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Events

• Jul

  8

  Samuel Hill CS PhD Final Defense: Simulog: An Executable Ontology for Large Scale Character Simulations

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  6:30 PM 3001, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  Large-scale character simulations for real-time games such as Dwarf Fortress and
  interactive experiences such as Bad News involve both large numbers of interacting sub
  simulations and very large numbers of entities being simulated. This complexity is hard to
  achieve at scale while also operating with real-time performance constraints.
  Logic programming and rule-based systems are often chosen for tasks such as social
  simulation because their use of declarative rules and predicates map well to rules of social
  engagement. Unfortunately, they are often quite slow, due in part to its heavy use of pointer chasing, dynamic allocation, garbage collection, and runtime type-checking, making it difficult to use for large numbers of characters or high-frequency updates. Bottom-up execution of logic programs can provide the declarativity of logic programming without the performance issues for appropriate tasks. We argue that large-scale character simulations are a “sweet spot” for bottomup logic programming.
  Despite the benefits of using such a performant bottom-up logic programming language
  for creating large-scale character simulations, these simulations still often need to encode many of the same things – characters, locations, interactions, and relationships to name a few. These regular components can be described as temporal entities (things that come into and out of existence) and most simulations must typically track the set of temporal entities that exist in the current simulation step as well as their states, the events of these entities creation and destruction, and, when needed, the set of all temporal entities that have ever existed. However, without a standard language with which to describe temporal entities the creation of data structures and access patterns to encode for temporal entities could vary wildly depending on use case, and maintenance of all this extra code (code not directly involved in game logic) would be an unnecessary burden on developers. In this thesis we will argue that temporal entities can be declaratively authored from an ontology-based representation while still maintaining playable framerates. We present Simulog,
  a very high-level declarative language for large scale character simulation based on ideas from the formal ontology literature. We will attempt to show that an ontology for these entities allows for the expressive and flexible creation of social simulations, enabling one to declaratively author a simulation with these ontological statements while maintaining very good performance.

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  TIME Wednesday, July 8, 2026 at 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

  LOCATION 3001, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)    map it

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  CONTACT Jensen Smith    jensen.smith@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Jul

  20

  Workshop on Advancing Theory, Research, and Practice for Generative AI in University-Level Computing Education

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  8:00 AM Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  We invite you to register for our upcoming Workshop on Advancing Theory, Research, and Practice for Generative AI in University-Level Computing Education, July 20, 2026 from 8 AM to 7 PM at Northwestern University’s Evanston Campus.

  Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies are rapidly changing how we learn and engage with computing. As we learn and teach in these changing times, what are the questions that we must be asking and what considerations do we need to keep in mind to support just, inclusive, and caring learning environments for students of all backgrounds and interests?

  We invite researchers and practitioners who study or teach computing at the university-level to join us for an interactive one-day workshop. The workshop will consist of talks from four invited speakers interspersed with breakout sessions to continue discussion, plan changes to your classes, and foster new research projects and collaborations.

  Our invited speakers are:

  Kevin Lin (University of Washington)
  Benji Xie (University of Denver)
  Jamie Gorson Benario (Google)
  Sepehr Vakil (Northwestern University)

  Register here by July 10.

  More information about the workshop: https://sites.northwestern.edu/genaicomputinged/. This workshop is supported by the Northwestern Computer Science Department and Dolby Laboratories. Please contact Melissa Chen (melissac @ u.northwestern.edu) with questions.

  Best,
  Melissa Chen and Mike Horn, on behalf of the workshop organizers

  Register Now

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  TIME Monday, July 20, 2026 at 8:00 AM - 7:00 PM

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

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  CONTACT Melissa Chen    melissac@u.northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Sep

  24

  Bagel Thursday + Discussion

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  9:00 AM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  tba

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  TIME Thursday, September 24, 2026 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

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

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

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Sep

  28

  CS Seminar

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

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

  EVENT DETAILS

  Monday / CS Seminar
  September 28 / 12:00 PM
  Hybrid / Mudd 3514

  Speaker
  TBA

  Talk Title
  TBA

  Abstract
  TBA

  Biography
  TBA

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  Zoom Link
  Panopto Link

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  TIME Monday, September 28, 2026 at 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

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

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

  CALENDAR Department of Computer Science (CS)

• Oct

  5

  CS Seminar: Formal Relational Equivalence for SQL, GenAI, and Beyond (Brian Suchy)

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

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

  EVENT DETAILS

  Monday / CS Seminar
  October 5 / 12:00 PM
  Hybrid / Mudd 3514

  Speaker
  Brian Suchy, Software Engineer Google DeepMind

  Talk Title
  Formal Relational Equivalence for SQL, GenAI, and Beyond

  Abstract
  Verifying that complex query rewrites from database optimizers or AI-driven generators preserve exact bag semantics under three-valued logic is an NP-hard challenge. To address this, we present an MLIR-native compiler framework that formally reasons about relational algebra. By decoupling query semantics from specific execution engines and lowering queries into a unified Relational Algebra Intermediate Representation, our language-agnostic methodology definitively proves semantic equivalence across all possible database states.

  The core of the presentation will deep-dive into our multi-tiered proving architecture, which synthesizes several advanced academic methodologies. First, we utilize E-Graphs and Equality Saturation to rapidly explore the equivalence space and detect structural congruence between query abstract syntax trees using fast, algebraic rewrite rules. Second, we employ Semiring Arithmetic, treating relational algebra as expressions over K-relations to leverage algebraic simplification and canonical forms under semiring laws. Finally, we implement a First-Order Logic and SMT translation path, lowering Relational Algebra into Relational Calculus and then into First-Order Logic to evaluate constraints and domain-specific axioms using parallel solvers like Z3 and CVC5, which either formally proves equivalence or synthesizes concrete counter-examples.

  Finally, we will discuss the practical implications of combining these formal mathematical methods with modern compiler design. Attendees will leave with a comprehensive understanding of how bridging database theory, equality saturation, and SMT solving can create robust solutions for verifying query optimizers, enforcing semantic correctness, and validating automated SQL generation at scale.

  Biography
  Brian Suchy is a Software Engineer within Google DeepMind.
  In his time at Google he has worked on F1 Query (Google's internal SQL query engine), hardware development, and (of course) AI.
  Prior to joining Google, Brian received his PhD student at Northwestern University, advised by Peter Dinda, with a focus on hardware/software codesign and memory management.

  Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Query Processing and Formal Logic

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  Zoom Link
  Panopto Link

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  TIME Monday, October 5, 2026 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)

• Oct

  29

  Bagel Thursday + Discussion

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  9:00 AM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  tba

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  TIME Thursday, October 29, 2026 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  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)

• Nov

  19

  Bagel Thursday + Discussion

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  9:00 AM 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  tba

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  TIME Thursday, November 19, 2026 at 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM

  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)