Research Seminars - 2019

 L E C T U R E  S E R I E

Monday, Jan 7: No meeting.

Monday, Jan 14 - First Meeting
Introduction to the PIRE program (Prof. Janos Sztipanovits). 10 min. Discussion of internships in Germany and at Vanderbilt. Decision timeline and process.  Introduction to societal dimensions of emerging technologies (Prof. David Hess). 5 minutes.  Brief presentation by one of the interns from 2018. 5 minutes. Questions and answers.

Monday, Jan 21: No meeting.
Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday.

Monday, Jan 28: EU and US Privacy Regulations for the Smart Grid and Connected Vehicles.
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation by Magdalena Sudibjo, PhD candidate, sociology.  
Reading: M. Sudibjo, “Ethics of Smart Meters and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: Privacy Regulations in the U.S. and the European Union.” You should read it before the class.  We will have a web site for you to turn in your notes on the reading (about 100-200 words) to show that you completed the reading before the class.  
Part 2: Discussion of privacy challenges with emerging technologies.

Monday, Feb. 4: Privacy by Design: How to Embed Privacy Goals in Software Design.  
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation on System-Level Design Under Confidentiality and Integrity Constraints by Prof. Janos Sztipanovits with possible guest appearance from VUMC faculty.
Part 2. Discussion of reading: Reading by H. Nissenbaum? (2018). Respecting context to protect privacy: why meaning matters. Science and Engineering Ethics 24: 831-852. Turn in notes on the reading before class.

Monday, Feb 11: Consumer Organizations and Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation by Prof. David Hess.  
Part 2. Discussion of reading: Statement of Catherline Chase, President of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, on “Innovation in Surface Transportation,” Submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Sept. 5, 2018. Turn in notes on the reading before class.

Monday, Feb 18: Driver Control, Traffic Control, and Traffic Stability.
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation on Control of Traffic Composed of Humans and Automated Vehicles by Prof. Dan  Work.  
Part 2. Discussion of reading: TBA. Turn in notes on the reading before class. 

Monday, Feb 25: Autonomy and Safe Artificial Intelligence: Submarine Vehicles.
Part 1. Presentation on Autonomy and Safe Artificial Intelligence: Topics and Challenges by Professor Gabor Karsai.
Part 2. Discussion of reading: see list here. Turn in notes on the reading.

Monday, March 4: No meeting.
Spring break.

Monday, March 11: Security, Adaptive Cruise Control, Traffic Lights, and Dynamic Routing.
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation by Professor Xenofon Koutsoukos.
Part 2: Demonstration of the simulation project.

Monday, March 18: On-road Regulation of Autonomous Test Vehicles: A Comparative Perspective.
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation by Dasom Lee, Ph.D. candidate, Sociology.
Part 2. Discussion of reading: TBA. Turn in notes on the reading before class.  Selection of articles for presentation on March 25.

Monday, March 25: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Societal Issues.  
In this class we will have you find one article on the topic (see out web site for readings), then make a short (3 minute) summary.  Possible readings are here.

Monday, April 1: Introduction to Smart Meters and Transactive Energy.  
Part 1: Overview of smart meters and public acceptance issues, Prof. David Hess.  Part 2: Introduction to transactive energy, by Prof. Janos Sztipanovits or Himanshu Neema. Discussion of reading: Gridwise Transactive Energy Framework, chs. 3 and 4 (pp. 11-37). Turn in notes on the reading.

Monday, April 8: Modeling Transactive Energy and Pricing.  
Part 1. Summary of research: presentation by Prof. Himanshu Neema. Part 2. Discussion of reading: TBA. Turn in notes on the reading.

Monday, April 15: Presentations by students.  
Upload slides to the course site in powerpoint so that they are available for presentation. This is a five-minute presentation and a short review of one article on a social or human factors issue as it relates to transactive energy, connected and autonomous vehicles, or unmanned aerial vehicles. You may want to look at one of the policy documents or other articles on the web site. Discuss what the social or human factor issue is, what software design challenges are faced, and what some possible solutions are.

Monday, April 22: Presentations continued.