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

USC Dornsife’s Nicholas Warner will spend a year collaborating with colleagues throughout Europe and exploring the physics of black holes and holographic field theory. Photo by Max S. Gerber.

Warner Named Simons Foundation Fellow

May 8, 2013

Nicholas Warner, professor of physics and astronomy, has been named a 2013 Simons Foundation fellow. This year, 55 mathematicians and theoretical physicists from the United States and Canada received the honor, which provides… more>

categories: faculty research, awards

tags: award, nicholas warner, physics and astronomy, simons foundation fellowship, string theory

Peter Mancall, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities and professor of history and anthropology, and Daniela Bleichmar, associate professor of art history and history, were among USC Dornsife winners during the 32nd annual Academic Honors Convocation. Mancall photo by Philip Channing. Bleichmar photo by Dietmar Quistorf.

Top Trojans Saluted

May 8, 2013

Paying tribute to the wide range of intellectual and leadership achievements of the past year, the 32nd annual Academic Honors Convocation was held on April 23 at Town & Gown to recognize the best and the brightest among… more>

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

tags: award, c. l. max nikias, inderbir gill, presidential medallion, research, solomon golomb, verna b. dauterive

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

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

Founder of the Biological Imaging Center at Caltech, Scott Fraser joined the faculty in Summer 2012. The USC Provost Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, and director of science initiatives has a joint appointment at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Illustration by Bill Sanderson.

Hire Purpose: Scott Fraser

May 7, 2013

Tiny brown eggs dotted with what looks like speckles of liquid dark chocolate rest atop nests, while fuzzy, baby quails chirp and waddle inside the glass incubator. Hanging above a laser-scanning confocal microscope, a poster… more>

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

tags: biology, biomedical engineering, new faculty, scott fraser, usc dornsife magazine, usc viterbi school of engineering

David Treuer, professor of English in the Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature program, joined the faculty in Fall 2011. A Pushcart Prize winner, he has written five books of fiction and nonfiction. He’s interested in Native American literature, the 20th-century novel, modernism and creative writing. Illustration by Bill Sanderson.

Hire Purpose: David Treuer

May 7, 2013

Born to an Austrian Jewish father and American Indian mother, David Treuer is an Ojibwe Indian from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. His siblings range from a brother who has straight, jet black hair and dark… more>

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

tags: creative writing, david treuer, english, faculty diversity, new faculty, usc dornsife magazine

USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

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