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2008 News

Viterbi School Signs Unique Accelerated M.S.
July 04, 2008
As many as five outstanding seniors studying electrical or biomedical engineering at the San Luis Obispo college will this fall be able to speed their paths to USC MS degrees through the new Viterbi Integrated Masters of Science Program
Musical Google
June 30, 2008
Pianist/computational engineer Elaine Chew discusses advantages of the operations research approach to the development of new musical search technologies.
Hsieh Department Recruits New Assistant Professor
June 27, 2008
Rahul Jain, whose interests lie in networks, games and control, will join the department this fall coming from IBM.
Information Theorist to Join Ming Hsieh Department
June 27, 2008
Information theorist Gerhard Kramer of Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ, will join the Ming Hsieh Department early next year.
Viterbi AME Faculty Member Is Pioneer Award Winner in New NSF Program
June 26, 2008
Andrea Hodge has received a $175,000 two-year grant to carry on advanced research in a sophisticated manufacturing process used to coat targets with thin films of various materials.
USC HPCC Supercomputer Ranks in U.S. Top 10
June 25, 2008
Viterbi contributes expertise and leadership to the university's High Performance Computing Center
Airbus Research Projects Take Flight
June 24, 2008
The Aerospace Institute for Engineering Research has embarked on three ambitious, collaborative aerospace research projects that could benefit commercial aviation worldwide.
Hsieh Professor Wins ASEE Terman Award
June 22, 2008
Keith Chugg's prize honors his achievements in textbook writing, teaching, research and student guidance
Designing a Safe Light Rail Crossing
June 20, 2008
An industrial and systems engineering student will examine the safety issues involved in the design of a new Expo Light Rail crossing near Dorsey High School.
BMES Organizes $200K Biomed R&D Challenge
June 19, 2008
Research center's business director brings together Army, industry, academia and a foundation to create a lab-bench-to-marketplace competition judged by a blue-ribbon panel
MySpace Looks to USC to Help Servers Keep Up with Users
June 18, 2008
How do you keep a potential half-billion social networkers current? A Viterbi School expert tackles the growth problems of one of the world's largest computing systems.
Prominent Viterbi Emeritus Keynotes Systems-of-Systems Conference
June 17, 2008
George Bekey drew on his vast experience in a wide range of engineering disciplines in his speech at the recent IEEE SOSE conference in Monterey, California
Charles L. Weber Appointed Professor Emeritus
June 17, 2008
A distinguished radar and communications technologist in the Ming Hsieh Department has been appointed professor emeritus in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the field.
2008 Millennium Technology Laureate Andrew J. Viterbi Feted in Finland
June 12, 2008
Nikias, Yortsos and Golomb journey with him to Helsinki to be part of events honoring the School's namesake and three illustrious colleagues.
Langdon Wins Honors from Both European and Chinese Academies
June 12, 2008
Terence G. Langdon has won a 2008 Blaise Pascal Medal for Material Science from the European Academy of Sciences, and will deliver the Lee Hsun Lecture at a Chinese Academy Institute of Materials Science
Horowitz to Chair Computer Science
June 10, 2008
Professor Ellis Horowitz will serve as interim chair of the Viterbi School's Department of Computer Science.
Mann Institute Establishes Fellowships for Viterbi PhD Candidates
June 05, 2008
Three Viterbi School doctoral students will have their careers generously supported for three years as recipients of Alfred E. Mann Innovation in Engineering Doctoral Fellowships.
Infosys Technologies Funds New Research Center at USC
June 04, 2008
The giant Bangalore-based IT company will partner with the Viterbi School to create a Center for Research & Education in Advanced Software Technologies on the USC campus
Astani Department Professor Building Bamboo Houses for Quake Victims
May 29, 2008
The Viterbi School's Yan Xiao, on sabbatical in China, has created a prototype of a sturdy, quick-to-build bamboo house designed to help the vast number of people made homeless by the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.
Viterbi CS Faculty Host World's Biggest Robotics Gathering
May 26, 2008
The organizers of the mammoth 2008 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation were all from Viterbi. An ISI robotics team took a top prize and a USC specialist in nanorobotics won a prestigious Pioneer Award.
Student Services Director Wins New USC Staff Award
May 23, 2008
Monica De Los Santos, director of Student Services in the Viterbi School's Admission and Student Affairs Office, has won the USC Outstanding Academic Advising Award.
Viterbi Molecular Robotics Expert Receives Pioneer Award
May 22, 2008
Aristides A.G. Requicha, holder of the Viterbi School's Gordon Marshall Chair, was honored for his career achievements May 23 at the world's largest gathering of robotics and automation researchers.
Viterbi professor elected editor of <i>Optics Letters</i>
May 22, 2008
Ming Hsieh professor Alan Willner to helm renowned publication in the optics field.
Viterbi student rises to vice-chairperson of NSBE
May 22, 2008
Electrical engineer Michael Johnson moves from regional chair to national Vice-Chairperson of the National Society of Black Engineers, continuing his upward trajectory and high level of involvement both within and without the school of engineering
USC Viterbi School Reaches $300 Million Fundraising Goal Ahead of Schedule
May 19, 2008
"Seven years ago we set a very lofty target...I am extremely pleased to tell you that as of the end of this March, our fundraising total stood at $300,955,609 in cash and pledges."
Commencement 2008
May 17, 2008
Parents, siblings, children and friends — some from across the globe — cheer 1,860 newly minted Viterbi School graduates, who have now become part of USC's global Trojan family.
Korean Air Students Learn on the Fly
May 16, 2008
Byeong Ho Gong and Chan K. Song were the first Viterbi Distance Education Network students to win M.S. degrees while studying outside the U.S.
Dr. Fariborz Maseeh Delivers Graduate Keynote Address
May 16, 2008
Microtechnology pioneer shares some personal experiences in risk taking, perseverance, competition and the role of money.
354 Students -- Including Two from Korea -- Receive DEN Degrees
May 16, 2008
The Viterbi School's Distance Education Network's largest-ever graduating class marked a 30 percent increase over 2007 — which had been 30 percent above 2006.
Ken Klein's Keynote Address
May 16, 2008
Ken Klein (BSMEE'82), benefactor of the Klein Institute of Undergraduate Engineering Life urges the Class of 2008 to follow their passion in life.
Commencement 2008: Kelly Nakamura, Viterbi's Valedictorian
May 15, 2008
Chemical engineering senior Kelly Nakamura was not only at the top of her class, but the Emma Josephine Bradley Bovard Awardee for having the highest GPA of all graduating senior women at USC.
GamePipe Lab Showcases Health Games, Phone Games and Fun Games
May 15, 2008
DemoDay6: Viterbi students demonstrate their original interactive games to industry representatives in the latest installment of what has become an instant USC tradition.
Commencement 2008: Julianne Gale, USC Valedictorian
May 14, 2008
A computer science graduating senior will represent the Viterbi School in university's main commencement ceremony.
Commencement 2008: Reed Doucette, USC Salutatorian
May 14, 2008
The Viterbi School graduating senior, Trojan basketball player and new Rhodes Scholar will be a salutatorian in the university's May 16 commencement ceremony.
Slowing Light to Speed Data: Viterbi School Wins $4.3 M DARPA Contract
May 14, 2008
Two prize-winning Hsieh department specialists hope to break a bottleneck that has long limited computing systems that use light - photons - instead of electronics for processing.
Viterbi School Honors Industry Leaders at 30th Annual Engineering Awards Ceremony
May 11, 2008
The School celebrates legendary scientist and engineer Simon Ramo, co-founder of TRW; an industry leader; and a Viterbi School alumna at its yearly engineering awards ceremony.
Outstanding Viterbi Students Honored
May 11, 2008
Graduating seniors and student leaders were recognized for their exceptional achievements in a special Viterbi Awards ceremony held on campus.
Fuzzy Logician Wins Excellence Award
May 08, 2008
Bart Kosko of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering was one of three recipients of an excellence award from the USC Faculty Senate.
Viterbi Undergrads Make Waves
May 08, 2008
In January, Ed Maby and Adam Fincham's students were given a two-word assignment: "Smart Surfboards." By May, they'd gone surfing.
A Closer Look at Runway Incursions
May 06, 2008
A USC presidential scholar and top ISE student wins a research grant to study human factors in airport safety at LAX.
Michael Safonov Elected IFAC Fellow
May 05, 2008
The Ming Hsieh Department professor is a leader in the field of robust control.
Viterbi School Computer Scientists Win Best Paper Award
May 05, 2008
Ramesh Govindan, chair of the Department of Computer Science and fifth-year doctoral student Nupur Kothari take top honors at a top-tier IEEE conference.
Student Recognition Awards for Viterbi Trio
May 05, 2008
Christopher Leung, John McArthur and Ramnath Shenoy are 2008 Viterbi recipients of USC Student Recognition Awards.
USC Viterbi School Graduate Named President of Major Korean University
May 05, 2008
Sonny Astani Department alumnus Sung Woo Lee has been named president of Kookmin University, a leader in information technology in South Korea.
Two ISE Students Win Rose Hills Research Fellowships
May 02, 2008
Two industrial and systems engineering undergraduates have received 2008 Science and Engineering Fellowships from the Rose Hills Foundation to support their research in aviation and railway safety.
2008 Viterbi School Faculty and Staff Awards
April 29, 2008
Dean Yortsos recognizes exceptional teaching, research and service in the Viterbi School in his annual "State of the School" speech and awards luncheon.
In Memoriam: Ahmed M. Abdel-Ghaffar (1947-2008)
April 28, 2008
An internationally known USC civil engineer, Abdel-Ghaffar specialized in the analysis and monitoring of long span flexible bridges.
Mini-Origami: ISI Folds Up Tiny Packages for Drug Delivery
April 28, 2008
Egypt has its great pyramids; Viterbi now has its micropyramids
Caltech’s President  Addresses Green Campus Initiatives
April 25, 2008
Noted civil engineer Jean-Lou Chameau delivers the inaugural lecture for the Astani Department’s new Dorman Distinguished Lecture series.
Six Viterbi Faculty Win USC-Mellon Mentoring Awards
April 24, 2008
Six engineering faculty are recognized for mentoring that made a difference in lives of fellow faculty and/or students.
New Directions in Nuclear Energy
April 23, 2008
Faculty and students meet with NRC representative to discuss changing priorities as global energy demands increase.
Chilingar Named Honorary Professor of Russian Oil and Gas University
April 22, 2008
The professor emeritus was recognized for his significant contributions, scholarly writings and teaching awards in the area of oil and gas field development.
Viterbi School and Seoul National University Begin New Collaboration in Electrical Engineering
April 22, 2008
The Viterbi School and Seoul National University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to begin collaborative programs in digital communications, image and video signal processing and other areas of electrical engineering.
China's Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Viterbi School Join Forces
April 16, 2008
University officials from the Shanghai institution have entered into a new partnership with the Viterbi School to develop collaborative student and faculty research programs.
DETER Wins 2008 Excellence.Gov Honor
April 15, 2008
The Viterbi school's cyberdefense lab partnership wins an American Council for Technology (ACT) national award
Viterbi School Hosts China's Tsinghua U. for Three-Day Conference
April 15, 2008
Engineering faculty and deans from USC and China's pre-eminent technical research institution will share ideas on the University Park campus beginning April 30.
April 14, 2008
Biomedical engineering students present their work at the 12th Annual Fred S. Grodins Graduate Research Symposium.
Ming Hsieh Professor Wins Award at Internet Workshop
April 14, 2008
Assistant Professor Konstantinos Psounis wins “Best and Most Compelling Presentation and Demonstration” at Stanford University workshop on the future of the Internet.
Rebuilding California's Infrastructure
April 12, 2008
“Becoming Part of California’s Rebuilding” was the theme of this year’s USC-Associated General Contractors 14th Annual Symposium at the Galen Center.
Epstein Department Co-Hosts Major Systems Engineering Conference
April 09, 2008
Viterbi faculty, students, and alumni were prominent and numerous in a series of recent major national and regional SAE events, including two at Davidson.
USC and National Taiwan University Sign Memorandum of Understanding
April 08, 2008
The new agreement will allow the institutions to develop collaborative academic programs, exchanges and internships.
The Artistic Side of Engineering
April 05, 2008
Viterbi undergraduates and faculty show off their artistic talents during the second annual spring art festival, sponsored by KIUEL.
Pings Lecture Addresses Peptide Materials Engineering
April 04, 2008
The Viterbi School's Mork Family Department hosts a new annual keynote lecture to honor the late provost and chemical engineer.
March 31, 2008
The Viterbi School is playing a $5.9 million part in a DARPA research effort to develop a sophisticated decision-aid system that can be deployed in the field.
Viterbi Dean earns SPE Award
March 31, 2008
Dean Yannis C. Yortsos receives the 2008 Western North America Reservoir Description and Dynamics Award from the Society of Petroleum Engineers Western North America Region.
Viterbi Nanowires Shine in Active Matrix Displays
March 31, 2008
Chongwu Zhou has helped create a brilliant, luminous active matrix display, the first ever made using transparent transistors and circuits.
Students Win with Ultrafine-Grained Materials Presentation
March 31, 2008
Viterbi graduate students are honored for poster displays at The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society’s annual conference in New Orleans.
ISI Grant Will Speed Access to Biomed Data
March 27, 2008
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences announces a $1 million grant to support efforts to expand and enhance NeuroScholar software.
Mork Family Department Ph.D. Student Wins Prestigious Fellowship
March 26, 2008
The Society of Petroleum Engineers has named Viterbi graduate student Hamid Jahangiri as recipient of the Nico Van Wingen Fellowship, an honor that bears the name of a former USC faculty member.
Viterbi Masters Candidate Rallies Student Coders to Aid the Disabled
March 25, 2008
In just over one year, Christopher Leung has brought together a volunteer student programming effort, supported by industry, that may soon have working software products
Epstein Lecturer Named New IIE Fellow
March 24, 2008
Daniel J. Epstein lecturer and active IIE Los Angeles president Ted Mayeshiba honored with select post as Fellow at the international engineers' organization.
Epstein Department Professor Caps
March 21, 2008
Massoud Dessouky's upcoming installation as a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers follows best paper and excellence in teaching awards.
Computer Science Faculty Member Wins ONR Young Investigator Award
March 18, 2008
David Kempe is part of an elite national group of junior faculty members who will receive up to $300,000 to fund their research.
Fluid Dynamics Scholar Tait Pottebaum Receives NSF CAREER Award
March 17, 2008
A five-year grant will advance the engineering professor's work to produce a new measurement technique for the development of next-generation microfluidic devices.
Sioutas Awarded New $1.12 Million Grant to Study Air Pollution
March 14, 2008
A new EPA-funded investigation will examine the amount of coarse particle pollution in specific parts of the Los Angeles Basin.
Viterbi School Opens the
March 10, 2008
A new facility for undergraduate students allows students create projects and get hands-on experience turning ideas into physical objects.
Viterbi School's Tom Katsouleas Named Duke University Dean of Engineering
March 06, 2008
The Viterbi School professor of electrical engineering is known for his cutting edge research to improve and miniaturize particle accelerators.
ISI Researcher, WIE Director, and Trustee Scholar named 'Remarkable Women'
March 06, 2008
Viterbi School's Yolanda Gil, Kate Baxter, and Robyn Strumpf are honored in an annual USC ceremony recognizing female excellence.
Westridge High Teens Get Inside Look at USC Engineering
March 05, 2008
Women In Engineering (WIE) Connect 2008 introduces girls to a bright future in science and technology.
Viterbi-CREATE Anti-Terror Program to Protect Airports Passes 6-month Review
March 04, 2008
A computer program to protect airports by making police operations more unpredictable performs well in recent trials.
Viktor Prasanna Receives Double Honors
March 03, 2008
The Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering professor wins the IEEE’s inaugural Computer Society Technical Committee on Parallel Processing Outstanding Service award, as well as a Best Paper award.
SUNY Buffalo to Honor Provost Nikias
March 03, 2008
USC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, C. L. Max Nikias, will receive the Clifford C. Furnas Award.
Sound Engineering from Edison to Viterbi
March 03, 2008
Jack Wolf, invited speaker for the Viterbi Distinguished Lecture, chronicled the evolution of audio storage from the days of Thomas Edison to the present.
Dean's List for Fall 2007
February 29, 2008
More than 500 Viterbi School undergraduates achieved a grade point average of 3.5 or higher in the Fall 2007 semester.
Leading Edge Vortex Allows Bats to Stay Aloft, Aerospace Professor Reports
February 29, 2008
Viterbi Professor Geoff Spedding reports in today's Science magazine how bats, like insects, are able to hover in mid-air.
Pie Tossing, Jousting and 'DiscoverE' Cap E-Week Activities
February 25, 2008
Viterbi School engineering students host a new community outreach program for middle schools, a Career Fair and an industry dinner seminar during this year's national E-Week celebration.
Engineering a <I>Mantra</I>
February 22, 2008
The Viterbi School's Chris Kyriakakis recently staged Karlheinz Stockhausen’s piano duet Mantra, at Disney Hall, utilizing the immersive audio technology he developed at USC. Mechanical Engineering junior Ilya Golosker, an editor of Illumin online magazine, attended.
Electrical Engineering Professor Michael Neely Wins NSF CAREER Award
February 22, 2008
The faculty member has won a three-year grant for his novel approach to solving delay problems in ad-hoc wireless networks.
Sensornets Go Off-the-Shelf
February 22, 2008
The Viterbi School's Information Sciences Institute is collaborating with UCLA's Center for Embedded Networked Sensing on a project aimed a putting networked sensors into the hands of a wide spectrum of non-specialist new users.
Nobel Laureate Delivers Munushian Lecture
February 21, 2008
Introduced by Hsieh Department Electrophysics Chair P. Daniel Dapkus, UCSB's Herbert Kroemer spoke on "Heterostructures: From Physics to Devices and Back (A Personal Perspective)."
Mork Department Spitzer Lecture: 'From Nature and Back Again'
February 20, 2008
Angela Belcher, a materials chemist at MIT, presented this year's Spitzer keynote lecture Jan. 20 on hybrid electronic and magnetic materials to Mork Department faculty, students and colleagues.
Bekey to Receive USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award
February 16, 2008
Celebrated robotics, computer science, electrical engineering and biomedical engineering pioneer George Bekey, a university professor emeritus in the Viterbi School, will receive the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award.
C. L. Max Nikias Named to the Highest Engineering Professional Academy
February 11, 2008
USC Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs C. L. Max Nikias is among the 65 new members elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
USC Viterbi Engineering Dean Elected to NAE
February 11, 2008
Yannis C. Yortsos named to the highest engineering professional academy.
Three Other Newly Elected Members of the National Academy of Engineering Are Part of the Viterbi Family
February 11, 2008
Alexis Livanos, Wanda Austin and John Martin have close Viterbi connections
Major AI Prize Named for ISI Alumnus
February 08, 2008
The International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems has just named its Best Student Paper Award after Pragnesh Jay Modi, who spent six years in ISI's Intelligent Systems Division.
Racetrack Doctor
February 06, 2008
When Santa Anita unveils its newly surfaced race track on Feb. 9, jockeys, trainers, owners and horses will thank Sonny Astani Department Chair Jean-Pierre Bardet for coming to the rescue.
What Gives Us Fingertip Dexterity?
February 06, 2008
In a novel experiment, a USC biomedical engineering professor examines the intricate circuitry between precision hand manipulation skills and specialized neural circuits in the brain.
Viterbi Researchers Demonstrate a Single-Chip CMOS Radar Camera
February 05, 2008
Two researchers from the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering present a chip that can detect radio frequency signals coming from 49 distinct angles; applications range from search and rescue to biomedical imaging.
Hsieh Department Chip Research Takes Top Paper Prize
February 04, 2008
A Viterbi School paper presented at last year's IEEE International Solid State Circuits Symposium has been voted the best of the 125 papers from the event, the major annual meeting in the subject.
Professor Amy Rechenmacher Wins NSF Early Career Award
January 30, 2008
The researcher becomes the fifth faculty member in the Sonny Astani Department to receive a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award.
Making (Accurate Predictions of) Waves
January 28, 2008
Costas Synolakis's review concludes that the 2004 Indian Ocean catastrophe was far from the worst possible in the area - and notes that warning systems are still lagging.
Golomb Named Distinguished Professor
January 28, 2008
Solomon W. Golomb of the Ming Hsieh Department has added to what may be USC's longest list of faculty honors with his appointment January 17 as Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Mathematics.
Epstein Department Chair James Moore Honored Twice
January 28, 2008
Moore is elected vice president and president-elect of the Transportation Science and Logistics Society and will receive the Pioneer Educator Award from the Orange County Engineering Council.
A Tough Act to Follow
January 26, 2008
Actor Alan Alda shares some tips with Viterbi School engineering students on the art of public speaking.
Straight to the Heart
January 25, 2008
USC researcher Constantinos Sioutas develops new technologies and exposure methods to investigate the link between air pollution and heart disease
Viterbi School Collaborates with Korean Air and General Electric Research Institute
January 24, 2008
USC faculty will work with colleagues at Korea Aerospace University in Seoul and Inha University in Incheon.
Chevron to Sponsor Viterbi School Energy Scholarships and Fellowships
January 17, 2008
At a brief January 17 ceremony, Chevron Vice President Warner Williams presented a check for $200,000 to Dean Yannis C. Yortsos of the Viterbi School of Engineering, establishing the 2008 Chevron-USC Scholarship and Fellowship Partnership Program.
Peter Staudhammer, 1934-2008
January 16, 2008
The former director and chief operating officer of the Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering at USC who was on the biomedical engineering faculty and a member of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering’s Board of Councilors was 73.
Mork and Astani Departments Honor 55 Years of Professorial Excellence
January 16, 2008
George Chilingar, an expert on petroleum engineering whose expertise is anchored by mastery of numerous related disciplines, who has been published in 65 books in numerous languages, who has oil fields named after him, was feted January 15 for his unprecedented duration of USC faculty membership.
A Better Way to Run Safety Net Hospitals
January 15, 2008
New study reveals dramatic improvements in patient flow at large safety net hospitals, based on the principles of industrial and systems engineering.
USC Hosts World's First Conference on Quantum  Error Correction
January 09, 2008
More than 120 experts from four continents assembled at USC for the first-ever conference on quantum error correction. The technique, first proposed in 1995, may be the key to computers with extraordinary capabilities.
IEEE Honors Viterbi Audio Maestro For Second Year in a Row
January 08, 2008
Tomlinson Holman, the Hsieh department faculty member whose THX system revolutionized sound in movie theaters, has again been recognized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his contributions to audio recording and reproduction.
Quantum Specialist Daniel Lidar Elected an APS Fellow
January 08, 2008
Citation notes Lidar's "contributions to the theory of decoherence control of open quantum systems for quantum information processing, especially the decoherence free subspace method."
Engineering Legend Si Ramo Accepts Appointment to the USC Faculty
January 08, 2008
Simon Ramo, the “R” in TRW and a founding member of the National Academy of Engineering, has accepted to an offer to join the faculty of the Viterbi School’s Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering.
George Bekey Delivers Commencement Address at Cal Poly
January 07, 2008
The National Academy of Engineering member says that knowledge alone will not bring happiness, satisfaction or meaningful lives.