Three new Distinguished Professors named at USC
USC President C. L. Max Nikias has appointed Jae Jung, Tony Maxworthy and M. Hashem Pesaran as Distinguished Professors.
Jung, who holds the Fletcher Jones Foundation Distinguished Chair in Molecular Biology and Immunology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has a joint appointment in pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the USC School of Pharmacy.
A faculty member at USC since 2007, Jung is chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Immunology and director of the USC Institute for Emerging Pathogens and Immune Diseases. He was the recipient of the 2012 Ho-Am Prize for Medicine and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
An expert in the molecular biology of gamma-herpes viruses, Jung has identified and characterized the proteins produced by herpes viruses that cause cancers in immune cells or are able to alter the ability of normal immune cells to multiply. He has also identified the mechanisms by which herpes viruses and influenza viruses harness interferons for their own purpose at the expense of the host.
Maxworthy, Distinguished Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, holds the Smith International Professorship in Mechanical Engineering and has been a faculty member at USC since 1967.
He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Physical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a life fellow of Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge.
His primary research interests are in the areas of environmental and geophysical fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, turbulence, solidification, convection and biofluid mechanics. He is known for his conception, design and implementation of key laboratory experiments that capture the essence of fluid phenomena.
His research has made an impact in various subjects ranging from the flight of millimeter-scale insects to dust and particle transport in volcanic eruptions and avalanche flows.
Pesaran, holder of the John E. Elliott Distinguished Chair in Economics and economics professor at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, has been a faculty member at USC since 2005 and is director of the USC Center for Applied Financial Economics.
He is a fellow of the British Academy and the Econometric Society. He founded the Journal of Applied Econometrics and served as head of the economic research department of the Central Bank of Iran and undersecretary of the Ministry of Education in Iran.
Pesaran is an expert of applied econometrics who studies quantitative analysis of financial markets, macroeconometric modeling, energy demand and the Middle East economy. His research has contributed to basic scientific knowledge in the discipline of economics and has had an interdisciplinary impact in finance and the design of medical trials. He has influenced the World Bank, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, among other central banks and institutions.
From left, Jae Jung, Tony Maxworthy and M. Hashem Pesaran