Spring is in the air! The equinox is just a couple weeks away, with spring break arriving just ahead of it. We hope you enjoy the recess and come back refreshed, recharged and ready for the semester’s home stretch.
Note: If you’re experiencing challenges related to global events or any issue, support is available. Visit this webpage to learn about USC’s many student support services.
In this month’s newsletter:
|
- Our new dean sees success in a “modern approach to the liberal arts”
- Psychology researchers are studying AI’s sociopathic behavior
- Meet the latest USC Dornsife Magazine Creative Writing Contest winner
- A surprising finding reveals how neurons restore connections
|
|
|
James Bullock Installed as Dean |
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.”
|
|
|
Can We Prevent Sociopathic AI? |
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.
|
-
These behaviors are linked to “misalignment,” where AI’s outputs don’t match moral norms.
- Misaligned responses can emerge unpredictably, even without malicious intent.
|
Problem: ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) can generate content that makes them seem sociopathic.
|
- LLMs don’t feel empathy or consequences for their actions.
- Developers often don’t know exactly why these behaviors arise.
|
What’s new: USC Dornsife’s approach blends psychology and neuroscience to tackle the issue and explores “personal vulnerability” as a safety concept.
|
-
University Professor Antonio Damasio of psychology and philosophy suggests AI must “plan and behave as if harm and benefit to others are occurring to itself.”
- He proposes programming AI with internal variables that mimic health and stability and a desire to keep them in balance by behaving well.
|
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.
|
-
“Our hope is that we can learn what some of the signs are that we need to keep an eye on a particular AI model,” says Jonas Kaplan, associate professor of psychology at USC Dornsife’s Brain and Creativity Institute.
|
The bottom line: Preventing harmful AI behavior may require new designs that go beyond surface-level mimicry of empathy.
|
|
|
A Dornsife history alumnus competed in the recent Winter Olympics. Can you name the event?
|
|
|
Childhood in Kenya Inspires Writer |
Creative writing major and master’s student Micah Owens, who spent much of his life in boarding school before coming to USC, is the latest winner of the USC Dornsife Magazine Creative Writing Contest — an achievement he calls “an amazing moment of validation.”
Owens recently answered questions about his unusual life path, how it inspires him to write and what brought him to USC Dornsife.
Want to submit an entry to the Creative Writing Contest? The deadline is March 15.
|
|
|
Neurons Fix Connections — Even Without Electricity |
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.
|
- “This shows the brain has a rapid, built-in backup system to maintain communication,” says Dion Dickman, professor of biological sciences and study lead author.
|
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.
|
|
|
-
Summer school made easier - Learn about new courses available only in the summer, online classes (learn from anywhere!) and financial aid opportunities. Start planning today >>
-
Mock Trial Team sweeps regionals - Students in our Trial Advocacy Program were undefeated in last week’s tournament. Enter into evidence: the win >>
-
14 alumni win Fulbright Scholarships - Meet the Trojans taking their work around the world thanks to the prestigious program. See who they are >>
-
Bad Bunny claims reggaeton is Puerto Rican - But the Super Bowl half-time superstar might be wrong about that. Get your music appreciation lesson >>
|
|
|
Physics Professor Lies on a Bed of Nails |
When it comes to teaching physics, Professor Vahe Peroomian nails the fundamentals — and stuns students to help them remember important principles.
|
|
|
Graduating This Year? This Is for You |
|
|
Creative Writing Contest: There’s Still Time! |
|
|
March 15 is the deadline to enter the USC Dornsife Magazine Creative Writing Contest. We’re looking for original fiction, poetry, memoirs or essays on the theme of “America’s 250th Anniversary.”
The winning entry will be published in USC Dornsife’s award-winning alumni magazine this spring. Read the poem by creative writing student Micah Owens that won the last contest
|
| |
|
Plan Ahead: Make the Most of Summer |
| |
|
Summer is a great time for you to stay on track toward graduation and lighten your future course load, and planning early helps. With on-campus, online and new flexible options, taking just one GE course can make a big difference — and help set you up for success next year. Registration for summer GE courses is now open. Learn more >>
|
|
|
|  | March 6, 10 - 11 a.m. PT |
|
 | DML 241 |
|
Explore ways to respond to AI’s arrival into daily university life, including development of university programs that address ethics, creative potential, environmental and social impacts, and surveillance.
|
|
|
| JEP House – Day of SCervice |
 | March 21, 10 a.m. - noon PT |
|
 | JEP House |
|
Join USC alumni at the Joint Educational Project House for Alumni Day of SCervice and photograph science experiments to create visual lesson guides for elementary students in JEP’s programming.
|
|
|
| California Governor’s Race |
 | April 22, 5 - 7 p.m. PT |
|
 | TBD |
|
Explore the key dynamics, critical issues and what the outcome could mean for the state’s political future with Rusty Hicks and Corrin Rankin, respective chairs of the Calif. Democratic and Republican parties, and Center for the Political Future Fellow Seema Mehta.
|
|
|
Semiquincentennial. The United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year. As part of LA2026, led by the USC-Huntington Early Modern Studies Institute based at USC Dornsife, USC Libraries will stage an exhibition and host programs exploring Bicentennial events in Los Angeles.
“The notion that all people are created equal and that each of us has inalienable rights that no government can violate remain core ideas in our society,” said EMSI director Peter Mancall. “USC’s location … enables a wide public to view documents that helped establish these ideals.” (Ad Astra per Aspera mural by Robert Arenivar and Jose Luis Gonzalez, 1975.)
|
|
|
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 .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
|
|
|
|