STEP Lecture Series is an initiative to bring interactive talks by distinguished researchers, academics, and entrepreneurs to universities in Pakistan via video conferencing. The series aims to help bridge the ‘knowledge divide’ by introducing students in Pakistan to the emerging trends and cutting edge research, and in the process, inspiring these students to take on challenging problems. The talks will also be recorded and made available on STEP website for later viewing.
The first talk in this series titled, New Approaches to Modeling and Control of Complex Dynamics, will be given by Dr. Adrien Treuille of Carnegie Mellon University on October 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM Pakistan Standard Time (9:30 AM EDT). The talk will be streamed live to LUMS Department of Computer Science, Mil College of Signals (MCS), and Air University. Below is the abstract of the talk and a short biography of Dr. Treuille.
Title: New Approaches to Modeling and Control of Complex Dynamics
When: October 15, 2009 at 7:30 PM Pakistan Standard Time.
Where: LUMS Department of Computer Science, Mil College of Signals, and Air University
Abstract: Complex phenomena such as animal morphology, human motion, and large fluid systems challenge even our most sophisticated simulation and control techniques. 
My overarching research goal has been to develop fundamentally new methods to approach such high-dimensional and nonlinear problems. This talk presents my work solving these problems across a wide range of phenomena, including a new model-reduction approach to fluids that is orders-of-magnitude faster than standard simulation methods and enables interactive high-resolution fluid simulation for the first time.
Another example is a continuum approach to crowd dynamics which efficiently reproduces empirical aspects of large crowd behavior that would be difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional agent models. The talk will also cover work on several other phenomena including human animation, animal morphology, and protein folding. Such new algorithmic approaches advance not only our ability to simulate and control complex systems but also our understanding of the systems themselves.
About the Speaker: Adrien Treuille is an Assistant Professor in the computer graphics group at Carnegie Mellon University. 
He received his PhD under Zoran Popovic in the computer graphics group at the University of Washington, and was a postdoc in the Baker Group under Zoran Popovic and David Baker. He was one of the creators of Foldit, the computer game where users contribute to science by folding proteins. He pursues research in the simulation and animation of very high-dimensional nonlinear phenomena like animal morphology, human motion, and large fluid systems. One thread of his research addresses the complexity of such systems by developing model reduction tools that generate compact representations. A complementary thread seeks to control such systems, which means learning to set inputs to produce desired effects. He is also deeply interested in the implications for science and engineering of these techniques, from fluid dynamics to laying down a joint cognitive and biomechanical basis for animal motion. Dr. Treuille was recently
named one of the top 35 innovators under the age of 35 by MIT Technology Review.
Image credits: http://grail.cs.washington.edu/projects/model-reduction/ and http://www.technologyreview.com/TR35/Profile.aspx?TRID=818
Please visit NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi too sometime.