Lectures & Workshops

Mr. Roger Nichols
Retired Engineering Manager of Keysight Technologies

Salazar Hall 2009A
Thursday, September 4, 2025

Abstract: “Roger, it’s Just Test Equipment”: Lessons From Four Decades of Engineering 1985: the year introducing both Microsoft Windows and the GNU Manifesto; 2025: the year of GPT4.5 and injectable pacemakers. This talk is for those entering or about to enter the technical fields. It will focus on a few lessons learned in those intervening four decades. The lens and perspective are from a career not in one of the big visible tech firms, but in the technology of measurement and numerical analysis. Such has allowed a small-town boy to get direct and more objective exposure to wider variety of some of the more visible technical innovations of those forty years.

Bio: Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1985 and worked in design and measurement technology with focus on the mobile wireless industry ever since. He spent the last ten years of his career as the 5G, and then 6G Program Manager for Keysight Technologies, Inc. ; and for the last four years of his career he was a member of the FCC Technological Advisory Council. He worked on every wireless generation since 1G doing engineering and management of projects, programs, and departments, in R&D, marketing, and manufacturing as part of Hewlett-Packard, Agilent, and Keysight.

Mr. Andy Hulse
Principal Engineer, Research and Development, Viavi Solutions, Inc.

Salazar Hall 2009A
Thursday, September 18, 2025

Bio: Andrew has been active in the thin-film optics industry since the late 1990’s, and in that time has had many roles in the production, development, design and automation of thin film manufacturing. He has worked in telecommunications, sensing, and laser applications, and is particularly proud of his work on the MicroNIR spectrometer. Andrew received his BS and MS in electrical and computer engineering from UC Davis.

Dr. Mahmoud Noorchashm
Retired MTS, AT&T Bell Laboratories

Salazar Hall 2009A
Thursday, October 2, 2025

Abstract: Expedition in pursuit of protection, exposed humans to a mysterious phenomenon in nature, electricity. His strong sense of curiosity enabled him to develop an understanding along with technology that became an essential part of his life support.

In this talk we pursue the discovery, progress in understanding, and engineering of electricity in various fields.

Bio: Dr. Mahmood Noorchashm has been active in Network Performance Research and Standards at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He has also done significant work in Neural Network design and simulation. His main interest after retirement has been in Neuroscience and AI. He taught at Penn State, Abadan Institute of Technology and Pahlavi University in Iran. He earned his M.Sc. and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Dr. Mohsen Attaran
CSU Bakersfield, CA

Salazar Hall 2009A
Thursday, October 16, 2025

Abstract: This presentation explores the rise of “God-like AI”—ultra-intelligent systems with capabilities that could surpass human cognition and decision-making. It highlights how rapid advances in artificial general intelligence (AGI), machine learning, and neural networks may lead to the creation of autonomous entities that can influence economies, governments, and societal values. Drawing on insights from Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, and others, the talk examines potential benefits such as medical breakthroughs, climate solutions, and enhanced creativity. However, it also addresses risks including loss of human agency, algorithmic bias, mass surveillance, and existential threats. Ethical challenges, including value alignment, control mechanisms, and AI governance frameworks, are discussed. Ultimately, the presentation calls for proactive policy, interdisciplinary collaboration, and inclusive global dialogue to ensure that God-like AI serves humanity rather than dominates it.

Bio: Dr. Mohsen Attaran is an award-winning professor, researcher, and entrepreneur. A Ph.D. graduate in Systems Science from Portland State University, he is the 2004–05 Millie Ablin Outstanding Professor of Management at California State University, Bakersfield. He has authored over 140 peer-reviewed papers, four books, and ten commercial software packages, with nearly 10,000 citations. His work has appeared in top-tier journals, including Journal of Business Research, Information & Management, and Harvard Business Review.

Dr. Attaran has served as an international educator, consultant to Fortune 1000 companies, and president of a national educational institute. He is the founder of IES, Inc., a web and mobile development firm that has supported thousands of nonprofits and businesses for over 25 years. He also launched several ventures in telehealth and digital innovation. Recognized with multiple teaching and service awards, he was named Emeritus in 2019 for his contributions to academia and the global community.

Dr. Mohsen Shahinpoor

Salazar Hall 2009A
Thursday, November 6, 2025

Abstract: Discussed are Ionic Polymer Conductor Nano-Composite Materials (IPMCs and IPCNCs) as Distributed Nanosensors, Nanoactuators, Nanotransducers, Energy-Harvesters, and Artificial Muscles. The fundamental theories are discussed, and several video demonstrations of ionic polymer-metal nano-composites and artificial soft, biomimetic robotic muscles are presented. Some biomedical applications are also discussed.

Bio: Professor Mohsen Shahinpoor has served as a Chaired Professor and Professor Emeritus and Research Director at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Maine College of Engineering. He has also served as the Richard C. Hill Chaired Professor and Professor of Biomedical Science and Engineering at the University of Maine. He has also served as director of the Advanced Robotics Laboratory, which focuses on Smart Materials, Artificial Muscles, Tissue Engineering, Manufacturing, and Advanced Biomedical Engineering and Robotic Surgery, at the University of Maine. He is also actively involved in research and development in biomimetics, soft and flexible robotics, as well as humanoid robots, smart biomimetic wearable robotic braces, electroactive materials, artificial muscles, and ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) as soft sensors and actuators. He has also been active in promoting biomimetic humanoid robots equipped with human-like consciousness and digital immortality for the future.

Dr. Ian Davidson
Professor of Computer Science, University of California - Davis

Salazar Hall 2009A
Thursday, November 20, 2025

Abstract: It is inevitable that AIs will soon be making many life-altering decisions on us. Because of this, we need to ensure their behavior is guided by human values—a challenge widely known as the AI Alignment problem. I'll discuss our work on fairness and explanation alignment, presenting both theoretical and experimental results developed with collaborators, particularly our medical center. Our research has focused on classic tasks like outlier detection, classification and clustering for images, as well as more recent work involving large language models. Underlying this research is a common fundamental set of questions of how to encode constraints and extract constraints into/from deep learning. I'll conclude by discussing the need to explore alignment beyond fairness.

Bio: Prof. Ian Davidson has been a Professor of Computer Science and the University of California - Davis since 2007. In the 2000s he focused on adding constraints to machine learning algorithms particularly clustering, in the 2010s he focused on tensor decomposition and transfer learning. After a 2018 sabbatical stay in France (where someone asked him what was the ethical implications of his work) he has focused on making AIs more ethical. He also works with domain experts to apply his work to problems of social significance in particular neuroscience applications. This work is funded by gifts from Google and Intel and grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF), The Office of Naval Research (ONR) and The National Institute of Health (NIH).