May 13th, 2021, 11am-12:30pm May 13, 2021 11:00 AM to
May 13, 2021 12:30 PM Virtual Meeting
Talk Abstract: The promise of wireless power transfer is exciting: cable-free operating rooms, battery-less drones, and factories populated by untethered robots. In short, a technological revolution. Some of the fundamental principles of wireless power have been fully elucidated: any system of transmitting/receive antennas is quantitatively described by an impedance matrix, the activity of matching the load impedance to the radiation impedance of the receive antenna is inconsistent with maximizing transfer efficiency, and efficiency-maximizing antenna currents are solutions to a generalized eigenvector/eigenvalue problem. But it is safe to say that our understanding of wireless power is very much incomplete, and there is considerable scope for breakthrough research, for which possible directions include metamaterials, superco
April 1st, 11am-12:30pm
April 1, 2021 12:30 PM Virtual Meeting
Talk Abstract: For several decades, my collaborators, students, and I have worked on theory for distributed systems in order to understand their capabilities and limitations in a rigorous, mathematical way. This work has produced many different kinds of results, including:
• Abstract models for problems that are solved by distributed systems, and for the algorithms used to solve them
• Rigorous proofs of algorithm correctness and performance properties (also some error discoveries),
• Impossibility results and lower bounds, expressing inherent limitations of distributed systems,
• Some new algorithms, and
• General mathematical foundations for modeling and analyzing distributed systems.
March 4th, 2021 2:00pm-3:30pm March 4, 2021 2:00 PM to
March 4, 2021 3:30 PM Virtual Meeting
Talk Abstract: I will discuss our lab’s efforts, together with collaborators, to understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus in atomic detail, with the goals to better understand molecular recognition of the virus and host cell receptors, antibody binding and design, and the search for novel therapeutics. I will focus on our studies of the spike protein, its glycan shield, its interactions with the human ACE2 receptor, our efforts to model the SARS-CoV-2 virion, and escape variants.
Bio: Rommie E. Amaro holds the Distinguished Professorship in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering (1999) and her Ph.D. in Chemistry (2005) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rommie was an NIH
January 14, 2021 11am-12:30pm January 14, 2021 11:00 AM to
January 14, 2021 12:30 PM Virtual Meeting
Talk Abstract: A key challenge of science policy is to achieve sustained benefit from scientific grantmaking. In this presentation, I will provide a framework for thinking about sustainability in scientific software projects, based on empirical studies of development and use of software in science. The framework starts by asking: what is it that causes sustainability problems? Over time, software declines in scientific usefulness, driven by four factors: a moving scientific frontier, technological change, friction in building software, friction in using software, and, least appreciated, change in the software ecosystem sounding a component. These factors drive a need for work; in response, we can try to suppress the drivers, try to reduce the amount of work needed, or attract sufficient resources able to undertake th
December 17th, 11am-12:30pm
December 17, 2020 12:30 PM Virtual Meeting
Talk Abstract: Research in programming methodology led to the development of the principles and methods that underlie how the implementations of modern software systems are designed and organized. At the center of this work are the notions of abstraction and modularity. These ideas are related: design is the process of inventing and identifying abstractions, which become the modules that make up the implementation. This talk will discuss our current understanding of abstraction and modularity and the research that got us to where we are today.
Bio: Barbara Liskov is an Institute Professor at MIT. Her research interests include distributed and parallel systems, programming methodology, and programming languages. Liskov is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences. She is