CS Seminar Series – Radu Marculescu (CMU) – Entering the Labyrinth of (Inexact) Computer Science: A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach

Date: June 2, 2017

Speaker: Prof. Radu Marculescu (CMU)

Location: DBH 3011

Time: 11am – 12pm

Host: Tony Givargis

Title: Entering the Labyrinth of (Inexact) Computer Science: A Cyber-Physical Systems Approach

Abstract: During high school, I was fascinated by science. I used to read stories about Nobel Prize laureates and dream about their discoveries. Despite this, I became an engineer and, over the years, got to appreciate the power and transformative nature of computing in all human endeavors.

In recent years, due to the cyber-physical systems (CPS) revolution, I have found renewed interest and (unexpected) opportunities to revisit some topics in science only to realize that they can actually offer a much deeper understanding of systems modeling and optimization. Truth being told, engineering biological or social systems feels more like an art rather than science; in order to harness their huge potential, we need to reach beyond the established confines of computer science and (re)define a new science of systems design.

Starting from these overarching ideas, in this talk I plan to discuss the theoretical foundations and practical implications of using a network-based approach to develop new mathematical models and tools needed to understand and engineer socio- and bio-CPS. In other words, this talk is precisely about the subtle interplay between science and engineering and the joy of seeing things come full circle.

Bio: Radu Marculescu is a Professor in the Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1998. He has received several best paper awards in the area of design automation and embedded systems design. He has been involved in organizing several international symposia, conferences, workshops, as well as guest editor of special issues in archival journals and magazines. Most recently, he was the General co-Chair of the 10th edition of Cyber-Physical Systems Week (CPSWEEK), held in April 2017, in Pittsburgh. His research focuses on modeling and optimization of embedded systems, cyber-physical systems, social networks, and biological systems. Radu Marculescu is a Fellow of IEEE.

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