Thinking Ahead
Leveraging the most advanced methods and our uncommon agility, USC Dornsife researchers and students meet the future with extraordinary creativity. Working at the edge, they define new fields of study — bringing new ways of thinking to society’s most complex problems.
Research Frontiers
By thinking ahead in some of the most promising emerging areas of scholarship, USC Dornsife researchers are redefining how we optimize, heal, and sustain in a rapidly changing world.
Research News
$59 million boost enhances USC Dornsife’s Understanding America Study and nationwide research
National Institute on Aging grants increase study participant diversity, add new data sources and fund new research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia.
How threatened by earthquakes are US communities? New report gives answers
Researchers at USC Dornsife’s Statewide California Earthquake Center contributed models that forecast earthquake ruptures for the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Seismic Hazard Model.
USC Study: Climate change graphics are important, so make them simple
Published in the journal Climatic Change, the study is USC’s second collaboration with the U.N. Foundation aimed at improving science communications.
How ‘Dune’ became a beacon for the fledgling environmental movement
When Frank Herbert sat down in 1963 to start writing ‘Dune,’ he wasn’t thinking about how to leave Earth behind. He was thinking about how to save it, writes USC Dornsife’s Devin Griffiths in The Conversation.
The Power and Promise of Quantum Computing
From discovering life-saving drugs, to fortifying cybersecurity, to revealing physical properties of the universe, quantum systems hold potential for solving tremendously complex problems. At USC Dornsife, researchers are creating insights and methods to overcome the challenging obstacle of quantum error correction — the primary obstacle that prevents us from unleashing quantum’s power at scale.
Prediction Science
Responsible Innovation in A.I.
The first question many people ask about artificial intelligence is, “Will it be good or bad?”
The answer is … yes.
While many experts across industry and academia focus on building increasingly sophisticated AI systems, USC Dornsife scholars also explore the ethical implications and safety concerns that are often overlooked in the race to the next big innovation.
The Hidden Risk of Letting AI Decide
Dr. Joe Arvai, an expert in behavioral science, writes about AI’s potential to diminish the human experience — including the threat to our ability to make thoughtful decisions. (Image: Courtesy Pixar.)
How Will AI Shape Humanity’s Future?
Experts believe AI will radically reshape the workplace and impact politics. Regulating this technology appropriately, they say, will likely be essential to avoid upending our world. Find out what USC Dornsife reseachers are adding to the conversation.
What Is Consciousness?
Watch our Dornsife Dialogues event featuring experts exploring the philosophical and scientific approaches to consciousness, the relationship between consciousness and the brain, and the potential implications of recent discoveries on the development of AI. (Image source: iStock.)
Narrative Medicine
At USC, experts are shaping the growing field of narrative medicine to reveal the many ways that an individual’s report of their illness can affect medical interventions. By understanding what a “closer reading” of a patient’s story might reveal — from the characters and cultural traditions they describe to the latent meaning in a moment of silence — clinicians might uncover ways to improve holistic patient care.
Climate Change Communication
Saving the planet isn’t just about technology—it’s also about people, politics, money — and the stories we tell. At USC Dornsife, researchers explore how the communication of climate change can be better leveraged to move the needle in driving sustainable policies, economics, and behaviors.
Repeating Aids Believing
As social media feeds fill up with AI-driven bots, sheer repetition of lies may erode the most essential resource for action on climate change — public support. Traditional media has a different problem — in their commitment to presenting both sides, journalists often platform climate skeptics whose untrue claims add to the repetition of misinformation.
Just Call It Climate Change
A new, Wrigley Institute-funded study on climate communications has found that Americas are not only more familiar with the term “climate change,” but it also generates more concern than newer terms such “climate emergency” or “climate crisis.”
Climate Visuals
Graphics are an important tool for communicating complicated climate information in a digestible way. But as climate science has become more nuanced, the graphics used to portray climate information have also become increasingly complicated. A study led by experts at USC Dornsife Public Exchange, in collaboration with the IPCC, explore what is confusing and how organizations can improve.
Center for the Changing Family
There is no connection more enduring or powerful than family. But the very notion of family is evolving, and we need new approaches to explore the way these relationships affect mental health. The Center for the Changing Family conducts research that informs health interventions and policy reflecting the oversized impact that the modern family — in all its forms — can have on our wellbeing.