50 Vassar Street
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
USA
IEEE SSCS Boston Chapter – SSCS Distinguished Lecture
Professor Jan M. Rabaey, University of California, Berkeley
Scientific co-director of the Berkeley Wireless Research Center (BWRC)
Founding director of the Berkeley Ubiquitous SwarmLab
Topic: The Return of Neuro-Inspired Computing – Why Now?
When: Wednesday October 15th, 2014
Speaker: Jan M. Rabaey, University of California at Berkeley
Where: MIT, Research Laboratory for Electronics (RLE), MIT Building 36-462, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA
Maps & Directions: http://www.rle.mit.edu/contact/maps-and-directions/
Who: Those interested in Integrated Circuit technology, and how emerging understanding of the Brain is enabling radical improvements in computation
IEEE members & nonmembers are welcome to attend.
Agenda:
5:30-6:00 Welcome, sign-in
6:00-6:10 Chapter chair Greetings & Announcements
6:10-7:30 Presentation by Professor Rabaey
7:30-8:00 Q&A session, meeting adjourns
Abstract: The Return of Neuro-Inspired Computing – Why Now?
Barring technologies surprises (such as the discovery of a perfect nanometer switch), alternative design strategies may be necessary if continued scaling of functionality in terms of size and energy is to be obtained. Neuro-inspired computing is one possible direction to be considered. Over the past decade, the brain has been receiving a lot of attention (e.g. the BRAIN initiatives in the US and Europe) – mostly from a mapping and an understanding perspective. The brain is an amazingly complex and efficient machine. While it may not be considered “general purpose” in terms of its computational capabilities, it performs a set of functions such as feature extraction, classification, synthesis, recognition, learning, and higher-order decision-making amazingly well. Carver Mead already realized this in the late 1980’s – yet the technological landscape at that time was not amenable to make neuromorphic computing an attractive alternative.
Today, it is realized that neuro-inspired computing may be a perfect match to the properties of the emerging nano-scale devices (such as 3D integration, carbon and spin devices, non-volatile memory cells such as RRAM, etc): it thrives on randomness and variability, processing is performed in the continuous or discrete domains, and massive parallelism, major redundancy and adaptivity are of essence. Computational paradigms inspired by neural information processing hence may lead to energy-efficient, low-cost, dense and/or reliable implementations of the functions the brain excels at. In this presentation, we will explore various means on how the interaction between neuroscience and information technology may lead to an exciting future.
About the speaker:
Professor Jan Rabaey is the founding director of the Berkeley Wireless Research Center and the Ubiquitous Swarm Lab. He has been on the forefront of many groundbreaking innovations in low-energy design, and is currently exploring the interaction between information technology and neuroscience. He has made high-impact contributions to a number of fields, including advanced wireless systems, sensor networks, configurable ICs and low-power design. His current interests include the conception and implementation of next-generation integrated wireless systems over a very broad range of applications, as well as exploring the interaction between the cyber and the biological world.
Professor Rabaey is an SSCS Distinguished Lecturer. He is the recipient of a wide range of major awards, amongst which the IEEE CAS Society Mac Van Valkenburg Award, the European Design Automation Association (EDAA) Lifetime Achievement award, and the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) University Researcher Award. He is an IEEE Fellow and a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Sciences and Arts of Belgium, and has been involved in a broad variety of start-up ventures.
Directions:
The meeting will be held at MIT, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Building 36 – Research Laboratory for Electronics
4th floor – Room 36-462
By subway: Kendall/MIT T station, Red Line
By car/taxi: 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA. Parking on street (metered until 6:00PM), or at MIT lot at the corner of Vassar Street/Massachusetts Avenue
Contact info: Bruce.Hecht@ieee.org