The Institute for Applied Computational Science at Harvard University is hosting a one day Symposium: Brain + Machines on Friday, January 22, 2016 to explore the frontiers of neuroscience and computer science. Speakers will address the question “What are the implications of our attempts to reverse engineer the brain?” from different perspectives such as scientific research, mental health, ethical, economic, computer science, and technology. Confirmed Speakers Include: David Cox, Harvard University Nancy Kanwisher, MIT John Leonard, MIT Jeff Lichtman, Harvard University Francesca Rossi, University of Padova Andreas Tolias, Baylor College of Medicine R. Jacob Vogelstein, IARPA (Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, US government) This symposium is free and open to the public.  Register Here. […]

The next WATCH Talk is this Thursday, January 15, 12:00-1:00pm EDT. Salil Vadhan will discuss Differential Privacy: Theoretical and Practical Challenges. Dr. Salil Vadhan is the Vicky Joseph Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics in the Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Director of the Harvard Center for Research on Computation and Society. His research area is theoretical computer science, specifically computational complexity, cryptography, and differential privacy. Abstract   Differential Privacy is framework for enabling the analysis of privacy-sensitive datasets while ensuring that individual-specific information is not revealed.  The concept was developed in a body of work in theoretical computer science starting about a decade ago.   […]