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

Devoting mornings to what he calls “the carpentry” of writing, in which he frames and builds on ideas, Kirk DeMicco ’91 admits that creativity is hard work. However, <em>The Croods</em> director also relies on his subconscious to find unexpected solutions to creative challenges. Photo by Max S. Gerber.

Crood Awakening

May 7, 2013

As the drum rhythm and stirring horns build in intensity, the high adrenaline chase gathers momentum as the Crood family hunts down and steals a giant, blue-and-orange-speckled egg from a ramu — a hybrid of ram and emu… more>

categories: alumni, usc dornsife magazine

tags: alumni, dreamworks animation, kirk dimicco, movies

Peter La Chapelle ’02 takes a cue from Woody Guthrie and finds his own way to persevere.

In My Opinion

May 7, 2013

Most historians start off not with a rich vein of sources, but with some basic information and a hunch. That is where historical imagination makes its entrance. R.G. Collingwood’s turn of phrase “historical… more>

categories: alumni, usc dornsife magazine

tags: alumni, history, peter la chapelle, woody guthrie

Through Ann Crigler’s “Civic Engagement and Leadership” course, USC Dornsife students teach children how to raise funds for community organizations benefiting homeless shelters, animal rescue groups, community gardens, senior centers and other causes. Illustration by Roger Chouinard.

Positive Change

May 7, 2013

Fifth grader Gillian Morgan explained why her class decided to raise money to help the homeless. “First we were talking about our own families and what they mean to us, then we talked about people living on the streets… more>

categories: undergraduate, diversity, community engagement, usc dornsife magazine

Historian Deborah Harkness breathes life into the mysteries of the past by embroidering fiction onto gaps in the historical record. At the centerpiece of her <em>All Souls Trilogy</em> of books is the perplexing, real-life manuscript Ashmole 782, originally donated to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University in 1858. Photo by John Livzey.

The Dark of Harkness

May 7, 2013

Deborah Harkness believes the pages of centuries-old manuscripts are enchanted. Like clues to a mystery, they hold the key to unraveling the chronology, ambitions, failures and successes of those who lived before us. And… more>

categories: writing program, faculty research, usc dornsife magazine

tags: deb harkness, fiction-writing, history, publication

Features inside the new Dornsife Neuroscience Pavilion give researchers the space to investigate the human mind with the highest quality equipment available, and then walk across the lobby and catch a concert, poetry recital or lecture in Joyce J. Cammilleri Hall. Photo by John Livzey.

Castle in the Clouds

May 7, 2013

What if the components of architecture — walls, windows, ceilings and everything in-between — were used to construct the human mind? How might the physical space integrate the mind’s two perspectives: the… more>

categories: undergraduate, graduate, research, faculty research, undergraduate research, graduate research, usc dornsife magazine

tags: antonio damasio, brain and creativity institute, creativity, dornsife neuroscience pavilion, glenn fox, hanna damasio, john monterosso, jonas kaplan, joyce j. cammilleri hall, kingson man, mary helen immordino-yang, research

Magnetic Attraction

May 7, 2013

“Danger! This magnet is always on!” reads a sign on the door to the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine. A list of what not to bring or do near the apparatus warns against pacemakers, metal… more>

categories: research, graduate research, diversity, graduate diversity, usc dornsife magazine

Hire Purpose

May 7, 2013

These nine intellectual innovators are some of our newest professors and assistant professors. They selected USC Dornsife for the freedom it provides them to think creatively and explore unchartered territory. Take Jacob… more>

categories: faculty research, new faculty, diversity, faculty diversity, usc dornsife magazine

Arriving from a C.L.E. Moore instructorship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by a year at Berkeley Quantitative, Sami Assaf became Gabilan Assistant Professor of Mathematics in Fall 2012. She specializes in algebraic combinatorics and combinatorial representation theory. Illustration by Bill Sanderson.

Hire Purpose: Sami Assaf

May 7, 2013

Sami Assaf sometimes uses a Rubik’s cube to demonstrate symmetry, among the most crucial ideas in mathematics. Twist the face of a Rubik’s cube and the cube keeps its symmetry — all sides are the mirror… more>

categories: faculty research, new faculty, diversity, faculty diversity, usc dornsife magazine

tags: faculty diversity, mathematics, new faculty, sami assaf, usc dornsife magazine

Assistant Professor of Sociology Jennifer Hook arrived in Fall 2012. A Fulbright scholar, Hook coauthored Gendered Tradeoffs: Family, Social Policy and Economic Inequality in 21 Countries (Russell Sage, 2011). She focuses on how social contexts, particularly social policies and work opportunities, impact individuals and families. Illustration by Bill Sanderson.

Hire Purpose: Jennifer Hook

May 7, 2013

Jennifer Hook decided to compare fatherhood in various countries after reading a study that found fathers in Norway spend about the same amount of time with their children as do fathers in the United States. The study… more>

categories: faculty research, new faculty, usc dornsife magazine

tags: jennifer hook, new faculty, sociology, usc dornsife magazine

An assistant professor of linguistics since Fall 2011, Khalil Iskarous spent a decade as a research scientist at Haskins Laboratories in New Haven, Conn. A Fulbright scholar, Iskarous was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. While in middle school, he and his family moved to New York. Illustration by Bill Sanderson.

Hire Purpose: Khalil Iskarous

May 7, 2013

The strongest muscle in the human body, the tongue is our sole muscle connected only on one end. Like an octopus arm, the tongue contains no skeletal support and uses its many muscle groups to contract, lengthen, bend and… more>

categories: faculty research, new faculty, usc dornsife magazine

tags: khalil iskarous, linguistics, new faculty, usc dornsife magazine

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