Viterbi Faculty Directory

Biography

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Elisabeth Arnold Weiss is an Associate Professor of Technical Communication Practice at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Engineering in Society Program, where she has served on the faculty for 26 years. She teaches Advanced Writing and Communication for Engineers, focused on character transformation, technology ethics, and engineering for social impact. She has also taught the communication courses for Ph.D. students, the overseas program, and Freshman Academies. She developed the cross-cultural and global community building components of the Industrial and Systems Engineering global innovation course, and is part of the instructor team for the Human Performance, Resilience, and Leadership, and Safety Management Systems courses in the Viterbi Aviation Safety and Security Program.

Elisabeth is currently a Fellow with Virtues & Vocations, a national forum reimagining character education in the professions, sponsored by the Kern Family Foundation and a grant recipient from the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University, sponsored by the Lily Endowment, to develop an advanced character building lab.

Elisabeth leads the Improv for Engineers co-curricular partnership with the USC School of Dramatic Arts, to infuse theater arts techniques into engineering communication and expression. She served as P.I. on the multidisciplinary grant project Improv for Engineers Master Class in VR, sponsored by the Engineering Information Foundation, and continues to develop immersive educational experiences through the creation of the ViterbiVerse and as part of Connected Futures, a USC coalition innovating in spatial computing.

Elisabeth has formed long-standing outreach partnerships with The Accelerated Schools and AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles and built ATLAS, a community engaged learning project focused on social impact, sustainability, and societal readiness. She is a frequent faculty contributor to Viterbi K-12 STEM Center programs.

She founded TEAM, Athletes Mindset for Engineers, with USC Athletics to promote human excellence across physical and mental domains through character development and the Keys to Life series with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life to foster student success and well-being though purpose. She founded the DREAM Industry Mentorship speaker series to cultivate leadership and exemplar-ship for pre professionals and “A Board of Trustees for every Student” to provide mentorship at scale.

She is the recipient of the USC Mentoring Award in 2024, the USC General Education Writing Award in 2022, and the Viterbi Dean’s Award for Innovation in Teaching and Education in 2019.

She is the current Chair of the American Society for Engineering Education Pacific Southwest region Executive Board. She serves on the faculty advisory board of the Viterbi John Brooks Slaughter Center, and as the Associate Director of Partnership and Outreach for the Viterbi iPodia Program.

Elisabeth joined the faculty at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1999 and was previously an instructor at Harvey Mudd College. She holds degrees in literature, film, and sociology from the University of Virginia and Claremont Graduate University.