2014 USC Viterbi Faculty & Staff Awards Ceremony

Every spring, faculty and staff of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering gather to hear an account from the dean of the year's achievements at the school and celebrate colleagues singled out for exceptional achievements. The latest installment of this proud tradition took place in the traditional confines of Town and Gown on April 28.

"Each and every one of you has played an important role helping to transform USC Viterbi into one of nation’s best and most dynamic schools of engineering," Dean Yannis Yortsos said. "I am most grateful for your dedication and commitment."

He added: "This year we will be celebrating 10 years with the Viterbi name. It is truly remarkable how far we’ve come since 2004. All these exciting developments are indicators that USC Viterbi is competing and among the top schools in the world in today’s unprecedented times. Indeed, in the words of the late NAE President Chuck Vest: '“We live in the most exciting era for science and technology in human history.”'

The dean also highlighted the excitement surrounding many of USC Viterbi's recent notable achievements:

• Since 2009, seven USC Viterbi faculty members were selected as TR 35 young innovators, "the world's 35 top innovators under the age of 35." In that period, no other engineering school in the world had as many faculty members with this distinction.
• Five junior faculty members, Mike Chen, Burcin Becerik, Shaddin Dughmi, Ethan Katz-Bassett, and Justin Haldar won NSF Career Awards. Only two other engineering schools (much larger in size) have claimed as many.
• Since 2008 nine USC faculty were inducted in the NAE, which admits about 35 new members from the academy each year. This year’s inductees were Iraj Ershaghi, Professor in MFD, and Geraldine Knatz, Professor of Practice in the Astani Department.
• For the second year in a row, USC Viterbi was ranked No. 1 in the US News & World Report rankings for Online Graduate Computer Information Technology Programs.
• USC Games (a collaboration with the School of Cinematic Arts) was named the No. 1 games program by The Princeton Review for the fifth consecutive year.

At the event, distinguished faculty and staff received awards recognizing their important contributions to USC Viterbi. Here are the winners of 2014 Viterbi Faculty and Staff Awards:
 

(L-R) Gina Keller, Northrop Grumman director and project manager; Jay Kuo, Northrop Grumman Excellence in Teaching Award recipient; Dean Yannis Yortsos

(L-R) John O'Brien, executive vice dean of engineering; Yu-Han Chang and Rajiv Maheswaran, Use-Inspired Research Team Award recipients; Dean Yannis Yortsos

(L-R) John O'Brien, executive vice dean of engineering; Malancha Gupta receiving the Junior Research Award; Dean Yannis Yortsos

Sandra Johns, Dean's Staff Award for Serivce recipient