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The Big Story: After summiting Everest, Price student researches the mountains she climbs
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Lucy Westlake, the youngest American woman to reach the top of Mount Everest, has climbed glaciated mountains since she was 11 years old.
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Over the years, she’s seen them change. Glaciers shortened and shrunk inward, exposing more rock underneath the snow.
Making an impact: Now, the USC Price School senior is researching what she’s witnessed.
- For her senior thesis, she’s studying the impact of light absorbing particles, such as black carbon and microplastics, on glaciers. She plans to make policy recommendations once the research is complete.
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She’s collected samples from every mountain she’s climbed since the end of freshman year, including K2, the second tallest mountain in the world.
- The project is the culmination of how her time at the USC Price School has brought together her love of climbing mountains with her newly discovered passions for data and research.
In her words: “I think statistics is probably the most valuable skill you could have going into any career. This world is made up of data,” Westlake said. “Being able to read data and digest research is so valuable. These classes have given me literacy for that.”
Read more about Lucy
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Reducing use of sleep drugs could improve quality of life and longevity in older adults
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A new study co-authored by USC Price Professor Jason Doctor finds that reducing prescriptions of sleep medication in older adults could provide substantial health and economic benefits.
- What they researched: Researchers leveraged a dynamic microsimulation model to project the impacts of sleep medication use in older adults. They compared current use of the drugs with a scenario in which no one uses them.
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What they found: Avoiding use of these medications among older adults would reduce lifetime incidence of falls by 8.5% and cognitive impairment by 2.1%, researchers found. It would also increase life expectancy by 1.3 months.
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Why it matters: Millions of older Americans suffering from insomnia regularly use prescription sleep medications, despite the risk of serious side effects—such as falls, broken bones, cognitive impairment and dependence—and warnings from leading medical societies against their use.
Read more about the study
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USC event examines how sports can be a catalyst for social change
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Los Angeles might be the center of the sports universe. In the coming years, L.A. is set to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2027 NFL SuperBowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
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The USC Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, recently convened leaders from sports, business, nonprofits and philanthropy to discuss the impact that these major events can have on civic pride, economic vitality and community wellbeing.
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What they’re saying: “We have the opportunity to use sports and entertainment events to change Los Angeles for the better,” said Bob Graziano, Chair of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission.
Read more about the event
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Price dean is elected NAPA fellow
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Congratulations to Dean Christopher Boone, who was elected to the 2025 Class of Academy Fellows in the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).
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NAPA was chartered by Congress to provide nonpartisan expert advice, and is dedicated to helping government leaders build more effective, efficient, accountable, and transparent organizations.
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The selection of the Academy's new Fellows includes a rigorous review of an individual's contributions to the fields of public administration and policy.
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One last thing: Recent Price MHA grad lands plum job at UCLA Health
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Kellyn Rogers always knew she wanted to work in healthcare. But when it came time to look for a job after graduation, she thought perhaps the best way to make an impact was to work for a digital marketing company.
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The impulse to have a more direct link to patients lingered, which led her to enroll in the Master of Health Administration (MHA) program at the USC Price School.
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In her words: “It had exactly what I was looking for,” Rogers said of the Price MHA. “It was going to give me all of the skills in finance, data analysis and statistics added to my Keck School of Medicine studies in science that could really help me achieve a well-rounded career in healthcare administration.”
Two months after she graduated from the Price School, she was offered a position at UCLA Health as a Value Care Redesign Specialist, where she works to improve the quality of care across the UCLA Health system.
Read more about Rogers
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