News - 2020

USC Researchers Named 2021 IEEE Fellows

December 15, 2020 At its November 2020 meeting, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) elevated USC's Information Sciences Institute researchers Yolanda Gil and Craig Knoblock to the ranking of IEEE Fellow, effective January 1, 2021. Read More >

George Papadimitriou Wins PEARC20 Award for Creating System for Facilitating Efficiency of Research

December 15, 2020 At the Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC) conference, which took place from July 26-30, ISI graduate assistant George Papadimitriou won the Best Student Paper Award for his research on Pegasus workflow submission nodes. Read More >

USC ISI Cybersecurity Expert Terry Benzel Elected to IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors

December 12, 2020 Terry Benzel, director of the Networking and Cybersecurity Division at USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI), was elected to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) Computer Society Board of Governors in October. Benzel will commence her 3-year term on the Board on January 1, 2021. Read More >

USC ISI's DeterLab Testbed Gets a Makeover

December 10, 2020 Earlier this month, the National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored a research project by PI Jelena Mirkovic, project leader at USCâ&euro&trades Information Sciences Institute and research associate professor of computer science at USC Viterbi, for the modernization of USC ISI's networking experimental tested, DeterLab. Read More >

USC Researchers Explore Improving Measurement Tools for Quantum Physics

December 3, 2020 As most of us learned in elementary school, whether it's from the sun or a light bulb, light is made up of particles called photons. While photons have energy and momentum, they have no mass. Read More >

STARFISH: Space Exploration's Newest Star

November 24, 2020 Very much like the muscles that move around the bones in your hand, soft robot technology is composed of malleable structures which automatically and intelligently create movement. Read More >

Six USC researchers named 2020 AAAS fellows

November 24, 2020 The council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has elected six USC faculty members to the rank of AAAS fellow for 2020. Read More >

USC ISI Researcher Uses AI to Combat COVID-19 Under the Microsoft AI for Health Program

November 20, 2020 As COVID-19 continues to disrupt normal life, Mayank Kejriwal, research lead at the Information Science Institute (ISI) and research assistant professor at USC Viterbi's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, aims to use AI in fighting the pandemic. Read More >

AI News Bias Tool Created By USC Computer Scientists

November 6, 2020 USC computer scientists have developed a tool to automatically detect bias in news. Read More >

Urgent Times Call for Urgent Measures

October 7, 2020 During the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, millennials continue to utilize social media as real-time news digest, using their platforms to draw attention to informative outlets. From calling out racial injustice to enforcing voting rights, users continue to do their part in advocating for attainable solutions. Read More >

The Secretive Networks Used to Move Money Offshore

October 6, 2020 In 2016, the world's largest ever data leak dubbed The Panama Papers exposed a scandal, uncovering a vast global network of people—including celebrities and world leaders, who used offshore tax havens, anonymous transactions through intermediaries and shell corporations to hide their wealth, grow their fortunes and avoid taxes. Read More >

USC-led research team shares 10 years' progress in collecting data to push craniofacial science forward

September 23, 2020 It has been more than a decade since the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) launched FaceBase, a central repository for craniofacial datasets and tools meant to advance craniofacial science by fostering cooperation and collaboration around the globe. Read More >

Zoom Work Meetings, Anyone?

August 28, 2020 Since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, we've been counting the birthday celebrations spent indoors, the amount of Netflix shows we've binge watched, and the number of days left until school is back in session. Read More >

Paul Mockapetris receives Software System Award

August 27, 2020 The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) named Paul Mockapetris recipient of the 2019 ACM Software System Award for the development of the Domain Name System (DNS). DNS provides the worldwide distributed directory service thatâ&euro&trades an essential component of the functionality of the global internet. Read More >

Yolanda Gil To Oversee Strategic Initiatives at Famed USC Information Sciences Institute

August 19, 2020 Yolanda Gil, a research director at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and research professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, was recently appointed as ISI's director for major strategic initiatives in AI and data science. Read More >

USC Viterbi Sustainability Projects Receive $150,000 Funding Boost

August 18, 2020 USC Viterbi researchers will lead three new projects to create innovative solutions to our most urgent environmental problems, thanks to $150,000 in funding from the USC Center for Sustainability Solutions. Read More >

USC ISI Researchers Honored for Contributions to Networking Simulator

August 14, 2020 The research contributions of John Heidemann, a USC Viterbi research professor of computer science and a principal scientist at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI), and Yuri Pradkin, a systems programmer at ISI, were recently recognized in the 2020 Networking Systems Award from SIGCOMM. Read More >

New Research May Help Identify Trafficking Networks

August 13, 2020 According to a 2018 United Nations report, more than 25,000 individuals are officially reported to be victims of trafficking each year. Read More >

Want to Teach An AI Novelty? First, Teach It Monopoly. Then Throw Out the Rules.

July 31, 2020 Researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) have partnered with Purdue University to take part in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-funded program that seeks to develop the science that will allow AI systems to adapt to novelty, or new conditions that haven't been seen before. Read More >

USC ISI and CHLA Researchers Make Breakthrough in Understanding Rare Genetic Disorder

July 30, 2020 Researchers at the VISTA (Vision, Image, Speech and Text Analytics) group at the USC Viterbi Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (CHLA) recently discovered the presence of distinct facial abnormalities in youth with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a genetic condition that affects hormone levels in the body. Read More >

USC ISI Director Honored with IEEE Senior Member Status

July 16, 2020 Terry Benzel, the director of the Networking and Cybersecurity Division at USC's Information Sciences Institute, was recently designated a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE, a professional association for electronic and electrical engineering with the goal of advancing technological innovation to create a better future for humanity. Read More >

One Giant LEAPFROG For Humanity

July 15, 2020 NASA will be heading back to the Moon by 2024 through the Artemis program, and USC Viterbi School of Engineering students and faculty are helping plan the party. Read More >

USC ISI Researchers Develop Improv-Based Chatbots

July 1, 2020 What would conversations with Alexa be like if she was a regular at The Second City? Read More >

USC Renews Quantum Computing Collaboration with D-Wave, Lockheed Martin

June 25, 2020 The USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC), hosted at USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, renewed its long-term relationship with D-Wave and Lockheed Martin, leading to important upgrades at the facility. Read More >

Craig Knoblock Named Michael Keston Executive Director of the USC Information Sciences Institute

June 16, 2020 Dr. Craig Knoblock's appointment as the Michael Keston Executive Director of USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and concurrently as Vice Dean of Engineering, was extended for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2020. Dr. Knoblock has been serving as the interim ISI director since 2018. Read More >

Sensors and Sensibility: USC Researchers Develop State-of-the-Art Biometric Security Systems

June 15, 2020 Biometrics systems like iris scanning or fingerprint recognition are no longer fantastical concepts of a distant sci-fi future. From iPhone fingerprint locking to facial authentication systems in airports, it's safe to say that the future is very much right now. Read More >

USC-Designed Smartphone App Aims to Get Older Adults "Moving Up"

June 3, 2020 Stacey Schepens Niemiec has long been passionate about using technology to improve the health and wellness of older adults. She became concerned with the widening of a "digital divide" among older adults that was limiting their access to technology-based health resources and services that are typically more widespread with younger populations. Read More >

Your Social Media Feed is Biased

April 15, 2020 Kristina Lerman, a principal scientist at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Information Sciences Institute (ISI), and her team have found that for most social media users, their feeds expose them to a biased representation of reality. Read More >

USC ISI Senior Director Honored with AAAI Senior Member Status

April 14, 2020

Dr. Yigal Arens, Senior Director for Administrative Affairs at USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and research professor in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, was designated AAAI Senior Member status at this year's Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference in February.

Read More >

5 Tips to Stay Cyber Secure When Working Remotely

March 24, 2020 With more companies encouraging their employees to work from home to mitigate the spread and effects of COVID-19, cyber hygiene is as important as ever. Read More >

Researchers Develop Platform to Improve Weather Forecasting

March 12, 2020 The beginning of 2020 was the hottest January in recorded history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Read More >

That Chatbot May Be Chatty, But Is It Engaging?

March 12, 2020 From purchases to therapy to friendship, it seems as though there's a chatbot for just about everything. Read More >

Carl Kesselman Honored with IEEE Medal for Career Achievements in Computing

March 3, 2020 Dean's Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Information Sciences Institute Fellow has been awarded the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award. Read More >

Students Find New Opportunities, Focus through ISI Summer Internship Program

February 25, 2020 Summer internships are a great way for students to gain skills and experience in their field of study. And for students interested in the impacts of digitization, AI, cybersecurity, and other topics at the forefront of science and society, USC's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) has got you covered. Read More >

It's Not Magic, It's Science: Predicting the Future

February 21, 2020 It could be argued that scientists create superpowers in their labs. If Aram Galstyan, director of the Artificial Intelligence Division at the USC Viterbi Information Sciences Institute (ISI) had to pick just one superpower, it would be the ability to predict the future. What will be the daily closing price of Japan's Nikkei 225 index at the end of next week? How many 6.0 or stronger earthquakes will occur worldwide next month? Galstyan and a team of researchers at USC ISI are building a system to answer such questions. Read More >

In Memoriam: Bill Manning, Distinguished Computer Scientist at ISI and Internet Visionary

February 14, 2020 Renowned computer scientist Dr. Bill Manning, whose work was fundamental to developing the internet as we know it today, passed away January 25, 2020. Read More >

How To Reduce Bias in AI? Selective Amnesia

February 12, 2020 Imagine if the next time you apply for a loan, a computer algorithm determines you need to pay a higher rate based primarily on your race, gender or zip code. Read More >

Pegasus Research Team Discovers Errors for a Win

January 15, 2020 At the PEARC19 conference this past summer, researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering won a transformative research award in addition to the best technical paper. The work focused on providing scientists extra assurances that their data is not inadvertently corrupted when executing their analysis on multiple computers in a distributed computing environment. Read More >

USC Earth Scientists and AI Researchers Join Forces on New Semantic Web Technology

January 6, 2020 Sometimes the most unrelated things can produce the most innovative results. Take, for instance, aikido—a Japanese martial art that can be translated as the "way of unifying energy"—and paleoclimatology, a scientific field examining climate evolution. Read More >