On January 13, USC announced that Gary K. Michelson, a retired orthopaedic spinal surgeon and innovator, had donated $50 million to the university in order to fund the USC Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience. This new center, a collaboration between USC Viterbi and the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, will provide a space to develop transformative research at the intersection of engineering and the life and biomedical sciences. Below is a sampling of the media stories regarding Michelson's gift and the announcement of the new center at USC.

Behrokh Khoshnevis, professor of industrial and systems engineering as well as civil and environmental engineering, is creating a machine that will construct full-scale civil structures within hours -- that is, 3D-printing an entire building. Khoshnevis, also the Director of the Center for Rapid Automated Fabrication Technologies (CRAFT), is developing the technology that will make building a house within 24 hours possible, including conduits for electrical, plumbing, and air-conditioning. Below are some recent media stories that feature Khoshnevis and his Contour Crafting technology.

David Agus, a professor at USC Viterbi and the Keck School of Medicine of USC, recently published a book entitled, A Short Guide to a Long Life (Simon & Schuster). In the book, Agus offers health advice on longevity, including tips about vitamins and living arrangements. A Short Guide follows on the heels of his New York Times bestselling book, The End of Illness. Below is a sample of media appearances featuring Agus in discussion about his most recent book.

The Science Channel recently aired a six-part series about what the future might look like, based on current trends in science and engineering. The series, Futurescape, featured segments on a number of USC Viterbi researchers and their work:

• Gerald Loeb and Jeremy Fishel (alumnus) - A sensor (SynTouch's BioTac) that gives robots fine-motor skills similar to a human's.
• Alice Parker and Chongwu Zhou - A carbon nanotube circuit that mimics brain synapses.
• Behrokh Khoshnevis - A type of 3D printing (Contour Crafting) that can be used to construct buildings.
• Ted Berger - Computer chips implanted in the brain that can restore the ability to create memories.

A team of researchers, headed by USC Viterbi professor of civil and environmental engineering Constantinos Sioutas, discovered that a combination of rising unemployment and fuel costs in Greece has led to increased air pollution. The study by Sioutas and his team found that economic hardship is driving Greek citizens to burn low quality fuel such as wood and waste, which results in a dramatic increase in fine air particles which can cause long-term health problems. In some cases, the concentration of these particles rose 30 percent. Below is a sampling of the media stories that featured this study and its findings on the connection between the Greek financial crisis and increasing air pollution.