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 7/24/2012
Featured Stories
Europa Press (Spain) featured research by Sergio Sanudo-Wilhelmy of the USC Dornsife College and colleagues, finding that "vitamin deserts" in the ocean have an effect on plankton levels. The story reported that Sanudo-Wilhelmy and his team are the first to identify the long-hypothesized vitamin-depleted zones. They found a lack of vitamin B at certain depths of the ocean off the coast of California and Baja Mexico. The researchers believe that the vitamin deficiency could influence red tides, a kind of toxic algae bloom. This is another twist to what limits life in the ocean, Sanudo-Wilhelmy said.
The Huffington Post featured a project at USC School of Cinematic Arts' Interactive Media Division and the USC Viterbi School's GamePipe Laboratory, in which students are developing a virtual reality space similar to the holodeck in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Project Holodeck is designed to create a virtual reality video game with inexpensive head mounts, body tracking, wind-based haptic feedback, smell systems and more. The result will be an immersive gaming experience that the game makers ultimately want to make affordable to average consumers. The work was also featured by The Verge and GameTrailers.
Bloomberg Businessweek ran a column by Warren Bennis of the USC Marshall School about reforms undertaken by Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria. Nohria has said that to make progress in educating leaders, people must get better at translating knowing into doing. "That knowing-doing distinction is the key pivot to narrowing the gap between theory and practice," Bennis wrote. "I refer to the London Tube's warning: 'Mind the Gap.'"
The Daily Journal covered research by Kathleen Page of the Keck School of USC and colleagues, finding that images of sugary foods induce cravings for the same foods, possibly contributing to diabetes and obesity. Desire for sweet foods also increased after subjects consumed a sugary drink. "These findings suggest that added sweeteners could be one of the main contributors to the obesity epidemic," Page said.
L.A. Weekly reviewed a concert by the USC Jazz Quintet, which performed recently in Pasadena. The band includes Alan Pasqua, Darek Oleszkiewicz and Peter Erskine of the USC Thornton School, as well as USC alumnus Ambrose Akinmusire. "The band finished as strongly as they started, coalescing into a perfect ambassadorship for the program," the review stated.
La Opinion covered The Village at USC project. David Galaviz, USC executive director of local government relations, said that the project will help alleviate the affordable-housing shortage in the area. "We want to return to the community the opportunity to have affordable housing," he said.
Experts Quoted
Los Angeles Times cited David Kang of the USC Dornsife College about a lack of information about North Korea.
Bloomberg Businessweek quoted Lawrence Harris of the USC Marshall School about discontent among Nasdaq's clients.
The Atlantic cited Andrew Lih of the USC Annenberg School about the number of Wikipedia administrators dropping drastically in recent years.
Indo-Asian News Service (India) quoted Chauntelle Tibbals, a visiting scholar at the USC Dornsife College, about the use of social media in the porn industry.
North County Times cited Kevin Starr of the USC Dornsife College about the role that history plays in defining a people, and the role that state parks play in preserving that history.
Pasadena Star-News quoted Dorian Traube of the USC School of Social Work about a case alleging that a special needs student was sexually assaulted at an Alhambra elementary school.
News at a Glance
Variety highlighted an exhibit of DreamWorks animated films that will be held at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
The Island (Sri Lanka) mentioned that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi is a USC alumnus.
Wired reported that Paul Mockapetris, who helped develop the Internet's Domain Naming System while working as a researcher at USC, was inducted into the Internet Society's Internet Hall of Fame.