February 2025 - Sanghani-faculty

Innovation Campus: CS Seminar Announcement (Friday, February 21 11:15am-12:15pm, ICAB 4110)
by Lu, Chang-Tien 01 May '25

01 May '25

Learning, introspection, and anticipation for effective and reliable task planning under uncertainty Speaker: Prof. Gregory J. Stein George Mason University Friday, February 21, 2025 11:15AM- 12:15PM, ICAB 4110 Abstract The next generation of service and assistive robots will need to operate under uncertainty, expected to complete tasks and perform well despite missing information about the state of the world or the future needs of itself and other agents. In this talk, I will present a number of recent and ongoing projects that improve long-horizon navigation and task planning in uncertain home-like environments. First, I will discuss our recent developments that improve performance and reliability in unfamiliar environments-environments potentially dissimilar from any seen during training-with a technique that enables fast and reliable deployment-time policy selection despite uncertainty. Second, I will discuss anticipatory planning, by which our robot anticipates and avoids side effects of its actions on undetermined future tasks it may later be assigned; our approach guides the robot towards behaviors that encourage preparation and organization, improving its performance over lengthy deployments. Biography [cid:image001.jpg@01DB83BB.F2C5BD90] Prof. Gregory J. Stein is an Assistant Professor of CS at George Mason University, where he runs the Robotic Anticipatory Intelligence & Learning Group and is the director of the GMU Autonomous Robotics Lab. His research at the intersection of robotics, planning, and learning, develops approaches for planning and learning that allow robots to better understand the impact of their actions, so that they may plan quickly, intelligently, and reliably in a dynamic and uncertain world. Before joining Mason, he received his PhD in 2020 from MIT's EECS Department and previously graduated summa cum laude from Cornell University with a B.S. in Engineering Physics. His work was a finalist for Best Paper at the 2018 Conference on Robot Learning, at which he was additionally awarded Best Oral Presentation.

1 15

Amazon - VT Initiative: Call for Research Proposals and Ph.D. Fellowship Nominations!
by Shalaby, Wanawsha 17 Apr '25

17 Apr '25

Hello, In 2022, Virginia Tech and Amazon announced their partnership to advance research and innovation in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The Amazon - Virginia Tech Initiative for Efficient and Robust Machine Learning<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/> includes machine learning-focused research projects, doctoral student fellowships, community outreach, and an establishment of a shared advisory board. The third set of awards for fellowships and research projects were announced in Fall 2024, you can learn more about the awardees (link to this page: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2024/10/amazon-virginia-tech-initiative-announ…) The Amazon-Virginia Tech Initiative for Efficient and Robust Machine Learning (ML) is soliciting proposals<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/content/dam/amazon_cs_vt_edu/year-4/Amazon%20-%20V…> from Virginia Tech faculty in the College of Engineering for research projects with anticipated support beginning Fall Semester 2025 (FY 2026). The objective of this initiative is to advance research and innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ML, specifically in the areas of efficient and robust machine learning. Virginia Tech faculty members are invited to submit proposals for research projects that work to revolutionize the way ML is developed, evaluated, and embedded in everyday contexts, devices, and applications. Please note, as instructed in the Call for Research Projects<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/content/dam/amazon_cs_vt_edu/year-4/Amazon%20-%20V…>, abstracts are due February 20, 2025. If you have any questions regarding the submission process, please review our FAQ<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/content/dam/amazon_cs_vt_edu/year-4/Amazon%20-%20V…>. Additionally, the program invites nominations<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/content/dam/amazon_cs_vt_edu/year-4/Amazon%20-%20V…> for doctoral student fellows with anticipated support beginning Fall Semester 2025. Fellowships will be awarded to Virginia Tech doctoral students that includes one academic year of funding, tuition, travel support to conferences, and an invitation to interview for an Amazon internship intended to provide students a greater understanding of industry and use-inspired research. Students selected for fellowships will be known as Amazon Fellows. The fellowship enables students during the academic year to pursue independent research projects in the areas of machine learning and artificial intelligence and the optional paid summer internship at Amazon will enable them to gain valuable industry insight and experience through direct engagement with Amazon researchers. Please note, as instructed in the Call for Fellowship Nominations<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/content/dam/amazon_cs_vt_edu/year-4/Amazon%20-%20V…>, nomination packets are due April 18, 2025. If you have any questions regarding the submission process, please review our FAQ<https://amazon.cs.vt.edu/content/dam/amazon_cs_vt_edu/year-4/Amazon%20-%20V…>. Thanks, Wanawsha Wanawsha Shalaby Manager of Operations UrbComp Program Coordinator Sanghani Center for AI and Data Analytics - Virginia Tech 900 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: (571) 858-3361 E-Mail: wanah92(a)vt.edu<mailto:wanah92@vt.edu>

1 2

Upcoming OSP Event
by Newberry, Joyce 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

Hello everyone, Hope all is well with you. FYI - OSP is sponsoring "Introduction to Virginia Tech Proposal Summit" that I believe our newer faculty members should try to attend (in person or via Zoom). Introduction to Virginia Tech's Proposal Submission Process • March 12, 2025 • 10:00 AM—Noon • Here is the event page: https://www.research.vt.edu/events/2025/introduction-to-virginia-tech-propo… • Register to attend via Zoom<https://virginiatech.zoom.us/meeting/register/O-CiZsv0TnecIUUJ5dRc0g>. • Register to attend in-person<https://forms.office.com/r/k11PzcRiUB>. Gilbert Place, Room 3003 (in-person registration is limited to the first 20 registrants). Office of Sponsored Programs pre-award associates will provide information about Virginia Tech’s process and requirements for funded research proposals. A wide range of audiences will benefit from the session, including experienced researchers new to the university, new faculty members, post docs, and staff members who assist with proposals. The pre-award experts will review the full proposal process, including proposal components, budgets, submission methods and deadlines, award transfer, individuals’ roles and responsibilities, and the university’s online platform—Summit. Attendees may submit their questions in advance to newpi(a)vt.edu<mailto:newpi@vt.edu>. Joyce I. Newberry, MBA Grant Administrator Sanghani Center for AI & Data Analytics - Virginia Tech 3625 Potomac Avenue Alexandria, VA 22305 Email - joyce15(a)vt.edu Proposal Submission Deadline Reminder OSP requires that you have all the administrative documents, including Accepted and final budget, in Approved routing status in Summit, and complete sponsor forms by 9:00 AM the day before your proposal is due. Please have your complete technical proposal ready to submit, no later than 9:00 AM the day the proposal is due or we cannot submit. Please see the OSP Procedure 20002 for more details on Proposal Submission. https://osp.vt.edu/content/dam/osp_vt_edu/policies/osp20002.pdf

1 0

FW: LDC February Special License Agreements
by Brian Mayer 13 Feb '25

13 Feb '25

From: Penn LDC <ldc(a)ldc.upenn.edu> Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2025 5:20 PM To: Penn LDC <ldc(a)ldc.upenn.edu> Subject: LDC February Special License Agreements Dear Member, This month LDC is releasing two data sets, one of which require a Special License Agreement (attached): LDC2025S01, MATERIAL Georgian-English Language Pack. It was developed by Appen for the IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity) MATERIAL (Machine Translation for English Retrieval of Information in Any Language) program. It contains approximately 79 hours of Georgian conversational telephone speech, transcripts, English translations, annotations and queries. Please sign and return the version of the Agreement that applies to your organization, either the NFP (Not-For-Profit) or FP (For-Profit) version. This is an optional license, and can be returned at any time; your Subscription Membership guarantees the perpetual opportunity to license the corpus. Please let me know if you have any further questions. Best regards, Taylor Membership Office Linguistic Data Consortium University of Pennsylvania T: +1-215-573-1275 E: ldc(a)ldc.upenn.edu <mailto:ldc@ldc.upenn.edu> M: 3600 Market St. Suite 810 Philadelphia, PA 19104

1 0

Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Grand Opening!
by Shalaby, Wanawsha 12 Feb '25

12 Feb '25

Hi All, As discussed in our Sanghani Center faculty meeting last week, we'd like to invite you to attend the official grand opening ceremony and ribbon cutting of our new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Academic Building One on Friday, February 28, 2025! We welcome you to join us for this exciting milestone. Attached is the invitation for the opening with the RSVP link<https://www.vt.edu/innovationcampus/centerofnext/opening.html> and schedule of events. We recommend that you travel up the day before on Thursday, Feb. 27 as doors open at 9:30 am on Friday, Feb. 28. We ask that you please let Isha and I know as soon as possible if you plan to attend, as we need to make hotel accommodations this week. Travel expenses will be covered by the Sanghani Center. Additionally, the Sanghani Center will be participating in the Building Open House starting at 11:45 AM. During which guests are invited to explore the building through a self-guided tour, featuring different demos from labs located at the Innovation Campus, including the Sanghani Center. We look forward to celebrating with you! Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Wanawsha Wanawsha Shalaby Manager of Operations Sanghani Center for AI and Data Analytics - Virginia Tech 3625 Potomac Ave., Alexandria, VA 22305 E-Mail: wanah92(a)vt.edu<mailto:wanah92@vt.edu>

1 0

Sanghani Center joins LinkedIn! Connect with us!
by Micale, Barbara 10 Feb '25

10 Feb '25

Sanghani Center joins LinkedIn! We are excited about using this platform as another way of spreading the word about our expert faculty and talented students and the innovative research being done at the Center. We welcome you to connect – and engage – with us on LinkedIn at Sanghani Center for AI & DA (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sanghani-center-for-ai-da/) Best, blm Barbara L. Micale Public Relations Specialist Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics<https://sanghani.cs.vt.edu/> Virginia Tech blmicale(a)vt.edu<mailto:blmicale@vt.edu> X (formerlyTwitter): @SanghaniCtrVT

1 0

Sanghani Faculty Meeting - Friday, Feb. 7 at 12 pm
by Shalaby, Wanawsha 07 Feb '25

07 Feb '25

Hi All, Hope everyone's first week of classes is going well. To avoid conflicts with departmental meetings, we will be shifting our Sanghani Center Faculty meetings to the first Friday of every month at 12:00 - 1:30 pm in semester. Our next faculty meeting will be Friday, Feb. 7 at 12:00 - 1:30 pm. As usual, if you have any recent news or updates since our last faculty meeting, please send them my way so that I may add them to our meeting slides. Updates include awards, proposals, grants, conference presentations, events, etc. Please send all updates by Wednesday, Feb 5. I have updated the recurring calendar invite for the semester. Those of you in Blacksburg will be meeting in D&DS 337 and those of us in the D.C. area will be meeting in IC 5740. Below is the Zoom information for anyoen who needs to join remotley. Please note that it's the same link for all our Sanghani Faculty meetings this semester. Join Zoom Meeting Https://virginiatech.zoom.us/j/89087118458 Meeting ID: 890 8711 8458 --- One tap mobile +16469313860,,89087118458# US +19294362866,,89087118458# US (New York) --- Dial by your location • +1 646 931 3860 US • +1 929 436 2866 US (New York) • +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC) • +1 305 224 1968 US • +1 309 205 3325 US • +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) • +1 360 209 5623 US • +1 386 347 5053 US • +1 507 473 4847 US • +1 564 217 2000 US • +1 669 444 9171 US • +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) • +1 689 278 1000 US • +1 719 359 4580 US • +1 253 205 0468 US • +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) • +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) Thanks, Wanawsha Wanawsha Shalaby Manager of Operations UrbComp Program Coordinator Sanghani Center for AI and Data Analytics - Virginia Tech 900 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: (571) 858-3361 E-Mail: wanah92(a)vt.edu<mailto:wanah92@vt.edu>

2 3

Innovation Campus: CS Seminar Announcement (Friday, February 7 11:15am-12:15pm, ICAB 4110)
by Lu, Chang-Tien 05 Feb '25

05 Feb '25

Inner Dialogue: Reflection by Self-Question-Answering and Human-AI Collaboration Speaker: Prof. Tim Wen-Hsiang Lu National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan Friday, February 7, 2025 11:15AM- 12:15PM, ICAB 4110 Abstract Our recent initial work supported by Google proposes a novel framework "Inner Dialogue" that approaches problem-solving through a self-questioning and answering mechanism, offering a multifaceted, transparent, and interpretable process. We also introduce an interactive mode where humans can assume various roles, such as supervisor, asker, or answerer, allowing them to infuse their perspectives into the system's reasoning. Each aspect of the problem is explored in depth, enriching the information available at each stage. A supervisory role oversees the questioning and answering process to enhance control, ensuring the system remains centralized and manageable rather than allowing an LLM to operate autonomously. We also introduce automatic LLM evaluation prompts, human evaluation metrics, and scoring criteria: diversity, relevance, factuality. Furthermore, we examine the consistency between human and LLM evaluators, identifying areas where discrepancies may arise, and which model is more suitable for evaluating specific aspects. Biography [cid:image002.png@01DB77BC.0F5C3620] Tim Wen-Hsiang Lu is a professor in the department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, in 1990 and 2003. In 2004, he received Dragon Golden Paper Award sponsored by the Acer Foundation. His research interests include natural language processing, speech recognition/synthesis, machine translation, information retrieval, web/text mining, medical informatics. His research results have been published in top-tier journals and conferences, such as ACM TOIS, ACM TALIP, ACM SIGIR, ACL, etc.

1 0

FW: Register Today for March 4, 2025 3:30pm Montgomery Lecture by Dr. Barry L. Nelson
by Brian Mayer 04 Feb '25

04 Feb '25

FYI From: Van Mullekom, Jennifer <vanmuljh(a)vt.edu> Sent: Tuesday, February 4, 2025 7:55 AM To: stat-fs-g(a)vt.edu; 'stat-gs-g(a)vt.edu' <stat-gs-g(a)vt.edu> Cc: Schabenberger, Oliver <schabenb(a)vt.edu>; Mutchler, Scott <smutchle(a)vt.edu>; Lattimer, Alan <alattime(a)vt.edu>; Brian Mayer <bmayer(a)cs.vt.edu> Subject: Register Today for March 4, 2025 3:30pm Montgomery Lecture by Dr. Barry L. Nelson All, Please see the flyer below for details on this year's Douglas C. Montgomery Distinguished Lecture given by Dr. Barry L. Nelson on March 4, 2025 at 3:30pm in the Holtzman Auditorium. This series is jointly sponsored by the Grado Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering and the Department of Statistics. A reception and student poster session will follow the talk in the Grand Hall adjacent to the Auditorium. Dr. Nelson's lecture will be informative and interesting as he explores the use of simulation for data driven decisions, a topic relevant to both ISE and Statistics. As Dr. Nelson emphasizes in his abstract, his talk will be accessible to audiences of all levels in adjacent fields. Feel free to circulate this flyer to your network since there is a virtual attendance option. If you are teaching, please consider posting on your Canvas site to encourage both undergraduate and graduate students to attend. Please click on this link https://aimsbbis.vt.edu/MontgomeryLecture2025 <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faimsbbis. vt.edu%2FMontgomeryLecture2025&data=05%7C02%7Cmayer2%40vt.edu%7C99c7abaeb5fd 4de4b6c808dd451b211a%7C6095688410ad40fa863d4f32c1e3a37a%7C0%7C0%7C6387427050 38104151%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCI sIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=t2ZTU7n 8Lki6JCg7O%2B%2FB0ReIpyMFXgOSRe2Ej4fowtU%3D&reserved=0> to be taken to the registration page for the seminar and reception immediately following. We look forward to your participation. The registration form is managed through Advancement and will require you to "check out". There is no fee for this event. Make sure you designate in person or virtual attendance. In person attendees will be included in the reception headcount. Virtual attendees will receive the webinar link. You will be asked if you would like to give to the Department of Statistics or the Grado Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering at checkout but there is no obligation to do so. You can simply click on Not Today and continue the registration process if you choose not to give. For those of you who may not know, Dr. Montgomery is a Virginia Tech alum in ISE (a triple Hokie!). He is a prolific researcher whose work is largely on the statistical side of ISE in the areas of experimental design, regression, and quality control. He is a longtime collaborator with many VT Statistics Department faculty, friends, and alums. We are fortunate to have him generously sponsor this series that brings our two departments together. Thanks so much for supporting this event with your attendance! Best, Jen <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faimsbbis. vt.edu%2FMontgomeryLecture2025&data=05%7C02%7Cmayer2%40vt.edu%7C99c7abaeb5fd 4de4b6c808dd451b211a%7C6095688410ad40fa863d4f32c1e3a37a%7C0%7C0%7C6387427050 38124097%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCI sIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=VAewBp9 RvkapB%2BKwPLC8JK3e%2FLIHK8p4wiIvlPj%2Fxog%3D&reserved=0> Jennifer H Van Mullekom, PhD Director of SAIG Statistical Applications and Innovations Group www.saig.stat.vt.edu <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.saig.s tat.vt.edu%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cmayer2%40vt.edu%7C99c7abaeb5fd4de4b6c808dd451b2 11a%7C6095688410ad40fa863d4f32c1e3a37a%7C0%7C0%7C638742705038140140%7CUnknow n%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIs IkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=RpGCDkZc99JkKShGKG0zODv6 nwtQCk39LruuDxH7bVE%3D&reserved=0> Professor of Statistical Practice Virginia Tech Department of Statistics 416B Hutcheson Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061 <mailto:vanmuljh@vt.edu> vanmuljh(a)vt.edu Click here to request a SAIG collaboration <https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsaig.stat .vt.edu%2Fsaig-services%2Frequest-saig-consultation.html&data=05%7C02%7Cmaye r2%40vt.edu%7C99c7abaeb5fd4de4b6c808dd451b211a%7C6095688410ad40fa863d4f32c1e 3a37a%7C0%7C0%7C638742705038156684%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiO nRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D% 7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=FW5IpvEhhWy%2FdeaV4tiAk55hK4Oc0UxTvUdSJP6NWd4%3D&reserved =0>

1 0

Invitation to respond to the form "Participation at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting (AAAS)"
by Barbara Micale (via Google Forms) 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

I've shared an item with you: Participation at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting (AAAS) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjD_EAp88Om4Nn2YBrbzO_ttK9X_ppk2e… It's not an attachment -- it's stored online. To open this item, just click the link above.

1 0