2017 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

At-a-Glance

The 2017 US Frontiers of Engineering was hosted by United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, Connecticut, September 25-27. About 100 outstanding engineers under the age of 45 met for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium to discuss cutting-edge developments in four areas: Machines That Teach Themselves, Energy Strategies to Power Our Future, Unraveling the Complexity of the Brain, and Mega-Tall Buildings and Other Future Places of Work. The goal of the Frontiers of Engineering program is to bring together engineers from all engineering disciplines and from industry, universities, and federal labs to facilitate cross-disciplinary exchange and promote the transfer of new techniques and approaches across fields in order to sustain and build US innovative capacity. 

LIST OF SESSIONS

Chair:  Robert Braun, University of Colorado Boulder

MACHINES THAT TEACH THEMSELVES
Session chair:  Rajan Bhattacharyya, HRL Laboratories

Reinforcement Learning and Learning to Promote Learning
Emma Brunskill, Stanford University

Can Machines Spot Diseases Faster than Expert Humans?
Suchi Saria, Johns Hopkins University

Humans and Computers Working Together to Measure Machine Learning Interpretability 
Jordan Boyd-Graber, University of Maryland

ENERGY STRATEGIES TO POWER OUR FUTURE
Session co-chairs:  Katherine Dykes, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Jeremy Munday, University of Maryland

Introduction

Agile Fractal Systems: Re-Envisioning Power System Architecture
Tim Heidel, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

Big Data and Analytics for Wind O&M: Opportunities, Trends, and Challenges in the Industrial Internet
Bouchra Bouqata, GE Global Research Center

Across Dimensions and Scales: How Imaging and Machine Learning Will Help Design Tomorrow's Energy Conversion Devices
Mariana Bertoni, Arizona State University

Wireless Charging of Electric Vehicles
Khurram Afridi, University of Colorado Boulder

UNRAVELING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE BRAIN
Session co-chairs:  Xue Han, Boston University, and Maryam Shanechi, University of Southern California

Introduction

Technologies to Interface with the Brain for Recording and Stimulation
Ellis Meng, University of Southern California

Brain-Machine Interface Paradigms for Neuroscience and Clinical Translation
Jose Carmena, University of California, Berkeley

Machine Learning for Biomedical Science
Konrad Körding, University of Pennsylvania 

Efficient Feature Extraction and Classification Methods in Neural Interfaces
Azita Emami, California Institute of Technology

MEGA-TALL BUILDINGS AND OTHER FUTURE PLACES OF WORK
Session co-chairs: Maria Paz Gutierrez, University of California, Berkeley, and Marija Trcka, United Technologies Corp.

Introduction

The Evolution of Elevators: Digital Interaction, Physical Human Interface, Intuitive Behavior and Mega-tall Buildings
Stephen Nichols, Otis

Supertall Timber: Functional Natural Materials for High-Rise Structures
Michael Ramage, University of Cambridge

Applications of Insights from Biology and Mathematics to the Design of Material Structures
Jenny Sabin, Cornell University

Post Meeting
Details
September
25
2017
to
September
27
2017
July 20, 2021 AT 06:56 AM
East Hartford, Connecticut
Schedule
Sunday, Sep 24, 2017
  • 07:30 PM To 07:30 PM
    Registration/welcome reception at the hotel
    Capital 1 & 2
Monday, Sep 25, 2017
  • 07:00 AM To 07:00 AM
    Buses depart hotel for UTRC at 15-minute intervals (last bus 7:45)
  • 07:15 AM To 07:15 AM
    Breakfast
    Greenhouse Cafe
  • 08:30 AM To 08:30 AM
    Welcome and Opening Remarks
    Auditorium
  • 09:00 AM To 09:00 AM
    Machines That Teach Themselves
    Auditorium
  • 10:30 AM To 10:30 AM
    Break
  • 11:15 AM To 11:15 AM
    Machines That Teach Themselves (cont.)
  • 12:00 PM To 12:00 PM
    Lunch
  • 01:15 PM To 01:15 PM
    Meet and Connect Breakout Session
    Breakout Rooms
  • 02:45 PM To 02:45 PM
    Break
  • 03:30 PM To 03:30 PM
    Where are the Emerging Frontiers of Research and Innovation?
  • 03:45 PM To 03:45 PM
    DARPA’s Disruptive Way of Thinking
  • 04:00 PM To 04:00 PM
    Energy Strategies to Power Our Future
  • 05:30 PM To 05:30 PM
    Break
  • 06:00 PM To 06:00 PM
    Dinner
    Greenhouse Cafe
  • 08:00 PM To 08:00 PM
    Buses depart for hotel
Tuesday, Sep 26, 2017
  • 07:00 AM To 07:00 AM
    Buses depart hotel for UTRC at 15-minute intervals (Last bus 7:45)
  • 07:15 AM To 07:15 AM
    Breakfast
  • 08:30 AM To 08:30 AM
    Energy Strategies to Power Our Future (cont.)
  • 10:00 AM To 10:00 AM
    Break
  • 10:30 AM To 10:30 AM
    Unraveling the Complexity of the Brain
  • 12:00 PM To 12:00 PM
    Lunch
  • 01:15 PM To 01:15 PM
    Unraveling the Complexity of the Brain (cont.)
  • 02:45 PM To 02:45 PM
    Break
  • 03:00 PM To 03:00 PM
    Tours
  • 05:15 PM To 05:15 PM
    Buses depart for hotel
  • 06:00 PM To
    Reception and Dinner
    Marriott A & B
Wednesday, Sep 27, 2017
  • 07:00 AM To 07:00 AM
    Buses depart hotel for UTRC at 15-minute intervals
  • 07:15 AM To 07:15 AM
    Breakfast
  • 08:30 AM To 08:30 AM
    Presentation
  • 08:45 AM To 08:45 AM
    Mega-Tall Buildings and Other Future Places of Work
  • 09:40 AM To 09:40 AM
    Break
  • 10:15 AM To 10:15 AM
    Mega-Tall Buildings and Other Future Places of Work (cont.)
  • 11:45 AM To 11:45 AM
    Meeting adjourns. Boxed lunch available.
  • 12:00 PM To 12:00 PM
    Buses depart for BDL
2017 USFOE Photos