Description:

Wednesday / CS Distinguished Lecture
November 6th / 12:00 PM
Hybrid / Mudd 3514

Speaker
Nate Foster, Cornell University

Talk Title
The Network is the Computer: A Programming Language Perspective

Abstract
Historically, the fields of programming languages and networking have operated in relative isolation: applications run on end hosts and communicate with each other using standard network protocols. However, the landscape has changed significantly in the past decade, driven by the needs of large-scale systems and the emergence of programmable network hardware. Today, it is possible to design and implement custom network protocols and even to relocate application-level functionality into the network fabric. This talk will discuss the pivotal role that programming languages are playing in modern networks, highlighting how experiences designing domain-specific abstractions and reasoning tools for networks can provide fresh insights for the field of programming languages, too.

Biography
Nate Foster is a Professor of Computer Science at Cornell University and a Visiting Researcher at Jane Street. The goal of his research is to develop languages and tools that make it easy for programmers to build secure and reliable systems. His current work focuses on the design and implementation of languages and tools for network programming. In the past he has also worked on bidirectional languages (also known as “lenses”), database query languages, data provenance, type systems, mechanized proof, and formal semantics. He received a PhD in Computer and Information Science from the University of Pennsylvania. His awards include a Sloan Research Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, the SIGPLAN Robin Milner Award, SIGCOMM Rising Star Award, and Most Influential Paper Awards at ICFP and POPL.

Research/Interest Areas: Programming Languages and Networking
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Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/99112784408
Panopto: https://northwestern.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=210829aa-904b-48b3-ac44-b21a01363ac1
DEI Minute: Neurodiversity https://tinyurl.com/cspac-dei-minute

Description:

Wednesday / CS Seminar
November 13th / 3:00 PM
Hybrid / Mudd 3514

Speaker
Adrian Perrig, ETH Zurich

Talk Title
Reaching Escape Velocity for Layer-3 Innovation: Deployability of a Next-generation Internet Architecture

Abstract

It appears nearly impossible to deploy a new Internet architecture
that innovates at Layer 3 of the networking stack, as the obstacles
seem insurmountable: billions of deployed devices, legacy network
infrastructure with hardware-based packet processing with long
replacement cycles, operating systems of a sprawling complexity, and a
diverse application landscape with millions of developers. As a new
Internet architecture seemingly needs support by all of these
stakeholders, fundamental innovation at the network layer appears
hopeless.

We identify dependency loops as a core barrier to the deployment of a
next-generation Internet architecture. We propose to break the
dependency loops with a virtuous cycle: the availability of
applications using the NGN will result in increasing amount of
traffic, encouraging more NSPs to deploy the NGN, fueling user demand,
inviting more applications to deploy. We postulate that 1 million
users with access to the NGN connectivity suffice to set the virtuous
cycle in motion.

The aim of this talk is to imbue hope for the deployment of a
next-generation Internet architectures. With the expanding real-world
deployment of the SCION secure network architecture, we show how a
next-generation education network can be established and connected to
the commercial network. Applications running on hosts in these
networks can immediately make use of the next-generation
infrastructure thanks to a bootstrapping service, even without OS
support. To provide sufficient incentives to applications to build in
SCION support, we present a path towards reaching 1 million hosts in
SCIONabled networks. On the path toward this vision, 12 R&D
institutions on 5 continents are now connected with native SCION
connectivity ("BGP free"), reaching an estimated 250'000 users /
hosts. We present several applications and use cases that can be used
across these institutions.

Biography
Adrian Perrig is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science at
ETH Zürich, Switzerland, where he leads the network security group. He
is also a Distinguished Fellow at CyLab, and an Adjunct Professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
From 2002 to 2012, he was a Professor of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Engineering and Public Policy, and Computer Science
(courtesy) at Carnegie Mellon University. From 2007 to 2012, he served
as the technical director for Carnegie Mellon's Cybersecurity
Laboratory (CyLab). He earned his MS and PhD degrees in Computer
Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and spent three years during
his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley. He received his
BSc degree in Computer Engineering from EPFL. He is a recipient of the
ACM SIGSAC Outstanding Innovation Award. Adrian is an ACM and IEEE
Fellow. Adrian's research revolves around building secure systems --
in particular his group is working on the SCION secure Internet
architecture.

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Zoom Link
Panopto Link
DEI Minute: 

Description:

Monday / CS Seminar
November 18th / 12:00 PM
Hybrid / Mudd 3514

Speaker
Kyros Kutulakos, University of Toronto

Talk Title
The Ultimate Video Camera

Abstract
Over the past decade, advances in image sensor technologies have transformed the 2D and 3D imaging capabilities of our smartphones, cars, robots, drones, and scientific instruments. As these technologies continue to evolve, what new capabilities might they unlock? I will discuss one possible point of convergence---the ultimate video camera---which is enabled by emerging single-photon image sensors and photon-processing algorithms. We will explore the extreme imaging capabilities of this camera within the broader historical context of high-speed and low-light imaging systems, highlighting its potential to capture the physical world in entirely new ways.

Biography
Kyros is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Toronto and an expert in computational imaging and computer vision. His research over the past decade has focused on combining programmable sensors, light sources, optics and algorithms to create cameras with unique capabilities---from seeing through scatter and looking around corners to capturing surfaces with complex material properties robustly in 3D. He is currently leading efforts to harness the full potential of technologies such as single-photon cameras and programmable-pixel image sensors, for applications in extreme computer vision and scientific imaging. Kyros is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, and eight paper prizes at the computer vision field's top conferences, including the best paper award at ICCV 2023 and CVPR 2019.

Research/Interest Areas: Computer vision, computational imaging
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Zoom: TBA
Panopto: TBA
DEI Minute: TBA