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  • May
    6

    CS Distinguished Seminar - Christos Papadimitriou

    Department of Computer Science

    12:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

    EVENT DETAILS

    Live Stream link:
    https://northwestern.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=9860a0e6-a5ba-476b-bb82-abb20147eda1

    Title:
    Language, Brain, and Computation

    Abstract
    How does the brain beget the mind? How do molecules, cells and synapses effect reasoning, intelligence, language? Despite dazzling progress in experimental neuroscience, as well as in cognitive science at the other extreme of scale, we do not seem to be making progress in the overarching question -- the gap is huge and a completely new approach seems to be required. As Richard Axel recently put it: "We don't have a logic for the transformation of neural activity into thought [...]."

    What kind of formal system would qualify as this "logic"?

    I will present the Assembly Calculus, a computational system whose basic data structure is the assembly -- assemblies are large populations of neurons representing concepts, words, thoughts, etc. --, and which is informed by recent progress in understanding how language happens in the brain.

    Joint work with Santosh Vempala, Dan Mitropolsky, Mike Collins, and Wolfgang Maass.

    Biography
    Christos Harilaos Papadimitriou is the Donovan Family Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University.
    Before joining Columbia in 2017, he was a professor at UC Berkeley for the previous 22 years, and before that he taught at Harvard, MIT, NTU Athens, Stanford, and UCSD. He has written five textbooks and many articles on algorithms and complexity, and their applications to optimization, databases, control, AI, robotics, economics and game theory, the Internet, evolution, and the brain. He holds a PhD from Princeton (1976), and eight honorary doctorates. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the US, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering, and he has received the Knuth prize, the Go"del prize, the von Neumann medal, as well as the 2018 Harvey Prize by Technion. In 2015 the president of the Hellenic republic named him commander of the order of the Phoenix. He has also written three novels: “Turing ,” “Logicomix” and his latest “Independence.”

    more

    TIME Wednesday, May 6, 2020 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

    LOCATION 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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    CONTACT Brianna White    brianna.mello@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science

  • Aug
    20

    Alumni Education Webinar: McCormick School of Engineering's Strategic Vision

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    12:00 PM

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Wednesday, August 20, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

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    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    8

    Welcome & Breakfast for New McCormick PhD Students

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    9:00 AM LR2 & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 8, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

    LOCATION LR2 & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    12

    New Undergraduate Fall 2025 Registration

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Friday, September 12, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Sep
    15

    Welcome & Luncheon for New Full-time Graduate Students

    McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

    11:00 AM Ryan Auditorium & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Monday, September 15, 2025 at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

    LOCATION Ryan Auditorium & Tech East Plaza, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  • Sep
    16

    Fall Classes Begin. Change of Registration (Drop/Add) Late registration for returning students begins

    University Academic Calendar

    All Day

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Tuesday, September 16, 2025

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    CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

  • Sep
    25

    Bagel Thursday

    Department of Computer Science (CS)

    9:00 AM

    EVENT DETAILS

    TIME Thursday, September 25, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

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    CONTACT Wynante R Charles    wynante.charles@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)