We spark progress and create new possibilities by connecting organizations, foundations, disciplines and individuals to address the most crucial issues of our time. By investing in interdisciplinary research and convergent approaches that span our many schools, we attract world-class faculty, postdocs, clinical fellows and residents, volunteers, graduate and professional students, and other Trojans who join forces to solve humankind’s biggest challenges.
Connecting Across Disciplines
USC is leading new thinking and dialogue around global health issues, emerging technologies, the latest social science data and more to solve some of the most pressing issues facing humanity.
Leading entertainment studios like Sony Pictures Imageworks, WETA Digital and Digital Domain use light stages to bring to life hyperrealistic characters featured in blockbuster movies like Spider-Man 2, King Kong and Avatar. At USC, programs offer the same leading technology and techniques to give students a practical application of what they learn during their time here. Trojans have been able to use these resources to break the barrier between stories and reality or to find the next groundbreaking discovery.
USC Annenberg’s Center for Climate Journalism and Communication brings together the expertise of researchers with foremost climate knowledge and technology and puts it all into context for one goal: to train the next generation of journalists and communications professionals to tackle the most important story of our time.
Once the discovery has been made, scientists have the additional hard work of communicating their findings to engage and influence the public. USC bridging that gap with the Wrigley Storymakers Program, a weeklong intensive training that educates scientists in the art of environmental storytelling. Participants are taught how to tell a story, using their expertise, with real-time experience to produce a media piece on Catalina Island.
Developed from the USC President’s Working Group on Sustainability, the Arts Climate Collective unpacks the interplay between art and culture with research and action on sustainability. These connections are natural at USC, with our ease of translation and movement between academic disciplines. The call for action brought together USC Arts In Action, the USC Office of Sustainability and the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab.
Connections with the Wider World
USC knows it takes a village. Partnerships with corporate, local and government groups sparks new ways of addressing needs unique to today’s interconnected world.
Continue Reading
Creating Vital Links
Take a peek at how the Trojan community brings together a multitude of disciplines, groups and ideas for the greater good.
USC selected by Department of Defense for Microelectronics Commons hub
The university will lead one of eight regional innovation hubs funded by the CHIPS and Science Act.
USC joins area stem cell institutes to form regenerative medicine consortium
Partners will explore opportunities for collaboration and maximizing voter-approved investment in regenerative medicine.
USC among the first universities to join a cost transparency initiative to help students decide
The first wave of more than 360 U.S. universities and colleges has met a new gold standard of transparency in financial aid packages and cost estimates for potential students.
USC Marshall’s Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab connects undergrads with business professionals
The mentorship effort provides support and access for pursuit of social impact-oriented careers.
President Folt touts USC’s role in a more sustainable and equitable L.A. at annual Business Council summit
An event with UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti examined the city’s clean energy future, water resources and drought, revitalizing buildings with carbon-free power and more.
USC-LADWP agreement taps into offsite solar power for the university and its neighbors
The agreement will provide a quarter of USC’s electricity with power from a solar farm in Mojave. It also brings new opportunities for residents in nearby communities to gain access to affordable solar power.
USC steps up to help LAUSD students by providing teacher scholarships
The USC Rossier School of Education takes on a critical teacher shortage at LAUSD by offering full scholarships for master’s students to work in L.A. public schools.
Converging Knowledge
USC is a hub for funneling knowledge into new ways of looking at the world, not to mention helping people.
At USC’sPancreatic Beta Cell Consortium, experts from across the country are integrating knowledge from many expertises — computation biology, X-ray crystallography, electron topography and more — to build a groundbreaking atomic resolution model of the pancreatic beta cell. The results could improve the lives of the more than 100 million people living with diabetes.
Making the Link
USC movers and shakers have no fear connecting people and places, no matter the chasm. We know it takes a certain tenacity to forge new connections — and to push those links forward into action that betters the lives of others.
Keeping Our Communities Safe
During late 2020 as the pandemic barreled on, the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciencespartnered with the City of Los Angeles to provide free flu vaccinations at various COVID-19 testing locations across the city.
Inclusion Means Everyone
Living your values means taking meaningful action. Social, economic and racial justice embody USC’s core character and a strategic collaboration with Keck Medicine of USC and The TransLatin@ Coalition — the largest trans-led nonprofit in L.A. that advocates for transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex (TGI) immigrants across the country — is improving comprehensive health care for members of this diverse community.
Creative Healing
Thinking outside the box when it comes to helping others is just what we do.USC Comic+Care uses laughter and humor to improve the physical and mental well-being of hospital patients and communities in need. By blending the arts of clowning and improv with the sciences of psychology and medicine, the program aids in the recovery and healing process for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Collaborating for Better Patient Care
Every day, USC researchers use collaboration and cross-disciplinary approaches toadvance our understanding of the human body to improve the human condition.Peter Kuhn, co-founder of the interdisciplinary USC Bridge Institute and director of the Convergent Science Institute in Cancer,brings together experts across various fields to shed new light on how cancer spreads through the body, ultimately developing unprecedented ways of personalizing care.
New Ways to Go Global
International engagement doesn’t just happen at the federal level anymore — U.S. states, cities and even companies and organizations have become players in foreign relations. The USC Center on Public Diplomacy’s annual Summit on City Diplomacy convenes government officials, global opinion leaders, scholars and more who advance the latest dialogue on what it means to have a seat on the global stage.
Meeting People Where They’re At
For L.A.’s residents experiencing homelessness, USC’s Street Medicine team brings the hospital to the patients. Trojan medical professionals comb the streets, building rapport with patients and providing the in-person medical care they so desperately need.
