April 02, 2007 —

Epstein ISE doctoral candidate Iris (Zhihong) Shen has received a $5,000 Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Merit Fellowship for the 2007-2008 academic year.  Ms.  Shen has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Electronics from Peking University, and a Masters degree in High Performance Computation for Engineered Systems from the National University of Singapore.  Ms. Shen's advisors are Prof. Maged Dessouky and Assist. Prof. Fernando Ordonez, with whom she works as a research assistant on projects funded by USC's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE).  Her doctoral guidance committee also includes Epstein ISE Profs. Randolph Hall and Sheldon Ross, and Computer Science Prof. Sven Koenig.  Ms. Shen's dissertation research focuses on important logistical problems faced by government agencies during large-scale emergencies. She entered the doctoral program in the Epstein ISE Department in the Fall of 2004. 

In 2000, USC received a gift of $20 million to the University endowment to create the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Program. The primary goal of the WiSE program is to increase the number of women in tenured and tenure-track faculty positions. WiSE administers a variety of grant programs aimed at faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as high school and middle school girls. These programs have been developed to encourage women to select USC as an institution in which to study, conduct research, and develop successful careers.

The Merit Fellowship for Current Doctoral Students is offered to current Ph.D. students at USC who demonstrate exceptional work in their field. Two candidates are chosen from the  USC Viterbi School of Engineering  and two from the USC College. Candidates are nominated by the faculty. Each one-year WiSE Fellowship carries a stipend of $5,000. The purpose of the WiSE Merit Fellowship is to provide advanced doctoral students with an opportunity to be recognized for their achievements. Surveys have shown that the attrition rate of female doctoral students is significantly higher that that of male doctoral students. The WiSE Program hopes this fellowship will provide support and motivation to students on an academic trajectory who demonstrate dedication to increasing the representation of women in science and engineering.

The WiSE Committee evaluates  the excellence of the candidate's research, the trajectory of improvement, and any other personal/professional attributes that demonstrate how the Merit Fellowship may encourage the candidate to pursue a career in science and engineering. WiSE reports that the nominees for the WiSE Merit Award from across the departments of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering were all excellent, making for a particularly competitive selection process. The Epstein ISE Department and CREATE congratulate Iris Shen.

For more information about WiSE and fellowship opportunities available through USC, please visit the WiSE website.