Nemertes [Next] Conference

Electronically Integrated Autonomous Microscopic Robots

What would we be able to do if we could build electronically integrated machines the at a scale of 100 microns? At this scale, semiconductor devices are small enough that we could put the computational power of the spaceship Voyager onto a machine that could be injected into the body. Such robots could have on board detectors, power sources, and processors that enable them to sense, interact, and control their local environment. This talk will describe several cutting edge technologies the Cohen Lab is developing to achieve this vision.

Bio

Professor Itai Cohen studies the physics of matter in motion. At Cornell, his research has focused on building microscopic robots, controlling the shear thickening behavior of microscopic and nanoscopic particles suspended in a fluid, exploring the mechanics of materials ranging from biological tissues to origami inspired metamaterials, discovering the aerodynamic and neuromuscular mechanisms used by insects during flapping flight, and determining how audiences at heavy metal concerts coordinate their movement. Understanding how emergent behaviors arise from the microscopic rules governing these systems remains one of the biggest challenges in Physics.

Professor Cohen received his BS in Physics from the University of California at Los Angeles, and his PhD in Physics from the University of Chicago. Following his graduate studies, he was a Post-doctoral fellow in Physics and the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University. In 2005 he joined Cornell and is currently a professor of Physics. Professor Cohen is an NSF Career grant recipient, he is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and is the recipient of the Kappa Delta Ann Doner Vaughn Award for his work on cartilage mechanics. He has served as a Feinberg and Braginsky fellow (2012) and the Rosi and Max Varon Visiting Professor at the Weizmann Institute (2021) and the van der Waals Visiting Professor at the University of Amsterdam (2022). He has published over 110 research articles, given nearly 300 invited seminars, colloquia and conference presentations, and co-authored the book Finding Your Research Voice: Story Telling and Theater Skills for Bringing Your Presentation to Life. His work has been covered by various outlets ranging from the BBC, to Scientific American, NPR, and the NYTimes.

Contrastive Local-Learning Neural Networks

Neural networks in the brain and artificial neural networks (ANNs) in silico are both able to learn complex functionalities. While each artificial neuron is updated based on global information, using a central processor (CPU) and memory, each real neuron in the brain updates itself without external CPU. This talk will describe laboratory realizations of such self-learning without use of CPU or memory. The experimental systems consist of a network of identical variable-resistive elements that self-adjust using a local rule based on the voltage drops they experience under contrastive boundary conditions. As such, they have many brain-like advantages over ANNs and enable study of learning as a bottom-up emergent process.

Bio

Douglas Durian obtained his A.B. degree in Physics from the University of Chicago in 1984 and his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Cornell University in 1989. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Exxon Research and Engineering, he joined the physics department at the University of California - Los Angeles in 1991. In 2004 he moved to the University of Pennsylvania, where he is now the Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is co-founder and associate director of the Penn Center for Soft and Living matter, is former chair of the APS Division of Soft Matter Physics, and is currently in the chair line of the APS Topical Group on Statistical and Nonlinear Physics.

Accurate, Secure Alternative to GPS Using Quantum Timing

For five decades, GPS has set the standard for global position, navigation and timing (PNT) and become foundational for our modern lives. But it's widespread availability has made it a target for malicious actors that are jamming and spoofing its weak signal. This talk will discuss a new alternative PNT architecture that leverages quantum timing technology that is orders of magnitude more accurate and secure, enabling 6G, self-driving vehicles, industrial robotics, and more efficient and resilient networks and power grids. A live hardware demo will show the technology's potential.

Bio

David Mitlyng is the CEO of Xairos, a startup building a global timing service to expand beyond GPS. David has three decades of experience in the space industry, including Hughes Space and Communications, Orbital, Maxar, and BridgeComm. David has a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Cal Poly SLO, a MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Crossing the Chasm in 2025: Innovating at the Pace of Technology

Bio

Embracing and Supporting Neurodivergence in the Workplace through Technology

This talk gives examples of exciting new technologies and platforms that are supporting the transition of autistic and other neurodiverse adults into independence and employment, supporting talented individuals into meaningful careers and helping employers better tap into the next-generation workforce.

Bio

Stassun holds the Stevenson chair in Astrophysics, and holds secondary appointments in Computer Science and in Management, at Vanderbilt University, where he was previously the recipient of an NSF CAREER award, a Cottrell Scholar award from the Research Corporation for Science Advancement, an HHMI Professor award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and a Ford Foundation Diversity Fellowship from the National Academy of Sciences. Stassun is a deputy lead investigator for NASA’s Ultraviolet Explorer (UVEX) mission, co-investigator for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, chairs the executive committee of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, serves on the National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board, and recently served on the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Steering Committee for Astronomy & Astrophysics. An elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Astronomical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi, and an elected Member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, his research on stars and exoplanets has appeared in more than 600 peer-reviewed journal articles, with an emphasis on developing new data-driven methods for making precise measurements of the fundamental physical properties of stars and planets. From 2004 to 2015, he served as founding director of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Masters-to-PhD Bridge Program, which has become one of the nation’s top producers of PhDs to underrepresented minorities in the physical sciences. Having trained more than fifty PhD students and postdoctoral scholars from diverse backgrounds, Stassun is a leader and advocate for broadening participation of individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM fields, especially underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. He has served on NSF’s Committee for Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering, chaired the American Astronomical Society’s Committee on Minorities, is a recipient of the American Physical Society’s Nicholson Medal for Human Outreach, has been named Mentor of the Year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and has been honored with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Stassun currently serves as founding director of the Frist Center for Autism & Innovation in Vanderbilt’s School of Engineering, focused on advancing science and engineering through the engagement and workforce development of autistic individuals and those with other forms of neurodiversity. In 2023, Stassun was appointed to a six-year term on the National Science Board by President Joseph R. Biden, and in 2024 was named a MacArthur Genius Fellow.

How to Do Ambitious Research in the Modern Era

Computers keep getting faster, but it's not clear that our experiences are getting better. It seems clear that there are major opportunities for improvement, but it's not clear how to address them. The golden age of large-scale, long-term government and corporate research funding is past. Universities are ill-positioned to influence industry, and startups are a vehicle for scaling technology into the market rather than a venue for developing it.

Ink & Switch is an independent, industrial research lab structured around solving important problems and creating maximal impact on our field. For almost a decade we've been experimenting and refining an approach to high-impact research on a modest budget. We'll talk about our mission, our research, and how our approach continues to evolve.

Bio

The Journey of Humans and AI: Insights from AI in Robotics and in Finance

Humans and AI both benefit when engaging symbiotically. This is true both for embodied AIs (robots) and those that operate solely in informational spaces like finance. In this talk, Dr. Veloso will discuss symbiotic autonomy by drawing on her career at CMU as a robotics researcher as well her current role leading JPMorganChase's AI initiative.

Bio

Manuela Veloso is Head of AI Research at JPMorganChase and Herbert A. Simon University Professor Emerita in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Veloso pursues research interests in core AI as AI robot and digital agents with perception, cognition, and action. She further aims at a seamless human-AI symbiotic interaction. Veloso is a member of the National Academy of Engineering for “her contributions to artificial intelligence and its applications to robotics and to the financial domain.” She is a past president of AAAI, and a co-founder of RoboCup. Veloso is a fellow of AAAI, IEEE, ACM, and AAAS. She has a BSc. and MSc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from IST, an MA in Computer Science from BU, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from CMU. Veloso has doctorate honorary degrees from the Catholic University of Portugal, University of Bordeaux, ISCTE, and University of Orebro. See www.cs.cmu.edu/~mmv for detailed information.

Fully Autonomous Robotic Surgery

Bio

Robert J. Webster III is the Richard A. Schroeder Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University. He received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Clemson University in 2002, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Johns Hopkins University in 2004 and 2007. In 2008, he joined the mechanical engineering faculty of Vanderbilt University, where he currently directs the Medical Engineering and Discovery Laboratory. He founded and serves on the steering committee for the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering, which brings together physicians and engineers to solve challenging clinical problems. He is the founder and President of Virtuoso Surgical, Inc. and EndoTheia, Inc. which are commercializing technologies invented in his laboratory, and have raised over $30M in private capital and grant funding, and received FDA Breakthrough Device designation. Prof. Webster's research interests include surgical robotics, medical device design, image-guided surgery, and continuum robotics. He is a recipient of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Career Award, the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the Robotics Science and Systems Early Career Spotlight Award, IEEE Volz award, and the award for Excellence in Teaching from Vanderbilt University. In addition to his primary appointment in Mechanical Engineering, he holds appointments at Vanderbilt in Electrical Engineering, Otolaryngology, Neurological Surgery, Urologic Surgery, and Medicine at Vanderbilt. Twelve of his prior trainees are now in faculty positions. He directs the Mid-South REACH Hub, a large NIH entrepreneurship center and was recently awarded an ARPA-H grant of up to $12 million for his collaborative project on transforming autonomous capabilities in surgical robots.