<< Monday, January 29, 2018 >>

## Monday, January 29, 2018

### The Green Initiative Fund Early Abstracts Due

Deadline | January 29 | 102 Sproul Hall

TGIF awards grants for sustainability related projects on campus. During this spring, TGIF is launching an Environmental Justice Thematic Grant Cycle! There is $75,000 for Environmental Justice-themed grants (out of$300,000 available)

### Long Term Adaptation in Vision

Seminar | January 29 | 12-1 p.m. | 489 Minor Hall

Stephen Engel, University of Minnesota, Dept. of Psychology

Abstract: Experience with the environment dramatically influences how we act, think, and perceive; understanding the neural plasticity that supports such change is a long-standing goal in cognitive neuroscience. In the visual system, neural function alters dramatically as people adapt to changes in their visual world. Most past work, however, has altered visual input only over the short-term,...   More >

### Combinatorics Seminar: Permutations, tensor products, and Cuntz algebra automorphism

Seminar | January 29 | 12-1 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall

Francesco Brenti, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”

Department of Mathematics

We introduce and study a new class of permutations which arises from the automorphisms of the Cuntz algebra. I will define this class, explain its relation to the Cuntz algebra, present results about symmetries, constructions, characterizations, and enumeration of these permutations, and discuss some open problems and conjectures. This is joint work with Roberto Conti.

### I see you: Social gaze as a window of opportunity in early brain development

Colloquium | January 29 | 12:15-1:15 p.m. | 3105 Tolman Hall

Ronny Geva, The Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Israel

Department of Psychology

Social bonding—including the social learning that underpins the creation of early emotional ties between infants and their caretakers—are among the most fundamental developmental processes for human survival and well-being. Social attention is thought to play a crucial role in these processes, but little is known about the neurodevelopmental mechanisms—particularly regarding the involvement of...   More >

### Plant and Microbial Biology Student/Postdoc Seminar

Seminar | January 29 | 12:30-1:30 p.m. | 338 Koshland Hall

Plant and Microbial Biology Student Group

Come join us to hear research going on in PMB from graduate students and post docs. There will be snacks and coffee/tea. Please bring a mug. Hosted by the Plant and Microbial Biology Student Group (PMBG).

### Political Economy Seminar

Seminar | January 29 | 12:30-2 p.m. | Moses Hall, Moses Hall 223

Matilde Bombardini, University of British Columbia

Department of Economics

The Political Economy Seminar focuses on formal and quantitative work in the political economy field, including formal political theory.

### Organization and function of circuits in the medial prefrontal cortex

Seminar | January 29 | 1-2 p.m. | 101 Life Sciences Addition

**Laura DeNardo**, Stanford University

### Probabilistic Operator Algebra Seminar: Monotone Convolution

Seminar | January 29 | 2-4 p.m. | 736 Evans Hall

Naofumi Muraki, Iwate Prefectural University

Department of Mathematics

Monotone independence is another notion of independence in non-commutative probability theory which differs from classical, free and Boolean independences. In this talk I will derive a basic formula for monotone convolution of probability measures where the reciprocal Cauchy transform plays a role similar to the one played by the Fourier transform in classical probability.

### Differential Geometry Seminar: Continuous quantities with respect to measured Gromov-Hausdorff convergence

Seminar | January 29 | 2:10-3 p.m. | 939 Evans Hall

Shouhei Honda, Tohoku University

Department of Mathematics

One of main purposes in the convergence theory (with uniform Ricci bounds from below) is to find geometric/analytic quantities which are continuous with respect to measured Gromov-Hausdorff convergence. The diameter is a trivial geometric example. On the other hand the $$k^{th}$$ eigenvalue of the Laplacian is a nontrivial analytic example for all $$k$$, which was proven by Cheeger-Colding. In...   More >

### Arithmetic Geometry and Number Theory RTG Seminar: Arithmetic representations of fundamental groups

Seminar | January 29 | 3:10-5 p.m. | 748 Evans Hall

Daniel Litt, Columbia University

Department of Mathematics

Let $X$ be an algebraic variety over a field $k$. Which representations of $\pi _1(X)$ arise from geometry, e.g. as monodromy representations on the cohomology of a family of varieties over $X$? We study this question by analyzing the action of the Galois group of $k$ on the fundamental group of $X$, and prove several fundamental structural results about this action.

As a sample application of...   More >

### Laurent El Ghaoui- Lifted Neural Nets: Beyond The Grip Of Stochastic Gradients In Deep Learning

Seminar | January 29 | 3:30-5 p.m. | 3108 Etcheverry Hall

Laurent El Ghaoui, UC Berkeley IEOR

Abstract: We describe a novel family of models of multi-layer feedforward neural networks, where the activation functions are encoded via penalties in the training problem. The new framework allows for algorithms such as block-coordinate descent methods to be applied, in which each step is composed of simple (no hidden layer) supervised learning problems that are parallelizable across layers, or...   More >

### Analysis and PDE Seminar: Fourier dimension for limit sets

Seminar | January 29 | 4-5 p.m. | 740 Evans Hall

Semyon Dyatlov, University of California, Berkeley

Department of Mathematics

For a finite measure $$\mu$$ on the real line, its Fourier dimension is defined using the rate of polynomial decay of the Fourier transform $$\hat \mu$$. The Fourier dimension of $$\mu$$ may be much smaller than the Hausdorff dimension of the support of $$\mu$$: a classical example is the Cantor measure on the mid-third Cantor set which has Fourier dimension equal to 0.

I will present a...   More >

### Provably Secure Machine Learning

Seminar | January 29 | 4-5 p.m. | 1011 Evans Hall

Jacob Steinhardt, Stanford University

Department of Statistics

Deployed machine learning systems create a new class of computer security vulnerabilities
where, rather than attacking the integrity of the software itself, malicious actors exploit the
statistical nature of the learning algorithms. For instance, attackers can add fake training data,
or strategically manipulate input covariates at test time.

Attempts so far to defend against these...   More >

### Documenting A Precautionary Tale: How the Story of One Small Italian Town’s Fight for a Pesticide-Free Future Changed the International Narrative

Seminar | January 29 | 4-5:15 p.m. | Morgan Hall, Lounge

Philip Ackerman-Leist, Green Mountain College; Douglas Gayeton, Lexicon of Sustainability

Philip Ackerman-Leist and Douglas Gayeton will share insights from their three-year collaboration in capturing the dramatic story of how the town of Mals in the Italian Alps became the first town in the world to ban all pesticides.

### Biochemistry in the genomic era

Seminar | January 29 | 4-5 p.m. | 106 Stanley Hall

Daniel Herschlag, Stanford University

College of Chemistry

### Snacking on Science

Colloquium | January 29 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 2515 Tolman Hall

Zeke Kossover, Exploratorium

Finding science activities that work is the first step for a new teacher. Putting activities into an order that maximizes understanding is next. A collaboration between experienced secondary teachers and scientists at the Exploratorium's Teacher Institute has created a collection of over 250 science activities we call "Snacks." Now we are working on creating sequences that help teachers learn how...   More >

### IB Seminar: "Fins to Fingers: From Enhancers to Expeditions"

Seminar | January 29 | 4-5 p.m. | 2040 Valley Life Sciences Building

Neil Shubin, The University of Chicago

### Seminar 208, Microeconomic Theory: "Thickness and Competition in Ride-sharing Markets"

Seminar | January 29 | 4-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Department of Economics

This is a job market seminar. Note the change in location.

### Job Market Seminar: "Thickness and Competition in Ride-sharing Markets"

Seminar | January 29 | 4:10-5:30 p.m. | 648 Evans Hall

Afshin Nikzad, Stanford University - Economics

Department of Economics

Field(s): Microeconomic Theory, Market and Mechanism design, (Combinatorial) Optimization, Algorithms

### Research/Funding Opportunities Workshop (Hosted by UROC: Underrepresented Researchers of Color)

Workshop | January 29 | 6-8 p.m. | 174 Barrows Hall

Istifaa Ahmed (Humanities/Social Science), UROC

### UROC DeCal – Demystifying the Research Process: Decolonizing Methods in Academic Research (Hosted by UROC: Undergraduate Researchers of Color)

Course | January 29 – April 30, 2018 every Monday with exceptions | 6-8 p.m. | 174 Barrows Hall

Istifaa Ahmed, UROOC