EE Student Information

The Department of Electrical Engineering supports Black Lives Matter. Read more.

• • • • •

EE Student Information, Spring Quarter through Academic Year 2020-2021: FAQs and Updated EE Course List.

Updates will be posted on this page, as well as emailed to the EE student mail list.

As always, use your best judgement and consider your own and others' well-being at all times.

Statistics Department Seminar presents "Berry–Esseen bounds for Chernoff-type nonstandard asymptotics in isotonic regression"

Topic:
Berry–Esseen bounds for Chernoff-type nonstandard asymptotics in isotonic regression
Abstract / Description:

A Chernoff-type distribution is a non-normal distribution defined by the slope at zero of the greatest convex minorant of a two-sided Brownian motion with a polynomial drift. While a Chernoff-type distribution appears as the distributional limit in many nonregular estimation problems, the accuracy of Chernoff-type approximations has been largely unknown. In this talk, I will discuss Berry–Esseen bounds for Chernoff-type limit distributions in the canonical nonregular statistical estimation problem of isotonic (or monotone) regression. The derived Berry–Esseen bounds match those of the oracle local average estimator with optimal bandwidth in each scenario of possibly different Chernoff-type asymptotics, up to multiplicative logarithmic factors. Our method of proof differs from standard techniques on Berry–Esseen bounds, and relies on new localization techniques in isotonic regression and an anti-concentration inequality for the supremum of a Brownian motion with a Lipschitz drift.

This talk is based on joint work with Qiyang Han.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 4:30pm

Probability Seminar presents "Non-stationary fluctuations for some non-integrable models"

Topic:
Non-stationary fluctuations for some non-integrable models
Abstract / Description:

The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation is a conjecturally universal model for dynamics of fluctuating interfaces such as fires and epidemic fronts. The universality was originally justified by Kardar, Parisi, and Zhang via non-rigorous renormalization group calculations. In this talk, we introduce some mathematically rigorous results and take a step towards this universality in the context of some non-integrable interacting particle systems outside their respective invariant measures.

Date and Time:
Monday, November 16, 2020 - 4:00pm

Probability Seminar welcomes Allan Sly

Topic:
TBA
Abstract / Description:

TBA

Date and Time:
Monday, November 2, 2020 - 4:00pm

EE 185: Interactive Light Sculpture Project

Topic:
Fractal Flyer Functionality!
Abstract / Description:

In 2019 the Stanford Electrical Engineering Department celebrated its 125th anniversary. As part of celebration, we will be designing, engineering and installing an interactive light sculpture in the 3-story glass stairwell of the Packard building, named FLIGHT. FLIGHT consists of 76 Fractal Flyers, bird-like shapes inspired by the geometry of the stairwell that move. The wings of the Fractal Flyers are dichroic acrylic, so that during the day their color shifts and changes with the angle of light. At night, they light up with patterns across their bodies and wings. The sculpture will remain in Packard for 3-5 years, allowing refinement, exploration of new engineering ideas, and new interactions.

Date and Time:
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, October 27, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, November 3, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 - 8:00pm
Tuesday, November 17, 2020 - 8:00pm

SCIEN and EE292E present "Transforming hearing aids into multisensory perceptual augmentation and health monitoring devices"

Topic:
Transforming hearing aids into multisensory perceptual augmentation and health monitoring devices
Abstract / Description:

With over 466 million people suffering from disabling hearing loss globally according to the World Health Organization, and the number expected to rise to 900 million people by 2050, hearing aids are crucially important medical wearable devices. Untreated hearing loss has been linked to increased risks of social isolation, depression, dementia, fall injuries, and other health issues. In this talk, we will present a new class of in-ear devices with embedded sensors and artificial intelligence, which are shaped to fit an individual with 3D-imaging of the ear geometry. In addition to providing frequency-dependent amplification of sound to compensate for hearing loss, these devices serve as a continuous monitor for important physiological parameters, an automatic fall detection and alert system, as well as a personal assistant with connectivity to the cloud. Furthermore, Bluetooth-paired with a vision aid, these devices present exciting possibilities for multisensory perceptual augmentation of hearing, balance, vision, and memory, helping people live better and more productive lives.

Date and Time:
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 - 4:30pm

Q-FARM presents "Fast Optimization of Photonic Circuits for Automated Device Design"

Topic:
Fast Optimization of Photonic Circuits for Automated Device Design
Abstract / Description:

Photonic circuits are a promising platform for quantum computation and quantum communication: they don't require low temperatures or vacuum to operate and they can be built on a small chip. It would be wonderful to be able to design photonic circuits for any desired purpose, however in general this is a difficult task which we would much rather automate. In this talk I will present a new method to optimize photonic circuits (through differentiable simulation), which is about 100x faster than the previous state of the art. This allows us to automate the design of photonic devices, by starting with a random circuit and optimizing it until it achieves the desired behaviour. The added speed of our method allows us to design larger circuits and to achieve a much higher accuracy than it was previously possible. The talk is designed to be accessible to non-experts and will cover the basics of quantum optics, optical gates, photonic circuits and differentiable simulation.

Date and Time:
Wednesday, September 30, 2020 - 12:00pm
Venue:
Zoom ID: 987 676 025; +password

EE Town Hall - call for Q&A question submission

Topic:
EE Community Town Hall
Abstract / Description:

Dear EE Community,

We would like to welcome everyone to Autumn Quarter 20-21! There have been many changes due to the pandemic and you all have done a great job with adapting to these new and remote conditions. To welcome everyone to the new academic year, please join us for an EE Town Hall Meeting.

We would like to connect with everyone, see how everyone's feeling, welcome any comments, and answer any questions you may have regarding what's going on in our community for this autumn quarter.

We hope you can make it!

Please RSVP by 9am on Friday, October 2 note: please submit up to 3 questions on the RSVP form. You can also ask questions during the meeting using the chat function.

Date and Time:
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 - 4:00pm
Venue:
Zoom ID: 939 3674 7451; +passcode

Student / Faculty Roundtable Discussion

Topic:
Lunch and AMA conversation
Abstract / Description:

These informal & informational lunches consist of several students and faculty. There is no set agenda during the discussion and it is completely informal. Students are encouraged to share their experience within the department, research, their plans, and feedback.

Registration is required.

Sign up as soon as you can because the roundtable discussion session is very popular and fills up quickly! Space is limited; you will receive a confirmation email if you are confirmed to attend. Please contact Tiffany, Student Life Coordinator if you have any questions, tdtran@stanford.edu. Thank you!

The student/faculty roundtable discussions are organized by the Student Life Committee.

Date and Time:
Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 12:00pm
Venue:
Zoom

Probability Seminar presents "Fast and memory-optimal dimension reduction using Kac's walk"

Topic:
Fast and memory-optimal dimension reduction using Kac's walk
Abstract / Description:

Introduced in the 1950s by Mark Kac as a toy model for a one-dimensional Boltzmann gas, the Kac walk is the following simple and well-studied Markov chain on the special orthogonal group: at every time step, sample two distinct uniform coordinates $i,j$ and a uniform angle $\theta$, and rotate in the $(i,j)$-plane by $\theta$. In this talk, I will discuss how the Kac walk can be used for the purpose of dimensionality reduction, specifically, for the design of linear transformations with optimal Johnson–Lindenstrauss and Restricted Isometry properties, and which support memory-optimal fast matrix-vector multiplication. I will also discuss the performance of a variant of the Kac walk, for which $\theta = \pi/4$ at every time step

This is joint work with Natesh S. Pillai (Harvard), Ashwin Sah (MIT), Mehtaab Sawhney (MIT), and Aaron Smith (U Ottawa).

Date and Time:
Monday, October 26, 2020 - 4:00pm
Venue:
Zoom

Probability Seminar presents "Replica symmetry breaking for random regular NAE-SAT"

Topic:
Replica symmetry breaking for random regular NAE-SAT
Abstract / Description:

In a wide class of random constraint satisfaction problems, ideas from statistical physics predict that there is a rich set of phase transitions governed by one-step replica symmetry breaking (1RSB). In particular, it is conjectured that there is a condensation regime below the satisfiability threshold, where the solution space condenses into large clusters. We establish this phenomenon for the random regular NAE-SAT model by showing that most of the solutions lie in a bounded number of clusters and the overlap of two independent solutions concentrates on two points. Central to the proof is to calculate the moments of the number of clusters whose size is in an O(1) window.

This is joint work with Danny Nam and Allan Sly.

Date and Time:
Monday, October 19, 2020 - 4:00pm
Venue:
Zoom