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  • Feb
    10

    ME512 Seminar Speaker- Naomi Leonard

    McCormick - Mechanical Engineering (ME)

    3:00 PM L211, Technological Institute

    EVENT DETAILS

    Title:

    Spiking Nonlinear Opinion Dynamics (S-NOD) for Agile Decision-Making and Control

    Speaker:

    Naomi Ehrich Leonard, Princeton University

    Abstract:

    I will introduce Spiking Nonlinear Opinion Dynamics (S-NOD), which enables decision-making and control with superior agility in responding to and adapting to fast and unpredictable changes in context, environment, or information received about available options. S-NOD derives through the introduction of an extra term to the previously presented Nonlinear Opinion Dynamics (NOD), which have been shown to provide fast and flexible multiagent behavior. The term is inspired by the fast-positive, slow-negative mixed-feedback structure of excitable systems. The agile behaviors brought about by the new excitable nature of decision-making driven by S-NOD are analyzed in a general setting and illustrated in applications to robot navigation around human movers and to control of soft robotics.

    Bio:

    Naomi Ehrich Leonard is Chair and Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, associated faculty with the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics and the Biophysics Graduate Program, and affiliated faculty with the Princeton Neuroscience Institute at Princeton University. She is Founding Director of creativeX, a Princeton engineering-and-the-arts collective, and Founding Editor of Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems. Leonard received her B.S.E. in Mechanical Engineering from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland. She is a MacArthur Fellow, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the ASME, IEEE, IFAC, and SIAM, and recipient of the 2023 IEEE Control Systems Award and 2024 Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award. Her current research focuses on dynamics, control, and learning for multiagent systems on networks with application to multi-robot teams, collective animal behavior, and other networked systems in technology, nature, and the arts.

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    TIME Monday, February 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

    LOCATION L211, Technological Institute    map it

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    CONTACT Jeremy Wells    jeremywells@northwestern.edu EMAIL

    CALENDAR McCormick - Mechanical Engineering (ME)

  • 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