44th IEEE International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems (ICDCS 2024) Affiliated Workshop

Date: July 23, 2024 | Time: 9:00 AM– 12:00 PM, EST
Venue: Westin Jersey City Newport, New Jersey, USA

🕘 Schedule

Opening Remarks

Time: 9:00-9:05 AM
Speaker: Dr. Bing Luo

🎤 Dr. Luo will kick off the workshop with opening remarks, setting the tone for the day’s discussions.

Session 1: EECS (Electronic Engineering and Computer Science) Rising Star Invited Talks

Chair: Dr. Bing Luo
Time: 9:05-10:15 AM

Mechanism Design for Federated Learning

Invited Talk 1: Stability, Optimality, and Fairness in Federated Learning

Duration: 9:05-9:40 AM
Speaker: Kate Donahue
Bio: Kate Donahue is a sixth year computer science PhD candidate at Cornell advised by Jon Kleinberg. She works on algorithmic problems relating to the societal impact of AI such as fairness, human/AI collaboration and game-theoretic models of federated learning. She was awarded MIT EECS Rising Star in 2021, and her work has been supported by an NSF fellowship and recognized by a FAccT Best Paper award. During her PhD, she has interned at Amazon, Google, and Microsoft Research. In fall 2025, she will be starting as an assistant professor of CS at UIUC, and during the ‘24-‘25 academic year she will be a METEOR postdoc at MIT and a long-term participant in the Simons year on LLMs.  

Invited Talk 2: On the Effect of Defections in Federated Learning and How to Prevent Them

Duration: 9:40-10:15 AM
Speaker: Han Shao
Bio: Han Shao is a fifth-year Ph.D. student at Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago (TTIC), advised by Prof. Avrim Blum. Her research focuses on theoretical foundations of machine learning, with a specific focus on fundamental questions arising from human social and adversarial behaviors in the learning process. She is interested in understanding how these behaviors affect machine learning systems and developing methods to enhance accuracy/robustness. Additionally, she is interested in gaining a theoretical understanding of empirical observations concerning adversarial robustness. Her papers have been published at machine learning venues including NeurIPS, ICML, COLT, etc. She was awarded EECS Rising Star by Georgia Tech and Rising Star in Machine Learning by the University of Maryland in 2023. She will be joining the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland in Fall 2025 as an Assistant Professor. During the academic year 24-25, she will be a postdoc at Harvard.

Session 2: Contributed Talks

Chair: Yu Zhang
Time: 10:15-11:00 AM

Paper 1: Assessing Spillover Dynamics: A Diagonal BEKK GARCH Analysis

Duration: 10:15-10:30 AM

  • Author: Haoyang Yu (Duke Kunshan University)

Paper 2: Non-Linear Coded Computation for Distributed CNN Inference: A Learning-based Approach

Duration: 10:30-10:45 AM

  • Authors: Haoyu Wang, Yiyu Liu, Chunhui Xu, Xing Liu, Ming Tang (Southern University of Science and Technology)

Paper 3: Profit Maximization In Arbitrage Loops

Duration: 10:45-11:30 AM

  • Authors: Yu Zhang, Zichen Li, Tao Yan, Qianyu Liu, Nicolo Vallarano, Claudio Tessone (University of Zurich)

Session 3: Closing Keynote on the Future of Technology for Good

Chair: Dr. Luyao Zhang
Time: 11:00-11:55 AM

Metaverse Immersive Experience Empowered by GenAI and Web3

Duration: 11:00-11:10 AM

Keynote Talk by Ken Huang

Talk Title: Beyond Good: Can GenAI and Web3 Bridge the Gap to Real-World Impact?
Duration: 11:10-11:55 AM
Speaker: Ken Huang

Abstract:
The undeniable potential of AI for Good hinges on overcoming specific challenges within Generative AI (GenAI) and Web3. This closing keynote delves into the key obstacles that impede their application for societal benefit, specifically focusing on identity validation, security enhancements, reliable data sourcing, and the scalability and integration across platforms and ecosystems. We will explore the critical deficiencies in both GenAI and Web3, discussing innovative strategies to address these issues. The aim is to foster advancements in these technologies, enabling them to effectively contribute to the greater good. This presentation not only identifies the barriers but also emphasizes actionable solutions to bridge these gaps for a future where GenAI and Web3 can truly impact positive change.

Bio: Ken Huang is an acclaimed author of eight books on AI and Web3. He is the Co-Chair of the AI Organizational Responsibility Working Group and AI Control Framework at the Cloud Security Alliance. Huang also serves as Chief AI Officer at DistributedApps.ai. Furthermore, Huang has made significant contributions to key initiatives in the field. He is a core contributor to OWASP’s Top 10 Risks for LLM Applications and is actively involved in the NIST Generative AI Public Working Group. He also provides feedback on publications like NIST SP 800-226. Beyond authoring a Springer book on Generative AI Security, Huang serves as the chief editor of “Beyond AI: ChatGPT, Web3, and the Business Landscape of Tomorrow,” which explores the broad business impacts of generative AI and Web3 technologies. A sought-after speaker, Ken has shared his insights at prestigious global conferences, including those hosted by Davos WEF, ACM, IEEE, CSA AI Summit, CSA AI Think Tank Day, and the World Bank. His recent co-authorship of “Blockchain and Web3: Building the Cryptocurrency, Privacy, and Security Foundations of the Metaverse” has been recognized as a must-read by TechTarget in both 2023 and 2024. LinkedIn Books on Amazon Generative AI Application Security Testing and Validation Standard

Closing Remarks

Time: 11:55-12:00 PM
Speaker: Dr. Luyao Zhang

🎓 Dr. Zhang will provide the concluding thoughts, wrapping up the workshop.

🙌 Acknowledgments

Organizing Committee

by the alphabetical order of the last name

Program Committee:

The Tech4Good workshop’s program committee (PC) comprises diverse interdisciplinary experts at the nexus of economics and computation within distributed systems. They bring varied backgrounds, uniting to deliver deep insights and tangible impacts for social good. The committee’s role is to steer the workshop’s conversations, ensuring they cultivate technological advancements that are ethical, scalable, and profoundly impactful. Below is the PC name list in the alphabetical order of the last names.

  • Te Bao, Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
  • Wei Bao, Sydney University
  • Rafael Belchior, INESC-ID, Técnico Lisboa
  • Christophe Bisiere, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE)
  • Dave Costenaro, Chief Data Officer (CDO) at Cornerstone Solution Group (CSG), Founder at Build Well
  • Gabriele D’Angelo, University of Bologna
  • Ningning Ding, Northwestern University
  • Ilaf Elard, New York University (NYU) Shanghai
  • Mark Esposito, Hult International Business School, Harvard University
  • Saleh Fahad, Wake Forest University
  • Zhixuan Fang, Tsinghua University
  • Gavin Feng, City University of Hong Kong
  • Javier Arroyo Ferrer, Co-founder at ICP Hub North America, Co-Founder of Quantum Leap Labs Incubator, Founder of ICP Master, Host of Let’s Talk ICP Podcast
  • Sander Gansen, Co-Founder of BananaCorp
  • Guoju Gao, Soochow University
  • Krzysztof Gogol, University of Zurich, Co-founder at StableSwiss
  • Hanna Halaburda, NYU Stern School of Business
  • Ken Huang, Distributedapps.ai, Cloud Security Alliance
  • George Iosifidis, Delft University of Technology
  • Juncheng Jia, Soochow University
  • Xiaofeng Jia, Beijing Big Data Centre
  • Yuang Jiang, Meta Platforms, Inc.
  • Klaudia Krawiecka, Meta Platforms, Inc., University of Oxford
  • Nicholas Lane, University of Cambridge, Flower
  • Alfred Lehar, Calgary University
  • Gordon Liao, Chief Economist at Circle Internet Financials
  • Guocheng Liao, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU)
  • Daniel Liebau, Singapore Management University
  • Tao Lin, Westlake University
  • Yulin Liu, Partner at Bochsler Group, Co-founder at SciEcon CIC
  • Yunshu Liu, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
  • Chang Lu, University of British Columbia
  • Yuan Luo, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHKSZ)
  • Qian Ma, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU)
  • Swapneel Mehta, Boston University and MIT, Founder at SimPPL
  • Andreas Park, University of Toronto, Canadian Securities Institute’s Research Foundation
  • Stjepan Picek, Radboud University
  • Weihong Qi, Datatang (Beijing) Technology Co.,Ltd
  • Daniel Rabetti, National University of Singapore
  • Qi Shao, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
  • Dieter Sommer, DFINITY Foundation
  • Sebastian Stein, University of Southampton
  • Peng Sun, Hunan University
  • Ming Tang, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech)
  • Paolo Tasca, University College London (UCL), Founder and director at Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) Science Foundation
  • Yonglin Tian, Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Xavier Vives, IESE Business School, Director at Banking Initiative
  • Jianzong Wang, Ping An Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., LLAM | Lab of Large Audio Model
  • Zhiyuan Wang, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA)
  • Roger Wattenhofer, ETH Zurich
  • Ming Wu, Cofounder and CTO at Conflux Blockchain, Shanghai TreeGraph Blockchain Research Institute
  • Jiaming Xu, Duke University
  • Haoran Yu, Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT)
  • Nicholas Yuan, Microsoft
  • Meng Zhang, Zhejiang University (ZJU)
  • Quanyan Zhu, New York University (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering

The website is hosted on two Distributed Computing Systems—the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) and the IPFS InterPlanetary File System (IPFS)—to align with our commitment to the principles of advancing technology for good 💻❤️🌍:

  1. L. Cong is also affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ↩︎

  2. J. Huang is also with the Shenzhen Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics for Society (AIRS) ↩︎

  3. L. Zhang is also the co-founder of SciEcon CIC. ↩︎

  4. The website is hosted on a canister on the Internet Computer, identified by the canister ID ibitc-4qaaa-aaaad-qf66a-cai. The ICP canister ID ibitc-4qaaa-aaaad-qf66a-cai is a unique identifier for a canister smart contract on the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) network. Canisters are computational units that can run smart contracts or store data, with each canister being assigned a unique ID for interaction. ↩︎

  5. Our website is also accessible through IPFS hosting, providing a decentralized and resilient way to access content. IPFS, or the InterPlanetary File System, is a peer-to-peer protocol designed for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. IPFS hosting leverages this technology to serve websites and web applications in a decentralized manner, enhancing accessibility and resistance to censorship. By hosting content on IPFS, it is stored across multiple nodes globally, ensuring that it remains accessible even if some nodes go offline. ↩︎