I am very pleased to welcome you to our first quarterly e-newsletter.
At USC’s Information Sciences Institute’s (ISI), our collective mission is to push the boundaries of technology to solve challenges in creative and efficient ways.
In this newsletter, you will find stories about how our researchers and students address some of the world’s most critical issues—spanning human trafficking, biometric security and Alzheimer’s disease.
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In addition to our accomplished researchers and outstanding students, we are very fortunate to have robust access to funds and avant-garde projects. For the second consecutive year, in 2018, ISI surpassed the $100 million mark in research expenditures. The institute is rapidly growing and currently includes 222 researchers and staff and 175 students, including 77 PhD students.
Last but not least—one of my goals as interim executive director of ISI is to increase the visibility of the institute. To this end, if you use social media, please be sure to follow ISI on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Happy reading!
Craig Knoblock
Interim Executive Director
Information Sciences Institute
University of Southern California
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Fighting Human Trafficking
Software created by ISI’s Pedro Szekely and Mayank Kejriwal helps investigators quickly scour the internet to identify possible sex traffickers—and begin the process of capturing, charging and convicting them.
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Using AI to Detect Early Signs of Alzheimer’s
Work by ISI’s Greg Ver Steeg, USC neuroscientist Paul Thompson and their team could help with earlier diagnosis and lead to noninvasive ways of tracking Alzheimer’s progress in patients.
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TALKING POINTS
“Through our research, we've found that, when we try to comprehensively measure the spread of information—to understand the influence of a meme, for example—we've proved that the largest cascade is only 5 percent of the population. So, yes, it's very hard to go viral.”
— ISI’s Kristina Lerman busts some myths about social media with PC Mag |
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Michael Keston
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Entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Keston passed away Feb. 9. A long-time benefactor of USC, in November 2015 he and his wife, Linda, endowed the Information Sciences Institute with a major philanthropic gift: the Michael and Linda Keston Executive Directorship Endowment.
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Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It
ISI researcher Wael AbdAlmageed and his team are fighting biometric spoofing, ensuring nobody can put on a lifelike mask to evade security systems, Mission Impossible-style.
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ISI Spotlight
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Fred Morstatter
Predicting the next geopolitical event—from who will be the next pope to who will win the national election in India—is no easy task. But ISI Computer Scientist
Fred Morstatter is up for the challenge.
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Photo Highlight
ISI’s Jerry Hobbs celebrates at his retirement party, honoring 17 years of service to USC.
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Awards
Greg Ver Steeg and Xiang Ren receive Amazon Research Award
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— Featured Event—
APRIL
5
Role for AI for Space Exploration
The Growing Role for Artificial Intelligence for Space Exploration and the Search for Life Beyond Earth. Steve Chien, JPL. Chien, a senior research scientist with JPL, will highlight the impact of AI in space and why it is critical to search for life beyond Earth.
More about this event
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