Predictable Autonomy for Cyber-Physical Systems by Stanley Bak, Safe Sky Analytics

ABSTRACT: Cyber-physical systems combine complex physics with complex software. Although these systems offer significant potential in fields such as smart grid design, autonomous robotics and medical systems, verification of CPS designs remains challenging. Model-based design permits simulations to be used to explore potential system behaviors, but individual simulations do not provide full coverage of what the system can do. In particular, simulations cannot guarantee the absence of unsafe behaviors, which is unsettling as many CPS are safety-critical systems.

The goal of set-based analysis methods is to explore a system's behaviors using sets of states, rather than individual states. The usual downside of this approach is that set-based analysis methods are limited in scalability, working only for very small models. This talk describes our recent process on improving the scalability of set-based reachability computation for LTI hybrid automaton models, some of which can apply to very large systems (up to one billion continuous state variables!). Lastly, we'll discuss the significant overlap of techniques used for our scalable reachability analysis methods with set-based input/output analysis of neural networks.

BIO: Stanley Bak is a computer scientist investigating the predictable design of autonomous cyber-physical systems. He strives to develop practical formal methods that are both scalable and useful, which demands developing new theory, programming efficient tools and building experimental systems. He received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2007 (summa cum laude), and a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2009. He completed his PhD from the Department of Computer Science at UIUC in 2013. He received the Founders Award of Excellence for his undergraduate research at RPI in 2004, the Debra and Ira Cohen Graduate Fellowship from UIUC twice, in 2008 and 2009, and was awarded the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship from 2009 to 2013. From 2013 to 2018, Stanley was a Research Computer Scientist at the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), both in the Information Directorate in Rome, NY, and in the Aerospace Systems Directorate in Dayton, OH. He currently helps run Safe Sky Analytics, a research consulting company investigating verification and autonomous systems, and performs teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.
How Language Makes us Smart (without Big Data) presented by Charles Yang

Abstract: Language provides the glue that combines simpler concepts into complex ones. To study how language guides conceptual development, we need precise accounts of how rules are learned from the child's linguistic experience, which is extremely limited in comparison to the amount of data available to current machine learning methods. In this talk, I discuss a mathematical model of inductive generalization, which enables language learning with very small amount of data. Such a view of learning has strong implications for the cross-cultural/linguistic variation of development. As a case study, I show that Hong Kong children learning Cantonese, which has a relatively simpler formal counting system, develop understanding of symbolic numbers a full year ahead of English-learning children in the United States, which is precisely predictable from the learning model. The new conception of learning adds another wrinkle to the eternal question of how language and thought are related to each other.

Bio: Charles Yang studied at the MIT AI lab and now teaches linguistics, computer science and psychology and directs the Program in Cognitive Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books: The Price of Linguistic Productivity (2016 MIT Press) won the Leonard Bloomfield Award from the Linguistic Society of America. His honors include a Guggenheim fellowship.
Come learn of the exciting research being done across so many fields using AI! The recipients of AI3's seed awards will present their work in our showcase on November 17, 2025 and we would love to see you there!

The schedule is listed below.

Location: New Computer Science Room 120

Session 1 - 10:30 AM to 11:45

Kevin Reed, PI, Introducing the AI Techniques in Assessing the Future Changes of Extreme Precipitation and Associated Flood Risks
Co-PIs: Tangnyu Song, Ishrat Dollan
Consultant: Jayesh Rathi

Ruwen Qin, PI, AI-Assisted Analysis of Materials in Recycling Streams
Consultant: Vismay Vora

Giuseppe Gazzola, PI, Using AI to Investigate National Literatures: Italy, France, Spain 1733- 1794
Consultant: Jayesh Rathi

Joseph Lemelin, PI, IAE2^3: AI Ecologies
Co-PIs: Katherine Johnston, Aruna Balasubramanian, Matthew Salzano

Niranjan Balasubramanian, Co-PI, Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Data Analytics for Sustainable Cellulose Scaffolding Modifications to Remediate Diverse Water Contamination Challenges
PI: Benjamin Hsiao, Co-PI: I. V. Ramakrishnan

Owen Rambow, PI,Achieving Common Ground Through Language and Vision in Mixed-Initiative Human-Machine Communication Via zoom
Co-PI Susan Brennan

Session 2 - 12:30 PM to 1:45

Jack McSweeney, PI, Developing Machine Learning Approaches to Classify Internal Waves
Consultant: Vismay Vora

Eric Josephs, PI, Learning Design Rules to Personalize Precision CRISPR Gene Therapies with Interpretable AI
Consultant: Deboparna Banerjee

Shyam Sharma, PI, Fostering Writing-to-Learn Skills through Critical AI Literacy: A Faculty Development and Student Support Program
Co-PIs: Rose Tirotta-Esposito, Christine Fena

Ritwik Banerjee, PI, A Pragmatic Approach to AI for Digital Media Integrity: Combating Complex Misinformation Through Fallacies and Propaganda
Co-PI: Ruobing Li

Ziyu Shu, Co-PI, Novel Clinical Applications of Deep Image Prior-based CT Image Reconstruction
PI: Xin Qian, Co-PIs: Tiezhi Zhang, Zhaozheng Yin

Prateek Prasanna, Co-PI, An Artificial Intelligence-Driven Clinical Decision Support Tool for the Management of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm
PI: Apostolos Tassiopoulos, Co-PI's: Mary Saltz, Janos Hajagos, Tahsin Kurc



Presenters will give a 5-minute talk with 2 minutes for Q & A.

Get hands-on with data cleaning techniques using Python and AI tools. Join SBU Libraries' Data Literacies Lead, Ahmad Pratama, to learn how to identify and rectify errors, handle missing data, and prepare your dataset for analysis. This workshop introduces you to powerful yet easy-to-use tools and techniques that make data cleaning efficient and effective, turning chaotic data into valuable insights.

Please register for the Data Cleaning with Python and AI here.
Research challenges in using computer vision in robotics systems Abstract The past decade has seen a remarkable increase in the level of performance of computer vision techniques, including with the introduction of effective deep learning techniques. Much of this progress is in the form of rapidly increasing performance on standard, curated datasets. However, translating these results into operational vision systems for robotics applications remains a formidable challenge. This talk with explore some of the fundamental questions at the boundary between computer vision and robotics that need to be addressed. This includes introspection/self-awareness of performance, anytime algorithms for computer vision, multi-hypothesis generation, rapid learning and adaptation. The discussion will be illustrated by examples from autonomous air and ground robots.
Abstract: Autonomous systems, whether on Earth or in space, rely on 3D perception to understand and interact with the world around them. Yet traditional techniques for 3D understanding often depend on human designed features, fixed sensors, and conventional imaging modalities. This constrained approach can limit every stage of perception, from sensing to interpretation to decision making.
In this talk, we'll explore an alternative paradigm for imaging: physically based neural representations for 3D scenes and 3D sensing systems. We will discuss how recent advances in large scale learned representations can be used to jointly optimize both 3D scene models and the design of sensing systems for 3D capture, with the goal of enabling task specific perception systems.
Unlike modern AI models trained on internet scale datasets, these specialized 3D representations typically operate in data sparse regimes and therefore require a different kind of prior. We'll examine how grounding these learned representations in the physics of light transport can improve our understanding of scene structure, and inform imaging system design even with limited data. By connecting physical insights with learned representations, we'll highlight new possibilities for robust, efficient, and adaptive perception in challenging environments.

Speaker: Nikhil Behari is a graduate student in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab, advised by Professor Ramesh Raskar. His research interests include computational imaging, 3D scene understanding, and multi-agent decision-making under uncertainty, with a focus on automating imaging system design for 3D perception in human and planetary health. His research is supported by the NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellowship. He received his bachelor's in Computer Science and Statistics from Harvard University in 2022.

Join Klaus Mueller, professor of computer science and interim chair of the Department of Technology and Society, as he hosts Sucheta Lahiri.

Lahiri leads the AI Ethics and Risk Management function at Oxy, where she is responsible for ensuring that the company's AI solutions are developed and deployed in a manner that is ethical, efficient, trustworthy, safe, sustainable, and human-centered. She holds a doctorate from Syracuse University, along with two master's degrees in Applied Statistics and Information Science earned in India.

Zoom: https://stonybrook.zoom.us/j/7851507944?omn=98268154363#success