Academic
Monday, January 30, 2017
Expanders and Extractors
Workshop | January 30 – February 3, 2017 every day | Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)
Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing
This workshop will focus on explicit constructions of graphs and functions with pseudorandom properties. There will be two main themes related to each object in the title. For expanders, these will be proofs of existence of expander graphs using lifts, a la Bilu-Linial and Marcus-Spielman-Srivastava, and the possibility of using the method to obtain explicit constructions of Ramanujan expanders... More >
Simons Institute Workshop: Expanders and Extractors
Seminar | January 30 | 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. | Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing), Auditorium
Various, Various
Jan. 30 – Feb. 3, 2017
This workshop will focus on explicit constructions of graphs and functions with pseudorandom properties. There will be two main themes related to each object in the title. For expanders, these will be proofs of existence of expander graphs using lifts, a la Bilu-Linial and Marcus-Spielman-Srivastava, and the possibility of using the method to obtain explicit... More >
Combinatorics Seminar: Combinatorial Physics: you only live twice
Seminar | January 30 | 11:10 a.m.-12 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall
Emmanuel Tsukerman, UC Berkeley
(Please note the unusual time of this talk.)
A sneak preview into the beauty and wonder of Combinatorial Physics. I will talk about Random Matrix Theory, heavy nuclei, Dyson's Threefold way, Macdonald polynomials, Heisenberg XX spin chain, localization and dualities.
Graduate Student Seminar
Seminar | January 30 | 12-1:30 p.m. | 489 Minor Hall
Brian Cheung, Olshausen Lab; Dylan Paiton, Olshausen Lab
Neuroscience Institute, Helen Wills
Graduate student Brian Cheung will be speaking on:
Emergence of foveal image sampling from learning to attend in visual scenes
&
Graduate student Dylan Paiton will be speaking on:
Towards understanding how extrastriate feedback shapes a V1 neuron's visual response characteristics
The Effect of Cumulative Advantages on the Stability and Dynamics of Collaborations in US Physics, Chemistry and Sociology from 1980 to 2015
Seminar | January 30 | 12-1 p.m. | Goldman School of Public Policy, 355 GSPP, 3rd floor,1893 LeRoy Ave
Oliver Wieczorek, Visiting Scholar, Sociology, Bamberg, Germany; Heiko Heiberger, Postdoctoral Researcher,Department for Micro-Sociology at University of Bremen, Germany
Center for Studies in Higher Education
In academia, effects of “cumulative advantage” are well studied in regards to different types of resources. Those resources are money, influence, number of collaborations, number of publications and the impact of the findings. In other words: the rich and famous departments and researchers get richer and more famous over time while the poor get (relatively) poorer. This effect is visible on both... More >
Combinatorics Seminar: Dyck paths and positroids from unit interval orders
Seminar | January 30 | 12:10-1 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall
Anastasia Chavez and Felix Gotti, UC Berkeley
It is well known that the number of non-isomorphic unit interval orders on $[n]$ equals the $n$-th Catalan number. Using work of Skandera and Reed and work of Postnikov, we show that each unit interval order on $[n]$ naturally induces a rank $n$ positroid on $[2n]$. We call the positroids produced in this fashion unit interval positroids. We characterize the unit interval positroids by describing... More >
String-Math Seminar: Cluster Theory of the Coherent Satake Category
Seminar | January 30 | 2-3 p.m. | 402 LeConte Hall
Harold Williams, University of Texas
We discuss recent work showing that in type A_n the category of equivariant perverse coherent sheaves on the affine Grassmannian categorifies the cluster algebra associated to the BPS quiver of pure N=2 gauge theory. Physically, this can be understood as a statement about line operators in this theory, following ideas of Gaiotto-Moore-Neitzke, Costello, and Kapustin-Saulina – in short, coherent... More >
Seminar 211, Economic History: “Lifespans of the European Elite, 800-1800”
Seminar | January 30 | 2-3:30 p.m. | 639 Evans Hall
BLISS Seminar: Network Analysis Problems Motivated by the Smart Grid
Seminar | January 30 | 3-4 p.m. | 400 Cory Hall
Vincent Poor, Princeton University
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)
Smart grid involves the imposition of an advanced cyber layer atop the physical layer of the electricity grid, in order to improve the efficiency, security and cost of electricity use and distribution, and to allow for greater decentralization of power generation and management. This cyber-physical setting motivates a number of problems in network analysis, and this talk will briefly describe... More >
Human Brain Imaging with fMRI: The life of a memory: post-encoding reactivation and reorganization of episodic memory
Colloquium | January 30 | 3 p.m. | 5101 Tolman Hall | Canceled
Lila Davachi, PhD, New York University
CryoEM structure of Tetrahymena telomerase: insights into functions and interactions of the subunits
Seminar | January 30 | 4-5 p.m. | 106 Stanley Hall
**Jiansen Jiang**, University of California, Los Angeles
Leningrad Underground Poets and the Russian Poetic Tradition: How to Write Yourself Into the Canon
Colloquium | January 30 | 4-6 p.m. | B-4 Dwinelle Hall
Josephine von Zitzewitz, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Department of Slavonic Studies, Faculty of Modern & Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge
Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES), Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
The second lecture in the Spring 2017 Slavic Colloquium series.
Seminar 208, Microeconomics Theory: "Bargaining and Competition in Small Markets"
Seminar | January 30 | 4-6 p.m. | 639 Evans Hall
Delineating Protein Transportation Processes: Hierarchical Models for Single-Molecule Data
Seminar | January 30 | 4-5 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall
Yang Chen, Department of Statistics, Harvard University
Single-molecule experiments investigate the kinetics of individual molecules and thus can substantially enhance our understandings of various organisms. Analyzing data from single-molecule experiments poses a number of challenges: (a) the inherent stochasticity of molecules is usually buried in random experimental noise; (b) single-molecule behavior can be highly volatile. For both of these... More >
Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry: The Eisenbud-Goto Regularity Conjecture
Seminar | January 30 | 4:10-5 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall
Irena Peeva, Cornell University
Regularity is a numerical invariant that measures the complexity of the structure of homogeneous ideals in a polynomial ring. Papers of Bayer-Mumford and others give examples of families of ideals attaining doubly exponential regularity. In contrast, Bertram-Ein-Lazarsfeld, Chardin-Ulrich, and Mumford have proven that there are nice bounds on the regularity of the ideals of smooth (or nearly... More >
Job Market Seminar: "Estimating Hospital Quality with Quasi-experimental Data"
Seminar | January 30 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall
Field(s): Labor (education, health), Applied econometrics
Algebra Seminar: The Eisenbud-Goto Regularity Conjecture
Seminar | January 30 | 4:10-5 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall
Irena Peeva, Cornell
Regularity is a numerical invariant that measures the complexity of the structure of homogeneous ideals in a polynomial ring. Papers of Bayer-Mumford and others give examples of families of ideals attaining doubly exponential regularity. In contrast, Bertram-Ein-Lazarsfeld, Chardin-Ulrich, and Mumford have proven that there are nice bounds on the regularity of the ideals of smooth (or nearly... More >
[Physics Colloquium] Solving Big Problems with Small Accelerators: From Colliders to Medical Devices Based on Laser Plasma Accelerators
Seminar | January 30 | 4:15-5 p.m. | LeConte Hall, Lecture Hall 1
Wim Leemans, Director, Accelerator Technology and Applied Physics Division, LBNL
We will discuss the progress on building laser powered, plasma based particle accelerators where electrons surf on waves and can reach energy levels in a few inches that, if one relies on conventional methods, would require machines multiple football fields long. Although many challenges remain, this new technology is at the brink of offering a profoundly different way in which we may build... More >
A+D Mondays: Gender, Identity, Memoir: Judith Butler and Maggie Nelson in Conversation
Panel Discussion | January 30 | 6:30 p.m. | Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Judith Butler is Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at UC Berkeley. Her work has been influential in a variety of disciplines including critical theory and gender studies. She has received many of the highest honors in the humanities, including the Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Achievement Award.
Maggie Nelson, a 2016 MacArthur Fellow, is the author of... More >
Free for BAMPFA members, UC Berkeley students, faculty, staff, retirees; 18 & under + guardian | $10 Non-UC Berkeley students, 65+, disabled persons | $12 General admission Admission for this lecture is free
MATTERS: Topics in Contemporary Architecture
Panel Discussion | January 30 | 7-8:30 p.m. | 108 Wurster Hall
College of Environmental Design
MONDAY, JAN. 30, 7PM -- A quarterly panel discussion featuring a rotating board of faculty members that focuses on contemporary issues in the field. Dana Buntrock, Neyran Turan, Andrew Atwood and Mark Anderson will discuss The Next Four Years.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Expanders and Extractors
Workshop | January 30 – February 3, 2017 every day | Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)
Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing
This workshop will focus on explicit constructions of graphs and functions with pseudorandom properties. There will be two main themes related to each object in the title. For expanders, these will be proofs of existence of expander graphs using lifts, a la Bilu-Linial and Marcus-Spielman-Srivastava, and the possibility of using the method to obtain explicit constructions of Ramanujan expanders... More >
Manipulating charge and ion movement in energy storage systems
Seminar | January 31 | 10-11 a.m. | 775 Tan Hall
Kwabena Bediako, Ph.D., Department of Physics, Harvard University
Diazo Compounds: Versatile Tools for Chemical Biology
Seminar | January 31 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | Pitzer Auditorium, 120 Latimer Hall
Prof. Ronald Raines, Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Huisgen azide−alkyne 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azides and alkynes has had a profound impact on chemical biology. The diazo group shares this reactivity with the azido group while conferring additional versatility. A diazo compound can be accessed readily from its parent azide by simple deimidogenation, that is, loss of “NH”, using a phosphine reagent. Cycloaddition with a diazo... More >
Seminar 217, Risk Management: Leveraging Herd Behavior in Foreign Exchange Markets
Seminar | January 31 | 11 a.m.-1 p.m. | 639 Evans Hall
Speaker: Arnav Sheth, Saint Mary's College of California
Center for Risk Management Research
Abstract: We examine the relationship between equity and foreign exchange markets at, and around, the WM/Reuters benchmark exchange rate known as the the `Fix'. Execution at the Fix is a service offered by brokers (normally banks) provided they obtain the trade order until a certain time prior to 4pm GMT (11 am Eastern Time).
PMB Seminar : "What flat leaves can teach us about developmental reproducibility"
Seminar | January 31 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | Energy Biosciences Building, EBB First Floor Conference Room
Aman Husbands, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Caring for Dying: The Art of Being Present (BEUHS167)
Workshop | January 31 | 12:10-1:30 p.m. | Tang Center, University Health Services, Section Club
Michelle Peticolas, PhD
Be Well at Work - Employee Assistance
In the face of impending death, the caregiver’s needs are often overlooked. Participants will view Dr. Peticolas’ film, Caring for Dying: the art of being present, about the experiences of three individuals who accompanied their dying loved ones. Workshop participants will be invited to share their own stories if they wish. Goals of the workshop include:
• Learning strategies for staying... More >
Brown Bag Lunch: Kimberly Seals Allers: Author of The Big Letdown: How Medicine, Big Business, and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding
Colloquium | January 31 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | 256 University Hall
Kimberly Seals Allers
Kimberly Seals Allers is an award-winning journalist, author and a nationally recognized media commentator, consultant and advocate for breastfeeding and infant health. A former senior editor at ESSENCE and writer at FORTUNE magazine, Kimberly is widely considered a leading voice in the counterculture movement in infant feeding. Last year, her online commentaries on the social, structural and... More >
Development Lunch:"Evaluating affordable housing programs in cities in the developing area: a natural experiment from Mumbai, India"
Seminar | January 31 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall
Tanu Kumar
Department of Economics, CEGA
Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry: Ring spectra for commutative algebraists
Seminar | January 31 | 2:10-3 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall
Mengyuan Zhang, UC Berkeley
We introduce a new category to do commutative algebra in - the stable homotopy category. The talk starts by its construction and properties, with highlights on the comparison with the derived category of abelian groups. We then proceed to examine ring spectra, and generalize (derived) commutative algebra in this new context. Key examples of the talk will be regular ring spectra, gorenstein ring... More >
Commutative Algebra and Algebraic Geometry: Families of ideals of the same size
Seminar | January 31 | 3:10-4 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall
Irena Peeva, Cornell University
The Hilbert function is an invariant that measures the size of a homogeneous ideal. It encodes important information (for example, dimension and degree). Grothendieck introduced the Hilbert scheme that parametrizes subschemes of $P^r$ with a fixed Hilbert polynomial. The main general result about the structure of Hilbert schemes is Hartshorne’s Theorem that the Hilbert scheme is connected. The... More >
3-Manifold Seminar: Colorings of graphs
Seminar | January 31 | 3:40-5 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall | Canceled
Ian Agol, UC BERKELEY
I'll discuss the question of whether a map on a compact surface has a finite-sheeted covering which is 4 colorable? We can deduce this from a question about automorphism group-invariant probability measures on the space of c-colorings of a graph of chromatic number c. Some related results will be discussed.
Design Field Notes: Danielle Applestone
Seminar | January 31 | 4-5 p.m. | 220 Jacobs Hall
Danielle Applestone, Other Machine Company
Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation
Danielle Applestone, CEO of Other Machine Company, will speak at Jacobs Hall. Other Machine Company strives to empower nontraditional makers.
Polarons, Polaritons, and the Lead Halide Perovskite Puzzle
Seminar | January 31 | 4-5 p.m. | Pitzer Auditorium, 120 Latimer Hall
Prof. Xiaoyang Zhu, Department of Chemistry, Columbia University
The feverish research activity on lead halide perovskites has been fueled by their exceptional optoelectronic properties, e.g., in solar cells and light-emitting devices. Hybrid lead halide perovskites exhibit carrier properties that resemble those of pristine nonpolar semiconductors despite static and dynamic disorder, but how carriers are protected from efficient scattering with charged defects... More >
EPMS Weekly Seminar
Seminar | November 1, 2016 – December 5, 2017 every Tuesday | 5:10-6 p.m. | 212 O'Brien Hall
Engineering and Project Management Society
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 >
Sustain U: Green Up Your Life
Course | January 31 – April 25, 2017 every Tuesday with exceptions | 6:30-8 p.m. | 228 Dwinelle Hall
Sharon Chen; Mary Thomasmeyer
Student Environmental Resource Center
This course, presented by the Student Environmental Resource Center, is meant to introduce sustainability as a multi-faceted and interdisciplinary concept embodying business, economics, public health, engineering, and ethnic studies, as well as its real practical applications in students’ lives.
Civic Dialogue Series: Old Plays, New Faces: Representation in Classic Theater
Panel Discussion | January 31 | 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Dwinelle Hall, Rm. 370
Melissa Hillman; Desdemona Chiang
Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, Cal Shakes
This dialogue will explore representation on stage and ways in which traditional casting practices can act as a barrier to specific communities. We'll discuss how performing arts organizations are creating more inclusive practices to engage a more diverse range of performing artists, and we’ll consider questions of authentic experience and the actor’s craft.
Why is a more inclusive theater a... More >
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Expanders and Extractors
Workshop | January 30 – February 3, 2017 every day | Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)
Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing
This workshop will focus on explicit constructions of graphs and functions with pseudorandom properties. There will be two main themes related to each object in the title. For expanders, these will be proofs of existence of expander graphs using lifts, a la Bilu-Linial and Marcus-Spielman-Srivastava, and the possibility of using the method to obtain explicit constructions of Ramanujan expanders... More >
SP2017 Project Pengyou Policy Case Competition
Presentation | February 1 | 7 Evans Hall
Chrystal Chang, Professor of International & Area Studies Academic Program, Political Science Department and Sociology Department; Daniel Baker, PhD student of Goldman School of Public Policy; Philip Rogers, Political Science PhD
ASUC (Associated Students of the University of California)
The Project Pengyou Policy Case Competition, open to all undergraduate and graduate students across UC Berkeley, is a biannual event held by Project Pengyou, Berkeley Chapter. It is intended to foster discussion and collaborative research and to encourage creative and feasible policy-making, in a non-partisan environment, on key topics in the U.S.-China space.The winning team will receive a $20... More >
2017 COEH-CE Webinar Series: The Latest Research on Sit-Stand Workstations with Dr. Carisa Harris-Adamson
Seminar | February 1 | 10:30-11:30 a.m. | 2017 COEH-CE Webinar Series
Carisa Harris-Adamson, Department of Medicine at UC San Francisco and the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley
Center for Occupational and Environmental Health Continuing Education Program
In this ergonomics webinar Carisa Harris-Adamson PhD, CPE, PT provides a review of the latest research on outcomes for sit-stand workstations.
Objectives
On completion of this webinar participants will be able to:
∙∙ Describe the research evidence from both short- and long-term studies for common health risks that result from prolonged static sitting and standing work... More >
$0 Free to view the webinar, $30 For CE credit
Registration opens January 13. Register online or by calling info@coehce.org at 510-643-7277, or by emailing info@coehce.org at info@coehce.org by February 1.
Matrix Computations and Scientific Computing Seminar: Finite precision stability analysis of randomized QR factorization with column pivoting
Seminar | February 1 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | 380 Soda Hall
Jianwei Xiao, UC Berkeley
This is follow-up work of "On reliability of randomized QR factorization with column pivoting" from last semester's seminar talk. We investigate different updating formulas used in randomized QR factorization with column pivoting (RQRCP) and discuss the efficiency differences. We also analyze numerical stability of different RQRCP algorithms.
MVZ LUNCH SEMINAR: Miriam Zelditch and Don Swiderski "Adaptive and nonadaptive radiations of squirrels"
Seminar | February 1 | 12-1 p.m. | 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building
Miriam Zelditch & Don Swiderski, Museum of Paleontology and Museum of Zoology, Univ. of Michigan
MVZ Lunch is a graduate level seminar series (IB264) based on current and recent vertebrate research. Professors, graduate students, staff, and visiting researchers present on current and past research projects. The seminar meets every Wednesday from 12- 1pm in the Grinnell-Miller Library. Enter through the MVZ's Main Office, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, and please let the receptionist... More >
BioE Seminar: “Engineering of MRI to address evolving needs in cardiovascular research and clinical practice”
Seminar | February 1 | 12-1 p.m. | 290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building
Moriel Vandsburger, UC Berkeley
Spring 2017 Seminar Series
Wednesday, February 1
12noon - 1:00pm
290 Hearst Mining Building
Moriel Vandsburger
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
UC Berkeley
From body to brain: control of autonomic physiology by the sensory vagus nerve
Seminar | February 1 | 12-1 p.m. | 125 Li Ka Shing Center
**Rui Chang**, Harvard Medical School
Exploring Career Interests with the Strong Interest Inventory (BECAR101)
Workshop | February 1 | 12-1:30 p.m. | Tang Center, University Health Services
TBA, University Health Services
Tang Center (University Health Services)
The Strong Interest Inventory is used to clarify prominent career and work interests.
Search for BECAR101 in the Blu Portal under UCB Learning Center (left column). Enroll online
Introducing UCNets, Wave 1: Drawing on Family and Being Drawn on by Family: Demography Brown Bag Talk
Colloquium | February 1 | 12:10-1:10 p.m. | 2232 Piedmont, Seminar Room
Claude Fischer, Professor, Sociology, UC Berkeley
Population Science, Department of Demography
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.
The Future of the Public University: Christopher Newfield, in Conversation with Carol Christ
Panel Discussion | February 1 | 2-4 p.m. | Sibley Auditorium, Bechtel Engineering Center
Christopher Newfield, Professor, UC Santa Barbara
Carol Christ, Interim EVCP, Interim Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, UC Berkeley
Wendy Brown, Professor
The public university is facing unprecedented challenges: mounting budgetary pressures and a more hostile political climate. Two distinguished commentators will discuss the path the public university has taken so far, and possible roads ahead.
Human Brain Imaging with fMRI
Colloquium | February 1 | 3 p.m. | 5101 Tolman Hall
Christopher Baldassano, PhD, Princeton University
Segmenting, Connecting, and Recalling Events
Seminar | February 1 | 3-4 p.m. | 5101 Tolman Hall
Christopher Baldassano, Princeton University
Up-down Markov chains on partitions and their diffusion analogs
Seminar | February 1 | 3:10-4 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall
Soumik Pal, Univ. of Washington
A popular family of models of random partitions is called the Chinese Restaurant Process. We imagine n customers being seated randomly and sequentially at tables of a restaurant according to a fixed stochastic rule. Counting customers by the tables gives us a composition of n. Consider a Markov chain on such compositions where we remove a randomly chosen customer and reseat her. How can one... More >
Applied Math Seminar: Coarse grained density functional theory for the study of defects in crystalline materials
Seminar | February 1 | 3:30-4:30 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall
Kaushik Bhattacharya, CalTech
Defects determine critical properties of crystalline materials even though they occur at relatively low concentrations. They can interact over long distances through slowly decaying fields whose strength depends on the electronic structure of the core. Thus the study of defects requires electronic resolutions with continuum range. This talk will describe some of the mathematical and computational... More >
Center for Computational Biology Seminar: Dr. David Baker, Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington
Seminar | February 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 125 Li Ka Shing Center
Center for Computational Biology
Post-Evolutionary Biology: Design of novel protein structures, functions and assemblies
Abstract: Proteins mediate the critical processes of life and beautifully solve the challenges faced during the evolution of modern organisms. Our goal is to design a new generation of proteins that address current day problems not faced during evolution. In contrast to traditional protein engineering... More >
Michaelangelo Tabone
Colloquium | February 1 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 126 Barrows Hall
Michaelangelo Tabone, Alumnus, Energy and Resources Group - UC Berkeley
GSAC Seminar: "A Few Things Cognitive Science Tells Us About Effective Teaching”
Colloquium | February 1 | 4-6 p.m. | 180 Tan Hall
Professor Richard Felder, North Carolina State University
Developing new microfluidic technologies to probe how proteins find their biophysical soul mates
Seminar | February 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 114 Morgan Hall
Polly Fordcy, Stanford
Large, Sparse Optimal Matching in an Observational Study of Surgical Outcomes
Seminar | February 1 | 4-5 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall
Sam Pimentel, Department of Statistics, Wharton School, UPenn
Every newly trained surgeon performs a first unsupervised operation. How do her patients' health outcomes compare with the patients of experienced surgeons? A credible comparison must (1) occur within hospitals, since health outcomes vary widely by hospital; (2) compare outcomes of patients undergoing the same operative procedures, since the risks differ in a knee replacement and an appendectomy;... More >
EECS Colloquium: The Mechanical Side of AI
Colloquium | February 1 | 4-5 p.m. | Soda Hall, 306 (HP Auditorium)
Rob Wood, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)
Artificial Intelligence typically focuses on perception, learning, and control methods to enable autonomous robots to make and act on decisions in real environments. On the contrary, our research is focused on the design, mechanics, materials, and manufacturing of novel robot platforms that make the perception, control, or action easier or more robust for natural, unstructured, and often... More >
Theorizing Black Europe; Strident Imperialists, Peripheral Colonial Beneficiaries and the contemporary politics of immigration and citizenship
Colloquium | February 1 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 2538 Channing (Inst. for the Study of Societal Issues), Wildavsky Conference Room
Stephen A. Small, Associate Professor, African American Studies, UC Berkeley
Institute for the Study of Societal Issues
Professor Small frames today’s presentation from the perspective of the second group of analysts. Small defines Black Europe as being constituted by four overlapping, non-linear components, that have unfolded historically and are manifest today, each of which is irrepressibly gendered.
East Bay Science Cafe: Mass Extinctions: Learning from the fossil record
Presentation | February 1 | 7 p.m. | Restaurant Valparaiso
1403 Solano Ave, Albany, CA
Seth Finnegan, UC Museum of Paleontology
Paleontologist Seth Finnegan takes us on a journey through the fossil record for a deeper understanding of mass extinctions and shares some of the current debates surrounding them.
Ordovician sea life courtesy of William B.S. Berry
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Expanders and Extractors
Workshop | January 30 – February 3, 2017 every day | Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)
Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing
This workshop will focus on explicit constructions of graphs and functions with pseudorandom properties. There will be two main themes related to each object in the title. For expanders, these will be proofs of existence of expander graphs using lifts, a la Bilu-Linial and Marcus-Spielman-Srivastava, and the possibility of using the method to obtain explicit constructions of Ramanujan expanders... More >
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) School District Leadership Seminar
Workshop | February 2 | 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. | 150 Lawrence Hall of Science
Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), BaySci: A Partnership for Bay Area Science Education
This event is for school district science leadership teams (comprised of district administrators, principals, and teacher leaders). This event will be held October 13, 2016; February 2, 2017; and April 24, 2017.
Contact our BaySci Program Director, Vanessa Lujan, at vlujan@berkeley.edu or (510) 643-0311 if you have any questions or are interested in joining our district network.
RSVP by calling Vanessa Lujan at 510-643-0311, or by emailing Vanessa Lujan at vlujan@berkeley.edu
RADPD - Foundational - F3 Customer Service for the RA
Course | February 2 | 9 a.m.-12 p.m. | University Hall, Room 24
Synopsis: A soft skills workshop that covers essential customer service and workplace communication techniques, with a special emphasis on setting up, preparing for, facilitating, and debriefing an RA’s initial meeting with their PI's.
PMB Seminar : "Dare to be different- regulators and mechanisms for asymmetric cell division in plants"
Seminar | February 2 | 11 a.m.-12 p.m. | Energy Biosciences Building, EBB First Floor Conference Room
Juan Dong, Waksman Institute of Microbiology, Rutgers University
Fireside Chat with Vincent Stanley, Patagonia Chief Storyteller: Peterson/Dean's Speaker Series
Panel Discussion | February 2 | 12:15-1:30 p.m. | Haas School of Business, Wells Fargo Room (C420)
Vincent Stanley, Director of Philosophy, Patagonia
Sara Beckman, Senior Lecturer, Haas School of Business
Center for Responsible Business, Haas School of Business
Vincent Stanley will be joined by Dr Sara Beck (Haas School of Business) to discuss the responsible company, what Patagonia is doing to be that company and how you can make a difference.
Swarm - Terraswarm Seminar: Rick McGeer: The Matrix: A Field Guide to the Next Internet
Seminar | February 2 | 12:30-2 p.m. | Cory Hall, 490 Cory
Rick McGeer, US Ignite
Swarm Lab/Terraswarm
The past 15 years has seen the emergence of a large number of distributed infrastructures: PlanetLab and GENI in the United States, GLab, NorNet and FED4FIRE in the EU, SAVI in Canada, VNode in Japan, and many others. These infrastructures can be viewed as a new kind of network or a new kind of cloud. As a network, one that is defined by computational services rather than protocols or hardware;... More >
IB SEMINAR: Animal speciation from the microbe’s vantage point
Seminar | February 2 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | 2040 Valley Life Sciences Building
Seth Bordenstein, Vanderbilt University
DAG seminar: DG categories
Seminar | February 2 | 1-2 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall
Benjamin Gammage, UC Berkeley
Following works of Drinfeld, Keller, Toën, Lurie, and others, we will tour the homotopical context in which dg categories reside.
Seminar 251, Labor:
Seminar | February 2 | 2-4 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall
Jen Kwok, UCB; Raffaele Saggio, UCB
Jen Kwok - "Influence of Provider Continuity on Healthcare Utilization"
Raffaele Saggio - "The Effects of Temporary Contracts on the Wage and Productive Structure: Evidence from Italy"
Wired for touch: the neurons and circuits of the somatosensory system
Seminar | February 2 | 4-5 p.m. | 125 Li Ka Shing Center
**Victoria Abraira**, Harvard University
The Master Plan: ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the Jihadi Strategy for Final Victory
Colloquium | February 2 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 2538 Channing (Inst. for the Study of Societal Issues), Wildavsky Conference Room
Brian Fishman, Counterterrorism Research Fellow, International Studies Program at New America
Center for Right-Wing Studies, Institute of European Studies
Given how quickly its operations have achieved global impact, it may seem that the Islamic State materialized suddenly. In fact, al-Qaeda’s operations chief, Sayf al-Adl, devised a seven-stage plan for jihadis to conquer the world by 2020 that included reestablishing the Caliphate in Syria between 2013 and 2016. Despite a massive schism between the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, al-Adl’s plan has... More >
The Master Plan: ISIS, al-Qaeda, and the Jihadi Strategy for Final Victory by Brian Fishman
Functional Nanomaterials from Self-Assembly
Seminar | February 2 | 4-5 p.m. | 348 Hearst Memorial Mining Building
Professor Uli Wiesner, Cornell University
Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)
Global problems including energy conversion and storage, clean water and human health require increasingly complex, multi-component and functional materials with unprecedented control over composition, structure, and order down to the nanoscale. This talk will give examples for the rational design of novel functional hybrid nanomaterials inspired by biological examples. Discussion will include... More >
Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis: "TBA"
Seminar | February 2 | 4:10-6 p.m. | Haas School of Business, C325 Cheit Hall
Jim Robinson - University of Chicago, Haas School of Business
Part of the Haas School's Oliver E. Williamson Seminar on Institutional Analysis
QB3 Postdoc Seminar: Role of phosphoinositides and individual subunits in the assembly state, and localization of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae TORC2 complex
Seminar | February 2 | 4:30-5:30 p.m. | 621 Stanley Hall
Nieves Martinez Marshall (Thorner lab)
QB3 - California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences
The ability to maintain homeostasis of the cell surface area in response to environmental insults and intracellular changes in lipid metabolism is essential for eukaryotic cell survival. A key regulator of membrane homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is TORC2, a multiprotein complex that contains the evolutionarily conserved protein kinase Target of Rapamycin (TOR). The localization of TORC2... More >
Radical Acts: A Dialogue on the Aesthetic and Political Histories of Resistance: The Graduate Speaker Series
Panel Discussion | February 2 | 5-7 p.m. | Durham Studio Theater (Dwinelle Hall)
Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, Arts + Design, College of Arcus Chair for Gender, Sexuality and the Built Environment Environmental Design, Center for Race and Gender, Department of Ethnic Studies, Department of Gender and Women's Studies, Department of History of Art, Townsend Center for the Humanities
Our current political moment demands that we think carefully and closely about the legacies of protest in the United States. Such reflection is crucial for the cultivation of future activist imaginaries. To this end, Radical Acts: A Dialogue on the Aesthetic and Political Histories of Resistance, brings together feminist artist Sharon Hayes with feminist theorist and punk lifer Mimi Thi Nguyen... More >
Applied Algebra Seminar: Bivariate Real Stability Testing
Seminar | February 2 | 5:15-6:15 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall
Nicholas Ryder, University of California, Berkeley
We give a strongly polynomial time algorithm which determines whether or not a bivariate polynomial is real stable. As a corollary, this implies an algorithm for testing whether a given linear transformation on univariate polynomials preserves real-rootedness. The proof exploits properties of hyperbolic polynomials to reduce real stability testing to testing nonnegativity of a finite number of... More >
Friday, February 3, 2017
43rd Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society
Conference/Symposium | February 3 – 5, 2017 every day | Dwinelle Hall
Expanders and Extractors
Workshop | January 30 – February 3, 2017 every day | Calvin Laboratory (Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing)
Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing
This workshop will focus on explicit constructions of graphs and functions with pseudorandom properties. There will be two main themes related to each object in the title. For expanders, these will be proofs of existence of expander graphs using lifts, a la Bilu-Linial and Marcus-Spielman-Srivastava, and the possibility of using the method to obtain explicit constructions of Ramanujan expanders... More >
Essig Brunch: Dr. Javier Ceja Navarro, Lawrence Berkeley Lab: Arthropod-microbiome interactions and their role in the host’s environmental adaptation
Seminar | February 3 | 10-11 a.m. | 1101 Valley Life Sciences Building
Dr. Javier Ceja Navarro, Postdoctoral Researcher, Lawrence Berkeley Lab
Entomology, Essig Museum of, Entomology Students' Organization
The Entomology Students' Organization is pleased to present the Essig Brunch, UC Berkeley's only entomology-themed seminar series. Join us once a week to hear about exciting new research on a broad range of insect-related topics, from evolution to conservation to ecology to pest management, and much more. Refreshments are provided and all are welcome!
Complementary Semantic Systems
Seminar | February 3 | 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | 5101 Tolman Hall
Dan Mirman, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Neuroscience Institute, Helen Wills
Representing concepts in terms of semantic features, like < has 4 legs > or < is yellow >, has driven major advances in understanding semantic cognition, integrating behavioral, neural, and computational research. Feature-based approaches are very good at capturing taxonomic relations such as DOG -- BEAR, but it is less clear how they could capture thematic relations such as DOG -- LEASH, which... More >
Labor Lunch Seminar: "Firms and the Racial Wage Gap: Evidence from Brazil"
Seminar | February 3 | 12-1 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall
Social Networking for Power Users (BECAR306)
Workshop | February 3 | 12-1 p.m. | Tang Center, University Health Services
TBA, University Health Services
Tang Center (University Health Services)
Data, Science, and the Future of Democracy
Conference/Symposium | February 3 | 1-4 p.m. | 190 Doe Library
Berkeley Institute for Data Science
Trust in basic democratic institutions is dropping and has been for years. Trust in facts, data, and science also seem to be eroding in what is being called a “post-fact” world.
What is going on? And what can be done about it?
Please join us for a mini unconference to discuss ways academics and data scientists might constructively improve our democratic infrastructure. This will be an open... More >
Environmental Narratives in Mongolian Sound Worlds
Conference/Symposium | February 3 | 1-6:30 p.m. | 180 Doe Library
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS), UC Berkeley Mongolia Initiative, Cal State University East Bay, Department of Music
Urbanization, globalization, and climate change have had a powerful effect on the ways Mongolians and Inner Mongolians relate to their environment, and this is transforming many of their cultural forms. This conference seeks to increase awareness of the relationships been musical expression and the ecological, economic and political issues impacting residents in different ethnic groups in both... More >
Biye Dance, photo by Peter Marsh
Solid State Technology and Devices Seminar: “Phonon Lasing” as a Mechanism for Velocity Saturation in GaN HEMT
Seminar | February 3 | 1-2 p.m. | Cory Hall, 521 - The Hogan Room
Jacob B Khurgin, Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)
Velocity saturation plays the most important role in determining operational characteristics of field effect transistors. While the causes of velocity saturation in GaAs and InP high electron mobility transistors (HEMT’s) are well known, the cause of saturation has not been indisputably determined for the GaN –based HEMT’s. Moreover, the saturation velocity in GaN HEMT has been shown... More >
Dark Matter Detection with Precision Instrumentation: Nano Seminar Series
Seminar | February 3 | 2-3 p.m. | 390 Hearst Memorial Mining Building
Prof. Surjeet Rajendran, UC Berkeley, Physics
Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute
We know that there is five times more dark matter in the universe than the normal (baryonic) matter that we are made out of. But, other than its existence we know very little about its properties.
What is its mass? How does it interact with baryonic matter? One way to identify these properties is to make guesses about what the dark matter could be. We can then build a sensitive instrument... More >
Entropic Effects on Dislocation Nucleation
Seminar | February 3 | 2-4 p.m. | 775B Tan Hall
Dr. Wei Cai, Stanford University
Dislocation nucleation is essential to our understanding of plastic deformation, ductility and mechanical strength of crystalline materials. Molecular dynamics simulation has played an important role in uncovering the fundamental mechanisms of dislocation nucleation, but its limited time scale remains a significant challenge for studying nucleation at experimentally relevant conditions. Here we... More >
Student Probability/PDE Seminar: Flows for Hamiltonian ODE with Randomness
Seminar | February 3 | 2:10-3:30 p.m. | 891 Evans Hall
Fraydoun Rezakhanlou, UC Berkeley
In this talk I show how a random translation of a Hamiltonian vector field improves the regularity of its flow.
Environmental Engineering Seminar
Seminar | February 3 | 3-4 p.m. | 406 Davis Hall
Alexander Lawson, Principal Engineer, Bechtel, SF
MENA Salon
Workshop | February 3 – May 5, 2017 every Friday with exceptions | 3-4 p.m. | Stephens Hall, 340, Sultan Conference Room
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
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.
Where Does the Study of Information Lead?
Seminar | February 3 | 3:10-5 p.m. | 107 South Hall
Michael Buckland
What if we take the central concept of information science and see where it leads?
Approaching Challenges in Physics with Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry
Seminar | February 3 | 4-5 p.m. | Pitzer Auditorium, 120 Latimer Hall
Prof. Danna Freedman, Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University
Music Studies Colloquia: Carolyn Abbate (Harvard University), "Primordial Microphonics"
Colloquium | February 3 | 4:30 p.m. | 125 Morrison Hall
Carolyn Abbate (Harvard University), "Primordial Microphonics"
Carolyn Abbate’s work centers on opera history, music and philosophy, ephemeral art, and on film and sound studies. Her writings have been translated into several languages, and she herself is a translator (most recently, of Vladimir Jankélévitch’s La musique et l’ineffable). Current research projects include: operetta and ethical... More >
Saturday, February 4, 2017
43rd Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society
Conference/Symposium | February 3 – 5, 2017 every day | Dwinelle Hall
Foundations 1: World Languages and Common Core Literacy: Speaking and Listening
Workshop | February 4 | 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m. | Dwinelle Hall, 33 (C level)
Nancy Salsig, BWLP: Berkeley World Language Project
BWLP: Berkeley World Language Project
Discover how World Languages contribute to Common Core success. Enhance the use of the target language in your daily lessons. Build a toolbox of strategies to engage all students. Explore how the latest research is transforming World Language teaching. Collaborate with your World Language colleagues.
We will do all this and more in our 6 day professional development series. Come learn and... More >
$350 for 6 Saturday workshop series
Registration opens June 1. Register by calling Victoria Williams at 510-877-4002 ext.19, or by emailing Victoria Williams at victoria@berkeley.edu by October 20.
Mongolian Throat-Singing (Khöömii)Workshop
Workshop | February 4 | 9 a.m.-12 p.m. | Institute of East Asian Studies, 1995 University Avenue, Suite 510
, Berkeley, CA 94704
Institute of East Asian Studies (IEAS), UC Berkeley Mongolia Initiative, Music Department, Cal State East Bay
An opportunity to learn the Inner Asian vocal technique of throat-singing, through which one can produce multiple vocal lines simultaneously, from expert practitioners in an intimate learning environment. This workshop is offered in conjunction with the February 3 symposium "Environmental Narratives in Mongolian Sound Worlds."
Pre-registration is REQUIRED. To apply, please send an email with... More >
Critter Corner
Workshop | December 31, 2016 – May 27, 2017 every Saturday | 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m. | Lawrence Hall of Science, Niche Classroom
Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS)
What is it like to live underwater? How does it feel to warm yourself on a rock? Get an introduction to the living world by meeting small mammals, reptiles, and arthropods. In the Critter Corner, which is perfect for ages 8 and under, you can observe how animals move, feel, and eat. Read stories and role-play with toy animals and habitats so that you can better understand animal life.
