Academic Honors Convocation spotlights innovative research and achievements of USC faculty and students

As she kicked off the first of two Academic Honors Convocation dinner celebrations earlier this month, USC President Carol Folt shared a quote attributed to Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Albert Szent-Györgyi, who isolated Vitamin C: “Research is to see what everybody has seen — and yet think what nobody has thought.”

Both evening events, held at Town and Gown on USC’s University Park Campus, highlighted interdisciplinary work and innovation that embodies Szent-Györgyi’s words.

Twenty-nine groundbreaking USC faculty members were honored at an April 16 dinner, while an April 21 ceremony celebrated the extraordinary work of 49 students.

“Each of you has accomplished incredible things that are changing the world,” Folt said at the faculty dinner. “We honor that work — and the ways you lift up our community and benefit humanity.”

During the two evenings, Folt also presented the Presidential Medallion, USC’s highest honor, to USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young; Leslie and William McMorrow, benefactors of the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative; and USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni. The award is given to Trojans who have contributed to USC in areas that promote the excellence of the university.

Faculty honorees included a Nobel Prize winner, a recent National Book Award recipient, a leader in colon cancer research and a podiatric surgeon who helps reduce preventable amputations due to diabetes.

Trojan student honorees included researchers who have developed machine learning models for cancer patient outcomes, designed medical prosthetics that expand as children grow, and developed a noninvasive artificial intelligence method that measures for signs of arterial stiffness.

Calling the honorees “extraordinary,” Folt credited them with having “advanced excellence and changed lives across our university community.”

The rewards of mentoring

Professor Smrity Randhawa of the USC Marshall School of Business was proud to be recognized for nurturing the next generation of financial professionals.

“To be rewarded for our passion is just amazing,” Randhawa said at her table during the faculty dinner. “It feels very emotional because it’s what we love to do. It’s where we get to teach the next generation and inspire them to be the best version of themselves.”

Professor Gage Crump of the Keck School of Medicine of USC said he was thrilled to receive the Provost’s Mentoring Award. Crump has helped develop educational pipeline programs that strengthen the stem cell research community by opening his laboratory to students at all stages, from high schoolers to postdoctoral fellows.

“The most rewarding part of what I do is seeing the trainees succeed and go on with their own careers,” he said in an interview. “Ultimately, if they succeed, I succeed. That’s what I love about it.”

University Professor Emerita Estela Mara Bensimon, a lifelong trailblazer in higher education and the founding director of USC’s Center for Urban Education, received a rousing ovation as she walked to the stage to accept her Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award.

In an interview, Bensimon said she is “very lucky to have been able to do what I do. I am honored that my work is being recognized in this manner. My work attracted many Latino and Black graduate students who have all earned their doctorates and are now continuing the work.”

Faculty honorees humbled and moved

Enrique Martínez Celaya, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts, said he was “honored” and “humbled” to receive the USC Associates Award for Artistic Expression.

“It’s fantastic to be recognized by a community that I admire,” said Celaya, whose work is part of more than 60 museum collections around the world, including the sculpture The Well that stands outside USC Fisher Museum of Art. “It connects me even more with the students.”

Associate Professor Alexandra Billings of the USC School of Dramatic Arts, whose acting career spans four decades across theater, film and television, was lauded for using her art and advocacy to touch hearts and enrich lives.

“The evening is an opportunity to allow [USC] to say, ‘You did a great job,’ and to put that out into the universe,” said Billings, the first transgender performer to play a transgender character on TV. “It’s a calling card for USC and anyone who is curious, who is interested and who wants possibility in their lives.”

Associate Professor Patrick Corbin of the USC Kaufman School of Dance was singled out for his interdisciplinary courses and for giving students the opportunity to work with organizations that serve people living with Parkinson’s disease, Down syndrome and autism.

“It gives me hope and promise that there’s support for interdisciplinary studies and for dance,” Corbin said in an interview. “Dance is a practice that changes people’s lives, especially those in marginalized communities and differently-abled people.”

Honoring ‘the fusion generation’

During the April 21 student-focused event, Folt dubbed honorees “the Fusion Generation” and praised them for their efforts in the classroom, the lab, the studio, the study group, the recital hall and the playing field.

“For several years, USC has been your lab,” Folt said. “You’re the Fusion Generation because you have the ability to bridge disciplines and thoughts, to meld ideas and cultures, and to conceive entirely new solutions to some of our most pressing problems.”

Trojans revel at being honored alongside peers

At the pre-dinner reception, Boren Scholarship recipient Viet Tran huddled with members of his family including his father, his paternal grandparents and an uncle.

“I’m just so glad that so many of the most important people in my life are here to celebrate my award with me,” said Tran, who will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering next month. “It feels good to be recognized by the university.”

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering student is also an Army ROTC cadet who has been recognized for his work to help military students and special forces develop innovative techniques in electronic warfare.

“It is a wonderful ceremony that’s happening,” said USC Dornsife doctoral candidate in astrophysics Dimple Sarnaaik in an interview after Folt presented her with the Rockwell Dennis Hunt Scholastic Award.

Sarnaaik earned a bachelor’s degrees in physics and computer science from USC Dornsife, co-founded the Women in Physics group, led the Graduate Association of Students in Physics and mentored local middle school students.

“I absolutely love hearing so much about what people are doing,” said Sarnaaik, whose work explores dark matter. “It’s very inspiring and makes me want to do a lot more. Everyone is doing an incredible job with so many of them making such great medical advances.”

In her closing remarks April 21, Folt spoke directly to the students in the room and pointed out that they are “just getting started.”

“We’re going to need all of your curiosity and tenacity to face the challenges before us — and all of the wonderful opportunities the future holds,” she said. “I’m confident you’ll keep thinking, learning and doing. ​And we can’t wait to see what you’ll accomplish next.”

Here is a full list of honorees from the two events:

Faculty honorees

Distinguished Professors: Awarded very selectively to those whose accomplishments have brought special renown to USC.

• David G. Armstrong
• Helen Berman
• Maggie Nelson

University Professors: Awarded based on multidisciplinary interests and significant accomplishments in several disciplines.

• Adam Leventhal
• Arthur A. Stone

Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award: Awarded to a very select number of retired faculty at the annual Academic Honors Convocation, the USC Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes eminent careers and notable contributions to the university, the profession and the community.

• Norman Arnheim
• Estela Mara Bensimon
• Leo Braudy
• Robert Rueda

Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award: Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest interdisciplinary honor society at USC.

• Rena M. Heinrich
• Heinz-Josef Lenz

Provost’s Mentoring Award: The Provost’s Mentoring Award honors an individual faculty member whose investment in and generosity toward the academic and professional success of other USC faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students or undergraduate students demonstrate exemplary mentoring.

• Gage Crump
• Marion Philadelphia

USC Associates Awards: The USC Associates Awards are the highest honors the university faculty bestows upon its members for distinguished intellectual and artistic achievements and for outstanding teaching, both in and out of the classroom.

Creativity in Research and Scholarship

• Azad M. Madni

Excellence in Teaching

• Patrick Corbin
• Smrity Randhawa

Artistic Expression

• Alexandra Billings
• Enrique Martínez Celaya

Students honorees

Phi Kappa Phi Student Recognition Award: Founded in 1897, Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest interdisciplinary honor society at USC. It recognizes scholarship and awards prizes annually to graduate and undergraduate students for creative and scholarly achievements.

• Georgia H. Burki
• Isabella Gonzalez Villarreal
• Raktim Mitra
• Soha Niroumandijahromi

Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate Awards: Devoted to liberal learning in arts and sciences, Phi Beta Kappa, founded in 1776, presents two undergraduate awards to honor creativity, scholarship and leadership in faculty-student community relations.

• Emerson Damiano
• Jonathan Hayden
• Mohammed Zain Shafi Khan
• Kenneth Nguyen

Rockwell Dennis Hunt Award: Awarded to an alumna or alumnus of USC who is pursuing a graduate or professional degree at the university and who is most representative of the Trojan Family’s traditions and values.

• Dimple Sarnaaik

University Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award: Awarded to three graduate teaching assistants — from diverse areas such as the natural sciences and engineering, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts — who have exhibited consistent excellence in the classroom and thus symbolize the university’s dedication to the education of scholar-teachers.

• Ayala Haddad
• Shelby Smith
• Yanfei Zhou

PhD Achievement Award: Awarded for doctoral student achievement.

• Lucinda Adjesiwor
• Daniel Aslan
• Shihui Chen
• Matthew Fontaine
• Rachel L. Klein
• Laurel Kruke

Boren Scholar: Boren Scholarships provide funding for U.S. undergraduate students to study in Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

• Viet N. Tran

Schwarzman Scholar: The Schwarzman Scholars program is designed to prepare its graduates to build stronger relationships between China and a rapidly changing world and to address the most pressing challenges of the 21st Century.

• Charlotte Xuwanqi Wang

Barry Goldwater Scholar: Barry Goldwater Scholarships are awarded to outstanding undergraduates who are studying mathematics, natural sciences or engineering and who intend to pursue a research career.

• Brandon Ye

USC Steven & Kathryn Sample Renaissance Scholar Prize: The Renaissance Scholar Prize recognizes and celebrates USC undergraduates who have excelled academically while pursuing at least two widely separate fields of study.

• Rianna Herzlinger
• Jiani “Kelly” Liu
• Sophia Mager
• Nina M. Moothedath
• Kenneth Nguyen
• Claire J. Silverstein
• Gwenan L. Walker
• Derek Ye
• Ziteng Zeng
• Ye Zhang

USC Global Scholar Prize: The Global Scholar distinction honors students who excel in their studies both at home and abroad.

• Kyra A. Aligaen
• Defne Aslan
• Erika D. Chagin
• Emerson Damiano
• Katrina Dang
• Denali M.H. Kauffman
• Ethan J. Santana
• Alexandra N. Stanczak
• Nicole K. Tang
• Riva Verma

USC Discovery Scholar Prize: The Discovery Scholar distinction honors undergraduate students who excel in the classroom while demonstrating the ability to create exceptional new scholarship or artistic works in any major concentration offered at the university.

• Liliana Adkins
• Susanna Andryan
• Harmony S. Cen
• Caleb Dehn
• Isabella Gonzalez Villarreal
• Alexander W. C. Kuncz
• Matthew Sorgie
• Lilly Tung
• Jina Umakanthan
• Brandon Ye