Graduate Research News > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

Chimpanzees are found from Western Africa across the continent to East Africa. At one time, there were 50,000 or more chimps in Uganda. Now there are about 5,000 as a result of logging, the encroachment of villages, trapping, snare devices and other reasons. Photo by Craig Stanford.

Into the Forest

October 8, 2012

In late September, USC Dornsife Ph.D. student Maureen McCarthy traveled 9,000 miles from Los Angeles to Hoima, Uganda, to begin a year devoted to collecting chimpanzee poop. While that may seem like an unusual way to spend a… more>

categories: graduate, graduate research, diversity, graduate diversity

tags: africa, biological sciences, craig stanford, field research, maureen mccarthy, natural sciences, usc jane goodall research center

USC Dornsife's Laura Pulido stands near the gravesite of Owen Brown in the hills of Altadena, Calif., one of the sites in her new guidebook, <em>A People's Guide to Los Angeles</em>. Photo by Laura Paisley.

L.A.’s Vernacular Landscapes

October 8, 2012

There is a tendency among my friends in Chicago, where I lived for the past eight years, to not see a Los Angeles beyond the Hollywood glitz and the tales of horrible traffic and bodily artificiality. And before making L.A.… more>

categories: faculty research, graduate research, diversity, faculty diversity

tags: american studies and ethnicity, geography, laura pulido, los angeles, publication, social science

The Arch of Sorrow marking the entrance to the museum built on the site of The Akmolinsk Camp for the Wives of the Traitors of the Fatherland (ALZHIR). Photo by Azade-Ayse Rorlich.

Steppes Ahead

October 1, 2012

Descending from the upholstered comfort of their van into the vast, windswept steppe of Northern Kazakhstan, six USC Dornsife students gazed about them at an abandoned guard tower and the futuristic-looking Arch of Sorrow… more>

categories: faculty research, undergraduate research, graduate research

tags: azade-ayse rorlich, history, humanities, kazakhstan, problems without passports, slavic languages and literatures

Last year, eight short films were entered in USC's first science-themed movie competition, organized by Clifford Johnson, professor of physics and astronomy in USC Dornsife. Shown here are stills from the films. Courtesy of Clifford Johnson.

Cinematic Science

September 25, 2012

Looking for an innovative, interdisciplinary classroom project? Now is the time for professors in all USC schools to motivate their students to enter the 2012 Science Film Competition. The deadline for competition… more>

categories: undergraduate, graduate, faculty research, undergraduate research, graduate research

tags: clifford johnson, humanities, interdisciplinary, kevin le, science film competition, usc school of cinematic arts

Quantum magnets and other occurrences in quantum mechanics could set the stage for the next big breakthroughs in computing, alternative energy and transportation technologies such as magnetic levitating trains. USC Dornsife's Stephan Haas has co-authored a study in <em>Nature</em> that moves the research forward. iStockphoto by Nick Schlax.

Breaking the Rules

September 21, 2012

Former and current USC Dornsife physicists have led a study that represents the first, quantitative account of the universal features of disordered bosons — or quantum particles — in magnetic materials. The study… more>

categories: research, faculty research, graduate research

tags: natural sciences, nature magazine, quantum physics, rong yu, stephan haas

Don Arnold, associate professor of molecular and computational biology in USC Dornsife, was a lead researcher on a recent article appearing in <em>Cell Reports</em> about a new imaging technique. Photo by Jie Gu.

Video Illuminates a Brain Cell

August 27, 2012

Using bioluminescent proteins from a jellyfish, a team of scientists has lit up the inside of a neuron, capturing video footage that shows the movement of proteins throughout the cell. The video offers a rare peek at how… more>

categories: research, faculty research, graduate research

tags: biology, don arnold, molecular biology, natural sciences, sarmad al-bassam

Frank Alber, associate professor of biological sciences in USC Dornsife, has won the 2012 Beckman Young Investigators Award. Photo by Pamela J. Johnson.

Alber Receives Beckman Young Investigators Award

August 24, 2012

Frank Alber, newly tenured associate professor of biological sciences in USC Dornsife, has been honored with the prestigious 2012 Beckman Young Investigators Award, given to only five recipients this year. He is set to receive… more>

categories: research, faculty research, graduate research

tags: 3-d genome structure, beckman young investigators award, biology, frank alber, grant

Saving an Endangered Language

August 14, 2012

As the old school bus wound its way through the steep mountain passes, the students gazed out the windows at the lush, tropical topography unfolding before them. At the outskirts of the village, the bus shuddered to a halt at… more>

categories: undergraduate, graduate, research, faculty research, undergraduate research, graduate research

tags: atayal, humanities, khalil iskarous, language, linguistics, problems without passports, pwp, social sciences, taiwan, travel

"We want undergraduates, graduates and colleagues not to take their visual surroundings for granted. And to think intelligently and questioningly about what use we make of images. And, in a sense, the use that images make of us." - Kate Flint, Provost Professor of English and Art History, leader of the USC Dornsife 2020 research cluster “Seeing 20/20: The USC Visual Studies Research Institute."

The Future...Not What It Used to Be

August 2, 2012

USC Dornsife 2020 calls for professors to identify a theme of great societal importance for years to come and form research groups to investigate solutions. Each cluster includes faculty, undergraduate and graduate students,… more>

categories: undergraduate, graduate, research, faculty research, undergraduate research, graduate research, diversity, faculty diversity

tags: ange-marie hancock, antonio damasio, center for the study of immigrant integration, humanities, john monterosso, kate flint, manuel pastor, natural sciences, research clusters, social science, visual studies graduate certificate, wendy wood

Lee Crystal (MLS '12) shakes hands with Jim Kincaid (right), Aerol Arnold Chair in English and Professor of English, and chair of the MLS Faculty Board in USC Dornsife, after Crystal presented his research at the international symposium. Nita Kincaid looks on. Photo by Emily Loynachan.

USC Dornsife’s Master of Liberal Studies Program Hosts International Symposium

July 16, 2012

Under an umbrella in the Ronald Tutor Campus Center courtyard, students from USC Dornsife’s Master of Liberal Studies (MLS) program traded spirited ideas about Friedrich Nietzsche’s “God is Dead”… more>

categories: graduate, research, faculty research, graduate research, alumni

tags: alumni, edwin mccann, english, humanities, jim kincaid, master of liberal studies, mls, nietzsche, philosophy, susan kamai, symposium

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