Oct 12 2016
Published by
NYU Shanghai
On Wednesday, Professor of Computer Science Zhang Zheng jumpstarted this semester’s STEM seminar series, a new initiative to boost interdisciplinary exchanges at NYU Shanghai, with a talk on deep learning and artificial intelligence.
Raising the much-discussed AlphaGo as an example, Professor Zhang began by dispelling an array of myths about deep learning, from whether it is just a very deep monolithic feed-forwarding network to the wide gap between deep learning and AI.
Zhang said deep learning, a challenging field full of opportunities, is driven by the demand of real-world applications, such as computer vision and natural language processing. “It (deep learning) has already united many branches in computer science, because the idea to remove hand-designed features is liberating. One of the most exciting and less explored direction is to use it as a tool to understand the innerworking of brain,” he added.
Around 50 NYU Shanghai students and faculty members attended the inaugural seminar. In the coming months, another seven scientists will be sharing their cutting-edge research in physics, chemistry and neuroscience (see schedule below).
Initiated by NYU Shanghai’s new Chief Science Mentor Professor David McLaughlin, the seminar series aims to build a “home-like” community for faculty members in science, technology, engineering and mathematics where they can learn about and collaborate with each other.
“At a typical research university, often quite large, faculty’s departments are their homes. The fact that NYU Shanghai are organized around smaller-scale divisions is hard for faculty members to develop a home-like community,” said Professor McLaughlin, who, in his new role, will support the scholarly development of STEM at NYU Shanghai.
“Therefore, the best way to get to know other faculty members is by learning what research they are doing through regular gatherings, such as the weekly seminars,” he added.
NYU Shanghai STEM seminar series is a weekly seminar series on every Wednesday, starting from 12th October 2016.
2017 SPRING
Please see below schedule of STEM seminar series in 2017 Spring Semester.
- Feb. 8: NO SEMINAR
- Feb. 15: Li Li, Associate Professor of Neural Science and Psychology
Talk Title: Virtual Reality and Its Application in Scientific Research
- Feb. 22: Xiao-Jing Wang, Global Professor of Neural Science
Talk Title: From Microcircuits to the Global Brain of Cognition
- Mar. 1: Hanghui Chen, Assistant Professor of Physics
Talk Title: Emergent Phenomena in Oxide Heterostructures
- Mar. 8: Vladas Sidoravicius, Professor of Mathematics
Talk Title: Spatial Probability - a Brief Introduction
- Mar. 15: Keith Ross, Professor of Engineering and Computer Science
Talk Title: Reinforcement Learning: Where Machine Learning Meets Stochastic Processes
- Mar. 22: Olivier Marin, Associate Professor of Computer Science
Talk Title: On the Exploitation of the Honest Masses: Trustworthiness as a Scalable Service
- Mar. 29: Xinying Cai, Assistant Professor of Neural and Cognitive Sciences
Talk Title: Making Economic Choices: How Our Brain Decides
- Apr. 5: Spring Recess, NO SEMINAR
- Apr. 12: Jungseog Kong, Assistant Professor of Biology
Talk Title: Regulation of Chromosome Segregation and Its Exploitation on Phenotypic Cancer Drug Screen
- Apr. 19: Gang Fang, Assistant Professor of Biology
Talk Title: Integrated Network Analysis of Genomics Data
- Apr. 26: Pierre Michael Tarres, Visiting Professor of Mathematics
Talk Title: Self-interaction and Learning in Random Structures
- May 3: Jeff Erlich, Assistant Professor of Neural and Cognitive Sciences
Talk Title: Using Rodents to Understand Neural Mechanisms of Executive Function
- May 10: Laurent Mertz, Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics
Talk Title: Stochastic Variational Inequalities and Applications to Engineering Mechanics
- May 17: NO SEMINAR
2016 FALL
Please see below schedule of STEM seminar series in 2016 Fall Semester.
- 10/12: Zheng Zhang, Professor of Computer Science
Talk Title: Deep Learning and AI: Myth, Facts, Opportunities and Challenges
- 10/19: Sukbin Lim, Assistant Professor of Neural and Cognitive Sciences
Talk Title: How Does the Brain Work to Memorize - Network Models for Learning and Memory
- 10/26: Tim Byrnes, Assistant Professor of Physics
Talk Title: Quantum Technology: Overview and Using Bose-Einstein Condensates for Computing
- 11/2: NO SEMINAR
- 11/9: Jun Zhang, Professor of Physics and Mathematics
Talk Title: The Physics of Animal Swimming and Flight
- 11/16: William James Glover, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Talk Title: Chemistry by Fiat: Using Electrons as Reaction Coordinates
- 11/23: Day before Thanksgiving break NO SEMINAR
- 11/30: Xing Tian, Assistant Professor of Neural and Cognitive Sciences
Talk Title: Speech, Language and Imagination: Motor-to-Sensory Transformation as a Possible Common Computation Underlying Human Cognition
- 12/7: John Zhang, Professor of Chemistry
Talk Title: Protein Structure and Dynamics: From Force Field to Ab Initio
- 12/14: Pilkyung Moon, Assistant Professor of Physics
Talk Title: Moiré Pattern in Crystals and Hofstadter’s Fractal Butterfly
- 12/21: Last day of exams NO SEMINAR