USC Viterbi Signs Accelerated M.S.
Beginning in September, qualified undergraduates will have the option of taking USC-equivalent courses in electrical and biomedical engineering at Cal Poly that will subsequently allow them to complete USC Viterbi master’s degrees with six fewer units. The reduction eliminates redundancy in undergraduate and graduate course requirements, without compromising educational goals.
“The object of the program from the point of view of the Viterbi School,” Yortsos said, “is to enlarge our school applicant pool of quality domestic master’s students. We could not have found a better partner for this than Cal Poly.”
Said Noori, “We see this as an opportunity for collaboration among the faculty of the two institutions. We will explore the possibility of expanding it further, perhaps to doctoral programs. This would offer an opportunity for us to work with the outstanding faculty and research facilities of USC.”
The July 2 agreement signing took place at USC under the smiling gaze of George Bekey, USC Emeritus University Professor and former USC Viterbi associate dean for research.
Bekey, now a research scholar in residence at Cal Poly, played a key role in bringing the two institutions together.
Under the terms of the memorandum, Cal Poly engineering faculty will nominate outstanding juniors with 3.5+ grade-point averages to the program. The students must complete the regular graduate application program to the USC Viterbi School in either electrical engineering or biomedical engineering.
Students will have to complete the equivalent courses in their senior year. When they continue at USC, course requirements for Viterbi M.S. degrees will be reduced to 21 units (in electrical engineering) or 22 (in biomedical engineering).
The agreement also calls for the USC Viterbi School and Cal Poly faculty and staff to collaborate on program materials, recruitment visits and advisement sessions. Accepted Cal Poly students will be able to do coursework on the USC University Park campus or using the engineering school’s Distance Education Network.
No more than five students will be in the initial group, a maximum that is expected to increase to 20 by 2011.
Kelly Goulis, associate dean for master’s and professional programs, emphasized that the program was a first for the USC Viterbi School: “We’ve never done this before,” she said, “but we have high hopes.”
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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