Spring semester is almost over and commencement is just around the corner. Let’s take a moment to collectively recognize the achievements of our USC Dornsife students!
In this issue, discover the benefits offered to students from scholarships and fellowships, find out what L.A.’s original inhabitants can teach us about sustainability, and learn why where you eat affects what you eat.
|
|
|
1 Big Thing: Scholarships for Current Students |
Supported by USC Dornsife scholarships and fellowships last year, students were able to study social justice in Africa, set up health clinics in Vietnam, dig at archeological sites in Egypt and much more.
Why it matters: Practical experience is key to building important skills and opening a range of career pathways for students.
|
-
“For that individual trainee, fellowship experience is a critical step in their development. It allows them to learn by doing and often come up with contributions that can be really important,” explains Peter Schlegel, who established the Schlegel Family Endowed Fellowship.
|
-
“I had the financial security to participate in this fulfilling experience, rather than having to choose a corporate internship that likely would have been less rewarding,” he said.
|
The Schlegel Fellowship supports Jiyoun Seo, a PhD candidate in computational biology who conducts cancer research to improve early detection.
|
In her words: “Scholarship support is crucial in allowing students to attend USC, lightening the financial burden on them and their families, and allowing them to focus and engage more in their academic pursuits,” says USC Dornsife Dean Amber D. Miller.
USC Dornsife students can find information about scholarship opportunities on the Continuing Student Scholarships webpage.
|
|
|
LA’s Indigenous Past and Sustainable Future |
USC Dornsife researchers are reviving and studying Indigenous sustainable practices and maritime heritage.
The Tongva tribe, Los Angeles’ original inhabitants, lost many of their traditions, including sustainable living practices that could be beneficial today, when Spanish settlers moved in.
Why it matters: Preserving Native American traditions and raising awareness of Indigenous ecological knowledge could help safeguard oceans and foster sustainability, especially as the planet confronts climate change.
Archaeologist Lynn Dodd of religion and spatial sciences secured a $50,000 Library of Congress grant supporting a collaboration between USC scholars and the Ti’at Society, a group reviving Tongva maritime practices by restoring a traditional canoe called a “ti’at.”
|
- The Tongva, who inhabited Catalina Island for millennia, relied on ti’ats to obtain food from the ocean and conduct trade.
- Named Moomat Ahiko (“Breath of the Ocean”), the society’s ti’at is composed of traditional materials like redwood for the planks, plant fiber for cords and naturally occurring tar called asphaltum for adhesion and waterproofing.
-
With the grant, USC Libraries, collaborating with the Ti’at Society, will create a digitized archive of Tongva photos, documents, knowledge and memories for the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center.
-
The Ti’at Society is launching a program teaching Tongva maritime traditions and boat building at AltaSea, an ocean research center located in the Port of Los Angeles.
|
What to watch: The AltaSea-Tongva partnership connects the Indigenous practice of kelp forest cultivation to the research Professor of Biological Sciences Sergey Nuzhdin conducts at his AltaSea-based aquaculture lab.
|
-
Nuzhdin’s team has already begun collaborating with Indigenous people in California and Alaska to restore the endangered North Sea palm kelp, a vital food and medicine source for them.
|
|
|
Food choices are primarily shaped by the food environments people encounter during their daily activities, rather than the options available near their homes, according to new research.
Why it matters: Poor diets are a leading cause of illness and death, and research suggests exposure to environments saturated with fast-food outlets makes choosing healthy foods harder.
What’s new: A new USC Dornsife study suggests that improving Americans’ diets requires focusing on foods they consume outside their home neighborhoods and ensuring healthy options are available.
How it works: Using anonymized smart phone data (i.e., “mobility data”), the researchers examined more than 60 million visits to food outlets in 11 American cities over 6 months.
The findings: The more fast-food outlets people encounter during the day, the more likely they are to visit one.
|
- Increasing the number of restaurants selling healthy food options in areas rife with fast-food can increase the likelihood of a person choosing a healthier option.
- There is no evidence that any socioeconomic group visits fast food outlets more than another.
|
The big picture: Past efforts to address nutrition insecurity concentrated on “food deserts” — areas lacking access to healthy, reasonably priced food — and “food swamps,” areas with an abundance of fast-food.
|
-
Previous research has shown that improvements to neighborhood food deserts and food swamps often fail to improve residents’ dietary habits or curb rising obesity and diet-related diseases.
|
In her words: “Even when people want to eat healthy, there are too many things in their day-to-day lives and environments that make it hard,” said Kayla de la Haye, founding director of the Institute for Food System Equity at the USC Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. “Now we’re gaining a more comprehensive understanding of how food environments affect diet beyond the home.”
The solution: The researchers recommend that policymakers who want to improve food environments use mobility data to identify where fast food is more prevalent than healthier food and where food decisions are most susceptible to the food environment.
|
-
Increasing the number of healthy food options in these areas outside people’s home neighborhoods can have up to four times the impact compared to increasing the number of healthy restaurants exclusively near residential areas.
|
|
|
The Pivotal Role of Research Universities |
How can research universities play an even bigger role in tackling some of society’s biggest challenges? Dean Amber D. Miller shares her thoughts in an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review and a video interview with Dornsife News.
|
|
|
Meet USC Dornsife’s Commencement Speaker |
Actor and USC Dornsife alumnus Jaren Lewison, star of the popular Netflix series Never Have I Ever, will give USC Dornsife’s commencement address.
|
|
|
|
Jaren Lewison plays “Never Have I Ever,” Trojan edition.
|
|
|
Is Your Graduate Ready for the Ceremony? |
Commencement is right around the corner! Find out how your graduate can prepare for the big day by visiting the Before The Ceremony page.
| |
|
Climate Solutions: Engineering Earth’s Future |
Climate technology experts discuss some of the most promising emerging technologies and the potential risks from these technologies during this Dornsife Dialogues discussion.
|
|
|
Screening of ‘True False Hot Cold’ |
|
|
| Attend a screening of the award-winning documentary True False, Hot Cold, which covers climate change, empathy, civil discourse and building bridges among people with different beliefs. A discussion with the director will follow.
Apr. 24, 7 - 9 p.m.
USC Campus
|
|
|
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day |
|
|
| Attend a candlelight vigil in honor of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day held by the USC and UCLA Armenian Students’ Associations.
Apr. 24, 7 p.m.
UCLA Campus
|
|
|
| Join this online event celebrating the Center for Advanced Genocide Research’s 10th anniversary and featuring an overview of the center and remarks by former fellows and visiting scholars.
Apr. 25, 12:30 - 2 p.m.
Virtual
|
|
|
Opening Program and Reception: Housed Treasures |
|
|
| View a student-curated exhibition that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the completion of the “Treasure House,” the Orientalist building that now houses the USC Pacific Asia Museum.
Apr. 25, 5 - 7 p.m.
USC Campus
|
|
|
Manage your preferences | Opt Out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
|
University of Southern California Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | Los Angeles, CA 90089 US
|
|
|
This email was sent to liumk@usc.edu.
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
|
|
|
|