Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Media Coverage

IEEE Spectrum: IEEE Offers New Credential to Address Tech Skills Gap

The program provides microcredentials for completing learning experiences

NY Times: For Those Who Don’t Trust Tap

Daniel McCurry pointed out the problem of this trend and discussed tap water’s safety.

NY Times: 20 Years Ago a Tsunami Killed 230,000 People. We can do better now.

Costas Synolakis contributed a piece on how we can improve technology and communication to avoid casualties in the face of tsunamis.

Defense News: New Army-funded tech creates realistic terrain, avatars in simulations

Tne article highlights innovations in simulation technology developed at ICT and its Hollywood history. Andrew Feng was interviewed.

Shephard Media (subscription): US Army and University of Southern California to develop portable ship simulator

The article highlights a collaboration to develop tools “to help prepare soldiers for deployment in multi-domain operations.”

ICT: ICT presents latest research I/ITSEC

Article highlights research research presented and demos shown at this annual conference.

Reuters: Trump’s NASA pick

Garrett Reisman was interviewed about the potential for Jared Isaacman to lead NASA.

Silicon Republic: Google claims AI model Genie 2 can generate interactive worlds

Sean Ren was quoted about how AI affects copyright infringement.

National Defense Magazine: The Hollywood Connection

USC Institute for Creative Technologies was featured for its development of leading-edge simulations.

Variety: Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie is honored by the Visual Effects Society with Georges Méliès Award

The former ICT research scientist was highlighted. Deadline, Yahoo and AOL posted articles.

Viterbi News Now: Episode 75 of VNN

This week: GrayMatter Robotics helping build ambulances, new MS #degree in Energy, ISI’s AI sensing and suggesting flavor, Robot Hector in the Mojave Desert.

Fast Company: Meet the USC (Viterbi) Rocket Club that Shattered a World Altitude Record

This profile story details the history of RPL, includes mention alumni space startups as well as SERC as part of the USC Viterbi space ecosystem.

Programming Insider: Why LA is a Hub for Web Development Firms

Article provides various reasons why LA continues to be a home for emerging technologies

Washington Post: Mysterious chemical byproduct in U.S. tap water finally identified

Daniel McCurry commented on a new (non-USC) study that identified a compound in the U.S. drinking supply.

CBS: Carrot E. coli outbreak brings new concerns for shoppers

Abigail Horn was interviewed about the discussing the recent E.Coli outbreak linked to carrots, which has impacted local grocery stores and prompted a recall.

NBC: Bright Spot–USC Students Launch Rocket

USC RPL students were featured on local NBC news for their recent record-breaking launch.

LA Times: Wildfire retardant is laden with toxic metals, USC study finds

Research by Daniel McCurry and his students was featured.

PBS NOVA: Building Stuff

Francisco Valero Cuevas and Andrea Armani were interviewed in this series about engineering.

Undark: The Search for Critical Minerals is Going High Tech

Craig Knoblock was interviewed about his team’s participation in a DARPA project that applies machine learning to to identify sources of rare earth minerals.

NPR: Design considerations for building safety

Burcin Becerik-Gerber was interviewed about design considerations for building safety, focusing on the importance of structural integrity, fire prevention, accessibility, and sustainability in modern construction.

NPR: Study: Some wildfire suppression products contain ‘surprising’ levels of heavy metals

Research by Daniel McCurry’s lab was highlighted

Space.com: USC students set world record with high-flying rocket launch (video) News

The launch of Aftershock II was highlighted.

Aviation Week (subscription): USC Student Rocket Club Reaches Space, Claims World Record

Historic launch and world by student-rocket lab was featured.

Forbes: Saving The ISS By Transforming It Into A Fantastical Floating Museum

Madhu Thangavelu puts forth an alternative plan to showcase the ISS when it is retired.

ABC7 (no link available): Election Security Concerns

Cliff Neuman was interviewed on election day about cyber attacks, AI and misinformation and how this could affect the election process.

Interesting Engineering/Yahoo News: Researchers develop low-cost system to detect wildfires within seconds of ignition

A paper authored by Xiao Fu, Barath Raghavan, Peter Bereel, Yue Hu and Prashanth Sutrave was highlighted.

EOS: Torrents of Sediment-Laden Water Worsened Disastrous Libyan Floods

Research by Essam Heggy and colleagues was highlighted.

CalMatters: California students want careers in AI. Here’s how colleges are meeting that demand

Neno Medvidović was interviewed about a new AI major that the School of Advanced Computing is developing.

The Hill: Some wildfire suppressants may be unleashing heavy metals into the environment: Study

Published on November 3rd, 2024Last updated on November 3rd, 2024

LAist: New study raises questions about heavy metals in fire retardants

Research by Daniel McCurry’s lab was highlighted

Quantum Insider: USC Professor Sees Quantum Computing As A Specialized Tool Rather Than Consumer Technology

Excerpts from Daniel Lidar’s recent interview with the The Circuit was condensed.

USC News: Trust in voting: USC experts discuss misinformation, threats to democracy ahead of Election 2024

With Election Day drawing near, USC ISI experts are available to provide insights on how misinformation spreads, the role of media and AI in safeguarding election integrity and potential solutions to restore voter confidence in democracy

NTUA : The Senate of the National Technical University of Athens, awards the title of Doctor Honoris Causa to Yannis Yortsos

Dean Yortsos was recognized by his alma mater for “his scientific achievements and his world-class contribution to the shaping of modern engineering education and to the general orientation of engineering science to address contemporary and emerging grand challenges.”

Quanser Café: Transformation of Engineering Education to Address Rapid Technology Changes

Dean Yortsos was one of a few select global engineering deans interviewed for this series.

OC Register: Phillips 66 Quietly Explores Redevelopment of LA Refinery

Najm Meshkati was interviewed about the challenges of remediating soil

CSN Monitor: How AI deepfakes test voter confidence and election integrity

Emilio Ferrara was interviewed about the incredible volume of ai-generated data this election cycle

Andrew Viterbi builds on a lifetime of innovation and giving

Viterbi’s $10 million gift boosts USC President Carol Folt’s Frontiers of Computing “moonshot” by funding the hiring of new faculty at the intersections of advanced computing and other academic disciplines.

The New York Times: Twitter Barred Them. What Happened When Elon Musk Brought Them Back?

ISI’s Keith Burghardt was interviewed by The New York Times about his work on toxic content on social media.

White House Press Room : Yolanda Gil Appointed to National Science Board

As member of the NSB, AI pioneer to advise “President and the Congress on policy matters related to science and engineering and education in science and engineering.”

Spectrum News: How a USC student helped build an AI system that helps gage public sentiment towards homelessness

PhD Jaspreet Ranjit and advisor Swabha Swayamdipta were interviewed about their work and the potential for AI to help address societal challenges.

AM Chronicle: Grant to fund 3D-printed high-performance ceramics project

Priya Vashishta and Aiichiro Nakano were mentioned for their involvement in a MURI project on 3D-printed high-performance ceramics.

Public News Service: CA facilities could turn sewage into tap water, but public acceptance lags

Professor McCurry Daniel McCurry, was interviewed about speed at which Americans will wastewater recycling.

LAist: Endeavour space shuttle

Professor Reisman spoke about the recent topping-out ceremony for the Endeavour space shuttle at the CA Science Center, a vehicle he was on as a NASA astronaut.

Nature Magazine: Can AI have common sense? Finding out will be key to achieving machine intelligence

Mayank Kejriwal and co-authors explore how the rise of LLMs has reignited debates about the boundaries of machine intelligence.

ICT 25th: Learning with AI, Moving Smart, Growing Things

USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) furthers research into Artificial Intelligence’s potential to advance education and tutoring opportunities.

The Atlantic (subscription required): Shh, ChatGPT. That’s a Secret.

Jonathan Gratch was quoted about our interactions with virtual agents.

WKTY: Better Living

Research by Niema Pahlevan’s lab about the adverse effects of vaping was featured.

WIRED Middle East: Why the Middle East should be more afraid of floods than droughts

Research by Essam Heggy and the MiXL lab was featured.

Wall Street Journal: Landslides Swallowed Up Houses in California

Amy Rechenmacher was interviewed about the challenges of addressing landslide’s impact on a structure.

MassRobotics: MassRobotics Announces Recipient of 2024 Robotics Medal Recognizing Accomplishments of Women in Robotics

Heather Culbertson received the Rising Star in Robotics Medal for her research on haptics

GOOD: Here’s how Jack Black’s mother helped design a system that saved Apollo 13 astronauts

Alumna Judith Love Cohen was highlighted.

LA Business Journal: Flying Forward: Ampaire Buys Companies, Moves Its HQ

Adjunct professor Marty Bradley commented on the impact the company could make in the industry.

Fast Company: The 50 Universities Making an Outsize Impact on Business and Society

USC was ranked #11

EdEx: National Engineer’s Day: Role of advanced degrees in shaping engineering

For National Engineers’ Day in India, Jayakanth Ravichandran discussed the importance of various skills and disciplines to solve problems and quoted Dean Yortsos.

VNN: Viterbi News Now- Episode 73

ICT‬ celebrates 25 years; a carbon capture project; AI startups; and how the John Slaughter CED supports our students.

USC celebrates opening of Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall

The new building is home to the USC School of Advanced Computing and central to USC President Carol Folt’s historic Frontiers of Computing “moonshot.”

Celebrating 25 years of USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies

Since its founding in 1999, the institute has produced cutting-edge computing research that has been used by Hollywood, academia, tech and the military.

USC Institute for Creative Technologies: ICT 25th: UARC Technology Behind Successful Transition Of One World Terrain To Army Program Of Record

USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) assists in the creation of groundbreaking geospatial mapping for the US Army’s One World Terrain (OWT) program.

KTLA: USC Researchers Tapping into Surfing to Relieve Chronic Pain

Heather Culbertson and Jason Kutch were interviewed about their project using simulated surfing to address chronic pain

Daily Motion: Air Crash Investigation

Tom Anthony of the Aviation Safety Program was interviewed about a the fatal LAM 470 flight.

CNN: “Polaris Dawn” Mission

Professor Reisman discusses’ Space X’s mission and the first civilian spacewalk and other topical issues in space

The Guardian: A starfish: a disembodied head walking about on its lips

Research by Eva Kanso’s lab was highlighted.

Bloomberg: USC Professor Lands $43 Million in Funding for AI Startup

Sahara, a start-up co-founded by Professor Ren, was featured.

ABC News: Waymo takes to the streets in more cities

Rahul Jain was interviewed about autonomous vehicles and their mainstream adoption.

Forbes: Why Embodied AI For Manufacturing Applications Is Different From Digital AI

SK Gupta contributes a piece with recommendations to reduce risk with embodied AI used in manufacturing.

Chronicle of Higher Education: The AI Hiring Spree

Article references USC’s Frontiers of Computing and effort to attract new faculty

USC Institute for Creative Technologies: ICT 25th: Paramount Pictures to USC Institute for Creative Technologies

Cheryl Birch, CFO for the USC Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT), describes over twenty years of experience on the team.

VNN: Viterbi News Now-Episode 72

The 2024 #Election Integrity Initiative; sleep quality study initiative; USC study on the ISS; faculty around the world

National Academies: Reviving the Los Angeles River: Engineering Alongside Nature and Society

Mitul Luhar contributed a piece on the tools and interdisciplinary collaboration needed to address LA river restoration and why this is an important project.

NY Times: What Caused a Plane to Fall From the Sky in Brazil?

Thomas Anthony of the Aviation Safety and Security program was quoted about a fatal plane crash in Brazil.

Wall Street Journal: Colleges Race to Ready Students for the AI Workplace

The joint Business of AI degree with USC Marshall was highlighted along with the ITP AI applications minor.

VNN: Viterbi News Now – Episode 71

This week: AI to help forecast and prevent the spread of wildfire; detecting concussions, CA Dreams’ clean room class and USC Viterbi research presented around the world

ABC 7: Predicting a wildfire’s next move? USC researchers using AI to forecast fire’s likely path

Research by Assad Oberoi and colleagues was featured.

New York Times: The Beaches of the Future Are Going to Surprise Us

A study by Essam Heggy and colleagues about the CA coastline was referenced.

Reuters: Protests and curfew in Bangladesh

John Heidemann and the Networking and the work of the ISI Cybersecurity Division was referenced in this article to explain the significance of the internet shut down.

VNN: Viterbi News Now – Episode 70

USC’s Liquid Propulsion Lab (LPL) is making waves in reusable rocket engines; USC Viterbi’s Dean Yannis Yortsos has secured a spot on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s LA500 list; USC Viterbi Ph.D. student Jared Coleman is on a mission to revive the Owens Valley Paiute language using AI; and USC Viterbi engineers have developed an AI system to monitor gut health using ingestible devices led by professor Yasser Khan.

Interesting Engineering: AI-enabled wearable, ingestible smart pill offer live gut health tracking

Research by Yasser Khan’s lab was featured.

LA Business Journal: LA500

Dean Yortsos was named in the publication’s annual list of leaders in LA.

CNN (no link available): Boeing Races to Find Answers at Astronauts Wait to Return to Earth

Garrrett Reisman was interviewed about the current astronauts who traveled on Boeing’s Starliner

Daily Mail: NASA astronauts ‘stranded in space’ on the ISS

Mike Gruntman was interview about the Boeing Starliner.

Scientific American: Satellites Could Deplete the Ozone

Research by Joseph Wang and colleagues was featured in this publication and other outlets such as Business Insider.

VNN: Viterbi News Now – Episode 69

USC alum Aëla Janvier trains for the French Olympic team and applies for grad school. Will she make Paris 2024? #Olympics #TrojanPride

USC Viterbi hosts NACME AI-ML Boot Camp, supported by Apple! Training future ML specialists with hands-on projects. #AIBootCamp #Engineers

Discover research breakthroughs in Viterbi Magazine and watch ‘The Circuit’ for engineering news. #ViterbiMagazine #EngineeringNews

USC launches MOSIS 2.0, advancing semiconductors for next-gen tech. Lab to market innovation! #Semiconductor #TechRevolution

Medical Express: An AI-powered wearable system tracks the 3D movement of smart pills in the gut

New research by the Khan Lab was featured

The American Geophysical Union: Satellite megaconstellations may jeopardize recovery of ozone hole

New research by Joseph Wang was featured

VNN: Viterbi News Now – Episode 68

This Week on Viterbi News Now: Essam Heggy predicts coastal living costs in Southern California will soar due to increasing beach erosion; Maryam Shanechi leads neurotechnology research at USC, using AI to tailor mental health treatments; Innovate x LA Student Competition highlights innovative solutions for LA’s environmental and energy issues; Maja Matarić named 2024-2025 ACM Athena Lecturer, pioneering advanced human-robot interactions.

Association for Computing Machinery: Maja Matarić Receives ACM Athena Lecturer Award

Maja Matarić receives ACM Athena Lecturer Award for groundbreaking contributions in distributed robotics, multi-robot coordination, and socially assistive robotics

New Indian Express: Study confirms water ice possibility in Moon’s polar craters

A study led by India’s space agency that included USC researchers was highlighted

LA Business Journal: USC, Capital One to Launch Research Center

Petros Ioannou the Center’s inaugural director, was interviewed.

Innovate x LA – CEE’s Das Family Competition 2024

Step into the world of creative problem solving with the second annual Das Family Innovate x LA Competition, presented by USC CEE alums Kelly and Santanu Das

C-Span: Aviation Safety Specialists Testify on Boeing Safety Culture

Safety expert Najm Meshkati was called to testify in front of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation

NPR: A robot dog is training on Earth to be able to go to space one day

Weekend Edition featured research led by Feifei Qian’s lab.

Andrea Hodge and Gaurav Sukhatme Elected 2023 AAAS Fellows

Hodge and Sukhatme join more than 40 USC peers previously inducted to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinguished lifetime honor

Paul Newton Named a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow

Viterbi AME Professor, Paul Newton, will use the fellowship to investigate cancer models

CNN: 5 ways the Columbia disaster changed spaceflight forever

Professor Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut, discussed how he spent part of his career in connection with the families who lost loved ones on the Challenger disaster.

Venturebeat: USC Games Expo returns to campus on May 7 with over 60 games

The annual Games expo showcasing student games was highlighted

BBC: Engineers train dog to walk on the moon

Research by Feifei Qian and colleagues was featured.

VNN: Viterbi News Now – Episode 67

This Week on VNN: USC Viterbi researchers embark on a new initiative to revolutionize tissue engineering, USC Viterbi alumnus Adithya Bellathur encourages new guitarists and musicians with “Notey’s World” app, we’re highlighting how the USC Viterbi Startup Garage empowers startups to break new ground in technology, and USC Viterbi’s David Barnhart is featured on spacenews.com discussing the evolving role of AI in long-distance space missions.

CBS News: Fung Finds a New Life from “Swim with Mike”

USC Viterbi data science master’s student Natalie Fung was interviewed about how she persevered after an accident and how the Swim with Mike scholarship allowed her to attend graduate school.

CNET: Hallucinations: Why AI Makes Stuff Up, and What’s Being Done About It

Professor Swayamdipta explained AI hallucinations and suggested the implementation of standards to address them.

CBS News: NASA, USC robotics team for space exploration program

Feifei Qian and undergraduate student Ethan Fulcher were interviewed about developing robots that can work on various surfaces