Trojan brings a reformer’s zeal to government service
As director of the Dream Keeper Initiative, Saidah Leatutufu-Burch is leading efforts to promote prosperity in San Francisco’s Black communities.
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Joel Curran appointed USC’s senior vice president and chief communications officer
The public relations and higher education innovator looks forward to leading communications that support the university’s world-class research.
Advancing computer vision one pixel at a time
What happens when a rabbit jumps in front of a self-driving car? Perhaps nothing bad, thanks to research from USC Viterbi’s Information Sciences Institute and the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Happy birthday, Tommy! Trojan Shrine was unveiled 93 years ago
The icon, modeled after a number of USC football players, represents the five qualities of a Trojan: faithful, scholarly, skillful, courageous and ambitious.
Musical numbers: The deep relationship between music and math
USC experts explain how math and music intertwine in creative expression — from Coltrane’s Circle of Tones to the shared skills required for both.
U.S. News & World Report
Legal pot: More potent than ever, largely unregulated
Some states cap the number of ounces or grams consumers are allowed to buy — but even a little cannabis can amount to a lot of THC, said Rosalie Liccardo Pacula of the USC Price School of Public Policy.
Today.com
Are makeup wipes doing more harm than good?
With makeup wipes, “you’re wiping things on the skin to get the oil, makeup and dirt off,” says dermatologist Nada Elbuluk of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “But you’re leaving some of the residue from the wipes on the skin. And that’s something that needs to be cleansed off as well.”
SciTechDaily
Why some people feel lonely, even in a crowded room
A study led by USC Dornsife’s Elisa Baek found that lonely individuals process the world around them differently than other people.
The New York Times
Want to make a change? Consider your ‘possible selves’
If you’re dreaming of a different career, enroll in a course, shadow someone, take up a hobby or a side job. Making the transition “requires you to say now, today, this week, these are the steps I can actually take” to attain that goal, says USC Dornsife’s Daphna Oyserman.
Los Angeles Times
On eve of Festival of Books at USC, L.A. Times Book Prizes presented in ceremony at Bovard Auditorium
Among the winners were widely known historians and journalists, including biography winner Beverly Gage, for G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century, and Dahlia Lithwick, whose Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America, won the current interest prize.
U.S. News and World Report
How to teach young people about antisemitism
Teachers and parents can look for age-appropriate resources — such as the that USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education prepared in partnership with Nickelodeon.
Los Angeles Times
‘Against their will’: Proposed law would make it easier to detain people with mental illness
A section of the bill cites the inability to attend “to necessary personal or medical care” and “to self-protection or personal safety” as evidence of grave disability. But Elyn Saks of the USC Gould School of Law asks, “What constitutes personal care? And how do we distinguish mental illness from eccentricity or neurodiversity? Who makes that determination?”
The New York Times
What is the ideal retirement age for your health?
Some people can’t continue to do manual labor at age 65, says Dean Pinchas Cohen of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. But for workers in knowledge-based fields such as management, business and finance, education and health care — some 45% of us — a retirement age under 65 “makes no sense.”
The New York Times
Geothermal power, cheap and clean, could help run Japan — so why doesn’t it?
“It’s domestic, it’s renewable — it’s all the things Japan needs,” USC Dornsife’s Jacques Hymans says. But across the nation, local governments have introduced new restrictions.
Los Angeles Times
How I helped TV’s ‘Perry Mason’ find the real Latinx L.A.
USC Dornsife’s Natalia Molina describes her work as a historical consultant on the HBO series, which is set in 1930s Los Angeles.
USA Today
Is there an alternative to statins for high cholesterol?
Some people can’t take statins because of side effects. “If they go home and don’t take it, it’s not doing any benefit,” said cardiologist Eugene DePasquale of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “It’s really important to have an alternative.”
(USA Today)
NPR
Hollywood gets wildfires all wrong — to the frustration of firefighters
A study from the climate change storytelling consultancy Good Energy and USC Annenberg’s Norman Lear Center found less than 3% of the more than 37,000 analyzed movie and TV scripts written between 2016 and 2020 made any reference to climate change. But scenes featuring discussions about climate change or fire control methods, such as raking leaves off a lawn, don’t exactly make for scintillating screen time.
USC Dornsife, USC Gould launch joint degree in innovation economics, law and regulation
The program will equip graduates with the skills required to address the complexities of big data, AI innovation and machine learning through the lens of antitrust, privacy, data security and IP laws.
Marine Corps veteran ready to engage as family nurse practitioner
COMMENCEMENT: With his Master of Science in Nursing, Tyler Christy feels prepared and empowered to improve primary health care needs.
Public health student runs international nonprofit to battle world hunger
Founded by Trojan Khoban Nasim, Project Yaqeen has helped feed nearly 3,000 people in one year alone.
New tool helps students find sustainability courses
The Sustainability Course Finder helps spread awareness of courses across the university and provides students with an easy way to see how classes relate to various sustainability issues.
Representation matters for USC Marshall Title IX trailblazer
TITLE IX: Professor Nandini Rajagopalan draws from her experience in India to create an encouraging environment for her students and mentees at USC.
Salutatorian Carina Robles embraces interdisciplinary opportunities as a transfer student
COMMENCEMENT: Graduating with a degree in political science and a minor in dance, Robles will be heading to Taiwan as part of the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
Beach volleyball team captures third national title in a row
With Sunday’s win over UCLA in the tournament finals, USC becomes the first program in NCAA beach volleyball history to win three titles in a row. The Women of Troy have now won five beach volleyball championships total.
Lacrosse team claims Pac-12 Tournament title
The Women of Troy earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with Saturday’s Pac-12 Tournament title win, as Colorado scored the lowest amount against USC since the 2019 Pac-12 Championship title Game
USC Viterbi senior shines on the track and in the classroom
COMMENCEMENT: Sprinter Chioma Okonkwo, aivil engineering major, hopes to medal in the NCAA Women’s Track and Field Championships and perhaps even run in the Olympics.
Trojan engineer unlocks memories with fragrance
COMMENCEMENT: For Aidan Niswender, a COVID lockdown hobby became a passion that could lead to a career in perfumery.
Beck Bennett, Madhuri Shekar to address USC School of Dramatic Arts graduates
Actor, comedian and writer (and USC grad) Bennett and playwright, screenwriter and producer Shekar will speak during two commencement ceremonies on May 12.
USC computer scientists tackle dental health and birth defects
Roughly half of all birth defects involve the face and skull, yet scientists remain unclear about why most occur.
USC student-athletes reach new record NCAA Academic Progress Rate
Seventeen Trojan teams earned scores equal to or improved from 2022.
USC Price student lands job at Meta while studying online
COMMENCEMENT: Hannah Will, a Master of Public Administration, earned a 4.0 GPA while moving states, getting married, landing a job and having a baby. She’s now on Meta’s global policy campaigns and programs team.
Social work doctoral graduate receives $1 million grant to pilot gun violence-reduction program
COMMENCEMENT: Jonathan Spikes launched his school-based gun violence-reduction program to help one of the poorest and most violent areas in Florida.
Revealed: The fascinating link between math and card shuffling
A USC Dornsife math professor explores ideal techniques and real-world applications of finding the perfect shuffle.
USC Gould Title IX trailblazer works to put more women in leadership roles
TITLE IX: “If we can continue moving forward, the future is very bright,” says Associate Dean Nickey Woods.
USC wins best fan engagement in Pac-12 Zero Waste Challenge for 2022 football season
This is USC’s seventh overall or category victory across football and men’s basketball.
USC announces $1 billion-plus initiative for computing including AI, ethics and quantum computing
President Carol L. Folt launches the most comprehensive academic initiative in USC’s history, including a new School of Advanced Computing, educational opportunities in ethical computing for students across the university, and an expansion of USC’s footprint in Silicon Beach.
New USC Price grad, motivated by COVID-19, wants to correct health disparities
COMMENCEMENT: Birjot Kaur will taking her new Master of Health Administration degree to New York, where she’ll work at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
For the first time in 21 years, Trojan triplets will go their separate ways
COMMENCEMENT: Ireland, Kala and Smith Shute have rarely been apart. That will change after commencement. It’s a bittersweet milestone in the triplets’ journey.
USC Viterbi team to participate in multi-university study on quantum computing
The Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award will allow Daniel Lidar’s team to investigate techniques that may unlock quantum computing’s full potential.
USC Verdugo Hills Hospital nationally recognized with first ‘A’ hospital safety grade
The grade rating places the hospital among the safest hospitals in the country.
USC commencement 2023: What you need to know if you’ll be attending
COMMENCEMENT 2023: Thousands will descend on the University Park Campus for the university’s 140th commencement on May 12 — so you’ll want to plan accordingly.