Each year, USC programs and faculty research are highlighted in print, broadcast and online stories throughout the world. Highlights of recent news coverage are compiled by USC Media Relations.
USC in the News 3/30/2012
Featured Stories
Bloomberg Businessweek highlighted a $10 million gift to fund scholarships for veterans attending the USC Marshall School and USC Viterbi School. The gift was made by USC Trustee, alumnus and former Marine William J. Schoen and his wife, Sharon, who to date have given $16 million and provided $1.2 million in support to 173 students.
The New York Times featured "My Best Thing," an exhibit by Frances Stark of the USC Roski School at New York's MoMA P.S. 1. The show features a feature-length digital animation about online flirtation and intimacy.
Los Angeles Times featured a Q&A panel on the "Before Watchmen" graphic novels, scheduled for the upcoming Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC. The event will be held at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and will feature a screening of the 2009 film adaptation of the book. The story stated that the festival is the largest and most prestigious event of its kind in the country.
Los Angeles Times covered a series of broadcasts featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic on KUSC-FM. The programs, hosted by KUSC Producer Brian Lauritzen, will include three concerts from the Philharmonic's Mahler Project and performances by the Philharmonic and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra during their recent collaboration in Caracas, Venezuela.
Los Angeles Times highlighted research by Lee Epstein of the USC Gould School and colleagues, about the Supreme Court justices using their questioning of lawyers to influence one another more than to make up their own minds. They conducted a statistical analysis of Supreme Court oral arguments from 2004 to 2007, finding "the number of questions and the total words in question ... provide a reasonable predictor of most Justices' votes."
The National (United Arab Emirates) featured research by Nathanael Fast of the USC Marshall School and colleagues finding that the more power managers have, the more risky their decisions become. Fast and his colleagues concluded that power leads people to overestimate the accuracy of their own knowledge. "As a power holder, the smartest thing you might ever do is bring people together who will inspect your thinking and who aren't afraid to challenge your ideas," Fast said.
Popular Science featured research by Dmitri Williams of the USC Annenberg School conducted on online communities in EverQuest II, finding that behavior there mirrored real economies. The story stated that the effects of the TARP bailout bill could perhaps have been tested using video games. What ended up happening was, "we did a half-a-trillion-dollar experiment with the economy and had no control group," Williams said. The story reported that Williams' research mapped theories of money which had never before been tested on a grand scale.
ABC News Philadelphia affiliate WPVI-TV reported on research by Dana Goldman of the USC Price School and the USC School of Pharmacy, Geoffrey Joyce of the School of Pharmacy, and USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics Senior Fellow Anupam Jena, finding that higher insurance co-pays may lead to parents not filling prescriptions for their children. "Over the course of a year, many of these children were taking less than 50 percent of the medicine that's required to control their condition," Goldman said.
MarketWatch featured "The End of Illness," a book by David Agus of the Keck School of USC about the future of health care. Agus said that doctors spend too much time addressing individual symptoms instead of taking a holistic approach to health care, looking at how the entire human system works together. He also stressed the need for preventative care. "As a cancer doctor on the front lines, one of the first things you realize is the best way to treat cancer is actually to prevent it," he said.
The Huffington Post featured research by Alexandra Michel of the USC Marshall School finding that Wall Street bankers suffered from a list of ailments, including insomnia, alcoholism and eating disorders. Fast Company also mentioned the study.
Truthdig ran a column by Richard Reeves of the USC Annenberg School about the health care debate here in the United States and how different it is in Europe. "Now, my country, all the way up to the Supreme Court, is having an end-of-the-dinner conversation about these things," Reeves wrote. "It is, to my mind, conversation at a pretty juvenile level."
Experts Quoted
The Washington Post quoted Dan Schnur of the USC Dornsife College about how an overturn of the federal health care law could affect President Obama's and Mitt Romney's campaigns.
Los Angeles Times quoted David Carter of the USC Marshall School about the divorce settlement between L.A. Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.
BBC News (U.K.) interviewed Niels Frenzen of the USC Gould School about migrants caught at sea. The Guardian (U.K.) also quoted Frenzen.
The Telegraph (U.K.) cited Manuel Pastor of the USC Dornsife College about the Trayvon Martin shooting case.
Bloomberg News quoted Junfeng Zhang of the Keck School of USC about China's air pollution.
NPR's "Morning Edition" interviewed Michael Brennan of the USC Gould School about a 1996 case in which a baby was alleged to have been shaken to death.
The Fiscal Times quoted Edward Kleinbard of the USC Gould School about companies keeping their assets overseas.
Current TV's "The Young Turks" interviewed Jody Armour of the USC Gould School about the Trayvon Martin shooting.
Seattle Weekly cited Gary Painter of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate about declining home prices.
Kennebec Journal quoted Karen North of the USC Annenberg School about parody Twitter accounts.
The Street quoted Edward Kleinbard of the USC Gould School about President Obama proposing a lowered corporate tax rate.
Talking Points Memo quoted Marc Cooper of the USC Annenberg School about the role Rev. Al Sharpton has played in the Trayvon Martin shooting case.
News at a Glance
Los Angeles Times mentioned that former First Lady Pat Nixon was a USC alumna.
The Korea Times (South Korea) mentioned The Korea Project: Planning for the Long Term, a research initiative to study issues surrounding Korean unification undertaken by David Kang of the USC Dornsife College, director of the USC Korean Studies Institute.
The Korea Times (South Korea) mentioned USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll results regarding approval of Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed tax initiative.
The Atlantic mentioned that USC is experimenting with online classrooms that connect students across the country with one professor.
Poynter mentioned the USC Viterbi School's Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab and the Oscar Senti-Meter, developed in collaboration with IBM and the Los Angeles Times.
RedOrbit covered research by Uri Elkayam of the Keck School of USC about the risk of heart attacks in pregnant women. The study was also covered by CBS News Tallahassee, Fla., affiliate WCTV-TV; and NBC News Columbus, Ala., affiliate WLTZ-TV.
OC Metro reported that Stephen Ryan of the Keck School of USC was given an award recognizing his work in the field of retinal diseases and ocular trauma.
PopMatters reviewed "Rez Life" by David Treuer of the USC Dornsife College, a memoir about his life growing up on a reservation as an Ojibwe Indian.
The Post-Standard mentioned a lecture by T.C. Boyle of the USC Dornsife College.
Zee News (India) mentioned that First Lady Michelle Obama will visit USC's Galen Center for the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards.
The San Diego Union-Tribune mentioned that Solomon Golomb of the USC Viterbi School has contributed to the fields of astronomy, data encryption and games.
PBS News' "MediaShift" cited USC Annenberg School alumnus Tom Grasty about the online video editing and publishing program Stroome, which he created with a fellow Annenberg School alum.
Detroit Metro Times mentioned that George Lucas is an alumnus of the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
The Rafu Shimpo mentioned that USC will award honorary degrees to Nisei students interned by the U.S. government during World War II.