Time magazine’s June 4 International edition singled out the USC School of Engineering’s Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC). IMSC was prominently mentioned in the cover story and was the only university research center with two stories devoted to its projects. One story focused on Chris Kyriakakis’ virtual miking project and the IMSC immersive audio laboratory. "To show off his work, Kyriakakis plays a recording of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah," said Time. "Then, via digital filtering, he drills down to specific instruments, as if microphones had been placed next to them. A digitized timpani track is stunningly realistic and intimate." The magazine ran another story about haptics research at IMSC in a project that allows people to ‘touch’ artwork in the USC Fisher Gallery over the Internet. Margaret McLaughlin, the principal investigator said, "The golden rule is, ‘Don't touch’… . We’re trying to change that." In the main story, IMSC director Max Nikias described future Internet technologies that will allow videoconferences in which people will seem to be in the same room. "You can be immersed anywhere in the world and feel like a participant," he said, predicting that 3-D "immersive" environments will be as big a technological breakthrough as microprocessors, personal computers or Web browsers.

‘Mummy’ premiere raises $185,000 for Cinema/TV

On Sunday, April 29, the world premiere of Universal Pictures' "The Mummy Returns" – the sequel to the box office smash "The Mummy" – was held at the Universal Amphitheater. Like its predecessor, "The Mummy Returns" was written and directed by USC alumnus Stephen Sommers and executive produced by USC alumnus Bob Ducsay. The event – attended by 3,000 people – raised more than $185,000 to support the USC School of Cinema-Television.

Dental student win awards

Two USC graduate students in advanced periodontics have won research awards from the California Society of Periodontists: Nazanin Daneshmand won for "Initial Effect of Controlled Release Chlorhexidine on Subgingival Microorganisms," and Garo Sirinian won for "Periodontopathic Bacteria in Young Subjects of Different Ethnic Background in Los Angeles". Each of the students received a cash award of $1,000 and was recognized at a banquet at the annual CSP meeting in San Francisco on May 19.

In addition, two craniofacial biology graduate students, Javier Caton and Julia Reyna, won travel grants from the American Association of Dental Research to cover costs of attending a March, 2002 meeting in Japan of the International Association of Dental Research where they will present papers.

Ophthalmology travel grants recognize trio

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) awarded Travel Fellowship Grants to three USC researchers in recognition of their outstanding research.

ARVO honored: Fred Ross-Cisneros, undergraduate student in biological sciences, for his abstract on vascular anomalies in Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy; Rogert Wang, uveitis clinical fellow, for his abstract on retinal microglia in experimental autoimmune uveitis; and Peter Win, a fourth-year medical student, for his abstract on environmental factors affecting a nutation of Lebers hereditary optic neuropathy.

The grants, worth $700 each, helped defray the cost of travel to the association's annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that concluded on May 4. Ross-Cisneros and Win work in the lab of Alfredo Sadun, professor of ophthalmology. Wang works in the lab of Narsing Rao, professor of ophthalmology.

‘Metamorphosis’ gains visibility

The Metamorphosis Project, a massive research project conducted by communication professor Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach and a team of graduate students and other faculty has been published in a special issue of Communication Research. The issue was guest edited by Ball-Rokeach and Annenberg doctoral student Elizabeth Gutierrez Hoyt. Four articles from the Metamorphosis Project were included in the edition, showcasing research that explores communication technology and community. The articles can be found at http://www.metamorph.org/papers.

Clarence Darrow award honors Chemerinsky

Constitutional law expert Erwin Chemerinsky, holder of the Sydney M. Irmas Chair in Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics and Political Science, will receive the Clarence Darrow Award from the People's College of Law on May 12 at the Wilshire Grand Hotel. The award is given to individuals or organizations who are pioneers in the are of public interest law. Previous recipients include Judge Stephen Reinhardt, 9th Circuit; Nelson Mandela; the National Lawyers Guild; and the late Joseph Posner, civil rights attorney. Presenting the award to Chemerinsky will be PCL alumna Ramona Ripston, executive director of the ACLU of Southern California. For information on attending the event, call (213) 483-0083.

Opera has script by Annenberg’s Aarons

"Monticello," an opera about the relationship of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings and scripted by Annenberg School for Communication's Roy Aarons, will be performed again this summer at the California Plaza, an outdoor theater in downtown Los Angeles, Thursday, June 14th through Sunday, June 17th. The libretto was set to music by Los Angeles composer Glenn Paxton. The performance is free.For more details call Grand Performances at (213) 687 2195.

Robotics award goes to George Bekey

George Bekey, University Professor and the Gordon Marshall Professor of Computer Science, has received the Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award, the most prestigious honor of the Robotics Industries Association (RIA). The Engelberger awards recognize outstanding individuals worldwide in robot technology development, applications education and leadership. Bekey has published more than 200 technical papers and numerous book chapters on robots. On the USC faculty for more than 30 years, he started USC’s robotics teaching curriculum and the robotics research laboratory. He was also the founding editor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Transactions on Robotics & Automation. Bekey received the award at a ceremony held during the International Symposium on Robotics held April 19-21 in Seoul, Korea.

Newlywed theme wins honor for student

Doctoral communication student Jenny Xu recently won the International Communication Association’s Outstanding Thesis/Dissertation Award for her thesis "Exploring Support Discrepancy and its Link with Marital Satisfaction in Newly-Wed Individuals."

2 from Music chosen as Pulitzer finalists

Composer Stephen Hartke, a professor at USC Thornton School of Music, was selected as one of two 2001 Pulitzer Prize finalists for "distinguished musical composition of significant dimension." Hartke's "Tituli" premiered on Jan. 15, 2001 at USC's Alfred Newman Recital Hall by the Hilliard Ensemble. The second finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in music is Fred Lerdahl for his "Time After Time." The winner of this year's music prize was John Corigliano for his "Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra."

Terry Anzur has new name: ‘The Voice’

Journalism professor Terry Anzur did the voiceover for an Intimate Portrait of Roma Downey. The show aired on Lifetime Television April 16.

Dutton feasts on rubber chickens

Communication professor William Dutton spoke at Ohio University April 27 about dot.com politics and public policy. He will speak on "Beepless in America" at the University of Michigan on May 7.

Marshall School honors multimedia CEO

Ken Burke – founder, president and CEO of Multimedia Live, an e-commerce technology and Web design company – was the recipient of the 2001 Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year award from the USC Marshall School of Business and Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Burke graduated from USC's entrepreneur program in 1989 and received his MBA at the Marshall School in 1993. The awards banquet was held April 26 at Town and Gown.

Michael Parks tells Seattle about the 21st Century

Globalization was the topic of an April 6 Seattle Post Intelligencer column that quoted newspaper expert Michael Parks. "Southern California is the capital of the 21st century: Capitals attract talent, and talent is arriving in droves," Parks said.

Floto’s Dodger Blue, through and through

The musings of media relations expert Jennifer Floto on her first-ever Opening Day at Dodger Stadium were published in both the online and print versions of the April 10 Diamond Angle, an eclectic baseball newsletter. "Dodger blue dominated the landscape; the air was filled with doves and fireworks and an exhibition by a brave band of Navy Seals who parachuted onto the field while we watched their descent on the big screen (one poor chap missed the mark and landed in the parking lot – hope he's not commanding overseas forces anytime soon!)," Floto wrote.

Downsizing has an emotional side

The continued downsizing of AT&T has an emotional impact, telecommunications expert A. Michael Noll said in an April 15 (New Jersey) Star-Ledger article about the corporation’s quarter-century history in New Jersey. "AT&T is a company New Jersey has always been proud of," said Noll, who worked there in the 1970s. "And to see a company in such a streamlined and, you might say, diminished state, is sad."

Media’s role in shootings downplayed

Media reviews of school shootings aren’t responsible for a dip in school attendance during the second anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings, television news expert Terry Anzur said in an April 21 Las Vegas Review-Journal article about parental reaction to such stories. "Are we [the media] responsible for parents who want to keep students home on the anniversary of Columbine? It’s their choice what they want to do with that information," Anzur said. She was also on an April 18 live segment of KFI talk radio about the popular "Weakest Link" TV show; an April 2 KCET-TV "Life & Times" segment with broadcast student Kris Van Cleave to talk about gays in fraternities and sororities; and in the April 21 (Riverside) Press-Enterprise about news coverage of sensational crime. Anzur also did a live interview April 26 with KPCC’s Larry Mantle regarding FCC approval for CBS/Viacom to own UPN.

Kaplan muses on selling eyeballs

Hyping finance-oriented news shows increases ratings, communication expert Martin Kaplan said in an April 24 Los Angeles Times article. "The purpose of television networks is to sell eyeballs. Any other purpose is ancillary," Kaplan said. "It may be finance, but it is also entertainment, and CNBC’s job is to keep you watching."

Memories cue a wartime photo exhibit

"Memories of the American War," a photo exhibit by broadcast news expert Willa Seidenberg and her husband, William Short, was mentioned in an April 25 Los Angeles Times article. The exhibit "pairs recent black-and-white portraits of Vietnamese men and women with unsentimental accounts of how the war changed their lives." The portraits, along with another project in the exhibit, "put a human face on the terror and tragedy of war," the article said.

Power shortage may yield pollution surfeit

An April 25 story in the Los Angeles Times looked at one city’s efforts to sell electricity and the pollution problems that may result from increased power plant emissions. "There is a potential for more emergency room visits, more people seeing their doctors and more hospitalizations this summer," said environmental health expert Henry Gong.

Sweatshop rescue, marriage, child profiled

A story in the April 25 Los Angeles Times took a look at the chƒges facing families. The family profiled was that of psychologist Steve Sussman, who reflected on having a baby with his wife, Rotchana. "All told, 50 percent of my family were killed in the Holocaust," he said. "There was this feeling of wanting to continue the family, living past the Holocaust." His wife had come to the United States in 1994 from Thailand, hoping to build a better future for her two children who remained behind. What followed was work in an El Monte sweatshop, rescue by the police, speaking up for workers’ rights and accidentally meeting Sussman. Now the extended family is together, and there is a new baby whose first name is that of his paternal grandfather and whose middle name honors his maternal grandfather. "In time," said the article, " he will hear the stories of strength, injustice and, in the end, triumph."

Suburbs fill role left by Ellis Island

In an April 26 Washington Post story on immigrants’ surge into the suburbs, sociologist Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo said the trend will continue. "The suburbs have replaced Ellis Island and inner-city factories as a key entry point for new immigrants. The new economy relies not only on high-tech workers but also on an army of nannies, gardeners, cleaners, cooks and painters."

Cronkite honors

Coverage of the Norman Lear Center’s Walter Cronkite Awards appeared in an April 26 Christian Science Monitor article that listed the winners.

Love, the web and Morse code

Cyberspace relationships sometimes mirror romantic relationships that developed from earlier communication technologies, cultural technology expert Douglas Thomas said in an April 26 Los Angeles Times article about online role-playing. "The telegraph exhibited some of the same phenomenon we’re seeing with the Internet," Thomas said. "There were chat groups. People developed relationships with operators. Romances blossomed through Morse code. It’s been repeated with every new communication technology."

Ruth Weisberg’s art captures Seattle

Artist Ruth Weisberg’s retrospective of monotypes, "Heightened Realities," at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, was featured in the April 27 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Called "one of the field's primary innovators," Weisberg talked about relishing the challenges of the medium and about her style, describing it as "emulation" or "standing on the shoulders of art giants." "History is not some dusty thing," she said. "Lives [throughout time] resemble ours."

Is there a MacFrappachino in your future? Nah

McDonald’s hopes to target the Starbucks crowd with its introduction of the gourmet coffee shop McCaf in Chicago, according to an April 30 story in USA Today. But psychologist Jerald Jellison is skeptical it will fly. "I don’t think hardcore Starbucks customers will go there. But the casual customer will absolutely try it. And that’s a much bigger market." He was also quoted on the same subject in the May 1 Chicago Sun-Times.

Deferred growth goes center stage

Demographer Dowell Myers was quoted in an April 30 New York Times story about the slow population growth rate among whites in the 20-fastest growing cities. "The decline in non-Hispanic whites is greater than we expected, and we don’t really know what’s going on." In the May 2 Washington Post he said 1999 Census Bureau data gave a snapshot of California technology companies sprouting up at that time. "We're making up for past deferred growth, " Myers said.

Living-donor lung transplant featured

A May 1 story in the Pasadena Star-News covered a living-donor lung transplant at USC University Hospital. The rare surgery involved a young teacher and his two friends, who each donated a portion of their lungs to help save his life. "His first chest X-ray [since surgery] was beautiful," said transplant coordinator Felicia Schenkel. "The [new] lobes filled the space very well." Surgeon Vaughn Starnes performed the operation and was interviewed for a follow-up story that ran May 1 on KABC-TV.

Robot heart surgery draws SRO press crowd

Heart surgery using a new robot brought the media to a May 3 press conference at USC University Hospital. Cardiothoracic surgeon Vaughn Starnes introduced the da Vinci Surgical System, the first of its kind doing heart surgery in California. "Robotic surgery is going to revolutionize cardiothoracic procedures," he told the media. "It is the biggest development since the invention of the heart-lung machine in the 1950s." Television stations covering the event included KTLA, KABC, KCAL, KTTV, KCOP and KVEA, along with KNX-AM radio. The story was also reported in La Opinión and by the CNS Wire service.

John Argue heads city’s Olympic bid

John C. Argue, chairman of the USC board of trustees, is spearheading Los Angeles’ bid for the 2012 summer Olympic games, said a May 6 Los Angeles Times Magazine article. Argue noted in a Q&A that L.A. sends more athletes to the Olympics than any other city and it has a solid track record. "Our competitors have promised the moon, but they can't deliver. … We have great weather and world-class venues. … We are the best place in the world for the Olympics." Plus, he said, the Olympics are good for the local economy, bring the city together and make everyone proud to be Americans. "But the biggest reason is because it's fun," he said. "People often say seeing the Olympics is one of the best times in their lives."

Kerrey’s revelations attract comment from Annenberg experts

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey’s revelations that he participated in killing unarmed Vietnamese men, women and children during the Vietnam War was grist for commentaries by foreign relations expert Murray Fromson and international reporting expert A.J. "Jack" Langguth in the May 6 and May 7 Los Angeles Times. "As for those who argue that many years have passed or that Kerrey’s civilian life has been exemplary, what do they say about Sara Jane Olson?" Langguth wrote. "Do we release her at once? Or do we accept that killing a score of Vietnamese is a lesser offense than trying unsuccessfully to kill two police officers from the Los Angeles Police Department?" Fromson wrote that Kerrey’s actions weren’t an aberration. "Our government dispatched hundreds of thousands of young men to a distant country without any knowledge of its language, culture or history. ‘That wasn’t our job,’ an officer told me once. ‘We were there to kill the ‘Cong, the enemy, and to do that you had to teach our men to hate the people.’"

LA Times takes a major look at NAI

USC’s Neighborhood Academic Initiative has transformed a group of Los Angeles Unified students into scholars, according to a page-one May 11 Los Angeles Times article. "The USC program took a unique – and many would say bold – approach," the article said. "Rather than focusing on top-performing students," it tapped "students with C grades or better who were motivated and willing to commit to hard work." They were among members "of the program’s pioneering class of ‘USC scholars’ to collect their degrees this year."

‘Great Communicator’ makes the cover

Designer Gregory Thomas garnered the April cover of the California edition of Micro Publishing News. Entitled "The Great Communicator," the article profiled the founder of Gregory Thomas Associates along with his catholic design philosophy and educational practice. "I think the most important thing you can do as a good designer is listen," Thomas said. "And if you listen well, the design will happen. What form it takes is arbitrary. You can impose all the design devices, but if you don't understand and deliver your client's message, then you've wasted their money." The piece also included images of the GTA-designed University/Exposition Park signature mark.

Sprawl may not be suspenseful, but it’s dramatic

Social tensions created by economic disparity and sprawl threaten disharmony in 21st century Los Angeles, said urban expert Michael Dear as the featured guest on Fox 11’s "Midday Sunday" news show April 1. "It’s not as suspenseful as a Stephen King novel, but it’s just as dramatic," said Dear, who responded to questions about "Sprawl Hits the Wall," a recently released study by USC’s Southern California Studies Center and the Brookings Institution’s Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy. "We have run out of time. We have run out of space in terms of Los Angeles. We don’t have the land [and] we don’t have the resources to go on developing the way that we have."

400 radio stations air Bart Kosko for four hours

Technologist Bart Kosko was a guest on the Art Bell late-night talk show on April 4 and 5. Bell, who is syndicated on about 400 North American radio stations, had Kosko on for four hours talking about neural networks and his book "Heaven in a Chip." "I focused on how the modern theory of neural networks exorcises the homunculus or ghost in our machines," Kosko said.

The overlap between politics and entertainment — ‘politainment?’

Late-night television talk shows and sitcoms like "That’s My Bush" are examples of the overlap between politics and entertainment, political communication expert Martin Kaplan said in an April 11 interview on public radio’s "Marketplace" business news show.

Is the government out of this world?

An April 12 City News Service story said government guidelines for eating fish could put pregnant women in danger. "Unfortunately, the government’s advice to pregnant women is not grounded in the real world," said health expert Maureen Strohm. The story was also reported on KSAT-TV, San Antonio, Texas,.

What’s in a name? Sometimes trauma

The difficulty that many Americans have in pronouncing Vietnamese names was traumatizing, journalism undergraduate Mary Vuong wrote in an April 14 Los Angeles Times commentary about how language differences have affected her. "Back then [in elementary school], I hated Vietnamese for being so difficult for Americans to pronounce, and I hated how most everyone reversed the ’u’ and the ‘o’ in the spelling of my last name," Vuong wrote. But now, Vuong has been spurred on to improve her ability to speak in Vietnamese, "perhaps even learn how to read Vietnamese."

Ethnic press isn’t dead

The country’s only surviving Danish newspaper is an example of the "remnants of a once-thriving press in America," journalism history expert Bryce Nelson said in an April 15 Associated Press story. Bien, which is now up for sale, is "evidence that the ethnic press in America is not dead."

Alumna Marilyn Horne cautions that hard work is instrumental

Alumna Marilyn Horne was featured on the cover of the April 15 Los Angeles Times Work Place section. The renowned mezzo-soprano trained at USC with Bill Vennard. "Horne cautions students that even those born with a 'fabulous instrument' must work very hard to achieve success," read the story. "There are no shortcuts to a great career, she says. 'Don't push, don't rush.' As she herself learned long ago from Vennard, each career forged must be as unique as the individual crafting it."

Guidelines offered for children in clinical trials

An April 16 Los Angeles Times story looked at the use of children in clinical trials. Pharmacist Jeff Goad offered guidelines to parents who may be considering having their ill children join a trial. "In that case, you may need a second opinion. Have another physician read the informed consent to make sure the study has benefit for your child."

Forbes looks at Ted Berger’s brain research

A story in the April 16 issue of Forbes focused on Theodore Berger’s brain research. "The ultimate goal is to develop a computer that models the way the brain evolves over time and rearranges itself to work even when there are faulty parts," he told the magazine. The story described how Berger was mapping the electrical patterns issuing from slices of rabbit brain tissue in an attempt to mimic how the brain’s learning centers function. It also noted that speech-recognition software that can pluck out words in noisy environments would hit the market in four months. "No one knows how learning or memory takes place in the brain. Berger doesn’t have a complete answer, but his software is a quantum leap," said Joel Davis, program director at the Office of Naval Research, which funds the research.

…and Irving Reed’s streaming video

The same April 16 Forbes also cited the work of electrical engineer and computer scientists Irving Reed in a story about efforts to improve streaming video on the Internet. Describing new streaming video algorithms created by a UC Berkeley computer scientist, the story said the work had its genesis in a five-page paper published in 1960 by Reed and Gustave Solomon, the "Reed-Solomon codes."

Layoffs and the law

Employment legalities expert Noel Ragsdale commented in an April 16 Christian Science Monitor story on layoffs and the law. "The fact of the matter is that employers can do things that are ‘unfair.’ If there’s an irascible supervisor who tends to fly off the handle and fire people, it won’t seem fair, but it’s not actionable. … If you’re an at-will [employee], the question is not whether the employer had a good reason, it’s whether they had an illegal reason." It’s not illegal, Ragsdale said, for a boss to fire an employee because "they’re an Aries, and the manager doesn’t like Aries. It might be a crazy reason, but it won’t be because of being Asian or being female."

The short life of a disembodied tissue

An April 17 article in the Washington Post cited the work of neuroscientist Michel Baudry, who couples human-made electronics with living slices of animal brain to detect hazardous odors. The short life span of the disembodied tissue is a practical obstacle, but he said his team has "almost, but not quite" developed a way to preserve the tissue for weeks or months.

This little piggie went to a pinky

An April 17 report on the ABC News Web site looked at the use of pig tissue in surgeries. Surgeon John Itamura said trying to repair torn tendons can often be a real challenge without the use of a "pig patch." "It’s like trying to suture together two pieces of wet toilet paper," he said.

Almost everyhone still believes in gene therapy

Appearing on an April 21 broadcast of CNN Your Health, gene therapy pioneer W. French Anderson said, "Almost everyone still believes that gene therapy will revolutionize the practice of medicine."

Caleb Finch’s new Alzheimer’s theory attracts major notice

Neurogerontologist Caleb Finch and two collaborators from Northwestern University have proposed a new explanation of Alzheimer's disease that overturns the reigning view of the disease. "We were able to identify in laboratory test tubes a new kind of toxic activity that is implicated as a root cause of Alzheimer's," he said in the April 21 Houston Chronicle. The newly discovered toxic molecules, called ADDLs, correlate exquisitely with the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and point the way to possible therapies. "ADDLs result from certain types of inflammatory proteins," said Finch in the April 23 (Salt Lake City) Deseret News. "If we can interfere with this process, we can affect the progress of the disease."

LA Jazz 2001 deserves more and better

The April 13 Los Angeles Times featured USC's six-day LA Jazz 2001, arguing that the eighth annual event deserved better attention and attendance. "One of the things we've tried to do with the festival," said executive producer Craig Springer, "is bring our student ensembles together with first-rate professional talent and see how each affects the other. We think this is something that adds a special quality to our programs, something that isn't often found in other jazz festivals." The opening event of the festival – alto saxophonist Charles McPherson with the USC Thornton Jazz Strings in a recreation of "Charlie Parker With Strings" – was reviewed in the April 18 Los Angeles Times. Headlined "Capturing the Soul of Charlie Parker," the review read: "What made it all come together … was McPherson's stunning ability to recall Parker without imitating him, to find both the character and the soul of the music without losing his own musical sense of self."

USN&WR features maja Mataric

Roboticist Maja Mataric was featured in the April 23 cover story in U.S. News & World Report. Explaining the problem of motor control, Mataric said the entire range of human or robot mobility "can be collapsed down to a reasonably sized set of movements." Whether reaching for a pot on a stove or to volley a tennis ball, "You use a standard way of reaching, the same basic movement." With the proper adaptation algorithms, robots can learn to mimic human movements. Mataric also predicted that like any other new technology, robot technology would probably create some unintended and possibly unpleasant consequences. "I hope society is strong and wise enough to stop abuses without stopping science," she said. "But I think all of that is still a long way off."

Science Fair projects gain in number and scope

Physicist Chris Gould was quoted in a Ventura County Star story on April 23 about student science fair projects. "I’ve been attending the Ventura County Science Fair for at least 10 years, and the number of projects and the scale of the awards ceremony has just grown enormously," he said. "The style of projects we’re seeing these days and the kinds of questions being asked really are scientific questions."

Actress Somers’ cancer fight profiled

The April 30 issue of People Magazine looks at actress Suzanne Somers’ fight against breast cancer. "Early detection was so important for Suzanne. Right now, she has a very good chance of being cured forever," said Somers’ surgeon, Mel Silverstein. The story also made the April 20 edition of "Dateline NBC." Silverstein and oncologist James Waisman were included in the segment that focused on Somers’ use of an alternative medicine. "We counseled her," said Waisman. "She is strong-minded. And she had a view about this. We agreed to disagree."

Graffiti doesn’t provide clues

Emeritus sociologist Malcolm Klein was quoted in a March 28 Los Angeles Times story about gangs. Graffiti has never served as a major clue in any of the gang-related trials in which he has testified, he said. "Who’s putting his name up doesn’t tell you anything about the guys that aren’t," Klein said.

Slow LA growth surprises Dowell Myers

Urban growth expert Dowell Myers said in a March 29 Associated Press story that he was surprised that the population in Los Angeles grew just 6 percent since the last census. "It’s surprisingly low, given … the growing Latino population," he said. "I was looking for something closer to 10 percent."

They just want a little piece of the countryside

The attraction of affordable homes and open space has created a culture of long-distance commuters, who are increasingly trading urban living for a place in the country, said demographer Christopher Williamson in a March 30 Los Angeles Times story. The expansion is creating the same congestion commuters left behind in the city. "They’re gobbling up subdivisions we’ve been building," said Williamson. "The question is, how long can it go on?"

Party in power? Party to blame

Marc Korman, vice president of USC’s Young Democrats, said in a March 30 Associated Press story that the state’s power problems will hurt the party. "When something like this happens, [voters] look for blame, and they look for change."

Becoming Hispanic? No, always been Hispanic

A March 30 New York Times story on the 2000 Census confirmation that whites are a minority in California quoted historian and state librarian Kevin Starr. "The Anglo hegemony was only an intermittent phase in California's arc of identity, extending from the arrival of the Spanish," Starr said. "The Hispanic nature of California has been there all along, and it was temporarily swamped between the 1880s and the 1960s, but that was an aberration. This is a reassertion of the intrinsic demographic DNA of the longer pattern, which is part of a California-Mexico continuum."

Alumna writer interviews faculty pianist for cover article

The cover of April's Clavier featured pianist Daniel Pollack. He was interviewed at length – by 1977 USC Thornton School of Music alumna Leonne Lewis – on his views of music competitions, both as a frequent juror and as a 1958 prize-winner of the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow. "Competitions are often necessary to begin concert careers," Pollack said, "although Evgeny Kissin and a few others established careers without winning a competition. The individuality of a Kissin may not sit well with juries, which is why a consensus of jurors sometimes choose a middle-of-the-road pianist. … I vote for the contestant I believe in, someone who is aesthetically and morally committed to the art of music. Sometimes I have been called the musical conscience of the jury."

Women smokers risk bladder cancer, but why?

e trend will continue. "The suburbs have replaced Ellis Island and inner-city factories as a key entry point for new immigrants. The new economy relies not only on high-tech workers but also on an army of nannies, gardeners, cleaners, cooks and painters."

Cronkite honors

Coverage of the Norman Lear Center’s Walter Cronkite Awards appeared in an April 26 Christian Science Monitor article that listed the winners.

Love, the web and Morse code

Cyberspace relationships sometimes mirror romantic relationships that developed from earlier communication technologies, cultural technology expert Douglas Thomas said in an April 26 Los Angeles Times article about online role-playing. "The telegraph exhibited some of the same phenomenon we’re seeing with the Internet," Thomas said. "There were chat groups. People developed relationships with operators. Romances blossomed through Morse code. It’s been repeated with every new communication technology."

Ruth Weisberg’s art captures Seattle

Artist Ruth Weisberg’s retrospective of monotypes, "Heightened Realities," at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, was featured in the April 27 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Called "one of the field's primary innovators," Weisberg talked about relishing the challenges of the medium and about her style, describing it as "emulation" or "standing on the shoulders of art giants." "History is not some dusty thing," she said. "Lives [throughout time] resemble ours."

Is there a MacFrappachino in your future? Nah

McDonald’s hopes to target the Starbucks crowd with its introduction of the gourmet coffee shop McCaf in Chicago, according to an April 30 story in USA Today. But psychologist Jerald Jellison is skeptical it will fly. "I don’t think hardcore Starbucks customers will go there. But the casual customer will absolutely try it. And that’s a much bigger market." He was also quoted on the same subject in the May 1 Chicago Sun-Times.

Deferred growth goes center stage

Demographer Dowell Myers was quoted in an April 30 New York Times story about the slow population growth rate among whites in the 20-fastest growing cities. "The decline in non-Hispanic whites is greater than we expected, and we don’t really know what’s going on." In the May 2 Washington Post he said 1999 Census Bureau data gave a snapshot of California technology companies sprouting up at that time. "We're making up for past deferred growth, " Myers said.

Living-donor lung transplant featured

A May 1 story in the Pasadena Star-News covered a living-donor lung transplant at USC University Hospital. The rare surgery involved a young teacher and his two friends, who each donated a portion of their lungs to help save his life. "His first chest X-ray [since surgery] was beautiful," said transplant coordinator Felicia Schenkel. "The [new] lobes filled the space very well." Surgeon Vaughn Starnes performed the operation and was interviewed for a follow-up story that ran May 1 on KABC-TV.

Robot heart surgery draws SRO press crowd

Heart surgery using a new robot brought the media to a May 3 press conference at USC University Hospital. Cardiothoracic surgeon Vaughn Starnes introduced the da Vinci Surgical System, the first of its kind doing heart surgery in California. "Robotic surgery is going to revolutionize cardiothoracic procedures," he told the media. "It is the biggest development since the invention of the heart-lung machine in the 1950s." Television stations covering the event included KTLA, KABC, KCAL, KTTV, KCOP and KVEA, along with KNX-AM radio. The story was also reporte