News & Events

Department Events & Announcements

Events

• Aug

  3

  Constantine Nakos Final Defense August 3: Preserving Data Collections in the Compiler

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  2:00 PM 3501, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  Hand-curated natural language (NL) systems use explicit linguistic knowledge to understand and generate text. This gives them an advantage over pure machine learning (ML) systems in terms of transparency and scrutability: Their knowledge can be inspected, debugged, and improved stably and incrementally over time without the need for retraining. However, maintaining this knowledge can be a challenge. Hand-curated NL systems use specialized forms of knowledge that frequently only a limited number of experts know how to interpret and debug. For a broad-coverage system, the bottleneck is often the time and attention of the few developers who can help it grow.
  My thesis addresses this bottleneck by presenting two new techniques that enable non-expert users to debug and extend hand-curated NL systems. The first, Interactive Natural Language Debugging (INLD), concentrates on debugging individual sentences, asking the user simple questions in natural language to drill down on any underlying errors in the system’s linguistic knowledge. The second, Generative Example-Driven Error Mining (GEDEM), concentrates on identifying likely errors at scale, asking the user for binary judgments that allow the system to flag potential errors for further review. Together, they reduce the need for expert knowledge to debug the system, instead relying on common linguistic intuition. In doing so, they expand the pool of users who can help maintain a hand-curated NL system.
  I ground my discussion in the Companion cognitive architecture and CNLU, its broad-coverage semantic parser. I present implemented INLD and GEDEM systems for CNLU and evaluate them on two sets of examples, examining the reliability of user annotations and the usefulness of the systems’ outputs. Lastly, I explore the possibility of automating these systems with large language models (LLMs).

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  TIME Monday, August 3, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

  LOCATION 3501, 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)

• Aug

  7

  Boyang Wei Computer Science PhD Final Defense August 7: Battery-Efficient Multimodal Machine Learning for Wearable Dietary Monitoring: Eating, Drinking Detection and Caloric Intake Estimation

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  2:00 PM Mudd 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  Accurately recording what, when, and how much people eat is essential to nutrition research and health interventions. Yet food diaries are burdensome, and no single wearable sensor answers all three questions well. Wrist and thermal sensors can operate continuously and privately but reveal little about food identity or portion size. Cameras provide richer context, but continuous capture and inference increase energy and privacy costs.
  This dissertation investigates how a wearable dietary-monitoring system can rely on low-cost sensors most of the time and invoke richer visual models only when useful. I develop a battery-efficient multimodal machine-learning framework that treats dietary assessment as connected tasks rather than one monolithic prediction. The pipeline identifies hand-to-mouth activity from wrist, upward-facing thermal, and camera-supported evidence. A compact thermal trigger determines when to request forward-facing images for eating and drinking recognition, food classification, and caloric-intake estimation. Neural architecture search explores models that balance predictive quality, computation, size, and latency.
  The dissertation combines lessons from prior wearable-sensing studies with module-specific methods and evaluations. Low-power candidate discovery can reduce reliance on continuous image processing; triggering separates always-on sensing from higher-cost visual analysis; and task-specific architecture search examines models suited to wearable constraints. Together, these contributions establish a practical design for conditional dietary monitoring. The broader goal is passive dietary assessment that is more accurate and less burdensome while respecting battery and privacy constraints and supporting future on-device and free-living evaluation.

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  TIME Friday, August 7, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

  LOCATION Mudd 3514, 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)

• Aug

  20

  Nathaniel Hejduk Qualifying Exam Presentation August 20: Navigating Mixed-Typed Migration with Profilers

  Department of Computer Science (CS)

  1:00 PM Mudd 3514, Mudd Hall ( formerly Seeley G. Mudd Library)

  EVENT DETAILS

  The component-by-component migration of a program from untyped to typed can trigger unintended performance degradations. When such a degradation occurs, typing well-chosen components can lessen the cost of type enforcement, while typing poorly chosen components can exacerbate it. In this talk, I examine whether off-the-shelf profiling tools deliver information that helps programmers navigate these migration choices effectively in Typed Racket.

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  TIME Thursday, August 20, 2026 at 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

  LOCATION Mudd 3514, 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)

• Sep

  14

  Welcome & Breakfast for New McCormick PhD Students

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  9:00 AM LR2, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Enjoy a welcome from Dean Christopher A. Schuh and other McCormick leaders, and receive a Northwestern Engineering T-shirt. A free breakfast on the Tech East Plaza will follow.

  Register Now

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  TIME Monday, September 14, 2026 at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM

  LOCATION LR2, 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

  22

  Welcome & Luncheon for New Full-time Graduate Students

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  11:00 AM Ryan Family Auditorium, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Enjoy a welcome from Dean Christopher A. Schuh and other McCormick leaders, and receive a Northwestern Engineering T-shirt. A free lunch on the Tech East Plaza will follow.

  Register Now

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  TIME Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

  LOCATION Ryan Family Auditorium, 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

  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

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  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)