The Academy in the Public Square
Our Doors Are Open
The world needs new ways of thinking about complex problems. Yet, the unmatched potential for university researchers to generate solutions is often overlooked.
The Academy in the Public Square initiative encourages engagement between USC Dornsife faculty and communities beyond our institution. We’re swinging open our doors — becoming the go-to source for expertise. We’re offering new ways of thinking about complex issues affecting people and communities today. We’re communicating scholarship in ways that non-experts can actually understand. And, working with leaders across the public and private sectors, we are emphasizing the enormous value of research universities as society’s most productive and prolific driver of innovation.
Public Exchange
If your organization had a dedicated research arm with experts in just about any subject you could imagine, what problems would you be able to solve?
As the centerpiece of the Academy in the Public Square, Public Exchange amplifies social impact by making academic expertise more easily accessible than ever before. The first-of-its-kind hub connects leaders in the public and private sectors with the right team of USC researchers and streamlines the collaborative process, providing project management from start to finish.
Shaping the Conversation
USC Dornsife experts provide insights that shape and expand public discourse on complex issues of the day.
USC Dornsife Research in the News
USC Dornsife Public Exchange welcomes climate leader with deep LA policy experience
Michelle Barton has led major environmental initiatives and will help guide work on shade, heat resilience and the L.A. River.
US and Iran: A brief history of how decades of mistrust and bad blood led to open warfare
Some major events in the history of U.S.-Iran relations highlight differences between the countries’ views, but others have presented real opportunities for reconciliation.
If using ChatGPT is cheating, what about ghostwriting? The old debate behind a new panic
Has our culture’s begrudging acceptance of ghostwriting paved the way for everyone — not just the rich and famous — to offload the hard work of writing?
How the National Security Council typically functions to plan and fully assess risks when presidents consider going to war
The national intelligence community has seemingly been sidelined from Trump’s Iran war decisions — a far cry from previous administrations, writes a former National Security Council member.
How far will seniors go for a doctor visit? Often much farther than expected
USC Dornsife researchers find willingness to travel for health care varies by income, mobility and location — insights that could impact the growth of telehealth as well as transportation planning.
Eaton fire sent a pollution wave across Los Angeles
A USC Dornsife-led study found that the Eaton fire’s daily carbon monoxide emissions far exceeded L.A. County’s average daily emissions from all human activity.
AI may be making us think and write more alike
Large language models may be standardizing human expression — and subtly influencing how we think, say computer science and psychology researchers at USC Dornsife.
Why are some stars always visible while others come and go with the seasons?
From Earth spinning on its axis and orbiting the Sun to it precessing like a top, lots of factors affect which stars you can see in the sky.
Held captive in their own country during World War II, Japanese Americans used nature to cope with their unjustified imprisonment
Using found materials like shells and ironwood, prisoners created objects of both utility and beauty to help them bear the unbearable.
New, selective compounds target for Alzheimer’s-linked brain inflammation
Using highly advanced, large-scale computational screening methods developed by USC Dornsife’s Vsevolod “Seva” Katritch, USC researchers evaluate billions of potential compounds to find a promising new drug for Alzheimer’s disease.
Dornsife Dialogues
Check out our series of stimulating online forums in which leading experts and distinguished alumni from USC Dornsife share new perspectives and research-based findings on timely topics. Now available in podcast form!
Complex Insights into Identity
USC Dornsife’s Viet Thanh Nguyen, the Pulitzer-winning author of The Sympathizer, contributes frequently to the public discourse about American culture — including pieces for The Atlantic, Time, The New York Times, and more. With his bestselling novel recently adapted into an HBO series, whole new audiences are engaging with his distinct voice.
The MacArthur Fellow Shaping the Public Discourse
In any given year, Natalia Molina can be seen in dozens of national media outlets making her expertise accessible to a wide audience. The Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and Dean’s Professor of American Study and Ethnicity’s expertise explores current issues affecting communities representing many different backgrounds.
Molina’s work has earned her a MacArthur “genius” grant in 2020. The Los Angeles Times called her recent book, A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community — which chronicles how immigrant workers shaped the neighborhood of Echo Park — an “essential Los Angeles book.” She was also part of the L.A. Civic Memory Working Group, a group convened by the mayor of Los Angeles’s mayor to make recommendations on how to preserve the city’s history.
Sought-Out Source
Ian Anderson, who recently earned his doctorate in psychology, explains how to navigate information on social media in published news articles and as a speaker at the Nobel Prize Summit. It’s work that earned him a USC Dornsife Communicator of the Year award.
Contact Us
USC Dornsife Office of Communication
1150 S. Olive St, 24th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90015
Phone: (213) 821-6797
Fax: (213) 821-6057
communication@dornsife.usc.edu