We hope you enjoyed the Presidents Day weekend, including the convergence with Valentine’s Day (which has surprisingly macabre origins, as you’ll find below). And for you Super Bowl fans, join us in congratulating the Trojans who helped capture victory for the Seahawks, including USC Dornsife alumni Uchenna Nwosu ’18 (political science) and Brandon Pili ’22 (sociology).

In this issue: 

At the recent ceremony installing James Bullock as USC Dornsife’s 23rd dean, USC President Beong-Soo Kim described him as “the perfect person to steer the College into the future,” citing his “energy, vision, leadership and good cheer.”

Bullock said his goal is to innovate and focus “on providing students with a modern approach to the liberal arts, true to foundational principles, but updated for the students and job markets of today.”

AI can be a brilliant tool, but blind to basic morals. USC Dornsife researchers are studying how to keep it aligned with human values.

Why it matters: Generative AI can sometimes behave in ways people see as amoral or dangerous.

Problem: ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) can generate content that makes them seem sociopathic.

What’s new: USC Dornsife’s approach blends psychology and neuroscience to tackle the issue and explores “personal vulnerability” as a safety concept.

Yes, but: Translating human psychology into algorithms remains complex, and performative empathy isn’t enough to prevent harmful actions.

What to watch: Research may lead to early warning systems for misaligned AI.

The bottom line: Preventing harmful AI behavior may require new designs that go beyond surface-level mimicry of empathy.

The origins of Valentine’s Day are surprisingly grisly. St. Valentine was no patron of love, says a USC Dornsife religion scholar.

USC Dornsife biologists have discovered that when synapses malfunction, neurons can quickly stabilize communication using physical changes at the connection — not electrical activity.

Why it matters: Stable neural signaling is essential for movement, learning and brain health. Breakdowns in this balancing system have been linked to conditions such as epilepsy and autism.

How they did it: In fruit flies, the team shut down key receptors on the receiving side of a synapse and watched how the connection adjusted. Then they removed structural components one by one to pinpoint what enables the fast repair response. ,

Of note: The backup mechanism still worked even when the researchers silenced electrical activity, challenging long-held assumptions about how neural connections recover.

What else? The team identified a key structural protein required for this backup response. Without it, the synapse couldn’t compensate.

Opportunity: Understanding this structural signaling system could guide future therapies aimed at strengthening neural resilience and helping prevent neurological diseases.

Micah Owens, a master’s student in creative writing, reads “Genealogy,” his winning entry in the USC Dornsife Magazine Creative Writing Contest. Read his Q&A with USC Dornsife News here.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to spread the word about the next contest, open to all Dornsife students and alumni. The deadline to enter is March 15.

USC Dornsife’s master’s degree program in Applied Economics and Econometrics prepares students to lead tomorrow’s global data economy. “It’s like a dress rehearsal for the world that they’re going to work in,” says program director Ratika Narag.

Read the latest issue of our magazine, including features only available online.

The 20th Annual Herbert G. Klein Lecture, “Inside the 2026 Midterms,” features a conversation among political leaders and scholars, led by Dean James Bullock, on the forces shaping the upcoming elections.

In this Dornsife Dialogue, Dean James Bullock leads a discussion with a Dornsife researcher and an alumnus regarding life in Earth’s most extreme environments and how new discoveries are shaping the search for life beyond our planet.

Dean James Bullock will deliver the 2026 Carl M. Franklin Lecture on Science and Society features on “Exploring the Early Universe and Cosmology with the James Webb Telescope.”

You can be part of a special evening recognizing veteran political consultant and Center for the Political Future director Robert Shrum for his exceptional achievements and contributions.

“In Molière’s time as in our own, once you point the finger, you’ve pointed it at yourself.”

David Román of English and American studies and ethnicity in Artforum on modern interpretations of the French playwright Molière.

“You are locked in — in a 24-hour, 365 sense — in a way that other caregivers may not be.”

Amalia Almada of USC Sea Grant in the New York Post about California beach pollution levels.

“Everyday life in terms of Chinese presence is not going to be affected by that.”

Carol Wise of political science and international relations speaking with NBC News on China’s ongoing influence in South America.

Spring Forward! At spring convocation, 3,000 students gathered to mark the start of their inclusion in the Trojan Family. USC Dornsife’s Alice Baumgartner of history encouraged attendees to allow themselves to be transformed by their time at the university. She referenced Uriah Parmelee, whose studies inspired him to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War: “I hope you will pursue what genuinely, deeply calls to you, showing up, day after day, for what you believe in, as Uriah Parmelee did.” (Photo: Steve Cohn.)