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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160511T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160511T180000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160210T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181543Z
UID:339-1462986000-1462989600@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Contemporary Supercomputing: Opportunities for Science and Challenges for Computer Engineering
DESCRIPTION:President Obama’s July 2015 Executive Order\, which established a National Strategic Computing Initiative\, ensures that the U.S. will make substantial investments in the development of exascale computing systems. While this opens many opportunities in science\, construction of such systems calls for new approaches to software\, mathematical algorithms and systems engineering. \nIn this lecture\, Dr. Schulthess will show how recent developments in architecture have moved us away from traditional abstractions\, forcing software development and mathematical algorithms to acknowledge the physical reality of computing systems. Data locality and asynchrony will be key to the effective use of exascale computing systems. Furthermore\, the dusk of complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) scaling is increasing the diversity of computer architectures. This is profoundly challenging to software development and systems engineering\, but at the same time\, it opens many new opportunities for science. A strategy to manage this software challenge will be discussed in terms of recent experiences in numerical weather predictions. \nThomas Schulthess is director of the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) and a professor for computational physics at ETH Zürich. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from ETH Zürich and spent many years at Oak Ridge National Laboratory\, where today he holds a distinguished visiting scientist appointment. While his primary research is on computational methods for materials science\, he recently took interest in the development of energy-efficient computing systems for climate modeling and meteorology.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/contemporary-supercomputing-opportunities-for-science-and-challenges-for-computer-engineering/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Frontiers of Data Science
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160513T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160513T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160420T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181552Z
UID:347-1463158800-1463163300@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Universality Phenomena in Machine Learning\, and Their Applications
DESCRIPTION:A canonical task in machine learning is to fit a model (from a certain class) to a dataset. In many settings there is little theoretical understanding of the algorithms used for this task\, since they involve nonconvex optimization. \nWe have empirically observed that in many settings the models fitted to real-life datasets display randomlike properties — the model parameters behave like random numbers for various tests. This is somewhat reminiscent of the ‘universality’ phenomenon in mathematics and physics\, whereby matrices in a host of settings turn out to display properties similar to those of the Gaussian ensemble. \nIn this talk\, Sanjeev Arora will describe how these randomlike properties can be used to gain a new understanding in some settings — for example\, they can offer insights into linear algebraic properties of word meanings in natural languages\, and reversibility properties of fully connected deep nets. In some cases\, they can lead us to provably efficient algorithms\, such as algorithms for making inferences in a topic model. \nArora is the Charles C. Fitzmorris Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. His research area spans several areas of theoretical Computer Science including computational complexity and algorithm design\, and theoretical problems in machine learning. He has received the ACM-EATCS Gödel Prize (in 2001 and 2010)\, Packard Fellowship (1997)\, the ACM Infosys Foundation Award in the Computing Sciences (2012)\, the Fulkerson Prize (2012)\, and the Simons Investigator Award (2012).
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/universality-phenomena-in-machine-learning-and-their-applications/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Interdisciplinary
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160525T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160525T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160113T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181356Z
UID:336-1464195600-1464200100@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Imaging Life at High Spatiotemporal Resolution
DESCRIPTION:As our understanding of biological systems has increased\, so has the complexity of our questions and the need for more advanced optical tools to answer them. For example\, there is a hundredfold gap between the resolution of conventional optical microscopy and the scale at which molecules self-assemble to form subcellular structures. Furthermore\, as we attempt to peer more closely at the three-dimensional\, dynamic complexity of living systems\, the actinic glare of our microscopes can adversely influence the specimens we hope to study. Finally\, the heterogeneity of living tissue can seriously impede our ability to image at high resolution\, due to the resulting warping and scattering of light rays. \nEric Betzig will describe three areas focused on addressing these challenges: super-resolution microscopy for imaging specific proteins within cells at various lengths\, scaling down to near-molecular resolution; plane illumination microscopy using non-diffracting optical lattices for noninvasive imaging of three-dimensional dynamics within live cells and embryos; and adaptive optics to recover optimal images from within large\, optically heterogeneous specimens\, such as zebrafish and the cortex of living mice. \nDr. Betzig obtained a B.S. in physics at the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in applied physics at Cornell University. In 1988\, he became a principal investigator at AT&T Bell Labs\, where he extended his thesis work on near-field optical microscopy\, the first method to break the diffraction barrier. By 1993\, he held a world record for data-storage density and recorded the first super-resolution fluorescence images of cells as well as the first single molecule images at ambient temperature. Frustrated with technical limitations and declining standards as more jumped into the field\, he quit science and\, by 1996\, was working for his father’s machine tool company. Commercial failure of the technologies he developed there left him unemployed in 2003 and looking for new directions. This search eventually culminated in his co-invention of the super-resolution technique PALM with his best friend and Bell Labs colleague Harald Hess. For this work\, he was co-recipient of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Since 2005\, he has been a group leader at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus\, developing new optical imaging technologies for biology.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/imaging-life-at-high-spatiotemporal-resolution/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:New Directions in Imaging
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160606T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160606T200000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20180502T202744Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180502T202744Z
UID:35635-1465232400-1465243200@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:SCGB NY-Area Postdoc Meeting Series
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/scgb-ny-area-postdoc-meeting-series-3-2/
LOCATION:Simons Foundation 9th Floor\, Multipurpose Room\, 160 Fifth Ave\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160623T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160625T000000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20151002T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T173247Z
UID:4105-1466640000-1466812800@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Conference on Shocks and Particle Acceleration in Novae and Supernovae
DESCRIPTION:Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / S. Wiessinger\n    \n\nThursday\, June 23 —\nFriday\, June 24\, 2016\nSimons Foundation\nGerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\n160 Fifth Avenue\nNew York\, New York \nSaturday\, June 25\, 2016\nColumbia University\nPupin Hall\n538 W. 120th Street\nNew York\, New York \n\n\nOn June 23 and 24\, 2016\, about 60 international researchers working in the fields of novae and supernovae met at the Simons Foundation in New York City to discuss the physics of shocks and particle acceleration in these transient astrophysical events. The fields of novae and supernovae broke off from one another when they were first identified as physically distinct events in the 1930s\, by Baade and Zwicky. However\, the growing appreciation—based on an ever-expanding array of multi-wavelength observations—that shocks play a crucial role in the appearance of both of these systems motivated us to unite these fields once again. The workshop was comprised of pedagogical overview talks meant to bridge the knowledge gap between these fields\, interspersed with long open discussion periods aimed at addressing particular aspects of each phenomena. \nThe workshop began with an overview by Tommy Nelson (University of Pittsburgh) of the ways that shocks manifest in novae across the electromagnetic spectrum\, from radio to gamma rays. Teddy Cheung (NASA Goddard) provided an overview of the unexpected recent discovery by NASA’s Fermi telescope that novae produce luminous ~ GeV gamma-ray emission.  This emission is believed to arise either from the Compton scattering of ambient optical photons from electrons accelerated to ultra-relativistic velocities by the nova\, or to the decay of π0 produced by collisions between shock-accelerated relativistic protons. Bill Wolf (University of California\, Santa Barbara) described the physics of thermonuclear runaway on the surface of accreting white dwarfs\, the engine behind novae. Brian Metzger (Columbia University) provoked the audience by suggesting that most nova optical emission are powered indirectly by shocks\, contrary to standard theory. \nThe Thursday afternoon session addressed the signatures of shock waves in the time-dependent emission-line spectra caused by different ejecta components. Raffaella Margutti (Northwestern University) discussed the X-ray emission from shock waves in young\, unresolved supernovae\, while Steve Reynolds (North Carolina State University) discussed similar emission from shocks in older galactic supernova remnants. On Friday morning\, Damiano Caprioli (University of Chicago) described the first particle-in-cell plasma simulations showing the process of diffusive particle acceleration (Fermi acceleration). Our discussions identified a previously neglected discrepancy regarding the low-electron-acceleration efficiency\, which is inferred from supernova remnants and PIC simulations\, versus the much higher efficiencies inferred from unresolved supernovae. Future methods for analyzing the supernova data were agreed upon to better quantify this discrepancy and its cause. \nOverall\, the workshop was considered a great success. An informal survey indicated that\, for the vast majority of participants\, this was the first time they had attended a conference combining novae and supernovae\, which effectively brought researchers in each field up-to-speed on the other. Raffaella Margutti commented\, “It is definitely one of the conferences where I learned the most.” Steve Reynolds commented\, “[The conference] was a real eye-opener.” Each moment of the lengthy discussion sessions was filled with dialogue\, revealing many hitherto unrecognized areas of overlap between these research fields. \n\nSchedule and Slides\n\n\n\nThursday\, June 23 – Fischbach Auditorium\, Simons Foundation\n\n\n8:30−8:45\nIntroductory Remarks\n\n\n8:45−9:15\nOverview: Novae and Shocks\, Tommy Nelson\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n9:15−9:45\nGamma-Rays from Novae\, Teddy Cheung\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n9:45−10:15\nOverview: Shocks in SNe\, Nathan Smith\n\n\n10:15−10:45\nCoffee\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nBasics of Novae and Supernovae\n\n\n10:45−11:15\nThermonuclear Runaway\, Bill Wolf\n\n\n11:15−11:45\nOptical Light Curves of Novae and Supernovae\, Ashley Pagnotta\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n11:45−12:00\nAre Nova Light Curves Shock-Powered? Brian Metzger\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n12:00−12:25\nModerated DiscussionDiscussion Leaders: Brad Schaefer (TBC) and Mike Shara  \n\n‘Can nova outflows produce internal shocks?’\n‘Causes of mass loss in supernova progenitors?’\n‘Reasons for light curve diversity?’\n\n\n\n\n12:25−2:00\nLunch\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nOptical Spectra\n\n\n2:00−2:30\nSpectral Diagnostics of Novae\, Fred Walter\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n2:30−3:00\nSpectral Diagnostics of Supernovae\, Ryan Chornock\n\n\n3:00−3:30\nModerated Discussion Discussion Moderator: Bob Williams  \n\n‘What is the evidence for multiple velocity components and shocks in nova and supernova spectra?’\n’How is spectral line formation from shocks different in nova and supernovae?’\n\n\n\n\n3:30−4:00\nCoffee\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nX-rays from Novae and SNe\n\n\n4:00−4:30\nX-rays from Nova Shocks\, Koji Mukai\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n4:30−5:00\nX-rays from Young Supernovae\, Raffaella Margutti\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n5:00−5:30\nX-rays from Supernova Remnants\, Steve Reynolds\n\n\nFriday\, June 24 – Fischbach Auditorium\, Simons Foundation\n\n\n\nGamma-Ray Emission\n\n\n8:45−9:15\nGamma-Ray Emission from Nova Shocks\, Guillaume Dubus\n\n\n9:15−9:45\nParticle Acceleration in Non-Relativistic Shocks\, Damiano Caprioli\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n9:45−10:15\nGamma-Ray Emission in SN Remnants\, Jacco Vink\n\n\n10:15−10:45\nCoffee\n\n\n10:45−11:10\nNon-Thermal X-rays from Novae\, Indrek Vurm\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n11:10−11:35\nTeV Observations\, Reshmi Mukherjee\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n11:35−12:10\nModerated DiscussionDiscussion Leaders: Brian Metzger\, Margarita Hernanz  \n\n‘Shock acceleration in novae versus supernovae’\n’Leptonic versus hadronic?’\n\n\n\n\n12:10−1:40\nLunch\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nNova Environments and Outflow Geometry\n\n\n1:40−2:10\nCV and Nova Environments\, Christian Knigge\n\n\n2:10−2:40\nOverview of Nova Outflow Geometry\, Tim O’Brien\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n2:40−3:10\nProto-Planetary Nebulae\, Orsola deMarco\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n3:10−3:40\nCoffee\n\n\n3:40−4:10\nMassive Star Winds\, Stan Owocki\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n4:10−4:40\nMass Loss from Binary Stars\, Ondrej Pejcha\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n4:40−5:30\nModerated Discussion Discussion Leader: Joe Patterson  \n\n‘Geometry of nova outflows: binarity vs. rotation?’\n’Predictions of super-Eddington outflow models’\n\n\n\n\nSaturday\, June 25 – Columbia\, Pupin Hall\, Center for Theoretical Physics (8th Floor)\n\n\n8:45−9:05\nNew Methods of Transient Discovery\, Eran Ofek\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nRadio Emission from Novae and Supernovae\n\n\n 9:05−9:35 \nRadio Observations of Novae\, Justin Linford\n\n\n 9:35−9:55 \nRadio Emission in Novae\, Jennifer Weston\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n9:55−10:25\nCoffee\n\n\n10:25−10:55\nRadio Observations of Supernovae\, Laura Chomiuk\n\n\n10:55−11:25\nRadio Emission in Supernovae\, Rodolfo Barniol-Duran\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n11:25−12:00\nModerated Discussion Discussion Leaders: Jeno Sokoloski\, Michael Rupen  \n\n‘Are radio-producing shocks the same as those producing gamma-rays’\n‘Radio-emitting electrons leptonic or hadronic?’\n\n\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n12:00−1:30\nLunch\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\nDust\n\n\n 1:30−2:00 \nDust Formation in Stellar Eruptions\, Chris Kochanek\n\n\n 2:00−2:30 \nRadiative SN Shocks\, John Raymond\nSlides (PDF)\n\n\n 2:30−3:00 \nDust Formation in Novae\, Andrew Helton\n\n\n3:00−3:30\nCoffee\n\n\n 3:30−4:00 \nTheory of Dust Formation\, Jonathan Rawlings\n\n\n 4:00−5:30 \nOpen Discussion and Wine\, Laura Chomiuk\n\n\n\nSpeakers/Moderators\n\n\n\nRodolfo Barniol-Duran\nPurdue University\n\n\nDamiano Caprioli\nPrinceton University\n\n\nPoonam Chandra\nTata Institute\n\n\nTeddy Cheung\nNaval Research Laboratory\n\n\nRyan Chornock\nThe Ohio University University\n\n\nOrsola deMarco\nMacquarie University\n\n\nGuillaume Dubus\nInstitut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble\n\n\nAndrew Helton\nStratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy\n\n\nMargarita Hernanz\nInstitut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya\n\n\nChristian Knigge\nUniversity of Southampton\n\n\nChris Kochanek\nThe Ohio State University\n\n\nJustin Linford\nMichigan State University\,\n\n\nRaffaella Margutti\nNorth Carolina State University\n\n\nKoji Mukai\nNASA/GSFC\n\n\nReshmi Mukherjee\nColumbia University\n\n\nEhud Nakar\nTel Aviv University\n\n\nTommy Nelson\nUniversity of Minnesota\n\n\nTim O’Brien\nThe University of Manchester\n\n\nEran Ofek\nWeizmann Institute\n\n\nStan Owocki\nUniversity of Delaware\n\n\nAshley Pagnotta\nAmerican Museum of Natural History\n\n\nJoe Patterson\nColumbia University\n\n\nOndrej Pejcha\nPrinceton University\n\n\nJohn Raymond\nHarvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics\n\n\nJonathan Rawlings\nUniversity College London\n\n\nSteve Reynolds\nNorth Carolina State University\n\n\nMichael Rupen\nNational Radio Astronomy Observatory: Socorro\n\n\nMichael Shara\nAmerican Museum of Natural History\n\n\nNathan Smith\nUniversity of Arizona\n\n\nJacco Vink\nAstronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek\n\n\nIndrek Vurm\nColumbia University\n\n\nFred Walter\nStony Brook University\n\n\nJennifer Weston\nColumbia University\n\n\nBob Williams\nSpace Telescope Science Institute\n\n\nBill Wolf\nUC Santa Barbara
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/conference-on-shocks-and-particle-acceleration-in-novae-and-supernovae/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://sf-web-assets-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/12034505/Nova_by_NASA_Goddard_SFC_and_S_Wiessinger-290x311.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160810T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160810T200000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20180502T202305Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180502T202305Z
UID:35631-1470848400-1470859200@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:SCGB NY-Area Postdoc Meeting Series
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/scgb-ny-area-postdoc-meeting-series-august-2016/
LOCATION:Simons Foundation 9th Floor\, Multipurpose Room\, 160 Fifth Ave\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160907T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160907T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160804T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181405Z
UID:356-1473267600-1473272100@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Sleep in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Window to Etiology\, Diagnosis and Treatment
DESCRIPTION:Understanding sleep physiology in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) not only provides a window to the underlying etiology\, it can also help characterize sub-phenotypes and offer a potent treatment approach for improving neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive function in ASD through improved sleep. Dr. Ruth O’Hara will present on the field’s current understanding of sleep in ASD: a) describing how sleep physiology in ASD differs from sleep physiology in typical developing children; b) discussing the different potential ASD phenotypes suggested by her work; and c) describing the different sleep architecture\, sleep disturbances\, and sleep disorders that are more prevalent in ASD than in typical developing children and which can serve as treatment targets that may in turn improve the core symptoms of ASD. \nDr. O’Hara is associate professor\, and associate chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University. Her research integrates measures of sleep physiology\, the brain and behavior across the lifespan of humans. Over the years she has obtained substantial NIH funding to support her work. O’Hara also received a Simons Foundation grant to examine sleep physiology and neurodevelopmental processes in ASD. She was a member of the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) Sleep-Wake disorders work group.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/sleep-in-autism-spectrum-disorders-a-window-to-etiology-diagnosis-and-treatment/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Autism: Emerging Concepts
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160914T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160914T163000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170802T201621Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170802T203606Z
UID:12059-1473867000-1473870600@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Statistical Astronomy Group Meeting
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/statistical-astronomy-group-meeting/
LOCATION:22 West 21 Street\, 10th Floor\, Conference Room A\, 22 W 21st St\, New York\, 10010\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160921T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160921T150000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T155630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T155630Z
UID:12272-1474466400-1474470000@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-2/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160921T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160921T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160715T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181418Z
UID:349-1474477200-1474481700@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Metagenomic DNA Sequencing to Detect and Diagnose Infections
DESCRIPTION:Over the past 20 years\, scientists have sequenced the genomes of thousands of bacteria and viruses\, including most human pathogens. These DNA sequences have led to a revolution in our understanding of infectious diseases\, yet they are still not used in the clinic\, where the vast majority of infections are never definitively diagnosed. Recent breakthroughs in DNA sequencing technology now make it possible to use metagenomic sequencing – in which we sequence a complex mixture of DNA without separating out the species within it – to diagnose infections directly from human biopsy samples. In this lecture\, Dr. Steven L. Salzberg will describe how scientists and doctors are working together to diagnose infections in the brain and the eye\, and how this technology has the potential to transform our approach to treating a wide range of infections. \nDr. Salzberg is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering\, Computer Science\, and Biostatistics\, and the Director of the Center for Computational Biology in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Salzberg received his B.A.\, M.S.\, and M. Phil. degrees from Yale University\, and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. His laboratory focuses primarily on three areas: genome sequence assembly\, transcriptome alignment and assembly\, and metagenomics. The team’s open-source software systems for DNA sequence analysis are used by thousands of labs around the world. Salzberg also writes a popular science blog at Forbes.com.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/metagenomic-dna-sequencing-to-detect-and-diagnose-infections/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Frontiers of Data Science
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160928T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160928T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160808T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181431Z
UID:358-1475082000-1475086500@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:The Monster at the Heart of our Galaxy
DESCRIPTION:Learn about new developments in the study of black holes. Through the capture and analysis of twenty years of high-resolution imaging\, Dr. Andrea Ghez and her team have moved the case for a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy from a possibility to a certainty. This shift was made possible with the first measurements of stellar orbits around a galactic nucleus. Further advances in state-of-the-art high-resolution imaging technology on the world’s largest telescopes have greatly expanded the power of using stellar orbits to study black holes. Recent observations have revealed an environment around the black hole that is quite unexpected (young stars where there should be none; a lack of old stars where there should be many; and a puzzling new class of objects). Continued measurements of the motions of stars have solved many of the puzzles posed by these perplexing populations of stars. This work is providing insight into how black holes grow and the role that they play in regulating the growth of their host galaxies. Future measurements of stellar orbits at the center of the Milky Way hold the promise of improving our understanding of gravity through tests of Einstein’s theory of general relativity in an unexplored regime. \nDr. Ghez is a professor of physics & astronomy and Lauren B. Leichtman & Arthur E. Levine Chair in Astrophysics at the University of California\, Los Angeles (UCLA) and is one of the world’s leading experts in observational astrophysics. Ghez earned a B.S. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in physics from the California Institute of Technology and has been on the faculty at UCLA since 1994. Best known for her ground-breaking work on the center of our galaxy\, which has led to the most convincing evidence to date for the existence of supermassive black holes and which has also opened up a new approach to studying black holes\, Ghez has received numerous honors and awards\, including a MacArthur Fellowship\, election to the National Academy of Sciences\, the 2012 Crafoord Prize in Astronomy from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences\, and\, most recently\, the 2016 Bakerian Medal for Physical Sciences from the Royal Society of London.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/the-monster-at-the-heart-of-our-galaxy/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Astronomy, Cosmology and Particle Physics
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20160929T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20160929T170000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T162313Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T162313Z
UID:12279-1475164800-1475168400@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar (Mark Dijkstra Talk)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-mark-dijkstra-talk/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161005T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161005T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160801T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181441Z
UID:355-1475686800-1475691300@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Tuberous Sclerosis: Shedding Light on the Neural Circuitry of Autism
DESCRIPTION:In this lecture\, Dr. Mustafa Sahin will present the rationale for investigating Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) as a way to understand the cellular and circuitry alterations underlying autism spectrum disorder. Using a combination of cell culture\, mouse behavior and human EEG and MRI experiments\, Sahin and colleagues have demonstrated abnormalities in neuronal connectivity and neuron- glia interactions in TSC. Inhibitors of mTOR proteins are effective in mouse models of TSC and are being tested in clinical trials now. Insights from TSC can also provide insights for related neurodevelopmental disorders in which similar cellular and circuit abnormalities can be detected. \nDr. Sahin is a developmental neurobiologist and a pediatric neurologist. He received his B.S. degree from Brown University\, his M.D. and Ph.D. from Yale School of Medicine. He completed a pediatrics residency at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a child neurology residency at Boston Children’s Hospital. He is currently the director of the Translational Neuroscience Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. He directs two national consortia to study biomarkers and comparative pathobiology of TSC and related neurodevelopmental disorders.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/tuberous-sclerosis-shedding-light-on-the-neural-circuitry-of-autism/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Autism: Emerging Concepts
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161007T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161007T163000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T155920Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T155955Z
UID:12284-1475854200-1475857800@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar (Kris Sigurdson Talk)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-kris-sigurdson-talk/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161013T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161013T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T160020Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T160020Z
UID:12288-1476356400-1476363600@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminars (Jeremy Kepner Talk)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminars-jeremy-kepner-talk/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161013T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161013T150000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T160043Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T160043Z
UID:12290-1476367200-1476370800@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar (Licia Verde Talk)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-licia-verde-talk/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161013T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161013T200000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20180502T201710Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180502T201710Z
UID:35616-1476378000-1476388800@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:SCGB NY-Area Postdoc Meeting Series
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/scgb-ny-area-postdoc-meeting-series-october-2016/
LOCATION:Simons Foundation 9th Floor\, Multipurpose Room\, 160 Fifth Ave\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20161017
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20161022
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T142157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T142157Z
UID:12265-1476662400-1477094399@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:GAIA Sprint Workshop
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/gaia-sprint-workshop/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161020T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161021T000000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160721T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250813T173511Z
UID:4172-1476921600-1477008000@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:2016 MPS Annual Meeting
DESCRIPTION:Download the meeting booklet\nfor agenda\, abstracts and\nother annual meeting details:\n\n\nThe 2016 annual MPS meeting took place October 20–21. It featured exciting talks about research at the frontiers of math\, physics and theoretical computer science\, as well as lively discussions among the heterogeneous crowd of attending scientists. \nThe keynote speaker\, Mina Aganagic\, talked about math and string theory duality. In string theory\, it is often the case that there are two very different mathematical descriptions of the same physical situation. The two descriptions are dual to each other\, and the dictionary that translates from one description to the other is highly non-trivial. This leads to very surprising conjectural equivalences between mathematical objects that seem to be very different. In many cases\, mathematicians have been able to prove these equivalences. The equivalences are very powerful\, since they can relate very difficult computations\, such as counting curves of given degrees in an algebraic manifold to much simpler classical computations in the dual picture. The dualities can also be used for defining new quantities such as knot invariants. Aganagic surveyed several notable dualities and ended with the announcement of a recent proof\, due to Frenkel\, Okounkov and herself\, of a quantum geometric Langlands correspondence\, which generalizes the classical geometric Langlands correspondence\, itself a major result. The proof relies on an electromagnetic duality theory in six dimensions and the introduction of a quantum version of K-theory. \n\nLisa Manning talked about jamming in biological tissue. Such tissues start out in the early embryonic stage as solid-like structures and later become fluid like. Such transitions are crucial at the developmental stage. Manning described how movement occurs in completely jammed media\, with cells “pushing” their way through the interfaces between other cells\, changing the cell arrangement. She then described the phase diagram for such motion and related it to geometric features of the cell. Such features can be measured in static pictures\, so we can learn about cell dynamics from static data\, which is more readily available. The model fits observations very well.Dan Boneh showed how cryptographers are using sophisticated mathematical constructions to achieve amazing technical goals that are at the heart of electronic commerce. In particular\, he showed how the Tate pairing\, a bilinear product which originates in abstract algebraic number theory\, is used in credit card chips for fast authentication. Other constructions of cryptographic primitives coming from lattices are used to construct homomorphic encryption schemes\, which allow computations on encrypted data\, such schemes could be of great value in cloud computing environments if we could make them work a bit faster. Boneh challenged the mathematicians in the crowd to come up with new constructions based on higher math\, for example\, trilinear forms with some nice mathematical and computational properties\, and explained that they could lead to some spectacular new applications. \nPaul Seidel described ongoing work related to mirror symmetry. This symmetry is one of the deep dualities originating in string theory\, which was described in the talk by Aganagic. It relates two seemingly different areas of mathematics: the rigid world of algebraic geometry and the more flexible world of symplectic geometry. Understanding mirror symmetry is the subject of one of the current MPS collaborations. For suitable algebraic manifolds\, the string theory of the manifold leads to a formal two-parameter partition function that “counts” holomorphic curves on the manifold. Seidel described calculations of the partition function in a particularly challenging non-perturbative regime\, where one of the parameters is not infinitesimally small. \nAndrea Alu described some new devices with magical optical or acoustic properties. A basic feature of optical and acoustical systems is time reversal symmetry. If light or sound can propagate from A to B\, then it can be reversed to propagate from B to A. Alu explained how he designs devices that break time reversal symmetry by introducing a rotational asymmetry in the system. As a result\, the devices can route sound or light in an asymmetrical fashion to different destinations. Another application is in cloaking\, in which an object becomes invisible. Alu complemented these demonstrations with theoretical results which show that\, while cloaking with respect to a particular wavelength is possible\, it is impossible to achieve for a broad band of the spectrum under rather mild assumptions on the system\, explaining why many attempts are doomed to failure. \nRick Schwartz discussed the classical and very difficult problem of finding arrangements of points on the sphere that minimize some given standard energy function\, which are based on distances between the points of the arrangement. In particular\, he discussed the case of five-point configurations\, where he was able to prove the rather natural conjecture that the energy-minimizing configuration consists of the north and south poles and an equilateral triangle on the equator. The computer-assisted proof required breaking up the configurations space into many small pieces and carrying out delicate numerical estimates for the minimum possible energy in each piece. \nDaniel Eisenstein talked about dark energy and cosmic sound. He described how acoustic signals from plasma that were set free a short time after the big bang and traveling at 57 percent of the speed of light can be used as a particularly accurate ruler for accurately measuring distances between objects in the universe. \nJulia Hartman talked about basic invariants of fields. Fields are very basic objects of study in algebra; they consist of systems with operations of addition and multiplication that satisfy all the usual properties we are familiar with. Of central interest in mathematics is the study of solutions to polynomial equations in a given field. The case of linear equations is covered completely by linear algebra. The next case of a single quadratic equation in several variables is already very challenging. A basic invariant of the field\, the u-invariant is the largest number of variables for which one can find a quadratic equation with no non-zero solution in the field. Hartman described works from the last few years that have allowed the computation of u-invariants in many cases of interest. \n\n \n  \nTalks\nKeynote Address: Mina Aganagic\nUC Berkeley\nSimons Investigator in Physics \nString Duality and Mathematics\n \nSlides (PDF)\nThe relationship between mathematics and physics has a long history. Traditionally\, mathematics provides the language physicists use to describe nature. In turn\, physics brings mathematics to life\, by providing inspiration and interpretation. String theory is changing the nature of this relationship. Aganagic will try to explain why and give listeners a flavor of the emerging field. \nMina Aganagic applies insights from quantum physics to mathematical problems in geometry and topology. She made deep and influential conjectures in enumerative geometry\, knot theory and mirror symmetry using predictions from string theory and M-theory. \nLisa Manning\nSyracuse University\nSimons Investigator in Mathematical Modeling of Living Systems \nJamming in Biological Tissues\n \nSlides with videos (150MB PDF)\nSlides without videos (35MB PDF)\nBiological tissues are living materials\, with material properties that are important for their function. Recent experiments have shown that many tissues\, including some involved in embryonic development\, lung function\, wound healing\, and cancer progression\, are close to a liquid-to-solid\, or “jamming\,” transition\, similar to the one that occurs when oil and liquid are mixed to make mayonnaise. In mayonnaise and materials like it\, a disordered liquid-to-solid transition occurs when the packing density of oil droplets increases past a critical threshold. Over the past 20 years\, physicists and mathematicians have made progress in understanding the universal nature of this transition. However\, existing theories cannot explain observations of jamming transitions in confluent biological tissues\, where there are no gaps between cells and the packing density is always unity. Manning will discuss a theoretical and computational framework for predicting the material properties of such biological tissues\, and show that it predicts a novel type of critical rigidity transition\, which takes place at constant packing density and depends only on single cell properties\, such as cell stiffness. She will show that our a priori theoretical predictions with no fit parameters are precisely realized in cell cultures from human patients with asthma\, and she will discuss how we are applying these ideas to understand other processes\, such as embryonic development and cancer progression. \nLisa Manning started her research career in the physics of glasses\, i.e.\, how a disordered group of molecules or particles freezes into a rigid solid at a well-defined temperature. She then turned her attention to morphogenesis\, the process by which embryos transform from a spherical egg to a shape we recognize as an insect\, plant or mammal\, showing that aspects of this process could be modeled by surface tension in analogy with the description of immiscible liquids. Her most recent work uses ideas from the physics of glasses to describe the mobility of cells organized in sheets and applies to a broad class of biological tissues\, including embryos and cells from asthma patients. \nJulia Hartmann\nUniversity of Pennsylvania\nSimons Fellows in Mathematics \nGeometry and Algebra: From Local to Global\n \nSlides (PDF)\nArithmetic geometry views algebraic and arithmetic objects\, such as numbers\, in a geometric way. This interplay between number theory and algebraic geometry has been a source of inspiration in modern mathematics\, as it permits the study of number theoretic problems via geometric methods. Having led to the solution of a number of conjectures\, including Fermat’s Last Theorem\, it continues to give rise to deep and important problems in algebra. \nLocal-global principles are a central theme in this interplay of subjects\, and many important mathematical problems can be expressed in terms of such principles. Local-global principles in algebra (and other mathematical disciplines) are motivated by analogous geometric principles\, by which certain properties of spaces can be determined by considering whether or not they hold locally. The talk will explain these concepts and outline how patching methods can lead to new local-global principles. \nJulia Hartmann has been a professor at the University of Pennsylvania since 2014. Prior to that\, she was the head of a research group at RWTH Aachen University and a von Neumann Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study. \nHartmann’s research focuses on problems in algebra with relations to differential algebra and arithmetic geometry. The connecting theme of the questions she works on is the study of symmetries\, i.e.\, of actions of groups on various algebraic objects. In collaboration with David Harbater\, she developed the method of field patching. Among the most exciting applications of field patching are local-global principles for numerical invariants associated to fields. \nDan Boneh\nStanford University\nSimons Investigator in Theoretical Computer Science \nRecent Developments in Cryptography\n \nCryptography\, the science of secure communication\, has advanced considerably in the last fifteen years. With the introduction of tools\, such as bilinear maps\, multilinear maps and integer lattices\, applications that were previously out of reach became possible and sometimes even quite practical. This talk will survey some of these recent developments\, giving examples of constructions and proofs techniques\, and posing some open problems that are central to further progress. \nDan Boneh is an expert in cryptography and computer security. One of his main achievements is the development of pairing-based cryptography\, giving short digital signatures\, identity-based encryption and novel encryption systems. \nDaniel Eisenstein\nHarvard University\nSimons Investigator in Physics \nDark Energy and Cosmic Sound\n \nSlides (PDF)\nDaniel Eisenstein will discuss how the acoustic oscillations that propagate in the cosmic plasma during the first million years of the universe provide a robust method for measuring the cosmological distance scale. The distance that the sound can travel can be computed to high precision and creates a signature in the late-time clustering of galaxies that serves as a standard ruler. Maps from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) reveal this feature\, yielding accurate measurements of the expansion history of the universe. Eisenstein will describe the theory and practice of the acoustic oscillation method and highlight the latest cosmology results from SDSS. \nDaniel Eisenstein is a leading figure in modern cosmology. He is known for utilization of the baryon acoustic oscillations standard ruler for measuring the geometry of the universe\, which underpins several large\, upcoming ground and space missions. Eisenstein blends theory\, computation and data analysis seamlessly to push the boundaries of current-day research in cosmology. \nPaul Seidel\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology\nSimons Investigator in Mathematics \nSymplectic Topology Away from the Large Volume Limit\n \nSlides (PDF)\nSymplectic topology is unique within geometry\, in that the deeper structure of the spaces under consideration appears only after non-local “instanton corrections” have been taken into account. This is most readily apparent from a string theory motivation\, but it also has a direct impact on classical problems from Hamiltonian mechanics. In the theory\, the instanton corrections are set up as small perturbations\, which corresponds to thinking of the target space as having infinitely large size (the “large volume limit”). Mirror symmetry suggests that it would be interesting to keep the size finite. Attempting to do that has seemingly paradoxical consequences\, which one can sometimes get a handle on by changing the space involved. The talk will give an introduction to this problem\, based on simple examples\, and explain a little of what is known or expected. \nPaul Seidel has done major work in symplectic geometry\, in particular on questions inspired by mirror symmetry. His work is distinguished by an understanding of abstract algebraic structures\, such as derived categories\, in sufficiently concrete terms to allow one to derive specific geometric results. On the abstract side\, Seidel has made substantial advances toward understanding Kontsevich’s homological mirror symmetry conjecture and has proved several special cases of it. In joint papers with Smith\, Abouzaid and Maydanskiy\, he has investigated the symplectic geometry of Stein manifolds. In particular\, work with Abouzaid constructs infinitely many nonstandard symplectic structures on any Stein manifold of sufficiently high dimension. \nAndrea Alù\nThe University of Texas at Austin\nSimons Investigator in Physics \nBreaking Reciprocity and Time-reversal Symmetry with Metamaterials\n \nSlides (PDF)\nIn this talk\, Andrea Alù will discuss recent work focused on breaking reciprocity and time-reversal symmetry in metamaterial structures\, spanning acoustics\, radio waves\, nanophotonics and mechanics\, without relying on magnetic bias. Alù’s and his collaborators’ approaches are based on using suitably tailored mechanical motion\, spatio-temporal modulation and large nonlinearities in coupled resonator systems to realize unusual wave-matter interactions. Alù will discuss the theoretical framework and the modeling\, design and implementation of non-reciprocal devices that break Lorentz reciprocity and achieve electromagnetic isolation without using magnetic bias. He will also discuss the impact of these concepts on things ranging from basic science to integrated technology\, and how this platform may be at the basis of topological insulators for light\, sound and mechanical waves. \nAndrea Alù’s work on the manipulation of light in artificial materials and metamaterials has shown how clever designs may surpass what had previously been thought to be limitations on wave propagation in materials. He has developed new concepts for cloaking\, one-way propagation of waves in materials\, dramatic enhancement of nonlinearities in nanostructures and ultrathin optical devices based on metasurfaces and twisted metamaterials. \nRichard Schwartz\nBrown University\nSimons Fellows in Mathematics \nFive Points on a Sphere\n \nSlides (PDF)\nThomson’s problem\, going back to 1904\, asks how N points on the sphere are arranged so as to minimize the Coulomb potential\, i.e.\, the sum of the reciprocal distances taken over all pairs of points. A generalization involves using other power law potentials besides the Coulomb potential\, i.e.\, summing other powers of the distances over all pairs of points. The Coulomb potential corresponds to exponent -1. The case N = 5 has been notoriously intractable. Schwartz will sketch my computer-assisted but still rigorous proof that the triangular bi-pyramid is the potential-minimizing configuration with respect to all power laws with exponent in [-13\, 0) and the potential-maximizing configuration when the exponent is in (0\, 2). As Schwartz will explain\, these ranges of exponents are fairly sharp. \nRichard Schwartz was born in Los Angeles in 1966. In his youth\, he enjoyed video games and sports\, especially tennis. He got a B.S. in math from University of California\, Los Angeles in 1987 and a Ph.D. in math from Princeton University in 1991. He gave an invited talk at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2002. He is currently the Chancellor’s Professor of Mathematics at Brown University. He likes to study simply stated problems with a geometric flavor\, often with the aid of graphical user interfaces and other computer programs that he writes himself. Aside from his work in math\, he has written and illustrated a number of picture books\, including You Can Count on Monsters\, Really Big Numbers\, Gallery of the Infinite and Man Versus Dog.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/2016-mps-annual-meeting/
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161024T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161024T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160801T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181452Z
UID:351-1477328400-1477332900@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Curiosity’s Search for Ancient Habitable Environments at Gale Crater\, Mars
DESCRIPTION:The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover\, Curiosity\, touched down on the surface of Mars on August 5\, 2012. Curiosity was built to search for and explore habitable environments. The MSL science payload can assess ancient habitability through the detection of traces of water\, as well as a source of energy to fuel microbial metabolism\, and key elements such as carbon\, sulfur\, nitrogen\, and phosphorous. Within 8 months of landing\, the MSL Science Team was able to confirm full mission success\, based on the discovery of fine-grained sedimentary rocks\, inferred to represent the presence of an ancient lake\, which would have been suited to support a Martian biosphere. The environment likely had a minimum duration of hundreds to tens of thousands of years\, and recent discoveries from the past year suggest it could have been biologically viable. \nIn this lecture\, John Grotzinger will highlight the latest results from Curiosity and the value of robots in geologic exploration. \nGrotzinger is a geologist interested in the evolution of surficial environments on Earth and Mars. Field mapping studies are the starting point for more topical laboratory-based studies involving geochemical\, geologic\, and geochronological techniques. He is the past Project Scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory mission and also a member of the Mars Exploration Rover Science Team\, and of the HiRISE team on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Grotzinger is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Fletcher Jones Professor of Geological Sciences at Caltech.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/curiositys-search-for-ancient-habitable-environments-at-gale-crater-mars/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Origins of Life
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161026T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161026T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160928T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181255Z
UID:366-1477501200-1477505700@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Solar Convection
DESCRIPTION:Katepalli Sreenivasan will describe what is known about the convective phenomena in the sun using results from basic turbulence modeling\, numerical simulations\, as well as helioseismology. He will then focus on a few outstanding problems. \nDr. Sreenivasan is Executive Vice Provost for Engineering and Applied Sciences\, Dean of the Tandon School of Engineering\, the Eugene Kleiner Professor for Innovation in Mechanical Engineering (School of Engineering)\, and professor of physics (Faculty of Arts and Science) and mathematics (Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences) at New York University (NYU). Dr. Sreenivasan came to NYU from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (Trieste\, Italy) where he was director\, and the University of Maryland\, where he was distinguished university professor and professor of physics and engineering\, and director of the Institute for Physical Science and Technology. Dr. Sreenivasan is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering\, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Working closely with the senior leadership of NYU and NYU Abu Dhabi\, he plays a significant role in the planning and development of NYU as a Global Network University. An active researcher\, Dr. Sreenivasan’s research is in the areas of turbulence\, complex fluids\, cryogenic helium\, and nonlinear dynamics.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/solar-convection/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Math and its Applications
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161101T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161101T170000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T162149Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T162149Z
UID:12297-1478016000-1478019600@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar (Elad Talk)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-elad-talk/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161102T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161102T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160909T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181305Z
UID:360-1478106000-1478110500@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:How Immune Cells Help Wire the Brain: Implications for Autism and Psychiatric Illness
DESCRIPTION:In this lecture\, Dr. Beth Stevens will discuss recent work that implicates brain immune cells\, called microglia\, in sculpting of synaptic connections during development and their relevance to autism\, schizophrenia and other brain disorders. \nRecent research has revealed a key role for microglia and a group of immune-related molecules\, called complement\, in normal developmental synaptic pruning\, a process required to establish precise brain wiring. Emerging evidence from Stevens’ lab and others suggest aberrant regulation of this pruning pathway may contribute to synaptic and cognitive dysfunction in a host of brain disorders\, including schizophrenia. Studies also suggest that a person’s risk of schizophrenia is increased if he or she inherits specific variants in complement C4\, which plays a well-known role in the immune system but also helps sculpt developing synapses in the mouse visual system. \nTogether these findings may help explain known features of schizophrenia\, including reduced numbers of synapses in key cortical regions and an adolescent age of onset that corresponds with developmentally timed waves of synaptic pruning in these regions. Stevens will discuss this and ongoing work to understand the mechanisms by which complement and microglia prune specific synapses in the brain. A deeper understanding of how these immune mechanisms mediate synaptic pruning may provide novel insight into how to protect synapses in autism and other brain disorders. \nDr. Stevens is an assistant professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and a member of the Broad Institute. Her laboratory seeks to understand how neuron-glia communication facilitates the formation\, elimination and plasticity of synapses — the points of communication between neurons during both healthy development and disease states. Stevens is a recipient of several young investigator awards\, including the Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging; John Merck Scholar Program; Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; and a MacArthur Fellowship.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/how-immune-cells-help-wire-the-brain-implications-for-autism-and-psychiatric-illness/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Autism: Emerging Concepts
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161109T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161109T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160913T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181315Z
UID:362-1478710800-1478715300@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Randomness
DESCRIPTION:Is the universe inherently deterministic or probabilistic? Perhaps more importantly — can we tell the difference between the two? \nHumanity has pondered the meaning and utility of randomness for millennia. There is a remarkable variety of ways in which we utilize perfect coin tosses to our advantage: in statistics\, cryptography\, game theory\, algorithms\, gambling and more. Indeed\, randomness seems indispensable! Which of these applications survive if the universe had no randomness in it at all? Which of them survive if only poor quality randomness is available\, e.g. that arises from “unpredictable” phenomena like the weather or the stock market? \nA computational theory of randomness\, developed in the past three decades\, reveals (perhaps counterintuitively) that very little is lost in such deterministic or weakly random worlds. In this talk\, Dr. Wigderson will explain the main ideas and results of this theory. \nDr. Wigderson has been a professor in the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study since 1999. There\, he leads the Institute’s Computer Science and Discrete Math Program and works in the theory of computation\, a field which studies the mathematical foundations of computer science. He is interested in algorithms\, Boolean and arithmetic circuit complexity\, communication and proof complexity\, cryptography\, randomness\, as well as the interactions of the field with other sciences including mathematics\, physics\, biology and economics. \nSign up here.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/randomness/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Math and its Applications
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20161114
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20161118
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T171148Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T171148Z
UID:12304-1479081600-1479427199@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Galaxy Formation Collaboration Meeting
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/galaxy-formation-collaboration-meeting/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161116T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161116T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20161014T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181324Z
UID:367-1479315600-1479320100@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Nanotechnology for Massively-Parallel\, Multi-Physical Interrogation of Brain Activity
DESCRIPTION:Although our understanding of the properties of individual neurons and their role in brain computations has advanced significantly over the past several decades\, we are still far from elucidating how complex assemblies of neurons — that is\, brain circuits — interact to process information. In 2011\, six U.S. scientists from different disciplines banded together\, outlined a vision [1]\, and convinced the Obama administration of the unprecedented opportunity that exists to launch a coordinated\, large-scale international effort to map brain activity. This culminated in the U.S. BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies)\, which was launched in 2013. Their perspective was predicated\, in part\, on the current level of maturity of diverse fields of nanotechnology and silicon very-large-scale integration (VLSI)\, which can now be coalesced to create unprecedented tools for massively-parallel interrogation of brain activity. \nIn this lecture\, Michael Roukes will outline the immense complexity of such pursuits and the hopes that were originally articulated and survey the existing technological landscape to assemble the requisite instrumentation. Focus will then turn to ongoing collaborative efforts toward new tools for massively multiplexed\, multi-physical interrogation of brain activity. Opportunities for realizing this vision within the new field termed integrated neurophotonics will be described; it leverages advances in integrated nanophotonics\, optogenetic reporters and effectors for neural recording and stimulation\, and recent developments in implantable\, multi-site neural nanoprobes based on silicon VLSI. \nRoukes is the Robert M. Abbey Professor of Physics\, Applied Physics\, and Bioengineering at the California Institute of Technology. His scientific interests range from quantum measurement to applied biotechnology — with a unifying theme of the development\, very-large-scale integration\, and application of complex nanosystems to precision measurements in physics\, the life sciences\, and medicine. Roukes was the founding Director of Caltech’s Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) from 2003-2006. In 2007\, he co-founded the Alliance for Nanosystems VLSI (very-large-scale integration) with scientists and engineers at CEA/LETI in Grenoble\, which maintains a billion-dollar-scale microelectronics research foundry (chip factory). He then continued as co-director of Caltech’s KNI from 2008 until 2013. Since then he has returned to full-time pursuit of research efforts with his group and collaborators worldwide. Concurrent with his Caltech appointment\, he has held a Chaire d’Excellence in nanoscience in Grenoble\, France since 2008. Among his honors\, Roukes is a Fellow of the American Physical Society\, a recipient of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award\, and has been awarded Chevalier (Knight) dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the Republic of France. \n[1] Alivisatos A.P.\, Chun M.\, Church G.M.\, Greenspan R.J.\, Roukes M.L.\, Yuste R.\, The Brain Activity Map project and the challenge of functional connectomics. Neuron 74\, 970-4 (2012).
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/nanotechnology-for-massively-parallel-multi-physical-interrogation-of-brain-activity/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Brain and Cognitive Science
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161117T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161117T150000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T162226Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T162226Z
UID:12309-1479391200-1479394800@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar (Evan Schneider Talk)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-evan-schneider-talk/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161121T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161121T170000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170803T161653Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170803T161653Z
UID:12310-1479744000-1479747600@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:CCA Seminar (Adam Showman)
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/cca-seminar-adam-showman/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161130T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161130T130000
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20170802T210206Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170802T210206Z
UID:12148-1480503600-1480510800@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:Stars Group Meeting
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/stars-group-meeting/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20161130T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20161130T181500
DTSTAMP:20260404T060741
CREATED:20160801T040000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20211208T181335Z
UID:353-1480525200-1480529700@www.simonsfoundation.org
SUMMARY:From Covert Consciousness to Human Rights: Neuroethics and the Neuroscience of Disorders of Consciousness
DESCRIPTION:In this lecture\, Dr. Joseph J. Fins will address how progress in the neurosciences (neuroimaging and neuroprosthetics) has revolutionized our understanding of disorders of consciousness and opened up the possibility of restoring functional communication for these patients. A worthy scientific pursuit\, he will argue that catalyzing a re-emergent voice from covert consciousness is a moral imperative\, which can help reintegrate patients into the nexus of home and community. As such\, this effort is a civil rights issue for a population long marginalized. But for rights to come to mind\, patients will need greater access to medical care\, research and commitment from the neuroscience community.
URL:https://www.simonsfoundation.org/event/from-covert-consciousness-to-human-rights-neuroethics-and-the-neuroscience-of-disorders-of-consciousness/
LOCATION:Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium\, 160 5th Avenue\, New York\, NY\, 10010\, United States
CATEGORIES:Brain and Cognitive Science
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://sf-web-assets-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/10180954/Fins_image.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR