Centre for Networked Intelligence

Dear All, Networks Seminar, supported by the Centre for Networked Intelligence, is a technical discussion forum in topics including but not limited to computer networks, machine learning, signal processing, and information theory. The seminar series has a webpage hosted at https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/. You are invited to the following seminar held as part of this series. Title: A Sanov-type Theorem for Marked Sparse Random Graphs and its Applications Speaker: Prof. Sarath Yasodharan, Assistant Professor, IIT Bombay Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (IST) Date: 21 April 2026 Venue: GJ Hall and Online on Zoom Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83388976389?pwd=XcpO3GhLxsR14a7SVbPx33HQQa1jbt.1 Zoom Meeting ID: 833 8897 6389, Pass Code: NSSIISc Webpage Link: https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-04-21/ <https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-04-21/> Abstract: We prove a Sanov-type large deviation principle for the component empirical measure of certain families of sparse random graphs whose vertices are marked with i.i.d. random variables. Specifically, we show that the rate function can be expressed in a fairly tractable form involving suitable relative entropies. We illustrate two applications of this result: (i) we quantify probabilities of rare events in stochastic networks on sparse random graphs, and (ii) we study Gibbs conditioning principles given suitable rare events associated with the component empirical measure. This talk is based on joint work with I-Hsun Chen, Ivan Lee, and Kavita Ramanan. Bio: Sarath Yasodharan is an Assistant Professor in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science in 2022 and was a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University from 2022-2024. His research interests are broadly in applied probability. ALL ARE WELCOME. Thank you, CNI Seminar Series Organizing Committee.

Dear All, Networks Seminar, supported by the Centre for Networked Intelligence, is a technical discussion forum in topics including but not limited to computer networks, machine learning, signal processing, and information theory. The seminar series has a webpage hosted at https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/. You are invited to the following seminar held as part of this series. Title: How Do Models for Disease Spread Help Us Make Better Policies? Speaker: Prof. Gautam Menon, Professor, Ashoka University Time: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM (IST) Date: 27 April 2026 Venue: GJ Hall and Online on Zoom Tea/Coffee: 5:00 PM Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83388976389?pwd=XcpO3GhLxsR14a7SVbPx33HQQa1jbt.1 Zoom Meeting ID: 833 8897 6389, Pass Code: NSSIISc YouTube Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hb2pUw9vqw Webpage Link: https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-04-27/ <https://cni.iisc.ac.in/seminars/2026-04-27/> Abstract: As a scientist who models how infectious diseases spread, understanding the usefulness of models in helping frame better health policy is important to me. Some years ago, we began to develop BharatSim, India's first ultra-large-scale agent-based simulation, initially in the context of understanding COVID-19 spread. More recently, we've demonstrated the use of BharatSim in understanding specific questions of direct policy relevance: when to open schools in the background of a pandemic, what interventions might work in the case of a bird-flu spillover event into humans, the nature of a potential mpox epidemic as well as the control of typhoid spread in urban contexts. I'll talk broadly about the importance of good models and what should go into their construction, as well as provide illustrations from my own work, in particular BharatSim. Bio: Gautam Menon, currently a Professor of Physics and Biology at Ashoka University, Sonipat, was previously a Professor at the Theoretical Physics and Computational Biology groups of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai where he was also the Founding Dean of the Computational Biology group. He was Dean of Research at Ashoka University (2022-2025), an Adjunct Professor at TIFR, Mumbai (2019-2021) and a Visiting Professor at the Mechanobiology Institute of the National University of Singapore (2011-2013). He has been awarded the Swarnajayanti Fellowship of the DST, was named an Outstanding Research Investigator of the DAE-SRC, was selected as an Outstanding Referee of the American Physical Society and has been a Shastri Fellow of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (India). He is a Commissioner on the Lancet Commission on 'Strengthening the Use of Epidemiological Modelling for Emerging and Pandemic Infectious Diseases', a co-author of the recently published Lancet Commission on 'A Citizen-centred Health System for India', and a member of the WHO 'Technical Advisory Group on Embedding Ethics in Health and Climate Change Policy'. More Details: https://www.ashoka.edu.in/profile/gautam-menon-2/ ALL ARE WELCOME. Thank you, CNI Seminar Series Organizing Committee.