How do you motivate workers who are managed by an algorithm?
USC researchers investigate crowdwork — assigning mundane tasks via a website — and determine how to help these workers feel invested in their duties.
Newly graduated engineer blends her love of research and the sea
Hannah Walker, a winner of the USC Discovery Scholar Prize, spent a chunk of her undergraduate career creating a device to inexpensively map the ocean’s underwater topography.
New master’s grad immerses herself in the science of cells
Kalya Stanten, who recently graduated with a master’s degree in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, wants to further her lab research into gene editing and cell therapy.
New flow battery could help unleash renewable energy
USC scientists may have solved the storage problem that has long slowed the spread of renewables.
Urban heat waves imperil L.A.’s most vulnerable communities
New USC research highlights the outsized risk for low-income communities as global warming raises temperatures and our cities become even more crowded.
To test their cybercrime knowledge, USC students take witness stand in virtual courtroom
With COVID-19 cyberscams rampant, industry pros from firms worldwide watch as USC digital forensics students show their crime-fighting smarts in front of a real-life judge online.
Why nature, history and American culture all make social isolation difficult
USC experts explain why some people are suffering from extreme lockdown fatigue: it’s a mix of human nature and an American identity that chafes at being “controlled.”
USC Viterbi team wins Min Family Engineering Social Entrepreneurship Challenge
The business model competition, which encourages would-be social entrepreneurs to build businesses that benefit the underprivileged, honors the group AgriCulture’s vision to improve the diets and health of low-income, urban residents.
Broad Foundation brings together stem cell scientists, engineers and physicians at USC and beyond
Two strategic initiatives — innovation awards and clinical research fellowships — help encourage the development of new stem cell therapies.
Andrew McMahon elected to the National Academy of Sciences
The decorated USC professor is recognized for his contributions to developmental biology.
USC Viterbi engineers heed industry call to action amid COVID-19
The school has close ties to the National Academy of Engineering, which asked students and professionals nationwide to offer solutions to the pandemic.
‘Reopen’ protest movement created and boosted by fake grassroots tactics
A USC Annenberg fellow notes that powerful forces are egging on the protests — forces who want their influence to remain secret.
Huge USC Games Expo to grow even further — by going completely online
The largest university-sponsored gaming and esports event in the world is set for mid-May.
A system for reusing recyclable plastic trash takes home 2020 sustainability prize
Three teams of entrepreneurial USC students competed for $15,000 in awards during the fourth annual Wrigley Sustainability Prize contest.
Trojans Get Early Access to Nobel Prize Winners’ Great Minds
Nineteen recipients of USC’s Massry Prize have gone on to win science’s biggest honor.
Music Moves Us in Unexpected Ways. But Why?
USC artificial intelligence experts took a closer look at how our brains, bodies and emotions react to music.
USC team develops coronavirus tracking app that will put privacy first
By anonymously tracking the spread of COVID-19 through contact tracing, an app under development at USC Viterbi could help people get back to their daily lives.
USC’s creative makers mobilize garages and shops to protect doctors and nurses through 3D printing
Hundreds of faculty and staff members, students and volunteers are building face shields and respirator masks to answer the call from USC’s medical leaders.
Fossilized teeth found in Peru hint that ancient monkeys crossed the Atlantic
The discovery by USC researchers helps date the more than 900-mile migration to about 34 million years ago.
USC researchers analyze false coronavirus claims on Twitter
The USC Viterbi team studied more than 5 million tweets to better understand how and why information — and misinformation — spreads during a pandemic.
Artificial intelligence gets multimillion-dollar boost at USC Viterbi
Three electrical and computer engineers will use $2 million from DARPA to address the challenge of training AI.
Garcetti helps make COVID-19 protective equipment at USC Iovine and Young Academy
The Los Angeles mayor toured the 3D printing facility at the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy, where high-tech machinery is used to produce equipment for health care workers fighting the pandemic.
How hardware store parts transformed into virus-destroying devices
A partnership between USC Viterbi and the Keck School of Medicine has produced a system — built from off-the-shelf items — that uses UV light to disinfect face shields.
To counter COVID-19 misinformation, USC expert backs new approach to science learning
New research from USC Rossier aims to combat rampant misinformation on subjects like the coronavirus and climate change.