2004

Dean C. L. Max Nikias, was quoted in a Time Magazine story about new homeland-security studies.

Computer scientists at the Viterbi School's Information Sciences Institute create a program to customize recipes and nutrition advice for food pantry patrons.

A CNET story carried by the New York Times takes note of Don Shemansky's Saturn research.

The New York Times examines USC Viterbi software inspired by neuroscience that is being rolled out commercially to fight gun-related crime.

In a strong viewpoint published in Engineering News Record, Dean C.L. Max Nikias tackles a major crisis in engineering education.

The Los Angeles Times reports that for the third year in a row, USC is the nation's leader in enrollment of international students. Viterbi School computer science graduate student Ashwin Bhatnagar, weighs in with his experience.

In the October issue of The Scientist, biomedical engineer Bartlett Mel’s work on the structure of neurons is adding to the overall picture of how the brain’s neural network functions. Mel’s insights are highlighted in this excerpt from a 10-page article.

The Mark and Mary Stevens Institute for Technology Commercialization (SITeC) will focus on technology commercialization as well as education initiatives in commercialization basics. SITeC will benefit all of USC, not just the USC Viterbi School where it will be housed.

Software created by USC Viterbi bioengineer Ted Berger based on neuronal information processing detects gunshots in urban environments.

"Robots are here but they clearly need a lot of work" is the judgement of USC Viterbi School veteran roboticist George Bekey, taking in the RoboNexus conference in Santa Clara.

Ted Berger, a biomedical engineer at the University of Southern California, wants to understand the cells' language because he is designing a computer chip that might one day bolster the brain's memory banks. The Berger story is the sixth one on the Newsweek webpage. Look for the picture of the chip.

Urban Resolve is a combat simulation on a massive scale, capable of modeling the behavior of the nearly 1 million entities — the soldiers, civilians, cars, tanks and and more. The US Joint Forces Command uses it to try out new tactics. The Viterbi School's Information Sciences Institute's Robert Lucas and Dan Davis played a key role in scaling it up to the million-vehicle level. Wired News reports.

Mechanical engineer Paul Ronney and his microscale “Swiss roll” combustion engines were featured in the Oct. 15 issue of L.A. Weekly. Ronney explained that pound for pound hydrocarbons are a fantastically compact source of energy. “A gallon of gas is the equivalent to about 500 pounds of batteries,” he said.

East West Woman magazine's November issue profiles the Viterbi School's engineer-musician, Elaine Chew.

In addition to his own article in Nature on the subject (see "Surf's Up"), the desktop accelerator work of electrical engineer Thomas Katsouleas and three other researchers is described in the same issue (September 30). "These results represent the most significant step so far in laser-based accelerators," he says in that story.

Electrical engineer Tom Katsouleas' survey article in the September 30, 2004 issue of Nature describes his work creating inexpensive "tabletop" particle accelerators, in which electrons and positrons surf waves generated by laser pulses in plasma.

Discover magazine’s October cover story — “The Myth of Mind Control” — features neuroscientist Ted Berger and his "brain chips."

The National Science Foundation throws a spotlight on USC's Behrokh Khoshnevis for building the "first wall ever constructed entirely by a machine."

USC Viterbi School and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center collaborate on new fluorescence spectroscopy imaging technology. See stories also in the following media:

• Medscape.com
• News Medical.net
• Spectroscopy Now

A comprehensive article in New Scientist feature's mechanical engineer Paul Ronney's tiny Swiss roll micro engine.

A USC Viterbi School by Professor Berokh Khoshnevis was featured on NBC-TV Nightly News with John Sieganthaler on June 27. Click Here for the Video

A USC Viterbi School team collaborates with Israel's Technion Medical School to unravel some of the secrets of neurons.

Newsweek highlights the Viterbi School's project to meld artificial intelligence and computer game to a high-tech Arabic tutor for special forces troops.

"Wei-Min Shen of the University of Southern California and his collegues described the robots.... Given the hazards of human space travel, they believe robots are the best bet for building structures in space."

Robots from the Viterbi School's Information Sciences Institute were the subject of an interview on Australian National Radio's "Buzz" science show. (Also, see a USC video on the research)

• Click Here for the Video Story (Quicktime is Required)
• Click Here to Listen to Peter Will on the Buzz on National Radio (Real Player Required)

Newsweek story describes Shri Narayanan's software for soothing the soul trapped in automated telephone systems

"A swarm of autonomous robots that can link together to slither, crawl, and even roll around obstacles has been created .... Wei-Min Shen, director of the polymorphic robotics laboratory at the University of Southern California said the robots were designed to operate in difficult environments."

Dean C. L. Max Nikias is interviewed by socalTech.com TechNews, a web and email newsletter aimed at the high tech community.

Iraj Ershaghi, head of the Viterbi School's Petroleum Engineering Program advocates bringing advanced technology to the U.S. oil patch.

According to a leading monitoring service, the institution garnering the highest percent increase in total citations in the field of Computer Science for the bimonthly period August-October 2003 was the USC Viterbi School, notes CS chair Gérard Medioni

The Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center (BMES ERC) reaches out to local schools.

Computer scientists from the Institute for Creative Technologies are recreating the splendor of the Parthenon.

Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz features IMSC's Skip Rizzo in a story on the use of virtual reality for psychological diagnosis and/or treatment.

Behrokh Khoshnevis' robotic construction system builds a wall. Homes could be next.

The AARP 2004 Impact Awards: School of Engineering Research Theodore Berger.

German magazine does article on Berokh Khoshnevis construction technology that "prints" houses.

USC's new Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems (BMES) Engineering Research Center (ERC) is the subject of a major feature in the February issue of Prism.

"Researchers at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles have shown that, in a laboratory dish at least, "nanopulses" can kill tumour cells.... Professor Tom Vernier, from the Los Angeles team, said: "The effects of these pulses are fairly dramatic. "We see it as reaching into the cell and manipulating internal structures..."

Tom Vernier is completing his PhD in electrical engineering. His collaborators at USC include Laura Marcu, Cheryl Craft and Martin Gundersen.

A breakfast meeting with the dean leads to James Flanigan's Sunday column on the economic impact of the Dept. of Homeland Security.

Aerospace engineer Don Shemansky and colleagues at JPL have an experiment on the Cassisni-Huygens mission to Saturn.

U.S. News & World Report profiles Roberta Diaz Brinton in "Best Minds -- People to Watch". Husband Ted Berger's brain research also highlighted.