usc economics phd students

PhD in Health Economics

• Admission and Financial Aid
• Requirements for Degree Completion

Located in Los Angeles on the USC University Park Campus, the USC PhD program in health economics offers students the opportunity to help shape the future of health care through groundbreaking research and innovative policy solutions. Our multidisciplinary program offers rigorous training in microeconomics, econometrics, cost effectiveness analysis, welfare economics, public finance, epidemiology and health status measurement. Students in the program work closely with our world-renowned faculty, gaining the practical research experience needed to launch their careers.

Our program offers numerous benefits to help position our students for future success. All of our PhD students are fully funded, including tuition remission and stipend, for up to five years through teaching and research assistantships or competitive fellowships.  Many of our students participate in internships that offer real world experience and networking opportunities in industry, policy analysis and consulting.  Our department’s affiliation with the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics provides opportunities for students to work closely with distinguished faculty from across USC on impactful projects. Bolstered in part by our strong alumni network, our students are highly sought after for positions in academia, government and industry.

“I chose the Health Economics PhD program at USC for three reasons: the strong concentration of health economics faculty here as compared to traditional economics departments, the rigor of economics training compared to other applied programs, and quality of life (i.e., location in sunny Southern California and funding from a USC School of Pharmacy fellowship).”

Laura Henkhaus

Phd, health economics ’19, data scientist, hill physicians medical group, 2024 commencement .

• Dean of the Graduate School
• PhD Program Characteristics
• Graduate Events
• Graduate Degrees awarded at USC
• Fellowships
• Guidelines and Forms
• Student Resources
• Required Documents
• Submission Deadlines
• Guidelines to Submission
• Manuscript Formatting Guidelines
• Fellowships for PhD Students
• Scholarships for Masters Students
• Academic Support, Professional Development and Diversity Inclusion Programs

Prospective Students

Welcome to Graduate Study at the University of Southern California

USC is a diverse community of scholars in the heart of Los Angeles — a dynamic center for technology, health services, media and the arts. USC has more than 400 graduate programs offered by the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and over 20 professional schools.

GRADUATE ADMISSION

Explore USC graduate programs and get application information. Be sure to check out the website of the school or department to which you are applying.

USC Financial Aid

Learn about funding options, eligibility for federal financial aid and estimated cost of attendance for your graduate education.

Orientation

All new graduate students are invited to participate in Graduate Orientation. Topics covered include campus services, academic resources, and public safety. Your school or department may offer a separate orientation program geared to the specific topics such course selection and registration.

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

USC Graduate School is actively striving to diversify the graduate student body, to promote equity in our graduate programs, and to support the full inclusion of all students as they progress toward their professional goals.

FELLOWSHIPS

Degrees offered.

USC is a distinguished R1 research university that provides a wide range of academic programs.

Faculty with similar areas of knowledge and interest are grouped together to form schools (such as the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the USC Thornton School of Music and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering) and academic departments within the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences (such as Biology, English and Sociology). Certain areas of study are based on broad areas of interdisciplinary knowledge and draw faculty from several departments. The faculty in each department and school determines the rationale underlying its curricula, the type and content of courses it offers, and the requirements for master’s and doctoral degrees. USC awards Master of Arts, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees, as well as doctoral and master’s degrees in professional fields. Graduate students are encouraged to select their degree objective based on the career or further study they wish to pursue. View a list of all graduate degrees awarded at USC .

The PhD degree, conferred by the Graduate School, represents original contribution to current knowledge in a specific field. Prospective students are advised to contact their program of interest for course and research requirements. A list of current PhD degrees offered can be found here  listed by School.

View list of PhD Degree Programs

Please note that professional doctoral degrees—which prepare students for leadership and practice in the health professions, the arts, education, law and public welfare—follow policies established by their respective schools.  Examples of professional doctorates not conferred by the Graduate School include:

• Doctor of Dental Surgery
• Doctor of Education
• Doctor of Medicine
• Doctor of Musical Arts
• Doctor of Nurse Anthesiology
• Doctor of Occupational Therapy
• Doctor of Pharmacy
• Doctor of Physical Therapy
• Doctor of Policy, Planning, and Development
• Doctor of Public Administration
• Doctor of Regulatory Science
• Doctor of Social Work
• Juris Doctor

View a list of current professional doctoral degrees offered organized by School.

Master of Arts (M.A.) degrees are granted in the arts, humanities and social sciences, while Master of Science (M.S.) degrees are granted in the natural sciences and professional fields. At USC, most of the M.A. degrees and many of the M.S. degrees are conferred by the Graduate School. Generally, master’s degrees for proficiency in professional fields are conferred by the professional school.

View the list of current master’s degrees offered .

The array of innovative dual degree programs at USC represents the university’s commitment to rigorous and vibrant graduate and professional education. Programs such as the Juris Doctor/Doctor of Pharmacy and Master of Science, and Gerontology/Master of Business Administration, offer students the opportunity to work with faculty from two or more departments or schools. Please contact your program of interest for dual degree information.

The progressive master’s degree enables superior USC undergraduates with at least a 3.0 GPA to begin work on a master’s degree while completing requirements for the bachelor’s degree. The degrees should be in similar fields of study, in the same or different department(s). For additional information and application instructions,  click here

Graduate Research Opportunities

Research at USC is distinguished by $889 million annually in 2018 in research expenditure for study in a wide array of disciplines, and an emphasis on collaboration across multiple disciplines to meet societal needs.

Examples of such collaboration include:

• Capturing and distributing energy supplies that are environmentally benign, economical and long-lasting
• Securing the nation and the world against the risks of natural disasters and intentional acts of terrorism
• Enhancing cross-cultural understanding and cooperation, through communication among civic, religious, ethnic and community institutions
• Establishing teaching practices that enable deeper understanding of science and math, languages and cultures, leadership and justice

USC Research centers

The Office of Research provides additional information about USC research initiatives, centers and facilities, and sources of research funding. Postdoctoral program information can be found at the USC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.

The Department of Pharmaceutical and Health Economics (in the School of Pharmacy) offers a program of study leading to the PhD degree in Health Economics. The program focuses on microeconomics; econometrics; health economics and policy; public finance; pharmaceutical economics and policy. The program offers one track in microeconomics and a second track in pharmaceutical economics and policy.

Microeconomics Track

Students in the microeconomics track will complete the microeconomic theory and econometric sequence and course work in health economics. They will receive focused training and mentoring in health economics through collaboration on research projects.

Satisfactory completion of the economic theory sequence with a grade point average of B or higher.

At least one of the econometrics courses must be completed with a grade of B or higher. The courses recommended for fulfilling the requirements for the Microeconomics Track are:

• GSBA 602 Selected Issues in Economic Theory I Units: 3
• PMEP 509 Research Design Units: 4
• ECON 636 Health Economics I Units: 4
• ECON 693 Seminar in Applied Economics and Public Policy Units: 2
• GSBA 612 Selected Issues in Economic Theory II Units: 3
• PMEP 525 Pharmacoeconomics I Units: 4
• PMEP 526 Pharmacoeconomics II Units: 2
• PMEP 535 Behavioral Science and Policy in Healthcare Units: 4
• PMEP 544 Health Economics II Units: 4
• PMEP 547 Programming Methods for Empirical Analysis of Health Data Units: 4
• PMEP 551 Introduction to Health Econometrics Units: 4
• PMEP 552 Advanced Health Econometrics I Units: 4
• PMEP 553 Advanced Health Econometrics II Units: 4
• PMEP 698 Seminar in Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy Units: 1

Additional Requirements

Foreign Language Requirement

There is no formal foreign language requirement. However, competence in the use of one computer programming language is required for the graduate degree. Such competence can be demonstrated either by course work or examination.

Grade Point Average

A grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 and typically considerably higher (on a scale of 4.0) must have been achieved on all graduate work at USC for the passing of the screening procedure. The Graduate School requires a minimum GPA of 3.0 on all course work taken as a graduate student at USC.

Unit Requirements

The PhD in Health Economics requires a minimum of 64 units of graduate-level courses numbered 500 or higher (excluding 794) and a minimum of 4 units of 794. A maximum of two full courses (eight units) or their equivalent may be PMEP 790    (research) since directed research will generally be incorporated into most 500- and 600-level courses. Exceptions will be considered on an individual basis. Normally, a full-time graduate student course load is three full courses or their equivalent per semester, with a four-course maximum. Students may transfer and substitute up to 24 units of graduate course work from other universities to fulfill the required 64 units of graduate credit subject to the approval of the department.

Screening Procedure

The student’s progress will be reviewed after each semester and before registration for any additional course work to determine if progress has been satisfactory. The screening procedure will include satisfactory performance on written screening exams covering the major topics covered in the recommended coursework for each track.

Qualifying Exam

Upon successful completion of the first two years of course and grade requirements, and following passing of required screening procedures, the student takes a general written and oral examination on the chosen area of research emphasis after presenting a detailed written dissertation proposal. After passing these examinations, the student is admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree.

The student will select a member of the graduate faculty who will serve as his or her adviser and chair of the student’s qualifying exam committee. The student should consult the director of Graduate Studies for the Health Economics program on the selection of his or her adviser and chair of the PhD qualifying exam committee after taking the written screening examinations. The chairman of the student’s PhD qualifying exam committee advises the student on matters of curriculum and graduate opportunities. The qualifying exam committee is composed of five members. The committee chair and at least two additional members must have appointments in the student’s program. Faculty eligible to serve as committee chairs and members include tenured, tenure-track, and research faculty, teaching faculty, practitioner faculty or clinical faculty (RTPC) faculty. The committee chair and at least three members must be research active in a field relevant to the research thesis and one member of the committee must be tenured or tenure track; and the committee membership requires approval by the dean of the school. Visiting faculty may not serve on qualifying exam committees. The vice provost for graduate programs is an ex officio member of all qualifying exam committees.

The composition of all PhD qualifying exam committees must be approved by the director of Graduate Studies for the Health Economics program. The student must form his or her qualifying exam committee soon after passing the departmental screening procedure.

Dissertation Proposal Preparation

The student is required to register for two units of PMEP 790    and write a research paper on a topic suitable for a dissertation. Typically, the chair of the student’s guidance committee directs this work. The resulting essay becomes part of the student’s written dissertation proposal which constitutes the written portion of the qualifying exam.  This proposal is presented and critiqued during the oral portion of the qualifying examination.

Dissertation

After admission to candidacy, the student forms a dissertation committee comprising three faculty members, one of whom can be from an outside department. The chair of this committee is the dissertation supervisor. The student must register for PMEP 794a   , PMEP 794b   , PMEP 794c   , PMEP 794d   , or PMEP 794z    each semester, excluding summer sessions, until the dissertation and all other degree requirements are completed.

The student is expected to complete a dissertation based on an original investigation. The dissertation must represent a significant contribution to knowledge and must be defended in an oral examination administered by the dissertation committee (see the section on Theses and Dissertations ).

Student Teaching

Teaching experience is considered an integral part of the training of graduate students. As part of the general requirements for the PhD, all students are required to undergo training as an educator. This will include participating in seminars on educational techniques and hands-on teaching experiences through participation in didactic and small group teaching in the School of Pharmacy or the USC Price School of Public Policy.

Seminar Requirements

Every student is recommended to take and satisfactorily complete 4 units of research seminars chosen from ECON 693   , PMEP 698    or the equivalent. At least one of these seminars must be related to the student’s major field, and the same seminar may be taken more than once. Before completing the dissertation, it is recommended that the student present at least one original research paper in a seminar of his or her choice. This paper should typically consist of original results contained in the student’s dissertation.

Three electives at the 500 level or higher from the School of Pharmacy’s Health Economics Program and from the departments of economics, mathematical statistics, biometry, epidemiology, public administration, computer science or other relevant fields are required.

Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy Track

Students in the pharmaceutical economics and policy track will specialize in areas such as cost-effectiveness, comparative effectiveness, drug therapy outcomes and organization of pharmaceutical markets. They will receive focused training and mentoring in pharmaceutical economics and policy through collaboration on research projects.

Satisfactory completion of the pharmaceutical economics and policy sequence with an average grade of B or higher

• PMEP 527 Pharmacoeconomics III Units: 4
• PMEP 539 Economic Assessment of Medical Care Units: 4

The student is required to register for 2 units of PMEP 790    and write a research paper on a topic suitable for a dissertation. Typically, the chair of the student’s guidance committee directs this work. The resulting essay becomes part of the student’s written dissertation proposal, which constitutes the written portion of the qualifying exam. This proposal is presented and critiqued during the oral portion of the qualifying examination.

Every student is recommended to take and satisfactorily complete 4 units of research seminars chosen from PMEP 698    or the equivalent. At least one of these seminars must be related to the student’s major field and the same seminar may be taken more than once. Before completing the dissertation, it is recommended that the student present at least one original research paper in a seminar of his or her choice. This paper should typically consist of original results contained in the student’s dissertation.

A minimum of three electives at the 500 level or higher from the School of Pharmacy’s Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy Program and from the departments of economics, mathematical statistics, biometry, epidemiology, public administration, computer science or other relevant fields are required.

List of Electives

• ECON 401 Mathematical Methods in Economics Units: 4
• ECON 415 Behavioral Economics Units: 4
• ECON 419 Advanced Econometrics Units: 4
• ECON 500 Microeconomic Analysis and Policy Units: 4
• ECON 513 Practice of Econometrics Units: 4
• ECON 601 Microeconomic Theory I Units: 4
• ECON 603 Microeconomic Theory II Units: 4
• ECON 604 Game Theory Units: 4
• ECON 611 Probability and Statistics for Economists Units: 4
• ECON 615 Applied Econometrics Units: 4
• ECON 688 Empirical Industrial Organization Units: 4
• HCDA 506 Foundations of Insurance and Global Access Units: 3
• HCDA 507 Foundations of Product Development and Commercialization Units: 3
• MEDS 500 Basic Concepts in Global Health Units: 4
• PM 510L Principles of Biostatistics Units: 4
• PM 511aL Data Analysis Units: 4
• PM 511bL Data Analysis Units: 4
• PM 511cL Data Analysis Units: 4
• PM 512 Principles of Epidemiology Units: 4
• PM 523 Design of Clinical Studies Units: 3
• PM 536 Program Evaluation and Research Units: 4
• PM 552 Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials Units: 3
• PM 560 Statistical Programming With R Units: 2
• PSYC 426 Motivated Behaviors and Addiction Units: 4

• FBE Course Descriptions
• Graduate Students
• Elective Course Guide
• Course Descriptions

Finance and Business Economic (FBE) Course Descriptions

The number in parentheses ( ) following each course title refers to the number of units the course is or can be worth.

pptx FBE Graduate Elective Courses Fall 2023 225.76 KB

Not all courses are offered every semester. To view class schedules, please visit the USC  Schedule of Classes  at  www.usc.edu/soc  or  www.marshall.usc.edu/registrationpolicies  - Marshall Graduate Student Resources - Graduate Electives Planning Matrix.

Student and Alumni Profiles

Select from the department list and get to know some of the department's talented doctoral students and alumni:

Aerospace Engineering

Astronautical engineering, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, environmental engineering.

• Industrial & Systems Engineering

Materials Science

Mechanical engineering, petroleum engineering.

PhD in Aerospace Engineering

PhD in Astronautical Engineering

PhD in Astronautical Engineering/Systems Architecting

PhD in Biomedical Engineering

MS in Chemical Engineering

PhD in Chemical Engineering

PhD in Civil Engineering

PhD in Computer Science

PhD in Robotics

PhD in Computer Engineering

PhD in Electrical Engineering

PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

PhD in Electrical and Computer  Engineering

PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

PhD in Optical Communication

Rebecca Peer

PhD in Environmental Engineering

PhD in Materials Engineering

PhD in Materials Science

Industrial & Systems Engineering

PhD in Industrial Engineering

PhD in Industrial & Systems Engineering

Published on October 26th, 2021

Last updated on August 18th, 2023

Kyle Russell PhD in Aerospace Engineering

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I've ever been given is to think of research as a lifestyle rather than "work". To gain mastery over a topic, I have to spend many hours toiling over challenging concepts and problems, constantly looking for ways to better my own understanding. I do not get to mentally clock out in the afternoon and feel good about my productivity if I haven't made any progress towards internalizing a paper's findings or a textbook chapter. On the other hand, I definitely take time away from my studies and research to reset and rest.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?

Throughout high school and college, I struggled in math. I got fine grades, but math took a majority of my study time and it never felt intuitive to me. In my freshman year of college, I got a B- in multivariable calculus which really made me question whether I was cut out to pursue a STEM degree. Regardless, I pressed on and chipped away at areas that didn't come easy to me. Even in advanced classes, I would regularly go back to review early calculus and linear algebra concepts on YouTube and in old textbooks. By the end of my undergraduate, I was getting A's in graduate-level math courses and the material felt natural to me. I began to not only grasp every concept I encountered but appreciate some of the beauty in it. Although not an individual event or project, my journey through math courses and personal growth is one of my proudest achievements.

What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months?

I had been in the process of building my own computer for months. I spent months coming up with a build, selecting parts, and assembling the hardware. However, COVID in conjunction with a surge in cryptocurrency mining led to a global shortage of graphics cards. Although not technically an impulse buy, I finally gave in and bought a GPU at a marked-up price, but I could not be happier with my decision.

Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it.

I synthesize nanofilms and find connections between microstructural changes and material properties. The synthesis process involves confining an argon plasma against a metal target which is, in turn, ablated forming a vapor; the metal vapor condenses onto substrates thus allowing for the precise design of nanofilms. I am particularly excited about this research because designing and manufacturing materials on the nanoscale stand to revolutionize entire industries including aerospace, energy, computer science, and space exploration. Furthermore, material science is an interdisciplinary field. I love connecting topics such as diffusion, plasma characteristics, and grain/phase boundary energy back towards my background in physics.

If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be? 

In high school, I truly fell in love with ecology. I don't have a particular occupation in mind, but work-related to maintaining national parks, coral reefs, or revitalizing land would be a dream come true.

What are some factors that helped you decide to pursue your PhD at USC?

I would love to pursue a career in spaceflight technology development. Although not necessary, a PhD certainly helps in pursuing that passion.

If you were to recommend to an incoming student 3 places to go in California/Los Angeles, what would they be?

• The beach. Any beach.
• Try to find some hikes off the beaten path that might not be super popular. There are some great ones north of Malibu.

What is a memory you'll cherish about your time at USC?

I will forever cherish the time I get to spend with the rocket propulsion lab out in the desert assembling and testing our rocket systems. Getting the opportunity to work with fantastic people on rocket engineering is something I will cherish long after I graduate.

What's one thing about you that might surprise me?

I sang at Barack Obama's first inauguration as a member of the San Francisco Boy's Choir.

What are your plans after graduation?

I plan to pursue a career in spaceflight research and development.

Hometown (city, country):

Alameda, US

Personal Website (if any):

Faculty Advisor:

Dr. Andrea Hodge

Orazio Pinti PhD in Aerospace Engineering

When I left my home country to move to the US, my grandfather told me to never look back in life with sadness, but always ahead with excitement and drive, while keeping a fond and grateful look in my rearview mirror.

I was the first person (and not the last!) in my family to graduate from college!

Ski gear and the Ikon Pass

I am working at the interface between machine learning and computational engineering. This means I am developing and/or applying machine learning-based techniques to compute the numerical solution of different physical problems.

It would be a theoretical physicist. Alternatively, outside STEM fields, having a ranch has always had a certain appeal to me.

Quality of education, diversity, USC staff reliability, and attention to students' well-being. Furthermore, Los Angeles is such a great place to live!  

Griffith Observatory, The Getty Villa in Malibu, and Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley at night to see the Milky Way.

Reading and working outside my office, somewhere on the beautiful USC campus, during one of the many cloudless, sunny days of LA.

I love doing many sports, but I never watch any, and I know absolutely nothing about teams, championships, rankings, and so on and so forth.

I am not sure yet, but as of today, I would like to work in a company's R&D department.

Termoli, Italy

Prof. Assad Oberai

Jeffrey Asher PhD in Astronautical Engineering

Before coming to USC I was working full-time at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. I recall having just graduated from undergrad and being pulled into several working groups with senior staff. I was usually quite shy in these meetings and rarely spoke up. One day one my manager took me aside and told me “Jeff, you’re invited to these meetings because we want to know what YOU think. You need to make sure your voice and opinions are heard.” I feel like I really needed to hear that in that moment and really respected my manager for it. It’s something I keep in mind.

I think once I finish this degree, I’ll consider it my greatest accomplishment, but until then, I’d have to say my work designing and building a CubeSat during undergrad. The spacecraft was called ELFIN, which stood for Electron Losses and Fields Investigation. I was the lead thermal engineer and lead systems engineer. Working with the small team of students and faculty on that project really gave me my start in the space industry. Working on that project got me my job after undergrad, and I’m sure it helped with my application to USC. It was amazing to be witness this spacecraft slowly come together over the years. The big culmination was when we all drove up to watch it launch out of Vandenberg Air Force Base. As of today the spacecraft are still healthy and providing critical scientific data.

I bought a DIY mechanical watch making kit. The funny part is that it was 100% a specifically targeted Facebook advertisement that got me to buy it. I’m sure the advertiser was like: 20- something, male, engineer? – CHECK. Anyways, I really enjoyed assembling it and its still one of my favorite watches.

My research is investigating the plume dynamics of a new type of spacecraft electric propulsion. These thrusters are called ionic electrospray thrusters, and what makes them special is that they offer a small, low power, and clean means of propulsion. This enables small spacecraft, like CubeSats, to maneuver while on-orbit. The plume that these thrusters generate consists of complex molecular ions of varying sizes and composition. This technology has little flight heritage currently, but several companies are beginning to invest more into it which is exciting.

I’m assuming for this question that I’ll have to forego the space industry as well. In that case, I’ll say something like a board game designer. We are currently in a golden age of board games, and I think it would be fun to try and make a fun and interesting game. Maybe it can be space related?

I’m local to Los Angeles, so pursuing my degree somewhere close to family was a big factor. I chose USC specifically due to its unique Astronautical Engineering Department. Most schools do not have a dedicated department for space. The thought of a department of coursework and expertise just dedicated to spacecraft engineering really excited me.

• Yosemite National Park – I’m big into the outdoors and hiking and cannot recommend Yosemite enough. It is beautiful.
• Griffith Observatory – A great place to hike, gaze out at the city, and learn some cool science!
• Simply Pho Noodle House in Orange, CA – My fiancé and I love pho. We have sampled a lot across LA and both agree this place is the best. A close second is Pho Show in Culver City.

I will forever cherish the opportunity to present my final project to Buzz Aldrin. As part of my ASTE-527 final we had to pitch an innovative or disruptive concept for the future exploration of the Moon and Artemis missions. Little did I know that we would be having a special guest for the final! Being able to interact with such a meaningful figure in my career field is definitely something that will be with me for the rest of my life.

I’m an avid runner. I’ve trained for and competed in 3 marathons in: Chicago, Huntington Beach, and Washington, D.C. Running in the LA marathon is still on my list.

After a long vacation, I plan to go back to full-time employment at my current job with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, supporting the US Space Force at LA Air Force Base. In addition, I hope to pursue opportunities for guest lecturing at USC within the ASTE department or other local colleges and universities.

Valencia, California, USA (just north of LA near Six Flags Magic Mountain)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-asher-923497134/

Dr. Joe Wang

Parisa Pouya PhD in Astronautical Engineering/Systems Architecting Engineering

Never give up and just keep going and exploring until things start working for you!

I worked as an intern for General Motors company in 2020 and I was able to successfully demonstrate my research abilities and skills, which resulted in an ongoing collaboration between me and the research team at GM. As a PhD candidate who works on autonomous vehicles and their applications, it's always been my dream to join this industry in the future and I would consider my ongoing collaboration with GM as one of my biggest achievements.

3 pairs of colorful leggings for workout! The leggings (mostly the colors) really motivate me to workout. This has been really helpful in terms of both physical and mental health

My research focuses on developing models and techniques for real-time planning and control of autonomous systems (e.g. quadcopters and autonomous vehicles) that operate in uncertain and noisy environments. Being able to develop models and techniques from scratch, ex perimenting with these models on real systems, and getting to see that the techniques and models actually work on real systems is what excites me about my research!

Probably a dentist!

USC is well-known for its diversity, which makes it a great school for international students! In addition, the school's engineering programs/departments are always ranked high not only in the country, but also in the world. Finally, most of the professors at USC support their students with research and/or teaching assistantship funds.

1- Balboa island in NewPort Beach (California)

2- Hiking places in Bay area and San Francisco (Fort Funston in Bay Area and Land's End trail in SF)

3- Griffith observatory

Celebrating Persian new year with friends at the Electrical Eng. department

I am very adventurous and love any kind of (positive) activity that boosts Adrenaline.. For instance, I love hiking in the dark, riding motor bikes, riding roller coasters, etc. 

I am planning to join the industry, especially the automotive industry and my plan is to become a technical manager as soon as possible!

Oroumieh (or Urmia), Iran

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ parisa-pouya-b434b4144

Prof. Azad M. Madni (Astronautical Eng. Department)

Shatad Purohit PhD in Astronautical Engineering

The best piece of advice that I have ever been given is to 'establish involvement without discrimination'. And, simply doing whatever is needed with total commitment and attention.

One of the most significant accomplishments in my professional life is getting admitted to the Ph.D. in Astronautical Engineering with a specialization in Systems Architecting and Engineering at the University of Southern California.

A few months back, I got a low-tech mobile phone as a replacement for my old phone, which fell in a small river stream during a trek. I first thought I would only use this phone for few days. But I started liking it now!

I am currently a Research Assistant in the Distributed Autonomy and Intelligent Systems Laboratory. My research interests are systems architecting, complex system analysis and design, modeling and simulation, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), and integration of digital twins into MBSE. My research is about finding efficient ways to develop complex systems, specifically in aerospace, defense, and automotive industry verticals. I see many opportunities to apply the research in the context of the increasingly changing socio-technical world of today. My studies allow me to look at the situations in the world in a multidisciplinary and holistic way. There are general tendencies to simplify the problem to fit the existing methodologies, but systems architecting and engineering focus on expanding the methods to address the complex problems without dumbing problems down. 

I would choose studies of economics and ecology, as it is one of the most crucial challenges our generation faces worldwide. In general, ecological solutions are found to be against economic wellbeing, and economically feasible options are not ecologically sensitive. Therefore, it is essential to initiate the marriage of economy and ecology. If people see financial prosperity in ecological solutions, it can help scale the solutions rapidly, which is most required today. In my view, marrying economics and ecology is a transdisciplinary systems problem.

Before joining USC, I spent four years in the industry in the systems engineering domain. As a result, I was well aware of the ecosystem in terms of research, state-of-the-art, and best practices in academia and industry. When I was planning to come to the US, my first choice was USC due to the Systems Architecting focus of the program. This is the only program in the country with an explicit focus on systems architecting in the curriculum. Additionally, academics focus on model-based systems engineering, system-of-systems integration, engineering resilience, economics, case studies, machine learning, and advanced mathematics, which made the program most favored for me. I look at systems architecting and engineering as a necessary foundation to develop systems of the future. It should not be surprising to know that the domain originated in NASA. I enjoy working and studying the system's domain. Therefore, when I received the opportunity to pursue Ph.D., I readily accepted it. Additionally, the faculty members are the leaders in the discipline and are well known for their field contributions. 

I recommend Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park, and Joshua Tree National Park to incoming students because of the variety of ecological systems, terrains, and life forms they would get to see in these places. Mountains of Yosemite, trees of Sequoia, and landscapes of Joshua should not be missed by anyone living in California.

I appreciate the incredible opportunities that I received in this fantastic university and in this beautiful country. It feels like a dream when a person like me from Latur, a small town from the diametrically opposite side of the planet, comes to LA, joins the astronautical engineering department, and starts working under the most sought-after researcher in the discipline. 

On the first day of class in my MS program, I remember that on August 20, 2018, I had an appointment with Dr. Azad Madni. I prepared for the meeting as I wanted to ask whether any research assistantship opportunities are available in his lab. I already sent my previous research work and resume to him some time back. During the meeting, as I started speaking, before I could get a chance to ask, Dr. Madni offered me an opportunity to work with his team. This incident shaped my life the way it is today. Later I joined the Ph.D. program and received a full scholarship. It took care of many things for me. 

I always liked studying the engineering and systems domain. At USC, I spend time exploring the vast world of engineering and collaborate with experts associated with various organizations such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, Aerospace Corporation, General Motors, NSF, DoD, and US Air Force.

I can cook three distinct types of Indian cuisines - Rajasthani, Gujarati, and Maharashtrian. Rajasthan is a northwestern state of India known for its arid region and Thar desert. The cuisines are shaped by the availability of ingredients in the area. People eat low heat food with a variety of milk products and sweets.

Gujrat is a mid-western state with various terrains, from the Rann of Kutch desert, Arabian sea coast, to Narmada river basins. Due to this, the cuisine has multiple ingredients ranging from gram flours, vegetables, spices, and snacks that vary widely in flavor and heat.

As we move from north to south, the spiciness increases in cuisines. Maharashtra is a southwestern state with Sahyadri western ghats and numerous rivers like Godavari, Krishna, and Tapi. This results in the availability of a variety of spices for the cuisines along with millets, native serials, lentils, fruits, vegetables, and traditional grains. 

I cherish diversity and cook food with absolute involvement. In my view, cooking is like engineering complex systems. The final outcome is not merely a sum of its parts or ingredients. And to get the desired results, you need science and art.

I wish to work on advancing the field of systems architecting and engineering through my research in model-based systems engineering and digital twins. In addition, I see possibilities to apply my skills in the aerospace, defense, and automotive industry. 

Latur, Bharat (India).

www.shatad.com

Azad M. Madni.

Trevor Hudson PhD in Biomedical Engineering

Don’t be afraid to fail.

Earning my PhD! 

Hiking boots – after defending, I went on a backpacking trip to Denali National Park. It was challenging, but exciting to get to see the grizzly bears and other wildlife there.

I work with biomedical flow rate sensors fabricated on polymer substrates. These devices could one day be used to monitor implanted shunts and catheters for life-threatening blockages. It’s a great privilege and very motivating for me to research technology which is both cutting-edge and able to relieve patient suffering.

If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be?  

Medical doctor – I enjoy solving problems and figuring out the root cause of a malfunctioning system, so I think I would also enjoy diagnosing patients.

I appreciated the energy and ambition of USC students I met, as well as the technology commercialization activity and ties to industry which USC is known for. 

First, despite its reputation for urban sprawl, LA actually has myriad outdoors activities to do within an hour or two drive from USC such as Mt. San Jacinto with great views at the top whether you hike, take the tram, or some combination of the two. The Getty Museum also has a beautiful campus and collection. Thirdly, it’s always fun to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl.

When I delivered my first conference presentation. I’ve always been a nervous public speaker so I was happy to be able to deliver my talk well in that setting.

I maintain my beater 1988 Volvo 240 myself in my spare time.

I am helping out a startup spun out of my lab with some work for a few months while interviewing for other industry opportunities.

Seattle, WA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorqhudson/

Dr. Ellis Meng

James Yoo PhD in Biomedical Engineering

"Compare and despair" (it's easy to compare someone else's highlights to the entirety of your own life, faults and all)

Marrying my wife. I wouldn't be in grad school if it weren't for her encouragement and continual support. She's good about celebrating the small victories along the way.

The Tick: The Complete Edlund . It's a collection of the first 12 comics written and drawn by the creator. I read the first few issues as a kid, and these days superhero fatigue is making me seek out parodies.

Our lab makes medical devices both for research and clinical applications, and there's something very sci-fi about using engineered polymer electronics to help patients.

Songwriting and music production. I have a lot of gear, but hardly any time or quiet space these days

I'm a SoCal native, so moving back here to be close to family was a big factor. Plus, USC's biomedical engineering department does some great work in medical devices.

Early in my research, I spent a lot of time testing and correcting a new method I'd developed, and the time had come to try it on a real device. After running it through my process, I checked the device under the microscope with a multimeter, and it worked! One loud "YES" and a bunch of fist pumps followed while the undergrads just looked confused (they were new).

I make a mean snickerdoodle.

If I can nab a postdoc position that works for my family, I'll take it. Otherwise, I'll probably go back into the medical device industry.

Los Angeles, CA.

Sue Wang PhD in Biomedical Engineering

The key to success is focus.

I just passed my qualification exam, and I am expecting to earn my Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2022. Besides that, I am also completing a MS degree in Electrical Egineering in December, 2021.

I started to buy stocks and learn about investing last year when stocks were hot on social media. Investing in stocks has been an interesting journey which I enjoyed a lot and also that made me learn a lot not only about economics but also about life and humanity. 

I am working to develop a flexible brain probe used for recording from deep brain to decode the neural signals. I am also designing and characterizing the implantable sensors used to monitor the blood flow for patients with heart disease. I am excited to develop tools to help doctors to better and more efficiently treat patients and help more people. 

Medicine. If I did not pick biomedical engineering, I would have gone to medical school. I want to work in the medical field, because I want to make people live a healthier and better life, so they could enjoy life with their loved ones. 

I have made great friends and partners in class at USC and together, we found a medical device company to help clinicians and patients to administer medicine in a more effective and safer way.

I learned how to ski after I moved from the East Coast to Southern California.

After graduation, I plan to keep working to develop medical devices and tools to help doctors to better treat patients. I will be looking for opportunities both in industry and academia. 

I was born in China (Liao Ning Province).

Prof. Ellis Meng

Anshu Goyal PhD in Biomedical Engineering

The best piece of advice I've been given is you should always ask questions. It's better to understand things than to try to make things up as you go.

My greatest accomplishment has been getting a black belt in karate after training for 10 years. 

My favorite impulse purchase in the last year is a Nintendo Switch.

My research focuses on developing an informatics-based system to aid physical therapists at Rancho los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center visualize and access patient information. I find this research very meaningful because it has the potential to help all sorts of patients from stroke victims to foot injuries literally get back on their feet and walk again.

If I could choose any profession outside engineering or computer science I would choose a profession in Biology.

Some factors which helped me choose to pursue my PhD at USC were: living in Los Angeles, a great research community to collaborate with, and the amazing resources available to me.

3 places in Los Angeles I'd recommend an incoming student to visit in LA would be: Griffith Observatory, Santa Monica Pier, and Hollywood Blvd

My favorite memory at USC (so far) is celebrating with my fellow first year PhD students after I finished presenting my work in my first Grodin's Symposium.

A surprising fact about me is that I edit scripts for youtube comedy shows.

I'm still not sure what my plans are for after graduation, but currently I'm leaning towards working in industry.

My hometown is Phoenix, Arizona.

My faculty advisor is Dr. Brent Liu.

Ali Marjaninejad PhD in Biomedical Engineering

To be kind and fair to myself.

I think my greatest accomplishment is to find out what I want from mylife and work toward it. I realized that peace and happiness is what I ultimately am looking for and I have spent my time on things that makes me happy on both short and long term, including making other people happy which I have figured to be one of the things that makes me the most happy.

Massage belt.

I am working on enabling robots to learn how yo perform challenging tasks such as keeping balance, walking, running, and manipulating objects. I am extremely excited about it because the robots I work on get to be more and more similar to biological systems each day and are eventually going to make useful additions to a safer, more efficient, and more peaceful ecosystem.

I think I would have chosen medical research.

I really liked the idea that we are all part of a greater family called the Trojan family. Also, I was super happy to see how valuable each new student is to USC and to see they were there for me during all steps of my application and admission process.

Manhattan  beach, Santa Monica Pier, and Some rooftop bars in Downtown LA.

I remember the first time that the robot we were working on learned to kick its leg; It felt amazing! I don't have a baby yet but I feel like the feeling could be comparable since you feel like you have added something really beautiful to this world that can autonomously learn to do useful things.

Well, I was born in Iran, grow up in Turkey, went back and forth between Iran and Turkey and am now in US. So, every time someone asks me where I am from, I have an interesting story to explain!

I plan on staying on the same field and continue my research on AI and embodied intelligence in both academic and industrial capacities.

Tehran, Iran.

http://valerolab.org/marjani/

Professor Francisco Valero-Cuevas 

Octavio Marin Pardo PhD in Biomedical Engineering

I think a really good one is that it is always ok (and sometimes necessary) to ask for help; of course, after trying to sort things out within a reasonable time. Another one would be that it is essential to keep balance in life, that it is important to work hard but it is equally important to take care of oneself.

Joining the universities of both my undergraduate and graduate studies; that is, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and the University of Southern California (USC).

I would like to think that the only one that counts as "impulsive" would be a video game I bought last year hehe.

Briefly, my research focuses on using electromyography and electroencephalography in personalized biofeedback training to understand motor recovery after stroke. What I really like about my research is that allows us to get a better understanding of how the brain works, and to also use that knowledge to try to help people recover their motor function.

Either guitar player or chef.

Among the many reasons to pursue a degree from USC, I would mention its strong graduate programs, its world-class faculty and facilities, and the wide range of resources it provides to do state-of-the-art research. I would also highlight its interdisciplinary focus and the collaborative environment it fosters.

Hiking to the Hollywood Sign, visiting The Getty museum, and going to at least one beach.

All the great food and cuisines I got to know here.

That I like musical theatre and have been to a good number of plays here in LA.

I am planning to continue doing healthcare-related research in a company, hopefully here in California.

Mexico City, Mexico.

Sook-Lei Liew, PhD, OTR/L.

Wen Shi PhD in Biomedical Engineering

Balance passion and objectivity. Passion allows researchers to overcome all kinds of difficulties and search for breakthroughs. However, single-minded passion prevents us from maintaining objectivity. We may become blinded and biased by having too much passion or love for a specific project. We can’t fall in love with our research conclusions, otherwise we may become emotional and fail to think logically, leading to biases in our results.

I’ve made a handful of the most amazing, passionate, and supportive folks I am happy to call my lifelong friends in grad school. They are people who give constructive suggestions for my research projects, go with me on food adventures, share all my tears and laughter, and are there with me through thick and thin. They are the type of people who give you a hand when they see you drowning and in the next second share ridiculous PhD memes with you. They are both my cheerleaders and life mentors, and I am beyond lucky to have made them my friends.

Tamagotchi (a handheld virtual pet)! I never had a Tamagotchi when I was a kid, and now that I’m an adult, I’ve learned that it’s what the 7 year old me needed! It’s a nostalgic reminder of the 90s while still being super new to me. Though I’ve had a complete collection of the wild life in Animal Crossing, having a Tamagotchi means so much to me and is incomparable.

Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it

I developed a visualization method to peer deeply into large-scale microscopy datasets in living organisms and enhance subtle spectral differences in images for disease diagnostics.

The first step to curing diseases is always to visualize an affected biological environment, and that isn’t always easy. Live biological systems contain a continuous complexity of interactions. Tissues, proteins and their functions within organisms are deeply intertwined. Scientists have been relying on medical imaging techniques to monitor temporal dynamics and spatial structures. However, these techniques come with limitations. One limitation is the lack of full-color spectral information. Another is the requirement for large amounts of data, which is time-consuming and computationally expensive. Our group developed an algorithm called Spectrally Encoded Enhanced Representation (SEER). It distinguishes subtle spectral differences, providing a fast, intuitive and mathematical way to interpret hyperspectral images. It can process multiplexed data across the full spectrum of colors for greater clarity and use much less computer memory as it relies on dimensional encoding to parse the data faster. It pushes beyond the capabilities of human vision and captures exceedingly small differences in the electromagnetic spectrum.

The thought that my project may improve the way the medical field visualizes and diagnoses diseases and injuries is one of the major reasons that I am passionate about this project.  It has shown me that I can apply theoretical bioengineering knowledge that I have long viewed as abstract to the many concrete problems that affect a vast majority of people.

A gallerist. Being someone who not only brings and shows art to people but also supports and represents artists is fascinating to me. 

The PIs and research projects at USC were the core reasons for me. There are so many highly reputed, inspirational academics in science and technology, and a lot of them are pioneers in their fields. They are driven and passionate. The projects they are working on are interesting and impactful at the same time. The skill sets and disciplines students develop along the way help them thrive within their careers and beyond. Besides self-development, I find the sheer joy of learning when I work on the project, it motivates me to be an inner-driven, independent thinker and I believe that’s something deeply profound. 

The support system at USC was also a huge plus to me. USC provides rich resources to help PhD students achieve their goals. Not only are the faculty and students knowledgeable and sharing, but also there is a variety of specialized support staff behind the scene organizing these resources and supporting academics. It is a strong community and network of faculty, peers, and staff who have been helping to guide and support me throughout my PhD journey.

Last but not least, Trojan connections! USC alumni are in all types of fields, and they are dedicated to helping out or uplifting their fellow Trojans. Joining the Trojan family is to join a network that is “lifelong and worldwide”. No matter where you end up, you can always find and engage with your fellow USC alumni. There is an association in almost every city, whether you are walking down Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles or sitting on the steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, or Tokyo, or Shanghai, you will find Trojans thriving and supporting one another.  

The Getty Villa, Malibu beach, and of course any popular brunch spot with 5-star reviews on Yelp to spend your Sunday, lingering over eggs benedict or pancakes, preferably with a latte or mimosa in hand.

When I was preparing for my screening exam, I was expected to give a presentation about my thesis project. There were lots of stressful and frustrating moments, and my lab mates supported me through the tough time. I can’t remember how many practice talks I’ve given, but I remember they were there every time. One night, two of my friends worked with me until 3am at the lab and we went through my 50-page long presentation slide by slide. They were so caring and supportive. If I look at the final version and my first draft now, I won’t believe they are referring to the same project, all because of the people who are unbelievably caring and supportive. 

I love painting! I learned acrylic painting as a child, but I remember not liking it then. During the pandemic, I picked up painting again. Now I am making pieces for my graduation exhibit, and one of my dreams is to open an art gallery by the time I’m 40.

I plan on doing so many things. Visit my family in China and take them to the brunch place we always go to. Travel Europe, hold an art exhibit, help one of my best friends plan her wedding!

Professionally? Get an industry job in R&D. I am very passionate about translational sciences in medical imaging and I would like to improve medical imaging techniques and develop analytical tools to unravel the complexity of life sciences. I look forward to working on industrial projects where I can apply cutting-edge technologies in image processing and machine learning to make an impact on healthcare. 

Xi’an, China

https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/wenigma  

Scott Fraser

Pu Wang PhD in Biomedical/Medical  Engineering

If you know something may fail, let it fail fast.  (This is the advice given by my PI when I discussed the potential problems of one method we were planning to use in our research.  He encouraged me to try it instead of looking for reasoning why it might or might not work.  It's a very important piece of advice for doing research especially in solving engineering problems.)

The greatest accomplishment is not a specific achievement for me.  Instead I think it is the ability and capability to solve problems by fast and efficient self teaching/researching and a systematic thinking of how to tackle problems.  I think I can call myself a well-trained Ph.D. candidate because of that not because of specific paper/patents.

It's a CNC router I bought off Amazon.  I wanted to start to learn how to fabricate metal parts after designing phase.  I didn't know well enough about the constrains such as machine rigidity, work holding etc for making high tolerance parts so I got myself a CNC router.  The router turned out to be a project itself since it has too many limitations.  It seems to be a disaster and bad impulse purchase but I got the hands on experience with minimal cost.  Now I have access to industrial level CNC machine and are able to make great parts for research and I use tons of knowledge learned from tweaking the router in my garage.

My research is building optical microscope systems that have the capability of resolving multiple fluorescent signals within live biological samples.  What excites me about it is I get to build a system from ground up with integrating optical, mechanical hardware along with analysis algorithm and software prototype.  It's another level of feeling of achievements when you know every aspect of your 'baby' and see other researchers to use it for their own research.

I got my master of engineering degree from electrical engineering department of USC.  For me, choosing USC does have some personal preference as I am so familiar with this school.  But most importantly,  USC has one of the greatest engineering school in this country and the school can provide you with so many resources for you to achieve your research goals.  At the end of the day, doing research especially in engineering field, resources to the tools, equipment etc are one of the most important factors, USC always have them.  Another factor is the location.  I love SoCal, the dynamic cultures, food, and weather are things you wont be able to find elsewhere.  Also so many opportunities around when you graduate.

California has so many places that are worth going, if I only recommend 3 places, as a Chinese immigrant, first place I would recommend going is always San Gabriel valleys, you will find a TON of great genuine Asian food there.  It's only 15miles from the campus.  You might also want to check out the mountains in San Bernardino valley like Big bear or Lake arrowhead if hiking or skiing if your thing.  Also you want to check out the beaches in Long beach or Orange County which are beautiful.  By the time you checking them all out, you will find here you have access to mountains, sea, best food all within 1.5hr driving

I will look for an engineering position continue doing what I am good at after graduation.

Zhengzhou, China.

Photography website: https://www.puwangphotography. com/

Scott E. Fraser and Francesco Cutrale

Catherine Yunis PhD in Biomedical Engineering

Not advice but encouragement generally - I think there have been points in my life when I have been unsure about a big decision or the course of some work I've done and hearing positive encouragement from a professor has given me a huge boost in my confidence in myself and the work I'm doing.

Graduating MIT. Getting through undergrad at MIT is very difficult.

A backflow incense burner. I love watching the smoke trickle downwards and I've found some nice smelling new incense as a result.

In short, I study the relationship between touch, vision and walking. I am excited to learn the neuroscience between movement - how sensory inputs of the peripheral nervous system can influence commands sent by the brain to the body. 

I'd be an artist.

The location (love Los Angeles and California and the access to the medical device industry in SoCal), the potential for tech transfer from research to industry and the emphasis on and support for diversity at the school.

Barnsdall Park in LA for the view, Point Lobos National Park south of San Francisco for the gorgeous scenery and a beach in Santa Barbara to feel like you're on vacation.

Being able to eat lunch with my friends/classmates in the Engineering Quad before covid changed the policies about who can be on campus.

I am very tall - about 5'9". It's hard to tell over Zoom. I also like to change my hair color about every month or two.

To work for a research group at a large tech company or to start my own business.

Chicago, IL, USA

I am due to update this but for now I like to share this work from when I was in college:  https://neuralfashion. blogspot.com/  or you can look me up on LinkedIn.

Dr. James Finley and Dr. Heather Culbertson.

Jeffrey Santoso PhDin Biomedical Engineering

Don’t romanticize overworking and don’t confuse working hard with overloading. 

I find research mentorship very rewarding, so I take a lot of pride in working with undergraduate and high school students in our lab. I consider my greatest accomplishments to be working with them to build strong research foundations for the successful pursuit of graduate or professional studies.

Waffle iron.

Neuromyopathies result in the death of motor neurons responsible for muscle movement, leading to muscle atrophy and eventual death. Due to the immaturity of traditional laboratory models, understanding disease pathology is hindered and developing therapeutics is slow and expensive. By combining advancements in stem cell culture, micro-fabrication, and next generation sequencing, my research involves probing the degeneration of the neuromuscular junction in engineered systems, paving the way for neuromuscular disease modeling on a chip. 

If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be?

Some kind of teaching position, or escalator installation and repair.

It’s hard to beat the combination of stability of weather, diversity of food and culture, and variety of recreational activities available within a short trip throughout southern California.

Howlin’ Rays in Chinatown for Nashville hot chicken; The Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino; Angel City Brewery in the Arts District

Going to the UCLA @ USC basketball game with my colleagues and watching Lonzo Ball miss two free throws in a row in the second half, winning everyone in Galen Center free Chik-Fil-A sandwiches.

I don’t enjoy sleeping in.

Postdoctoral studies. I am especially interested in the role of immune system components in engineered tissues and the development and market translation of edible, renewable, and (most importantly) good-tasting cultured meats.

Hometown (city, country)

Diamond Bar, CA, USA

Personal Website (if any)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ jwsantoso/

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Megan L. McCain, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Joseph Liu PhD in Biomedical Engineering

Help others not be recognized, but because you want to.

Supporting my family.

I love my research because it combines my biomedical engineering/informatics background with my love for sports. The applications we build for sports medicine and biomechanics helps to keep athletes safe, perform better, and recover.

It would be to play basketball professionally.

My passion for research in this area, and also I love to teach as well, whether it's math, science, basketball, etc.

Explore all of DTLA (Lakers game), Santa Monica/Venice Beaches, Koreatown/Little Tokyo

All the lab meetings where we discuss our research, but also about life and our interests in general. They are always very positive, funny, and a great time!

One thing that really drives my passion for biomedical engineering/sports research, is having been hurt pretty badly during high school playing basketball and having to go through surgery and recovery.

I would love to work in my current area of research and hopefully teach at the same time!

Professor Brent Liu and Professor Jill McNitt-Gray.

Jia Hao PhD in Biomedical Engineering

Whatever you plan to do, start it early. Don't wait till everything is fully ready because it may never happen. This advice really helped me to fight against procrastination and better manage my time, especially through multitasks. 

It would definitely be the successful completion of my first PhD research project. I was a materials science major for BS and MS, and starting my PhD in a highly bio-based lab was very challenging for me in the beginning. I literally had to google what everything means when I started reading papers in this field. Throughout the three years of this project, there have been countless trials and errors. And when I finally got this project completed, I realized I myself have grown quite a lot along with it.

I got a mini blender last summer and loved it! Just throw in yogurt, frozen fruit and water, and you get a great smoothie in one minute!

I design innovative microdevices to study how hematopoietic stem cells interact with their bone marrow neighbors. I have always been fascinated by stem cells because of their endless potentials. What excites me most is that I get to be creative and innovative and utilize my knowledge in both biology and engineering. The knowledge we gain from my research can inspire novel treatments for blood and immune diseases.

First, USC is a prestigious university, and I was attracted by the research projects that my lab has. And secondly, definitely the city itself. We know PhD programs are usually long (4-5+ years) and it is essential to have a life outside your lab or work in order to keep your mind fresh. Los Angeles boasts cuisine from all over the world, mountains and beaches if you love nature,  and all kinds of city activities. You will never be bored studying at USC :)   

1. BCD tofu house (my favorite restaurant in town!) 2. Abalone cove shoreline (a unique beach park with clear shallow water and so many crabs on rocks); 3. East fork trail in San Gabriel mountains (best hike for summer: get ready to cross shallow rivers)

I have been attending Zumba classes hosted at the USC gym every week for two years now. I am so grateful that even during the pandemic, USC still managed to keep workout classes available for all students- although Zumba becomes Zoomba :) I highly recommend our instructor Shira. She has the best energy and the funniest class. Working out with her has been my best way to release any stress from my work.

I am expecting a baby! Looking forward to having her in my arms during my Ph.D. hooding ceremony (Yay!)

I plan to keep pursuing my passion in the biotech industry and work as a scientist (ideally in Seattle; that's my next destination).

Changchun, China.

www.linkedin.com/in/jia-hao- usc/

Dr. Keyue Shen

Zhouxiao Lu PhD in Biomedical Engineering

Don't reinvent the wheel.

I figured out where my passion lies in undergrad studies and was brave enough to dive deeper.

My PC. It really helps me improve my work-at-home efficiency.

I am interested in developing brain-machine interfaces that can mimic and restore cognitive functions and memory. I feel excited when I am working on something that could potentially influence the welfare of human beings.

Writer or Craft Artist.

Passion for scientific research, international relations, finance.

Hollywood, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara.

I haven't spent much time on campus due to COVID-19, but I really enjoyed my time doing experiments in the lab.

Besides scientific research, I am a big fan of TV series and have translated several episodes of Game Of Thrones into Chinese.

Conduct research and development work in the BCI industry.

Chengdu, China

My personal website is still under development: https://amandalu1999. wordpress.com

Dr. Dong Song

Jonathan Wang PhD in Biomedical Engineering

I would say the best piece of advice given is that: there is never a “perfect” time to start reaching for a goal. It will always be fruitful to start consistent progress towards a target, instead of waiting for a “perfect” scenario. This shifted my mentality to accept difficult times and problems that arise, and recognize it is a normal part of life. The successful ones are the people that just don’t quit on their goals.

I would say a very recent one, which is obtaining my PhD. I am the first PhD student under my advisor, Professor Eun Ji Chung, so I started my project from scratch and followed it through until publications. I was able to switch from a mechanical engineering focused undergrad into a biomedical engineering topic while learning all new skills and scientific workflows. In the end, I won the “best research assistant in biomedical engineering” award from Viterbi, which demonstrated that my contributions to the lab were recognized by the whole department. It was a great feeling to have that recognition, and put the lab in a position for future success.

Not a very expensive one, but my girlfriend and I wanted to buy some Pokemon cards that were getting popular during COVID. We suddenly decided one weekend to look for them, and we went to 4-5 stores before finding them. A Target had them restricted behind the customer service desk, and we bought all three packs they had left that day.

My research aims to use nanoparticles to treat disease, specifically a genetic condition called polycystic kidney disease. Nanomedicine in general was once very obscure in the eyes of the general public, but now it is reaching more widespread appeal due to the COVID vaccines being nanoparticles. I think many industry research and development roles are now realizing the potential of nanoparticle drug delivery platforms. During my time at USC, I saw the landscape of PKD treatment shift dramatically, which is so exciting to see that I work can directly impact patients receiving treatment in the future.

Ideally, (if money weren’t an issue, and I were talented enough), I would want to be on a professional urban dance team. The team I admire the most is called Kinjaz; they are based in Los Angeles so I would strive to make it as a member.

Definitely my advisor, and the energy she brought to all the research topics she presented on. The chance to directly head my own project was a huge draw, as I would be working on the chemistry, cell work, mice work, and all steps in between. It turned out to be true that I gained a huge breadth of skills for my target industry of biologics production.

I would recommend: The Grove/Farmers Market for upscale shopping, Little Tokyo for Asian food, and Santa Monica beaches.

I would say going on each of my academic conferences, particularly the year Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) trips. It would always be fun traveling with other lab members, and touring each new city.

I ride a motorcycle, and think it is one of the most thrilling/liberating feelings I can have.

Working in the biologics and pharmaceuticals industry in California, I am currently interviewing with a couple companies.

San Jose, CA.

Not personal, but our lab website can be found here:  https://chunglaboratory.com/

Professor Eun Ji Chung

Abdullah Aljasmi MS in Chemical Engineering

Do not stop research!

My greatest accomplishment in life, is completing my PhD in chemical engineering at USC with a time period of 3 years.

My favorite impulse purchase over the past 12 months is my new car, that I was planning to purchase from 4 years ago.

Advances in instrumentations, together with rapid increase in the speed of computations, have made it possible to begin simulation of multiphase flow in 2D and 3D images of heterogeneous porous media, hence avoiding altogether the assumption and approximations that are involved in the development of models of porous media. However, as image-based simulation of multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media becomes more practical, one must still address the issue of its high computational cost. In this chapter we described a new methodology to address the issue, which is based on curve-let transforming the image and denoting it by removing those details of the image that do not contribute significantly to the simulation. The computations in the less noisy, and hence more coarsened images yield results that are as accurate as those in the original ones, but with a very high speedup factor. Thus, the methodology represents a significant step toward achieving the ultimate goal of such simulations, namely, making image-based simulation of multiphase flow in heterogeneous porous media a standard practice. What makes me excited about my research is its novelty. As it is a new methodology for efficient simulation, and I was very excited to discover new ideas and approaches to tackle one of the most challenging problems in my field of study.

I am really into legal law, so if I would choose another profession for sure I will go to the Law school.

There are many factors that helped me to decide to pursue my PhD at USC. First, USC is considered one of the world class prestigious universities. In addition, it is located in one of the most wonderful places in the world, Los Angeles. Also, the staff and faculty members are very helpful supportive and knowledgeable.

Of course, Disney Land, Hollywood Universal studious and San Francisco golden gate bridge.

My greatest memory is my wonderful time that I spent with my friends Saleh and Hatem and enjoying the hot coffee with them.

I have never went shopping, I buy all my stuff online!

I have returned back to my home country, to join the Faculty at Kuwait University.

Zahraa, Kuwait

Professor Muhammad Sahimi

Jose Cobena-Reyes PhD in Chemical Engineering

Tell us a little bit about yourself I am originally from Guayaquil, Ecuador. My bachelor’s degree is in chemical engineering, and  after graduating, I worked for a few years as a Production Supervisor at a company called Holcim in Ecuador. I have always wanted to study abroad, so I took my chance and I came to USC.

What attracted you to choose USC for your graduate studies? It’s a world class university and the research I’m doing here is related to my interests, which is a mixture of chemical engineering and computational research.

Tell us about your interests outside the classroom.

Currently, I serve as the Graduate Student Representative for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Chapter at USC. I plan activities tailored to our Hispanic graduate students. Our most popular event is Painting Night! We gather together to paint on small canvases, it is very relaxing.

Last year, I served as part of the Center of Engineering Diversity Advisory Board at USC. We held meetings were we gave feedback and shared our concerns about the needs of our communities. During my free time, I play the guitar. I also love watching soccer and movies.

How has SHPE helped you grow? In so many ways. Professionally, thanks to SHPE I have learned networking techniques, how to follow up after meeting someone either by email or by Linkedin, how to approach people in networking events; in general some social conventions that we should apply when we attempt to grow our network. Socially, there are always opportunities to connect with other Hispanic graduate students during the SHPE events. That helped to make more friends!

Tell us about some exciting and unforgettable incidents from your two years at USC.

Related to my research, the publication of my first paper was incredibly important to me. I worked for a year and a half on it before I was able to finally publish it. I would also say that my networking skills have strengthened thanks to many workshops I have attended. I’ve been able to expand my network considerably and meet many new people.

Is there something that may surprise people about you? I also have a master’s in business administration!

Overall, how has the PhD journey been at USC? I would say that it has been probably one of the most fruitful experiences in my life. I have grown a lot, both personally and professionally. Studying abroad in Los Angeles and at USC has been a great time learning about other cultures and about myself and  learning how to conduct world class research.

What are your future plans after completing your Phd? My aim is to do research either in the semiconductor or chemical industries.

What innovations/discoveries do you hope to see (or be a part of!) in the next ten years? The computational techniques that I use are currently moving towards a combination that involves machine learning to either predict material properties or to accelerate molecular simulation. I think exciting times about this are coming.

Kylie Trettner PhD in Chemical Engineering

The best piece of advice I've ever been given is to always carry around a notebook. Though I suppose the true advice is what that implies:   to write everything down . Writing out my thoughts and reasons why I want to try things (in terms of research) has been so helpful! Not only do I have a handful of notebooks (I'm really organized so each one serves a different purpose) but I've also found that typing up notes to myself when I need to get an idea out quickly is so helpful as well.

Since I'm still working toward earning my PhD, I'd have to say my greatest accomplishment was running TSP DIY last year (TPS = The Speed Project). It's normally a relay-style race from the Santa Monica Pier to the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, but because of COVID we did it around Santa Monica and Beverley Hills. I ran 31 miles at 6:27 average mile pace over the course of the 31-hour 45-minute race with 8 other women. It was incredible and I can't wait to run the real TSP relay next year!

I don't impulse buy! I have to stick to my budget and I usually plan out my bigger purchases a few months in advance to spread them out. Once in a while I'll be tempted by the Madewell sales or buying a few more books than the one that I'm looking for, but if I can't fit it in my budget I don't buy it.

My research is a very interesting mix of materials science, electrical engineering, microscopy, and cancer biology! I'm currently working on creating both a magnetic hydrogel system and electromagnetic microscope mount to be able to use and applied magnetic field to change the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. I'm using this as a tumor microenvironment model to study howincreased material stiffness (modulus) changes the biological properties of cancer organoids grown in the hydrogel matrix. Eventually, I'll use this to study the cellular secretion profile and pair the system with a mechanotransductor to get both biological-only and material/organoid interface read-outs. I'm excited to work on engineering solutions to study biological effects and I've found myself working in the biophysics field - an industry I never knew existed until I began designing my project - and it truly forces us to push the boundaries between engineering, physical sciences, and biology to unlock the fundamental properties of fibrotic diseases.

I would hands down be a professional athlete. I was a student-athlete in undergrad and I'm really involved in the running community here in Los Angeles and if I was ever given the opportunity, I would jump into full-time training.

Beyond USC's location, I saw within USC the opportunity to truly forge my own path. Part of this is because I recognized my PI's encouragement for collaborations (both within and outside of USC) and actively pursued an institution that would support me but also give me the freedom to create at the same time as investigating biologically-inspired questions.

T here's too much to pick for all of California, so I'll limit it to a ~4 hour drive from LA. I absolutely love Death Valley National Park! In LA, the Santa Monica Mountains are probably where I spend most of my weekends (cycling through, but hiking and running are incredible there too) and while I'm talking of mountains, the access to various national forests is great here too (Angeles National Forest and San Bernardino and a few of those mountains are often my cycling destinations for Saturdays as well). My third place would be Ginger's Divine Ice Cream on Washington in Culver City; it's probably the best ice cream I've ever had!

A memory I'll always cherish from USC actually happened during my visit weekend. It rained the whole day we toured campus and spoke with professors. Once I got out of my final meeting (with my current PI) and went to head back to the hotel, a rainbow popped up across campus I ended up walking back through campus under it. I think it was a sign haha!

I was on Good Morning America when I was in middle school on accident. I went to watch the Fray perform, but during the interview with Steve Martin (he was promoting the Pink Panther movie) they decided to ask the crowd to try and repeat things in his character's accent. They came up to me! After I did it, the hostess turned to Steve and said, "I guess the accent isn't so hard!" which I took to mean I did pretty well.

I'm really not sure what I want to do after graduation! I have a couple more years and right now I'm not sure if I want to continue my career doing benchwork or transition to a more consulting-type position. I love problem solving and building but I also really love science communication and public speaking, so I know I'll have to find the right position that will give me a good balance of both.

Wading River, NY, USA

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ kylietrettner

Prof. Andrea Armani

Ghena Alhanaee PhD in Civil Engineering

Tell us a little bit about yourself I am from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates where I grew up and spent my formative years all the way to completing my bachelor’s degree at The Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi (now renamed Khalifa University). I was always interested in physics and math and after some exploring, found myself intrigued by mechanical engineering which ended up being my maopr for my undergraduate studies. Throughout my studies, I grew more and more interested in the energy sector and had the opportunity to pursue a master’s in energy resources engineering at Stanford University.

What attracted you to choose USC for your graduate studies? I then decided I wanted to continue working on and pursuing research in the energy and environment field, with a specific focus on my hometown and the surrounding region (the Persian Gulf). At the time, UAE had just announced they were constructing 4 nuclear reactors to diversify their energy sector. This would be the first time any of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries would enter the nuclear sector, and this really shaped my decision on what I wanted to focus on for my PhD research. I ended up finding an opportunity to work on research focused on my interests at the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department at USC, which brought me to Los Angeles.

Outside of the classroom, I love taking advantage of the beautiful Californian weather, spending time outdoors, going on hikes, and enjoying the sunshine.

I am now starting my sixth year at USC (hopefully my last!) and have had the opportunity of meeting people from all sorts of backgrounds and countries and cultures. I have really enjoyed connecting with people from all walks of life and different corners of the world, that I wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to do.

Is there something that may surprise people about you? Something that might surprise people about me is that I am an avid traveler. Whenever there is a vacation or even a long weekend, you will probably see me in a new city, new state or even a new country.

What are your future plans after completing your Phd? After completing my degree, I am open to possibilities and opportunities and will see what comes my way (after taking a long much-needed vacation).

What innovations/discoveries do you hope to see (or be a part of!) in the next ten years?  I hope to see and be part of finding more sustainable ways to provide energy and protect the environment. I think we can definitely do better.

Agnimitra Dasgupta PhD in Civil Engineering

Make a choice and commit to it. 

I once won a bet of having ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On a serious note, I am proud that I have published before. 

An ergonomic chair. It was expensive, but has really helped with back pain from working long hours in front of the computer, and in hindsight completely worth it.

The core theme of my research is quantifying uncertainties associated with inverse problems. More specifically, I am trying to characterize material heterogeneities from noisy response measurements, I believe my research has philosophical implications and has wide-ranging applications ranging from medical imaging (dealing with things that are hard to see) to structural health monitoring (where the scale is many times larger). 

Growing up, I wanted to be a chemist. I still harbor that interest.

Briefly, the ongoing research in my department, my advisor, the security of the Fellowship I was offered and the location of the University.

If you are in California, you should not leave without visiting Yosemite. I would also recommend San Francisco, I think the city has an interesting vibe. Catch the sunrise or sunset from Battery Spencer with a view of the Golden Gate bridge, and later you can either take a sip of Irish coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe or enjoy some ice cream  or chocolate at Ghirardelli square. More locally, Santa Monica beach is a nice place to enjoy sunsets. 

I will miss my friends and roommates from my time at USC. 

I have a superpower; I can chop onions without tearing up

I wish to remain in academia after I graduate. I will probably be looking for post-doctoral opportunities. 

Kolkata, India.

https://adasgupta94.github. io/

Prof. Erik A Johnson, Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Preetham Manjunatha PhD in Civil engineering

It was given by my mother, "Whatever difficult scenario arises in your life, you should not lose your inner self".

Gaining a small amount of knowledge that lasts forever and pursuing a Ph.D. and two master's degrees at the same time.

I bought a dozen of shirts that I purchased the next day after purchasing a single shirt from a French company, Celio.

The interest in doing research and problem-solving. Also, an immense love of mathematical aspects of Finite Element Analysis (FEA), a structural analysis method, and structural dynamics.

The places which I liked most are Yosemite, Griffith observatory, and Venice beach.

I have several memories, to name some: the first memory was when the Master's thesis committee mentioned that the thesis was the best one they have seen. The second was mentoring master's students from Viterbi CS and EE departments. Third, was when pursuing my first master's degree, the visits to USC, Traditions with friends during the weekends.

That I am a good cook (my friends say that all the time). I love to cook food, I made my first recipes (lentil stew/curry and deep-fried chicken kabab) when I was 10 years old.

City is Mysore, and the country is India.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ pmanjunatha/

Professor Sami F. Masri.

Mert Oytun PhD in Civil Engineering

Never think about what other people might say when making a decision.

Some can assume that granting one of the most prestigious scholarships, the Fulbright scholarship, must be the greatest achievement in my life; however, it is not the case. One of my greatest accomplishments was transcending Bosphorus from Asia to Europe by swimming around 6.5 km. I firmly believe that these challenging activities pave the way for exploring oneself and ease reaching the other achievements in life (e.g., academic and social success in life).

Car and air fresheners because they make my memories more permanent.

To put it briefly, my research focuses on the acquisition, modeling, and analysis of the data needed for user-centered built environments by developing novel algorithms and visualization techniques. More specifically, I focus on the Human-Robot interaction and related technologies in Civil Engineering. What excites me in my work is that I strive to explore the unknown with an interdisciplinary approach.

It would definitely be a finance-related field because (1) I am delighted with making good guesstimates, and (2) the world revolves around finance, whether we admit it or not.

One of the most important factors is that our university had a very strong and competent academic staff. In addition, the strategic privilege of our university's location has also played an essential role in my decision to pursue a Ph.D. at USC. Thanks to this privilege, USC offers us the opportunity of networking with leading institutions and organizations in many fields, primarily in technology.

Highway 1, Beverly Hills, and San Diego.

Exploring the statues at USC. I also like the Fight song, which is the basis of our universities' motto, "Fight on!".

Although I am a realistic person, I love to dream.

Ankara, Turkey.

http://www.mertoytun.com/

Dr. Lucio Soibelman & Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber.

Ruying Liu PhD in Civil Engineering

“In the moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for.”

I always flip a coin in my mind when I make hard decisions.

I won the Charles Innes Prize in our department in my senior year at the University of Edinburgh. The prize awarded annually to the foremost student in the Honors course in the final year. It is not my first time being the foremost student in class. But winning this price in my last year at Edinburgh did not only give me a happy ending of my undergraduate life, but also has become a huge encouragement for me. When I faced difficulties, this prize reminded me of my achievements, the unforgettable memories in the windy Scotland, and the invaluable support I’ve received in the past. All these boost my inner strength to pursue my next goals.

Gaming chair.

My current study is on humans, emergencies, and the built environment. As a multidisciplinary topic, it involves studying human building interaction in the context of different disasters with technologies such as virtual reality. My research provides significant insights in enhancing occupant safety and facilitating evolution of the built environment in satisfying human needs. 

I would choose Language and Literature. I enjoy reading and learning new languages. I may become a publication editor or a novel writer. 

USC invited me to the campus visit and I met my advisor in person. She is a very supportive advisor and a reputable researcher. During the campus visit, I was attracted by the friendly ambience of the university as well. A place with sunshine, lovely people, beach, and music will never bore me in the next 5 years. 

Apparently 3 places are not enough. My top 3 is Golden Gate Bridge, California State Route 1, Malibu beach especially the amazing sunset.

I joined USC when the Covid-19 hit in 2020. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate in many social events or spend much time on campus. But I do cherish the experience working with team members on class projects. Even with online zoom meetings, we made good communications and excellent teamwork. 

When I was in high school, I became a member of the Calligraphers Association of our city.

Find a postdoc position or a faculty position.

Tangshan, China.

Burçin Becerik-Gerber.

Audie Lee PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering

“Think you are the best” my advisor, Dr. Qiming Wang, said. Delivering my screening exam presentation, I shrank and choke before committee members. Everyone could readily figure out I was frozen solid. After it ended, my advisor kindly explained me in detail why I should be or, at least, try to look confident when presenting my idea (basically, no one buys yours when you don’t look like buying yours), and the best way to do so is to think I am the best. At that time, I could understand why he had sometimes told me “Audie, you are smart” or “you are doing great” in the lab – an aha moment. He had been planting seeds of confidence in me for about two years (gosh, I was too dull to figure it out early). Well, in fact, this advice itself is one that everyone can give out easily. But that advice from him reflects his long observation and thoughtfulness towards me – the best piece of advice.

  If my future children say ‘I wanna become a grown-up like my dad,’ that must be the greatest accomplishment ever in my life.

Some Nintendo Switch game cartridges – I don’t have Nintendo Switch and have no plan to get one lol Doesn’t this make you laugh already? Well, just thinking “Someday I’m gonna play it so hard” makes me feel better when I get stressed. I didn’t purchase just a bunch of game cartridges, instead, I bought a collection of (well-sugarcoated) mood shifters.

My research fields include mechanics, wave propagation, metamaterials, and some novel structures. Does it sound like civil engineering topics? Most people usually think that civil engineering is all about soils, rocks, construction, earthquakes, and water. Right, but not ‘all.’ Surprisingly, due to many efforts for interdisciplinary research, the intersection area between research fields has been emerging wide – and that’s where something new is likely to come about. I mix civil engineering, mechanical engineering, materials engineering, and physics all together to bridge novel ideas with reality. Becoming an explorer looking for a treasure chest full of groundbreaking ideas, doesn’t it excite you?

Paleontology. Trojans love Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, right? Forget that Dr. Jones is actually an archeologist. Harrison Ford in Jurassic Park, that’s what I want to be in my second life. Hmm, Han Solo in Jurassic Park is also not a bad idea.

Support from USC. USC always tries its best to offer students an optimal environment for research. Especially, I have been more than just satisfied with the assistantship that USC provides. With all concerns about money-related issues excluded, I can only focus on my research during my Ph.D. career. I profoundly appreciate USC and proud alumni for their financial support.

Griffith Observatory: While many tourists perceive it as just one of the popular places in L.A., it comes to me as something like home where I can freely visit and blow away all the stress with the cool breeze, looking at the grid of the city.

El Taurino: It’s one of the best Mexican restaurants in L.A. Luckily, it’s right next to USC. Just go try burritos there. Further words are a waste of ink.

UCLA Rose Bowl: Watching Trojans vs. Bruins football match at Rose Bowl is the best thing you can do in L.A. – Trojans never lose.

In early 2020, a tragedy visited my family, and I was withering away like barley plants during the Dust Bowl period. But my Ph.D. colleagues and USC staffs picked me up from the dust swamp. Their support was the rope of hope I could hold on to get out of that depression. It was the spirit of ‘Together We Fight On.’ This memory will never fade away.

Nothing. My life has been boring, especially during the COVID-19 period.

Pursuing postdoctoral researcher position and faculty position.

Busan, South Korea

  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ audielee/

Dr. Qiming Wang

Sara Babakniya PhD in Computer Science

Wht’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

While it is good to listen to many advice, there is no best advice for you. Your life and situation are unique, and you are the one who has to consider all the critical factors and decides what's the best to do.

Admission to my dream university/major for B.Sc.

Home decor items, one morning, I realized I don't particularly appreciate how my home looks and purchased some home decors, and I must say now my apartment feels more like a home to me.

Currently, I am working on the privacy and security of machine learning. The fact that I am working on real-life problems and any possible enhancement impacts the world is my first motive. Also, personally, I prefer to work on the intersection of theory and programming, which I am doing right now.

Social scientist.

Combination of university reputation, location, field, quality of research.

Everyone should visit the beaches, Griffith observatory and Hollywood sign. 

I went to the USC - ASU football match in the LA Memorial Coliseum, and I truly enjoyed every part of it.

While I enjoy talking to people for hours and hours in person, answering my phone is almost impossible for me.  Most people think that I am highly extravert, but I am not.

I have always dreamed of being a faculty member. I hope I can be one after my graduate studies.

Rasht, Iran.

www.linkedin.com/in/sara- babakniya

Prof. Leana Golubchik.

Chelsea Luo PhD in Computer Science

Being unhappy is all about wanting yes but getting no. But happiness is not determined by circumstances. How we react plays a much bigger part.

I would choose marine biology. Oceans are just so fascinating.

Getting my first paper accepted. I will always remember the excitement and all the hard work that went into it!

I want to be a professor so that I can do what I enjoy: teaching, and helping people.

http://alchem.usc.edu/~qinyi/ index.html

Wei-Cheng Wu PhD in Computer Science

Don't make big decisions because of someone else (like your girlfriend etc), cause you'll probably regret it.

None. Stay hungry stay foolish.

I bought a LaunchPad! A whole new way to make music.

My research focuses on computer security, specifically binary analysis. I think it is exciting as it really pushes us to think outside of the box. Companies or software developers always try to provide a perfect system, while hackers can always still find ways to comprise it. Then people will come out with new techniques to mitigate the vulnerabilities. As a security researcher, we must have the mindset of both sides and keep challenging the current technology.

I guess a guitarist. Although I feel like making music is also engineering in many ways

I think the only factor is the research area. I am accepted to a lab that does research I am really interested in. And I am still happy about the decision so far.

(1) Dockweiler beach: You can have bonfire aside the beach (2) OUE Skyspace LA: Must see, the DTLA night view (3) Bike from Venice beach ~ Santa Monica

I think it's a bit hard for me to answer this question at the current stage. Let me save this question till I graduate.

I practice Aikido.

For career I definitely plan to work in a US Tech company for a while. Honestly no further plan for now (well who knows how the world will be like by then). I've always just prepared myself as best I can at anytime. When chances come, I will know what to do.

Taipei, Taiwan

https://steel.isi.edu/members/ weicheng/

Jelena Mirkovic

Basileal Imana PhD in Computer Science

Plan tomorrow the night before. I am not sure if I can call it the best but it has certainly been very useful. The advice also extends to planning for goals to accomplish in a week, a month, a year, or even a decade.

I would say pursuing my Ph.D. this far, and the internships I got the opportunity to do along the way.

The closest thing to an impulse purchase I have done recently is buying Airpods -- they have made my life much easier.

My current research focuses on auditing advertising platforms that deliver job ads to ensure they do so in a fair way across demographic groups. It excites me because it has positive societal implications for millions of people that use such platforms to learn about employment opportunities.

It would probably be architecture -- I used to like doing freeform sketches and enjoyed working on my technical drawing projects when I was in high school.

It was a combination of several factors. The main ones were the financial package (USC awarded me a fellowship), the match with my research interests (there were at least a few potential labs I could see myself joining), and the location (LA is close to where my brother lives).

I would recommend visiting Torrey Pines beach in San Diego (an amazing place to see a sunset), a road trip on CA Highway 1 (which runs past many places worth seeing across the Pacific), and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

During the start of my second year at USC, I ran into someone that introduced me to a Christian church community called ICA that became like family shortly after.

My mother, father, and I all have different last names due to the difference in naming conventions used in Ethiopia (my home country) and in the US.

In the short term, I plan to work in industry research. I am also very interested in teaching and would like to explore doing that in the long term.

I was born and grew up in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

https://ant.isi.edu/~imana/  

Aleksandra Korolova and John Heidemann

Rey Pocius PhD in Computer Science

The best piece of advice that I’ve ever been given is...when confronted with an amazing opportunity, say yes, if you don't know something, roll up your sleeves and just do it. Any opportunity to keep learning is invaluable.

I consider my greatest accomplishment to be winning a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. I received the fellowship during the first year of my PhD and it embodies all of the work that I put towards research in my undergraduate studies and during my first year at USC.

A new USC sweater. Fight on!

My research is on synthetic location data generation, what excites me most about this area of research is the possibility of creating synthetic data generators that can account for sparsity within incomplete datasets.

If I could have chosen any other profession it would have been to be an architect. I grew up outside of the city of Chicago and lived in a town with incredible architecture.

USC has a very strong collaborative culture and is at the heart of the exciting city of Los Angeles. Many of the students and faculty who I met during the visit days were extremely supportive and high energy. The facilities and faculty at USC are world class.

Koreatown, Newport Beach, San Clemente.

The Computer Science department's annual holiday party.

I am an artist. I paint with oils and acrylics.

I plan to pursue research engineer and software engineer positions within industry related to my research.

Elmhurst, Illinois.

https://reypocius.github.io/

Cyrus Shahabi.

Sepanta Zeighami Phd in Computer Science

"Find your niche". I think big pictures are important, but it's easy to get lost in them. Starting small and finding a niche that you can become an expert in helps a lot in building up to the visions one has

Being able to work on what I'm passionate about.

Artificial grass, pull-up bar and a tent. We built a gym in our front yard.

 I'm working on replacing databases with neural networks, basically how the human brain stores information. The goal is to store data more efficiently and answer queries on the data faster. It is exciting because it's a fundamentally different approach towards data storage compared with existing systems and there are many new things to explore.

Musician. I've always wanted to make/play music. I've been playing the piano for quite some time now, and I enjoy performing in front of other people and coming up with new music.

I think the main two factors for me were the location of the university and the research group. California weather is great and LA beaches are nice. I liked the research projects in the lab I'm currently working in, and I also talked to my advisor to make sure that his advising style is a good fit for me. 

Big Sur, Lake Tahoe, Joshua Tree.

When I went to Santa Monica in the first few days of school with other new PhD students that I didn't know, with whom I've become close friends now.

I've lived in five different cities in the past two years and four different countries in the past ten.

 I would like to stay in academia, hopefully become a professor and continue with my research.

https://szeighami.github. io/

Fiona Guo PhD in Computer Science

When I took my first computer science class in undergrad, my professor told us “Build everything incrementally.” Of course he said this in the context of writing codes, but I’ve just found it applies to many more things in our lives.

My greatest accomplishment so far is that I made the decision to start my PhD, and I’m sticking to it so far. I’ve been grown a lot, and I’m having fun exploring in my research.

My favorite impulse purchase recently is a tomato plant that’s thriving and providing me cherry tomatoes for salads.

I’d probably be a cook. I enjoy food very much myself, and I also enjoy cooking for others and sharing what’s good.

Yosemite, Channel Islands and Redwood parks. These are my 3 favorite parks. Yes I love hiking.

Actually I had to switch advisor during my second year because my previous advisor was leaving USC. I’m very grateful that my current advisor Dr. Kristina Lerman took me in. I’m also thankful for all the help from USC Viterbi office and the department advisors. It is something I’d always remember and appreciate.

90% of the songs I listen to are from 60’s or 70’s.

I think I want to join some company, where I can use my knowledge and ability to develop novel applications. It could be a biotechnology company where I could contribute to solving human health problems, or a social networking company where I could help to build a better and healthier online community for people.

Zhejiang Province, China

Kristina Lerman.

Neal Lawton PhD in Computer Science

A lways give 100%. In anything you do, try your best.

I consider my greatest accomplishment to be graduating from college.

I have not made any impulse purchases in the past 12 months.

My research revolves around better ways to train neural nets (optimization and neural architecture search). I like this subject because it's immediately applicable to every application that uses neural nets.

Dog walker.

Information Sciences Institute (ISI) where I do research has an especially diverse research community. Researchers here study lots of different topics, from Natural Language Programming to information theory to robotics. The "USC Startup Garage" is also located in our building.

I would recommend an incoming student visit 1. The Natural History Museum just south of USC (big dinosaurs!), 2. Everything in DTLA (Hollywood sign, the Grand Central Market, the Broad museum, Dodger stadium), and 3. Santa Monica Pier.

 A memory I'll cherish about USC is attending conferences with my lab-mates and meeting new people.

O ne thing about me that might surprise you is, I can say the alphabet backwards!

My plans after graduation are to work for a lab in industry.

My hometown is Costa Mesa, CA (an hour south of LA)

Aram Galstyan and Greg Ver Steeg.

Bowen Song PhD in Computer Science

Making a breakthrough in research is about keep going at it knock your head against that wall until the wall breaks.  

My next goal.

A 2k Jura coffee machine. Worth every penny!

I study every aspect of cloud and distributed computing including the systems, networks and communications, security, privacy, etc. There’s a term in the cloud community called container orchestration, every part of the system working together to create a symphony. Working in this area, I get to orchestrate each part of the system so that it fits with the others like puzzle pieces. When you think about it, it is hauntingly beautiful. I love the feeling that an idea in my head becomes reality, much more so when the design joins all the disconnected parts together and creates a beautiful image.

History. I love a good story. Every bit of it shapes the world we live in. (Too bad it doesn’t pay.)

I love LA. I first visited LA back in 2012 with my best friend. I fell in love with the place ever since, and every time I visit I love it even more, the weather, the beaches, the flat city. Everything about LA is so lovable. 

Santa Monica Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes, Huntington Park.

Talking with my prof. and my postdoc. Cherish + Enjoy + Love!

I run 6 - 10 miles per day. Plus, now that I moved back to the west coast in LA, no more rain/snow days!

I don’t know. Surprise me world! I am confident I can handle anything thrown at me.  

Nothing other than LinkedIn.

Prof. Leana Golubchik

Jacqueline Brixey PhD in Computer Science

It was not advice given specifically to me; however, I like the advice: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”  Shirley Chisholm.

My doctoral work on my Native American language, Choctaw, brings me a great sense of accomplishment. It is important that technology exists for all languages in the world, including indigenous languages. I am proud to have created the first corpus for Choctaw, which lays the foundation for other researchers to work on the language.

I gave in to the Covid fad of baking bread. However, I found that I really didn’t like to knead bread, so I bought a bread maker. I just pop the ingredients in the machine and come back to freshly made bread in three hours!

I work on dialogue systems, particularly for low-resource and American Indian languages. As an American-Indian, it is exciting to build these systems for my indigenous language, Choctaw. There are interesting challenges to working on a language that no other computer scientist has worked on, and it is fulfilling to me personally to develop language technology for my indigenous community.

I previously worked as an English language teacher, and I previously worked as a journalist. I would be happy to return to either of those professions.

I was thrilled at the opportunity to work with the Natural Language Dialogue researchers at ICT. It is meaningful to work with scientists who not only are at the top of the field, but who also care about AI for social good.

I would recommend going to The Getty, The Broad Museum, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

One great memory I have is documenting the language Ladin in Italy on a summer project with Dr. Khalil Iskarous. It was an incredibly beautiful area of Italy, and I feel lucky to have participated in such an interesting experience, I learned so much!

I have a black belt in taekwondo.

I’m not sure if I will go into academia or industry. One thing I am sure about is that I will continue working on technology for American Indigenous languages.

El Paso, TX, USA.

www.jacqueline-brixey.com

Dr. David Traum

Jingbo Wang PhD in Computer Science

Nintendo switch! During COVID, most of the time, we have to stay at home. Playing some games (e.g. animal crossing) on Nintendo switch is really relaxing

I think I would like to pursue J.D. or LL.M in law school. For some of the code-based laws, it is well suited to apply formal methods and logic to represent them. Researchers have proposed a default logic to formalize the federal tex code and its accompanying regulations. What I’m currently doing is applying the logic to formalize the behavior of the software. In the future, I wish I could use that to formalize code-based laws, to detect ambiguities and drafting errors.

There are so many reasons:) First, the professor I want to work with is at USC. Second, there are many PL/SE researchers in USC and we could discuss, collaborate in many possible ways.  The atmosphere here is really motivating. Third, USC has so many female clubs (e.g. WinCC, WiSE) where we could learn from  each other’s experiences and try to encourage more females in the STEM area.  Fourth, USC provides many valuable classes such as public speaking, creative thinking, arts performance and etc.  It really broadens our horizons in addition to our own expertise.  Last but not least, LA is such a special city with palm trees, skateboarding teens, oddball bohemians, and the occasional movie star. You will fall in love with it once you come here.

Griffith observatory, Universal Studios, Getty center

There are so many unforgettable memories at USC. The farmer’s market outside Leavey library, annual conquest rally, birthday celebrations for our lab-mates, and hanging out together in USC Village.

Although I give public presentations in the premier conference and make friends with other researchers,  I am a typical introvert and I dislike social activities. When attending the conference, people are expected to interact with each other over few days. To be frank, I enjoy talking with people and introducing my research. However, none of these could compare favorably to solitary.  I always spend a lot of time learning and reflecting in solitude. It’s more like a meditation where I could relax and talk with myself. 

I plan to stay in academia and look for faculty jobs or other research-related jobs.

Nanyang, China.

http://scf.usc.edu/~ jingbow/

Prof. Chao Wang.

Sarath Shekkizhar PhD in Computer Science

In my high school I was very much intrigued by poetry. One poem, Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson, struck a chord with me ever since I read it for the first time - The takeaway message, as I remember it, is experience and knowledge is an unceasing endeavor that fills us with joy, pain, and an everlasting desire for more.  Whatever your passion or goal, be sure  "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield"

Recently, I was awarded the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, 2020 - I'm particularly fond of this achievement since it gave me the courage and motivation to keep going on with my research.

A pair of rock climbing shoes and a summer climbing membership.

My current research focus is in graph based machine learning. Graphs provide a generic setup to describe and analyze patterns in data where instead of observing data as an isolated set of points, one can take a bird's eye view where the data interacts  amongst themselves to form a network of connectivity. I find this idea of learning by association appealing due to its simplicity and its potential to be applied in any real world problem involving data.

I love the outdoors - skiing, scuba diving and backpacking are some of my favorite leisure activities. If I were to pick a profession outside engineering I would probably end up as an instructor or guide in one of these activities.

I originally joined USC as a MS in Electrical Engineering student and had the opportunity to interact and work with my current advisor and other researchers at USC. The freedom in choosing one's research and the support that one has as a community were two major reasons for me in deciding to pursue my PhD at USC.

1. Hike to the Hollywood sign while taking a stop at Griffith. 2. Take the metro to Santa Monica and walk/bike along the beach 3. Enjoy the food that LA offers. I'm a bit of a sweet tooth, so here are some of my favorites: Milk and Berries cake from Porto's, Tiramisu from Bottega Louie, Griddle Cafe pancakes, Diddy Riese cookies

My first tailgate experience and the walk down Trousdale way to watch the USC football game against Notre Dame at the Coliseum.

Contrary to what others think of me, I think of myself as an introvert.

My immediate plans after graduation is to pursue a postdoctoral position in an academic or corporate environment. Ultimately, I hope to pursue a professorship to continue my career in research and share my passion for discovery.

Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India.

https://shekkizh.github.io/

Antonio Ortega

Nathaniel Sands PhD in Computer Science

Becoming a Detective with the New York City Police Department.  

Part of my research involves the development of tools that will help software engineers write safe and secure code.  Since our lives are pretty much mediated by software these days, it is critically important to have these tools, particularly in fields like medicine or industrial robotics.

A veterinarian.

I think going back to in-person classes and socializing with other students will be a pretty  memorable experience.  Being cut off from other people has been one of the most difficult things about the pandemic, even for introverts like myself.

Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Prof. Mukund Raghothaman

Mingxuan Yue PhD in Computer Science

"Think big but start with small." This works in many aspects. I developed a habit of running every morning because I told myself you just need to talk a short walk every day and enjoy the morning air. 

I got married during my Ph.D. :)

I bought a whiteboard during the time I worked remotely. Before buying it, I always believed I can rely on the notes on my phone and laptop to track my TODOs. But the fact was I never checked them. The whiteboard is super useful as it stands in front of my desk and it's hard to ignore it. I rely on it a lot to make plans and clear my mind when dealing with multiple and complex tasks.

My research is mainly about how do we use machine learning techniques on spatial and temporal data to mine knowledge and benefit real-world applications. An example is how to automatically label a human trajectory as behavior such as a work commute. My research mainly excited me because most of them came from real-world demand during my discussion with my collaborators in different domains.

A novelist.

The time when I lived with four nice roommates.

I 'm graduating soon but I haven't got a chance to watch a football game at USC! 

I will join Google as a software engineer.

I was born in Shenyang, China. People living there are super funny and friendly. 

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~ mingxuay/    

 Cyrus Shahabi

Kushal Chawla PhD in Computer Science

One should never judge their own or someone else’s decisions based on the outcomes (that is, in hindsight). That’s just unfair! Instead, think about whether the decision made sense, given the situation you were in. If you are in a similar situation again, how can you make a better call?

That has to be the network of friends and colleagues that I could build from a variety of professional experiences in both academia and industry. Life is a bit easier with folks you can always turn up to for some advice and of course, for referrals!

Minion-shaped slippers with button eyes that move when you walk.

I am currently working on enabling human-machine negotiations in natural language such as in English. Think about buyer-seller price negotiations or salary negotiations. Automated systems that negotiate with humans can be really helpful in advancing conversational AI and for teaching social skills to humans. Most practical systems in this space are based on restrictive communication protocols such as a predefined menu of options. Instead, I am trying to incorporate more natural means of communication such as language so that these systems can be more useful in the downstream applications. This area opens up exciting avenues for interdisciplinary research between NLP, Affective Computing, and Psychology. For a glimpse of what I do, here is a TechXplore blog that covers our recent work published at NAACL-HLT 2021: https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-casino-campsite-based-dialogs- automatic.html

A full-time host for grand cultural events! I just love the job and the feel that comes with it! Even now, I grab such opportunities with both hands.

First and foremost, my interactions with the lab that I am joining. I would definitely recommend that to all the prospective students. Secondly, the ever-increasing research opportunities and a helpful environment over here at USC. Lastly, it would be unfair if I don’t include this but the nice LA weather was always there at the back of my mind.

- Weekend getaway at Big Bear - Manhattan beach - Hikes in Malibu

I am a part of a religious organization at USC called the Bridges International. In Fall 2019, we went to Big Bear for a weekend, in a group of nearly 30. We rented out two huge houses near the lake, danced and sang songs from different cultures around the globe, and went for a hike! Amazing experience!

I have an OCD of repeatedly checking the locks and always making sure that everything is locked. It is so bad that once, during my undergrad, I preferred to calmly lock my door first, when everyone else was vacating the building due to a strong earthquake. As a side note, I later got to know that my friend ran with a laptop in her hand: the most expensive stuff that she could find in her room. People have weird priorities!

I am keeping it wide open for now, although I am slightly inclined towards joining the industry again, given my previous experience as a full-time researcher at Adobe for a couple of years.

Delhi, India.

https://kushalchawla.github.io/

I am jointly advised by Gale Lucas and Jonathan Gratch at ICT, USC.

Kegan Strawn PhD in Computer Science

I subscribe to the "next right step" advice. Life can be overwhelming at times, especially during your studies, and focusing on the next right step rather than the entire mountain you are trying to hike up has really helped me every day.

I  come from a family where no one has been in academia and I was not exposed to anything close to it growing up. Research, and even college, felt like this scary gated community that only a certain few could participate in and I'm very grateful to those in my undergraduate studies who helped open the gate for me and showed me that anyone can do this. Don't get me wrong, I have many privileges in my life, but I'm very proud to be here at USC and working hard among some very smart peers every day. 

Last week I bought an LA Dodgers hat at the game against the Giants. I think this means I can officially say I live here now.

I work in multi-robot coordination and collaboration. I'm very interested in how robots can work together with other robots and humans as part of a team to help improve our lives. It's slightly different from the majority of current work that is about training a robot to beat us at a certain game or to replace a job completely. I spend a lot of my time thinking about how we can improve the algorithms they use and the way they learn to work together and I find it incredibly fun and rewarding work.

I always wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. I love animals and find biology and genetics fascinating. So, I think I still want to be a vet when I finally grow up.

If they are looking to live somewhere I highly recommend the Culver City area. For things to see, I really like the Getty Center for not only the art but the cool architecture and outdoor garden. I also love cruising up and down the pacific coast highway and going to any of the beaches (although Hermosa beach down south is my favorite). Finally, I'd recommend some Korean BBQ in Koreatown. 

I only applied to drama colleges for college. I was fully expecting to only ever be in LA for acting, but now I'm here for my Ph.D. working in computer science and robotics. Life has a crazy way of working out!

Currently, I am interested in continuing in academia with a postdoctoral position.

Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

https://sites.google.com/view/ kegan-strawn

Professor Nora Ayanian

Aniruddh Puranic PhD in Computer Science

My parents have always told me to focus on the process and not on the results, and to be persistent in whatever I do.

Last year, I published my first paper as a PhD student at one of the top robotics conferences - Conference on Robot Learning (CoRL). It immediately received media coverage by the Viterbi news and I was thrilled to see it on the main USC webpage. Soon after, it also appeared on other very reputable news platforms – ACM TechNews and RISKS Digest (a periodical that is edited by Dr. Peter G. Neumann, a pioneer in computer science).

I bought some limited-edition merchandise from one of my music and technology idols Richie Hawtin, a highly distinguished electronic music producer and DJ. It also included a personal handwritten note from him, which made it even more special.

My research revolves around learning-based human-robot interaction (HRI) systems and is cross-disciplinary as it involves formal methods and robotics. Specifically, I work on verifiable and safe HRI systems wherein robots can learn from humans showing them how to perform tasks. As robots are becoming more commonplace (such as robots in warehouses, households, autonomous cars, etc.), it is laborious for humans to program them for each task and deduce the behavior for new tasks or environments that the robot may encounter during its lifetime. It is rather easier for humans to show the robot how to perform these tasks and thus, the robot can learn to mimic or imitate the demonstrated behavior – this programming paradigm is called Imitation Learning or Learning-from-Demonstrations. With the recent evolution of deep learning, many techniques require large amount of data, whereas we, as humans, can learn to perform tasks only from a handful of data. Moreover, it is difficult even for experts to understand what the robot is learning as this internal learning process is not easily interpretable. Further, this may lead to the robot learning unsafe or undesirable behaviors that may have dire consequences such as the robot causing harm to the human or getting damaged. Hence, developing safe robots that interact with humans is a very exciting research area with huge impact on improving human lifestyle and I hope to make a great contribution to this field. Various promising applications of this are medical assistants (for rehabilitation, elder care, assistive surgery), industrial robots (such as those in manufacturing and warehouses), households (helping with everyday chores), autonomous vehicles, etc.

I would choose to pursue a career in tennis as I used to play competitive tennis since I was 7 years old.

There were several factors that aided my decision to enroll in PhD at USC. Firstly, it is the great reputation of USC, especially the Viterbi School, in academic research, and home to the highly reputed industry-focused research institutions: Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and Institute of Creative Technologies (ICT). USC has very diverse research areas, esteemed faculty and allows students to easily collaborate with others from different fields (specializations) within and across other departments. I first joined USC as a masters student specializing in intelligent robotics and got the exposure to projects in various robotics labs, including the Intuitive Surgical Da Vinci robot at the Keck Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. I also got to know about and understand faculty collaborations with R&D departments in the industry. During my masters, I worked with Prof. Jyotirmoy Deshmukh, who had several years of industrial research experience at Toyota R&D North America, on a few interesting projects which also introduced me to academic research. It was then that I decided to pursue my PhD under Prof. Deshmukh. Another factor that influenced my decision was USC’s location - Los Angeles, which is close to not only tech start-ups, but also big companies, thus providing ample opportunities for collaborative research. After completing my masters, I interned at Toyota R&D in Mountain View and enjoyed working on a few patents, which motivated me further to pursue a PhD.

I’d recommend visiting (1) Santa Monica Pier and Beach, (2) Hollywood Boulevard and studios and (3) Palm Desert, especially for tennis and golf enthusiasts.

USC has given me numerous memories over the past 5 years. Working with Dr. Andrew Hung at the Keck School of Medicine in the field of robotic surgery and having the opportunity to experience operating a highly sophisticated state-of-the-art surgical robot (not on a real person, of course!) is one of my most memorable experiences at USC.

Besides academics and tennis, I am very passionate about electronic (techno) music and am a novice DJ, mainly influenced by my friends who are music producers and/or record label owners.

I am open to various options in the academia and industry. I had a successful semester as a teaching assistant for my advisor’s class and received exceptional feedback from him and the students on my teaching abilities. I am keen on applying my research to the medical domain at the Keck School of Medicine and would also like to work in industrial R&D at pioneering institutions such as USC-ICT, USC-ISI, SRI International, etc.

I’m from Bangalore, India.

My webpage is available at https://aniruddh-puranic.info

My advisor is Prof. Jyotirmoy Deshmukh of CPS-VIDA group. I am also closely mentored by Prof. Stefanos Nikolaidis from ICAROS group.

Avijit Thawani PhD in Computer Science

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? Every year, pick up to five idols (living, dead, or fictional) and try to emulate them, e.g., reading books that they’d like or practicing skills that they possess. You’ll eventually get closer to their personality and aptitude.

In my technical field, I’m yet to make an impact that I would like to boast about. 

An illustrated version of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I otherwise prod through reading any fiction so it helped me appreciate the masterpiece without much effort.

I work on AI, particularly on text inputs such as when Google needs to answer a question by reading lots of documents on the internet. More specifically, I'm helping such text-reading systems get better at understanding numbers, say when counting, adding, comparing or approximately measuring quantities.

A writer perhaps. I’ve written short stories and a sci-fi novel when I was in high school, and am writing another sci-fi short story these days.  

(1) A vast number of amazing faculty members relevant to my research area - as opposed to smaller niche research centers in case you later discover you’re interested in something else entirely (2) excellent location - I attended around a dozen top tier conferences only due to proximity to Los Angeles - all in the six months before the pandemic.

(1) The Vista theatre which screen vintage masterpieces from time to time. (2) The Dish hike near Stanford University. (3) the road to northern California.

Lots more to make once school re-opens, but so far I’ve loved attending arbitrary events open to all students, whether it be a talk on Brexit, an industry connect session, a research talk, a festive celebration, or a halloween movie screening!

While studying Computer Science and conducting research in machine learning in my undergrad, I spent two good years to learn to write and direct a short film. It was an amazing experience with a rewarding release - it has been watched over 60 thousand times last I checked.

I intend to join either an industrial research lab or a technical startup where I can build real usable products related to my research expertise.

Lucknow, India

http://avi-jit.github.io/  

Shariq Iqbal PhD in Computer Science

When I started undergrad, it was common to hear "You don't need to know what you're going to do after college. Make sure you take the time to explore all of your options." and I wish I had taken that advice more seriously. I spent all of my college years on the pre-med track without seriously considering anything else until I started working in a research lab after graduation. I think that advice can be equally applied to graduate school. It's good to have a general idea of what kind of research you want to do when you start, but it's extremely important to keep your mind open and to allow yourself to explore a bit.

I'm proud of having made it this far into a PhD! I began the program with doubts as to whether I was cut out for academia, but now I am on track to graduate.

I've started brewing coffee at home a lot more since COVID started, and I recently bought a nice coffee grinder which I've gotten a ton of use out of.

I work mostly on cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning. I like the problem, as I think most of humanity's most impressive accomplishments have come as a result of collaboration. I feel that one of the key components to achieving strong AI is to design agents that are capable of collaboration and specialization, such that their combined capabilities become greater than the sum of their parts.

I worked as an audio engineer at a student-run music studio during my undergrad, and I think I would enjoy that quite a bit. I guess that still has "engineer" in the title, but it's the best I can do :)

In general, I think there is a strong spirit of collaboration and friendliness across labs that isn't present at all schools. I chose my specific lab because they were working on an interesting variety of problems within the machine learning space. As such, I felt like I would have the freedom to discover a sub-field that aligned closely with my strengths and interests.

Koreatown - Incredible food and a lively atmosphere. My favorites are Sun Nong Dan, Oo Kook, and Somi Somi (dessert). Sawtelle - More great food (mostly Japanese). My favorites: Tsujita, Killer Noodle, Chinchikurin, B Sweet (dessert). Angeles National Forest - Sometimes it's nice to get out of the city, and this place is surprisingly accessible while still feeling far away from the noise and commotion.

While they were certainly stressful at the time, I will look back fondly on the all-nighters prior to paper deadlines spent with my labmates. The feeling of camaraderie and shared struggle brought out by these moments would be hard to replicate in any other work setting.

I never did any form of research during my undergrad! I think it's worth mentioning because the prospect of getting a PhD can seem really intimidating, and it's good to know that it's never too late to pursue something you're passionate about.

I am hoping to work in some sort of research role at a company and potentially transitioning to more applied work down the line.

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

https://shariqiqbal2810. github.io/

Aleksei Petrenko PhD in Computer Science

My advisor gave me almost complete freedom to choose research topics, so I could really focus on what interested me most. Also, access to resources, wonderful colleagues, and the unique climate & nature of California.

I love nature, so definitely explore lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Tuolumne Meadows, Big Bear. In LA, check out the cliffs of Palos Verdes and Abalone Cove Beach. Calspeed in Fontana is the best go-karting track in SoCal!

Rooftop computer science PhD parties and the lab retreats were the best.

Hard to find a thing that would surprise everyone. I routinely work until 5 in the morning and then sleep late. 9am meetings ruin my day. But is it so unusual among PhD students?

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. 1.4M people, 300 miles east of Moscow.

http://alex-petrenko.github. io/  update long due

Prof. Gaurav Sukhatme 

Mianlun Zheng PhD in Computer Science

Be confident. Don't be afraid to speak out. 

Sorry, I cannot think of any. Maybe when I finish my degree, I could find my greatest accomplishment. 

Several pieces of fabric. They are so smooth. I made them into tote bags.

My research focuses on physics based animation. Every time when I run the simulation to model the virtual world, seeing the vivid animation effects, I am very excited. But what excites me most is that  I see the animation community is putting their work into industrial products, like movies. I hope one day I could be one of them.

I believed my advisor would be a great advisor. It turns out that I'm right!!!

Getty center (a decent and elegant museum). Islands in Santa Barbara. The school library (a great place to calm yourself and equip yourself with knowledge).

Every weekday morning, when I'm on my way alone to the lab, I'm always randomly thinking about many things about my life. I relax myself in this private moment. That would be the thing I cherish.

I enjoy sewing as my hobby. 

Contribute what I've learned during PH.D. to more meaning projects!

Wenzhou, China

https://zhengmianlun.github. io/

Jernej Barbic

Mozhdeh Gheini PhD in Computer Science

Don't long for the past.

Coming here and living alone for the first time in my life (had lived with my parents before my whole life) when I started my graduate studies here; just figuring out LA bit by bit every single day.

A cast iron pan.

I work in the field of Natural Languages processing, and transfer learning for Machine Translation specifically. I've always been fascinated by the language. And the field has gained a lot of pace over the past few years. I'm very excited about all this progress on the computational linguistics side, and interested in more discussion with linguists on how the approaches might lack on some grounds, and can be improved.

Either a chef or a sound engineer

I was lucky and fortunate to have discussions with some very kind, helpful, and supportive people who helped me decide easily.

Try the fried chicken sandwich at Howlin' Ray's. You also have to try Din Tai Fung. It's best if you go in a large group so that you can order multiple things and share. Don't skip the cucumber salad, the pork xiao long bao, and the spicy shrimp wontons. Finally, hopefully when the pandemic is over, and they start putting on shows again, go to an improv show at the UCB theater.

I've met some of the best people I've ever known at USC. I'll cherish all the interactions with them and will be grateful for that forever.

Just how much of a foodie I am.

Honestly, I'm still thinking about it before deciding.

  http://www-scf.usc.edu/~ gheini/  

Prof. Jonathan May

Bryon Tjanaka PhD in Computer Science

I was once told to never self-reject myself, whether it is applying for a job, grad school, etc. Whenever I think I might not be "good enough" for something, I realize that that is not for me to decide. Rather, my job is to present the best version of myself and let someone else decide whether I am suitable.

I don't think I have a good response to this question!

Prescription sunglasses. For the first time, I can put on my own sunglasses instead of wearing other sunglasses over my current glasses.

I research quality diversity (QD) algorithms and their applications to robotics. QD is a relatively new class of algorithms which seek to find many good solutions to a problem, rather than just one. I find QD exciting because it is often important to know how to do something in more than one way. For instance, a robot should know how to work with many kinds of humans, not just one human.

I would likely be a bartender, whipping up intoxicating drinks while dispensing sage advice.  

I chose USC primarily for its vibrant robotics program. We have a dozen or so professors in robotics, so I was excited about the opportunities for learning and collaboration. Naturally, I also considered USC's prime location -- nothing beats Los Angeles weather!

First, since there are so many sights along it, I would recommend biking along Figueroa Street, starting down at Exposition Park and going all the way up to 1st street and eventually Union Station. Second, I would recommend The Grove -- the farmers market there has some great food! And finally, a visit to the Hollywood sign would give an inspiring view of LA.

I'll definitely cherish my visit day, as it was the first time I got to see USC and learn about life as a robotics PhD student here.

Many people are surprised when they find out my age; I guess I'm pretty young for a PhD student.

Like many PhD students, I believe I will ultimately choose between becoming a professor and joining an industry lab. I used to think I wanted to become a professor, but more recently, I think I may be targeting industry. Who knows, maybe I'll switch a few more times over the next few years?

Santa Clara, California, USA

https://bryon.tjanaka.net

Stefanos Nikolaidis

Timothy Greer PhD in Computer Science

My mother once told me, “Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Your actions become habits, which defines your character. Your character becomes your destiny.” That stuck with me: I believe our inner thoughts are reflected in who we are and what we do. Having a good mindset is supremely important!

I was very fortunate to have my research at USC covered by news sources from all over the globe. Some research that I worked on a few years ago was featured in the New York Times; it was surreal to see my team’s work on studying beatboxing highlighted by such a prestigious institution!

I recently bought a hula hoop to see how quickly I could learn it (I never could get the hang of it in elementary school). It’s so much more difficult than I thought it would be! After several frustrating hours and YouTube tutorials, I can now waist hoop; and I’ve found it’s a fun and healthy study break!

I study music perception through application machine learning principles. This area of research is so exciting to me because it combines two traditionally disparate fields of study--music and engineering--both of which I love! With our increasing access to music and the lower barriers of entry for music creators, it has never been more important to understand how music affects us. I’m very fortunate to be working on such an interesting (and challenging) problem!

I would choose professional musician! I have been playing gigs since I was 14 years old, and I’ve made it a point to continue practicing during graduate school. Los Angeles attracts talented musicians from all over the world, so I’ve been constantly inspired to improve my craft as well. In my spare time, I make indie pop music in a band called Saticöy, so it’s safe to say music is a huge part of my life!

I came to Los Angeles to visit USC for a weekend in the dead of winter. In that weekend, I attended a jazz show with my future advisor, played volleyball on the beach with friends, and enjoyed street tacos near USC’s campus. Because I had come from Boston to visit, I was blown away by the sheer number of activities that Angelenos could enjoy year-round. I was also impressed by the rich diversity of Los Angeles. From a few days visiting, not only did I get the sense that USC was a terrific fit for me; I also knew that LA would be a great city to spend my graduate school years.

1. Revolutionario Tacos on Jefferson (recently moved to 4th and Van Ness). Owners Chef Zadi and his wife Susan are modern-day saints and Zadi’s merguez is to die for. 2. Museum of Jurassic Technology. The weirdest museum you’ll probably ever go to.  As strange as it is, people have their weddings at this museum all the time. I won’t spoil anything for you though! You’ll have to go so you can see for yourself. 3. Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Malibu. This may seem hippy-dippy, but this place always relaxes and distresses me. The shrine was built by a prominent yogi in the early 50s, and it still attracts people from all over the world today. There’s a nice hike nearby called the Los Leones Trail, too!

I’ll certainly cherish the friends that I’ve made along the journey. My first conference was extremely memorable for me: I was given the privilege of speaking in the auditorium where Nobel Laureates give their acceptance speeches, and I got the chance to network with other researchers in my field and meet many people whom I now consider family!

I play on USC’s club water polo team, and in the off-seasons I play with a Masters team based out of West Hollywood. Both teams are incredibly talented--USC’s club earned second place at Nationals in 2019 and WeHo’s team has won international tournaments--and wonderful support systems!

My plans after graduation are simple: continue conducting research that I love conducting! Larger companies such as Spotify, Apple, and Pandora are appealing to me because of their music research groups. However, I’m not ruling out the possibility of joining a start-up that is working in similar domains.

Philadelphia, PA

https://sites.google.com/site/ timgreersportfolio/

Shrikanth Narayanan

Ninareh Mehrabi PhD in Computer Engineering and Computer Science

Always start early to be prepared for the unprecedented and never give up!

Pursuing a PhD at USC.

Pair of sunglasses.

My research is on trustworthy AI. It is interesting to know how AI can impact our society and what we can do to make AI more trustworthy .

Fashion Designer!

As someone who obtained her BSc. degree from USC, I see USC as my home and family. This was a major factor when making a decision to pursue my PhD at USC. I also found my group doing really  interesting  research that aligned with my interests.

Venice Canals. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. The Last Bookstore. Universal City Walk.

My graduation day!

I used to be really interested in poetry. I used to write poems, some of which got published in some books and newspapers!

To possibly stay in academia.

Glendale, USA.

http://scf.usc.edu/~ninarehm

Aram Galstyan.

Johnny Wei PhD in Computer Science

One of my best friends told me "some friends you have to carry" and that really stuck with me. I'm not sure what the takeaway is - people have issues? You have to be there for others? For me, I think it means that when I'm dealing with people, I have the responsibility to do the right thing.

My most recent paper! My advisor and I applied statistics to explain an unintuitive phenomenon. I hope a "greatest" accomplishment comes again soon enough.

I haven't impulsively bought anything recently. I did impulsively give away my second bike to my brother recently.

I'm interested in methods for adaptive data collection. So, how can we best collect data to complement our machine learning algorithms? I studied statistics in my undergraduate, and I think there will be statistical solutions here, and that those methods will be impactful for a long time.

I would go chase UFOs.

I was in rural Massachusetts for a long time, and I wanted to be in a city. My advisor is great too!

I recommend biking along the LA river from Vernon to Long beach, at least once. I would also recommend going to radio hill gardens, because it is not easily accessible by car. I would also recommend going to the culver city stairs

In my two years here so far, I really liked the calisthenics parks on campus (one near Parkside, one near Leavey, and one in the track, in descending order of preference). I even made a really good friend there!

I don't know.

Amherst, Massachusetts.

https://johntzwei.github. io/

Tell us a little bit about yourself I grew up in Elmhurst, Illinois. I completed my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at Oregon State University. I found my academic interests through my early undergraduate research in the Personal Robotics Group at Oregon State working under Professor Bill Smart. Now, I am a PhD Computer Science student at USC conducting research on human-robot interaction.

What attracted you to choose USC for your graduate studies? USC has a very unique and collaborative culture. The university also has a very strong group of robotics faculty and a growing number of top-notch junior faculty. I was especially excited about the opportunity to join a newly founded lab directed by Professor Stefanos Nikolaidis, called the Interactive and Collaborative Autonomous Robotic Systems (ICAROS) lab, which I am now a part of. I chose USC because of its very supportive community, faculty, and this unique opportunity to work in a new lab. I was especially moved by the opportunity to conduct cutting edge research on human-robot interaction that can be used to assist those with severe motor disabilities.

Outside of the classroom I enjoy playing tennis, hiking, ballroom dancing, and country dancing.

Is there something that may surprise people about you? I am a big fan of hip-hop music.

What are your future plans after completing your Phd? After completing my degree, I aspire to become a professor of computer science.

What innovations/discoveries do you hope to see (or be a part of!) in the next ten years? I hope to be a part of robotics innovations that can be used to help people with severe motor disabilities. I hope to see robots collaborating with and assisting humans in daily tasks. Ultimately I see robots as key to augmenting human capability and to improving the quality of life.

Hsien-Te Kao PhD in Computer Science

“You don’t need to know everything,” Dr. Jennifer Switkes once said. “But you have to ask   when you don’t know.” That was my undergraduate adviser setting an optimistic tone for the   research meetings. For three years, I posed all sorts of methodological questions challenging  

our research boundaries. Dr. Switkes joked when I led the research project, “This time, it is   my turn to ask the questions.” I carried the same curiosity and passion to the Ph.D. program.   It is surprising how much I don’t know about computer science. However, I am not   afraid to say to other researchers, “I don’t know about this. Can you explain it to me? If not,   where can I read/learn about it?”

I consider winning the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship as one of my greatest accomplishments. NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) received more than   13,000 applications and made approximately 2,000 fellowship offers (~15% acceptance rate)   each year. The expert panels rigorously judge applicants on their scientific potential,   intellectual merit, and broader impacts. This fellowship is highly selective. In 2019, I was 1   of 11 USC graduate students and 1 of 3 Computer Science graduate students who won the   NSF fellowship. These prominent scholars shared my concerns about algorithmic fairness in   decision-making applications. They unanimously agreed that my research would drive   critical algorithmic reforms and remarkable societal impacts.

I have impulse cooking from time to time. Most of the time, it would be some food in the   videos (YouTube, Netflix, etc.) that I watched. Sometimes it is out of the blue. There would   be a food craving. I would look up the recipe if I cannot figure out the ingredients and   cooking steps on the spot. I carefully plan a list of shopping items. If I am lucky, I can find   all the ingredients at the market. However, that is often not the case. I need to be creative at   substituting the ingredients with what I have. I have to say that is the most exciting part of   cooking. The final dish can make or break based on the ingredients and substitutions. I would   know what ingredients to change for the next time.

Intelligence systems are critical to automated decision-making applications. Recent   controversies have sparked public concerns on algorithmic fairness. The research community   has implemented algorithmic oversight by proposing fairness criteria and mitigation   methods. It is crucial to examine the fairness mechanism. Fairness frameworks often require   such information to mitigate the model unfairness. However, many laws prohibit collecting   information on protected characteristics. I propose a framework to identify the data bias and   mitigate the model unfairness without accessing the protected characteristics. Everyone   deserves an equal opportunity. That is what algorithmic fairness guaranteed; that is also what   I ensured through my research.

Behavioral Psychologist – Human mind, body, and behaviors are always fascinating. There   is so much left unsolved.  

[1] Research Trajectory  

[2] Rich Opportunities  

[3] Valuable Resources  

[4] Interdisciplinary Collaborations  

[5] World-Class Researchers

[1] Hollywood Pantages Theatre  

[2] The Getty Center  

[3] The Magic Castle

I enjoy having a one-on-one research discussion with my colleagues to exchange   methodological ideas and provide critical feedback. I am known as the to-go person if   someone wants to flash out their research ideas. The discussion often runs about three to four   hours. They would present their ideas. I would listen carefully and ask questions for   clarification. Afterward, I press challenging questions on the theory, methodology,   experiment, take-away, and bigger picture. This feedback allows them to identify critical   problems. I also provide creative suggestions to tackle these issues. This is a meaningful research process that produces fruitful outcomes for all of us.

It may surprise you that I started the Computer Science Ph.D. program without any prior   knowledge. I didn't even know how to code at that time. "You would be working on the   TILES study," my adviser said to me in the first meeting, "We would have our first IARPA   site visit in three months." I responded, "What should I learn? Where should I start? What   should I do first?" After three months, Dr. Ferrara was surprised that I was able to overcome   the challenging obstacles. I had promising results too. After the meeting, all PIs selected me   to showcase the research results in the site visit. We went through a two-day intensive dry run and made last-minute presentation adjustments. The first IARPA site visit was a big   success. For the next three years, I continued to play a critical role in the TILES team.  

I intend to become a postdoc at a research institute after graduation to continue working on   algorithmic fairness. Afterward, I would transition into a research position working for the   federal government. I have not decided on the research relationship (independent work,   collaborative study, or research team). I would have a clearer picture once the research   position, research organization, and research project come into play. I plan to start at a   research institute and lead collaborative projects funded by federal agencies. I would later   join a federal agency to run large-scale research projects across multiple research teams. It is   hard to say what opportunities are available in the future. I would leave all my options open.

Taipei, Taiwan.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsientekao  

Dr. Emilio Ferrara

Nathan Dennler PhD in Robotics

I bought a MIDI keyboard on a whim to learn how songs are made! I've been experimenting a lot with making my own samples which has been super fun!

My research is about learning how different aspects of the design of robotic systems (physical design and algorithmic design) can affect end users of these systems in different ways. Then the goal is to adapt systems to align with how users expect and want the system to behave. I am particularly excited by this because learning about how systems can adapt to users, I also learn more about the users themselves.

Unfortunately I am too easily interested in trying many disparate things--I think I'd also be happy to try to be a fashion designer, 3D animator, (medical) doctor, or teacher.

The great thing about LA is that there is a little bit of everything for everyone! Personally, my favorite places to go would be to go hiking in Malibu (or the beach, if that is more your speed), Koreatown for dinner (specifically Gol Tong Chicken which is the most chaotically delightful food I have ever had), and West Hollywood to go dancing (they also have drag brunch which is super fun)!

I used to compete across the US as a pairs figure skater! I really liked (and still like!) skating because it combined athleticism through doing specific jumps and spins and storytelling through emoting through the different parts of the songs.

Lunenburg, Massachusetts (about an hour from Boston).

https://ndennler.github.io/

Maja Mataric and Stefanos Nikolaidis

Adriana Sejfia PhD in Computer Science

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? 

The best “piece” of advice I received was from my mom. I say “piece” because it wasn’t really advice but rather the way she lived her life. She would always see the best in people and always treat them with kindness and an open mind. I try my best to live up to this advice every day. 

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? 

I like to measure my accomplishments but how much I would surprise my past self. When I was in college, I would dream of doing a PhD in Computer Science in the United States. I think my younger self would be amazed by the fact I am living this dream and on top of that I am a student at USC, one of the top schools in the US and beyond. 

What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months? 

A tote bag from Man Who Has it All, a social media account that parodies today’s gender expectations about women by turning them on their head.   My tote bag says “Women will be women: rational, scientific, objective”. 

Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it 

My main research focus is in the field of secure software engineering. I am very passionate about the goal of my research: I believe that in free societies that are becoming increasingly digitized, it is our moral duty to ensure that there are strong fences that protect us from malicious entities. This is what drives me to conduct research and do a PhD. Last year I was awarded a Google PhD Fellowship for my research and that was definitely a major motivation to continue pursuing it. But in my day-to-day work, I find immense pleasure in the techniques I use: program analysis and machine learning. As a self-proclaimed data-enthusiast, I cannot wait until my analyses and experiments finish so that I can start looking at the data. 

If you could choose any other profession outside of engineering or computer science, what would it be?   

I would like to be a writer. I’ve always admired the way writers can connect to so many people. For me personally, the way in which I’ve mostly been influenced has been through reading. I find the research writers do to write their books very intriguing. 

What are some factors that helped you decide to pursue your PhD at USC? 

The main factor was my advisor and the software engineering program; my advisor, before I even decided to come to USC, was willing to meet with me several times and discuss potential areas for research. The care he showed towards me and his knowledge about the different software engineering topics made USC a good candidate. Moreover, the USC software engineering group in general is well-regarded; I wanted to be surrounded by such smart and hard-working individuals. Lastly, before coming to USC I was living in upstate NY; the fact that USC was in Los Angeles, a place where I wouldn’t need to see snow if I didn’t want to, was a strong point in favor. 

I have to say that once I moved to Los Angeles, I was very happy with the decision I made not only for the reasons I mentioned, but also because of the diversity of the city. I am so pleased to be living in a city with so many vibrant and lively communities of different ethnicities and backgrounds. The experiences (and the food!) have been life-altering.  

If you were to recommend to an incoming student 3 places to go in California/Los Angeles, what would they be?  

I love California so much that picking only three places seems impossible. I think it will be more doable if I narrow the scope of the recommendations only to Los Angeles County. The first on my list is a place that by now is probably considered a cliché, the Griffith Observatory. Despite it being so well known and at times crowded, the sunsets I’ve seen from Griffith are simply awe-inspiring. There’s something poetic about being so close to a place you can see the sky through so much technology, but also be able to enjoy the sunset just with your own eyes. You can drive up there, but I think a much better way is to hike. 

The second recommendation is the Los Liones Trail in Malibu. Hiking with a view towards the Pacific Ocean is a must. 

The last recommendation is for people who crave a bit of going out for coffee, chill and eating culture. I do miss this in the US, at least the way it is manifested in my home country (I have also been told from friends from the Middle East and Europe that they feel the same). The Culver Boulevard Street, my third recommendation, in Culver City satisfies that craving. 

What is a memory you'll cherish about your time at USC? 

There are a lot of memories from my time at USC that I will forever hold dear. For starters, I will forever be grateful for the friendships I made here. I will always remember fondly times with my friends where we sat at the PhD lounge to share a meal or to play a game, when we would walk to the village for a rose milk tea, or even times when we spent the whole night at the lab because we were working hard to meet a deadline. 

What's one thing about you that might surprise me?  

I think one sad thing about me that surprises everyone is that throughout my life I have broken 5 different bones. 

What are your plans after graduation? 

Post-graduation, I want to seek a job in research. My main goal would be to continue in academia but I am open to research positions at other institutions as well. 

Hometown (city, country) 

I am from Pejë, Kosovo (a tiny country in the south-east of Europe).

Personal Website (if any)  

https://softarch.usc.edu/~adriana  

Professor Nenad Medvidović

Abdul Qadeer PhD in Distributed Systems

I might be a National Park Ranger and wandering in the wilderness and appreciating the natural beauty.

I spent seven magical years here and there are so many great memories and friends made here.  I will miss the USC environment.

I just graduated (May 2021). I am joining an EdTech startup (Educative Inc). 

Lahore, Pakistan

https://www.linkedin. com/in/abdul-qadeer-15aab613/

Prof. John S. Heidemann

Abdulla Alshabanah PhD in Computer Engineering

An advice I got from a 20 years chef who quit her job as she couldn’t handle the food waste. She said everyone has to work to make a living, but you also have to work to feed your soul.

Ranked among the top 30% finishers of 2020 LA Marathon.

A rocking recliner. A must during the lockdown.

Currently I am addressing performance issues of distributed machine learning. It excites me that such a domain has applications in healthcare especially in cancer research.

I would choose Psychiatry.

PhD is an experience of a lifetime, so I wanted to pick a school that: has competitive students, excel in all of its programs, close to Silicon Valley and help its students to have a work-life balance.

Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), Yosemite National Park and Redwood National Park.

Listening to Dean Varun Soni’s talk quoting the famous Harvard Study of Adult Development in the alumni park at 2019 graduation ceremony, the day I got my master’s degree.

Even though I have a mild fear of heights, I have been leading hiking groups for the past couple of years.

I plan to pursue an academic career path back in Saudi Arabia.

Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

www.linkedin.com/in/abdulla- alshabanah-548016179

Murali Annavaram.

Kartik Lakhotia  MS in Computer Engineering

Best place I've been to is Phi-phi island. It's a thin strip of land with mountains, a jungle (sort of) and white sand turquoise water beaches. Extremely laid back and great Thai food.

Finishing the PhD would be a great accomplishment (hopefully happens in Fall 21). Two-three years down the lane, I felt stuck and couldn't generate new ideas to work upon. I almost quit the PhD, but my wife insisted that I continue and create a broader perspective. Thereafter, I published a few papers, two of them being in one of the highly sought after Computer Science conferences. Those two papers were great achievements given where I was coming from. 

Car - I bought a Passat Diesel premium in a day. Went to dealerships, test drove some cars and got turned down on the car I actually set out to buy. Got a phone call in the evening about some deal on this other car and bought it the next morning. It turned out to be good because you get renewable diesel in California which aligns with my environmental friendly goals (still try to take public transport as much as possible). 

I work on parallel algorithms for graphs that model relationships in data. The algorithms I develop make it feasible to mine useful information from these abstract structures in a reasonable time. Recently, I have worked on some notorious analytics that are very difficult to parallelize. Finding new insights in them and coming up with these ideas that nobody else thought of really excites me. I also love to work on parallel computing platforms and am really amazed by how large-scale systems are built on top of them. Those are some really complex hardware+software collaborations.

My pick for an alternate profession would be a Forest Officer in India - love outdoors, love forests and tropical forests have a lot of animal biodiversity

I was a hardware engineer and wanted to move up the computing stack - more towards algorithms or high-level optimization. My advisor works on this mix of FPGA (hardware) + high-level optimization techniques which was quite a fit. Although in the end, I did not do any FPGA stuff in my PhD.

I love California and absolutely love Los Angeles. Three must go places for me would be Venice beach (it's a really cool and hip place), Joshua Tree national park (best night sky I've ever seen in my life) and Idyllwild (mountains, snow, hiking, skiing, small bistros, what more does one want). 

I will certainly remember my Teaching Assistantship under Prof. Puvvada Gandhi. He works really hard for his course and expects you to do the same. Initially, it can feel like way more work than fellow TAs, but the response from him and from the students in the class is extremely rewarding. I actually used to look forward to my TA work as a source of joy.

My love for adventure activities would surprise anyone who knows me. I am a really easy person to scare. I shout and scream when watching a horror movie or when on a (mini) roller coaster, at times to the great embarrassment of my wife. But I still love doing all of that.  I mean I regret immediately once I am in that situation, but before that I really want to give it a shot. That, and tattoo :P

Not much to be honest. Taking a couple of weeks break to help with my wife's residency applications and then I will be joining Intel labs. I plan to go home soon, my dog back in my hometown is growing old and I want to spend some time with her.  

Sumerpur in Pali district, India.

https://kartiklakhotia. wixsite.com/mysite

Academic Advisor - Diane Demetras Thesis Advisor - Viktor Prasanna

Jinze Du PhD in Electrical Engineering

Find where your interest is.

Getting a PhD degree.

A pair of nice headphones.

Mainly working on computational modeling for medical device applications and the most exciting part is how in the end my modeling work could help people design better medical devices.

Probably a Youtuber, focusing on food and traveling.

Top engineering school, also LA is a great place to stay for quite some time.

Malibu beach, bridge to nowhere trail, Venice

Late night food after study.

I am actually a fan of jogging.

Go to industry.

Yulin, China

Gianluca Lazzi.

Milad Pooladsanj PhD in Electrical Engineering

“You should not sacrifice proper education in order to make more money because, you can always make up for the money you have not earned, but you cannot do the same for the education”. This is what my dad told me once and I think it is great advice.

Being able to overcome my fear of failure.

This is a tough one. I had many impulse purchases during Covid. But I would say my favorite one was an Apple watch!

I try to understand whether we can use our current road systems more efficiently if the vehicles, traffic lights, etc. were more “intelligent”. Problems in this area are quite exciting because they have the potential to resolve societal-scale challenges such as traffic congestion or pollution. At the same time, they have very rich theoretical aspects. 

I would have probably chosen psychology or became a firefighter. 

One important factor for me was knowing that I would be working with brilliant advisors on an interesting research topic. Also, USC is a top-notch university located in a beautiful city. What else could someone ask for?!

Los Angeles has many options to offer. Since I must pick only 3 places, I would recommend Santa Monica Pier, Griffith Observatory, and Universal Studios Hollywood to start with.

My fondest memory of my time at USC is the networking events where I could meet talented people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. I made many connections through these events and learned a lot from them.

I once jumped off of a 30 ft waterfall.

I am passionate about doing research and working on challenging problems. I also love teaching. Putting these together, I would say that I would like to pursue an academic job.

I was born in Mashhad, Iran.

Feel free to connect with me through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milad-pooladsanj

I have two advisors: Petros Ioannou and Ketan Savla.

Tianchen Yuan PhD in Electrical Engineering

Health is the greatest wealth.

Presenting my paper in IFAC CTS 2021 conference.

A video game called Hades.

My research focuses on traffic flow modeling and control. I hate being stuck in traffic congestion and my research attempts to  solve this problem exactly.

Probably a high school math teacher.

The reputation and the location of the school.

Universal Studios Hollywood, The Getty, Mammoth Mountain.

Working with my colleagues on papers.

I am an expert skier and wish to spend all winters in the mountains.

Working in industries and spending vacations traveling.

Ningbo, China.

Dake Chen PhD in Electrical Engineering

"You will only be in love with it when you are good at it"

Successfully attack a state-of-the-art  defense system which has not been broken in the past 5 years.

My snowboard.

My research focuses on applying deep learning techniques on attacking state-of-the-art defense systems, I'm excited every time I successfully attack one or significantly improve the attack efficiency.

Physical education.

I really enjoy doing research in this field and learning novel knowledge and techniques from talented USC faculties.

Malibu pier, mammoth and lake tahoe.

The best memory in USC is every time I'm swimming in the indoor pool in PEB, when I took swimming class, the professor asked me to demonstrate a flip turn to other students. 

As a Phd student, I really like extreme sports, such as snowboarding, surfing and scuba diving. I'm also a former swimmer specialized in butterfly stroke.

I plan to be an engineer.

Nanchang, China.

Peter Beerel

Thomas Choi PhD in Electrical Engineering

The best advice I received was not to compare myself with other people. It is easy to feel disappointed or frustrated with yourself during your PhD; your paper with a lot of effort can be rejected, rival groups may publish a better paper with a lot of citations than your paper, students who came after you might graduate faster than you, or you can feel lonely or behind in life when comparing with your friends in the workforce with high salaries. However, PhD is a rare and valuable opportunity when you can truly explore open problems which have not been addressed yet, under an advisor with extreme wealths of knowledge and experiences. While it is difficult to do so, I now try to enjoy the "process" of research as best I can, instead of focusing too much on end results - which actually improved both my everyday research quality and life quality.

I would like to think my greatest research accomplishment is still yet to come. From a career perspective, while I was never a full-time employee, I had privileges to intern in three different workplaces: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, SpaceX, and Facebook. I take pride in that my research topic is pragmatic, and I hope my research can also see its practical use in the future.

I wouldn't call it an impulse "purchase", but adopting my puppy Noir from a shelter was the best decision I have made during COVID days.

My research is focused on antenna deployment strategies for future wireless communications. Basically, I try to study if there are any benefits to modifying the current base station systems from being centralized (on cell towers) to distributed, experimentally. I get to design cool antenna systems and fly the drone around the campus running measurements - what else can be more fun than that?

Probably a statistician in the field of sports statistics.

I did my undergraduate in electrical engineering at USC, and went to Georgia Tech to pursue a PhD degree in aerospace engineering. By my second year, I knew aerospace engineering was not a good fit for me, and also wanted to come back to Los Angeles to end the long distance relationship with my fiancé (girlfriend at the time). So USC was an obvious (and only) choice.

Playing intramural soccer with my lab members was very fun.

I was born in Moscow, Idaho.

I would like to pursue my career in industry; I am especially interested in startup opportunities.

Daejeon, Korea

Andreas F. Molisch 

Digbalay Bose PhD in Electrical Engineering

My parents have always emphasized that even in difficult times, it’s not wise to lose patience. I guess that advice holds not just for Ph.D. but for life in general.

During my school final year, I was selected for a young scientist program called KVPY by the Dept of Science and Technology, Govt of India. I consider that my greatest accomplishment, since it was the first time I faced a research interview conducted by eminent scientists and was able to provide satisfactory explanations.

I would say a wide-angle lens for my camera kit.

My research primarily focuses on how different modalities (audio/visual/text) interact and how we can translate those interactions to understand media content like advertisements and movies from a computational perspective. I also work on developing robust machine learning based systems for clinical use-cases like automated diagnosis of facial paralysis. The exciting part about my research is the human-centered aspect, which can help in making these systems more interpretable and accessible, even in noisy real world scenarios.

I would have explored photography as a profession and especially wildlife photography.

The major factor behind pursuing a PhD at USC is the opportunity to work at SAIL under Prof. Narayanan. SAIL has a rich history of working on diverse applications, cross-cutting the domains of healthcare, multimodal signal processing and affective computing. Further, Los Angeles being a vibrant city to live in also contributed to my choice.

In Los Angeles, I would recommend Last Bookstore and Kenneth Hahn Park. Among national parks, Yosemite is a must visit.

One memory that would definitely be on my mind is attending the on-campus Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in 2019. It was a great experience interacting with different authors and publishers during the festival. Hope to see it on-campus once the pandemic is over.

I can sketch animated characters pretty well.

I would be interested in joining the industry and if possible, work in close collaboration with the medical community to develop accessible AI-based systems for widespread use.

Kolkata, India

I am active on twitter (@digbose92)

Prof. Shrikanth Narayanan

Seyedeh Hanieh Hashemi PhDin Electrical Engineering

I was born and raised in a small city in Iran. I'm proud of myself for moving to the US on my own, starting with almost nothing and building this beautiful life thousands of miles away from home. Other than that, I could find a good work-life balance during my Ph.D. life. I would say enjoying my life while having accomplishments in my academic career is another one of my greatest achievements.

My impulse trip to Costa Rica. It was worth every penny.  

My research is on Data Privacy for Machine Learning. I am excited that I work on an ethical problem that is one of the biggest challenges in the tech world these days. Protecting people's information can have a huge impact on our society.

Marketing Specialist, Fashion designer!

The fellowship offer from USC made it easier for me to decide on my Ph.D. group and project with more flexibility. Also, life and weather in LA were some of the important factors for me to choose USC. I believe I made the right decision because I could find the Ph.D. project that excites me and I never felt bored (or cold) in LA.

ECE department events specially ECE retreat in Palms springs a couple of months before the pandemic starts. 

I have 55 cousins.

I will take a 3 months break that includes traveling to my favorite destinations, and planning my wedding ceremony. Hopefully, after the 3 months, I will start my full-time job on one of the best teams in the world working on data privacy methods for machine learning.

Yazd, Iran.

https://twitter.com/hashemi_ hanie

Sasindu Kangara Mudiyanselage PhD in Electrical Engineering

To believe in me through the ups and downs in life. Because if I don’t believe in myself, then no one will.

I received a full scholarship to pursue my education at a top middle/high school in my home country at age 10. It gave me a chance to shape my future as it is now.

My current research involves developing parallel algorithms for applications with a bottleneck in accessing the memory. I mainly focus on application areas with sparse algebra, including tensor decomposition and graph analytics. I also map the parallel algorithms onto accelerator platforms such as FPGAs and GPUs. The usability of this work in real-world applications is the most exciting factor in my research.

A Cricket player (Even though I have zero talent in this sport).

As an undergraduate student, I read some interesting papers published by the FPGA/Parallel Computing Lab, USC. Also, I found out the unique exposure that USC graduate students have towards experimenting with cutting-edge technologies. Those factors pushed me to pursue my PhD at USC.

1. Yosemite National Park 2. Los Liones Canyon Trail + Santa Monica beach 3. Dinner outside In-N-Out, next to LAX (Remind me of how nervous I was when I first land in LA)

I cannot pinpoint a single event. But I like to make friends with students from all around the world. In general, I love to listen to their experiences and stories.

I am good at making traditional Sri Lankan food.

I have several ideas in my mind now. In all those cases, my ultimate goal is to make significant contributions to my current research field.

Country: Sri Lanka City: Kegalle

https://kangaram.wixsite.com/ personal

Professor Viktor Prasanna

Karel Mundnich PhD in Electrical Engineering

"In any [kind of] relationship with another person, the only thing you can change is yourself."

I don’t have any, which makes for a boring answer. I think and consider my needs (possibly too much) before I buy anything.

At USC I focused on behavioral aspects of human-centered machine learning. I worked on a project related to understanding work performance, as well as affect and other behavioral states of people in a demanding workplace setting. My thesis was related to processing input from people when asked about subjective constructs, so that we can learn from these. What I find exciting about it is to be able to think about complex behaviors and simplify aspects of them to the point where we can mathematically model them, and therefore infer, predict, or learn from them.

Something related to the outdoors and traveling. Maybe landscape photographer.

USC has some unique research areas at Viterbi, together with strong programs and good classes that allow you to master the fundamentals. These traits brought USC into my consideration.

I could go for known places (Big Sur, Yosemite), so I’ll go for the road less traveled: Trinity Alps as well as Desolation Wilderness in the Lake Tahoe area. A third place is an Italian Deli in Little Italy in San Francisco with the best gelato I’ve found outside of Europe, which seems to have no name (it does have one). 

I started working at Amazon Web Services as an Applied Scientist. Before joining Amazon, I was able to travel a little, including a short trip to Alaska.

Santiago, Chile.

https://kmundnic.github.io

Shri Narayanan.

Fernando Valladares Monteiro PhD in Electrical Engineering

You should not set a goal for which you won't enjoy the process of getting there.

I recently received the Charles Webber / Jenny Wang award for "best" TA in the EE department.

I don't have any. I'm the kind of person who actually takes a month checking prices and descriptions before buying anything.

My research deals with autonomous vehicles. More specifically, I study how to use communications to ensure safe lane changes in dense traffic scenarios. What excites me about this research is that it is involves a challenging problem whose solution might have a direct impact society and people's lives.

The combination of a well ranked University, professors with interesting projects and life in sunny Southern California.

In California:  Yosemite, Big Sur and San Diego.

In Los Angeles: the Getty Center, Venice boardwalk and Santa Monica beach.

The tailgates with friends.

I can speak 4 languages fluently: Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Work as a research scientist in the industry.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Petros Ioannou.

Rimita Lahiri PhD in Electrical

Once my father told me, "Do your own work, what you are supposed to do, the rest will eventually fall in place, sometimes early, sometimes late, but it will definitely", this is something I strongly believe in.

My family was going through a financial crisis during my undergrad days, so coming out strong after that and continuing my education was my greatest accomplishment so far.

I got myself a pair of dumbbells for training during the pandemic.

My research interests include deep learning and machine learning with applications in speech and language processing related tasks. Currently I work on developing solutions based on machine learning and deep learning algorithms for understanding human behavior in a better way. I work on creating computational systems for discovery and translation in Autism Spectrum Disorder, for doing my research I actually go through a lot of video segments of children with an ASD diagnosis and a clinician for analyzing those video sessions. In the process, I always end up getting to know different aspects of the communication difficulties associated with ASD and understand them.The kind of research I do actually helps me in understanding different human behavior and also develop empathy for humankind.

It has to be something associated with food, may be a chef, I still want to start a restaurant someday.

Honestly, the research work carried out in the labs, the course and the exposure were definitely important factors, apart from that, southern California weather and obviously staying in LA was also a factor.

Santa Monica and possibly watching the sunset there, hiking to Griffith observatory and watching city lights, Santa Barbara.

Research festival in MHI, I got to know a lot of folks and their journey so far.

Initially it takes time, but once I am familiar, I usually talk a lot, not sure if that is enough surprising...:P

I would like to continue working on diverse problems that can actually help the society to grow.

Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Filipe Vital PhD in Electrical Engineering

To hang in there. Sometimes things are difficult, but it was also tough to get where you are, so you might as well keep at it a bit longer.

Surviving the PhD.

Several bottles of passion fruit juice. That certainly makes life better, no clue why I hadn't done that yet.

I work with integrating parking information into route and schedule optimization for long-haul trucking. Basically, I develop algorithms to help truck drivers plan their trips so that they can find safe parking locations and get proper rest while keeping costs low. I also study how to efficiently use electric vehicles for long-haul trucking and ways to coordinate truck parking demand to avoid parking shortages. I find it rewarding that improvements could significantly impact individuals (e.g., drivers’ safety and quality of life) and society (e.g., fewer accidents, pollution).

The labs had interesting research topics, and LA's weather is really nice.

Huntington Gardens, Getty Center, Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.

My time at USC's Archery club. It was a great place to make friends, and competing was pretty fun too.

I went to a military high school.

I'll look for a job in the industry. And hopefully get a long-awaited vacation.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ filipe-vital-b521a611/

Juan Garcia Nila PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Never surrender, keep fighting.

Being accepted in an American university.

My tablet. I was considering buying an IPad just for fun, but I have been using it for all my ONLINE classes at USC.

I won a scholarship called Opportunity funds, for Mexican students who want to pursue a degree at an American university. They out me in contact with the University of Southern California. I was accepted in some other universities, but I love Los Ángeles and I met my advisor Todd Brun, whose research interests align with mine.

I haven't been at USC campus since I was accepted as an online student because of the pandemic. But a time I will cherish is joining USC Quest Queers in Science, Engineering and Tech. We are a group of friends supporting other LGBTQA+ students focusing on making professional or informal entertaining events in STEM.

Pursuing a Postdoc or joining a Data Science job. I would like to be a Professor at my home country university at Mexico. However, the ivory tower seems sometimes to high!

Iztapalapa, Mexico City, Mexico

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ juan-garc%C3%ADa-nila- 20ba06187

Todd A. Brun

Rodrigo Lobos PhD in Electrical Engineering

My advisor gave me one piece of advice that I always remember: " Life is too short to work with people who don't respect you" . Maybe he used other words, but it was something similar.

Coming to the United States by myself and starting a life far away from the support of my family and friends. 

I bought an electric guitar! It was an impulse purchase, but it really helped me during the pandemic.

In very simple words, I use mathematics to improve images generated with MRI scanners. For me the whole research process behind new ideas is always exciting. What starts as an idea while you are having your morning coffee, is then converted into equations, then you test that idea in your computer, and then you implement that idea in a real MRI scanner. This process can take months, or even years, but nothing is invented and perfected at the same time. 

High-school teacher. Teaching is one of my passions, and fortunately I had the opportunity to teach high-school students in the past. I'm very grateful for that time, where I was able to learn how to connect with the students to understand their needs. That is something that has really helped me as a TA during grad school.

My current advisor helped me from the very beginning, and he was very open about what working with him would be like. The potential research lines were fascinating, and the classes offered were exactly what I needed. All the faculties were world-class researchers, and I knew I was going to have the opportunity to learn from the best in my field.    

The Grand Central Market is one of my favorite places in LA. You have food from all over the world, and it is such a nice experience. The Last Bookstore is another place that I always enjoy going to. The Art District is another good place to hang out with friends after a research week. All these places are 10 minutes driving distance from USC, so you're welcome!

I'm a caffeine addict, so having my morning coffee at the RTH cafeteria was part of my daily routine. People at that place knew me very well, and my coffee was ready before ordering it! I always had a laugh with the staff, and they helped me to distract my mind from research. At that place I also had profound and long conversations with my colleagues about research, which ended up turning into scientific publications. Some ideas written down in napkins turned into very cool inventions. 

I'm very into functional fitness and olympic weightlifting, and I try to practice them at least 5 times a week. They have helped me tremendously during my PhD, since you develop a mentality which is really useful for research. You have to be always pushing yourself, you have to be disciplined, and you have to execute everything with perfect technique. If you think about it, these are three principles that many researchers follow in science. 

I'll be applying to postdoc positions with the intention of continuing an academic career. 

https://ralobos.github.io

.Justin Haldar

Mustafa Altay Karamuftuoglu PhD in Electrical Engineering

You can do anything you set your mind to. Even if the progress that we make is not completely in the right direction or its speed is not as we expected, we should believe in ourselves and keep moving forward.

One of the circuit designs had a problem that we didn’t realize while I was with my previous research team. Two days before the chip tape-out deadline, we realized the mistake, and I had to find another solution. It was so overwhelming to handle but within the same day, I came up with a solution. I redesigned the related part of the circuit and made it ready for the fabrication. Since we sent the tape-out to Japan for fabrication, this helped us to save time and money. Upon obtaining the fabricated chip, I performed experiments and obtained the same results like in the simulations.

I didn’t do any due to the pandemic. I guess it would normally be something related to electronics.

My research is mainly about the design of low power VLSI circuits and systems. I like running simulations and drawing custom circuit layouts. To be specific, I am currently working on superconducting neural network implementations. The feeling of creating something from scratch and learning new things about my field of study is what motivates me to conduct research.

I would choose to be a doctor or probably anything in the medical field. With the pandemic, we also see how important their role is in our lives.

The faculty members here have amazing achievements and knowledge. Looking at the list of their publications has given me a sense that continuing my research and education at USC is a great match for my interests. Given the information on the department’s webpage, I easily accessed a variety of resources that guided me to find out more about the expectations.

The first place would be Universal Studios Hollywood for the unique experience since I like theme parks in general. Santa Monica Pier is a beautiful place to go and walk around. For delicious food, I would recommend them to visit some restaurants around Koreatown.

It would be the time that I spend conducting research with great professors and colleagues to overcome the difficulties. It is an incomparable experience. The welcoming environment gives me the feeling that I fit in here well.

I eat a lot. It might not be shown.

I would like to be involved in research in my field of study since it is my passion, and of course get a job that is related to my interest as well.

I am from a small city called Osmaniye, Turkey.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ altaykaramuftuoglu/

Massoud Pedram.

Yinghua Hu PhD in Electrical Engineering

Think twice before you take action. 

Ph.D. is not an easy profession, which I did not fully realize before joining. My greatest accomplishment is my perseverance to the goal of finishing my Phd. 

I purchased a car before the price started to sharply increase during the pandemic. 

Integrated Circuits (IC) are everywhere in our daily lives, such as the chip in our smartphone, laptop, and cars, and have made our lives better than ever before. My research interest is focused on hardware security. More specifically, I work on the development of efficient countermeasures against any types of reverse engineering of IC that can potentially lead to IP piracy or hardware Trojan insertion. I like this line of research as it makes me feel accomplished to help address real-life threats. 

I would be a singer or linguist, both of which are my current hobbies. 

USC Viterbi’s ranking is among the top 10 in the US. The research expenses and funding are sufficient. In addition, I find my advisor a perfect match to do research based on my research interest. I also find Los Angeles a diversified and dynamic city that is comfortable for a foreign student to live in. Many good Chinese restaurants are around  

Universal Studios, Yosemite National Park, San Diego Sea World. 

I met my wife here in my first year at USC.  

I recently learned to whistle out Chopin’s Nocturne. 

I plan to continue working on hardware security research topics, either in a research university or at a research lab. 

Yangquan, China. 

Pierluigi Nuzzo. 

Rezwan Rasul PhD in Electrical Engineering

Done is better than perfect.

To pursue the undergraduate degree    in a foreign country  in a new language (Japanese), which I learnt for only a year before.

Nothing, not much of an impulsive buyer.

I focus on the analog and mixed-signal implementation of the building blocks of deep-learning algorithm. An alternative approach to the conventional digital implementation found in the CPU, this design approach has potential to reduce the high energy and throughput cost of the learning algorithm. The specialized processor, aka accelerator, can eventually translate into orders of magnitude energy saving, which can bring the algorithm in edge devices and may even have environmental impact, i.e., significant reduction in the carbon footprint of this algorithm.

Fiction writer.

1: I attended a seminar at Tokyo in 2015 about the graduate study opportunity at USC. The seminar along with a small chat with Ms. Lee, the speaker, was the first time I came to know about the Viterbi graduate program in detail, which later influenced me to apply to the school. 2. The beautiful USC campus located in Los Angeles, a major happening city in the world. 3. The fact that USC offers guaranteed funding for a PhD student, which provides mental peace to continue the research endeavor.  

Joshua Tree National park, Malibu beach, Hollywood  

The friends I have made both in and out of the research group. I had many engaging discussions on diverse topics with my lab-mates late at night on the way to Starbucks close to the Leavey Library. I also played football with my friends in the University village which I will cherish as a wonderful memory.

I am a decent cook, and as per my friends, my mushroom sauté tastes delicious (or maybe they were just being nice).

Pursue a career in cutting-edge industry or academic research.

I grew up in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.

Mike Shuo-Wei Chen

Baishakhi Rani Biswas PhD in Electrical Engineering

Always listen to your heart.

In my grade 5, I participated in a national scholarship program back in my home country. It was a competitive scholarship, and nobody really expected me to receive it. It was surprising for all when I received the scholarship, and it was a turning point for my academic career. I started to discover my potential and became much more focused on my studies. There were many more academic accomplishments for me later but the first one will always be special.

My vacuum robot cleaner. It’s an amazing time-saving device and I just love it.

I am currently working on building logic circuits from emerging devices like Memristor. I have built an automatic enumerator and simulator tool that can discover new efficient digital logic cells and families. The exciting part is that while researchers and scientists discover digital logic cells by manual explorations, my tool can discover the same cells automatically in a very limited time. We plan to apply this method to future emerging technologies.

I would have loved to work in marketing or business promotion.

USC is one of the top ranked schools in Electrical Engineering and there are a lot of renowned professors here who are working in digital circuit and CAD/VLSI area. So, USC has always been a top choice for me. Apart from that, I wanted to live in a beautiful place like California and the weather here is very similar to my homeland. In Los Angeles, we have a lot of Bangladeshi restaurants. As I am very fond of my country's food, I took no time to choose USC as my PhD destination.

Yosemite national park, Big Bear Lake, San Diego Beaches. 

Weekend late night board games with my friends here in USC. Some of the exciting games we play are Avalon, Pictionary etc.

I confidently try new activities or games and kill it.

I am very passionate about teaching and interacting with students. I plan to become a teaching faculty after my graduation.

Dhaka, Bangladesh.

https://sites.google.com/view/baishakhi-rani-biswas/home?authuser=0

Sandeep Gupta

Subrata Das PhD in Electrical Engineering

Stop stressing and start counting your blessings.

I think that my greatest accomplishment so far is to avail the opportunity to pursue PhD in one of the top universities of the US. Despite lots of constraints, my middle-class family of a developing country supported me to accomplish my limitless interest to pursue higher studies.

My favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months is a dishwasher for my mother which made her smile from ear to ear. 

My research group has recently demonstrated that a semiconductor–insulator–graphene device can drive the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) at the graphene surface with a reduced onset potential by injecting hot electrons into graphene. However, the catalytic properties of graphene were limited by the large hydrogen adsorption energy and lack of electrochemically active sites. My research interest is to further fabricate/develop novel semiconductor–insulator–graphene devices with the desired catalytic properties by enhancing electrochemically active edge sites on the graphene. I am highly intrigued by the extraordinary electronic, chemical, mechanical, thermal and optical properties of two-dimensional graphene and its promising potential as energy-storage materials, in nanoelectronics, in catalysis, and many more. 

I would happily choose to be a teacher at a kindergarten or elementary school.

The main factor that motivated me to pursue my PhD at USC is its state-of-the-art research facilities. In addition, the word-class faculty, cutting-edge graduate program, ethnic inclusiveness, great network of alumni and the amazing location of the school helped me decide.  

Griffith Observatory, Yosemite National Park, and Big Bear Lake.

During the one year I have been in USC, I had to attend all the classes and programs online due to the pandemic. Even then I got the opportunity to participate in lots of fun-games and exciting events arranged by the ECE department and USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Office of Admission & Student Engagement (VASE). Among this experience, the memory which I’ll cherish most is winning the BINGO game with my ECE big sister at the ECE PhD Siblings Kick Off Party and winning prizes.

The power of my imagination, speculation and priority selection

After graduation I want to join academia to support young fellows to build their meaningful careers.

Professor Rehan Kapadia

Jiazhi Li PhD in Electrical Engineering

Study hard, play hard.

It’s hard to call it accomplishment. Currently, I am working on two papers as first author. 

Samsung 49-inch curved computer monitor. The ultra-wide monitor facilities study.

Debasing face recognition. As facial recognition systems are widely used in biometric verification scenarios, its social concerns have been under scrutiny. Debasing face recognition is going to address one of the concerns that unequal accuracy across cohorts.

History. When I am free, I enjoy reading history stories and watching history documentaries.

The campus environment to study and live, and alumni resources to get connected.

Go to Century city to have a good meal, or enjoy the scene in Huntington library and Getty Villa.

Before the pandemic, we can work and discuss coursework and research topics with others on campus.

During this summer, I play basketball every day. I may not go to court, but every day I walk with a basketball. Sports make me feel energetic.

Continue doing research in a famous internet company.

Beijing, China.

Wael Abd-Almageed.

Vasileios Magoulianitis PhD in Electrical Engineering

Whatever you engage with in your life, do not be mediocre and try your best to stand out.

Undoubtedly, that would be my admission in the PhD program of USC Viterbi school, which I was dreaming of for many years.

A pair of sneakers.

I am working in the medical imaging area, researching AI algorithms that can automate the diagnosis pipeline. The most exciting thing is that the motivation behind it is huge, because any large contributions will potentially impact the lives of many patients, both in terms of costs and clinical discomfort.

That would be a profession in the music industry!

School reputation, engineering PhD program quality, faculty / research labs / institutes, alumni reputation in job market, Southern California.

Dana Point, Palm Springs, Griffith Observatory.

First time I stepped onto the campus! My first impression will be vivid for quite a long time.

In my undergraduate years, I used to play guitar once a week at a local restaurant.

Searching for a research position at top tech companies and get professional experience.

Athens, Greece.

Prof. C.-C. Jay Kuo

Aristotelis - Angelos Papadopoulos PhD in Electrical Engineering

Here, I would like to share a quote from the great Stephen Hawking: “However bad  life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. While there is life,  there is hope.”

My greatest accomplishment was getting admitted at USC for PhD studies. This is  mainly because the selection process is highly competitive since you have to stand out  among thousands of international students who apply for graduate studies at USC.  

A sky galaxy projector that I ordered from Amazon.

My research interests lie in the fields of Machine Learning, Deep Learning,  Optimization and Game Theory. In my latest research results, we designed a machine  learning algorithm that can learn the routing preferences of individual drivers.  Subsequently, a routing optimization algorithm assigns the drivers into the traffic network  in a way that the total travel time of the network is minimized while at the same time, all  drivers are given routes according to their personal routing preferences. What really excites  me about my research is the fact that the solution to this problem can have a positive  impact on people’s lives.

I would choose to be a doctor because from an early age, I wanted to pursue a  profession that would allow me to make a positive impact on people’s lives.  

There were several factors that helped me decide to pursue my PhD at USC. First,  USC is one of the top engineering schools where you have the chance to be taught by world  renowned professors. Second, USC ranks among the top universities in the US for student  diversity. As an international student, USC made me feel included. Lastly, USC is located in  Los Angeles, California. Apart from the beach and the sunny weather, living in California is  the dream for many engineers who want to live in the heart of technology and innovation.

• The world famous Santa Monica pier. The ocean view and the sunset from the pier are really nice.

The second place is Venice beach. Riding a bike in Venice beach is one of my favorite  things to do in LA. 

Lastly, I would also recommend Griffith Observatory. You can have an amazing view of Los  Angeles and realize how big this city truly is. 

First, USC felt like a “home away from home” since it really cares about its  international students. Second, I’ll always remember all the brilliant minds that I met here,  both faculty and students. Lastly, I will never forget the statue of Tommy Trojan and the  quote “Fight on!”. 

 I love watching NYC apartment tours on Youtube.

After graduation, I plan to work as a research scientist in the field of Artificial  Intelligence (AI) and machine learning. My ultimate goal as an engineer is to make a positive  impact on society. 

I was born and raised in Athens, Greece. 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aristotelisangelospapadopoulos6b25a8113  

Website: https://aristotelispap.github.io

Professor Petros Ioannou

Muhammad Waqas PhD in Electrical Engineering

Instead of procrastinating on some very revolutionary idea, focus on research problems that are just outside your comfort zone. Slowly and consistently push yourself beyond your comfort zone.   

My greatest achievement is that I have won the Fulbright scholarship. 

I purchased a car without doing any due diligence and just trusted my guts. It turned out to be a good decision.

I am working in Control Systems, Formal Methods, Autonomous Vehicles, and Advanced Driving Assistance Systems.  The main goal of my research is to make autonomous vehicles safe, reliable, and efficient.

I would choose to become a lawyer in the field of human rights and international law.  

I choose Viterbi School of Engineering at USC as it is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. I wanted to join the research in Autonomous Vehicles at the USC Center of Advanced Transporation Technologies led by Prof. Petros Ioannou. 

California is full of beautiful places. It is very hard to choose. I highly recommend new students to San Francisco, Santa Monica, and Palm Springs. San Francisco is one of my cities in California. 

The enrichment seminar organized by Fulbright Association is one of my favorite memories at USC. 

I run sub 60min 10k three times a week. I did a dual degree program MS EE along with a bachelor's in Law. 

After graduation, I want to work in the industry in the field of Autonomous Vehicles.

Sadiqabad, Punjab, Pakistan.

https://www.linkedin. com/in/mwaqassandhu/

Petros A. Ioannou 

Chien-Sheng Yang PhD in Electrical Engineering

No pain no gain.

My paper was the best paper award finalist in MobiHoc 2019.

It was a Sony WH-1000XM4 headphone.

My research interests are mainly on modern large-scale distributed computing, and secure/private computing. In particular, I have developed online scheduling policies for both dispersed computing and distributed coded computing networks to support the intensive real-time machine learning computations on tremendous data usages and communications for edge devices in IoT (Edge computing). Moreover, I also focus on designing new approaches for secure aggregation in federated learning. It is exciting to work on the problems which are imperative to edge computing.  I believe that the results of my research make substantial contributions to the era of Big Data (need intensive real-time computation) and help developing 5G (allow tremendous data usages and communications for mobile devices).

I would choose mathematics

First, USC is located in Los Angeles, one of the biggest cities on the west coast. Second, the Viterbi engineering school at USC is top engineering in the states. Lastly, the faculties in the department of electrical and computer engineering are really outstanding.

(1) Getty Center

(2) Santa Monica

(3) Griffith Observatory

I really cherish the time that I can discuss with my colleagues for research in school. I can always learn a lot from them.

I have liked the Lakers since I was a kid. It is kind of destined for me to study at USC.

I will be joining MediaTek as a senior engineer.

New Taipei City, Taiwan

https://www.linkedin. com/in/chien-sheng-yang- 63b213b5/

Professor Salman Avestimehr.

Hai Liu PhD in Electrical Engineering

Fight on and never give up.

Has not come yet. One accomplishment in the USC is that my paper was nominated for the Outstanding Paper Award in MEMS conference 2020.

Prego Italian Tomato Sauce Flavored with Meat.

I am developing and researching the microphone with high sensitivity for lung sound detection. It has good performance and would help patients with asthma through monitoring their lung sounds

Philosophy.

Research projects I am interested in, Famous Professor, Top 20 Engineering school in the US, Multi-culture in Los Angeles, Job opportunities in California, etc.

Griffith Observatory, Santa Monica Beach, Warner Bros. Studio for live show tapings. 

Watching USC’s football game in the LA Memorial Coliseum.

I rode a bike to Santa Monica from USC and rode back eleven days after I arrived in Los Angeles in 2016, when it was my first time to be in the US. 

Medical device R&D. 

Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province, China.

Eun Sok Kim.

Yongkui Tang PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

Never stop learning. 

Getting my PhD degree after seven years of hard work. 

A robot vacuum cleaner/mop with an auto-empty station that I bought last Black Friday. Saves so much time and effort on cleaning.

My research is mainly about creating miniaturized devices that could generate and modulate acoustic or ultrasonic waves. What excites me about my research is that through thoughtful engineering, these invisible waves could unfold numerous possibilities when used as powerful and versatile tools in a wide range of applications such as cancer treatment, neuromodulation, droplet ejection, contactless manipulation of objects, and acoustic propulsion. 

A botanist. I used to be really into plants and I could name most of the common plants in my hometown.

World-renowned academic traditions, great environment and climate, culture diversity and inclusion

(1) The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; (2) The Getty Center; (3) Joshua Tree National Park.

One night before an important deadline the equipment I was using stopped working. I called another PhD student at 2 AM who lent me their lab's equipment and delivered it to me. I was extremely grateful for the help in need. 

The fact that I have a collection of over 150 CDs and vinyl records, and at one time I owned four Guitars.

To continue my research as a postdoctoral researcher in University of California, Santa Barbara.

Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.

https://sites.google.com/usc. edu/yongkui-tang

Prof. Eun Sok Kim.

Lucine Oganesian PhD in Electrical Engineering

Listen to everyone; trust your gut. Another piece of advice I got from multiple people before starting graduate school was the importance of having at least one hobby that I maintained consistently throughout my PhD. The reasoning a lot of people gave was two-fold: 1) working all the time won't necessarily help with progress so breaks are important, and 2) research is non-linear and getting stuck is inevitable, but having a different activity where it feels like there is progress helps balance out the frustration.

I don't think there's any particular accomplishment I consider to be my greatest. Each accomplishment is its own milestone, a byproduct of effort and labor. To name a few that probably stand out the most: the first time I presented my research as an undergraduate; when the first (and only) consumer product I worked on shipped (didn't appreciate this achievement until I saw some of my close friends using the product); my first abstract submission to a professional academic conference as a graduate student; and the first time I landed a proper au de coluna and macaco (acrobatic movements from capoeira).

Kicking pads for training capoeira.

My research involves developing algorithms for modelling and decoding neural dynamics. The statistical and mathematical tools that I work on can be used in neurotechnology, with potential clinical applications (e.g., decoding neural activity to control prosthetics), and in neuroscience research to study cognitive processes. My work excites me in two regards: 1) the mathematical toolkit I get to use on a day-to-day basis, and 2) the potential clinical applications of my models/algorithms, whether it be for actuating motor prosthetics or for emotional rehabilitation.

That's a tough one..... At this stage in my life I would have to say either an animator / comic book artist, or a high-school math teacher.

Two factors: the research and the people. Coming back to school from industry, these were probably the two most important factors for me. I wanted to do research that I was excited about, and USC offered a lot of really excellent research opportunities -- work that I could steadfastly commit to over the next few years. Secondly, the people I work with and the community I am a part of also largely impacts my day-to-day motivation. Sometimes work becomes grueling -- especially when stuck on a problem; having motivated, supportive, and compassionate peers helps me push through these difficult moments.

The Last Bookstore, Joshua Tree National Park, Griffith Park / Griffith Observatory.

It's not a particularly extravagant memory, but it would have to be the first time I went to my lab as a graduate student. My first year as a USC student was remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and since our group is a computational group we did not need to be in the office to do our work. So, the first time I went to my lab room and picked out my office desk was definitely an exciting moment for me.

Difficult question! Depends on one's expectations. Hmmm... I guess some individuals find it surprising that I grew up in LA, but I never tried Korean BBQ in Korea Town.

Current plan is to stay on the academia track: work as a postdoctoral researcher before transitioning to a faculty position at a research university. The goal is to lead my own lab, while also teaching.

Glendale, California, USA.

lucineoganesian.com

Professor Maryam Shanechi,

Yue (Julien) Niu PhD in Electrical Engineering

When I was taking EE503 (Probability for Electrical and Computer Engineers), Professor Bart Kosko said “You earn the knowledge by proving it yourself everyday”. This is the most valuable advice I have got so far. As a graduate student, not only do we need to think about what problems to be solved, but also to equip ourselves with sound and solid fundamentals. Otherwise, we are just scratching the surface.

The most exciting thing I have done so far is to work as a TA in EE 354 (Introduction to Digital Circuits). Teaching younger students and learning the feedback from them really helped me improve my communication skills and thinking process.

I am working on privacy-preserving machine learning (ML). In training ML models, we usually need to feed the models with a large dataset that sometimes contains sensitive information. The project I am working on is to protect the sensitive data when using them to train ML models. 

I will choose a history related topic! I am always a history fan.

USC creates a very supportive environment for graduate students. When I was once struggling with my PhD life, the department and my advisor really listened to my difficulties and gave valuable suggestions.

Malibu Beach, Sequoia NP, Venice Beach

The most valuable experience I still remember now is talking and drinking with a couple of close friends over the whole night. 

I like Kart Racing.

Seek a research position, better in colleges, but companies are also fine.

Anhui, China.

https://julienniu.wordpress. com/

Salman Avestimehr (Electrical and Computer Engineering)

Emir Ceyani PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

If you aren't satisfied with yourself, be brave and bold to change it! Go beyond your limits, Stand firm, and never give up! Resolute perseverance is the key to conquer your limits and everything else in the world!

Starting my Ph.D. at USC during COVID-19 times & uncertainties with the US Border in December 2020. These uncontrollable events solidified my determination more than ever it is. When you accomplish things that are beyond your control, rewards are beyond your imagination!

I nterestingly, nothing.

M y research is about understanding a new machine learning paradigm, federated learning, pioneered by Google, from a probabilistic perspective. This new paradigm allows practitioners to deploy their algorithms under challenging scenarios where privacy and decentralization of data are absolute such as smartphones, IoT devices, and hospitals. The exciting part of my research is that the years of knowledge and notions accumulated for machine learning research are not translative to my research field. That is, you have to defy common assumptions in the classical works and have to think from different, yet unexpected perspectives. Things deemed to be inefficient or unpopular may shine in my field.

A singer in a rock band. You have to convey your enthusiasm even in challenging times. You have to rise and shine like a phoenix. (Note: My favorite band is TOOL)

F irst reason is thanks to my advisor, Prof. Salman Avestimehr, and his vITAL lab at USC. Being able to contribute to a new field with an innovative role model was and still is one of the breakthroughs in my life! Second and my final reason is Los Angeles itself, the city that I wanted to live in for a long time!

1. Griffith Observatory 2. Malibu 3. Venice Beach

Going to dinner at Prof. Annavaram's house to celebrate my first paper submission to a top-tier machine learning conference in June 2021.

I used to have a red-black belt in Taekwondo.

To be a role model, conveying my enthusiasm to solve challenging problems and being a real example for many people who had many struggles in their lives. I want to show that pure determination can change ourselves and the world we live in! For this, I still haven't decided on whether I want to be an academician or a research scientist. Why not both?

Izmir, Turkey

https://ceyani.io

Professor Salman Avestimehr

Tian Xie PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

I think the best advice that I have received is from my advisor, that communication is more important than intelligence in a long term.

M y greatest accomplishment at this moment is entering USC as a Ph.D. student and hopefully changed it by graduating as a Ph.D. from USC.

What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months? My favorite impulse purchase was an Apple watch recently.

My current research is graph representation learning, graph signal processing, and machine learning in general. I am most excited about how those algorithms can solve real-world problems and impact our daily lives.

I would like to be a musician since I enjoy listening to music.

T here is no specific reason why pursuing a Ph.D. degree. Probably because I enjoy doing research and USC has excellent research environment.

Santa Monica at night, Griffith Observatory at night, and Universal Studios. I think LA is more beautiful at night.

The most valuable memory at USC will be the meetings and discussions with my advisor and lab-mates.

I have a little brother studying at USCD for a bachelor's degree.

I will probably take some time traveling around and then go to work in the industry.

Shandong, China.

Prof. Jay Kuo.

Yun Cheng Wang PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

I consider pursuing a PhD degree as my greatest accomplishment right now because it requires lots of work but the rewards are also satisfying.

I decided to spend less money at Starbucks and bought a portable coffee machine but I still went to Starbucks once in a while.

My research is to use mathematical tools and machine learning models to discover underlying facts in relational data, such as web pages and user profiles. There are a lot of applications in my research. For example, Google uses it to rank web pages for Google search. Another more exciting application recently is that scientists are developing Covid vaccine by modeling the Covid spike protein as relational data.

I once had the impulse to be a physicist and an astronaut after watching the movie “Interstellar”. I was fascinated by space travel and I wanted to discover the mystery of the origin of time.

First of all, I think finding an advisor that you have a good time collaborating with is very important for a PhD student. I like how my current advisor runs the lab and I am interested in the research topic we are working on. Secondly, I like LA.

Griffith Observatory is definitely the first place to visit when you are in LA. You can enjoy the best sunset and night view there. There are also many hiking trails to go on the weekends. If you like to spend time in art museums, I recommend the Getty Center. They also have a beautiful garden to take pictures in. If you want to enjoy some local foods and shopping, you should visit the farmer’s market and The Grove.

What I like about USC is the diversity of the students. I have friends from Korea, China, India, and Vietnam. We study together and we like to hang out on the weekends. My Korean friend always shows us authentic Korean foods in Korean Town.

I like to sing rap songs lol.

I would like to join the industry first because I think it’s the most direct way to contribute to human society. Besides, it’s important to know the trends and needs of the customers in my field. After several years, I might consider becoming a professor in my home country, Taiwan, to educate the next generation.

I am from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, a beautiful port city.

https://yunchengwang.github. io/

Professor C.-C. Jay Kuo

Souvik Kundu PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

If you don't give up you can't fail.

To have a mindset of continual learning without having the hindrance due to the pride of success, superiority (or depression of failure), or lethargy of aging. From a materialistic aspect, I have a few: 1. USC Annenberg Fellow, 2. USC MHI scholar finalist, 3. USC research festival best poster award winner, 4. Departmental topper at IIT Kharagpur, India. All accomplishments are close to my heart, so could not rank them :(

A flight ticket to Salt-lake city (Utah), for a trip to Yellowstone National Park. The trip was made during the beginning of Summer 2021. FYI, it was one of the best national parks I had ever visited. A must-go place in the USA for nature lovers. 

With the ubiquitous deployment of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)  enabled devices in our surroundings, three major issues are getting more and more prominent :1. The arduous energy demand of such devices makes a heavy carbon footprint in our environment. 2. The reliability and robustness of these devices, particularly, for safety-critical applications (for example military drones, autonomous vehicles), 3. The privacy-preserving aspect of these devices while deployed for private applications (for example medical usage). My research on "Hardware-algorithm co-design for energy-efficient and reliable Machine Learning (ML) accelerators" using both conventional and brain-inspired neuromorphic approaches aim at addressing all the above-mentioned issues. In particular, the potential to make an immense and significant impact on improving our own day-to-day life and making a sustainable future really makes me excited and motivated in my research. For further details and collaboration opportunities, I am reachable through email:  [email protected] .

Maybe a park ranger, given my huge love for national parks and traveling in general.

USC has one of the best Ph.D. programs in Electrical, Electronics, and Computer Science in the world. The research community here at USC is pretty strong and extremely motivated. Also, various collaborations with both Govt agencies like NSF, DARPA as well as Industry leaders like Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, Nvidia makes USC provide us a truly world-class research platform. And last but not the least, the wonderful weather and beaches of Southern California. :)

It is a pretty hard job to limit my choice to three. So, I will mention two and keep the third one as a journey instead of a destination. 1. Yosemite National Park (CA) -- a wonderful place for camping as well, 2. Venice Beach, LA -- a must-visit place for summer chill-out (there are many others.. haha.. :)), 3. A drive along the pacific coast highway -- one of a kind experience, particularly, for long-drive lovers.

"My time at USC". The whole Ph.D. journey, the success, the failure, the learning will remain as memory and give me strength for my future endeavor.

I have a unicorn at my place. Lol, kidding! I don't really have anything to surprise as such. However, one fact about me is that I never thought of doing a Ph.D. till 3 months before my application for Ph.D. at USC.

Working as a researcher in Industry with close collaboration with Academia or vice versa.

City: Kolkata (renowned as the city of joy in India) Country: India.

https://ksouvik52.github.io/

I am advised by two extremely supportive and prolific professors of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at USC: 1. Prof. Peter A. Beerel and 2. Prof. Massoud Pedram.

Zhonghao Du PhD in Electrical Engineering

You should evaluate yourself  first about whether you would like to pursue an academic life and enjoy the loneliness as well as the frequent failure of your research.

The greatest achievement is to adapt to American life and culture as a foreign student alone.

My research is about finding unique properties in new types of materials and applying such features to fabricate electrical devices for industry.

I would like to study journalism.

USC's PhD program director is very frank and helpful to answer some questions I am concerned about before I accept the offer. And also, I felt courses I took as an undergraduate didn't provide enough knowledge for me to understand how electrical engineering actually works in the industry so I decided to pursue a PhD degree.

Yosemite National Park, California Route 1 and Big Bear Lake.

I am a registered soccer referee in China.

To be an engineer in the industry.

Jinan, China.

Nikhil Naik PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

The best piece of advice I have ever received is to Fight On! To carry on, to keep forging ahead despite failures and successes is what counts the most. Life is never a single path – new ways always appear in places you least expect them. It is the intent to unhesitatingly explore the most promising path which counts.

My greatest accomplishment has been to secure admission to the best academic institutions of the world for Electrical Engineering. I had the excellent fortune of studying Instrumentation Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur at the undergraduate level and then at USC Viterbi’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department for the Graduate and Doctoral level. I owe my entire career to these two institutions, which truly made me what I am.

I am an enthusiast for good old-fashioned fountain pens. In the digital age, writing something by hand excites me as it is a very personal thing to do. I have always nurtured a love of writing, and a good pen always sets the tone for me. It so happened that a few months ago, I noticed a fine piece online, manufactured by the Platinum Pen Company, Japan and instantly purchased it! I love every bit of the ninety-dollar writing experience!

All around us, we observe increasingly smarter and connected devices and systems inseparably interacting with the physical world. My work revolves around the study of these “Cyber-Physical” Systems, including their design and verification. The most exciting part about my work is a close, first-hand study of the building blocks of futuristic Cyber-Physical Systems like Autonomous Cars and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The operation of such complex smart machines involves a delicate balance between safety and reliability on one hand and efficient and cost-effective manufacturing and operation on the other. My effort involves leveraging mathematical formalisms and software tools to study the most optimal way of designing these large-scale systems. Moreover, coming up with ways to mathematically characterize their safe, robust and reliable operation in the presence of real-life uncertainties is also a part of my doctoral work.

My cherished belief is that languages are the sine qua non of the human experience. If I were not an engineer, I would certainly have become a professor of literature in the languages of the Indian Subcontinent. I have a great love of the Sanskrit language, one of the most ancient languages of the world. Its structure and grammatical intricacies delight me. I have had the fortune of attempting an amateur study of two Sanskrit epic poems of ancient India, namely the Ramayana and the Mahabharata alongside other masterpieces such as the Abhijnana-Shakuntalam of the poet Kalidasa as a hobby in my spare time. I would surely explore them professionally if I were to be presented with such an opportunity.

I have always held USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering in the highest regard. I was well aware of the school’s stellar contributions in the field of Electrical Communication and Signal/Image Processing, right from my earliest days as an Undergraduate. In my senior year at the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, I was already set on further studies as my goal. I consulted my professors, batchmates and seniors on which schools would best aid my cause. Many frequently recommended USC as a premier institution in my field of research. Then there is always the experience of studying in Los Angeles, which is one of the most well-known, largest and most globalized cities in the world. A bonus was the awesome weather in California!

Southern California is a wonderful place to be – the best weather, the best opportunities and a meeting point of every culture in the world! I would certainly recommend exploring SoCal while you’re here. Go see the beaches, the mountains and the desert. Closer to Los Angeles, I would recommend Long Beach, Mount Baldy and Palm Springs as wonderful places to explore. Other places like Yosemite National Park and La Jolla Cove in San Diego would also make it to the top of my list.

USC has been a great experience for me. I truly experienced life and work at an elite top-tier university whose name resonates globally. I found the infrastructure to be the absolute best in the world, and the opportunities have been top-notch. I will cherish the affable University staff who helped me out at every step of my journey. I would particularly point appreciatively to the services of the Office of International Students which helped me complete all my paperwork for a Curricular Practical Training (CPT) internship even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. I will always remember their prompt help in those uncertain times.

I am currently a doctoral student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, but I came very close to being a professional astrophysicist! Throughout my undergraduate days in India, I have had the rare privilege of working with living legends in the field of Astronomy and Astrophysics. I even had the chance to publish a paper in the Astrophysical Journal on my work. I look back upon those days fondly, and still try a hand at the telescope if there is one around!

After graduation, I plan to continue working in the general direction of my doctoral work. At the outset, I aim to make my mark in the industrial design and development of autonomous, safety-critical systems. In the long run, I would also be open to teaching the next generation of students in an academic setting.

My hometown is the city of Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Telangana (India).

https://sites.google.com/usc.edu/nikhilnaik/home

My advisor is Prof. Pierluigi Nuzzo, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, USC Viterbi School of Engineering. 

Jiali Duan MS in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

“In life, it’s not how much we achieved, it’s how much we’ve gone through the tough days and mistakes”.

Earning a PhD degree.

I purchased virtual attendance to ICML out of impulse, and I really enjoyed being part of it. 

Artist. I love piano and the peace it’s able to bring.

Rancho Palos Verdes, Catalina island, Huntington Park.

I eat all kinds of snacks without gaining weight. 

I’m considering getting a driving license and getting married. 

https://davidsonic.github.io/ index/  

C.-C. Jay Kuo

Juzheng Liu PhD in Electrical Engineering

"Take the challenge, you have nothing to lose."

Two top conference publications and 3 integrated circuit fabrications before I pass my Ph.D. screening exam

A brand new Honda Accord Hybrid car

My research includes machine learning-based analog-mixed signal circuit design automation and high-speed analog-to-digital converter design. The exciting part is that whenever I get some good experiment results, I know I'm pushing the boundary of humanity, even though it might just be in a very specific and narrow direction.

I would like to be a singer.

Very good research environment and resources, great academic achievement, job opportunities in California, and nice weather in LA.

Highway #1 road trip, Joshua Tree National Park, and Red Wood National Park.

I found my girlfriend at USC during the Covid pandemic, she is from Marshall, and we love to take a walk after dinner on the campus to see the beautiful sunset.

I can do a 220lb bench press with a 150lb body weight.

Try to get a faculty job in a university

Mianyang, Sichuan, China

Hefei Liu PhD in Electrical Engineering

Care more about self-evaluation than others’ thoughts.

Raised a fund to help the stuff of my dormitory upgrade their facilities during my undergraduate.

Noise-cancelling headsets. They saved my ears from the noise in my lab.

I’m working on novel nanofabrication techniques of 2D materials, like graphene. 2D materials have a lot of unique properties so that we can process them like playing paper folding. To create microscopic patterns like folding, rolling and wrinkling structures with novel functions is very intriguing to me.

Actor. I think being an actor may allow me to experience “others’ lives”.

Mainly the research topic. Also, school ranking, food, salary, weather…

Restaurants in LA, Chinese, Peruvian, Ethiopian, and so on, all authentic. Yosemite national park. I love the waterfall there. Santa Monica beach, beautiful sunset

All members of my group attended a research festival held by the EE department. We worked together designing the poster and introduced our research projects to others. I also learned a lot of interesting ideas from others’ poster.

I started learning how to play the saxophone since last year, as a complete beginner. Currently I practice the saxophone at least one hour every day IN MY OFFICE, because the instrument is so loud that would bother my roommates. I play with it in my office at night when all my labmates have left.

I would like to continue my research life, and will apply for a postdoc position.

Harbin, China

I don’t have a personal website, only google scholar.

Prof. Han Wang at the EE department

Amir Minoofar PhD in Optical Communication

Trying to pursue different approaches and do not stop hard-working until reaching the final results.

A mong my most recent publications in collaboration with my colleagues on different journals such as Nature Photonics, Scientific Reports, etc.., having my own paper accepted as highly-scored on ECOC conference as a famous international conference on optical communications has more value in my mind.

W orking at home  may also be helpful providing a big opportunity to deeply and carefully think about real issues of research and life, which was not  available or at least could not be considered before the quarantine due to covid.

T o avoid a "capacity crunch", other aspects of  free -space optical communication (FSOC) is worth investigating on how to increase the transmission throughput. Considering this my research is based on using mode division multiplexing for FSOC to improve the data rate.

I really like to work as a professional soccer player.

Previous graduate students who got the same position as research assistants in electrical engineering helped me to find my path toward this position.

I didn't have too much time to visit such places but I would probably recommend visiting Santa Monica, Downtown LA, and Griffith observatory.

O ur trip to palm spring with all electrical engineering students in Summer 2019 as the USC EE retreat program was wonderful and amazing.

I am not sure yet.

https://scholar.google.com/ citations?user=vuh9IqwAAAAJ& hl=en

Prof. Alan E. Willner

Why did you choose the Viterbi School for your PhD program? I chose to pursue my PhD at USC mainly because of my advisor and her extraordinary visions for potential research projects, but also because of the amazing amount of flexibility I am allowed as a PhD student here. I am able to research a very interdisciplinary project because I have been able to take classes and seek advice from professors in many different departments not only in the Viterbi School of Engineering, but in other areas of the University as well. So far, I have felt encouraged to strive for truly unique and scientifically relevant research with the support of my fellow students, my advisor, and my Engineering department.

What has surprised you most about the USC experience?  I was most surprised about the strong sense of community here at USC. I came from a very small undergraduate institution and was afraid of being lost in the crowd here in Los Angeles, but I have experienced the complete opposite. I have made many new friends who come from all over the world and have genuinely enjoyed integrating myself into the PhD community within the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department as well as many other non-academic communities at the University.

What is your current research project? I work on evaluating the impact of future changes in climate – such as rising air and water temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, shifts in storm intensities and rising sea level – on the resiliency and reliability of the Western electricity grid. These future changes in our climate have adverse impacts on the power generation sector and often impose complex feedback loops that have not been modeled with scientific rigor. Considering that electricity is critical to maintaining quality of life, human health, and a safe food and water supply, understanding the scale of potential challenges is critical to ensuring a reliable power grid.

Who has been your biggest influence at USC? My biggest influence here at USC has undoubtedly been my advisor, Dr. Kelly Sanders. Not only has she been an incredible source of information and guidance throughout my time at USC, she has also served as the basis for my personal support system. The relationship between myself and my advisor is one that I treasure greatly. Although she has helped me immensely in my academic career, I would argue that she has had a much greater impact on my personal growth and development, even if she doesn’t know it!

What do you do for fun when you aren’t in the lab or classroom? I spend most of my free time training with the club triathlon team here at USC. I joined the team when I first came to USC and haven’t looked back! I was a varsity swimmer as an undergraduate and have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of learning how to exercise on land. On top of meeting many talented and interesting new friends, participating in this club sport has helped me maintain a great work-life balance.

What is your favorite thing about living in Los Angeles? There are so many great things about being a grad student in LA! My favorite things include the incredible food, the eclectic neighborhoods, the beaches, and the lovely, sunny weather, of course!

What are your plans for after graduation? The dreaded graduation question…How I wish that I was confident enough to say that I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I graduate and where I wanted to do it! Ultimately, I dream of having a job where I am able to contribute to the improvement of our lives and the life of our planet. Although I haven’t decided on a career path, I would say that I am most excited about researching as a scientist or as a professor.

Phillip Wang PhD in Environmental Engineering

Raven Althouse PhD Environmental Engineering

The more you learn, the more you’ll realize there’s so much you don’t know: It’s okay to not know things. What’s important is being willing to learn.

Prioritizing my mental health, particularly when transitioning to a new program and city during lockdown.

A new pair of running shoes!

My research focuses on microbial processes in engineered water systems. Currently I’m investigating the use of novel archaea in membrane biofilm reactors (MBfRs) to remove dissolved greenhouse gases. Understanding that this research will be a piece to the puzzle of combating global climate change is extremely exciting to me, particularly considering this research has the possibility of one day helping to lower, and possibly even eliminate, the greenhouse gas emissions that water treatment systems currently produce. 

If I had to choose a profession outside of engineering, I would explore interior design (or be a farm hand on a dude ranch).

When deciding on attending USC, there were a few things that set Viterbi apart from other programs I had applied to. First, I loved how much freedom I was given as a PhD in choosing the courses for my degree. While there are of course required core courses, having the power to choose electives that I think are relatable and valuable to my research, regardless of the department by which they’re taught, is extremely unique and I love the interdisciplinary approach. Second, I wanted to go to a school that offered the opportunity to not only be a research assistant, but a teaching assistant as well. Wanting to go into academia in the future, this is an extremely valuable way for me to learn what goes into teaching a course, and to help me strengthen my skills as an educator. Lastly, by observing the atmosphere created by the students, faculty, staff, and alumni, I knew USC would offer not only a rigorous education, but a supportive environment as well as a valuable network both during and after my time at Viterbi. 

Although LA has so much to offer and explore, sometimes it’s nice to get out of the city rush for a bit and have a change of scenery. For that reason, I recommend incoming students check out Descanso Gardens, Chino Hills State Park, and Normandy Village.

I love getting together with fellow PhDs outside of the lab—whether it’s going out for a meal after a long day in the lab, watching movies at someone’s apartment, or exploring a new part of the city together, those memories mean so much!

I’ve been to the Greenland Ice Sheet!

’m hoping to go down the path of applying to be a post-doc for a few years before securing a faculty position at a university.

Rebersburg, PA, USA.

USC Smith Lab website: https://www.smithresearchusc.com/

Dr. Adam Smith

Hannah Schlaerth PhD in Environmental Engineering

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? When I was a junior in high school, I had an English teacher who told our class that learning to critically read and write would help us in any career path we wanted to pursue. Every acceptance letter I’ve ever received is in part thanks to this advice and the writing skills I learned in her class.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? My greatest accomplishment so far has been getting my master’s degree in environmental engineering. After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in geology, I moved across the country and completely changed fields— I went from looking at rocks all day in the suburbs of Ohio to thinking about air pollution in Los Angeles. Everything was new to me, and not in a fun way but a way that was overwhelming and exhausting. Getting my master’s degree feels emblematic of my perseverance through such a difficult time and I never would have believed that I could grow so much as both a scientist and an individual.

What's your favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months? I recently splurged on a pair of Big Bud Press work pants and now they’re all I wear! 

Please describe a little about your research and what excites you about it My PhD research so far can be summed up as a study of weird sources of emissions: tugboats and trees. In my first study, I measured emissions from tugboats of a cancer-causing aerosol called black carbon. I found that tugboats spend most of their operational time near shore and emit more black carbon per fuel consumed than other similarly sized vessels. This is important information because these vessels are emitting close to where people live. These findings culminated in a paper I just recently published in the journal Atmospheric Environment. My current project investigates the air quality impacts of tree planting in urban areas using a climate-chemistry model. Many cities propose tree planting goals as a form of heat mitigation because trees provide shade and evaporative cooling. However, it’s often overlooked that trees are emission sources of volatile organic compounds. These emissions lead to the formation of air pollutants like particulate matter and ozone under the right atmospheric conditions. I’m hoping that the results of my study will help city planners maximize the considerable cooling benefits of tree planting while avoiding serious drawbacks to air quality. My research excites me because it truly feels like I’m helping make the world a better place. These projects are extremely policy relevant and improving air quality literally saves lives. 

If I didn’t end up in a STEM field, I would have pursued illustration. I like that science changes the way I see the world around me—it’s a really unique feeling to look at something completely ordinary like a cloud in the sky and suddenly notice that it’s the sum of all these physical processes at play. I feel that some form of art, like drawing or painting, would probably reproduce this same feeling, but maybe the things I’d be noticing would be form, color and light. 

What are some factors that helped you decide to pursue your PhD at USC? I decided to pursue my PhD at USC based on funding and my faculty advisor. I appreciated the security and transparency of my offer letter, which gave me an idea of where my funding would be coming from throughout my PhD. My advisor also seemed like a great fit for me- laid back, but incredibly research productive in cutting-edge science. Prior to accepting my offer, I talked with my future lab mates and I could tell he would be someone who I would enjoy working with and whose expectations of me would be reasonable. 

• Parker Mesa Overlook: This 7-mile, round trip hike takes you to the top of the Santa Monica Mountains. On a clear day, you can see the city skyline on one side and the Catalina Islands on the other. 
• The Galaxy Café on top of Mt. Wilson: I once hiked 10 miles to the peak of LA’s tallest mountain only to find that you can drive up it from the other side. This charming concession stand is great for some well-earned refreshments after a brutal hike- or just enjoy the beautiful view with a coffee if you’re smarter than me and drive. 
• Shorthand Highland Park: This beautiful little store is full of curated writing utensils and locally printed stationery. It’s like the Scholastic Book Fair, but for adults.

What is a memory you'll cherish about your time at USC? A group of PhD students in our department decided they wanted to celebrate Pi Day one year, so on March 14 we all went on a 3.14-mile walk to a pie shop downtown. It was just a silly excuse to socialize together, but I had so much fun and the pie was great!

I’m a bird person! I own two parakeets, BMO and Picasso, and their favorite thing to do is squawk during important Zoom meetings.

What are your plans after graduation? When I graduate, I want to pursue a tenure-track position in an earth sciences department. I’m not quite sure what this will look like yet, but I love teaching and doing policy-relevant research. I’m confident that being a professor is a job I could excel at while making a positive impact in my community.

Pickerington, Ohio 

United States

George Ban-Weiss

Yun Li Phd in Environmental Engineering

Always be confident in yourself. PhD study is definitely not an easy route, and there are times when you can have doubt in yourself. For me, sometimes I feel depressed when thinking about questions like: Do I have the ability and knowledge to solve the problem? Am I taking the right method to solve this issue? Can I express myself clearly in scientific writing? … Thanks to my advisor who is always encouraging, and tells me to look at and be proud of what I’ve already done. His advice makes me feel I can deal with any obstacle in my research.

The project that I’ve worked on for the past one year and a half was part of a systematic project called the City of Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study (LA100) which was initiated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The results from LA100 were announced by the Mayor’s Office in March (available at: https://www.lamayor.org/mayor-garcetti-announces-findings-historic-100-percent-renewable-energy-study) as a guidance for the city to achieve 100% renewable energy goal in the next ~25 years.

I bought a switch game called Fire Emblem Three Houses last summer (not an ad!). I really enjoyed the stories and connections among different characters in the game, especially during the pandemic when people are far apart from each other.

My research uses atmospheric models to study the interaction among humans, land cover change and atmosphere in Los Angeles. More specifically, my first project focuses on how land cover changes (e.g., replacing natural shrubs with buildings and roads) via historical urbanization has impacted meteorology (e.g., air temperature) and air quality (e.g., ozone and PM 2.5 concentrations) in Los Angeles Basin. My second project looks at the influence of adopting renewable energy on air quality in Los Angeles in a future year. I enjoyed working on my research projects because they applied scientific knowledge I learnt to solving actual environmental problems that we’re facing today. The research carried out in my group can be informative for policy-making for achieving sustainable development of a city.

I would really want to become a sports journalist because I have been inspired a lot by the stories of those talented and hard-working athletes.

I think the most important factor is my research advisor. I enjoyed interviewing with him while I was applying for PhD, and got to know more about him while chatting with his PhD student at that time. He is an inspiring advisor during work, and an easy-going friend in life. I also find the university itself another very important factor. The flexibility in course selection and abundance in various study and living resources at USC are especially attractive to me. Last but not least, the city where the university is located matters a lot as well, and Los Angeles is a good place to live in.

I would recommend Griffith Observatory for a birdview of Los Angeles, Universal Studio for relaxation and entertainment, and Joshua Tree National Park for a unique natural scene in SoCal.

I enjoy hanging out with my group! I remember one time we went bouldering and ate at a pub in Koreatown. It was a lot of fun.

I’m usually a very quiet person, but I like things that are thrilling like watching sports games and riding roller coasters.

Currently, my plan is to look for a postdoc position in my research field, and pursue a career path in academia. But I’m also open to an industry career path. Nevertheless, I want to use the knowledge I’ve gained during my PhD study to help address air quality and climate change issues.

Bianca Costa PhD in Environmental Engineering

“Develop an interest”- I got this piece of advice in undergrad when discussing the difficulties of some tedious classes with a senior student. Though I got this advice when discussing about classes that might not catch my attention initially, I have been able to apply this to other aspects of my life. There might be things that might seem boring, tedious or seem superficial to what you are trying to accomplish at first, but if you develop an interest about them- you find the right angle in which you can find the motivation to learn and discover new things you can pull through even the tasks that seem the hardest at first.

Getting accepted to a PhD program and getting awarded the National Science Foundation fellowship (GRFP).

A scrub brush drill attachment.

Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), sometimes referred to as forever chemicals given their degradation resistance, bioaccumulation in food chains, and long half-lives, have called for a  national emergency . Associated with low birth weights, thyroid hormone disruption, cancer and immune system effects, they pose a risk for human health and the environment. The CDC has reported that almost every person living in the US have PFAS in their bloodstream. Their widespread use in fire-retardant, foams, coatings, paints, lubricants, food packaging, and cosmetics make their use pervasive and exposure unavoidable. PFAS enter our waste streams (landfills and wastewater) due to their molecular structure they are very hard to degrade. While alternative physicochemical methods exist for their removal, they remain costly , energy intensive and produce significant residuals. Biodegradation of PFAS is thermodynamically favorable under anaerobic conditions, few studies have studied anaerobic biodegradation of PFAS and other halogenated compounds are able to be biodegraded after a long term assumption they were recalcitrant to biodegradation. Just recently defluorinating bacteria were isolated implying other microorganisms capable of PFAS degrading metabolisms are yet to be discovered. My research focuses on culturing PFAS degrading microorganisms from highly polluted sources to be applied in biotechnologies like Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors. I am excited about learning the factors that influence biodegradation of these chemicals, possibly discovering novel microorganisms and the impact they could have in applied sustainable technologies.

Medical doctor.

Community, amazing faculty, great facilities for research, and location.

Griffith observatory, Abbot Kinney, Santa Monica.

Going for lunch with lab mates at the Village.

I have gone paragliding.

Still figuring out.

Lima, Peru.

Emily Anne Vargas PhD in Materials Science

My mom always used to say to me “No olvides tus raíces aunque estés en la cima.” Which means to never forget your roots, even when you are at the top. To never forget why you started, how you started, and to give back to the communities that made you who you are today. My second favorite quote is “You don’t know what you don’t know.” Ask questions. Find a mentor that can help answer the questions you didn’t know how to ask or knew to ask. 

Being a first-generation college graduate, the first engineer in my family, and the first person to go to graduate school. I couldn’t have done it without my family’s support and unconditional love. They immigrated from Cuba with nothing but the clothes on their backs and, in turn, provided the opportunity for me and my sister to live out the American Dream. 

My K2 Inline Skates! My friend, Jose, has been teaching me how to rollerblade on campus (I haven’t fallen…yet). 

I’m currently working on how the manufacturing process affects the microstructure of oxide-oxide ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) and how the microstructure affects the overall mechanical behavior! I like to think about my research like the show “How It’s Made”. You don’t quite realize how the smallest of changes in a manufacturing process can truly impact the outcome of whatever material or product you’re making. I also like how I can see the real-world applications of my research. CMCs are used in high temperature applications ranging from car brakes to heat shields for rockets! 

I would be a visual artist! In my spare time, I love to draw and paint and almost went to an art magnet school for high school.

I made a list of non-negotiables when choosing PhD programs and ultimately, they all were components that led to my happiness. Location, being near an international airport so I could visit my family, Vitamin D (sunshine makes all the difference!), my faculty advisor and the research topic, how much effort the university puts in DE&I initiatives, and the people/culture. Many people don’t realize the culture from undergrad to grad is vastly different, so surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals is super important to maintaining your health and well-being physically, mentally, and emotionally. Shout out to Andy Chen and Kevin Henry for showing me how much USC cares about their students and treats them like family!

Joshua Tree National Park (and any other National Parks in the neighboring area) for stargazing, Smorgasburg if you’re a foodie, and the Huntington Library.

Meeting my best friends, Jose, Joel, and Sophia, and forming a WhatsApp group called “The Pupusa Squad” one day after we had gotten lunch together at a pupuseria. Together, we played hooky one time at a conference held at UC San Diego and explored La Jolla and the beaches. 

I currently serve as the Vice-Chair on the National Board of Directors for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. I’m the youngest Vice-Chair the organization has ever had. 

I’d like to work in either the aerospace, automotive, or energy/power industry as a chief composites engineer within R&D.

Miami, FL, USA.

https://composites.usc.edu/emily-vargas/

Dr. Steve Nutt from the USC M.C. Gill Composites Center.

Yu Wang PhD in Materials Science

Comparing yourself today with who you were in the past allows you to feel proud of how far you’ve improved. Then comparing yourself with who you hope to become helps you focus on doing things that truly matter to you.

Having the opportunity to study and do research in clean energy technology in order to help solve the climate change challenge.

My favorite impulse purchase is the air purifier bought last year. As more and more wildfires take place each year related to climate change, the air quality in California is becoming less and less stable. Having an air purifier at hand is really helpful because it is always sold-out during fire season.

One area of my research is about developing green hydrogen technology using photocatalytic methods to replace the current industrial hydrogen production process, which involves a large amount of CO 2 generation. The other area of my research is thermoelectricity, which generates electricity from temperature differences. This is an efficient way of recovering energy from wasted heat produced in cars and power plants. The objective of both research areas is to produce clean energy without emitting CO 2 , which is the main climate change contributor.

Maybe a rock band guitarist.

First factor is diversity. USC has many international students and faculties from many different countries, which helps me to hear different opinions about the same problem. Second factor is vast academic resources. There are many world class scientists I can learn from and collaborate with during my study at USC.

Santa Monica beach, Getty Center, Griffith Observatory.

Spending time doing research in the lab.

I met my girlfriend at USC, and we plan to get married next year.

My plan after graduation is to find a postdoc position and continue my research in developing clean energy technology.

Xuzhou, China.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yu-wang-368b8b61/

Professor Stephen Cronin

Alina Garcia Taormina PhD in Materials Science

"Never forget who you are and how much you're capable of."

I love photography, so anytime I get the chance to go out and shoot photos, it is so grounding for me. I recently bought a new camera lens and was so excited to get to use it on my recent trip up to the pacific northwest.

My research focuses on the synthesis and development of metal-polymer core-shell composite micro-lattice materials through the exploration of various physical vapor deposition coating conditions and configurations. Additionally, in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, I have investigated the mechanical behavior of stitched nano-architected lattice materials to gain further insight into fabricating macro-scale 3D printed parts that contain nanoscale features. What excites me about my research is that nano- and micro-architected lattices are an emerging class of materials and there is still so much to learn and discover about their properties and functionalities. 

I'd want to be a filmmaker! Before switching over to chemistry in undergrad, I was pursuing film production. It had always been a dream of mine to work in film, but I am grateful I also found my passion in STEM.

The three places I would recommend to go in CA/LA would be the beach for a bonfire or a day with friends, Grand Central Market for a nice variety of good food, and definitely a weekend trip to Joshua Tree.

All the times my lab-mates and I were able to spend together. I will cherish every time we were able to get together as a group and take a trip, have a game night, celebrate a birthday, go shoot some photography, go out and eat delicious food, and be there for one another. 

I have a pet turtle, and I enjoy playing tennis.

Prof. Andrea Hodge

Jingxin Zhang PhD in Materials Science

Be patient.

My greatest accomplishment is that I’m working on the research I l enjoy and I find it very meaningful, pushing the boundaries of current science and technologies furthermore. Being a researcher is my childhood dream, and now I’m living my dream and I'm very thankful to be able to work in a lab with all the state-of-the-art equipment.

Sony A7RIV camera and PS5.

I’m currently working on a Quantum Dots Blinking project. The main goal is to investigate the blinking phenomenon on our QDs. Unlike our lights which can be bright as long as we turn on the switch, QDs have a discontinuous and random emission of light. This is a very interesting topic with many unknown mysteries waiting for us to unveil. Based on the current research, we can’t predict when the QDs will turn back on once it is turned off. This makes it very interesting to me.

I want to be a Vloger traveling around the globe and record my everyday experience and share it on the internet.

The most important reason I decided to go to USC is that my current advisor Prof. Andrea Armani is so nice and I want to work in her lab. Additionally, Viterbi School of Engineering is a top-ranked engineering school in this country with massive top class equipment. I was so excited to receive the offer letter from Andrea. 

Yosemite National Park for the exploration of our mother nature.

Griffith Observatory for the night view of this amazing city of los angeles

Big Bear Lake for an escape tour to have a quiet time.

I like our weekly group lunch time, we always have some interesting topics, talking about our life and news.

I’m a full time PhD student and a full time dog dad. I have two dogs. One 18 month old Akita girl and one 8 month old Rottie boy.

I’m going to industry, that’s the plan for now and save more money.

https://jingxinzhang.com/

Andrea Armani

Danielle White PhD in Materials Science

If you pray, don’t worry. If you worry, don’t pray.

Graduating from my historically Black university with an engineering degree and coming out even stronger than I went in is by far my greatest accomplishment. I still wear my Order of the Engineer ring everyday.

While I was aggressively saving for a car, the original plan was to purchase it this upcoming October. Long story short, I bought my vehicle on May 1st!

My research goal is to characterize the mechanical behavior of a certain subset of thin films. The films themselves are transparent, which, to this day, excites me. Even though science explains exactly how I am able to synthesize a transparent film, I feel like a magician that can make opaque ceramics and metals disappear.

I would most certainly be a curator (art, music, experience) of intimate and expressive spaces. 

Research! I figured I might as well like what I’m researching if I’m going to be focusing on it for the next ~5 years.

PLEASE go to any national park- Yosemite is my favorite. Find an upscale restaurant/event, treat yourself, and have fun! Lastly and maybe most importantly, find a restaurant that is going to remind you of home. My go-to is Delicious Southern Cuisine.

I’ll always cherish our spontaneous lab outings. We’ve played tennis, gone to batting cages, and so much more! 

I paint! The pandemic gave me the opportunity to develop my own painting style and invest in myself. Also, I’m pretty fashion forward for no good reason.

The goals are to climb the ladder at NASA (following the footsteps of Dr. Wanda M. Austin and Vanessa Wyche), share more of my artwork publicly, and take steps towards establishing an LLC for the underserved. But, we’ll see what God has planned!

Lynn, Massachusetts, USA

charbondew.com

Dr. Andrea M. Hodge

David Johnson PhD in Materials Engineering

The best piece of advice I have ever been given is as follows: "Time spent building relationships is time best spent."

My greatest accomplishment is making it into USC for their Materials Science PhD program!

My favorite impulse purchase, even though it happens quite a bit, will always be a double scoop from Salt and Straw, an ice cream shop here in LA.

My main research goal is to better understand protein-cell membrane interactions through the use of model membranes, some biophysics, and a lot of nonlinear optics. I think it is an exciting field because much of the basic research that we do contributes directly to a greater understanding of how to combat neurodegenerative  diseases like Parkinsons or Alzheimers

If I had to choose a profession outside of my current field, I would be a confectioner working in an ice cream shop or a candy store. Everyone leaves with a smile when they are getting sweets, what better profession could you ask for?

A big factor in choosing to pursue my PhD at USC was the city of LA itself. My wife is a social worker who, because of being in an incredibly diverse city, has had many opportunities to serve the city of LA which was important for me. Additionally, I love the foods from cultures around the world that I get to eat within a 15 minute drive.

There are so many cool things to see and do in LA, but I can only give three so here they are: a show at the Hollywood Bowl, a game at Dodger Stadium (I'm a big baseball fan), and you NEED to get Korean BBQ in Koreatown. In fact, you could probably do that all in one day if you get lucky.

I haven't been at USC for long, but I have already enjoyed building relationships with my classmates in the program. I can't boil it down to one moment, but those are the memories that I will cherish most when I leave.

One thing about me that could surprise you is that I was a member of the University of Illinois Varsity Men's Glee Club in my undergrad! We were on the schedule to perform a Shostakovich piece at Carnegie Hall with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, but it was cancelled because of COVID-19. A real bummer.

After graduation, I am planning on moving closer to my immediate family in Illinois to find a job in the state. I hope to raise a family there with my wife while also pursuing a fruitful career with my PhD.

Champaign, IL, USA.

My advisor is Wade Zeno (the best).

Suyue Yuan PhD in Materials Science

“Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him.” ---- Thomas Merton

Pursued my bachelor, master, doctoral degrees in three different engineering areas while keeping my enthusiasm for art. 

All rational purchases :)

Philosophy, art, literature, psychology, politics... Oh, a lot!

Nice advisor, great weather, pretty campus, etc.

We barely know each other so I don't think anything can surprise you unless I am an alien LOL.

Getting a job which gives me plenty of time to spend on my hobbies.

Dongguan, China

Professor Paulo Branicio.

Yeo Jung Yoon PhD in Mechanical Engineering

“Be positive!” 

Whenever I face a challenge in my graduate studies, I try to have a positive and fresh mindset. Positive thoughts help me a lot to overcome various hardships. I believe the way I think really affects the way I react.

In my first year of my PhD, My colleagues and I won the best paper award for robotic 3D printing research at ASME IDETC-CIE conference. We worked hard for the project and it felt really great to see our hard work finally pay off.

Recently, I found a cool home-décor shop in K-town and bought a bunch of home décor items. My room is now more fun and interesting with cute planters, various candles, a huge wall clock and artistic tissue box.

My research is about developing robot learning algorithms for various manufacturing applications. I have been fascinated by the fields of robotics and Artificial Intelligence since I was an undergraduate student. I love the idea that my research problems are at the intersection of both fields!   

Travel writer! I love to travel, eat local food, and experience local cultures. It would be interesting to travel to other countries and write about interesting episodes.

Great resources for research, well-organized graduate program, and the location. I visited USC campus and my lab before coming to USC. I was amazed by the wonderful support that USC can offer to prospective graduate students and decided to pursue my PhD here. 

The Getty Center is a place where you can see lots of art and walk beautiful gardens. I also recommend visiting Griffith Observatory. It is especially beautiful during sunset times, and a great place for hiking. Also, if you want to feel the ocean breeze, I recommend going to the beaches in Malibu.

The time I have spent with my friends and colleagues. We studied and hung out together, discussed various topics, and helped each other. My graduate life is wonderful because of them! 

I have been a devoted yoga practitioner for the past 7 years. I love to do beach yoga and hot yoga. It helps me to release stress and clear my mind. 

I plan to pursue a career in academia. I love being in academia because I can work on the problems that I feel most interested in. I also like to work and communicate with scholars and students who have the same research interest as me. They are inspirational!  

I grew up in Seoul, South Korea

Satyandra K. Gupta (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department)

Prahar Bhatt PhD in Mechanical Engineering

I feel the best advice depends on the situation. During the hard times in my Ph.D. career, the best advice I received was to go and fail again. It helped motivate me to not stop trying in case of failure but to learn from it. Eventually, you will improve and succeed.

Getting the best paper finalist award for my research as a lead author at an international conference is my greatest and latest achievement in my Ph.D. career so far.

Waking up and booking an electric car online with my wife is my favorite impulse purchase that I made last year. We had not seen or test-driven the vehicle, and it turned out to be great!

My research is on planning for robotic Additive Manufacturing (AM). AM (also known as 3D printing) and robotics have revolutionized the manufacturing industry. My research combines artificial intelligence (computer vision, motion planning, machine learning, and optimization) with robotic additive manufacturing to automate it. This amalgamation of technologies excites me the most about this research.   

I would have enjoyed being an automobile designer.

Three factors motivated me to select USC as a place to pursue my Ph.D., a) Getting a Ph.D. advisor with whom I have enjoyed working in the past, b) the state-of-the-art robotic equipment at Center for Advanced Manufacturing, USC, and c) a funding guarantee for four years from day one of my Ph.D. career.

1) Santa Barbara, 2) Yosemite National Park, and 3) Napa Valley.

All the fun and laughs I had with my colleagues at the Center for Advanced Manufacturing, USC, will be cherished by me.

Usually, it is not expected of engineers or technically inclined people to be very creative or artsy. But that is not the case with me. I enjoy painting and photography.  

My plan is to make use of my research experience to help expand the up-and-coming automated manufacturing industry to build better customized and sustainable products. 

Ahmedabad, India.

https://praharbhatt.com/

Dr. Satyandra K. Gupta

Ragheb Raad PhD in Mechanical Engineering

It is not you who gives, but it is God who gives.

Getting accepted into Viterbi's PhD program. I feel that it was the turning point in my career especially with the lack of opportunities in my home country.

My Nike shoes on Black Friday.

My research currently involves using Machine Learning algorithms as applied to medical problems. The two projects I have worked on so far are predicting cancer recurrence in bladder cancer patients who underwent cystectomy and imputing kidney cancer tumor images. It is great to be able to contribute to projects that might help save people's lives.

I love watching movies and series, so it would be something related to the entertainment industry.

USC is a very diverse place that allows lots of activities and networking opportunities on campus. Being located in the heart of Los Angeles with great weather and job opportunities also played an important role.

Griffith Observatory/ Beverly Hills/ Yosemite National Park.

Being able to meet people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.

I still don't know. I still have at least 3 years in my program. It is going to depend on lots of factors, especially that I am getting older and my preferences in life are continuously changing. The opportunities that will be present then will also affect my decision.

Beirut, Lebanon.

Prof. Assad Oberai.

Morgan Jones PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Javier Murgoitio Esandi PhD in Mechanical Engineering

My grandmother always told me that above all I should be a good person. I think that’s the best piece of advice I’ve ever been given. 

I believe that my greatest accomplishment is studying a PhD at a great university such as USC. 

My favorite impulse purchase from the past 12 months is definitely my mountain bike. I was doubtful when I bought it but I have enjoyed many great cycling days since then.

At the moment I am working on solving the inverse elasticity problem using generative adversarial networks (an AI tool). This research will be applied to analyze measurements obtained with medical  imaging techniques.

If I wouldn’t have studied engineering, I would have loved to study Physics and do research in the field.

The main factor was that the USC Viterbi School of Engineering is a great engineering school with excellent faculty. Furthermore, the interview with my advisor convinced me that studying at USC would  be the right step in my career.

Hiking or cycling in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles is one of the great things to do here. My personal favorite is hiking or cycling in Santa Monica mountains starting from Will Rogers State Park (great views!). Another thing that I would recommend is trying the different foods that LA has to offer, I really like going to food markets such as Smorgasburg and the Grand Central Market. Finally, I love visiting the beaches in Southern California, specially beaches in Malibu such as El Matador Beach.

I have lived in four different countries (Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and United States) and am able to speak four different languages (Spanish, Basque, English and French). 

I want to have a career focused in research and development in industry. Following the work I am doing now, I would love to work developing tools that would improve the available medical imaging  techniques. 

Zarautz, Spain.

Assad Oberai.

Zhenghong Zhou PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Always try to get out of your comfort zone.

I redesigned and rebuilt my current lab from scratch together with my lab-mates. The old lab was burnt to ash because of an accidental fire.

An ergonomic chair for work from home.

My research is mainly about flame propagation under limiting conditions such as low pressure, highly diluted mixture, and confined space. It tells me more about how to successfully control fire in different places, for example, in space. And of course, it tells me how to make better steaks. 

Architecture or photography.

Become a postdoc researcher.

Changsha, China.

James Croughan PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Fail often but safely. Often the fastest way to learn and master something is to learn every way of not doing it, either by trying it yourself or watching others attempt it. That being said, you need to make sure each failure does not result in harm to yourself or others. So long as that is possible, the fastest path to success is to fail constantly and creatively.

In high school I struggled with maintaining enough body weight, and had several health issues related to that. At the time I was about six feet tall and weighed 130 pounds, and my doctor told me I needed to put on at least 30 pounds of muscle to be healthy, but the more I put on, the healthier I would be. I very much took that to heart and have been getting stronger ever since. It has been 13 years since I started daily weightlifting and monitoring my diet, and I have now put on nearly 70 pounds of muscle and am the healthiest I have ever been.

Blackout curtains. I saw them at Target and decided to try them out, and instantly started sleeping much better. I had no idea how sensitive to light I was until I experienced sleeping in a genuinely dark room. I probably get an extra 2 hours of sleep now, simply because the light isn’t waking me up too early.

I am an experimentalist who works on very high-performance wings in the Dryden Wind Tunnel. I have built several wings designed to invalidate many of the assumptions used in traditional wing aerodynamics, with a goal of explaining how and why these models must change when key assumptions are false. The two most exciting parts of this are the implications and how my analysis process works. My research clearly shows that many of the design rules currently used in wing design only apply to a small range of wing designs. If you go outside of these traditional designs, much higher performance wings are possible than what traditional aerodynamics would predict. How I determine this is also very exciting. All of my wings were designed to cover a broad range of possible outcomes without knowing the exact math that might predict those outcomes, making an accurate prediction of the results impossible beyond basic intuition. As such, I really didn’t know what to expect when I first started seeing my results. When they finally came in, they far exceeded my expectations, which is awesome.

Lawyer. I love debating anything and everything and am very extroverted and analytical, so trial lawyer or something like that would make sense and be fun.

I wanted to pursue bigger and crazier projects than what I had been doing previously, and I knew I needed a stronger educational background to be qualified to do that. USC and Dr. Uranga were the only school and advisor combination I looked at that offered a specialization in system, experimental, or mechanical design, in combination with a specialization in a more traditional engineering area. Additionally, I am from the LA area, and have absolutely zero desire to leave and have been a fan of USC for a long time, so that made it a very easy choice.

• Watch your favorite band at the Hollywood Bowl.
• Climb Mt. Baldy or Mt. San Jacinto.
• Take a long walk on the beach in Malibu around sunset.

All the trips to all-you-can-eat sushi and Korean bbq with lab-mates and classmates. Lots and lots of good food and good times.

I travel a ton but have a rather short list of places I have been. I am on a round trip plane flight about every 50 days on average, yet have somehow never been to New York, for example.

I am in the pure writing stage of my thesis work, and have already started working full-time for an aerospace company as I finish that up. I was previously a consultant for Rhoman Aerospace, and became VP of Engineering and Controls in July.

Claremont, California, USA

Dr. Alejandra Uranga

Vanessa Rubien PhD in Mechanical Engineering

Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.

My greatest accomplishment is having developed the persistence and dedication to get where I am today. Every achievement, big or small, has taught me so much and helped me get to this point. 

A 3,051-section paint-by-number kit.

My research is focused on the use of high-fidelity numerical simulation to model and analyze phenomena occurring in high-speed turbulent fluid flows. It’s very exciting to see how far simulation capabilities have come, and how critical they are in modern engineering. I feel fortunate for the opportunity to learn about and contribute to these capabilities in my field.

After completing my undergraduate coursework in fluid mechanics, I discovered that I had a strong interest in hypersonic and high-speed aerodynamics. I knew that I wanted to develop a deep understanding of this subject in order to conduct relevant research. While applying for PhD programs, I found that USC was not only doing the research I found most interesting, but also that its students and faculty created a supportive and collaborative educational atmosphere. After my first year at USC, I've developed a deep respect and admiration for the expertise of my advisor and the other AME faculty members.

Sequoia National Park, The Getty Museum, and Afters Ice Cream.

I speak fluent German!

In the future, I hope to apply knowledge gained in high-speed aerodynamics research to cutting-edge programs that work with emerging hypersonic technology.

Redondo Beach, California.

Dr. Ivan Bermejo-Moreno

Shantanu Thakar PhD in Mechanical Engineering

The best piece of advice I was given was to not take your career related defeats too seriously and most importantly not letting them affect your mental health. To get into detail, at the time when something you’re not happy with happens, it feels like a huge deal. But for the long term such things do not matter much. For example, if one doesn't get admission in their dream university, although it feels like a huge defeat at the time, after 10 years you won’t even remember much about it. Hence, it is necessary to not take any such defeat too seriously. Ofcourse, you should feel sad and strive to achieve better but it is very important to not let it affect your mental health. Things have a way of falling in place. For example, even if you do not get your dream university, you may end up getting a job better than most people at that university.

For me the greatest accomplishment would be successfully completing my PhD from one of the top universities and receiving the Best Research Assistant award in the process. 

It has to be the new Tesla that is yet to be delivered.

My research is in the area of AI and machine learning for motion planning for complex robots like robotic arms, or robotic arms mounted on mobile robots or multiple robotic arms moving together for performing several tasks. Making sure that such complex robots move safely and successfully  is extremely challenging. Coming up with novel solutions for solving such challenging problems for different applications is what excites me. However, the thing that excites me most is actually seeing robots move and perform interesting tasks like disinfection, grasping, transportation of objects, to name a few. It is highly satisfying to see that my research can benefit making life easier and safer for people. 

It has to be one of astronomer or a soccer player

The two most important factors for me were my advisor, Prof. Satyandra K. Gupta and the excellent infrastructure and facilities for robotics at USC. Prof. Gupta’s research was exactly what I was interested in and looking to get into. Moreover, he is an excellent advisor who gives you a lot of freedom to express yourself, but also makes sure you are moving towards the goal. He makes sure his students work on problems that are relevant for the industry. The facilities at the center for advanced manufacturing, where he’s the director at, are state-of-the-art. I have not seen so many varieties of robots and 3D printers anywhere else. 

It is really difficult to recommend just 3 places in Southern California, let alone in the entire California. Let me stick to SoCal. The first place I recommend is one of my favorite national parks, Channel Island National park, off the coast of Ventura. Not only are the islands extremely beautiful with blue waters and rich marine life for snorkelling and scuba diving, but also, on the way there, you will get to see dolphins, seals and if you’re lucky whales. It’s a must visit! The second is my favorite beach in LA, Hermosa Beach. It is a small city of its own with amazing restaurants. The sunset from Hermosa beach is one of the prettiest I have seen. The third place would be my absolute favorite ice cream place near Westwood, Saffron & Rose. The Persian ice cream they serve is one of the best ice creams I have ever had. 

Some of the memories I’ll cherish the most are working late at night at the lab chasing a deadline, after which, our entire lab would go to the diner close by for late night food and beer. Apart from this, I miss playing soccer at the Brittingham field till late at night.  

I could solve the Rubik’s cube in less than 30 seconds 

I have joined Amazon as a Research Scientist in Robotics.

Pune, India

shantanuthakar.github.io

Prof. Satyandra K. Gupta

Sina Heydari PhD in Mechanical Engineering

“First understand nature’s rules.”

This quote by Dr. Tarnita of Princeton University is not only a short description of what my PhD research has been about, but I’ve also found it to be very useful advice in life in general

My first paper with my PhD advisor on sea star inspired locomotion received a lot of attention from different news outlets (BBC news and world updates, KQED, Mashable, …). It was a challenging project that took a long time to finalize and seeing that it was met with interest by the community was definitely very fulfilling and rewarding.  

My rock-climbing gym pass. It was kind of expensive and at the time I wasn’t sure how much I would actually enjoy the sport. But it turned out to be one of the best purchases I’ve ever made.

In Dr. Kanso’s bio-inspired motion lab we use mathematical tools to study how living things move around. My research focuses on sea star locomotion and how it happens through the combined action of hundreds of tiny tube feet.  

We find that nature usually comes up with great, if not perfect, answers to many of the problems we as humans might face. Going deep into a biological system, finding those answers, and potentially applying them to an engineering system is what I find most exciting about my research.

Wildlife photographer.

Well, first of all, USC is a very prestigious university and I knew that getting my graduate training and degree from USC can open up a lot of doors in my future career.  Another major factor was definitely my advisor’s research interest which lies  on the  intersection of mathematics and biology. As an engineer with a lot of interest in wildlife and ecology, I found the opportunity to work in this area extremely appealing.

The third factor was the opportunity of being a graduate student in Los Angeles. From the many nearby hiking trails to the world-famous tourist attractions, LA never fails to provide you with different options to blow off steam whenever the research may seem too challenging.

(1) Anywhere in the Sierra-Nevada mountains, (2) Joshua Tree national park and (3) Natural history museum of LA county (which is right across the street from our campus).

Meeting my wife here at USC.

I’ve been lucky enough to see and photograph a California condor; a critically-endangered species with a population size of smaller than 300 individuals left in the wild.

As of right now my plan is to pursue a career in academia and the first step on that path would be to do a Postdoc position in my field of research.

Born in Tucson, AZ, raised (mostly) in Tehran, Iran.

http://scf.usc.edu/~sinaheyd/

Prof. Eva Kanso.

Siyuan Yao PhD in Industrial Engineering

Hard work may not pay off, but laziness pays nothing.

My advisor mentioned it during a group meeting to encourage us during the pandemic. Coincidently, a calligraphy decorated in my father’s office shares the same meaning. I personally consider trial and error as a big part of the research process. When I face challenges, I always try many different approaches to tackle the problem as I believe that diligence will be rewarded.

My marriage is my greatest accomplishment. I met my wife at USC and we have been married for two and a half years.

A Montblanc Meisterstuck fountain pen.

Traffic congestion is an urgent social issue calling for solutions, especially for metropolitan cities. My research is driven by the needs. Specifically, I am currently working on drayage operation optimizations including empty container repositioning problems, vehicle scheduling problems, and simulation-based truck routing problems. As a daily commuter living in Los Angeles, I understand how important it is to alleviate traffic congestion: improving traffic conditions saves time, and “time is life”.  

I love music. If I am not going to be an engineer, I would like to be a street artist (a saxophone performer or vocalist).

The most important reason for me to stay at USC is my advisor. I met Prof. Maged Dessouky in one of my master classes. I feel so lucky to be his advisee because he is an amazing and caring mentor who provides insightful research suggestions and solid support to students. The second reason is my wife. She just graduated from a doctoral program at Annenberg Communication School, who also loves USC and encouraged me to apply. Thirdly, I completed my master program at USC too, and I have always been fascinated by the quality of education and diverse culture.

The first place I would like to recommend is the Hahn Plaza on Campus. Especially, during the football week versus UCLA, you can feel the school spirit and pride.

The second place would be Doheny Memorial Library. The first time I went into the library, I was so moved by the weight of knowledge.

The third place would be Staple Center. As a basketball lover, Staple Center is the holy land. There is also a statue of Kobe Bryant. Mamba mentality will always inspire me to keep improving.

I have had so many great times at USC. If I had to choose my favorite, I cherish all the time that I have spent with my wife at USC. In the past four years, we have studied at almost every library, walked on every campus path, and enjoyed the food in every dining place.

I once lost 70 lbs in three months before I came to USC. But after one year of quarantine, I have gained all the weights back.

My plan is to get a job in one of the leading tech companies. I might start my own business after accumulating enough working experience.

Yuyao, China.

Dr. Maged Dessouky.

Nathan Decker PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering

I've received a lot of great advice over the years, (including from my faculty advisor here at USC), but my favorite advice comes from my grandfather, who passed away last year at the age of 100.  He would often remind me to cultivate a heart of gratitude by not taking for granted the small things that God blesses us with each day.

During the height of the pandemic, I decided to splurge - and prioritize self-care - by getting a set of adjustable-weight dumbbells, since I couldn't go to the gym.  It took 3 months for them to arrive, but when they finally did, it upped my home-workout game immensely!  I'm also way less likely to skip a workout, since there's no excuse now.

My research focuses on the application of artificial intelligence to 3D printing.  I try to make printers smarter by enabling them to learn from their past mistakes and leverage diverse sources of sensor data, resulting in parts that are more accurate.  This is important for applications where the part must be functional, which are increasing in frequency as 3D printing becomes more utilized.  I love my research, since it forces me to work across a number of fields and learn a little bit about everything to solve problems.

Before I realized that I have a passion for engineering, I was a Philosophy major for a year during my undergraduate studies, and really enjoyed the experience.  Had I not come to that realization, I might have tried to pursue a career as a Philosophy professor.

My love for USC began from a young age!  Sadly, from 1995 (the year I was born) to 2015, Los Angeles lacked an NFL team, meaning that if you wanted to cheer for a football team, USC and UCLA were the only game in town.  Thankfully, my dad chose correctly, and decided that our family would root for USC.  He took me to watch open football practices on campus growing up, where you could meet players and coaches, as well as a good number of games in the Coliseum.  When it came time to decide where I would go to grad school, I could say that it was USC's outstanding reputation, the fantastic resources that my department offers, the amazing Trojan family, or the great fit with my advisor and lab that sealed the deal, but deep down, I think it was the memories with my father that convinced me I couldn't be anywhere else.

In my career, I hope to continue working on challenging problems and learning from brilliant people, wherever that may be.

La Mirada, CA

www.nathanidecker.com

Prof. Qiang Huang

Anthony Nguyen PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering

You can't optimize life. Don't be afraid to pivot and embrace opportunities that present themselves.

Completing my Eagle Scout when I was growing up. This accomplishment helped shape my mindset and gave me the courage and confidence to be ambitious with my goals.

I recently purchased my first set of golf clubs and a new pair of rock climbing shoes. I love spending my free time participating in sports activities.

My research is focused on decision making in healthcare settings. This includes clinical, operational, and policy level decisions. Most of my recent work has been on building infectious disease models for HIV and COVID-19 that incorporate human behavior to help local policymakers make more informed decisions for LA County. What excites me most about this research is the cross disciplinary and collaborative nature of the work as well as the fact that it is directly applicable to the local community.

If I was not an engineer, I would likely be a physician specialized in either surgery or emergency medicine. I have always been interested in improving patient care and patient quality of life. Engineering allows me to do this at a systemic level. Being a physician enables attaining this goal at a patient level. 

My main reasons for selecting USC were: (1) I had an instant connection with my faculty advisors (2) Being located in Southern California, I knew I would enjoy the environment and lifestyle beyond time spent doing research, and (3) Knowing that USC excels in a wide range of fields, I knew I would be able to engage in interesting cross-disciplinary research. 

(1) Korea Town, Little Tokyo, and other food hubs in LA, (2) San Diego (3) San Francisco.

Department happy hours! It's always great enjoying a drink with your professors, admin, and classmates. 

I try to balance my time between research and playing sports. Even after starting my PhD, I have taken time almost every week to surf, climb, train for races, and now to play golf! A great week is a week when I can manage to do all of these activities.

I plan to go into management consulting with a focus on health related sectors. 

Yorba Linda, California.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ anthonycnguyen/ 

Co-advised by:

• Professor Sze Chuan Suen (ISE)
• Professor Shinyi Wu (Social Work)

Christopher Henson PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering

Do all things unto the Lord.

Getting honorable mention in the ASME best student presentation competition for my work on failure detection in additive manufacturing.

I purchased a Le Creuset dutch oven which has been so enjoyable to work with in the kitchen.

I work on quality improvement software for additive manufacturing. I am most excited about the commercial application of research in my field. 

If I were not an engineer I would most likely be working in finance.

The research area was unique among the schools I applied to and was by a wide margin the most exciting and the best fit. I was also excited about the research providing me with relevant expertise to an industry research setting.

Griffith Park/Observatory (at night) the view of the city is incredible. LA Live has great nightlife/food. Grand Central Market is a very neat place to go for good street food and it is in a cool part of down town. Bonus: California Science Center is right across the street from campus and has a lot of great exhibits.

Going to USC football games with friends after stressful weeks.

I love to cook and entertain for guests.

I hope to work for NASA in a research capacity.

Escondido, California.

Qiang Huang

Caroline Johnston PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering

A manager at one of my previous internships once told me “Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.” Sometimes you have to be your own advocate to achieve your goals.

It sounds corny, but I’ve made quite a few friendships that I am proud of and grateful to have as part of my support system. This system has been vital during my journey to earn a PhD.

Over the course of the pandemic, I built a few LEGO sets, which is something that I’ve really enjoyed since childhood. I splurged and bought the LEGO replica typewriter. It can’t actually type, but it’s still pretty awesome!

At a high level, my research involves combining the concepts of robust optimization and social choice theory to create a framework that integrates f air, diverse, equitable, and/or inclusive practices into group-decision making processes. Policies that are socially sensitive (e.g. setting bail, approving loans, etc.), how can we ensure that the ultimate policy that is implemented is not simply the policy that is favored by those with the “loudest” voices in the room? Are there certain voices in the room that should carry more “weight” than others? I am creating a framework that explores different techniques in aggregating group preferences, focusing on such issues.

I was really inspired by the work coming out of USC’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Society and its interdisciplinary focus with faculty and students from both engineering and social work. I always knew that I wanted to use my technical skills to promote social good, so I felt the center would be a good fit for me to explore this further.

1. Walk/bike/skate along “The Strand” at Manhattan Beach and look at all the fancy beach houses! 2. Go to a Dodgers game! 3. Grab some friends, firewood, and s’mores materials and head to Dockweiler Beach for a beachside campfire!

I don’t have any sort of specific memory, but I’ve met some great people at USC that I cherish.

I play the drums!

I want to work in industry. Though I’m not sure of the specifics, working somewhere in the public policy sector seems the most interesting and rewarding to me at this point in time.

Wilmington, MA, USA

www.linkedin.com/in/caroline- johnston39

Dr. Phebe Vayanos

Mahammad Valiyev PhD in Petroleum Engineering

It is hard to pick the single best one. Probably, the following one: whatever the situationis, maintain your confidence and values.

Ability to walk away from lucrative and lower-risk industry jobs that I have been offered,to pursue a much riskier plan that involved extensive self-study and studying for a not-so-desired MSc degree with the aim to eventually get admitted into a top PhD program in the US and making this plan actually, work.

Probably, the fitness tracker watch. By the way, with the availability of so many great products and very fast deliveries, it is really hard to resist impulse buying in the US.

I currently work on two projects: the first one is about the development of new model calibration workflows using deep learning and the second one is on developing predictive models for hydraulic fracturing operations using again machine/deep learning models. I would say there are several aspects to my research projects that make them exciting. Model calibration research is exciting because it is a general problem, that spans many fields, not just being limited to petroleum engineering, whereas hydraulic fracturing project is cool because it is one of the most widely used methods for optimizing oil and gas development in the North America. Therefore, they are both high-impact and relatively easier to justify research projects which do matter, and these features make them very exciting. Also, the fact that we address those problems with modern deep/machine learning algorithms makes them even more fun to work on, since I enjoy statistics/probability, coding, and being on the cutting edge.

If exclude engineering and computer science, I’d again go for highly quantitative majors such as applied math or economics.

My research advisor, reputation of university and program, the location and weather.

Since I have arrived in the US just 2 months ago, I have not been able to go outside of LA, therefore I would stick to LA for my recommendations. The first thing I did just after settling down after my arrival to LA, was to go Hollywood walk of fame. Maybe I am somewhat biased, but I think it is a landmark, cultural icon, thus a top attraction in LA. Then, probably, it would be nice to visit Universal studios and one of the many cool beaches. Generally, LA and California have something to offer for everyone!

Considering that I am just in my 2nd semester, I think most of the memories to be cherished are still waiting for me!

Maybe the fact that I am not a fan of dogs. It is not like I do not like them, I am just indifferent.

To work in industry as a Research/Applied Scientist.

Baku, Azerbaijan

No, but I can share my linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahammadvaliyev1/ and facebook profiles https://www.facebook.com/mahammad.valiyev1/

Dr. Behnam Jafarpour

Ulugbek Djuraev PhD in Petroleum Engineering

I think the best piece of advice I've received was to listen to my body. For instance, to take some time off from work, from studies, and the internet to let your body recover and re-energize.

I think that would be learning about myself and learning about self-awareness. This is definitely my greatest accomplishment in recent years.

I believe it is my Samsung tablet. At first, I thought it was totally unnecessary because I try to keep my electronic devices to a minimum. But it's been of great help to me in this online study/work from home period.

I'm currently working on inverse problems pertinent to improving geologic realism of subsurface reservoirs given limited surface data. The exciting part is how a multidisciplinary approach, combining engineering and science, enables us to reach and extract subsurface resources safely and efficiently.

Most probably, I could have chosen a profession in finance.

Main factor was the research scope of the lab, specifically focusing on inverse and optimization problems in subsurface.

The first place to visit in Los Angeles is to explore areas around USC on foot. In my opinion, learning about the surrounding area would help to get the most of USC experience. The second place is to go to a live show, any show that takes place every day in the city. And thirdly, I would recommend exploring California - it is such a beautiful state.

The Trojan spirit!

The range of musical genres I listen to - from Heavy Metal to Classical music and more!

 I hope to pursue a career in Reservoir Engineering.

I come from Qarshi, one of the large cities in the South of Uzbekistan.

Professor Dr. Behnam Jafarpour.

• Master’s Programs
• Programs for Non-Engineering Majors
• Application Information & Steps
• Tuition & Funding
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
• Academic Disciplines
• Faculty/ Research Topic Search
• Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
• Executive Education
• All Degree Options
• The DEN@Viterbi Experience
• Getting Started
• Online DEN@Viterbi Offerings
• Rankings and Awards
• Next Steps for Newly Admitted Master’s Students
• Next Steps for Newly Admitted Doctoral Students
• Alternatives to Visiting Campus
• Become a Partner
• Certificate Options
• U.S. Active Duty Military & Veterans
• The Boeing Company
• General Motors – Technical Education Program
• Kuwait Oil Company
• Raytheon Technologies
• Saudi Aramco

• Arnold School of Public Health
• Location Location
• Contact Contact
• Colleges and Schools
• 2024 News Archive

Doctoral graduate combines economics with health policy to advance health equity

April 29, 2024  | Erin Bluvas,  [email protected]

“My journey in public health began with a deep-rooted interest in health equity,” says Dakshu Jindal , who graduates in May with a Ph.D. in Health Services Policy and Management (HSPM). “This was driven by my upbringing in India, where I witnessed stark disparities in health care access.”

Jindal studied economics at the University of Delhi (bachelor’s) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (master’s). During her graduate program, she began consulting for India’s National Health Systems Resource Center at the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Her three years at the center exposed Jindal to health policy, including the nuances of financing health in a complex nation like India. She also began to realize how improvements in policy can positively impact health systems and communities. An internship in the Philippines through the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced her to financing and policy in a global setting. Together, these experiences cemented Jindal’s commitment to completing a doctoral degree in the field.

“USC offered an incredibly unique program in health services policy and management ,” she says. “The department had diverse faculty and an inclination toward use of economics to conduct health services research. I strongly felt that I could leverage my academic background in economics and interest in public health to succeed in the program.”

At the Arnold School, Jindal gained research experience as a graduate assistant on projects within her department and at the Center for Community Health Alignment (CCHA). She found mentors in her dissertation co-chairs, Brian Chen and John Brooks , as well as CCHA executive director Julie Smithwick .

“Dr. Chen always motivated me to perform my best and expect more from my work, and Dr. Brooks always stressed the importance of the implications of my study results, which pushed me to be a better health services researcher,” says the Norman J. Arnold Fellow, who received guidance and support from Nicole Hair and Adam Lutz as well. “I have worked with Ms. Smithwick for five years, conducting research on the implementation and effectiveness of community health workers programs, and she has been a great mentor.”   

The department had diverse faculty and an inclination toward use of economics to conduct health services research. I strongly felt that I could leverage my academic background in economics and interest in public health to succeed in the program.

Outside of the Arnold School, Jindal was selected into USC’s Preparing Future Faculty Program and received a SPARC grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research to support her dissertation research into how state laws influence access to physical therapy among Medicare patients. Her dozen or so publications cover various topics, but the theme of her research is how different laws, policies or programs impact health outcomes.

“I aim to leverage my expertise in health economics to explore research studies that improve health care outcomes and access,” Jindal says of her next steps. “By collaborating with stakeholders across sectors, I want to contribute meaningfully to the field of public health and advance health equity for all.”

Find Out More

Health Services Policy and Management (HSPM) is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the promotion of personal and public health through planning, organizing, directing, controlling, coordinating and evaluating health services.

Meet Our Class of 2024

The Arnold School is proud of our 2024 graduates, who will go on to change the world locally and globally. Learn about some of the other outstanding individuals who completed one of our 34 programs this year.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

Accounting PhD Program

Phd accounting program.

The Accounting Ph.D. program includes research focused on several accounting disciplines, including Financial, Managerial, and Auditing and Corporate Governance Accounting.

• APPLY TODAY
• ADMISSIONS EVENTS

Financial Accounting

- Accounting standard setting - Financial regulation - International accounting - Company valuation and financial statement analysis - Earnings management - Stock markets and market efficiency - Earnings forecasting and financial analyst behavior

Managerial Accounting

- Performance evaluation and compensation - Budgeting and other control issues in organizations - Balanced scorecard - Strategic management accounting

Auditing and Corporate Governance

- Auditor independence - Auditor behavior and decision making - Corporate governance issues

Tax Accounting

- Tax planning - Tax clientele - Tax policy and its effects on businesses

Requirements

Sample Course Schedule

• Fall: GSBA 602, ACCT 605, ACCT 611, ACCT 621 + Electives
• Spring: ACCT 601, ACCT 611 + Electives

Research Development Beginning in the first semester, students will apprentice with a faculty mentor to learn research fundamentals. Typically students are assigned to a new mentor each semester in the first year. During the summer of their first year, students write a first-year paper. The summer paper will be similar to that of a research proposal.

- Fall: ACCT 611, ACCT 621 + Electives

- Spring: ACCT 611 + Electives

- Summer: BUCO 637

Research Development

Students continue apprentice a faculty mentor to learn research fundamentals and participate in research projects. Typically students are assigned to a new mentor each semester in the first and second year. During the summer of their second year, students complete a directed readings course with their potential advisor.

Screening Examination

In the second year, students complete a screening examination which may take the form of a written or oral exam, written assignments, and/or summer research project. The results of the examination help the faculty determine students’ developmental needs and fitness to continue in the program.

Qualifying Examination

Following the screening exam, with the recommendation of their faculty mentor, students take a comprehensive examination on the core knowledge of their discipline. The examination includes both written and oral components. Upon passing the examination, an individual becomes a Ph.D. candidate and begins work on the Ph.D. dissertation.

• Independent Dissertation Preparation (2)
• Accounting Research Seminar: ACCT 611 (2)
• Electives (Optional)

Research Development At this stage in the program, the relationships Ph.D. candidates have developed through the research apprenticeships often lead to collaborative research projects. Ph.D. candidates continue to apprentice faculty with increasing responsibility. They also begin work on their dissertations.

Teaching Development Ph.D. candidates begin developing teaching skills by serving as a teaching assistant for one or two classes and engaging in teaching skills workshops.

Research Development Research is the primary activity in the fourth year and beyond. Faculty view Ph.D. candidates as “junior colleagues” and partner to write and present papers.

Teaching Development Ph.D. candidates co-teach one course with a faculty member.

Dissertation Defense & Submission The dissertation is the culminating work of a student’s independent research. In the fourth or fifth year of the program, students complete, defend and submit the dissertation. This is the last step to earn the Ph.D.

Research Community

Accounting faculty members have published extensively in leading accounting journals such as:

• The Accounting Review
• Journal of Accounting Research
• Journal of Accounting and Economics
• Contemporary Accounting Research
• Review of Accounting Studies

The University of Texas-Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings for research productivity over the past decade ranks the Accounting faculty as fifth worldwide.

Recognized Research Authorities

The Accounting faculty have served as editors, associate editors and editorial review board members of premier journals in accounting, including:

• Accounting, Organization and Society
• Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory
• Journal of Management Accounting Research

Faculty Honors

• Wildman Award
• Notable Contributions to Accounting Literature
• Notable Contributions to Auditing and Managerial Accounting Literatures
• Outstanding Educator Award in Auditing

In addition to required coursework and independent research, students are actively encouraged to participate in research projects with faculty—preferably as a co-author; attend and participate in the ARFs (accounting research workshops); present papers at, serve as discussants and otherwise attend national conferences; and take additional coursework either for credit or audit to further enhance their knowledge base.

PhD STUDENTS

Katherine simeon bruere.

• PhD Candidate in Accounting

Katherine Simeon Bruere is a Ph.D. candidate in the Leventhal School of Accounting. She is interested in voluntary disclosure,standard setting, audit quality, audit opinions, goodwill accounting, mergerand acquisitions, corporate governance, financial reporting,  and capital marketsresearch. Prior to starting the Ph.D. program, Katherine worked at Ernst & Young as an auditor in Dallas’ Financial Services division, as well as an accountant at Merit Energy. Katherine earned a BA and an MA in Accounting at Baylor University (2014) and is a licensed CPA in the state of Texas.

Suzanne Burzillo

AJ Chen is a PhD candidate in Accounting at the USC Marshall School of Business. Prior to joining the Ph.D. Program, he worked as an associate in the investment banking industry, as well as analyst in commodities trading. He also had experience as tax associate at PwC Boston. He is intrigued by how technological innovation affect the real economy, particularly their impact on firms, workers, and consumers.

Jessie Jaewon Cheong

• PhD Student in Accounting

Job Market Candidates

The Marshall School of Business contributes to the broad field of academic research as our students go on to be thought-leaders in business schools around the world. These Ph.D. candidates are taking the next step in their academic careers. Learn more about each candidate by clicking on their name.

To be announced

Accounting students have won numerous prestigious awards over the past several years. These honors include:

• Deloitte Touche Fellowship
• KPMG Doctoral Fellowship
• AICPA Doctoral Fellowship

Learn more about all Marshall PhD Students in the Marshall Directory. For a list of Accounting students in the program please follow thislink.

APPLYING TO THE PhD PROGRAM

Dates + deadlines.

December 15, 2023: Application Deadline - Accounting, Data Sciences & Operations, and Management & Organization* 

January 15, 2024: Application Deadline - Finance & Business Economics and Marketing 

The link to the PhD Program application is available on the Admissions page and the next opportunity to apply is for Fall 2024 admission. Late applications may or may not be considered at the discretion of the admissions committee. 

Admissions decisions are made from mid-February to mid-April. You will be notified by email when a decision has been made.

ADMISSIONS CONTACT

Ph.D. Program USC Marshall School of Business 3670 Trousdale Parkway, BRI 306 Los Angeles, California 90089-0809 EMAIL

• INFO SESSIONS

Stay Informed + Stay Connected

• International

April 25, 2024 - US university protests

By Elise Hammond, Chandelis Duster, Kathleen Magramo, Elizabeth Wolfe, Aya Elamroussi, Lauren Mascarenhas and Tori B. Powell, CNN

At least two professors detained during Emory University protests

From CNN's Nick Valencia

A CNN crew witnessed at least two professors detained by Atlanta police, including Emory University economics professor Caroline Fohlin and Noëlle McAfee, chair of the philosophy department.

CNN filmed video of women being detained. During her interaction with police, Professor Fohlin could be heard expressing concern about the violent arrests and use of force by police against individuals she identified as students. 

CAIR condemns “use of force and arrests” at Emory University

From CNN's Chandelis Duster, Devon Sayers and Nick Valencia

The Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in Georgia on Thursday condemned the “use of force and arrests” by police officers against protesters at Emory University in Atlanta.

“Protesters shared a day of cultural learning and community despite which Emory deployed excessive use of force, tear gas, and rubber bullets,” the organization said in a statement. “Emory University and APD fully bear responsibility for the violence we are seeing at the Emory campus right now. Students and protesters must be allowed their full constitutional rights.”

Protesters were arrested on the campus of Emory University after an encampment was formed in the university quad area Thursday morning.

Video from the scene showed law enforcement officers wrangling protesters to the ground and forcefully putting people in zip-tie handcuffs.

Law enforcement officers used pepper spray to help clear the area of demonstrators, a CNN team on the scene reported. They also deployed pepper balls against a crowd gathered around protesters that had been detained by police. 

ACLU of Texas calls on state officials to create safe spaces for students to protest

From CNN's Lauren Mascarenhas and Jeremy Grisham 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas warned against state and university officials deploying law enforcement to “violently censor” protests held by pro-Palestinian demonstrations at the University of Texas at Austin and other universities across the nation.

“The First Amendment guarantees people in Texas and across the nation the right to protest, including those who advocate for Palestinians,” a statement from the group read. “However, state leaders rapidly escalated a planned day of peaceful demonstrations by deploying law enforcement in riot gear against students and the press. Public officials don’t get to forcefully suppress the voices of people they disagree with.”

Dozens of protesters were arrested at UT Austin Wednesday.

In its statement, the ACLU of Texas called on state officials to create safe spaces for students, staff and faculty to protest.

Emerson president offers grief counseling to students after protests lead to more than 100 arrests

From CNN's Samantha Delouya

Emerson College President Jay Bernhardt said he "recognizes and respects the civic activism and passion that sparked the protest" in a statement Thursday after law enforcement officials cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at the school, leading to dozens of arrests on Wednesday night.

"Emerson staff and administrators were at the scene, focused on supporting our students through this highly stressful situation and seeking to de-escalate the conflict," Bernhardt said. "Today, Emerson officials were at the police precincts and courthouses with the arrested students, and the College will receive them back on campus when they are released."

More than 100 people were arrested and four police officers were injured during the encampment clearing at the Boston liberal arts college, according to the Boston Police Department.

Bernhardt said that he understood that the encampment clearing "has significantly and adversely impacted our community" and offered students the support of grief counselors on campus on Thursday.

Prosecutor drops charges against dozens of protesters arrested at UT-Austin Wednesday

From CNN's Ashley Killough

Following Wednesday’s arrests of dozens of protesters on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the local prosecutor’s office says 46 cases have already been dismissed.

“The Travis County Attorney’s Office received several cases yesterday and throughout the evening as a result of yesterday’s demonstration at the University of Texas,” said spokesperson Diana Melendez with the Travis County Attorney’s Office Thursday. “Legal concerns were raised by defense counsel. We individually reviewed each case that was presented and agreed there were deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits.” 

The prosecutor’s office says the court ordered those protesters to be released. “We will continue to individually review all cases presented to our office to determine whether prosecution is factually and legally appropriate,” said Melendez.

Students rally at Georgetown University, march to encampment at George Washington University

From CNN's Lauren Koenig

At Georgetown University in Washington, DC, a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters filled about one-third of the circular driveway in front of Healy Hall, the main administrative building on campus.

The crowd remained peaceful as organizers spoke and led chants of "free Palestine" and "from the river to the sea." The crowd then marched to the encampment at George Washington University, led by several professors wearing graduation regalia.

At the GW encampment, dozens of tents filled about one-quarter of the campus' University Yard.

“There is only one solution, intifada revolution, intifada intifada, long live the intifada," the demonstrators chanted, holding signs reading "Resistance is justified when people are occupied!" "Stop the invasion!" and "Ceasefire now!"

Cheers erupted when the marchers from Georgetown arrived on GW's campus, with continued chants for "intifada revolution." The Georgetown students were escorted into the GW encampment.

Two arrested for trespassing at Princeton University Thursday during protest

From CNN's Samantha Kelly and Taylor Romine

Two graduate students at Princeton University in New Jersey were arrested Thursday morning for trespassing, the university said in a statement.

People started gathering for a protest Thursday when "a small number began erecting about a half-dozen tents," the statement said.

"After repeated warnings from the Department of Public Safety to cease the activity and leave the area, two graduate students were arrested for trespassing," the statement said, adding that the students are not allowed on campus pending a disciplinary process.

The tents were taken down by protesters, they said, but protests at the university are still underway.

On Wednesday, the university  put out a message to students  sharing the university's policy on protests.

"In addition to disrupting University operations, some types of protest actions (including occupying or blocking access to buildings, establishing outdoor encampments and sleeping in any campus outdoor space) are inherently unsafe for both those involved and for bystanders, and they increase the potential for escalation and confrontation," the message said.

NYPD Chief: “Good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law”

From CNN’s Chris Boyette and Caroll Alvarado

As the deadline for negotiations between protesters and Columbia University officials about clearing the encampment on its lawn nears, one high-ranking New York Police Department chief said the students are learning an important lesson.

“Columbia decided to hold its students accountable to the laws of the school. They are seeing the consequences of their actions. Something these kids were most likely never taught,” Chief John Chell, NYPD Chief of Patrol, wrote in a lengthy  post on X . “Good SAT scores and self-entitlement do not supersede the law.” 

The chief’s message came in response to an  X post  from Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in which the New York congresswoman questioned Columbia’s decision to call the NYPD on their own students.

Chell also expressed frustration at what he said were students' “hateful anti-Semitic speech and vile language towards our cops.”

CNN has reached out to the NYPD for comment on the chief’s statements and Ocasio-Cortez’s office for reaction.

Pro-Palestinian encampment forms at George Washington University

From CNN's Taylor Romine 

George Washington University has joined a growing list of schools across the nation where Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are forming encampments on school campuses, according to videos posted by The GW Hatchet student newspaper.

The encampment was organized by students at multiple universities across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, a group representing the coalition of Students for Justice in Palestine  said in a post on Instagram .

The encampment is a “united demonstration of our power, uplifting our collective demands for financial transparency, boycotts and divestment from the zionist state, and an end to the racist repression pro-Palestine students," the post said.

In a statement to CNN, George Washington University said it is aware of about 50 students gathering on the University Yard with about 20 tents, in addition to non-students. The university said the protest has remained peaceful.

George Washington Police Department officers and other university officials have responded to the protest, and the school said it is coordinating with the DC Metropolitan Police Department.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

• Skip to main content
• Skip to main navigation
• Class Schedule
• Course Offerings
• Course Catalog
• Majors & Minor
• Qualifications
• Field Study Program
• Ph.D. Job Market Candidates
• Masters Program
• M.S. Admissions
• Ph.D. Program
• Ph.D. Admissions
• Faculty by Field
• News, Events & Seminars

Home / Academics / Graduate Program / Ph.D. Economics

Ph.D. in Economics

2019 Ph.D. cohort

The Economics Department

The graduate program coordinator/advisor, the graduate director, and the graduate committee administer the economics graduate program.  If students have questions or concerns about university/program administration, policy, processes, or degree progress, the following people would be the appropriate contacts:

Meenoo Kohli , graduate programs coordinator

Suzi Burkhardt, graduate programs adviser

Ajay Shenoy , Ph.D. program director

In addition to policy matters, the graduate committee is responsible for awarding funds for presentations at scholarly meetings, funds for summer field work, and nominations for fellowships.

For issues related to academic and professional development, courses, academic milestones, etc., students should contact their faculty advisor. 

Graduate Offices and Mailboxes

Graduate students have assigned office space located in Engineering 2. Each student is issued an office key from the graduate program coordinator.

Graduate mailboxes are located in the graduate lounge, room 410. Be sure to check your mailbox frequently, as important announcements are placed in the mailboxes. No personal mail should be delivered here. Mail sent to campus should be addressed to:

Graduate Web Sites and Email

Graduate student web sites and email can be found on the economics web site at  http://economics.ucsc.edu/about/people/phd.html . 

Students are responsible for managing their own web site.  Students may have their personal web site linked on the department web site.  For more information on personal pages:  http://its.ucsc.edu/directory/how-to-update.html

Graduate Computer Facilities

The graduate student computer room is located in E2, room 434.  There is also a copy machine/printer/scanner across the hallway.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS In the first year, students normally take a three-quarter sequence of core theory courses in microeconomics (Economics 204 A-B-C), a similar sequence in macroeconomics (Economics 205 A-B-C), and three quarters of econometrics (Economics 211A-B-C). If mathematics review is needed, students have the opportunity to take a prior course in September, "Mathematical Methods for Economic Analysis" (Economics 210B).

Students are expected to pass two written examinations covering micro- and macroeconomics theory at the end of the first year. An econometrics project, designed to provide an opportunity to evaluate the student's ability to do applied econometric analysis, is required by the beginning of the second year of studies.

In the second year, students are required to take a minimum of 40 units. Students are required to take at least two sequences. A sequence is normally defined as at least two courses in a clearly designed subfield of economics.

Students are required to write a field paper due at the end of the second year.



In the third year, students take and pass an oral qualifying exam. In years 3-5, students enroll in a workshop in their field of study (Economics 274, 275, or 276). They also work under the supervision of a faculty advisor as they progress towards writing a dissertation.

ACADEMIC STANDING INFORMATION Residency The minimum residency requirement for a Ph.D. degree from the UC system is six quarters. To receive a degree from UCSC, students must be registered at the Santa Cruz campus for at least three of the six quarters. A minimum of one quarter in residence must elapse between advancement to candidacy and the awarding of the degree.



 Preliminary Examinations
 Students are required to pass two written examinations. The examinations cover microeconomic and macroeconomic theory and are taken at the end of the first year. Students are expected to pass both exams in June of their first year. Students will be allowed to retake each prelim exam only once, in the following September. Both exams must be passed before attempting to write a field paper.

Econometrics Project In lieu of an econometrics preliminary exam, an econometrics project is required at the beginning of the second year of studies. The paper is designed to provide an opportunity for each student to do applied econometric analysis and to evaluate students' ability to do so. The paper will not substitute for passing the econometrics course sequence.

Field Paper Students are required to write a field paper due at the end of the second year. The purpose of the field paper is to demonstrate that the student can identify a research question and bring appropriate techniques to bear in addressing it.

Qualifying Examination Before a student can advance to candidacy, he or she must pass an oral examination. The examination is a general exam in the subject area of the student's proposed dissertation research. A prospectus outlining the proposed topic and reviewing the background literature in the general area of the topic is prepared before the oral examination. The exam covers the student's command of the literature in the subject area and areas related to the proposed research approaches and techniques. It is not restricted to the prospectus, but the purpose of the exam is to assess the student's preparation to begin the dissertation research. Students are expected to take the oral examination no later than the end of the first quarter of the third year in the program.



Advancement to Candidacy 
To advance to candidacy for the Ph.D. a student must pass the preliminary examination, field paper and qualifying examination and clear all incompletes from his/her record. The student is officially advanced to candidacy on the date the $90 Advancement of Candidacy Fee, Report on Qualifying Examination, and Dissertation Reading Committee forms are received in the Graduate Studies office. The student must be registered for at least one quarter after advancement to candidacy and prior to awarding of the degree.



Dissertation 
To satisfy the requirements for the Ph.D., a student must present a dissertation on a topic from within his/her subfield of specialization. The dissertation must reflect original research and demonstrate command of previous work on the topic and closely-related areas. It must make a significant contribution to understanding the issue analyzed. A three-member dissertation advisory committee, headed by the student's research adviser, will read and evaluate the dissertation. The dissertation advisory committee, must be approved by both the Economics Ph.D. Committee and the Graduate Council. The Committee is convened soon after the student advances to candidacy to provide continuing guidance throughout the development of the thesis.

• Academic Calendar
• Graduate Division Forms
• Graduate Divison Handbook
• Academic Programs
• Newsletters
• Undergraduate Program
• M.S. - Applied Economics and Finance
• Ph.D. Program Requirements & Handbook
• Campus Employment
• Application & Admission
• Admissions FAQs
• Forms for Ph.D. Students
• Job Market Candidates
• Ph.D. Placement Information
• Graduate Student Resources
• Faculty Advising
• Newly Admitted Grads
• Program Learning Outcomes
• Award Recipients
• Student Organizations
• Instructor Office Hours
• Report an accessibility barrier
• Land Acknowledgment
• Accreditation

Last modified: October 18, 2023 128.114.113.87

• International

April 25, 2024 - US university protests

By Elise Hammond, Chandelis Duster, Kathleen Magramo, Elizabeth Wolfe, Aya Elamroussi, Lauren Mascarenhas and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Our live coverage of the pro-Palestinian protests on US campuses has moved here .

Progress in negotiations between Columbia protesters and administrators, university says

From CNN’s Paradise Afshar

Negotiations between Columbia University administrators and pro-Palestinian protesters who've been occupying a campus lawn with a sprawling encampment "have shown progress and are continuing as planned," the school said in a statement late Thursday.

"For several days, a small group of faculty, administrators, and University Senators have been in dialogue with student organizers to discuss the basis for dismantling the encampment, dispersing, and following University policies going forward," the university said.

"We have our demands; they have theirs."

The university also denied rumors that the NYPD had been called to campus, calling them "false."

Some context: Columbia announced late Tuesday that it had given protesters a midnight deadline to agree to dismantle their encampment. But the university then said early Wednesday that it had extended the talks for another 48 hours . If no agreement is reached, the school has said it will consider "alternative options," which many protesters have interpreted to mean calling in police to clear the site.

Protests continue at campuses across the US as more arrests are announced. Here’s the latest

A wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests is rippling across the US, with hundreds of people arrested at universities throughout the country this week.

At New York's Columbia University,  the epicenter of the demonstrations,  protesting students said they won’t disperse until the school agrees to cut ties with Israeli academic institutions and disinvest its funds from entities connected to Israel, among other demands. Protesters at other campuses have similar demands .

The campus encampments spreading across the nation have brought together students from a variety of backgrounds — including Palestinians, Arabs, Jews and Muslims — to decry Israel's bombardment of Gaza .

Here are the latest developments:

Columbia University : The faculty senate is expected to vote on a resolution admonishing the school’s president, Minouche Shafik, on Friday over several of her decisions, according to The New York Times. Shafik has faced criticism for authorizing police to shut down student protests on campus.

Brown University: The university identified about 130 students who it alleges violated a school conduct code that forbids encampments on campus. Students found responsible will be disciplined depending on their behavior and other factors, including any prior conduct violations, the university said.

Emory University : 28 people were arrested , including 20 Emory community members, during a protest at the school, Vice President for Public Safety Cheryl Elliott said. Troopers deployed pepper balls “to control the unruly crowd” during the protest, Georgie State Patrol said. A group of Democratic Georgia state lawmakers condemned the “ excessive force used by Georgia State Patrol” during arrests at Emory.

Emerson College: More than 100 people were arrested and four police officers injured during an encampment clearing at the Boston liberal arts college, according to the Boston Police Department. President Jay Bernhardt said he recognized and respected "the civic activism and passion that sparked the protest" after dozens of arrests.

Indiana University : At least 33 people were detained on campus Thursday following encampment protests.

George Washington University : DC Metropolitan Police were asked to assist in relocating an “unauthorized protest encampment” on campus, university president Ellen M. Granberg said. The decision came "after multiple instructions made by GWPD to relocate to an alternative demonstration site on campus went unheeded by encampment participants," she said.

University of Southern California : The university canceled its main commencement ceremony  next month, citing "new safety measures in place.” Nearly  100 people have been arrested  on the campus.

University of California, Los Angeles : A "demonstration with encampments" formed at UCLA on Thursday.

Northeastern University: An encampment formed at Northeastern University in Boston, where dozens of protesters were seen forming a human chain around several tents. 

Other campuses: Since last Thursday, several campuses have been protest sites, including the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology , University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan,  University of New Mexico , University of California, Berkeley, Yale University , and Harvard University.

Protesters at the University of Texas at Austin asked to disperse at 10 p.m.

Protesters at the University of Texas at Austin were asked to leave the campus's South Mall at 10 p.m. local time, university spokesperson Brian Davis told CNN.

No arrests have been made as of 10 p.m., Davis said.

"There is no curfew on campus. Leadership asked that students clear the South Mall at 10 p.m."

Just last night, more than 30 demonstrators were arrested after UT Austin police issued a dispersal at the school.

Protesters at Ohio State University arrested after refusing to disperse, university says

From CNN’s Joe Sutton and Jamiel Lynch

Demonstrators at Ohio State University were arrested on Thursday night after refusing to disperse, according to university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson.

Johnson did not know how many arrests were made.

“Well established university rules prohibit camping and overnight events. Demonstrators exercised their first amendment rights for several hours and were then instructed to disperse. Individuals who refused to leave after multiple warnings were arrested and charged with criminal trespass,” he said.

Columbia University senate is redrafting resolution to admonish school's president, New York Times reports

From CNN's Rob Frehse

Columbia University’s faculty senate is expected to vote Friday on a resolution admonishing embattled school president Minouche Shafik over several of her recent decisions, including calling in police to clear a student encampment last week, the New York Times reports .

The resolution would allow the school senate to avoid a censure vote during a critical time for the school, the Times reports, citing several unnamed senators who attended a closed-door meeting Wednesday. Some feared a censure vote would be perceived as giving in to Republican lawmakers, according to the paper.

A Columbia University spokesperson confirmed Shafik’s closed-door meeting with the senate on Wednesday but would not comment on the resolution to CNN.

 “The President met with the Senate plenary in a closed-door session for close to an hour, giving remarks and taking questions. She reiterated the shared goal of restoring calm to campus so everyone can pursue their educational activities.” 

Some context: Shafik has faced immense criticism from some students, faculty and Democratic lawmakers for her decision to authorize police to break up pro-Palestinian student protests last week— a move that resulted in more than 100 arrests .

Other students, Jewish advocacy groups and Republican lawmakers are slamming Shafik for not cracking down on protests — which they say have included antisemitic rhetoric — both on campus and outside its gates.

Several Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, have called for Shafik to resign.

CNN’s Maria Sole Campinoti contributed to this report.

What to know about the protests erupting on college campuses across the US

From CNN's Jordan Valinsky

Colleges across the country have erupted with pro-Palestinian protests, and school administrators are trying — and largely failing — to defuse the situation.

Several schools have called the police on protesters, leading to the arrests of hundreds across US campuses.

The recent surge in protests have inflamed tensions among students, forcing leadership to decide when free speech on campus crosses a line. The atmosphere was so charged that officials at Columbia – the epicenter of the protests that began last week – announced students can attend classes virtually starting Monday.

Passover, a major Jewish holiday, began this week, heightening fears among a number of Jewish students who have reported hearing antisemitic comments at some of the protests. The anxiety comes as reports of  antisemitic acts have surged  across America since October 7.

When did the protests start?

The situation  escalated last week  at Columbia University, where encampments were organized by  Columbia University Apartheid Divest , a student-led coalition of more than 100 organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, to protest what they describe as the university’s “continued financial investment in corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and military occupation of Palestine,” according to its news release.

What are they asking for?

Columbia protesters say they won’t disperse until the school commits to a “complete divestment” of its funds from entities connected to Israel.

Other protesters are similarly calling on their campuses to divest from companies that sell weapons, construction equipment, technology services and other items to Israel.

Where else are protests happening?

Since last Thursday, a slew of campuses have had protests and encampments, as well as arrests. That includes the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology , University of Texas at Austin, University of Michigan, University of New Mexico and University of California, Berkeley.

Police   arrested nearly 100 protesters at the University of Southern California Wednesday after a dispersal order.

At Emerson College, more than 100 people were arrested Wednesday during a pro-Palestinian protest, according to the Boston Police Department.

Yale University police  arrested at least 45 protesters Monday  on suspicion of criminal trespassing, though dozens remained Tuesday.

Harvard University officials suspended a pro-Palestinian student organization for allegedly violating school policies.

Read more  here .

Brown University says about 130 students violated school policy banning encampments

From CNN’s Isabel Rosales and Devon Sayers

Brown University has identified about 130 students who it alleges violated a school conduct code that forbids encampments on campus, a university spokesperson said.

The university's Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards has notified the students, who were identified through ID checks, spokesperson Brian Clark said in a release.

An encampment of about 90 people had formed on the school's Providence, Rhode Island campus Wednesday morning, according to Brown.

"Encampment on Brown University’s historic and residential greens is a violation of University policy, and participants in the encampment have been verbally informed of this fact and that they will face conduct proceedings,” the school's release said.

Students found responsible will be disciplined depending on their behavior and other factors, including any prior conduct violations, the university said, noting students could face probation or separation from the school.

“The University continues to ask individuals in or in immediate proximity to the encampment to present their Brown IDs for two reasons: to verify association with Brown for safety and security reasons, and to appropriately address potential violations of policy."

Protesters at Emory University briefly clash with police

From CNN's Elizabeth Wolfe

Protesters briefly clashed with police at Emory University in Georgia on Thursday, the university told CNN.

A confrontation between protesters and police outside the school's Candler School of Theology prompted an "increased law enforcement presence" on campus, according to the university.

"A group of about 100 people left the Quad and marched to the Candler School of Theology, where some protesters pinned police officers against building doors and attempted to access the building," the university said.

"The crowd ultimately returned to the Quad before dispersing."

Video from CNN affiliate WSB shows some protesters using large posters to push into a line of police officers whose backs are against the doors of the building. As officers push back against the posters, one demonstrator chucks their sign at the row of officers.

Please enable JavaScript for a better experience.

• Academic Programs
• Undergraduate Programs
• USC Price in D.C.
• Master’s Programs
• Online Learning
• Dual Degree Programs
• Graduate Certificate Programs
• Doctoral Programs
• Executive Education
• Admission Information
• Information Sessions
• Schedule an Admissions Visit
• Funding Your Education
• Department of Public Policy and Management
• Health Policy and Management
• Wilbur H. Smith III Department of Real Estate Development
• Urban Planning and Spatial Analysis
• Research at USC Price
• Economic Development
• Environment
• Health Care
• Nonprofits & Philanthropy
• Real Estate
• Social Innovation
• Transportation
• Urban Planning & Spatial Analysis
• Career Services
• Our History
• About the Dean
• Board of Councilors
• Dean’s Cabinet
• Statement of Core Values
• Students On a Mission
• Life in Los Angeles
• Newsletter Archive
• Academic Integrity
• Student Advocacy and Bias Reporting
• Impact Report
• Commencement
• Student Affairs
• Postdoctoral Fellows
• Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
• Accessibility at Price
• Global Engagement
• Our Podcasts
• ROTC Programs
• Nautical Science
• Ph.D in Public Policy and Management

Public Policy and Management Ph.D. Students

Virat agrawal.

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management

[email protected] | LinkedIn | Google Scholar Citations

Education : Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering, USC; Bachelor of Technology in Biomedical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, India

Research Interests : Healthcare, Behavioral Health Policy, COVID-19, Preventative Care, Self-Monitoring Technology, Social services and Health insurance in Developing countries

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Neeraj Sood

Drishti Baid

[email protected] | LinkedIn | Website  

Education : Bachelor of Social Science in Economics, National University of Singapore 

Research Interests : Health preference measurement, value of healthcare services, pharmaceutical regulation, evaluating effectiveness of health policy reform

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Darius Lakdawalla

Andrew Barton

[email protected] Education:  Master of Education in Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs; Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor in Theatre, University of Southern California

Research Interests:  Civic engagement, deliberative democracy, political institutions, public organizations, publicness, higher education, and student affairs / student services

Faculty Advisor :  Dr. Bill Resh

Jordy Coutin

[email protected]  

Education : Master of Public Policy, USC; Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Research Interests : Homeless and social services, encampment sweeps, shelter programs, health care expansion, local policy, program evaluation

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Juliet Musso

Brandon DeBruhl

[email protected] | LinkedIn

Education : Master of Arts in International Relations and Affairs, Syracuse University; Master of Public Policy, USC; Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Seattle University

Research Interests : Administration of international public banking institutions, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrencies, regulatory systems

Jeimee Estrada-Miller

[email protected]

Education : Master of Public Policy, USC; Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, World Literature, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Interests : Education, poverty and housing, social problems, race, equity

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Gary Painter

Esther Gonzalez

[email protected] | LinkedIn | Website

Education : Master of Business Administration, Cornell University; Master of Public Administration, Cal Poly Pomona; Bachelor of Arts in International Development Studies, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Interests : Diversity management, local government, organizational leadership

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Bill Resh

Jochelle Greaves Siew

[email protected] | LinkedIn | Twitter

Education : Master of Science in Public Policy and Administration, London School of Economics and Political Science; Bachelor of Law in International and European Law, University of Groningen 

Research Interests : Organizational theory and behavior, bureaucratic behavior, policy Implementation, emotional labor, small island developing states

Faculty Advisor : Dr. S. Yan Tang

Education: Master of Public Policy and Applied Economics, University of Michigan; Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Philosophy, Korea University

Research Interests: Fiscal (distributive) politics, fiscal federalism, financial management, bureaucratic politics, program evaluation, machine learning and artificial intelligence

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeff Jenkins

James Hendrickson

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management [email protected] | LinkedIn Education: Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy, University of Michigan Research Interests: Judicial and gubernatorial decision-making, political institutions, equity, criminal justice reform, social psychology in policymaking Faculty Advisor: Dr. Pamela McCann / Dr. Jeff Jenkins

Sophia Helland

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management [email protected] | LinkedIn Education: Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics with a dual degree in Economics, Claremont McKenna College Research Interests: American political institutions, voting and election policy, legislator responsiveness, federalism Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Jenkins

Nathan Hodson

[email protected] | LinkedIn Education: Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery, Brighton and Sussex Medical School; Master of Public Health, Harvard University, School of Public Health Research Interests: Behavioral economics, financial micro-incentives, mental health technology Faculty Advisor: Dr. Wändi Bruine de Bruin

Alison Holt

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management [email protected] | LinkedIn | Website Education: Master of Public Administration, Wayne State University; Bachelor of Science in Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology Research Interests: Bureaucracy, rulemaking, interest groups, lobbying and influence, transparency and accountability, machine learning Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeff Jenkins

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management [email protected] | LinkedIn

Education: Master of Arts in Economics, City University of New York, Hunter College; Bachelor of Arts in Economics, City University of New York, Hunter College Research Interests: Healthcare policy evaluation, maternal and child health, health disparities and equity Faculty Advisor: Dr. Darius Lakdawalla

Saumya Khanna

Education: Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs, concentration in International Economics, The George Washington University

Research Interests: Behavioral economics, consumer decision-making in the health insurance market, health care financing and incentives, Medicare and Medicaid Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jason Doctor

Phillip Sangwoo Lee

Education : Master of Public Policy, Master of Arts in Economics, University of Michigan; Bachelor of Science in Statistics and Psychology, Duke University

Research Interests : Environmental economics, environmental justice, renewable energy, energy security, sustainable development, clean technology adoption

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Antonio Bento

Keunyoung (Eli) Lee

Education : Master of Public Administration, USC; Master of Public Administration, Seoul National University; Bachelor of Arts in International Liberal Studies Psychology Track, Waseda University

Research Interests : Behavioral public administration, bureaucratic politics, agency reputation

Lizhong Liu

Education : Master of Public Policy, University of Chicago; Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, Renmin University of China

Research Interests : Urban economics, housing policy, housing affordability, housing stability

Zissis Marmarelis

Education : Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, USC  

Research Interests : Environmental economics, international relations, political economy, renewable energy, energy security, energy geopolitics, European Union

Noah Miller

Education:  Master of Public Policy, University of Southern California; Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Japanese, University of California, Davis

Research Interests:  Environmental economics; climate change; associated issues of mitigation, adaptation, and resilience; migration and mobility; health and pollution; policy choice in second-best context

Faculty Advisor :  Dr. Antonio Bento

Hilary Olson

Education: Master of Public Policy and Certificate in International Policy and Planning, University of Southern California; Bachelor of Arts in Diplomacy and World Affairs and minor in Economics, Occidental College

Research Interests: Social innovation, social finance, impact investing, program evaluation, co-production, co-creation, collaborative governance, systems change, and international development

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gary Painter

Education : Master of Public Administration, USC; Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs, Washington State University

Research Interests : Social and economic inequality, behavioral public policy, behavioral welfare economics, poverty alleviation policy, social policy

Faculty Advisor : Dr. Wändi Bruine de Bruin / Dr. Mike Thom

Renzhi Shen

Ph.D. in Public Policy and Management [email protected] Education: Master of Public Policy, University of Southern California; Bachelor of Economics in Finance, Peking University; Bachelor of Science in Economics and French, Georgia Institute of Technology Research Interests: Environmental policy, urban economics, transportation, public administration, behavioral economics, comparative politics Faculty Advisor: Dr. Antonio Bento

Rebecca Smith

Education: Master of Science in Economics, Sciences Po Paris, France; Bachelor of Science in Economics and French, Georgia Institute of Technology

Research Interests: Spatial inequality, neighborhoods, housing, health policy

Education: Master of Arts in International Studies, University of Denver; Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Research Interests: Urban governance, urban resilience, risk analysis, disaster management, policy analysis, public administration

Shengjia Xu

Education: Master of Health Science, Johns Hopkins University; Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Psychology, Smith College

Research Interests: Health economics, alternative payment models, Health care utilization and costs, mental health care, dementia and cognitive impairment

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Alice Chen

• USC Faculty Shared Values
• Faculty Awards and Recognition
• Get Involved
• Social Media
• Past Presidents
• Past Senate Members
• Monthly Meetings
• Senate Retreat
• Joint Provost/Academic Senate Retreat
• Constitution
• Resolutions
• Memorandums
• End of Year Reports
• Endorsed Reports
• Meeting Minutes
• Faculty Resources and Support
• Student Resources and Support
• Faculty Councils

USC Academic Senate Executive Board Elections 2024

• by acsenate
• April 29, 2024 April 29, 2024

All faculty (full-time, adjunct, part-time, and retired) will receive an individualized email link to the electronic ballot on April 29 and have until 5:00 pm PDT on May 5 3 to cast their ballot electronically. On the ballot and below, you will find links to candidate information, including each candidate’s short bio, brief self-presentation video, and an information sheet with more detail on the candidate’s background, roles, service, and goals.

The current members of the Executive Board returning next year are:

• President: Rima Jubran (Keck School of Medicine)
• Administrative Vice President: Christine El-Haddad (Marshall School of Business)
• Past President: Margo Apostolos (Kaufman School of Dance)

The candidates standing for election are listed below, alphabetically.

Academic Vice-President (goes on to serve as President and then Past President; choose one)

Video | Info Sheet

Eva Kanso is a Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Physics and Astronomy at the University of Southern California, where she holds the “Z.A. Kaprielian Fellow in Engineering” chair. Between 2021 and 2023, Kanso served as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation. In her research, Kanso studies the biophysics of cellular and animal behavior, both at the individual and collective levels. A central theme in her work is the role of the mechanical environment, specifically the fluid medium and fluid-structure interactions, in shaping and driving biological functions.

Lorraine Turcotte is a Professor in Biological Sciences in Dornsife College. She is also Chair of Human and Evolutionary Biology (HEB) and Director of the Metabolic Regulation Lab. After eearning her PhD from UC Berkeley, she completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Copenhagen and at the Diabetes Research Center in Montreal. Dr. Turcotte coordinates the research efforts of her lab which include determining the mechanisms by which inflammation and stress regulate muscle health and performance. Work from her lab has been published in over 75 articles and book chapters. As Chair of HEB, she oversees the administration and research and academic missions of the section as well as coordinates the appointment and promotion of faculty of all ranks. She has received several awards for mentoring faculty and students at all levels of professional development (Hanna Reisler Mentorship Award, Inaugural WiSE Architect of Enduring Change Award, Mellon Mentoring Award for mentoring graduate and undergraduate students) and has received the Dornsife Raubenheimer Award in recognition of outstanding teaching, scholarship and service to the university. Dr. Turcotte has also served in faculty governance via her participation in the development of several white papers for the Academic Senate and the Dornsife Faculty Council. She currently serves as a Member-at-Large on the Executive Board of the Academic Senate.

Secretary General (Choose One) Serves a two-year term

John R. Blosnich , PhD, MPH joined USC in 2020 and is an Associate Professor and Director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Health Equity in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at USC. He earned his MPH and PhD in Public Health Sciences from West Virginia University and completed a T32 postdoctoral research training program in suicide prevention at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He has worked for over ten years with the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), first with the Center of Excellence for Suicide Prevention and then with the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion. His research focuses on health equity for LGBT individuals, with specific emphasis on social determinants of health and suicide risk. Dr. Blosnich has earned several research awards from both the VA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Most recently, Dr. Blosnich was a 2021 recipient of an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award to support his research into upstream suicide prevention. Within the School of Social Work, he has taught in the Master of Social Work, PhD, and Doctoral of Social Work programs. Within his School, he has served on several committees, including Faculty Council, PhD Curriculum, and Admissions, and at the University level, he has served for three years on the Academic Senate’s University Research Committee.

Andy Campbell is an art and design historian working at the juncture of queer archival practices and community-based histories. He is the author of Bound Together: Leather, Sex, Archives, and Contemporary Art  and Queer X Design: 50 Years of Signs, Symbols, Banners, Logos, and Graphic Art of LGBTQ , as well as the co-edited catalogs Queer Communion: Ron Athey and Jennifer West: Media Archaeology . He is an Associate Professor and Chair of Critical Studies at USC’s Roski School of Art and Design. 

Clifford Neuman is Director of the USC Center for Computer Systems Security and faculty in Computer Science at the Viterbi School of Engineering.  Dr. Neuman research is focused on Distributed Computer Systems, Computer Security, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Electronic Commerce, and the societal impact of computing.  Dr. Neuman is the principal designer of the Kerberos network authentication system, which has been widely used for more than 35 years.

At-Large Members (one-year term;choose up to four)

Douglas Becker a 2002 University of Connecticut Ph.D, I have been on the faculty for 20 years.  I was originally in the School of International Relations and now in Political Science and International Relations with a courtesy appointment in Environmental Studies.  I’ve served on the Senate for 4 years as a representative from the Dornsife Faculty Council.  I research historical memory as elements of identity and foreign policy, with an emphasis on how memory fuels conflict. 

Jennifer Dinalo is the Health Sciences Research and Data Librarian at Norris Medical Library at USC. In this role, she focuses on developing services and programming for the research community related to data science and scholarly impact. She has been at the Norris Medical Library since 2015. Before becoming a librarian, Jennifer earned her PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Molecular Microbiology and was a postdoc at Stanford University studying the effects of antibiotics on the normal human microbiome using biochemical and bioinformatics approaches. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys hiking with her dog, reading, movies, and karaoke.

Video | I nfo Sheet

Sofia Gruskin directs the  USC Institute on Inequalities in Global Health  (IIGH), and is a current member of the USC Academic Senate Executive Board. She is a Distinguished Professor of  Population and Public Health Sciences and Law , Professor of Preventive Medicine and Chief of the Disease Prevention, Policy and Global Health Division at the Keck School of Medicine; Professor of Law and Preventive Medicine at the Gould School of Law. 

Dr. Julianna Kirschner teaches a broad range of course subjects, including team communication, sports communication, and strategic communication. Her research is focused on improving communication in digital contexts. Dr. Kirschner’s PhD award-winning dissertation critically assessed social media posts that contributed to trending topics on Twitter.

Dr. Kirschner is an associate editor for Visual Communication Quarterly . She has also served on many USC Academic Senate committees, most recently as co-chair of the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee.

Dr. Kung graduated from The Johns Hopkins University in 1989 and The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1993. She completed her pediatric and pediatric cardiology training at UCSF from 1993-1999. She was an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston from 1999-2003 and joined the faculty at USC/Children’s Hospital Los Angeles in 2003. She has been Fellowship Program Director since 2014 and on the Promotions Committee since 2019. She has also taken a lead in the CHLA junior faculty mentoring program.

Professor Matsusaka is the Charles F. Sexton Chair in American Enterprise, and Professor of Finance and Business Economics in the Marshall School of Business, Gould School of Law, and Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California.

John Matsusaka is an economist who studies democracy and corporate governance, and  publishes in economics, finance, law, and political science. His most recent book is Let the People Rule: How Direct Democracy Can Meet the Challenge of Populism (2020). Professor Matsusaka is also executive director of USC’s Initiative & Referendum Institute. In his 30+ years at USC, Professor Matsusaka has served as interim vice provost for faculty affairs, vice dean for faculty and academic affairs in the Marshall School, and was elected twice to the executive board of the academic senate.

Dr. Melissa L. Miller is an Associate University Librarian with continuing appointment serving in her primary leadership role as the Head of the Hoose Library of Philosophy at the University of Southern California (USC). She is also a Humanities Librarian specializing in Philosophy, Religion, Classics, Anthropology, and Linguistics as well as an Associate Professor serving in the Marshall School of Business, Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS) program since 2019. She earned her EdD, MMLIS, and BA from USC.

Her research is interdisciplinary and intersects through the fields of Heritage Conservation and the Digital Humanities, with a focus in medieval manuscripts and rare books. She is an advocate for DEIA+AR practices, and the advancement of knowledge, skills, access, and diversity of cultural heritage material. Dr. Miller has published and presented numerous articles and book chapters both nationally and internationally and in 2021 she published her first monograph, “Mind, Motivation, and Meaningful Learning: Strategies for Teaching Adult Learners” which focuses on learning and teaching in an online environment.

Prior to retirement, I specialized in engineering for transportation and other infrastructure systems. My primary research focus was spatial economic impact analysis.  All public sector decisions are political outcomes immune to analysis, so I stopped analyzing them.  My current focus is the role of merit, due process, equal opportunity, free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity in U.S. universities.  I write for the unrefereed literature.  

Leonardo Morsut PhD, was born and raised in Padova, a University town in the north-east of Italy. Always driven to become a scientist, in his mid-twentys he found himself playing volleyball for the Italian national team. He quit volleyball to earn his PhD from Padova University, moved to the US for a postdoctoral training at UCSF. Its success there brought him to USC as an assistant professor at the Department of Stem cell and regenerative medicine in 2017. Here, he won awards and grant funding from NSF, NIH, Chang-Zuckerberg Foundation among others, and developed his leadership skills with training in professional and executive coaching. Lives in Pasadena with his wife and their 2 children.

Morgan Polikoff is a professor of K-12 policy at USC Rossier and the faculty co-director of the USC EdPolicy Hub. He studies instructional policy, and he also directs state- and nationally-representative surveys about the impact of COVID and Americans’ views about education policy issues. In 14 years at USC, he has given extensive service to Rossier and the university, for instance chairing the Rossier faculty council and co-chairing a Senate task force on faculty councils. He has won the USC Mentoring Award and awards from the American Educational Research Association for early career research and outstanding public communication.

Howard A. Rodman is professor and former chair of screenwriting at the School of Cinematic Arts; past of AAUP/USC; past president of the Writers Guild of America West; current VP of the Motion Picture Academy.  

His films include SAVAGE GRACE, with Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne; AUGUST, starring Josh Hartnett and David Bowie; and JOE GOULD’S SECRET.

He is the author of the novel THE GREAT EASTERN published by Melville House Books/Penguin Random House.   

Miki Turner, winner of the 2023 USC Black Alumni Assoc. Faculty and Staff award, and the 2022 National Association of Black Journalists Educator of the Year, is currently a Professor of Professional Practice at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. An award-winning photojournalist, Turner spent more than 30 years working in the media industry specializing in print, television, radio and web production. She is the author of two books—the best-selling journey to the woman i’ve come to love and tomorrow , and a 2015 prize winner in photography at Firenze Biennale in Florence, Italy.

What are you looking for?

Suggested search.