Health

Advance Health Informatics: Stronger health information systems not only improve everyday medical visits, but they are essential to counter pandemics and biological or chemical attacks.

Engineer Better Medicines: Engineers are developing new systems that use genetic information, sense small changes in the body, assess new drugs, and deliver vaccines.

Reverse-Engineer the Brain: The intersection of engineering and neuroscience promises great advances in health care, manufacturing, and communication.

•    Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems (BMES) Engineering Research Center: Developing biomimetic devices and prostheses; reverse-engineering parts of the brain (Mark Humayun, Gerald Loeb, Theodore Berger, Ellis Meng).

•    Biomedical Simulations Resource (BMSR): Using computational engineering tools to solve biomedical phenomena (David D’Argenio, Vasilis Marmarelis).

•    Center for Genomic and Phenomic Studies in Autism: Survey and build world’s largest database of genetic, physical and behavioral profiles of children with autism (Clara Lajonchere, Constantinos Sioutas).

•    Resource Center for Medical Ultrasonic Transducer Technology: Developing new UV imaging technologies for disease detection and treatment (K. Kirk Shung).

•    Center for Health Informatics (CHI): Creating a global computing platform for the exchange of health information (Carl Kesselman, Stephan Erberich).

•    Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN): Facilitating biomedical data-sharing (Carl Kesselman).

Energy and the Environment

Make Solar Energy Economical: Solar energy provides less than 1% of the world's total energy, but it has the potential to provide much, much more.

Develop Carbon Sequestration Methods: Engineers are working on ways to capture and store excess carbon dioxide to prevent global warming.
 
•    CiSoft (Center for Smart Oilfield Technologies): Using information technologies to improve oil production and discovery (Iraj Ershaghi).

•    Solar power: Applications of nanoscience to solar and lighting (P. Daniel Dapkus, Chongwu Zhou).

•    Developing CO2 sequestration techniques (Dongxiao “Don” Zhang and Kristian Jessen).

•    Combustion, fuel cell technology, alternative fuels, nanopulse power for efficient combustion (Fokion Egolfopoulos, Martin Gundersen).

Security

Prevent Nuclear Terror: The need for technologies to prevent and respond to a nuclear attack is growing.

Secure Cyberspace: It’s more than preventing identity theft. Critical systems in banking, national security, and physical infrastructure may be at risk.

•    USC Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE): Studies of nuclear, chemical, biological threats to major urban centers, airports and harbors (Isaac Maya).

•    Information Sciences Institute’s DETER (Defense Technology Experimental Research) program: Developing systems to prevent cyber attacks and develop countermeasures (Clifford Neuman, John Wroclawski, Jelena Mirkovic, Terry Benzel). 

•    Wireless network research (John Heidemann, Bhaskar Krishnamachari, Konstantinos Psounis, Michael Neely, Urbashi Mitra, Wei Ye, Robert Scholtz).

•    Computer architecture, computer engineering, coding and networking (Clifford Neuman, Yigal Arens, John Wroclawski, Bob Braden, Craig Knoblock, Ted Faber, Jelena Mirkovic).

•    Center for Computer System Security: Overseeing programs to build new computer security systems and virus detection software (Clifford Neuman).

Megacities

Personalized Learning

Advance Personalized Learning: Instruction can be individualized based on learning styles, speeds, and interests to make learning more reliable.

Enhance Virtual Reality: True virtual reality creates the illusion of actually being in a difference space. It can be used for training, treatment, and communication.

•    USC Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC): Developing immersive visualization technologies for geospatial decision-making (James Baker, Ulrich Newmann, Cyrus Shahabi).

•    USC GamePipe Laboratory: Supporting serious games research and development (Michael Zyda).

•    Developing Web-based education systems, multimedia, intelligent tutoring systems and interactive digital media (Shrikanth Naryanan).

•    Personalized game-based learning research (Victor Lacour, Dennis McLeod, Margaret McLaughlin).

•    Technology-assisted learning for children and adults with special needs (Maja J. Mataric, Shirkanth Narayanan).

•    Improving K-12 tools and outcomes (Dan Davis, Robert Lucas, Maja J. Mataric, Gigi Ragusa).

Engineer the Tools of Scientific Discovery

•    Distributed networks of sensors and robots for aquatic, forest and other environmental monitoring and charactarization (Gaurav Sukhatme, John Heidermann).