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The Department of Computer Science
of Colorado State University, in cooperation with ISTeC
(Information Science and Technology Center), offers the CS
Colloquium series as a service to all who are interested
in computer science. When in-person meetings are possible, most seminars are scheduled for
Monday 11:00AM -- 11:50AM in CSB 130. For help finding the locations of our seminar
meetings, consult the on-line CSU campus map. |
Upcoming Events
CS Colloquium Schedule, Fall 2026
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Introduction to the Graduate Program Speaker: Sudipto Ghosh, Professor and Graduate Director, Computer Science Department When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday August 24, 2026  Abstract: Dr. Ghosh introduces the Computer Science graduate program at CSU. Bio: Dr. Sudipto Ghosh is a Professor of Computer Science at Colorado State University with an affiliate appointment in Systems Engineering. He is also the Graduate Program Director of the Computer Science Department. He received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in 2000. His research interests are in software engineering (design and testing) and computer science education. He is on the editorial boards of Software and Systems Modeling, Software Quality Journal, and Information and Software Technology. Previously he was on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Reliability and Journal of Software Testing and Reliability. He was a general co-chair of MODELS 2009 (Denver) and Modularity 2015 (Fort Collins). He was a program co-chair of ICST 2010 (Paris), DSA 2017 (Beijing), ISSRE 2018 (Memphis), ISEC 2024 (Bangalore), and QRS 2024 (Cambridge). He has served on program committees of multiple conferences. He is a member of the ACM and a Senior Member of the IEEE. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium How to Succeed in the CS Graduate Program Speaker: Sudipto Ghosh, Professor and Graduate Director, Computer Science Department When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday August 31, 2026 Abstract: Continuation of the lecture from Aug 24 Bio: Dr. Sudipto Ghosh is a Professor of Computer Science at Colorado State University with an affiliate appointment in Systems Engineering. He is also the Graduate Program Director of the Computer Science Department. He received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in 2000. His research interests are in software engineering (design and testing) and computer science education. He is on the editorial boards of Software and Systems Modeling, Software Quality Journal, and Information and Software Technology. Previously he was on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Reliability and Journal of Software Testing and Reliability. He was a general co-chair of MODELS 2009 (Denver) and Modularity 2015 (Fort Collins). He was a program co-chair of ICST 2010 (Paris), DSA 2017 (Beijing), ISSRE 2018 (Memphis), ISEC 2024 (Bangalore), and QRS 2024 (Cambridge). He has served on program committees of multiple conferences. He is a member of the ACM and a Senior Member of the IEEE. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Faculty Lightning Talks - I Speaker: CS Faculty When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday September 14, 2026 Abstract: Faculty present brief talks on their research activities. Bio: Nikhil Krishnaswamy, Ravi Mangal, Fabio De Abreu Santos, Shrideep Pallickara, Sangmi Pallickara, Ewan Davies, Indrakshi Ray, Indrajit Ray |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Faculty Lightning Talks - II Speaker: CS Faculty When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday September 21, 2026 Abstract: Faculty present brief talks on their research activities. Bio: Bruce Draper, Aparna Bharati, McKenna McCall, Mohammed Arefin, Juspreet Singh Sandhu, Viktoria Koscinski, Sarath Sreedharan |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Faculty Lightning Talks - III Speaker: CS Faculty When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday September 28, 2026 Abstract: Faculty present brief talks on their research activities. Bio: Bianca Trinkenreich, Francisco Ortega, Carlos Ortiz Marrero, Vinayak Prabhu, Asa Ben Hur, Sanjay Rajopadhye, Marcia Moraes, Yashwant Malaiya, Sudipto Ghosh |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Algorithms for random landscapes Speaker: Juspreet Singh Sandhu, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday October 5, 2026 Abstract: How can the geometry of a random energy landscape be turned into an algorithm that computes on it? To understand this, I will begin by overviewing the geometry of the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick spin glass, developed over the last 50 years. We will overview the Guerra interpolation and the Parisi formula, which provide a precise description of the free energy, and discuss how the overlap-structure approach explains why a hierarchy of states emerges. I will then "operationalize" this geometry into algorithms for optimization and sampling, discussing the potential Hessian ascent (PHA) program, which uses this geometry to design stochastic dynamics. In the final part, we will turn to quantum versions of the same model and discuss various open questions. These include: can we efficiently optimize such models? What is the geometry of entangled states like? Can we develop a rigorous understanding of their eigenvalues and connect it to field theories? Bio: I am an assistant professor in the department of computer science at Colorado State University. My research focuses on algorithmic and mathematical problems at the intersection of probability theory, non-commutative analysis and mathematical physics. Before this, I was a post-doctoral scholar at UC Santa Cruz hosted by Prof. Alexandra Kolla. I earned my Ph.D. in Computer Science from Harvard University advised by Prof. Peter Love and Prof. Boaz Barak. During my Ph.D. I visited Prof. Luca Trevisan at Bocconi University. Prior to graduate school, I was a software engineer at Kensho, Inc. in the graph-infrastructure team. I hold a B.S. in physics, with minors in mathematics and computer science, from UIUC. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Using CS Linux Infrastructure as a Graduate Student Speaker: Paul Hansen, Computer Science Systems and Network Administration When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday October 12, 2026 Abstract: The Systems and Network Administration (SNA) team will host an introductory knowledge session on using the Linux workstations and computing resources in the Computer Science department. This session is designed to help students become familiar with the department’s computing environment and gain the skills needed to work effectively. Participants will learn how to: · Access their login credentials and connect to departmental machines. · Locate and use information about available Linux resources, including workstations, clusters, and storage systems. · Find, install, and utilize software required for coursework and research. · Troubleshoot common issues and know where to seek technical support. To reinforce the concepts covered, a short assignment will be given that must be completed and submitted following the session. The session will conclude with an open Q&A, providing an opportunity to engage directly with the SNA team. Bio: The Systems and Network Administration (SNA) team supports the computing infrastructure of the Computer Science department. The team consists of two full-time staff members and two student assistants. Together, they are responsible for maintaining more than 650 workstations and dozens of servers that support research, teaching, and administrative activities within the department. The SNA team ensures the reliability, security, and efficiency of the department’s computing environment, enabling faculty, students, and staff to focus on their academic and research endeavors. Team Members · Paul Hansen – Lead Systems Administrator. Paul manages and leads the SNA team, overseeing operations and ensuring the stability and security of the department’s computing infrastructure. · Abhimanyu Chawla – Systems Architect. Abhimanyu designs, integrates, and maintains complex systems that support the department’s diverse computing needs. · Richi Rodriguez – Graduate Student. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Going for the Gold and Redefining Success: Building Your Student Research Portfolio, Winning National Awards, and The Importance of a Fail Forward Mentality for Innovation and Your Career Speaker: Rachel Masters, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday October 19, 2026 Abstract: As a student researcher there are many opportunities that can be difficult to navigate and sometimes even go unnoticed. With all of the options available, it is important to understand how to start building a portfolio that will help secure funding for your future research and education. Also, in an ever-evolving field where innovation is everything, learning how to fail is part of learning how to succeed. Cultivating a fail forward mindset is essential for professional development, but having a fail forward mindset is easier said than done. Understanding how to apply Design Thinking principles in your career not only helps drive informed innovation, it can also help transform failures into opportunities rather than frustrations. This presentation is designed to equip you with helpful information for breaking into doing research, building a research portfolio, securing funding both before and during graduate school, and most importantly, preparing you to apply for national awards. It also describes the five phases of design thinking and their application to research and education, then ties design thinking principles to the qualities of a fail forward mentality to illustrate the importance of handling failure productively in everyday work situations. Bio: Rachel Masters is a Ph.D. student in the Natural User Interaction Lab, where she designs VR nature environments to reduce stress and restore attention. Rachel was a Goldwater Scholar and ARCS Scholar who received her bachelor's in computer science with a minor in business administration and certificate in entrepreneurship from Colorado State University. She is currently an NSF GRFP fellow and an alumni of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, and her research group is hosting a Dagstuhl Seminar on her research topic in 2027. Rachel is passionate about connecting students to resources, mentoring students to grow in problem-solving skills, and has a general goal of making others as excited about innovation as she is. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium From Virtual Terrain to Virtual Decisions: Simulation and Research Opportunities with the Brazilian Marine Corps Speaker: Commander Raphael de Souza e Almeida, Ph.D., Brazilian Marine Corps Simulation Laboratory, CFN Institute of Technology and Innovation When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday October 26, 2026 Abstract: The Brazilian Marine Corps has been developing simulation technologies to support education, training, operational planning, and decision-making in complex environments. This presentation introduces the activities of the Brazilian Marine Corps Simulation Center and highlights two independent research and development projects. The first project is the Virtual Decision-Making Training Simulator (VDMTS), which provides scenario-based training where participants must assess evolving situations and experience the consequences of their decisions. Its ongoing development includes performance assessment by analyzing Galvanic Skin Resistance and Heart Rating, focusing on measuring user’s stress level. The second is the Virtual Terrain Study Simulator (VTSS), an immersive platform that integrates three-dimensional environments and geospatial data to support terrain analysis and mission planning. Its ongoing development includes applications involving landslide semantic segmentation using remote sensing images, flood modelling, and humanitarian assistance and disaster-response operations. Beyond presenting their current capabilities and research challenges, the talk proposes two potential partnerships between Colorado State University and the Brazilian Marine Corps: one centered on VTSS and geospatial disaster simulation, and another focused on VDMTS. Each collaboration is intended to produce a joint research project and a co-authored article targeting a top-tier peer-reviewed journal. The presentation concludes by identifying opportunities for professors, researchers, and students to contribute to these initiatives. Bio: Commander Raphael de Souza e Almeida is a Brazilian Marine and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science. He works with research, development, and application of simulation technologies within the Brazilian Marine Corps, particularly in immersive environments, geospatial simulation, artificial intelligence, decision-making training, and humanitarian assistance and disaster-response applications. His work includes the development of the Virtual Terrain Study Simulator (VTSS), as well as research involving remote sensing, three-dimensional terrain representation, flood simulation, and semantic segmentation. He also promotes cooperation between the Brazilian Marine Corps, universities, research institutions, and international partners to transform scientific research into operational simulation capabilities. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Human-Centric AI For Authentication and Authorization Speaker: Dr. Sudipta Banerjee (Assistant Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Wyoming) When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday November 2, 2026 Abstract: Artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly serves as the gateway between people and the digital world, mediating access through personalized electronic devices. Securing this gateway requires privacy-aware and robust access control that relies on two pillars: "authentication" (which verifies identity) and "authorization" (which governs permitted actions). My research advances AI-assisted algorithms that are robust, high-performing, and reliable, leveraging physiological signals such as face, iris, and fingerprint data. These algorithms support tasks including biometric authentication and age verification, while resisting attacks designed to circumvent security safeguards. In this talk, I will discuss three modality-specific strategies: (1) multimodal large language models for explainable forensic fingerprint analysis, (2) generative AI-guided makeup removal for accurate facial age estimation and (3) examining iris and periocular verification for virtual reality headsets. Bio: Dr. Sudipta Banerjee is currently appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at University of Wyoming, United States. Prior to that she was affiliated with New York University Tandon School of Engineering as a Research Assistant Professor in Computer Science and Engineering. She received her doctoral degree in Computer Science from Michigan State University. Her research focuses on biometrics, generative models, and image forensics. She has served as an Area Chair in IEEE FG 2026 and Program Chair in 11th International Conference on Computer Vision and Image Processing (CVIP 2026). Dr. Banerjee has organized the Special Session on Generative AI for Futuristic Biometrics at IEEE ⁄ IAPR International Joint Conference in Biometrics (IJCB) 2024. She has (co)-authored multiple research papers for peer-reviewed journals and presented her work at international conferences. She has received Best Paper Awards at IEEE International Conf. on Biometrics: Theory, Applications and Systems (BTAS) 2019, IAPR ⁄ IEEE-IWBF 2018 and IEEE-ISBA 2019. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium CS Graduate Program (contd) Speaker: Sudipto Ghosh, Professor and Graduate Director, Computer Science Department When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday November 9, 2026 Abstract: Continuation of the lecture from Aug 31 Bio: Dr. Sudipto Ghosh is a Professor of Computer Science at Colorado State University with an affiliate appointment in Systems Engineering. He is also the Graduate Program Director of the Computer Science Department. He received the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Purdue University in 2000. His research interests are in software engineering (design and testing) and computer science education. He is on the editorial boards of Software and Systems Modeling, Software Quality Journal, and Information and Software Technology. Previously he was on the editorial boards of the IEEE Transactions on Reliability and Journal of Software Testing and Reliability. He was a general co-chair of MODELS 2009 (Denver) and Modularity 2015 (Fort Collins). He was a program co-chair of ICST 2010 (Paris), DSA 2017 (Beijing), ISSRE 2018 (Memphis), ISEC 2024 (Bangalore), and QRS 2024 (Cambridge). He has served on program committees of multiple conferences. He is a member of the ACM and a Senior Member of the IEEE. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium AI-in-the-Loop for Maternal and Pediatric Health Speaker: Sriraam Natarajan, Distinguished Chair; Presidential Distinguished Fellow of AI; Professor and Director of the Foundational AI Institute and the Center for Machine Learning in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday November 16, 2026 Abstract: Deploying AI in high-stakes clinical settings demands more than predictive accuracy — it demands interpretability, trustworthiness, and meaningful collaboration between clinicians and algorithms. In this talk, I present our lab's work at the intersection of human-allied AI and healthcare, focusing on two clinical domains: adverse pregnancy outcomes and pediatric critical care. In the maternal health domain, we develop probabilistic and relational learning methods to predict pre-term birth, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and hypertension across diverse patient populations. Our models extract qualitative, clinician-verifiable rules from learned causal structures, enabling clinicians to interrogate and refine model knowledge rather than treat predictions as black boxes. In pediatric critical care, we address decision support for patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), where timely intervention is critical. We present causal Bayesian network models — guided by both structured EHR data and large language model-assisted knowledge — to predict neurological injury and cardiac events. Across both domains, our core message is that AI should function as a collaborative partner to clinical experts, not a replacement — augmenting human judgment while remaining transparent and correctable. Bio: Sriraam Natarajan is the Distinguished Chair; Presidential Distinguished Fellow of AI; Professor and Director of the Foundational AI Institute and the Center for Machine Learning in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is an AAAI Fellow, hessian.AI Fellow, and WSAI Distinguished Visiting Chair at IIT Madras. His research spans machine learning, statistical relational AI, reinforcement learning, graphical models, and biomedical applications. He has received multiple honors including the US Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, the President’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, multiple best paper awards, and several industry recognitions. He served as Program Co-Chair of AAAI 2024, SDM 2020, and ACM CoDS-COMAD 2020. He is an Associate Editor of the Machine Learning Journal, JAIR, and DAMI, an elected member of the AAAI Executive Council, and Secretary-Treasurer Elect of IJCAI. |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Speaker: Bianca Trinkenreich, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday November 30, 2026 Abstract: Bio: |
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Computer Science Department Colloquium Speaker: Mohammed Arefin, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University When: 11:00AM ~ 11:50AM, Monday December 7, 2026 Abstract: Bio: |
