USC in the News 11/3/2009

The Wall Street Journal highlighted the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation in a roundup of the latest venture capital news and analysis. USC has been churning out startups at an impressive clip, with 15 startups from the USC Stevens Institute and $115 million raised in less than two years, the article stated. TechCrunch stated that the institute helps USC spin-offs manage intellectual property, regularly incubates and showcases new high-tech ventures, and connects promising young teams with appropriate investors for follow-up financing and commercialization. It is "great to see universities doing their part in furthering technological innovation and giving promising young companies a leg up," the story stated.

The Washington Post quoted Jerry Lucido, USC vice provost for Enrollment Management and Policy, in a Q&A on college application essays and admission criteria. "You be you. Writing honestly, either with brutality or kindness, is the best strategy. This is the time for your voice to be heard by your application readers, so represent yourself with integrity," Lucido said. "There simply is no mold for 'what admission directors are looking for.' The important thing is to design your activities to develop and test your interests, not to please a distant admission official. Yes, we believe this!"

L'Independant (France) reported that actor Dennis Hopper is being treated for prostate cancer through a special program at USC. Agence France-Presse and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also covered the story.

The Mainichi Daily News (Japan) highlighted USC's involvement in a film project to recreate the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall and much of surrounding Hiroshima as it looked before the atomic bombing. Seven professors and graduate students from USC and members of the computer graphics team behind the film "The Day After Tomorrow" are collaborating on the project, which will result in a documentary film about atomic bomb survivors, the story reported.

Toronto Star (Canada) mentioned Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the USC Rossier School in an article about Kurt Fischer, who started the international movement to marry neuroscience and education. Immordino-Yang is the most eminent of a new generation of neuro-educators, the story stated.

The Herald (U.K.) cited Richard Reeves of the USC Annenberg School in an article about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "He says that we need him, that he will save the city," Reeves has written. "That may even be true. God knows we have him whether we like it or not."

The Hamilton Spectator (Canada) quoted Karen Sternheimer of the USC College about the H1N1 flu vaccine. Sternheimer said that some people's fear of the vaccine is powered by growing mistrust of public institutions, certainly in the U.S., and to a lesser extent in Canada. "A new credibility gap seems to be growing, where people don't trust leaders to tell the truth," she added. "This could also lead to panic if people are afraid but don't feel they can trust science or medicine to provide a solution."

BusinessWeek stated that the USC Marshall School has an executive M.B.A. program in Asia, which provides opportunities to build ties with business leaders in the region.

Miller-McCune featured research by Nathanael Fast of the USC Marshall School on the infectious nature of blame. Observing people blame others for their lack of success "increased the likelihood that people would make subsequent blame attributions for their own, unrelated failures," according to a paper written by Fast and a Stanford University colleague. "Although the answer is not necessarily to stop giving critiques or assigning blame, one strategy leaders might adopt is to become more sensitive to what they say publicly and what they say privately."

Jewish Journal ran an op-ed by Martin Kaplan of the USC Annenberg School about sending troops to Afghanistan. "Now we're gearing up to debate how many American troops should be committed for how long to what mission in Afghanistan. Politicians and talking heads who've never served in the military, and whose own kids will never die in combat, are telling other Americans why their kids must risk their lives half a world away. Experts and officials who got Iraq wrong are getting big airtime to tell us how to get Afghanistan right," Kaplan wrote. "I'm not worried that Obama is getting bad advice in his Afghanistan briefings; I'm confident that every conceivable option will have an advocate at the table. What troubles me isn't the debate in the Situation Room -- it's how his decision will play out in the circus that democratic deliberation in America has become."

Jewish Journal ran a column that encouraged people to visit the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, "where you can learn, donate and remember."

Science quoted Antoine Bechara of the USC College about new research which concludes that parallel pathways in the brain -- one involving the insular cortex and the other involving the sense of touch -- mediate the ability to feel the heartbeat, undermining the hypothesis that the insular cortex is the sole source of self-awareness in the human brain. "The experiment is very clever," Bechara said. However, he added that one possibility the researchers didn't test is that the somatosensory system and the insular cortex convey different aspects of the experience of a quickening heart rate.

Politico stated that Susan Estrich of the USC Gould School is perhaps the most identifiable Democratic commentator on Fox News. She has been working at the network for more than a decade, having first gotten to know Fox News President Roger Ailes when they were working on opposite sides of the 1988 presidential campaign, the story stated. Estrich said that management has been receptive when she has had issues with the network's coverage. "If there is something I think is not right, I pick up the phone and I call," she said. "What I have been hopefully able to do is offer my thoughts both inside and outside."

The Weekly Standard mentioned that USC College Dean Howard Gillman wrote an entry on the Bush v. Gore case in "The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions."

The Washington Times reviewed "Parallel Play: Life As an Outsider" by Tim Page of the USC Annenberg School. Page's new book describes his struggle with Asperger's syndrome, which he wasn't diagnosed with until he was 45. "Tim Page ends his fine book by counting a number of his blessings, and then writes, 'And if I am still something of a stranger in this world, a predestined outsider, I remain profoundly grateful for my life and its fitful and mysterious spells of invisible joy,'" the review stated.

LiveScience ran a Q&A with Zhong-Lin Lu of the USC College, who along with colleagues demonstrated the workings of a curveball in baseball. When batters try to gauge their approach to the ball, they must make a mid-swing switch between peripheral and central vision, the researchers found. Asked about the social benefits of his research, Lu said: "Basic research in my laboratory has led to a theoretical framework that has been applied in a number of clinical research programs on special populations, including people with amblyopic, low vision, and dyslexic conditions. We are also actively developing quick methods to assess visual function in clinical settings and training procedures for remediation of perceptual function in amblyopia."

The Boston Globe mentioned that composer Arnold Schoenberg taught at USC.

Houston Chronicle featured the National Summit on Arts Journalism, presented by the USC Annenberg School and the National Arts Journalism Program.

Tallahassee Democrat cited an op-ed by Ron Avi Astor of the USC School of Social Work about the recent case in which an alleged high school gang rape was observed by bystanders who did nothing to stop the crime. In his column, Astor asked what could be done to prevent such occurrences in the future.

CW News Los Angeles affiliate KTLA-TV reported that Drew Pinsky of the Keck School of USC performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a high school football player who suffered a head injury and stopped breathing during a game in which Pinsky's son was playing. Pinsky performed CPR until paramedics arrived, and the player later received successful surgery to relieve pressure on the brain, the story reported.

The Wrap quoted Edwin Smith of the USC Gould School in an article about filmmaker Roman Polanski's French lawyers, who have presented another new bail offer for the director's release from a Swiss jail, where he is being held in connection with a 1977 statutory rape conviction. "There's no reason why there should be any similarity to our system," Smith said. He added that while this kind of bidding is definitely not the American style of setting bonds, U.S. judges are amenable to hearing defense lawyers' suggestions on methods to guarantee that their clients won't bolt, such as monitoring bracelets or the surrendering of passports.

The Orange County Register reported that during a conference held last week, Andrew Lih of the USC Annenberg School wrote via Twitter that China's major earthquake gave Twitter big popularity boost in that country.

The Sacramento Bee quoted Dan Schnur of the USC College in an article that analyzed voting records of California legislators and found that they aren't likely to vote in opposition to the majority of their party on any given bill. "The way the legislative districts were carved up by the two parties creates a very logical incentive structure for members of both parties to never, ever, ever deviate from the party line," Schnur said. "The only way you can ever lose your seat in the state Legislature is by compromising with the other side."

The Herald featured USC research which found that teens can decrease their risk of diabetes by eating less sugar and more fiber. Teenagers in the study who reduced their intake of sugar experienced a significant reduction in blood levels of both glucose and insulin, significant risk factors for Type 2 diabetes.

BusinessTN quoted David Carter of the USC Marshall School in a story about Jimmy Haslam, who recently bought a minority interest in the Pittsburgh Steelers. Carter said that Haslam shouldn't be worried about a potential league-wide lockout should owners and players fail to reach a new collective bargaining agreement in 2011. "The potential for a lockout may impact the potential owner's decision process," Carter said. "[But] those who purchase sports franchises tend to do so for extended periods of time, and this will blunt any shorter term issues the league may encounter."

Glendale News-Press quoted Lars Perner of the USC Marshall School in a story about a retail area in Glendale. Perner said a transformation to a more entertainment-oriented landscape could give the area a unique draw. "You might be able to keep Glendale residents in that area instead of maybe going to other areas that might be seen as more glamorous," Perner said.