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  • Linearization Techniques for Push-Pull Amplifiers

    University of Toronto, Bahen Centre, Room BA1230

    Thursday January 28, 2016 at 11:10 a.m. Dr. Rinaldo Castello, IEEE Fellow, will be presenting “Linearization Techniques for Push-Pull Amplifiers”. Speaker: Dr. Rinaldo Castello IEEE Fellow University of Pavia, Italy Day & Time: Thursday, January 28, 2016 11:10 a.m. Location: University of Toronto, Bahen Centre, Room BA1230 Organizer: Solid-State Circuits Society Contact: Dustin Dunwell Abstract: Amplifiers that need to drive heavy loads (low resistances and/or large capacitances) or to handle high current signals with good efficiency generally use a push-pull output stage. This intrinsically creates large open-loop distortion components that need to be compressed through feedback to insure high closed-loop linearity. Minimizing close loop residual distortion involves three steps that will be discussed. First, eliminate all open-loop source of distortion not intrinsic to the proper operation of the push pull structure. Second, choose the amplifier topology that gives the maximum close loop compression of the open-loop distortion components for a given bandwidth. Third, maximize the open-loop gain in the signal band and/or the unity gain bandwidth of the amplifier for a given topology while insuring stability in the presence of variable loads. Biography: Rinaldo Castello (S’78–M’78–SM’92–F’99) graduated from the University of Genova (summa cum laude) in 1977 and received the M.S. and the Ph. D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in ‘81 and ‘84. From ‘83 to ‘85 he was Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1987 he joined the University of Pavia where he is now a Full Professor. He consulted for ST-Microelectronics, Milan, Italy up to 2005 in ‘98 he started a joint research centre between the University of Pavia and ST and was its Scientific Director up to ‘05. He promoted the establishing of several design centre from multinational IC companies in the Pavia area among them Marvell for which he has been consulting from 2005. Rinaldo Castello has been a member of the TPC of the European Solid State Circuit Conference (ESSCIRC) since 1987 and of the International Solid State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) from ‘92 to ‘04. He was Technical Chairman of ESSCIRC ’91 and General Chairman of ESSCIRC ‘02, Associate Editor for Europe of the IEEE J. of Solid-State Circ. from ’94 to ’96 and Guest Editor of the July ’92 special issue. From 2000 to 2007 he has been Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Solid State Circuit Society. Prof Castello was named one of the outstanding contributors for the first 50 and 60 years of ISSCC and a co-recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at the 2005 Symposium on VLSI of the Best Invited Paper Award at the 2011 CICC and of the Best Evening Panel Award at ISSCC 2012. He was one of the two European representatives at the Plenary Distinguished Panel of ISSCC 2013 and the Summer 2014 Issue of the IEEE Solid State Circuit Magazine was devoted to him. Rinaldo Castello is a Fellow of the IEEE.

  • The Art of Successful Presentation

    Thursday January 28th, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Alex. Ferworn, Associate Chair and Graduate Programs Director at Ryerson University, will be presenting “The Art of Successful Presentation”. Speaker: Dr. Alex Ferworn Associate Chair and Graduate Programs Director, Ryerson University Director, Program in Disaster and Emergency Management Day & Time: Thursday, January 28, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 1Z4 Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour Abstract: The fear of needles (trypanophobia) is the 20th most prevalent phobia. The fear of public speaking (glossophobia) is ranked at 13th. Does this mean that some people would rather be stuck with needles than make a public presentation? Based on the experience of Prof. Ferworn, this may be true. Some fear of making a presentation can be mitigated by knowing what to do. In this presentation, Prof. Ferworn will discuss how to make a successful presentation by providing simple guidelines so that no one must stick themselves with needles in order to feel better about talking publicly. Biography: Prof. Ferworn received his PhD in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, his MSc in Computing and Information Science from the University of Guelph and his B.Tech in Applied Computer Science from Ryerson University, where he is a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science, Associate Chair and Graduate Programs Director. He is also Director of a number of Certificate programs including the Program in Disaster and Emergency Management. Ferworn is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Computing and Software, Faculty of Engineering at McMaster University. Prof. Ferworn has been collaborating with the USAR and CBRNe Response Team (UCRT) of the Ontario Provincial Police since 2005. He has worked extensively with USAR teams in Canada and the United States on a broad range of technology issues related to Computational Public Safety. He does not own a dog.

  • Imaging Tissue and Treating Cancer with Microwaves

    Sandford Fleming Building, 10 King’s College Rd Room, SF1105

    Thursday January 28, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Professor Susan Hagness, University of Wisconsin-Madison, will be presenting “Imaging Tissue and Treating Cancer with Microwaves”. Speaker: Professor Susan Hagness University of Wisconsin-Madison Day & Time: Thursday, January 28, 2016 3:00 p.m. Location: Sandford Fleming Building, 10 King’s College Rd Room SF1105 Organizer: IEEE Toronto Electromagnetics and Radiation Chapter Contact: Costas D. Sarris Abstract: The endogenous (and possibly exogenously influenced) dielectric properties of tissue at microwave frequencies vary across different tissue types and physiological states. These properties may be exploited to differentiate tissues via low-power microwave imaging and to selectively heat diseased tissue at higher power levels. This presentation will highlight recent theoretical and experimental advances in low-cost microwave theranostics – that is, diagnostic and therapeutic microwave-based technologies – with an emphasis on breast imaging and targeted cancer treatment. On the diagnostic side, 3-D quantitative microwave imaging technology has the potential to address several important clinical needs in breast imaging, including evaluating breast density as part of a patient’s individualized risk assessment, screening women who are at higher risk for cancer, and monitoring changes in breast tissue in response to prevention and treatment protocols. On the therapeutic side, minimally invasive microwave ablation using miniaturized antennas as interstitial heating probes is emerging as a less invasive alternative to surgical resection and more effective and versatile alternative to conventional thermoablative techniques for the treatment of primary tumors. Biography: Susan C. Hagness received the B.S. degree with highest honors and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Northwestern University in 1993 and 1998, respectively. Since 1998, she has been with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she currently holds the title of Philip D. Reed Professor and serves as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Affairs in the College of Engineering. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Department of Biomedical Engineering and a member of the UW Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Hagness was the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) presented by the U.S. White House in 2000. In 2002, she was named one of the 100 top young innovators in science and engineering in the world by the MIT Technology Review magazine. She is also the recipient of the UW-Madison Emil Steiger Distinguished Teaching Award (2003), the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Early Career Achievement Award (2004), the URSI Isaac Koga Gold Medal (2005), the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Outstanding Paper Award (2007), the IEEE Education Society Mac E. Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award (2007), the UW System Alliant Energy Underkofler Excellence in Teaching Award (2009), the Physics in Medicine and Biology Citations Prize (2011), the UW-Madison Kellett Mid- Career Award (2011), and the UW-Madison College of Engineering Benjamin Smith Reynolds Award for Excellence in Teaching Engineers (2014). She was elected Fellow of the IEEE in 2009. She has held numerous leadership positions within the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) and the United States National Committee (USNC) of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI). She was the Technical Program Chair of the 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC/URSI National Radio Science Meeting in Chicago, IL, and most recently completed a term as Chair of the IEEE AP-S Fellows Evaluation Committee.

  • IBM Internet of Things Point of View and Strategy

    Room VIC608, Victoria Building, Ryerson University, 285 Victoria Street, Toronto

    Thursday January 28, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. Jim Caldwell, Director of IBM Internet of Things, Continuous Engineering Solutions Development, will be presenting “IBM Internet of Things Point of View and Strategy”. Speaker: Jim Caldwell Director, IBM Internet of Things, Continuous Engineering Solutions Development Day & Time: Thursday, January 28, 2016 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Location: Room VIC608 Victoria Building, Ryerson University 285 Victoria Street, Toronto Map: http://www.ryerson.ca/maps Contact: d.cecic@ieee.org Abstract: The Internet of Things is predicted to have an economic impact of more than $11 Trillion per year by 2025. It has become a focus of discussion by technologists, the business press and the general public. Clearly something is happening but what? And what should businesses and institutions do about it? This presentation will survey the topic from IBM’s perspective. We will discuss what the Internet of Things is. We will also discuss IBM’s point of view and strategy, some examples of offerings and client engagements. Finally, we will conclude with some key questions and research challenges. Biography: As Director, IBM Internet of Things, Continuous Engineering Solutions Development, Mr. Caldwell is responsible for the development of a set of software tools and solutions used in the design and development of “things”. This includes motor vehicles, aircraft and electronic devices. He is also a member of the leadership team for IBM’s Collaborative Lifecycle Management toolset used in the design and development of large software systems industry wide. Previously, as Director of Software Group (SWG) Technical Strategy, Mr. Caldwell was responsible for working across SWG to continually update and communicate the SWG technical strategy. This included working with SWG divisional leaders (technical and business) on key elements of strategy and cross IBM initiatives. It also included selection, development and delivery of incubator programs and joint programs with IBM research. Prior to that, Mr. Caldwell served as Director of WebSphere Application Infrastructure Product Management where he was responsible for business management of the infrastructure portion of IBM’s WebSphere portfolio of e-business products. This included WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Commerce Server, WebSphere Voice Server and Embedded ViaVoice. He drove business decisions across all disciplines within these groups including development, services, business development, and marketing. In his more than 25 years at IBM, Mr. Caldwell has held technical, managerial and executive roles in IBM’s software businesses including Director, WebSphere Commerce Development in which he helped grow IBM’s Commerce offering from an incubator activity to the market leader. Mr. Caldwell is a Mathematics graduate from the University of Waterloo and is currently based in IBM’s Toronto Software Laboratory.

  • Agile Methodologies in the Enterprise

    Room LG04, Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 1Z4

    Thursday February 4th, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Salah Sharieh, Senior Technical Innovator, will be presenting “Agile Methodologies in the Enterprise”. Speaker: Salah Sharieh Senior Technical Innovator Doctor of Philosophy, McMaster University Day & Time: Thursday, February 4, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 1Z4 Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour Abstract: The only constant is change and technology is changing very fast. To build an enterprise software is inherently complex and lengthy with a need for flexibility to adjust to the changing needs of customers and market conditions. Agile methodologies are often presented as the solution for these problems. Adopting a new concept often proves harder than it seems at first but having the right people with the right tools to support the change can make it easier. Introducing Agile into large organization has advantages and disadvantages such as accelerating delivery and shortening the feedback cycle. On the other hand, these types of methodologies have higher dependency on people skills rather than processes which makes it harder to achieve the desired value. After further analysis, it appears that only some parts of agile methodologies work well. In this topic, we will talk about the challenges that CIOs face with adapting agile methods and what can be done to increase the likely hood of useful adoption and implementation in large organizations. In addition, we will talk about vendors’ role in agile projects and how they might contribute to the failure or the success of a project. Finally, we will compare and contrast Agile with iterative approaches. Biography: Dr. Salah Sharieh is a Senior Technical Innovator with extensive experience in business and technology. He has developed his business savvy through working with Fortune 500 companies. Salah also holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from McMaster University. He has more than twenty peer reviewed publications and has contributed to several books. He also is a technical reviewer for several journals and conferences and is a member of the CIO association of Canada. Recently Salah led the National Occupation Standards for Cyber Security. In the last 20 years, Salah Sharieh founded several companies, some of which were later acquired by larger organizations. He has delivered high profile solutions and provided vision and leadership to several industries including financial, telecommunication, manufacturing, and the public sector. Under Salah’s leadership, start-up companies evolved from concept to companies providing products and solutions for businesses across Canada, the United States, and Europe.

  • Semi-automated Genome Annotation and an Expanded Epigenetic Alphabet

    Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre, Ryerson University, Toronto

    Thursday February 11th, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Michael Hoffman, Principal Investigator at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, will be presenting “Semi-automated genome annotation and an expanded epigenetic alphabet”. Speaker: Michael Hoffman Principal Investigator at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto Day & Time: Thursday, February 11, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre Ryerson University, Toronto, M5B 1Z4 Please check before the seminar Contact: llivi@scs.ryerson.ca Abstract: First, we will discuss Segway, an integrative method to identify patterns from multiple functional genomics experiments, discovering joint patterns across different assay types. We apply Segway to ENCODE ChIP-seq andDNase-seq data and identify patterns associated with transcription start sites, gene ends, enhancers, CTCF elements, and repressed regions. Segway yields a model which elucidates the relationship between assay observations and functional elements in the genome. Second, we will discuss a new method to discover transcription factor motifs and identify transcription factor binding sites in DNA with covalent modifications such as methylation. Just as transcription factors distinguish one standard nucleobase from another, they also distinguish unmodified and modified bases. To represent the modified bases in a sequence, we replace cytosine (C) with symbols for 5-methylcytosine (5mC), 5-hydroxylmethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC). Similarly, we adapted the well-established position weight matrix model of transcription factor binding affinity to an expanded alphabet. We created an expanded-alphabet genome sequence using genome-wide maps of 5mC, 5hmC, and 5fC in mouse embryonic stem cells. Using this sequence and expanded-alphabet position weight matrixes, we reproduced various known methylation binding preferences, including the preference of ZFP57 and C/EBPβ for methylated motifs and the preference of c-Myc for unmethylated motifs. Using these known binding preferences to tune model parameters enables discovery of novel modified motifs. Biography: Michael Hoffman is a principal investigator at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Computer Science, University of Toronto. He researches the application of machine learning techniques to epigenomic data. He previously led the National Institutes of Health ENCODE Project’s large-scale integration task group while at the University of Washington. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he conducted computational genomics studies at the European Bioinformatics Institute. He also has a B.S. in Biochemistry and a B.A. in the Plan II Honors Program at The University of Texas at Austin. He was named a Genome Technology Young Investigator and has received several awards for his academic work, including a NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award.

  • Systematic Design of Analog Circuits Using Pre-Computed Lookup Tables

    BA1210, University of Toronto

    Friday February 26th, 2016 at 11:10 a.m. Dr. Boris Murmann, Associate Professor at Stanford University, will be presenting “Systematic Design of Analog Circuits Using Pre-Computed Lookup Tables”. Speaker: Dr. Boris Murmann Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Stanford University IEEE Fellow, and Program Vice-Chair at ISSCC 2016 Day & Time: Friday, February 26th, 2016 11:10 a.m. – 12:40 p.m. Location: BA1210, Bahen Centre for Information Technology, University of Toronto 40 St George St, Toronto, ON M5S 2E4 Contact: Dustin Dunwell Abstract: The majority of textbook material on analog circuit design is based on the square-law model for MOS transistors. While this model remains useful for teaching, it has become too inaccurate for design in nanoscale CMOS. In circuit simulators, this problem has been solved using complex models equations with hundreds of parameters. Since these descriptions are impractical for manual use, designers tend to shy away from hand-analysis-based optimization and resort to a design style built on iterative and time-consuming “tweaking” in a simulator. This tutorial presents a systematic design methodology that bridges the gap between simulation, hand analysis and script-based optimization. The approach hinges upon Spice-generated look-up tables containing the transistor’s equivalent model parameters (gm, gds, etc.) across a multi-dimensional sweep of the terminal voltages. We interpret and organize these data based on the transistor’s inversion level, employing gm/ID as a proxy and key parameter for design. This width-independent metric captures a device’s efficiency in translating bias current to transconductance and spans nearly the same range in all modern CMOS processes (~3…30 S/A). When combined with other width-independent figures of merit (gm/Cgg, gm/gds, etc.) thinking in terms of gm/ID (rather than gate overdrive) allows us to study the tradeoffs between bandwidth, noise, distortion and power dissipation in a normalized space. The final bias currents and device sizes follow from a straightforward denormalization step using the current density ID/W. Since this entire flow is driven by Spice-generated data, we maintain close agreement between the desired specs and the circuit’s simulated performance. We will detail the inner workings of this approach, and showcase its capabilities using a variety of practical examples. Biography: Boris Murmann joined Stanford University in 2004, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 2003. From 1994 to 1997, he was with Neutron Microelectronics, Germany, where he developed low-power and smart-power ASICs in automotive CMOS technology. Dr. Murmann’s research interests are in the area of mixed-signal integrated circuit design, with special emphasis on data converters and sensor interfaces. In 2008, he was a co-recipient of the Best Student Paper Award at the VLSI Circuits Symposium in 2008 and a recipient of the Best Invited Paper Award at the IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC). He received the Agilent Early Career Professor Award in 2009 and the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award in 2012. He has served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits and as the Data Converter Subcommittee Chair of the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). He currently serves as the program vice-chair for the ISSCC 2016. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.

  • Photonics for Microwave Systems and Ultra-Wideband Signal Processing

    GB 120, University of Toronto

    Monday February 29th, 2016 at 3:10 p.m. Professor Willie Ng, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, will be presenting “Photonics for Microwave Systems and Ultra-Wideband Signal Processing”. Speaker: Professor Willie Ng Dept. of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California IEEE Fellow Day & Time: Monday, February 29th, 2016 3:10 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Location: GB 120, Galbraith Building, University of Toronto 35 St George St, Toronto, ON M5S 1A4 **Refreshments will be served** Contact: Junho Jeong Abstract: This seminar will describe the development and application of photonics technology in microwave antenna systems and ultra-wideband signal processing. It will cover our recent work on the characterization of high frequency modulators and mode-locked lasers, photonic-assisted analog-to-digital conversion, as well as RF-photonic filtering. The seminar will also describe how the broadband capabilities of photonics and wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) technologies can be utilized for high dynamic range antenna remoting and true-time-delay beamforming that cover multiple microwave bands. Biography: Dr. Willie W. Ng is currently a Research Professor ofl Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC). Prior to joining USC in 2013, he spent close to three decades at HRL Laboratories, Malibu, CA, where he was a Principal Research Scientist, Program Manager and Department Manager. Under DARPA and U.S. Air Force sponsorships, he led HRL teams that demonstrated a variety of photonic devices/subsystems designed for microwave antenna systems and ultra-wideband signal processing, including RF-photonic filtering and photonics-assisted analog-to-digital conversion. He has given many invited talks in IEEE/OSA Conferences and DARPA Symposiums, and is the author and co-author of over 100 journal articles and conference papers. He holds 26 U.S. patents in the area of photonics technology, with many pending. Cited for pioneering contributions to microwave photonics, he was one of six individuals selected to receive the Excellence in Technology Award in 2005 from the Raytheon Company. Prior to HRL, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at the Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, Calif., where he developed GaInAsP/InP buried heterostructure lasers and power converters. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio), and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, Calif.) under the guidance of Prof. A. Yariv. His thesis work was on the demonstration of GaAlAs/GaAs Distributed Bragg Reflector lasers and Bragg waveguides. He is a fellow of the IEEE, and serves on the 2013-2015 CLEO (Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics) Technical Committee.

  • Convexity, Sparsity, Nullity and all that… in Data Analysis

    Room VIC300, Ryerson University, 285 Victoria St, Toronto

    Monday March 7th, 2016 at 3:00 p.m. Prof. Hamid Krim, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering of North Carolina State University, will be presenting a distinguished lecture, “Convexity, Sparsity, Nullity and all that… in Data Analysis”. Speaker: Prof. Hamid Krim Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC, US Day & Time: Monday, March 7th, 2016 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Location: Room VIC300, Ryerson University 285 Victoria St, Toronto Map: https://goo.gl/maps/EAvPDLGSqrt Contact: Mehrnaz Shokrollahi Abstract: High dimensional data exhibit distinct properties compared to its low dimensional counterpart; this causes a common performance decrease and a formidable computational cost increase of traditional approaches. Novel methodologies are therefore needed to characterize data in high dimensional spaces. Considering the parsimonious degrees of freedom of high dimensional data compared to its dimensionality, we study the union-of-subspaces (UoS) model, as a generalization of the linear subspace model. The UoS model preserves the simplicity of the linear subspace model, and enjoys the additional stability to address nonlinear data. We show a sufficient condition to use l1 minimization to reveal the underlying UoS structure, and further propose a bi-sparsity model (R0Sure) as an effective algorithm, to recover the given data characterized by the UoS model from errors/corruptions. As an interesting twist on the related problem of Dictionary Learning Problem, we discuss the sparse null space problem (SNS). Based on linear equality constraint, it first appeared in 1986 and has since inspired results, such as sparse basis pursuit, we investigate its relation to the analysis dictionary learning problem, and show that the SNS problem plays a central role, and may naturally be exploited to solve dictionary learning problems. Substantiating examples are provided, and the application and performance of these approaches are demonstrated on a wide range of problems, such as face clustering and video segmentation. Biography: Hamid Krim received his BSc., MSc. and PhD. in Electrical Engineering. He was a member of Technical staff at AT&T Bell Labs, where he has conducted R&D in the areas of telephony and digital communication systems/subsystems. Following an NSF post-doctoral fellowship at Foreign Centers of Excellence, LSS/University of Orsay, Paris, France. He later joined the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, MIT, Cambridge, MA as a Research Scientist, where he was performing and supervising research. He is presently Professor of Electrical Engineering in the ECE department, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, leading the Vision, Information and Statistical Signal Theories and Applications group. His research interests are in statistical signal and image analysis, and mathematical modelling, with a keen emphasis on applied problems in classification and recognition using geometric and topological tools. He is currently serving on the IEEE editorial board of SP, and the TCs of SPTM and Big Data Initiative, as well as an AE of the new IEEE Transactions on SP on Information Processing on Networks, and of the IEEE SP Magazine. He is also one of the 2015-2016 Distinguished Lecturers of the IEEE SP Society.

  • Software Development for Aerospace Activities

    Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre

    Thursday March 10th, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Elliott Coleshill, Professor at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, will be presenting “Software Development for Aerospace Activities”. Speaker: Dr. Elliott Coleshill, Professor Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology School of Information and Communications Technology Day & Time: Thursday, March 10th, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: Room LG04, George Vari Engineering and Computing Centre 245 Church Street, Ryerson University, M5B 2K3 Contact: Dr. Maryam Davoudpour Abstract: Due to the need for real-time operations, fault tolerance and reaction to internal/external sensory input, robotics and spacecraft systems contain some of the most sophisticated and complex software developed. These systems are required to operate in harsh environments, act autonomously and support human life in critical and non-critical situations. This presentation will walk through the life cycle of software system design for aerospace projects from design and development to verification, validation and real-time operations. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Dr. Coleshill will share stories about his experience working on the International Space Station and satellite systems to track marine ship traffic around the globe. Biography: Dr. Ellliott Coleshill has over 15 years of experience working in the Canadian space industry. Dr. Coleshill completed a PhD in 2010 and a Masters in 2003 from the University of Guleph, with research in image processing, machine vision and robotics. Prior to attending the University of Guelph, he graduated from the Ryerson Applied Computer Science program in 2000 with research in autonomous robotic control. Dr. Coleshill started his career in the space industry at MDA. From 2000 to 2004 he was part of a team that designed and developed the integration and test environment for the International Space Station Mobile Servicing System (Canadarm2/Dextre). In 2004 Dr. Coleshill transitioned into the Systems group where he worked as a software safety engineer, engineering support lead at the Canadian Space Agency during docked robotic operations on the International Space Station and several small research and development concept demonstrations. In August, 2005 Dr. Coleshill received a NASA Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award in recognition of his dedication, commitment and his achievements in support of NASA’s space program. From 2005 to 2007 Dr. Coleshill was the technical lead for designing and developing the concepts and system upgrades for Canadarm2 free flyer capture operations used today for SpaceX operations. In 2007, the Canadian Space Agency presented him with a Certificate of Distinction for his free flyer concept checkout procedures.

  • Silicon Photonic Microring Resonator-Based Transceivers for Compact WDM Optical Interconnects

    BA1210, Bahen Centre for Information Technology, University of Toronto

    Friday March 11th, 2016 at 4:10 p.m. Dr. Samuel Palermo, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University, will be presenting “Silicon Photonic Microring Resonator-Based Transceivers for Compact WDM Optical Interconnects”. Speaker: Dr. Samuel Palermo, Associate Professor Associate Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Texas A&M IEEE Member and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems Day & Time: Friday, March 11th, 2016 At 4:10 p.m., with social hour after the talk at Prenup Pub Refreshments will be served at the pub Location: BA1210, Bahen Centre for Information Technology, University of Toronto 40 St George St, Toronto, ON M5S 2E4 Contact: Dustin Dunwell Abstract: The rapid growth of I/O bandwidth in applications such as datacenters and supercomputers motivate the development of interconnect architectures that can dramatically scale bandwidth density in an energy-efficient manner. This talk examines the potential of silicon photonic microring resonator-based optical transceivers for compact wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) optical interconnects. An overview of the photonic devices typically found in a ring resonator optical interconnect platform is provided and the design of transceiver circuits which address key challenges related to the modulators and drop filters is described. The possibility of further improvements in bandwidth density via efficient implementations of >50Gb/s PAM4 modulation with the microring modulators is detailed. Biography: Samuel Palermo received the B.S. and M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station, TX in 1997 and 1999, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, Stanford, CA in 2007. From 1999 to 2000, he was with Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX, where he worked on the design of mixed-signal integrated circuits for high-speed serial data communication. From 2006 to 2008, he was with Intel Corporation, Hillsboro, OR, where he worked on high-speed optical and electrical I/O architectures. In 2009, he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Texas A&M University where he is currently an associate professor. His research interests include high-speed electrical and optical interconnect architectures, high performance clocking circuits, and integrated sensor systems. Dr. Palermo is a recipient of a 2013 NSF-CAREER award. He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and IEEE. He currently serves as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and System – II and has served on the IEEE CASS Board of Governors from 2011 to 2012. He was a coauthor of the Jack Raper Award for Outstanding Technology-Directions Paper at the 2009 International Solid-State Circuits Conference and the Best Student Paper at the 2014 Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems. He received the Texas A&M University Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Outstanding Professor Award in 2014 and the Engineering Faculty Fellow Award in 2015.

  • Virtual and Augmented Reality in Medical Education: A New Wave

    LG04 Ryerson, University 245 Church Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3

    Thursday March 31st, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. Dr. Abdulaziz Saud Alshafai, Research Fellow of Surgical Education of the Neurosurgery Division at St. Michael’s Hospital, will be presenting “Virtual and Augmented Reality in Medical Education: A New Wave”. Speaker: Dr. Abdulaziz Saud Alshafai, MD, MBBS Research Fellow of Surgical Education Neurosurgery Division St. Michael’s Hospital Day & Time: Thursday, March 31st, 2016 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Location: LG04 Ryerson University 245 Church Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3 Contact: Maryam Davoudpour Learning Objectives: To familiarize the audience with basic multimedia educational theory and principles. To gain appreciation for the application of new technologies ( Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality) in medical education. To develop some insight regarding the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and development. Biography: Dr. Alshafai is a medical graduate from University of Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Specially interested in the surgical field, education and new technology innovations. He has joined St. Michael’s Hospital for a research fellowship in Surgical Education under the supervision of Professor Michael Cusimano in the division of Neurosurgery whilst pursuing a Masters of Medical Education at the University of Maastricht in The Netherlands. His current work involves the usage of virtual reality and three dimensional (3D) printing in medical education, emphasizing on the application of educational theories and principles. As a long time video-games enthusiast he also holds holds a special interest for the gamification of education and the use of video games as a medium for educating students.