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 Issue: Autumn 2003 What’s New What’s New - Shelf Life - Health News - People Watch
You wouldn’t expect Sajid Siddiqi, a triple major in computer science, math and economics, to have spare time for independent field research. But with USC undergraduates, one learns to expect the unexpected. Siddiqi, who graduated in May and enters a Ph.D. program in artificial intelligence at Carnegie Mellon University this fall, took top honors at this spring’s fifth annual Undergraduate Symposium for Scholarly and Creative Work. He won first prize in the physical sciences, math and engineering category for his robotics project, titled “Experiments in Monte-Carlo Localization Using WiFi Signal Strength,” in which he tested the feasibility of using wireless sensors to assist wheeled robots in identifying their location. Siddiqi and 150 others like him shared the fruits of their rather formidable intellectual labors at the symposium, the culmination of a contest recognizing untold hours of original undergraduate research, scholarship and creativity that spanned many disciplines. “It was a great opportunity for undergraduates to show everyone what they’ve been doing,” says marine biology/theater double major Heather Feaman, who had homed in on long-term crossings of two genetically distinct populations of copepods (tiny shrimp-like crustaceans). English major Steven Hood ’03, an ancient languages specialist who reads classical Latin and Greek as well as Egyptian hieroglyphs, examined political power in the Iron Age kingdoms of Anatolia. An interdisciplinary triumvirate of Jonathan Vidar (history), Brian Olsen ’03 (psychology and religion) and Trevor Muirhead (biology and history)used archaeological and other evidence to evaluate how much, if any, of Trojan War lore is based on fact; they created an interactive Web site charting the debate, including a 3-D computer model of the city of Troy. Biology student Linda Hou had documented a growing movement among the Roma people (commonly known as gypsies) to build their own national identity, perhaps even a nation, in Eastern Europe. Composer Jennifer Jolley ’03 took the top prize in the arts for her two-act chamber opera, Fish, a surreal comedy about four college roommates encountering a biological curiosity: a naked man-fish. At an award ceremony following the symposium, USC administrators recognized the most outstanding work. Top winners in each category received cash prizes of $500. “These students are active participants in creating new knowledge,” said vice provost for academic programs Joseph Hellige in presenting the awards. “Each year the student research gets better and better,” adds neurobiologist William McClure, a faculty sponsor. “This is not your typical high school science fair. This is real research.” Many of the students had already published or planned to publish their work in professional journals and to present their findings at professional meetings. Julie Moffitt ’03, a psychology and music major, interviewed 300 sets of twins – both fraternal and identical – for her symposium paper on genetic factors (as opposed to environmental ones) influencing bully and victim behaviors among school-aged children. It garnered first prize in one of the symposium’s social science categories. Moffitt has since presented her peer-harassment study at scholarly seminars at Stanford and UCLA. – Eva Emerson Syndicated Music
Roughly 700 million years ago, the Earth was entombed in ice. Or was it? A USC researcher throws the snowball theory up in the air. Frank Corsetti went to the hottest spot in North America to investigate one of the coldest times in history. To his surprise, the data he collected there casts into doubt a widely held scientific theory. “I went in expecting to bolster one side [of the argument] and came out of it saying, ‘Well, I’ve got to look at the other side now.’” the USC earth scientist says. According to the so-called “snowball Earth” theory, the planet was entombed in ice roughly 700 million years ago. Thick glaciers are thought to have covered most of the world’s surface, devastating living things with extreme cold. The living things in question would have been microbial. “Life was abundant, but it was microscopic,” says Corsetti. “We were dealing with simple prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.” Hardy prokaryotes (lacking defined nuclei and organelles) were the first organisms on the planet and survived the snowball Earth. They remain one of the most pervasive of all living things. But more complex eukaryotes (possessing defined nuclei and organelles) are thought to have been more susceptible to extreme temperatures, and they suffered near extinction. Or so the snowball Earth theory went. Without microbial fossils from the period, there was no way to prove or disprove the theory. Then 20 years ago researchers discovered microbial fossils in Death Valley. Their estimated age: 1.3 billion years. The fossils – measuring just 5 to 10 microns (one-tenth the width of a human hair) – contained both prokaryotes and eukaryotes; since they were believed to hail from well before the ice age, the discovery was not considered particularly spectacular. Corsetti had combed the Death Valley site as a graduate student in 1991, but it was only after a visit in 2000 that he realized he was on to something big. These fossils and the ones found in the 1980s came from the same time period, he determined. Trapped in a glacial deposit – a pile of sedimentary rocks left behind by an ancient glacier – were fossils of prokaryotes and eukaryotes dating from before and during the ice age. That meant that the age previously assigned them – 1.3 billion years – had been at least 600 million years off the mark. The fossil evidence also suggested that both kinds of organisms had survived the ice age. Perhaps Earth had been more a slushball than a snowball, Corsetti hypothesizes, with oceans either ice-free or partially covered. “There are two ways to think of it,” he says. “Either life is more robust than we thought, or conditions were not as bad as we previously thought.” Either way, the discovery gives natural historians pause. “This finding makes it difficult to accept the hard version of the snowball Earth theory,” Corsetti says. “If there was a hard snowball, there should have been a major effect on life.” – Usha Sutliff Son of Supply Side
Love it or hate it, you gotta admire supply-side economics’ staying power. “One of the most enduring political images of the last generation is the one of Arthur Laffer, an obscure economist from the University of Southern California, scribbling a parabola on a cocktail napkin one night in the late 1970s to illustrate how tax cuts would lead to more government revenue, not less,” wrote New York Times business reporter David E. Rosenbaum in a recent article. “The Laffer Curve became the basis of a whole political movement – Ronald Reagan adopted it, and it became the justification for the main plank of his 1980 campaign for president (in the face of the elder George Bush’s ridicule that it was ‘voodoo economics’).” A generation later, Bush fils demonstrates that supply-side still sizzles. Shelf Life Prime Time
CD by Norman Krieger Artisie 4, $15 USC pianist Norman Krieger joins the Prague Radio Orchestra in an all-Liszt program featuring concerti Nos. 1 and 2, and the splendidly morbid “Totentanz.” Writes a Los Angeles Times reviewer: “He owns a world of technique – take that for granted. He always knows exactly where he is going and what he is doing. He never for an instant miscalculates. He communicates urgently but with strict control.”  Mnemosyne: Works by Veronika Krausas CD by Veronica Krausas Motion Ensemble, $20.98 USC Thornton School theorist Veronika Krausas DMA ‘01 composed this music for soprano, violin, contrabass, clarinet and percussion as part of a multimedia project with writer André Alexis and photographer Thaddeau Holownia. Several works contain sung, spoken or whispered text and the sound of paper – being caressed, written on, crumpled and torn. “Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory and mother of the muses,” says Krausas. “Paper is the receptacle of our memories, recording words, music and images.” Health News
For tourism, the ongoing eruptions of Mt. Kilauea that have drawn volcano buffs to Hawaii’s Big Island since 1983 have been a boon. But for children growing up on the island, they may be a bane. The threat comes not from Kilauea’s superheated lava, but its sulfur-charged vapors. As gaseous plumes rise into the gentle trade winds circling the island, children breathe the volcano’s pollutants, which may harm their sensitive, developing lungs. Concerned about asthma and other respiratory problems, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences – one of the National Institutes of Health – called on the Keck School of Medicine of USC to study the risk. “A whole generation of children have grown up with Kilauea. They’re breathing particles and gases,” says Keck School environmental health expert Edward Avol. Kilauea has become the single largest source of sulfur dioxide in the world, emitting up to 1,800 tons of the gas a day. Deep inside the volcano, where pressure is high, sulfur dioxide dissolves within molten rock. When that magma rises toward the surface, the gas bubbles out. Scientists know that sulfur dioxide irritates the lungs enough to immediately cause an asthmatic episode. Since 1986, levels of sulfur dioxide in Hawaii’s air have exceeded federal standards by 85 fold. The volcano also pumps out sulfuric acid. When the scalding lava flows south and meets the sea, the resulting plumes of steam are laden with hydrochloric acid. Gray pollutants, comprising a mixture of gas and aerosol of sulfuric acid and sulfates, have shrouded parts of the island for more than a decade. The mixture is commonly known as volcanic smog, or vog. No one knows whether vog can cause asthma, how it may affect children’s developing lungs or who is most at risk. But the pollutants released by the volcano are among the same airborne chemicals produced by coal-burning power plants, paper mills and cargo ships that consume fuel oil. Sulfuric acid particles commonly form part of urban air pollution too, so Kilauea’s contaminants, studied in the otherwise pristine air of Hawaii, could also shed light on the effects of pollutants found in big cities. Avol and colleagues at the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center at USC have experience assessing links between air pollution and children’s respiratory health. (An ongoing USC study looks at the effects of ozone, particles and other air pollutants in Southern California schoolchildren.) So why not share that know-how with Hawaii health experts? USC investigators are supporting two efforts in Hawaii: one funded by the NIEHS to investigate vog’s long-term effects on asthma and lung health, and another funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine children’s acute, day-to-day problems with asthma. The NIEHS-funded, long-term project includes the Keck School, the Harvard School of Public Health and several Hawaiian agencies. Both studies also involved scientists from University of Hawaii. In the five-year effort, researchers hope both to understand vog’s respiratory effects on Hawaiian children and to educate Hawaiians about asthma. About 2,500 children are expected to take part. For more details on Hawaiian volcanoes and vog, visit the United States Geological Survey’s Web site and click on the Hawaii link. – Alicia Di Rado People Watch USC’s Iron Chef!
Executive chef Mark Baida’s Japanese-style tenderloin tenderizes the competition at a culinary challenge. “Kyoo no tema wa kore desu” (Today’s theme is) … tenderloin! Though the flamboyant master of ceremonies Kaga wasn’t present to say the immortal words of the Food Channel’s Iron Chef, the spirit of competitive cookery was alive in Portland, Ore., last February as USC executive chef Mark Baida faced off against a dozen honorable rivals at the 2003 National Association of College and University Food Services Culinary Challenge. Each contestant had one hour to turn out a tantalizing tenderloin creation. Appropriately, Baida tackled the challenge with a Japanese accent, preparing succulent slices of Suchire Beefu fanned across edamame and black sesame seed-studded sticky rice and wasabi-lime marinated carrots with yakiniku sauce. When the steam had settled, a silver medallion decorated Baida’s noble, chef-coated breast. (He moves up to the nationals held later this summer in Kansas City, where he’ll reprise his prize-winning tenderloin creation.) The NACUFS is the trade association for food-service professionals at more than 650 institutions of higher education in the United States, Canada and abroad. Three certified executive chefs, independent of NACUFS institutions, served as judges at each of nine regional challenges. “It was really like a sporting event,” said Baida in a post-game interview. “You have to be able to work under intense pressure and scrutiny. The judges move in very close, and you have to be able to give them reasons for everything you do – all while you’re working.” But, he added, “It was an honor to compete on behalf of USC.” As Kaga would say, “Yomigaeru aiyan sheffu!” (Be resurrected, Iron Chef!) – Christine E. Shade Professor Firewalker
He’s been nicknamed “Professor Firewalker” for treading across hot coals to demonstrate heat transfer. He’s been known to lie upon a bed of nails to demonstrate properties of gravitational force. Small wonder, then, that physicist Eugene Bickers has become USC’s Teaching Has No Boundaries poster-boy for 2003. The award, which recognizes teaching and learning that takes place outside the classroom, was presented to 11 USC faculty members last spring, with the grand prize (a $1,000 gift certificate to the USC Bookstore) going to Bickers. Circus sideshow antics aside, Bickers is considered a serious scholar in the physics community. A set of computational techniques he developed to investigate high-temperature superconductors are now used by theoretical groups around the world. “Professor Bickers is fabulous in and out of the classroom,” says aerospace engineering and astronautics major Zeeshan Ahmed, one of Bickers’ students. “We’ve learned so much from him – from physics, to classics, to philosophy.” – Gia Scafidi Capture the Flag
Growing up a few blocks from USC, Juan Lopez would often go to the campus where his dad worked as a bus driver. “It was beautiful, like a little paradise,” Lopez remembers. His mother, Guadalupe Lopez, would tell him: “This is where you’re going to go [to college].” In May, Lopez not only graduated (double-majoring in sociology and Spanish); he played an important ceremonial role as one of eight commencement flag-bearers. “I was overwhelmed; I was honored to be selected,” he says. Flag-and banner-bearer doesn’t quite equal “unsung hero,” but it comes close, according to Jonathan Burdick, associate dean of recruitment and retention for USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. With a 3.67 GPA, Lopez graduated with honors. He is a member of the Golden Key Honor Society and the National Collegiate Scholar Society. Lopez hopes to enter law school in fall 2004. His first choice, naturally, is USC. Because his father, Jaime Ruben Lopez, works for USC, Juan Lopez attended tuition-free. His four siblings are similarly eligible, even if their father (with 27 years of service already under his belt) retires by the time 8-year-old Jimmy is of Trojan age. The younger Lopezes will certainly have their big brother’s encouragement. “Education is an investment,” he says. “And tuition remission is one of those opportunities that you can’t let slip through your fingers.” – Elaine Lapriore Helping Hogs
USC’s latest Truman Scholar revs her Harley for public service. Question: What do motorcycling and neurosurgery have in common? Answer: Molly Claflin ’03, USC’s latest Truman Scholar. “I lost a friend to brain cancer four years ago,” says the newly minted alumna of the USC College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “When my family heard there were two other children in our community with brain tumors who needed money for surgery, we decided to help.” The Claflins own a Harley-Davidson shop in southern Oregon. So last year Molly Claflin paired bikes and brain tumors in a life-saving public-service stunt. The project, Bikers Have Heart, featured a 50-mile bike-a-thon, a silent auction and free motorcycle gear for anyone donating $100 to the cause. The fund-raiser collected enough to cover both kids’ successful operations. A political-science major (and gender studies and news media and society minor) with a 3.84 GPA, Claflin is the fourth Trojan in a row (and the 16th since 1982) to win the coveted Truman, recognizing public service and academics. Active in USC’s College Democrats and Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Claflin also co-founded an American Civil Liberties Union chapter here. She will use the $30,000 scholarship to study law. – Nicole St. Pierre Milestones
A trio of USC scientists has been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They are: USC President Steven B. Sample, an inventor and electrical engineer whose patents have been licensed to practically every major manufacturer of appliance controls and microwave ovens in the world; biological scientist Larry W. Swanson, a pioneer in the mapping of rat brains, essential to the study of human neuroanatomy; and mathematician and electrical engineer Solomon Golomb, whose theoretical work is the foundation for communications technologies ranging from radar to cell phones to cryptography. In April, Golomb was also elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences; he has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering since 1976.
The
Belgium National Foundation for Scientific Research has given neurosurgeon
Michael Apuzzo its coveted Gagna A. and Charles Van Heck Prize, honoring
his scientific strides in deep brain navigation and the development of stereotactic
radiosurgery, in which focused beams of radiation are trained precisely on
a target hidden deep in the brain.
Mathematician and computer scientist Leonard Adleman has received the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2002 A.M. Turing Award, considered the most prestigious in computer science. Adleman is one of the developers of the RSA code, the foundation of a generation of technology security products.
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