On a Glorious Fall Day in Los Angeles…

… you can see the future! And this future will be led by the USC Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering in the Viterbi School, named on October 23, 2006 in a brilliant celebration on the USC campus. It was a celebration of the accomplishments and the marvel of the human mind, as shown by the illustrious history of electrical engineering at USC- and of the human spirit, as embodied in one man’s generosity.

Academic institutions cultivate the mind and the spirit. They demonstrate what it means to be human in the most fundamental way. And the better ones, like USC and our own Viterbi School, shape humanity’s future through discovery and creation.

One hundred years ago, electrical engineering gave birth to what is now the Viterbi School. In the century that ensued, it propelled the school, Southern California, and the nation forward with marvelous discoveries, new inventions and creative breakthroughs. Today, electrical engineering at USC is propelling the school to yet higher peaks, across time and across the globe.

The inexorable curiosity of the human mind has brought unprecedented changes throughout history, recently accelerated at an astonishing pace. Technology has evolved from a useful tool for humanity into an integral and enabling component of contemporary society. At this pace, the years ahead promise unimagined new vistas.

Indeed, like others, I believe that the 21st century will be the century of engineering. Electrical engineering will most surely lead the way: From communications to quantum computing to nanotechnology and to the development of imaginative partnerships with medicine, business, the arts and the humanities. And the shaping of this future has become that much more secure through the vision and generosity of Ming Hsieh. The second century of USC Engineering could not have started in a most exhilarating and auspicious way!

Ming’s thirst for knowledge and discovery led him to seek fulfillment in a far distant land, distant in geography and culture, from where he was born and raised, but close to his inner self. It is a story that has been played before and it is being repeated today, here and across this nation. Engineering schools in this country, and the Viterbi School in particular, have been welcoming receptacles of this quest. Indeed, as early as 1915, two among the eight USC engineering graduates were from Japan.

Like Andrew and Erna Viterbi, who also arrived in this land from across the oceans, Ming had to flee oppression to get here… And also like Viterbi, Ming produced innovations that changed his field and, I might add, contributed to making our world a safer place.

And, as often is the case, the harder the challenge, the greater the accomplishments, the stronger the impulse to give back! I invite you to read this fascinating story in the inside pages of this magazine.

When I was bestowed with the honor to be the dean of the school, I encapsulated the vision for the school in four sentences:

• First at USC
• A leader in the nation
• With constantly rising quality
• And excellence in all our endeavors

On that glorious fall day on the USC campus in October, the vision was crisp and clear.