Events & Seminars

To provide in - depth practical knowledge about the various key research areas, IISc Banglore organized CSA Undergraduate Summer School from 4th July to 9th July 2016 at Banglore. Three students selected by IISc, Shweta Popli (16154), Deepesh (17046) and Riya Sharma (17119) from Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the summer school.

Day 1: 4th July 2016

The first day session began with the inaugural speech given by Dr. Jayant Harista, Chairman , CSA - IISc, in which he welcomed the students from all over India to the summer school. Thereafter Dr. Harista introduced IISc, CSA department and its organisation to the attendees of the summer school.

Proceeding the session, Mr. Saneem Ahmed, Software Engineer, IBM research, Bangalore (IISc Alumnus) discussed about “How to train your Computer: An Introduction to Machine Learning”, in which he covered several research areas such as Mathematics, algorithms related to Machine learning, its application, Image Innovation, Types of machine learning and introduction to MATLAB language. He explained the concepts of machine learning by a demo using MATLAB Language, along with the regression and different other algorithms.

Then, Dr. Srijit P.K., CSA discussed the tremendous rise of “Artificial Intelligence”. He gave a detailed introduction to Artificial Intelligence and focused on the various algorithms. The main algorithm discussed was the Monte Carlo Search Algorithm. He also explained the Darpa Challenge, Deepminds Alphago and the learning in Alpha Go.

The next session was taken by Dr. Ashish Mishra, CSA, in which he discussed about “Lambda Calculus: The Core of Functional Programming Languages”. He illustrated Program Language spectrum, along with Declarative and the High order function, CBV operational semantics and Encoding of the programs. Later, Dr. Arshad Nabeel, CSA explained the use of Data and Computation for understanding the brain function and discussed about the Human brain, Connectomics, Modeling connect and Graph theory.

Dr. Parrtha Pratim Talukdar, Assistant Professor, CSA took a last session on “From Big Text to Big Data”, in which he explained about the background knowledge in the area and moved further to explain the explosion of unconstructed text data and knowledge harvesting from the unconstructed data. Dr. Talukdar also covered Nell’s never ending language learning, Nell’s Knowledge fragment and Nell’s Growth over time. Then, Dr. Sidharth Barman, Assistant Professor CSA introduced the game theory: players, actions and equilibria and explained this concept using example of auction like Stable Matching, two player game and three player game.

Day 2: 5th July 2016

The first session of day 2 was conducted by Dr. Manjunath Krishnapur, Associate Professor, Mathematics, IISc in which he introduced “Advanced probability and statistics”. Dr. Krishnapur explained differences between the two terms by defining Probability as the study of chance and statistics as handling data using different analysis techniques and collection methods.

Then, Mr. Rohith D. Vallam, Research Engineer, IBM Research, Bangalore (IISc Alumnus) took a session on Mechanism design, which is a field in economics and game theory that takes an engineering approach for designing economic mechanisms or incentives towards desired objectives in strategic settings where players act rationally. Mr. Vallam also made the participants familiar to the concept of reverse game theory.

After the session of Mr. Vallam, there was a Student Presentation session. The participants presented their respective project topics. Shweta, Deepesh and Riya from Dronacharya College of Engineering also presented their project work based on Artificial Intelligence.

Continuing the session, Dr. Sindhu Padakandla Raghuthama, IISc gave a brief on “Introduction to Reinforcement Learning”. Dr. Raghuthama discussed the problems faced due to generality which are studied in many other disciplines, such as game theory, control theory, operations research, information theory, simulation - based optimization, statistics, and genetic algorithms. Then, Dr. Saravanan K, ME, CSA held a discussion on “Introduction to Approximations Algorithms” which are used to find approximate solutions to optimization problems. Approximation algorithms are often associated with NP - hard problems; since it is unlikely that there can ever be efficient polynomial - time exact algorithms solving NP - hard problems, one settles for polynomial - time sub - optimal solutions.

In the end, Dr. Vijay Natarajan, Associate Professor, CSA explained about “Scientific Visualization: From Data to Insight”. He introduced the topic by providing the motivation in the form of applications, visualization methods and algorithms, outlining some of the current research challenges and finally presenting a summary of related ongoing research work in IISc Bangalore. Later a lecture on Gate Preparation was given by Mr. Manish Kesarwani, Research Engineer, IBM Research, IISc Bangalore, in which he enlightened the participants with tips for GATE preparation.

Day 3: 6th July 2016

Third day began with a lecture on Linear Algebra by Dr. Manjunath Krishnapur , IISC, in which he gave a brief “Introduction to linear algebra” and solved various questions. In his lecture, he also covered topics like determinants, spanning tree, Kirchoff's theorem and Cayley’s theorem. After that, Dr. Snigdha Athaiya, CSA introduced Mathematical Modelling using Alloy by stating that a mathematical model is developed using regression analysis technique for prediction of wear behaviour of the MMC and adequacy of the model. She also covered topics like conceptual modelling, ally, preliminaries and first order logic.

Then, explaining about the concepts of Geometric Graphs, Dr. Sathish Govindrajan, Associate Professor, CSA covered several topics such as problems of graphs, interval graphs and their applications, Helly’s theorem and proximity graphs. After that, Dr. Shambuddha Roy, Staff Data Scientist, LinkedIn, Bangalore introduced Puzzles and Games with relation to simple inequality and explained inequality using example.

In the last session Mr.Aditya Gopalan, Assistant Professor, ECE, IISc gave lecture on “TBA” He explained online learning of sequential decision making.

Day 4: 7th July 2016

On the fourth day, a session on “Optimization” was taken up by Dr. Arun Raj Kumar, Research Scientist, Xerox Research Centre (IISC Alumnus), in which he discussed that mathematics, computer science and operations research, mathematical optimization is the selection of a best element from some set of available alternatives. Dr. Kumar covered various topics such as linear programming, combinatorial optimization and Matriol theory.

Then, Dr. Yogesh Simmhan, Assistant Professor, CDS, explained “Scalable Systems for Data Science” He introduced the fundamental systems aspects of big data platforms, velocity, veracity, map reduction and explained how these platforms can be used to build large - scale data intensive applications.

After that, Dr. Rajesh Sundareshan, Associate Professor, ECE IISc took a lecture on “The Duckworth - Lewis Method” which is a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. Dr. Sundeareshan covered various areas like run production function and resource sharing by giving an example.

Mr. Ojha, CSA and Dr. Chandrahas Deewangan, CSA conducted a demo talk on “Knowledge Representation and Inference” In this session they gave a demo on how vectors perform. They covered areas like Natural language processing, knowledge reference and image correctness.

Then, a lecture on “Page Rank” was taken by Dr. Divya Padmanabhan, CSA, which is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine results. She also explained various basics like vectors and matrix multiplication. Dr. S.P. Arun, Associate Professor, CNS inspired the participants with a lecture questioning such as “Can Machines learn to see like us” ? He gave an introduction to machine learning and covered different areas such as what detector sees miserable life of a detector, the size and problem which is to be observed.

In the end, Dr. Vinayak Pandit, Research Staff Member, IBM, Bangalore took a session on “Basic probability techniques in used in computer science”, in which he introduced various applications in computer science. He covered different topics in his talk like sampling, model building, estimation, regression analysis and data mining.

Day 5: 8th July 2016

On the fifth day, Dr. R. Govindrajan, Professor and Chairperson, SERC started with a lecture on “Research Issues in Memory Hierarchy for Multicore Architectures”. In which he explained memory hierarchy and Multicore architectures and a new problem in parallel computing, namely, the management of hierarchical parallel caches.

Then, Dr. Koyal Mukerjee, Senior Research Scientist, Xerox Research Center, Bangalore engaged the participants in the discussion of Algorithms and Optimization: The Essential Tools of Life. He gave an introduction to the Stochastic Optimizations Algorithms which become essential tools in solving a wide range of difficult and critical optimization problems.

A session on the topic “if Chaos is Impossible” was taken up by Dr. Aniket Basu Roy, CSA, in which he discussed that Chaos theory is the field of study in mathematics that studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, a response popularly referred to as the butterfly effect.

During the Faculty Interaction session, Mr. Partha Pratim Talukdar, Mr. Jayant R.Haritsa, Mr. Vijay Narasjan, Ms. Bhavana Kanukurthi, Mr. Siddhartha Barman, Mr. Yogesh Simmhan, Mr. Chiranjib Bhattacharya interacted with the participants and discussed several career options and the opportunities provided in IISc.

Continuing the session, a demo talk on “Scalable Big Data Platforms” was taken up by Mr. Ravikant Dinokar, CDS, in which he gave an introduction to HADOOP: WORDCOUNT to facilitate massive storage for any kind of data with enormous processing power and the ability to handle virtually limitless concurrent tasks or jobs.

“Symmetry in Scalar Fields” was explained by Dr. Talha Bin Masood, CSA where he introduced Scalar Field Theory and elaborated on scalar quantum fields. Dr. Arvind Ayyer, Assistant Professor, Mathematics, IISc delivered a lecture on Counting, Tilling and Domino Tilling which is a tessellation of the region by dominos, shapes formed by the union of two unit squares meeting edge - to - edge.

A topic “Introduction to Cryptography” was discussed by Dr. Bhavana Kanukurthi, Assistant Professor, CSA, in which she started with simple Cesar’s cryptography to end in other algorithms for encrypting data.

In the end, a lecture on Drawing out the Artistic Talents of Database Query Optimizers was delivered by Dr. Jayant Haritsa, Chairman, CDS, CSA, in which he explained the areas of Relational Selectively Space, Relation Selectivity, Plan Cost and Card Diagrams. He introduced Picasso which is a Java tool that, given an n-dimensional SQL query template and a choice of database engine, automatically generates plan, cost and card diagrams.

Day 6: 9th July 2016

On the sixth and last day, a session on “Directed Test Generation to Detect Loop Inefficiencies” was held by Dr.Monika Dhok, CSA, in which she introduced graphs, event loops and event handlers. After that, a lecture on “Compressed Sensing meets Information Technology” was given by Dr. Chandra Murthy, Associate Professor, ECE,IISc. He introduced Compressed Signal, its uniqueness and its recoverability. He also explained Recovery methods like Sequential Memory Allocation, Point Recovery Methods, Recovery Algorithms, Linear, Convex Optimization, Breakthrough and Just Relax Methods.

A Tech Quiz was held under the guidance of Mr. Prince Jain, ME, CSA and Mr. Raghav Sood ME, CSA. The quiz contained general questions related to knapsack problem, probability, coding and many more. After the final round of the quiz, winners were awarded with the prizes.

During the valediction, Dr. Swapnil Dhamal, CSA made the participants familiar with the opportunities provided at CSA .The CSA summer training was concluded, leaving a positive impact on all the students who enthusiastically attended the summer school from all parts of India. It was a knowledgeable experience, where students found many research related opportunities, and introduction to new concepts, which would surely help them in their project areas.

Some Glimpses: