December 2025

USC & USC Dornsife News Stories

• From community dream to academic force in contemporary Armenian studies
  Shushan Karapetian, Hrair Dekmejian (Emeritus), Gegham Mughnetsyan, Manuk Avedikyan, Lilit Keshishyan, Maral Tavitian, Solange Aguero, and Sarkis Tricha and Arman Dzhragatspanyan (alumni)
• Food insecurity remains high in L.A. County, but who it affects is changing
  Kayla de la Haye
• Decoding the chemistry of life, not with test tubes or lab coats but with the aid of AI
  Arieh Warshel
• Across the Aisle
  Bob Shrum, Mike Murphy
• Have a heart: USC’s Chuck Murry gives third-graders a science lesson that’s either ‘cool’ or ‘eew, gross’
  DJ Kast
• Biologists discover neurons use physical signals — not electricity — to stabilize communication
  Dion Dickman
• How researchers are learning what makes police stops feel respectful
  Ben Graham
• A Feast of Knowledge (Holiday Card)
  chitl Ruiz, Scott Kanoski, Vera Gluscevic, Jay Rubenstein
• In the world of ‘Avatar,’ the language of the Na’vi has roots at USC
  Paul Frommer (alum)

The Conversation Articles / Op-Eds / Other Scholar-Written Articles

• Court victory for UC workers offers roadmap for Trump attacks
  By: Christian Dyogi Phillips – The San Francisco Chronicle
• LA fires showed how much neighborliness matters for wildfire safety
  By: Elizabeth Logan and William Deverell – The Conversation
• Japan’s Diplomatic Crisis With China Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better
  By: Derek Grossman – World Politics Review
• I Object to the Etymology of Sacrum
  By: Anna Journey – Los Angeles Review of Books

USC Dornsife Magazine

• Who Do You Think You Are? What DNA Tests Reveal — And What They Don’t
  Michael Edge, Patrick Turley
• Family Matters: How Growing Up Together Molds Us
  Darby Saxbe, Jennifer Hook, Laura Baker, Gayla Margolin, Ashlesha Datar
• The Rhetoric of Kinship and Why Politicians Talk About Family
  Bob Shrum, Steve Ross
• The Sponge Child Myth: How Kids Actively Shape Their Own Learning
  Henrike Moll
• Following the Crisis, Science Steps in to Make Homes Safer
  Seth John, Sam Silva, Josh West
• From Paperboy to Publishing Powerhouse
  Roger Lynch (alum)

E-newsletters

• Dec. 11: Alumni Newsletter
• Dec. 18: Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Videos

• USC Dornsife in the News: 2025
  Robert English, William Deverell, Monica Dean, James Bullock, Monalisa Chatterjee, Seth John, Josh West, Gale Sinatra, Morris Levy, Jane Hu, David Ulin, Carly Kenkel, Jenna Dilworth (PhD student), Maya Gomez (PhD student), Susan Kamei, Manuel Pastor, Richard Wood, Christian Grose, Olu Orange, Christian Dyogi Phillips, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Darby Saxbe, Steve Swerdlow, Gregory Treverton

Questions or comments about this USC Dornsife brief? Email us at communication@dornsife.usc.edu.