USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is the heart of the University of Southern California. The largest, oldest and most diverse of USC’s 19 schools, USC Dornsife is composed of more than 30 departments and dozens of research centers and institutes. USC Dornsife is home to approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 750 faculty members with expertise across a spectrum of academic fields.
Our frontline scholars are working to find solutions to society’s toughest challenges by advancing human health, preserving and improving our environment, and strengthening our communities. Together, we are defining scholarship of consequence for the 21st century.
Darby Saxbe, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
One of the first longitudinal studies of male brain changes across the transition to first-time parenthood finds that becoming a dad affects the brain – without the direct experience of pregnancy.
Palestinians crowd a street as smoke billows from Israeli strikes in Rafah on May 7, 2024.
AFP via Getty Images
The US put a pause on an arms shipment to Israel as it launched a Rafah offensive. This is not the first time the US and Israel have publicly disagreed, despite their strong diplomatic relationship.
In the movie ‘WALL-E ,’ the technology-coddled humans of the future weren’t doing so well.
Courtesy Pixar
Joe Árvai, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
AI has the potential to diminish the human experience in several ways. One particularly concerning threat is to the ability to make thoughtful decisions.
Les dunes Umpqua de l'Oregon ont inspiré la planète désertique Arrakis dans le roman Dune de Frank Herbert.
VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Soeren Mattke, University of Southern California and Ying Liu, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Medicare covers an annual well-check visit that could potentially identify cognitive issues, but only about half of beneficiaries take advantage of them.
Nasimjon Sharipov has not been seen in public since late February 2023.
Group 24
Steve Swerdlow, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The Central Asian nation has long figured among the ‘worst of the worst’ in regards to political and human rights. A new report shines light on cases of activists being seized and then going missing.
Oregon’s Umpqua Dunes inspired the desert planet Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune.’
VWPics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Sylvain Barbot, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Satellite photography of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut shows block after block of destroyed buildings. Satellite radar provides a different view – a systematic look at the destruction of the whole city.
The love story of Psyche and Eros − also known as Cupid − has survived since the days of Rome and Greece.
Bettman via Getty Images
David Albertson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Conventional stereotypes about romance portray it as a passionate, irrational game. Ancient philosophers, on the other hand, viewed love as something dangerous − but also enlightening.
President Joe Biden attends the arrival of the remains of three U.S. service members killed in a drone attack in Jordan.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
Shannon Gibson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
With international climate talks failing to make progress fast enough, activists are radically rethinking how to be most effective in the streets, political arenas and courtrooms.
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., center, leads an anti-Vietnam War demonstration on March 16, 1967, in New York City.
AFP via Getty Images
Conflict has escalated between Joe Biden and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over the conduct of the Israel-Hamas war. But a national security veteran says the US has little leverage over Israel.
Some countries like the Philippines have been hit by repeated climate change-fueled disasters.
Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
Shannon Gibson, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
The agreement still leaves many unanswered questions, as well as concerns from vulnerable countries about who will qualify, who pays and who is in charge.
Knowledge is power − especially where money is concerned.
Rockaa/E+/Getty Images
A cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas has seen the release of 58 hostages held in Gaza and 111 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
LifeGem is a company that extracts carbon from cremated human remains and transforms it into diamonds to remember loved ones.
Handout/LifeGem via Getty Images
Diana Blaine, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
For some people, the decision over how to dispose of their body represents one last adventure – and one last consumer choice, a scholar explains.
Israelis whose relatives are being held hostage demonstrate on October 26, 2023 in front of the Defense Ministry building in Tel Aviv, demanding the government to bring back their loved ones.
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images
No government wants to have to deal with a hostage crisis. A former US national security official explains that there is no winning without losing in such situations.
Dana and David Dornsife Professor of Psychology and Director of the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences