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Events for the 4th week of August
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)Mon, Aug 22, 2022 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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CS Undergraduate Live Chat Drop-in Advisement
Mon, Aug 22, 2022 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
CS Advisors will be available on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays this fall from 1:30pm to 2:30pm to assist undergraduates in our four majors (CSCI, CSBA, CSGA, and CECS) via Live Chat. Access the live chat through our website at https://cs.usc.edu/chat
Location: Live Chat on Website
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: USC Computer Science
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Mon, Aug 22, 2022 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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PhD Thesis Proposal - Christopher Birmingham
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 @ 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Candidate: Christopher Birmingham
Title: Multiparty Human-Robot Interaction: Methods For Facilitating Social Support
Date: 08/23/33 (Tuesday)
Time: 10am
Virtual Only
Zoom URL: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93201030723
Committee:
Maja Mataric
Mohammad Soleymani
Lynn Miller
Jesse Thomason
Stefanos Nikolaidis
Abstract:
Socially assistive robot (SAR) systems have the potential to improve group dynamics in social settings by facilitating social support among group members. This dissertation presents a framework for SAR facilitation of social support in the context of support groups, short, repeated group interactions in which group members provide a unique type of social support made possible by shared or similar experiences of the group members. This framework is designed to encourage group members to build trust in each other through a combination of personal disclosure and empathetic responses. Within this framework the robot facilitates social support through either role-modeling empathy and disclosure or directing and encouraging group members to give their own disclosures and empathetic responses. Facilitating social support in multiparty interactions is a novel challenge for SAR that requires sensing individuals' affect, understanding multiparty turn dynamics, and acting in a socially appropriate manner for improving social support among the group. This dissertation aims toward multiple contributions, including: novel methods for measuring social support, including computational models of empathy, disclosure, and trust; a social facilitator framework for autonomous SAR facilitation based on role modeling and directing group member social support; and turn taking methods utilizing active speaker detection and turn taking prediction for modeling multiparty turn dynamics. Together, this work aids the understanding of methods a SAR agent could use to facilitate social support in group contexts.
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/93201030723
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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Resume Workshop
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 @ 12:00 PM - 01:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
THIS EVENT WILL BE HOSTED HYBRID: IN-PERSON & ONLINE SIMULTANEOUSLY
Does your resume highlight the skills that will land an interview? Review tips and tricks on how to best showcase yourself to employers by attending this professional development Q&A moderated by Viterbi Career Connection staff. Have your resume ready to take notes and make modifications in real-time!
To access the ZOOM link and for more information on this workshop, log into Viterbi Career Gateway>> Events>>Workshops: https://shibboleth-viterbi-usc-csm.symplicity.com/sso/
For more information about all workshops, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
For In-Person: Attendance is limited to room capacity
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 211
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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CS Undergraduate Live Chat Drop-in Advisement
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
CS Advisors will be available on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays this fall from 1:30pm to 2:30pm to assist undergraduates in our four majors (CSCI, CSBA, CSGA, and CECS) via Live Chat. Access the live chat through our website at https://cs.usc.edu/chat
Location: Live Chat on Website
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: USC Computer Science
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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[Virtual] First-Year Admission Information Session
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Our virtual information session is a live presentation from a USC Viterbi admission counselor designed for high school students and their family members to learn more about the USC Viterbi undergraduate experience. Our session will cover an overview of our undergraduate engineering programs, the application process, and more on student life. Guests will be able to ask questions and engage in further discussion toward the end of the session.
Register Here!
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Women in STEM Virtual Career Fair (Virtual, External)
Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 08:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
Women in STEM Virtual Career Fair
8am - 12pm
Virtual / RSVP HERE: https://www.careereco.com/Fair/EventDetails?fairId=31526f32-6296-4b99-b9f1-aea901559809
Vault / Firsthand is hosting a national career fair for Women in Stem in late August that is targeting students and candidates seeking internships, entry level roles and lateral opportunities.
Companies such as Abbott, Trinity and Infosys, among many others, will be showcasing content in different virtual rooms, posting job opportunities and actively interacting with students and professionals.
It is completely free for USC students to participate and a great way to get a jumpstart on learning about and securing internships or entry level employment early in the academic year.
External employer-hosted events and activities are not affiliated with the USC Viterbi Career Connections Office. They are posted on Viterbi Career Connections because they may be of interest to members of the Viterbi community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate USC sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event. It is the participants responsibility to apply due diligence, exercise caution when participating, and report concerns to vcareersLocation: Virtual Platform
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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Computer Science General Faculty Meeting
Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Receptions & Special Events
Bi-Weekly regular faculty meeting for invited full-time Computer Science faculty only. Event details emailed directly to attendees.
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526 - Hybrid
Audiences: Invited Faculty Only
Contact: Assistant to CS chair
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CS Undergraduate Live Chat Drop-in Advisement
Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
CS Advisors will be available on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays this fall from 1:30pm to 2:30pm to assist undergraduates in our four majors (CSCI, CSBA, CSGA, and CECS) via Live Chat. Access the live chat through our website at https://cs.usc.edu/chat
Location: Live Chat on Website
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: USC Computer Science
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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AME Seminar
Wed, Aug 24, 2022 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Michaëlle N. Mayalu, Stanford University
Talk Title: Control Theoretic Applications for Biomedical Therapeutics
Abstract: The body uses feedback control strategies at intermolecular, intercellular and interorgan levels to maintain health and fight disease. Using mathematical models to understand and predict these control strategies gives insight into a wide array of biomedical applications ranging from engineered cell-based therapies to diet-based modulation of brain function.
For engineered cell-based therapies, cooperative feedback control of cell population density is an integral part in many genetic designs. In this multicellular coordination problem, control action takes place on two levels: i) individual cells can activate or repress relevant genes, ii) cells can access the ensemble state of the entire population as obtained through diffusible signaling molecules. These genetically altered cells can provide new and improved functionalities and act as smart therapies to make decisions based on intercellular communication and the environment. However, previous population controller genetic designs are not robust to mutational invasions.
For diet-based modulation of brain function, diet can initiate multiple interorgan feedback control systems that effect brain signaling and contribute to cognitive performance. Specifically, diet-mediated gut microbial signals influence nervous, immune, and bloodstream pathways which connect to memory function within the brain. It is desired to use diet to modulate gut microbiota as a novel therapy for maintaining cognitive performance. However, relationships between diet, changes in gut microbiota, activation of interorgan pathways, and alterations in brain signaling are not well understood.
In this talk I present mathematical frameworks from an integrated control theoretic, computational biology and healthcare perspective that: i) characterize genetic designs for robust feedback control of cell population and ii) elucidate the connections between diet and cognitive performance. These modeling frameworks share the underlying structure where communication between agents contribute to the prediction of a collective response. In healthcare contexts, this allows for better understanding and manipulation of the connection between therapeutic targets and dominant patterns within the biological process. Using these models, we further analyze internal mechanisms, performance properties, and derive general design principles and functional relationships in the context of the aforementioned biomedical therapies.
Biography: Michaelle N. Mayalu is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. She received her Ph.D., M.S., and B.S., degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in the Computing and Mathematical Sciences Department. She was a 2017 California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellowship Program recipient and a 2019 Burroughs Wellcome Fund Postdoctoral Enrichment Program award recipient.
Dr. Michaëlle N. Mayalu's area of expertise is in mathematical modeling and control theory of synthetic biological and biomedical systems. She is interested in the development of control theoretic tools for understanding, controlling, and predicting biological function at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels to optimize therapeutic intervention.
She is the director of the Mayalu Lab whose research objective is to investigate how to optimize biomedical therapeutic designs using theoretical and computational approaches coupled with experiments. Initial project concepts include: i) theoretical and experimental design of bacterial "microrobots" for preemptive and targeted therapeutic intervention, ii) system-level multi-scale modeling of gut associated skin disorders for virtual evaluation and optimization of therapy, iii) theoretical and experimental design of "microrobotic" swarms of engineered bacteria with sophisticated centralized and decentralized control schemes to explore possible mechanisms of pattern formation. The experimental projects in the Mayalu Lab utilize established techniques borrowed from the field of synthetic biology to develop synthetic genetic circuits in E. coli to make bacterial "microrobots". Ultimately the Mayalu Lab aims to develop accurate and efficient modeling frameworks that incorporate computation, dynamical systems, and control theory that will become more widespread and impactful in the design of electro-mechanical and biological therapeutic machines.
Website: https://mayalulab22.sites.stanford.edu/
Host: AME Department
More Info: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09Location: Seaver Science Library (SSL) - 202
WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/98775609685?pwd=a2lSd01oY0o2KzA4VWphbGxjWk5Qdz09
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Tessa Yao
Event Link: https://ame.usc.edu/seminars/
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alberto Guadagnini, Politecnico di Milano
Talk Title: Stochastic assessment of hydrogeological and geochemical variables exhibiting multiscale spatial heterogeneity
Abstract: See attachment
Biography: See attachment
Host: Prof. Felipe de Barros
More Information: Alberto Guadagnini-8-25-22 Speaker.pdf
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
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How the Pandemic Has Changed Healthcare - Seminar Talk Series
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 12:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Paul Simon, MD, MPH (Chief Science Officer, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health) *More speakers to be announced, Moderator TBD*
Talk Title: How the Pandemic Changed Public Health
Host: Daniel J. Epstein Dept. of Industrial & Systems Engineering, USC Keck, and USC Price
More Info: Please register at: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5TAO7KHxRZy26IebQQHcYw
More Information: How the Pandemic Changed Healthcare 8 2022.pdf
Location: Online/Zoom
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Grace Owh
Event Link: Please register at: https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5TAO7KHxRZy26IebQQHcYw
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PhD Defense - Chi Zhang
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 01:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
University Calendar
PhD Candidate: Chi Zhang
Title: Acceleration of Deep Reinforcement Learning: Efficient Algorithms and Hardware Mapping
zoom meeting ID: 243 580 6897
Committee:
Dr. Viktor Prasanna (chair)
Dr. Aiichiro Nakano (CS department)
Dr. Paul Bogdan (Non-CS department)
Abstract:
Despite the recent success of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) in game playing, robotics manipulation and data center cooling, training DRL agents takes a tremendous amount of time and computation resources. This is because it requires collecting a large amount of data by interacting with the environment and a large amount of policy updates via Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) to converge.
To reduce the amount of data to collect, existing work adopts model-based DRL that learns a world model using the data collected by interacting with the environment. Then, it uses the world model to generate synthetic data to perform policy updates. State-of-the-art approaches generate synthetic data by uniformly sampling initial states. This generates a large amount of similar data and makes each policy update less efficient. To accelerate performing policy updates, state-of-the-art hardware mappings of DRL propose efficient customized hardware designs on FPGA. However, most of the work is only applicable for a specific range of input parameters. To further increase the speed to perform policy updates when the input batch size of the neural network is large, existing works split the input batch into multiple sub-batches and adopt multiple learners to process each sub-batch on a learner concurrently. However, the synchronization overhead including data transfer and gradient averaging significantly impairs the scalability of existing approaches.
In this work, we address these limitations by developing efficient algorithms and hardware mappings. First, we propose Maximum Entropy Model Rollouts (MEMR) that generates diverse synthetic data by prioritized sampling of the initial states such that the entropy of the generated synthetic data is maximized. We mathematically derived the maximum entropy sampling criteria assuming that the synthetic data distribution is Gaussian. To accomplish this criteria, we utilize a Prioritized Replay Buffer. Second, we propose a framework for mapping DRL algorithms with a Prioritized Replay Buffer onto heterogeneous platforms consisting of a multi-core CPU, a GPU and a FPGA. We develop specific accelerators for each primitive on CPU, FPGA and GPU. Given a DRL algorithm input parameters, our design space exploration automatically chooses the optimal mapping of various primitives based on an analytical performance model.
Finally, we propose Scalable Policy Optimization (SPO) that improves the scalability of existing multi-learner DRL by reducing the synchronization overhead via local Stochastic Gradient Descent. Our experimental evaluations on widely used benchmark environments suggest i) MEMR reduces the number of policy updates to converge compared with state-of-the-art model-based DRL; ii) our framework for hardware mapping achieves superior policy updates per second compared with other mapping methods; iii) SPO achieves nearly linear scalability as the number of learners increases.
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Lizsl De Leon
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CS Undergraduate Live Chat Drop-in Advisement
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
CS Advisors will be available on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays this fall from 1:30pm to 2:30pm to assist undergraduates in our four majors (CSCI, CSBA, CSGA, and CECS) via Live Chat. Access the live chat through our website at https://cs.usc.edu/chat
Location: Live Chat on Website
Audiences: Undergrad
Contact: USC Computer Science
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Civil and Environmental Engineering Seminar
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Conferences, Lectures, & Seminars
Speaker: Alberto Guadagnini, Politecnico di Milano
Talk Title: Stochastic assessment of hydrogeological and geochemical variables exhibiting multiscale spatial heterogeneity
Abstract: See attachment
Biography: See attachment
Host: Prof. Felipe de Barros
Location: Ronald Tutor Hall of Engineering (RTH) - 526
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Salina Palacios
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New & Continuing MS Student Group Advising Session (CSCI/DSCI)
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 03:30 PM - 04:30 PM
Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science
Workshops & Infosessions
If you are a New or Continuing MS student in the Computer Science Department or Data Science Program and have any questions or need assistance, please join us for today's optional group advising session via zoom. Access instructions will be sent to students directly. Note: D-clearance is not granted during advisement sessions. All requests for d-clearance must go through the myViterbi portal.
Location: Zoom
Audiences: Graduate
Contact: USC Computer Science
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[Virtual] First-Year Admission Information Session
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Undergraduate Admission
Workshops & Infosessions
Our virtual information session is a live presentation from a USC Viterbi admission counselor designed for high school students and their family members to learn more about the USC Viterbi undergraduate experience. Our session will cover an overview of our undergraduate engineering programs, the application process, and more on student life. Guests will be able to ask questions and engage in further discussion toward the end of the session.
Register Here!
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Viterbi Admission
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Gateway Lab Workshop
Thu, Aug 25, 2022 @ 04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Viterbi School of Engineering Career Connections
Workshops & Infosessions
THIS EVENT WILL BE HOSTED VIRTUALLY
Take part in a live tutorial to help you navigate Viterbi Career Gateway, a powerful job and internship search tool available ONLY to Viterbi students.
To access the ZOOM link and for more information on this workshop, log into Viterbi Career Gateway>> Events>>Workshops: https://shibboleth-viterbi-usc-csm.symplicity.com/sso/
To access more information on all workshops, please visit viterbicareers.usc.edu/workshops.
Location: ZOOM
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: RTH 218 Viterbi Career Connections
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USC Friends and Neighbors Day!
Sat, Aug 27, 2022 @ 08:00 AM - 12:00 PM
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Student Activity
Represent Viterbi at Friends and Neighbors Day hosted by the Volunteer Center on Saturday August 27th! Meet other Trojans with similar interests and get involved in the local community! Breakfast, transportation, and a free t-shirt will be provided.
Register for Friends and Neighbors Day!
Location: Various Locations
Audiences: Everyone Is Invited
Contact: Noe Mora
