Leadership

Administration and Staff

Director

Leana Golubchik
Stephen and Etta Varra Professor and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science
Phone: (213) 740-0996
WiSE Office: DRB 232
leana@usc.edu

Program Manager

Mallory Redel
Phone: (213) 740-0996
WiSE Office: DRB 232
redel@usc.edu

Marketing Assistant

Joana Lachica
Phone: (213) 740-0996
WiSE Office: DRB 232
lachicam@usc.edu

Undergraduate Program Coordinator

Jessica Parr
Professor of Chemistry (Teaching)
Phone: (213) 821‑6614
SGM 445
parr@usc.edu

Undergraduate Research Program Mentor

Raffaella Ghittoni
Professor of Biological Sciences (Teaching)
Phone: (213) 740‑8352
ZHS 256
rghitton@usc.edu

Chair

Judith Hirsch : Gabilan Distinguished Professorship in Science and Engineering and Professor of Biological Sciences

Members

Hanna Reisler : University Professor, Lloyd Armstrong, Jr. Chair in Science and Engineering and Professor of Chemistry

Hanna Reisler has been Professor of Chemistry at USC since 1987. Her research interests are in the area of chemical reaction dynamics. Specifically, she studies the photophysics, photochemistry and reaction mechanisms of molecules important in the atmosphere, combustion, and biology using sophisticated laser and imaging techniques often in collaboration with theory. Her recent work has focused also on the understanding bond breaking processes in networks of water and ice and the photochemical production of transient species relevant to atmospheric processes. She was appointed as University Professor at USC and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021. In 2002 she was appointed the inaugural holder of the Lloyd Armstrong Jr. Endowed Chair in Science and Engineering in recognition of her leadership role in advancing the careers of women in science and engineering.

Gary Rosen

Professor of Mathematics

Email: grosen@math.usc.edu

Shanghua Teng

University Professor, Seeley G. Mudd Professor of Engineering, and Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics

Email: shanghua@usc.edu

Amy Childress

Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Email: amyec@usc.edu

I am a Professor and Director of the ReWater (Water Reuse and Resource Recovery) Center in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. My research and scholarly interests are in the areas of desalination, wastewater reuse, and the water-energy nexus. Most recently, I have investigated membrane processes for innovative solutions to contaminant and energy challenges; conceptual analyses of innovative configurations of shared/integrated facilities; colloidal and interfacial aspects of membrane processes; and brine reduction and energy recovery. I am a past president of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors, a Board-Certified Environmental Engineering member, and a recent Fulbright US scholar. I chair National Water Research Institute independent advisory panels on potable reuse and seawater desalination projects and serve on the external audit panel for Singapore Public Utilities Board. I am co-editor of Desalination and on the advisory boards of several technical journals.

Urbashi Mitra

Gordon S. Marshall Chair in Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Email: ubli@usc.edu

Urbashi Mitra received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. from Princeton University. Previous appointments include the Ohio State University and Bellcore. Her research interests are in: wireless communications, communication and sensor networks, biological communication systems, underwater acoustic communication, detection and estimation and the interface of communication, sensing and control. Dr. Mitra actively collaborates with domain experts in microbiology, underwater acoustics, quantum chemistry and epidemiology.

Raffaella Ghittoni

Associate Professor (Teaching) of Biological Sciences

Email: rghitton@usc.edu

I am an Associate Professor of Teaching at the Department of Biological Sciences, Molecular and Computational Biology section, with a courtesy appointment at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at USC Keck Medical School. Born in Rome, Italy, I received my PhD in Clinical and Experimental Allergology and Immunology from the University of Siena in 2005. Before joining the University of Southern California in 2014 as teaching professor, I conducted research in the field of immunology at the University of Arizona, Tucson and different national (INSERM) and international (WHO- IARC) institutes in Lyon, France. At USC over every academic year, I teach courses and educational laboratories on areas such as immunology, cancer, health promotion and aging biology. I actively collaborate with the Davis School of Gerontology as co-instructor of undergraduate and master courses and with the undergraduate students Biology Club as Faculty advisor. I am an active member of the USC Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) Program. For WiSE I am in charge as Faculty Coordinator of the Undergraduate Students Research Program, and I am also member of the Advisory Board.

Leana Golubchik (Ex-officio, WiSE Director)

Stephen and Etta Varra Professor and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science

Email: leana@usc.edu

Leana Golubchik is the Stephen and Etta Varra Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at USC. She also serves as the Director of the Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program. Prior to that, she was on the faculty at the University of Maryland and Columbia University. Leana received her Ph.D. from UCLA. Her research interests are broadly in the design and evaluation of large scale distributed systems, including deep learning systems, hybrid clouds and data centers, and their applications in machine learning and data analytics as well as privacy and security. Leana is the Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Modeling and Performance Evaluation of Computing Systems. She is the recipient of the IBM Faculty Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the Okawa Foundation Award, the WTS-LA Diversity Leadership Award, the USC Remarkable Women Award, and the USC Mellon Culture of Mentoring Award. She is a Fellow of AAAS.

Sandeep Gupta

Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Email: sandeep@usc.edu

Suzanne Edmands

Professor of Marine and Environmental Biology and Biological Sciences

Email: sedmands@usc.edu

The Edmands Lab is broadly interested in conservation, population and evolutionary genetics. Much of our work uses the crustacean Tigriopus californicus (“the Drosophila of the Sea”) as a model for understanding the genetic basis of fundamental biological processes including reproductive isolation, environmental stress tolerance and aging. Our lab also studies temporal and spatial genetic variation in organisms of concern for conservation and management, including current work on genetics and evolution of the island fox.

Stacey Finley

Nichole A. and Thuan Q. Pham Professor and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Email: sfinley@usc.edu

Dr. Stacey Finley is holder of the Nichole A. and Thuan Q. Pham Professorship and Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. Dr. Finley received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Florida A & M University and obtained her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University. She completed postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Finley joined the faculty at USC in 2013, and she leads the Computational Systems Biology Laboratory.

Chair

Jill McNitt-Gray

Professor of Biological Sciences and Biomedical Engineering

Email: mcnitt@usc.edu

Dr. McNitt-Gray is the Director of the USC Biomechanics Research Laboratory and is a Fellow of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB), International Society of Biomechanics (ISB), and the National Academy of Kinesiology. Dr. McNitt-Gray’s interdisciplinary research focuses on the neuromuscular control and dynamics of movement. She uses both experimental and dynamic modeling approaches to test research hypotheses specific to control priorities during well-practiced, goal-directed tasks.

Members

Smaranda Marinescu

Gabilan Associate Professor of Chemistry

Email: smarines@usc.edu

Sami Assaf

Professor of Mathematics

Email: shassaf@usc.edu

Professor Sami Assaf is a full Professor of Mathematics and a Gabilan Distinguished Professor of Science and Engineering. Her research in combinatorics, geometry, and probability is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the Simons Foundation. Professor Assaf is recipient of a USC Mentoring Award for Faculty Mentoring Undergraduates, directs a local Math Circle for elementary school students, and currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Mathematics where she works to foster a culture of inclusivity, diversity, and excellence for all students.

James Boedicker

Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Biological Sciences

Email: boedicke@usc.edu

Joshua West

Wilford and Daris Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies

Email: joshwest@usc.edu

Chair

Malancha Gupta

Jack Munushian Early Career Chair and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Chemistry

Email: malanchg@usc.edu

Members

Eun Ji Chung

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Email: eunchung@usc.edu

Eun Ji Chung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California and the Dr. Karl Jacob Jr. and Karl Jacob III Early Career Chair. She has a courtesy appointment in Chemical Engineering, Medicine (Nephrology and Hypertension), and Surgery (Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Repair), and is an affiliated faculty at the Norris Cancer Center and the Stem Cells department. Her laboratory is interested in harnessing molecular design and self-assembly to develop nano- to macroscale biomaterials that can be utilized in medicine. Dr. Chung received her B.A. with honors in Molecular Biology from Scripps College, her Ph.D. from the Department of Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University, and her postdoctoral training from the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.

Somil Bansal

Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Computer Science

Email: somilban@usc.edu

Somil Bansal is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He received the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) from the University of California at Berkeley in 2020. Before that, he obtained a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from UC Berkeley in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Between August 2020 and August 2021, he spent a year as a Research Scientist at Waymo (formerly known as Google Self-Driving Car project). He has collaborated closely with companies like Skydio, Google, Waymo, Boeing, as well as NASA Ames. Somil has received several awards, most notably the NSF CAREER award, the Eli Jury Award at UC Berkeley for his doctoral research, the outstanding graduate student instructor award at UC Berkeley, and the academic excellence award at IIT Kanpur.