Computer Science

CS Seminar: Prof. Tina Eliassi-Rad, Measuring Tie Strength in Implicit Social Networks

April 17, 2013

Speaker: Prof. Tina Eliassi-Rad (Rutgers University)Time: 1:00pm-2:00pmLocation: Babbio Center 304 Abstract:Given a set of people and a set of events attended by them, we address the problem of measuring connectedness or tie strength between each pair of persons. The underlying assumption is that attendance at mutual events gives an implicit social network between people. We take an axiomatic approach to this problem. Starting from a list of axioms, which a measure of tie strength must satisfy, we characterize functions that satisfy all the axioms. We then show that there is a range of tie-strength measures that satisfy this characterization.A measure of [Read more...]

CS department distinguished lecture: Dr Larry Davis, Computer Vision: History and Challenges

April 8, 2013

Title: Computer Vision: History and Challenges Speaker: Dr. Larry Davis (University of Maryland) Time: Monday, April 8th, 2:00pm-3:00pm Location: E222 Abstract: The field of computer vision was started in the 1960’s, in large part driven by applications in document image analysis (mail sorting). Fifty years later, there are many thousands of researchers and engineers around the world conducting fundamental and applied research in computer vision in applications areas ranging from astronomy to zoology. The talk will begin with an overview of the field from an applications perspective, highlighting some of the successes and open problems in a variety of application domains. Then, I will turn [Read more...]

CS Seminar: Dr. Brion Feinberg, Big Data ... In Real Life

April 1, 2013

Time: 2:00pm-3:00pmLocation: Babbio Center 304Host: Sussane Wetzel Abstract: Lower cost, high performance servers have enabled many new applications utilizing large volumes of data. This presentation will share some of the practical challenges of dealing with enormous data sets, and building and selling commercial products that leverage "big data" capabilities. Bio: Brion Feinberg is an experienced product management executive with an extensive track record for bringing new, innovative technology-focused products and services to market. Currently working as the Chief Product Officer for DAX Technologies, Brion is responsible for the planning, implementation and delivery of the company's products that provide customer experience management for telecommunication service [Read more...]

CS department seminar: Haibin Ling, Multi-target Tracking by Rank-1 Tensor Approximation

March 18, 2013

Title: Multi-target Tracking by Rank-1 Tensor Approximation Speaker: Haibin Ling (http://www.dabi.temple.edu/~hbling/) -- Temple University Time: Monday, March 18th, 2:00pm-3:00pm Location: Babbio Center 304 Abstract: Multi-target tracking (MTT) is an important problem in computer vision and has many applications. We introduce a novel framework for MTT using the rank-1 tensor approximation and propose an L1 norm tensor power iteration solution. In particular, a high order tensor is constructed based on trajectories in the time window, with each tensor element as the affinity of the corresponding trajectory. The assignment variables are the L1 normalized vectors, which are used to approximate the rank-1 tensor. Our approach provides a [Read more...]

CS Department seminar: Michael L. Littman (Brown University)

February 14, 2013

Title: Efficiently Learning to Behave Efficiently Speaker: Michael L. Littman, (http://cs.brown.edu/~mlittman/), Brown University Time: Thursday, February 14th, 4:00pm-5:00pm Location: Babbio Center 210 Host: Jingrui He Abstract: The field of reinforcement learning is concerned with the problem of learning efficient behavior from experience. In real life applications, gathering this experience is time-consuming and possibly costly, so it is critical to derive algorithms that can learn effective behavior with bounds on the experience necessary to do so. This talk presents our successful efforts to create such algorithms via a framework we call KWIK (Knows What It Knows) learning. I'll summarize the framework, our algorithms, their formal validations, and [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Peter Bell (hackNY)

January 25, 2013

Title: How to Build an Awesome Career in Software DevelopmentSpeaker: Peter Bell (http://hackNY.org), hackNYTime: Friday, January 25th, 2013, 2:00pm-3:00pmLocation: Babbio Center 304Host: Dan DumchampAbstract:There is a two-tier workforce for software developers. The top developers are always able to pick between interesting offers to work with cool technologies at the hottest companies, whereas many others are happy just to get a gig. Learn the techniques for getting and then picking between interesting job offers to build a compelling career.Bio:Peter is an evangelist and hacker for hackNY. He is an experienced startup technologist, agile coach and CTO. He's finishing up a book [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Daniel Scharstein (Middlebury College)

January 25, 2013

Title: Benchmarking Stereo Vision and Optical Flow AlgorithmsSpeaker: Daniel Scharstein (http://www.cs.middlebury.edu/~schar/), Middlebury CollegeTime: Friday, January 25th, 4:00pm-5:00pmLocation: Babbio Center 220Host: Philippos MordohaiAbstract:Stereo vision and optical flow methods attempt to measure scene depth and motion by matching and tracking pixels across images. To evaluate the performance of such methods, we need "ground truth" -- the true depth or true object motion. In this talk I will describe different techniques for creating image datasets with ground truth, including structured lighting, laser and CT scanners, and hidden fluorescent texture. The Middlebury datasets, created in collaboration with undergraduates, are now well-established benchmarks in computer [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Jason Corso (http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~jcorso/), SUNY, Buffalo

December 3, 2012

Title: Advances in Segmentation for Video UnderstandingSpeaker: Jason Corso (http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~jcorso/), SUNY, BuffaloTime: Monday, December 3nd, 2:00pm-3:00pmLocation Babbio Center 110Host: Gang HuaAbstract:The use of video segmentation as an early processing step in video understanding lags behind the use of image segmentation for image understanding, despite many available video segmentation methods. The reasons for this are likely due to a general lack of critical analysis to help us understand which methods work well in which scenarios, and the simple fact that videos are an order of magnitude bigger than images. In this talk, I will cover recent advances in my group that [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Jingyi Yu, University of Delaware

November 19, 2012

Title: Beyond Perspective Cameras: Multi-perspective Imaging, Reconstruction, Rendering and ProjectionSpeaker: Jingyi Yu (http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~yu/), University of Delaware, Newark, DETime: Monday, November 19th, 2:00pm-3:30pmLocation: Babbio Center 110Host: Gang HuaAbstract:A perspective image represents the spatial relationships of objects in a scene as they appear from a single viewpoint. In contrast, a multi-perspective image combines what is seen from several viewpoints into a single image. Despite their incongruity of view, effective multi-perspective images are able to preserve spatial coherence and can depict, within a single context, details of a scene that are simultaneously inaccessible from a single view. In this talk, I will provide [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Qiang Ji (RPI)

October 29, 2012

Title: Knowledge Augmented Visual LearningSpeaker: Qiang Ji, (RPI, http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/~qji/)Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm Location: Babbio 110Abstract:Substantial progress has been made in the past decades in computer vision, in particular as a result of the application of machine learning methods. Despite these rapid developments, computer vision remains primitive as compared with human vision. One factor contributing to this is the data-driven nature of the machine learning methods as well as their inability to incorporate prior knowledge into the learning process. The data-driven approaches suffer when the required training data is inadequate in either quantity or quality. This problem can be effectively alleviated with the [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Erik Learned-Miller (UMass)

October 25, 2012

Title: Distribution Fields: A Unifying Representation for Low-Level Vision Problems Speaker: Erik Learned-Miller (http://people.cs.umass.edu/~elm/), University of Massachusetts, AmherstTime: Thursday, October 25th, 2:00pm-3:00pmLocation: Babbio Center 203Host: Gang HuaAbstract:Consider the following fundamental problem of low level vision: given a large image I an a patch J from another image, find the "best matching" location of the patch J to image I. We believe the solution to this problem can be significantly improved. A significantly better solution to this problem has the potential to improve a wide variety of low-level vision problems, such as backgrounding, tracking, medical image registration, optical flow, image stitching, [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Neil Daswani (Twitter)

October 19, 2012

Title: Open Problems In Secure Mobile AdvertisingSpeaker: Neil Daswani (Twitter) (http://www.neildaswani.com/)Time: Friday, October 19th, 2:00pm-3:30pmLocation: Babbio 320Host: Susanne Wetzel Abstract:This talk 1) reviews security issues in the area of mobile advertising, 2) focuses on what is distinctive about mobile privacy, mobile malvertising, and mobile click fraud as compared to their non-mobile counterparts, and 3) discusses open problems/issues in the area of secure mobile advertising.Biography:Neil Daswani is currently an engineering manager at Twitter and was formerly the CTO of Dasient, Inc. prior to its acquisition by Twitter. Neil has served in a variety of research, development, teaching, and managerial roles at [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Graham Cormode (AT&T Labs)

October 1, 2012

Title: Data-driven concerns in Private Data ReleaseSpeaker: Graham Cormode (AT&T Shannon Labs)Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm Location: Babbio Center 110 Abstract: Many users are clamouring for privacy techniques so that they can publish, share or sell their data safely. There are many aspects ofdata that then have to be managed: the data is often sparse, multi-dimensional, and structured. Each of these requires mechanisms that are aware of these features, so that they provide output which is useful and efficient to compute, in addition to providing a privacy guarantee. In this talk, I will outline some recent efforts to generate such practical mechanisms. Bio: Graham Cormode is a [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Esther Ezra (New York University)

September 24, 2012

Title: On the Geometric Hitting-Set Problem. Speaker: Esther Ezra, New York University Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm Location: Babbio Center 110 Abstract: Given a set X of elements and a set R consisting of subsets of X (also called "ranges"), the hitting-set problem is to find a smallest subset of X with the property that each range in R contains an element of X. In a typical geometric scenario, the elements of X are points in d-space and the elements of R are simply-shaped regions in that space, e.g., X can be a set of points in the plane and R can represent a set of unit-disks. This [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Dimitrios Kosmopoulos (Rutgers)

September 10, 2012

Title: Workflow Analysis in Realistic Environments Speaker: Dr. Dimitrios Kosmopoulos (Rutgers)Time: 2:00pm-3:30pm Location: Babbio Center 110Abstract:Although computer vision has still rather low acceptance as a reliable tool for automated analysis of general human behavior it can very useful for automated monitoring of relatively structured processes on a 24/7 basis even under adverse conditions. This presentation deals with the case study of human behavior analysis on an automobile production line, where noise and occlusions pose serious challenges to the tracking algorithms. We examine issues such as feature extraction, modeling of noisy time series, multi-camera fusion, extraction of events in real time and [Read more...]

CS Department Distinguished Lecture: Burt Kaliski (Verisign)

September 7, 2012

Title: Building Blocks for a Connected Digital World: Reflections on Public-Key Cryptography and the InternetSpeaker: Burt Kaliski, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, VerisignDate: September 7th, 2012Time: 2:00pm--3:30pmLocation: EAS 222Abstract:Four decades ago, two lines of academic research produced two of the key, transformational ideas that enable the today's connected, digital world: the Internet and public-key cryptography. These lines of research would interact with each other many ways over the succeeding years, and I've had the privilege of participating in their synergies in several stages of my career. In this talk, I'll offer some reflections on my three decades working [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Xiangliang Zhang (KAUST, Saudi Arabia)

August 13, 2012

Title: Mining Large-scale Streaming and Complex Data Sets Time: Monday, August 13th, 2:00pm-3:30pm Location: Babbio 220 Host: Gang Hua Abstract: In this “big-data" era, vast amount of continuously arriving data can be found in various fields, such as sensor networks, network management, web and financial applications. Keeping terabytes to petabytes of data in memory is unacceptable. Therefore, the development of algorithms for processing large-scale streaming data instantaneously becomes highly important. In this talk, two novel algorithms for managing streaming data will be introduced. The first algorithm, named StrAP, is an online clustering algorithm. It is able to summarize streaming data and extract the main patterns with [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Andrei Sabelfeld (Chalmers University of Technology)

June 21, 2012

Title:Tracking information flow in web applications Speaker: Andrei Sabelfeld (http://www.cse.chalmers.se/~andrei/), Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden Time: Thursday, June 21st, 2012, 11:00am-12:00pm Location: Babbio 203 Host: Prof. David Naumann Abstract: This talk discusses a principled approach to web application security through tracking information flow in web applications. Although the agile nature of developments in web application technology makes web application security much of a moving target, we show that there are some fundamental challenges and tradeoffs that determine possibilities and limitations of automatically securing web applications. We address challenges related to mutual distrust on the policy side (as in web mashups) and tracking information flow in [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: Ophir Frieder (Georgetown University))

May 7, 2012

Title: Humane ComputingSpeaker: Ophir Frieder (http://www.cs.georgetown.edu/~ophir/), Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057Time: Monday, May 7th, 2:00pm-3:00pmLocation: Babbio 321Host: Adriana Compagnoni Abstract:Humane Computing is the design, development, and implementation of computing systems that directly focus on improving the human condition or experience. In that light, three efforts are presented, namely, improving foreign name search technology, spam detection algorithms for peer-to-peer file sharing systems, and novel techniques for urinary tract infection treatment.The first effort is in support of the Yizkor Books project of the Archives Section of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Yizkor Books are commemorative, firsthand accounts of communities that perished before, [Read more...]

CS Department Seminar: YingLi Tian (CUNY)

April 30, 2012

Title: Computer Vision Technology for Applications to Assist Blind PeopleSpeaker: YingLi Tian (http://www-ee.ccny.cuny.edu/www/web/yltian/home.html), City College of New York, NYC, NY 10031Time: Monday, April 30th, 2:00pm-3:00pmLocation: Babbio 321Host: Gang HuaAbstract: Recent technology developments in computer vision, digital cameras, and portable computers make it possible to develop practical computer vision-based algorithms to help blind persons independently explore unfamiliar environments and improve the quality of their daily life. In this talk, I will introduce the research conducted in CCNY Media Lab for applying computer vision technologies to assist people who are visually impaired including indoor navigation and wayfinding, banknote recognition, and clothing pattern recognition. [Read more...]