed-memory branch-and-bound (B&B) tree search.

### Dissertation Talk: Safe and Interactive Autonomy: Control, Learning, and Verification

Seminar | May 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 250 Sutardja Dai Hall

### IB Finishing Talk: Breaking the rules: phylogeny, not life history, explains dental eruption sequence in mammals

Seminar | May 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 2040 Valley Life Sciences Building

Tesla Monson, UCB (Hlusko Lab)

### Physical Mechanisms of Cell Organization on Micron Length Scales

Seminar | May 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 106 Stanley Hall

Michael Rosen, UT Southwestern Medical Center

### Student Algebraic Geometry Seminar: A conjecture in Diophantine geometry, via model theory

Seminar | May 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall

Michael Wan, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

In 2011, Jonathan Pila published an unconditional proof of the André-Oort conjecture in Diophantine geometry, in the Annals. A simplified, vague form of the statement is as follows: if X is an irreducible affine complex variety, and X contains a Zariski dense set of “special points”, then X is a “special variety”.

Pila’s proof uses the theory of o-minimality from model theory, a...   More >

### Seminar 271, Development: Mechanism Design meets Development: Selective Trials for Technology Diffusion

Seminar | May 1 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Pascaline Dupas, Stanford

Department of Economics

### Dissertation Talk: Parallel Machine Learning Using Concurrency Control

Seminar | May 1 | 5-6 p.m. | 465H Soda Hall

Xinghao Pan, EECS

Many machine learning algorithms iteratively process datapoints and transform some global model parameters. It has become increasingly impractical to serially execute such iterative algorithms as processor speeds fail to catch up to the explosive growth in dataset sizes.

To address these problems, the machine learning community has turned to two parallelization strategies: bulk synchronous...   More >

## Tuesday, May 2, 2017

### Computational Challenges in Machine Learning

Workshop | May 1 – 5, 2017 every day |  Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)

The aim of this workshop will be to bring together a broad set of researchers looking at algorithmic questions that arise in machine learning. The primary target areas will be large-­scale learning and algorithms for Bayesian estimation.

Organizers:
Santosh Vempala (Georgia Institute of Technology; chair), David Blei (Columbia University), Katherine Heller (Duke University), John Langford...   More >

### Brand Training Workshop 1: Strategy and visual design

Workshop | May 2 | 9-11:30 a.m. |  UC Berkeley Campus

Public Affairs

Attend this workshop to understand the strategy behind the development of the Berkeley brand platform. See examples of how to apply the brand guidelines in your daily work. Get hands-on practice with the visual design elements of the brand platform. Work on a sample project (or bring a live one of your own) to create a branded piece with your own unique voice. Participants: Anyone who does...   More >

### Teaching in Summer Workshop

Workshop | May 2 | 10 a.m.-1 p.m. | 442 Stephens Hall

Jake Grumbach, AC Faculty Member, Political Science; John Stehlin, AC Faculty Member, Geography

American Cultures

The American Cultures (AC) Center extends an invitation to all summer to attend our ‘Teaching in Summer’ workshop. Although this workshop will discuss the opportunities and obstacles of teaching AC courses, in particular, we will also spend significant time discussing general approaches to teaching courses in the summer, and therefore want to extend this invitation to all who might find value in...   More >

Registration opens February 28.  by April 25.

### Clayton C. Heathcock Lecture: Complex Alkaloid Total Synthesis

Seminar | May 2 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. |  Pitzer Auditorium, 120 Latimer Hall

Prof. Mohammad Movassaghi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

College of Chemistry

Several representative enantioselective alkaloid total syntheses and related methodologies will be discussed. The development of unifying synthetic strategies guided by biogenetic considerations for each alkaloid family of interest will be highlighted. These syntheses feature new stereo- and chemoselective reactions that enable maximum use of the inherent chemistry of key intermediates.

### Anthropology on the Frontlines: Honoring the work of Nancy Scheper-Hughes

Conference/Symposium | May 2 | 11 a.m.-8 p.m. |  Hearst Museum of Anthropology

Phillipe Bourgois, Professor of Anthropology, UCLA; Diane Tober, UCSF; Zvika Orr, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Itamar Haritan, University of Telaviv; Patricio Antonio da Silva, Timbaubaand Sao Paulo, Brazil; Joao Marcelo Gomes Ferreira, Timbauba, Brazil; Donna Goldstein, University of Colorado; Misha Klein, Professor of Anthropology, University of Oklahoma; Candace Slater, Professor of Portuguese Studies, UCB; David Napier, Professor Medical Anthropology, University College London; Matthew Guttman, Professor of Anthropology, Brown University; Kim Hopper, Columbia University

Laurie Wilke, Chair, Professor of Anthropology, UCB

Carla Hesse, Dean of Social Sciences, UCB

Loïc Wacquant, Professor of Sociology, UCB

Rad Med Collective, Dean of Education, UCB, UCSF

A captive research team, Investigative Journalist, Hughes Family

Department of Anthropology, Center for Latin American Studies, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, UC Humanities Research Institute, UCB Center for the Study of Law and Society

The Anthropology department is hosting an international conference with special guests to honor the life and work of Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes during May 1st and 2nd. Several of our own UCB Anthropology PhD alumni and other distinguished anthropologists, social scientists, doctors, epidemiologists, investigative journalists will also be speaking at the two day event.

### Innate-like B cells and their rules of engagement in infection

Seminar | May 2 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | 101 Life Sciences Addition | Note change in location

Nicole Baumgarth, University of California, Davis, Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology

This seminar is partially sponsored by NIH

### RTGC and $K$-theory seminar: Character Formulas for Matrix Factorisations

Seminar | May 2 | 11:10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 732 Evans Hall

Kiran Luecke, Oxford University and UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

Using the structure of the matrix factorisation category $\mathrm{MF}_G(\mathfrak g, W)$ of Freed and Teleman, I deduce the Kirillov character formula for compact Lie groups, and the Rossman character formula for the discrete series of a real semi-simple Lie group. The proofs are a calculation of Chern characters and use the Dirac family constructed by Freed, Hopkins, and Teleman. Indeed, one of...   More >

### Dissertation Talk - Integrated Nanoscale Antenna-LED for On-Chip Optical Communication

Seminar | May 2 | 12-1 p.m. | 540 Cory Hall

LEDs have low modulation speed due to the mismatch of the atomic optical dipole oscillations responsible for light emission and wavelength. Coupling a semiconductor to an external antenna, the emission rate can be increased. An electrically-injected III-V antenna-LED coupled to a cavity-backed slot antenna with a 200-fold increase in the spontaneous emission rate is demonstrated.

by May 1.

### Making the Most of Social Security (BEUHS360)

Workshop | May 2 | 12:10-1:30 p.m. | Tang Center, University Health Services, Section Club

Eric Schreiber, Workplace Planning & Guidance Consultant, Fidelity Investments

Be Well at Work - Work/Life

This workshop will cover how Social Security benefits are determined and claiming strategies that can help you optimize your benefits.

### Development Lunch:"Two short presentations"

Seminar | May 2 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Christine Nanjala Simiyu; Michael Mbate

Department of Economics, CEGA

### Aesthetics After Austerity: Boubacar Boris Diop and the Work of Literature in Neoliberal Senegal: Workshop with Tobias Warner (UC Davis)

Workshop | May 2 | 12:30-2 p.m. | TBD Dwinelle Hall

Tobias Warner, UC Davis

Berkeley Ph.D. (Comparative Literature) Tobias Warner (Assistant Professor of French, UC Davis) has agreed to share with us some of his latest work in a workshop. He will be joining us on Tuesday, May 2nd, 12:30-2:00 PM, to discuss a recent work titled "Aesthetics After Austerity: Boubacar Boris Diop and the Work of Literature in Neoliberal Senegal."

A copy of the work will be shared at a...   More >

### Queer Hyenas: Exclusion and Sanctuary in Senegalese Visual Culture

Colloquium | May 2 | 12:30-2 p.m. | 223 Moses Hall

Ivy Mills, Lecturer, History of Art, UC Berkeley

Center for African Studies

Dr. Ivy Mills is a lecturer in the Visual and Literary Cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora in the History of Art Department at the University of California, Berkeley. A recipient of Fulbright, FLAS, and Rocca grants, she conducted research on Senegalese cultural production and taught college courses during a four-year residency in Dakar, Senegal; she then earned her PhD in African...   More >

### AI for Enterprise Security: The Challenges From a Data Scientist’s Perspective

Seminar | May 2 | 1-2 p.m. | 205 South Hall

Ignacio Arnaldo, Chief Data Scientist

As part of its Spring 2017 Lunch Seminar Series, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity presents Ignacio Arnaldo, Chief Data Scientist for PatternEx.

by May 1.

### Dissertation Talk: Towards Personalized Predictive Medicine — On Remote Monitoring, Privacy and Publication Bias

Presentation | May 2 | 1-2 p.m. | 400 Cory Hall

Daniel Aranki, PhD Candidate, EECS

The current healthcare model in the United States of America (US) is reactive in nature; that is, individuals usually seek medical attention after symptoms manifest. In 2015, the total cost of healthcare in the US was $3.2 trillion (17.8% of US Gross Domestic Product), which amounts to$9,990 per capita. In the same year, the 30-days all-condition rate of unplanned rehospitalizations in patients...   More >

Seminar | May 2 | 2-3 p.m. | 400 Cory Hall

Ruonan Liu

### Young Scholars Research Symposium: A celebration of student excellence

Conference/Symposium | May 2 | 4-7 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 10 (ISAS Conf. Room)

Ariana Pemberton, History of Art Department

Sanchit Shorewala, Department of Economics; Department of Statistics

Rebecca Dharmapalan, Department of Sociology

Zhuo Shi, Department of Economics; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Lei Dingkun, Visiting Scholar, 2017, Institute for South Asia Studies

UC Berkeley student scholarship on cultural, political, and religious norms in South Asia.

### How to complete the MCAT and succeed in applying to medical school:

Workshop | May 2 | 4-5 p.m. | 1229 Dwinelle Hall

Renan Aparicio

The aim of this workshop is to help underrepresented researchers of color better understand the process of applying to medical school and completing the MCAT.

### Scalar for Multimedia Digital Projects Workshop

Workshop | May 2 | 5 p.m. | Moffitt Undergraduate Library, Rm. 340 - BCNM Commons

Stacy Reardon, Alliance for Networking Visual Culture

Berkeley Center for New Media

Developed by the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture, Scalar is a web platform designed especially for multimedia digital projects and for multimedia academic texts. Like WordPress, it is easy to create content, but it is distinguished by multiple ways of navigating through a project, annotation and metadata features, and image and video options. Choose it to develop born digital projects and...   More >

### Buddhist Sectarianism in Burma’s Last Kingdom

Colloquium | May 2 | 5-6:30 p.m. | 180 Doe Library

Alexandra Kaloyanides, Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University

The collapse of Burma’s final kingdom was devastating for the Buddhist organizations that depended on its royal sponsorship. The nineteenth-century encroachment of the British Raj crippled both the Konbaung Dynasty and its once-powerful monastic establishment, but it also created opportunities for opposition parties. One adversarial Buddhist sect, the Paramats, was particularly active between the...   More >

### EPMS Weekly Seminar

Seminar | November 1, 2016 – December 5, 2017 every Tuesday | 5:10-6 p.m. | 212 O'Brien Hall

Each week the Engineering and Project Management Society brings in a speaker to talk about topics related to construction and project management. Light refreshments will be provided.

Event is ADA accessible. For disability accommodation requests and information, please contact Disability Access Services by phone at 510.643.6456 (voice) or 510.642.6376 (TTY) or by email at...   More >

### Deconstructing and reconstructing microbial communities using cheese

Seminar | May 2 | 6-7 p.m. |  Berdahl Auditorium, 105 Stanley Hall

Rachel Dutton, Harvard University

## Wednesday, May 3, 2017

### Computational Challenges in Machine Learning

Workshop | May 1 – 5, 2017 every day |  Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)

The aim of this workshop will be to bring together a broad set of researchers looking at algorithmic questions that arise in machine learning. The primary target areas will be large-­scale learning and algorithms for Bayesian estimation.

Organizers:
Santosh Vempala (Georgia Institute of Technology; chair), David Blei (Columbia University), Katherine Heller (Duke University), John Langford...   More >

### 2017 California Transportation Planning Conference

Conference/Symposium | May 3 – 5, 2017 every day |  Walnut Creek Marriott

2355 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Technology Transfer Program

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), in partnership with the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at University of California, Berkeley present the: 2017 California Transportation Planning Conference, Partnering for Sustainable Transportation: Meeting the Challenge Now and Into the Future.

This three-day conference will provide attendees the opportunity to interact...   More >

This conference is open to all. We want to especially extend an invitation to those associated with Caltrans (employees, partners, affiliates) as well as those involved in the development and planning of transportation around the state of California.

### Computer Workstation Evaluator Training (BEUHS403)

Workshop | May 3 | 8 a.m.-12 p.m. | Tang Center, University Health Services, Class of '42

Greg Ryan, Ergonomic Campus Ergonomist, Be well at Work - Ergonimics; Mallory Lynch, MA, Campus Ergonomist, Ergonomics@Work

Be Well at Work - Ergonimics

Specifically for Departmental Computer Workstation Evaluators, learn the basics of how to evaluate and modify computer workstations according to campus ergonomic guidelines in this practical, hands-on workshop. Enroll online through the UC Learning Center

### BFI Research Showcase

Colloquium | May 3 | 8:45-10:45 a.m. | Alumni House, Toll Room

Berkeley Food Institute

In 2015, the Berkeley Food Institute provided seed funding to six multi-disciplinary and innovative research projects in food and agriculture. On May 3, our grantees will be sharing the results of their research with the Berkeley community. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from UC Berkeley's experts from various fields, and to participate in the Q&A session following each grantee's presentation.

### American Studies Spring Conference: Twice-Told Tales

Conference/Symposium | May 3 | 9 a.m.-4 p.m. |  Women's Faculty Club

Leigh Raiford, American Studies/African-American Studies; Shannon Steen, American Studies/Theater; Lauren Kroiz, American Studies/History of Art; Andy Shanken, American Studies/Architecture; David Henkin, American Studies/History; Michael Cohen, American Studies/African American Studies; Beth Piatote, American Studies/Native American Studies

American Studies

### History 101 Circus: Undergraduate Research Showcase

Presentation | May 3 | 10 a.m.-4 p.m. | 3335 Dwinelle Hall

Department of History

The 101 Circus is the great annual gathering at which undergraduate history majors present their thesis research.

History 101 is designed to guide students through the capstone experience of undergraduate education as a history major: the researching and writing of a senior thesis. Successful completion of this challenging but rewarding endeavor requires students to do the work of a historian....   More >

### 2017 COEH-CE Webinar Series with Cristina Banks, PhD and Edward Yelin, PhD: Health and Employment: Macro Context and Micro Initiatives

Seminar | May 3 | 10:30-11:30 a.m. |  Webinar

Edward Yelin, Professor, UCSF School of Medicine; Cristina Banks, Director, HealthyWorkplaces, UC Berkeley

What are employment and workforce trends regarding Americans with disabilities? What is the newest thinking about how to build worker sustainability in response to these trends?

This webinar presentation will provide you with the latest information. The presentation makes it clear that allowing workplace practices and disability policies to continue will prove to be deleterious to the American...   More >

$0 Free Webinar,$30 CE Credit

Registration opens March 28. or by calling 510-642-8365, or by emailing coehce@berkeley.edu by May 3.

### Capstone Showcase 2017: Berkeley Master of Engineering

Presentation | May 3 | 10:30 a.m.-6:15 p.m. |  Shires Hall

2451 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA 94709

The Berkeley Master of Engineering Showcase is a chance for the Berkeley community to engage with our Masters students in their research & industry projects. If you are curious about the latest innovations or where the future of engineering is heading–come see for yourself!

Come network with students, faculty, and alumni while trying out the latest innovations in tech.

Food and drinks will...   More >

### $K$-theory seminar: Twisted $K_G(G)$ and Loop group representations

Seminar | May 3 | 11:10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 740 Evans Hall

Benjamin Gammage, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

We will review the representations of loop groups and the Kac-Weyl formula for their characters. We then proceed to describe the (complex) twisted conjugation-equivariant $K$-theory of a compact (simply connected) Lie group $G$, and and relate it to the Verlinde ring.

### Hidden Burdens: How Social and Educational Experiences Are Shaped by Race and Immigration Status

Colloquium | May 3 | 12-1:30 p.m. | Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, Duster Conference Room

2420 Bowditch Street, Berkeley, CA 94720

Esther Cho, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, and Graduate Fellow, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, UC Berkeley; Kelechi Uwaezuoke, DrPH Candidate, School of Public Health, and Graduate Fellow, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, UC Berkeley

Bruce Fuller, Professor, Education and Public Policy, UC Berkeley

Hidden Burdens: How Social and Educational Experiences Are Shaped by Race and Immigration Status

Esther Cho, PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology, and Graduate Fellow, Institute for the Study of Societal Issues, UC Berkeley

Kelechi Uwaezuoke, DrPH Candidate, School of Public Health, and Graduate Fellow, Institute for the Study of Societal...   More >

### Two axes of subordination: How immigration shapes racial dynamics in the U.S.

Colloquium | May 3 | 12:10-1:15 p.m. | 5101 Tolman Hall

Sapna Cheryan, Associate Professor, University of Washington

The study of racial prejudice in psychology developed primarily based on research studying African Americans and Whites. The recent precipitated growth of Latinos and Asian Americans in the United States underscores the need for a framework that integrates more groups.

The current work proposes that racial and ethnic minority groups are disadvantaged along two distinct dimensions of perceived...   More >

### Measuring Cultural Models and Contraceptive Use Among Young US Women: Demography Brown Bag Talk

Colloquium | May 3 | 12:10-1:10 p.m. | 2232 Piedmont, Seminar Room

Emily Marshall, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Public Health Program, Franklin & Marshall College

A lunch time talk and discussion session, featuring visiting and local scholars presenting their research on a wide range of topics of interest to demography.

### Dissertation Talk: Reconfigurable Micromechanical Filters

Seminar | May 3 | 2-3 p.m. | 400 Cory Hall

Jalal Naghsh Nilchi, UC Berkeley

### Topology Seminar (Introductory Talk): Link homotopy in dimensions 3

Seminar | May 3 | 2:10-3 p.m. | 736 Evans Hall

Peter Teichner, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

In our two talks, we'll consider link maps of many spheres into another sphere. Link maps are continuous maps such that connected components in the source are mapped disjointly into the target. John Milnor introduced the notion of a link homotopy of a link in 3-space and we'll recall his approach in the talk at 2 pm.

### BioE Seminar: “Biologically fabricated materials composed of engineered biofilm matrix proteins”

Seminar | May 3 | 3-4 p.m. | 290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building | Note change in time

Neel Joshi, Harvard University

Bioengineering (BioE)

Spring 2017 Seminar Series

Wednesday, May 3

Details Forthcoming

### The continuous-time lace expansion and it’s applications

Seminar | May 3 | 3:10-4 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall

Tyler Helmuth, U.C. Berkeley Mathematics

Department of Statistics

The lace expansion is one of the primary tools for proving that probability models in high dimensions have mean field behaviour. I will explain the previous sentence by describing joint work in progress with David Brydges and Mark Holmes in which we develop a continuous time lace expansion. Our method allows us to analyze n-component field theories when n is zero, one, or two. The case n=2 is new.

### Applied Mathematics Seminar: Optimization-based Estimation and Control of Uncertain Systems

Seminar | May 3 | 3:30-4:30 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall

Ali Mesbah, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

Uncertainty is ubiquitous in complex dynamical systems. System uncertainties can lead to severe degradation of the performance of advanced optimization-based estimation and control methods, which are crucial for supporting safety and reliability of the system, reducing variability in the system operation, and enhancing the system efficiency. In this talk, we will present a framework for...   More >

### Structure Property Relationship of Single-Ion-Conducting Block Copolymer Electrolytes/An Imaging-Based Human Embryonic Stem Cell Assay for Teratogenic Activity

Colloquium | May 3 | 4-6 p.m. | 180 Tan Hall

Adriana Rojas, Ph.D. student in the Balsara Group; Brian Perea, Ph.D. student in the Clark Group and the Schaffer Group

### Actomyosin mediated tension and uncoupled respiration in adipose tissue

Seminar | May 3 | 4-5 p.m. | 114 Morgan Hall

Kevin Tharp, UC Berkeley

### Subtle but not malicious? The (high) computational cost of non-smoothness in learning from big data

Seminar | May 3 | 4-5 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall

Mikhail Belkin, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Ohio State University

Department of Statistics

What can we learn from big data? First, more data allows us to more precisely estimate probabilities of uncertain outcomes. Second, data provides better coverage to approximate functions more precisely. I will argue that the second is key to understanding the recent success of large scale machine learning. A useful way of thinking about this issue is that it is necessary to use many more...   More >

### Loving and Blacking: Interracial Intimacies Among Campus Students in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Seminar | May 3 | 4-6 p.m. | 2515 Tolman Hall

Jonathan Jansen, Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford

In race-regulation regimes like South Africa and the United States, interracial intimacies remain difficult even decades after odious laws prohibiting love and marriage were repealed. How does reprisal work in the absence of legal sanction against interracial romance, and how do young people manage different forms of reprisal as they struggle to learn, live, and love together?  Jonathan Jansen...   More >

### Seminar 291, Departmental Seminar: ​"The Elusive Costs of Inflation: Price Dispersion during the U.S. Great Inflation"

Seminar | May 3 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Jón Steinsson, Columbia University

Department of Economics

### Topology Seminar (Main Talk): Link homotopy in dimensions 4

Seminar | May 3 | 4:10-5 p.m. | 3 Evans Hall

Peter Teichner, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

In the 4 pm talk, we'll present a joint result with Rob Schneiderman, to show that any link map of two 2-spheres in 4-space with one topologically embedded component is link homotopically trivial, implying that there is no 4-dimensional Hopf link. We'll use a 4-dimensional version of Milnor's elementary link homotopies as well as Freedman's disk embedding theorem.

### EECS Colloquium: Evaluation of the Tensor Processing Unit: A Deep Neural Network Accelerator for the Datacenter

Colloquium | May 3 | 5-6 p.m. | Soda Hall, 306 Soda Hall (HP Auditorium) | Note change in time

David Patterson, EECS Professor Emeritus and Professor in the Graduate School, UC Berkeley, Distinguished Engineer, Google

With the ending of Moore's Law, many computer architects believe that major improvements in cost-energy-performance must now come from domain-specific hardware. The Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), deployed in Google datacenters since 2015, is a custom chip that accelerates deep neural networks (DNNs). We compare the TPU to contemporary server-class CPUs and GPUs deployed in the same...   More >

## Thursday, May 4, 2017

### 2017 California Transportation Planning Conference

Conference/Symposium | May 3 – 5, 2017 every day |  Walnut Creek Marriott

2355 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Technology Transfer Program

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), in partnership with the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at University of California, Berkeley present the: 2017 California Transportation Planning Conference, Partnering for Sustainable Transportation: Meeting the Challenge Now and Into the Future.

This three-day conference will provide attendees the opportunity to interact...   More >

This conference is open to all. We want to especially extend an invitation to those associated with Caltrans (employees, partners, affiliates) as well as those involved in the development and planning of transportation around the state of California.

### Computational Challenges in Machine Learning

Workshop | May 1 – 5, 2017 every day |  Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)

The aim of this workshop will be to bring together a broad set of researchers looking at algorithmic questions that arise in machine learning. The primary target areas will be large-­scale learning and algorithms for Bayesian estimation.

Organizers:
Santosh Vempala (Georgia Institute of Technology; chair), David Blei (Columbia University), Katherine Heller (Duke University), John Langford...   More >

### Science to Practice Conference Series: Building the Best Workplace for Health and Well-Being

Conference/Symposium | May 4 | 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. |  Haas School of Business

College of Environmental Design

Featuring Professor of Architecture Galen Cranz, this one-day conference presents the most up-to-date thinking and validated design strategies for building smarter workplaces that promote both well-being and organizational effectiveness.

### RAPDP - Intermediate - FM9 Award Reporting

Course | May 4 | 9-11 a.m. | University Hall, Room 24

Human Resources

Synopsis: An intermediate workshop that looks at the RA’s responsibilities regarding award reporting, in particulars working with the PI to finalize technical reports and working with CGA to finalize financial reports.

### EHS 201 Biosafety in Laboratories

Course | May 4 | 9:30-11:30 a.m. | Tan Hall, 775 A/B | Note change in location

This training is required for anyone who is listed on a Biological Use Authorization (BUA) application form that is reviewed by the Committee for Laboratory and Environmental Biosafety (CLEB). A BUA is required for anyone working with recombinant DNA molecules, human clinical specimens or agents that may infect humans, plants or animals. This safety training will discuss the biosafety risk...   More >

### Graduate Symposium on German Medieval Studies

Colloquium | May 4 – 5, 2017 every day | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Department of German

Stanford - Wallenberg Hall, Room 433A

10:00 am. Welcome (Coffee and light refreshments)
10:15 am. Session 1
Moderated by Kathrin Gollwitzer, Berkeley
􀁸 Walker Horsfall, Toronto. “Mirrors and Mock
Jousts: Metaphor as Ritual in Frauenlob”
􀁸 Mareike Reisch, Stanford. “sinne und vernunft:
Die bildliche Darstellung eines mittelalterlichen
Modells von Sinneswahrnehmung...   More >

### Dissertation Talk: Systems-Aware Optimization for Machine Learning at Scale

Seminar | May 4 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | 405 Soda Hall

Virginia Smith, EECS

New computing systems have emerged in response to the increasing size and complexity of modern datasets. For best performance, machine learning methods must be designed to closely align with the underlying properties of these systems. In this talk, I illustrate the impact of systems-aware machine learning in the distributed setting, where communication remains the most significant bottleneck. I...   More >

### Finding Research Funding: BRDO Spring Seminar Series for Faculty

Workshop | May 4 | 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 177 Stanley Hall

Erica Whitney, Berkeley Research Development Office

This workshop will describe the mechanisms that federal agencies and private foundations use to fund research and teach methods for finding opportunities to apply for.

### Katy Seto Finishing Talk

Seminar | May 4 | 12-1 p.m. | 132 Mulford Hall

### Survival of the Fittest: the Impact of the Minimum Wage on Restaurant Closures

Seminar | May 4 | 12-1:30 p.m. | 2521 Channing Way (Inst. for Res. on Labor & Employment), IRLE Director's Room

Dara Lee Luca, Mathematica Policy Research; Michael Luca, Harvard Business School

Opponents of minimum wage increases have long worried about their impact on restaurants, which often rely on low-wage workers. Dara Lee Luca and Michael Luca will present research on raising the minimum wage in cities such as San Francisco, where they find that higher wages have come with increased rates of restaurant closure. Struggling, poorly-rated restaurants are especially vulnerable when...   More >

### IB Seminar: Disease transmission through the lens of fluid dynamics

Seminar | May 4 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | 2040 Valley Life Sciences Building

Lydia Bourouiba, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

### Dissertation Talk: Polynomial Proof Systems, Effective Derivations, and their Applications in the Sum-of-Squares Hieararchy

Seminar | May 4 | 1-2 p.m. | 606 Soda Hall

Benjamin Weitz, Berkeley EECS

The Sum-of-Squares (SOS) SDP Hierarchy has recently emerged as a powerful tool for approximation algorithms, tensor recovery problems, and more. Because it is relatively new, we still do not know the answer to even very basic questions about the hierarchy. For example, we do not even know when the SOS SDP is guaranteed to run correctly in polynomial time! We would also like to know when the SOS...   More >

### Seminar 251, Labor: RRR Week

Seminar | May 4 | 2-3:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall | Canceled

Department of Economics

### Special Topology Seminar: The geometry of the cyclotomic trace

Seminar | May 4 | 2-4 p.m. | 736 Evans Hall

Aaron Mazel-Gee, Oklahoma State Univ.

Department of Mathematics

Algebraic K-theory is a deep and far-reaching invariant, but it is notoriously difficult to compute. To date, the primary means of understanding K-theory is through its "cyclotomic trace" map K — > TC to topological cyclic homology. This map is usually advertised as an analog of the Chern character, but this is something of a misnomer: TC is a further refinement of any flavor of de Rham...   More >

### Dissertation Talk: Fast Approximation Algorithms for Positive Linear Programs

Seminar | May 4 | 2-3 p.m. | 380 Soda Hall

Di Wang

Positive linear programs (LPs) are LPs formulated with non-negative coefficients,
non-negative constraints and non-negative variables. This class of LPs models a wide range of fundamental problems in combinatorial optimization and operations research, thus have long drawn interest in theoretical computer science. Notable special cases include packing LPs and covering LPs, which apply to most...   More >

### Sculpting the nervous system: Cellular and molecular mechanismsof neural circuit refinement

Seminar | May 4 | 4-5 p.m. | 125 Li Ka Shing Center

Karen Zito, University of California, Davis

This seminar is partially sponsored by NIH

### Seminar 242, Econometrics: "In-fill Asymptotic Theory for Structural Break Point in Autoregression: A Unified Theory"

Seminar | May 4 | 4-5 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Jun Yu, Singapore Management University

Department of Economics

### Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis: ““Unions and inequality over the twentieth century: New evidence from survey data”"

Seminar | May 4 | 4:10-6 p.m. | Haas School of Business, C325 Cheit Hall

Part of the Haas School's Oliver E. Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis

### Applied Algebra Seminar: Algebraic Approaches to the Belgian Chocolate Problem

Seminar | May 4 | 5:15-6:15 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall

Zachary Charles, University of Wisconsin

Department of Mathematics

Control theory is concerned with systems that have built-in feedback that regulates their behavior. Control theorists study when the resulting feedback loop is stable. We will present the Belgian Chocolate Problem, a famous open problem concerning the stabilization of such systems. The problem asks for which values of a process parameter we can stabilize a specific feedback loop. In contrast to...   More >

## Friday, May 5, 2017

### 2017 California Transportation Planning Conference

Conference/Symposium | May 3 – 5, 2017 every day |  Walnut Creek Marriott

2355 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Technology Transfer Program

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), in partnership with the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) at University of California, Berkeley present the: 2017 California Transportation Planning Conference, Partnering for Sustainable Transportation: Meeting the Challenge Now and Into the Future.

This three-day conference will provide attendees the opportunity to interact...   More >

This conference is open to all. We want to especially extend an invitation to those associated with Caltrans (employees, partners, affiliates) as well as those involved in the development and planning of transportation around the state of California.

### Computational Challenges in Machine Learning

Workshop | May 1 – 5, 2017 every day |  Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)

The aim of this workshop will be to bring together a broad set of researchers looking at algorithmic questions that arise in machine learning. The primary target areas will be large-­scale learning and algorithms for Bayesian estimation.

Organizers:
Santosh Vempala (Georgia Institute of Technology; chair), David Blei (Columbia University), Katherine Heller (Duke University), John Langford...   More >

### Teaching History Conference: Teaching History in the 21st Century

Conference/Symposium | May 5 | 2407 Dwinelle Hall

UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project, UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project

The Teaching History Conference began in 2015 as a way to bring scholars and practitioners across the K–16 continuum together to discuss history education. More than 150 participants from five different countries—including K–12 teachers, university and college professors, graduate students, and education researchers—began a collaborative dialogue on the unique challenges and opportunities faced...   More >

### Teaching History in the 21st Century

Conference/Symposium | May 5 – 6, 2017 every day | 8 a.m.-5:45 p.m. |  Dwinelle Hall

Anne Hyde, Professor of History, University of Oklahoma, American History Association, Tuning History Project; Kelly Schrum, Associate Professor, George Mason University, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

Bob Bain, Associate Professor, Department of History and School of Education, University of Michigan

Department of History, UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project, UC Berkeley History Graduate Student Pedagogy Group, American Historical Association, Bay Area Council for the Social Studies, California History–Social Science Project

The Teaching History Conference began in 2015 as a way to bring together scholars and practitioners across the K–16 continuum—including K–12 teachers, university and college professors, graduate students, and education researchers—to discuss history education.

### The 2006 Immigration Protests: A Decade Later

Conference/Symposium | May 5 | 9 a.m.-4 p.m. | 2521 Channing Way (Inst. for Res. on Labor & Employment), IRLE Director's Room

This mini-conference will evaluate the legacies of the 2006 marches and the current immigrant rights movement in the United States: its organization, its impact on public discourse, electoral politics and public opinion, and its ability to effectively frame the claims of non-citizens to further the goals of the immigrant rights movement. The participants will take stock of legacies and the...   More >

### Logic at UC Berkeley: May 5th Morning Session

Conference/Symposium | May 5 | 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | 141 McCone Hall

Paolo Mancosu, UC Berkeley; John Steel, UC Berkeley; Ehud Hrushovski, Oxford University

A two-day conference in mathematical logic and related areas organized by The Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science at UC Berkeley (logic.berkeley.edu). The conference is partly occasioned by the fact that the Group in Logic turns sixty this year.

### Logic at UC Berkeley Conference: Absolutely ordinal definable sets

Seminar | May 5 | 9:30-10:45 a.m. | 141 McCone Hall

John Steel, UC Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

Set theorists have discovered many mutually incompatible natural theories extending ZFC. One can hope that these incompatibilities will be resolved by interpreting all such theories in a useful common framework theory. There is a promising candidate for such a framework theory. Its crucial axiom, “Axiom H”, asserts that V looks like the collection of hereditarily ordinal definable sets in a...   More >

### Dissertation Talk: High Dimensional Reachability Analysis: Addressing the Curse of Dimensionality in Formal Verification

Seminar | May 5 | 10-11 a.m. | 405 Soda Hall

Mo Chen, UC Berkeley EECS

Autonomous systems are becoming pervasive in everyday life, and many of these systems are complex and safety-critical. Formal verification is important for providing performance and safety guarantees for these systems. In particular, Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) reachability is a formal verification tool for nonlinear and hybrid systems. However, it is computationally intractable for analyzing complex...   More >

### TRANSFER INFORMATION SESSION

Presentation | May 5 | 10-11:45 a.m. |  Wurster Hall

College of Environmental Design

TRANSFER INFORMATION SESSION

### Essig Brunch Seminar: Sexual Selection and Signal Evolution in Peacock Spiders (Genus: Maratus)

Colloquium | May 5 | 10-11 a.m. | 1101 Valley Life Sciences Building

Maddie Girard, PhD candidate, Rosenblum Lab, UC Berkeley

Entomology, Essig Museum of

Weekly seminar series focused on arthropod science (insects, spiders, scorpions, etc.)

### Graduate Symposium on German Medieval Studies

Colloquium | May 4 – 5, 2017 every day | 10 a.m.-5 p.m. | 201 Moses Hall

Department of German

Stanford - Wallenberg Hall, Room 433A

10:00 am. Welcome (Coffee and light refreshments)
10:15 am. Session 1
Moderated by Kathrin Gollwitzer, Berkeley
􀁸 Walker Horsfall, Toronto. “Mirrors and Mock
Jousts: Metaphor as Ritual in Frauenlob”
􀁸 Mareike Reisch, Stanford. “sinne und vernunft:
Die bildliche Darstellung eines mittelalterlichen
Modells von Sinneswahrnehmung...   More >

### Logic at UC Berkeley Conference: Reflections on model theory and foundations

Seminar | May 5 | 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | 141 McCone Hall

Ehud Hrushovski, Oxford University

Department of Mathematics

Set theory, at many scales, studies the nature of mathematical abstraction. Model theory is sometimes viewed as less engaged with the foundations of mathematics. I’ll propose some thoughts on this aspect of the field.

### Cognition Colloquium: David Bourgin, "Putting the “me” back in recommendation: A comparative study of recommendation models from computer science and cognitive psychology"

Colloquium | May 5 | 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Tolman Hall, Room 5101

David Bourgin, UC Berkeley

Department of Psychology

Grad student David Bourgin will present some of his original research, "Putting the “me” back in recommendation: A comparative study of recommendation models from computer science and cognitive psychology."

### ARE Seminar: Manisha Shah

Seminar | May 5 | 12:10-1:30 p.m. | 201 Giannini Hall

Manisha Shah, UCLA

College of Natural Resources

Manisha Shah is an Associate Professor of Public Policy at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She is also a Faculty Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Faculty Affiliate at UC Berkeley’s Center for Effective Global Action, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor. She received her Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from UC...   More >

### Dancing for Fun and Fitness (BEUHS605)

Workshop | May 5 | 12:10-1 p.m. | 251 Hearst Gymnasium

Be Well at Work - Wellness

Fit some fun and fitness into your day with these free, beginner dance classes. Zumba will be on 2/10, and 5/5, Samba will be on 3/3 and Polynesian/Hula will be on 4/7 and 6/2. No partner required. Comfortable clothing and athletic shoes recommended.

### Logic at UC Berkeley: May 5th Afternoon Session

Conference/Symposium | May 5 | 2:15-5 p.m. | 3 LeConte Hall

Denis Hirschfeldt, University of Chicago; Michael Rathjen, Leeds University

A two-day conference in mathematical logic and related areas organized by The Group in Logic and the Methodology of Science at UC Berkeley (logic.berkeley.edu). The conference is partly occasioned by the fact that the Group in Logic turns sixty this year.

### Logic at UC Berkeley Conference: Computability Theory

Seminar | May 5 | 2:15-3:30 p.m. | 3 LeConte Hall

Denis Hirschfeldt, University of Chicago

Department of Mathematics

I will discuss some recent work and possible future developments in computability theory, with an inevitable bias towards my own interests. The study of Turing reducibility and the Turing degrees has long been the backbone of the area, but many other notions of computability-theoretic comparison, old and new, have been intensely studied in the last few years. These notions, and the ways they...   More >

### Department of Molecular and Cell Biology Annual Alumni Seminar: Structure and strategy in host-pathogen conflicts

Seminar | May 5 | 3-4 p.m. | Bechtel Engineering Center, Sibley Auditorium

Russell Vance, University of California, Berkeley

Department of Molecular & Cell Biology Annual Alumni Seminar

### MENA Salon

Workshop | February 3 – May 5, 2017 every Friday with exceptions | 3-4 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 340, Sultan Conference Room

On Fridays at 3:00 during the semester, the CMES hosts an informal weekly coffee hour and guided discussion of current events in the Middle East and North Africa, open to all and free of charge.

### Environmental Engineering Seminar

Seminar | May 5 | 3-4 p.m. | 406 Davis Hall

Chelsea Preble, PhD candidate, Berkeley CEE

### Dissertation Talk: Three-Dimensional Microwave Imaging for Indoor Environments

Presentation | May 5 | 3:30-4:30 p.m. | 2108 Allston Way (Berkeley Wireless Research Center), Front Classroom

Simon Scott

None

Microwave imaging refers to the use of microwaves to capture images of real-world objects. While conventional optical imaging uses light waves to capture images, microwave imaging uses waves at microwave and millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. In this talk, we will be discussing how planar antenna arrays, operating in the 24GHz band, can be used to capture three-dimensional images of objects...   More >

### Logic at UC Berkeley Conference: On relating type theories to (intuitionistic) set theories

Seminar | May 5 | 3:45-5 p.m. | 3 LeConte Hall

Michael Rathjen, Leeds University

Department of Mathematics

Type theory, originally conceived as a bulwark against the paradoxes of naive set theory, has languished for a long time in the shadow of axiomatic set theory which became the mainstream foundation of mathematics in the 20th century. But type theories, especially dependent ones à la Martin-Löf, are looked upon favorably these days. The recent renaissance not only champions type theory as a...   More >

### Kenneth N. Raymond Lecture: Ken Raymond's Broad Influence on the Development of Metallacrowns

Seminar | May 5 | 4-5 p.m. |  Pitzer Auditorium, 120 Latimer Hall

Prof. Vincent Pecoraro, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan

College of Chemistry

In 1988, Ken Raymond and I had a conversation on coordination chemistry at a Gordon Conference. A consequence of this discussion was the preparation of the first report of the metallamacrocyclic class now known as metallacrowns. These molecules began as simple analogues of crown ethers that substituted the methylene carbons of these molecules with heteroatoms, typically N and a transition...   More >

### Return of Ten Thousand Dharmas: A Celebration in Honor of Patricia Berger

Conference/Symposium | May 5 | 4-6 p.m. | David Brower Center, Goldman Theater

2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704

Patricia Berger, History of Art, UC Berkeley

Complete schedule: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/ccs/events/2017.05.05.html

This event begins on Friday, May 5, 4 pm, Brower Center with a keynote speech by Professor Berger.