News & Events

Department Events & Announcements

Events

• Feb

  12

  CS Seminar: Recent Advances in Strongly Polynomial Algorithms for Linear Programming (Bento Natura)

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

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

  EVENT DETAILS

  Monday / CS Seminar
  February 12th / 12:00 PM
  In Person / Mudd 3514

  Speaker
  Bento Natura, Georgia Tech

  Talk Title
  Recent Advances in Strongly Polynomial Algorithms for Linear Programming

  Abstract
  Whereas ellipsoid methods and interior point methods provide polynomial-time linear programming algorithms, the running time bounds depend on bit-complexity or condition measures that can be unbounded in the problem dimension. This is in contrast with the simplex method that always admits an exponential bound.

  An important unresolved question in operations research, theoretical computer science, and related fields, concerns the existence of a strongly polynomial algorithm for linear programming. Such an algorithm's running time would solely depend on the problem's dimension and the number of constraints, independent of any additional condition numbers. This question, first articulated by Megiddo in the 1980s, has gained prominence as Smale's 9th problem.

  In the first part of our talk, we introduce a new polynomial-time path-following interior point method where the number of iterations admits a combinatorial upper bound that is exponential in the number of constraints. More precisely, the iteration count of our algorithm is at most a small polynomial factor times the segment count of any piecewise linear trajectory within a wide neighborhood of the central path. Notably, it parallels the iteration count of any path-following interior point method, with an adjustment for this polynomial factor.

  In the second part of our talk, we give a strongly polynomial algorithm for minimum cost generalized flow, and hence all linear programs with at most two nonzero entries per row, or at most two nonzero entries per column. This provides a next milestone towards answering Smale’s 9th problem.

  Biography
  Bento Natura is a Ronald J. and Carol T. Beerman/ARC Postdoctoral Fellow in ISyE at Georgia Tech. He obtained his PhD in the Department of Mathematics at the London School of Economics, where he was supervised by László Végh. His doctoral thesis earned him the departmental Dissertation Prize and placed as a runner-up for the PhD Prize awarded by the OR Society of the United Kingdom. Prior to his PhD, Bento earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mathematics from the University of Bonn, under the supervision of Stephan Held and Jens Vygen. Bento's current research interests are centered on algorithms, optimization, and game theory.

  Research Interests/Area
  Algorithms and Optimization

  more less

  TIME Monday, February 12, 2024 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

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

  ADD TO CALENDAR

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

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Mar

  17

  Winter exams begin

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Winter exams begin

  more less

  TIME Monday, March 17, 2025

  ADD TO CALENDAR

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

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Mar

  17

  CS Seminar: Toward Human-Centered Embodied AI (Ruohan Zhang)

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  12:00 PM 3512, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  Monday / CS Seminar
  March 17th / 12:00 PM
  Hybrid / Mudd 3514

  Speaker
  Ruohan Zhang, Stanford Vision

  Talk Title
  Toward Human-Centered Embodied AI

  Abstract
  My research focuses on developing human-centered, human-inspired, and human-compatible embodied AI, structured around three pillars: human tasks, human data, and human interfaces. To systematically study intelligent behaviors (both human and artificial) in natural tasks and environments, we develop BEHAVIOR, a comprehensive simulation toolkit that supports 1,000 essential everyday tasks identified through large-scale survey studies. BEHAVIOR instantiates these tasks in interactive and ecologically valid virtual environments utilizing the state-of-the-art physics simulator. My approach to achieving human-level performance in these tasks requires embodied AI systems to learn from multimodal human data, such as body motion, eye movements, language, and reward signals. To enable such learning, we design novel interfaces that capture diverse human behavior data at scale, alongside algorithms that allow embodied agents to learn from such data effectively. To augment human capabilities and overcome their physical limitations (e.g., for patients with motor disabilities), we develop intelligent brain-robot interfaces, leveraging intracortical arrays and electroencephalogram (EEG), that can assist individuals in performing everyday tasks. For future work, we hope the infrastructure we have built can serve as powerful open-source tools that inspire and support a new generation of human-centered AI research, with the goals of understanding human brains and behaviors in natural tasks and environments, developing human-inspired and human-compatible AI solutions, and augmenting human capabilities with embodied AI.

  Biography
  Ruohan Zhang is a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Vision and Learning Lab, Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), and Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, advised by Fei-Fei Li and Jiajun Wu. His research focuses on embodied AI, human-robot interaction, brain-computer interfaces, and cognitive science. He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin, advised by Dana Ballard and Mary Hayhoe. He has received several paper awards or nominations from robotics conferences and workshops. He has served as a program committee member, reviewer, or editor for conferences and journals in machine learning, robotics, and cognitive science, including NeurIPS, ICCV, ECCV, CoRL, RSS, ICRA, IROS, CogSci, Frontiers, and the Journal of Vision.

  Research/Interest Areas
  robotics; human-robot interaction; cognitive science; neuroscience

  ---
  Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/97629411184?pwd=t01DJrwaREICRbCoHbi3bhvlMVFvz4.1
  Panopto: https://northwestern.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=e1faba26-2fd5-45ee-b016-b29e01655df1

  more less

  TIME Monday, March 17, 2025 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

  LOCATION 3512, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

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

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Mar

  22

  Spring Break Begins

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Spring Break Begins

  more less

  TIME Saturday, March 22, 2025

  ADD TO CALENDAR

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

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Mar

  31

  Spring Break Ends

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Spring Break Ends

  more less

  TIME Monday, March 31, 2025

  ADD TO CALENDAR

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

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Apr

  3

  CS Research Track Program Showcase

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  4:00 PM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  Join us for a poster session highlighting the incredible work of students in the Computer Science Research Track Program over the fall and winter quarters!

  Learn more about the Research Track Program here: Research Track Program

  Register Now

  more less

  TIME Thursday, April 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

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

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Bella Barrios    marbella.barrios@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Jun

  15

  2024-2025 Commencement Ceremony

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  2024-2025 Commencement Ceremony

  more less

  TIME Sunday, June 15, 2025

  ADD TO CALENDAR

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

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Jun

  16

  Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  9:00 AM 2705 Ashland Ave

  EVENT DETAILS

  McCormick School of Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Degree Recognition Ceremony. The most up to date information can be found on our graduation webpage.

  more less

  TIME Monday, June 16, 2025 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  LOCATION 2705 Ashland Ave   

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Northwestern Engineering Events    northwestern-engineering-events@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

• Jun

  16

  Northwestern Engineering Undergraduate Convocation

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  2:00 PM 2705 Ashland Ave

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  McCormick School of Engineering Undergraduate Convocation. The most up to date information can be found on our graduation webpage.

  more less

  TIME Monday, June 16, 2025 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

  LOCATION 2705 Ashland Ave   

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Northwestern Engineering Events    northwestern-engineering-events@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science