Greetings! We hope you’re keeping dry in this latest bout of wet weather.
In this issue,
discover how an Earth sciences graduate is using her USC Dornsife expertise to refine plant-based meat, learn about the benefits offered to students from scholarships and fellowships and find out how climate activists are changing their strategies.
🗓️ One week from now: Unravel the mystery of Shakespeare’s timeless genius. Register for our Feb. 29Dornsife Dialogue to delve into his life, works, and the cultural echoes that keep his legacy alive today.
NEWS
1 Big Thing: From Earth Sciences to Plant-Based Meat
Alumni of USC Dornsife’s Earth Sciences
program find their expertise valued in fields beyond the roles one might expect. Hyejung “Hazel” Lee, for instance, uses sophisticated experimental design skills, honed during her PhD studies, to pioneer advancements in plant-based meat alternatives at Beyond Meat.
Why it matters:
Lee’s work at Beyond Meat plays a role in bettering the environment by reducing meat consumption, thereby decreasing the significant water use and high greenhouse gas emissions linked to traditional animal farming.
Before coming to USC Dornsife, Lee spent a summer in Puerto Rico studying the global carbon cycle and the impact of storms. The work inspired her to pursue a PhD in Earth sciences, and she found her perfect fit in Professor Sarah Feakins’ lab.
While at USC Dornsife, Lee did extensive lab work with state-of-the-art equipment, guided by Feakins and Travis Williams, professor of chemistry.
To discover clues regarding ancient climate conditions, she developed an innovative technique using genetically modified plants to analyze plant cells.
After completing her PhD,
Lee joined Beyond Meat as a senior scientist to develop vegan meat alternatives.
She established and leads five labs filled with the cutting-edge equipment she used at USC Dornsife.
She conducts flavor and texture analysis to identify plant ingredients to closely match the chemical profile of animal products.
In her words: “The core skill I learned at USC Dornsife of developing new methods is useful at Beyond Meat because we’re doing something no one has done before. We’re sort of starting from scratch,” says Lee.
Scholarships and fellowships give students research opportunities and highlight their pivotal role in expanding the horizons of human understanding and creativity.
Why it matters:
Opportunities for future scholars cultivate a pipeline of talent, nurturing the next generation of scientists, researchers and leaders who will drive innovation and progress in various fields.
“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.
Jiyoun Seo
, a PhD candidate in computational biology supported by the Schlegel Fellowship, conducts cancer research focused on detecting rare cells in lung cancer, aiming to improve early detection and treatment outcomes.
Support from the fellowship gave her access to state-of-the-art facilities to further her research.
Scholarship recipients
at USC Dornsife engage in diverse academic endeavors, from social justice studies to environmental research.
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.
Climate activism has been on a wild ride lately, from the shock tactics of young activists to a surge in climate lawsuits by savvy plaintiffs. The effectiveness of the disparate approaches is grounded in research, says Shannon Gibson of environmental studies at USC Dornsife.
Why it matters:
Understanding the impact of climate activism’s diverse tactics is key to gauging their policy impact and guiding the development of future strategies.
Climate activists have been employing the “boomerang effect” strategy.
They take action at global events like the United Nations’ climate talks to pressure national governments into policy changes.
Increasingly, however, climate activists view global institutions like the U.N. as ineffective at making change, criticizing them for slow progress and growing influence from the fossil fuel industry.
The United Arab Emirates hosted the 2023 conference and put its state oil company CEO in charge.
Also, a record-breaking number of oil and gas lobbyists attended.
So, the activists are shifting their focus to local strategies, including sophisticated legal battles.
More than 2,000 new climate change cases have been filed in the past five years, most in the United States.
More than half of cases decided between June 2022 and May 2023 had pro-climate outcomes, though most still face appeals.
They’ve also turned to radical tactics, like throwing soup on museum artworks, to draw attention and make more moderate approaches seem acceptable.
This strategy, known as the “radical flank effect
,” has proven effective for both the civil rights and feminist movements.
The bottom line: Eliciting reaction from the public isn’t the activists’ end goal — their ultimate aim is to influence government and business decision-makers.
Scientists have excavated more than 3.5 million fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits. The excavation site director gives viewers a tour of the grounds and explains what makes the tar pits unlike any other site in the world.
Researchers and students from all over the world visit the La Brea Tar Pits to access its extensive fossil library. The museum, located a few miles from USC’s main campus, is an incredible resource for USC Dornsife students studying Earth sciences.
Industry Days ’24 offers undergraduate and graduate students in the physical and life sciences a chance to meet industry leaders in their fields of study. The event takes place April 11–12 and features panel discussions on careers and internships, graduate student poster contests, and networking opportunities. Stay tuned for more!
A Call for Creative Writers
Open to all USC Dornsife undergraduate and graduate students, as well as alumni, the USC Dornsife Magazine Creative Writing Contest is looking for original fiction, poetry, memoirs or essays on the theme of health and well-being.
The winning entry will be published in USC Dornsife’s award-winning alumni magazine this spring. The deadline is less than a month away on Mar. 15.
Join a free, live Zoom discussion about the legendary playwright William Shakespeare to learn truths and misconceptions, and get your questions answered.
The Unify America Challenge is a guided video conversation with students from different universities who may have disagreements on politics or policy issues to bridge partisan divides.
USC Dornsife offers a variety of continuing student scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to current USC Dornsife students who have declared a major and plan to be enrolled full-time in the next academic year among other requirements.
