FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES FALL 2017 / WINTER 2018 MAGAZINE Te (Im)mortality Issue CONCERNSGRAVE We examine one of life’s two certainties. (Hint: We’re not talking taxes.) CONTRIBUTOR Safiya Sinclair Ph.D. Student in Creative Writing and Literature Blooming with intense lyricism and fertile imagery, Safiyah Sinclair’s poems confront postcolonial identity as they explore her Jamaican childhood in a strict Rastafarian family, Jamaican history, race relations in America, womanhood, otherness and exile. The prize-winning poet, added another laurel to her literary crown in 2017 by winning the renowned Addison M. Metcalf Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Sinclair received the biennial $10,000 award, “intended to encourage a young writer of great promise,” for her debut collection, Cannibal (University of Nebraska Press, 2016). She will use the award to work on her next book, a memoir of growing up as a young woman in a fiercely patriarchal society. “I feel extremely encouraged by this support and belief in my work,” Sinclair said. “I see this award as another bright spark in the night sky, a signal that I must keep working and continue writing myself into a space that I can finally feel at home in.” Video: Learn more about Safiya Sinclair at dornsife.usc.edu/safiya. PHOTO BY MIKE GLIER 2 SINCLAIR PORTRAIT BY WILLY SOMMA FALL 2017 / WINTER 2018 A Transcendent Life 2 From the Dean We humans are prone to think in terms of opposites. Light and dark. High and low. Contents 4 COVER STORY Hot and cold. Each seemingly battles the other. But when we take a closer look, Discover the mythos of the exotic SENIOR ASSOCIATE DEAN we see that these opposed pairs are, in fact, merely two extremes of a continuum. fruit that inspired our cover. FOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND COMMUNICATION Dark is simply less light. Low is another level of high. Cold a less energetic form of hot. Lance Ignon This interdependence and interconnectedness is true of almost any pair that we may, 5 SOCIAL DORNSIFE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS / ART DIRECTOR at first, set apart as opposites. Find out how to participate in our Dan Knapp In much the same way, our mortality drives us to seek some kind of immortality. Each first readership survey to give your EDITOR-IN-CHIEF of us strives to extend our mortal lives, to fnd a measure, however small or large, of last- take on USC Dornsife Magazine. Darrin S. Joy ing presence. At USC Dornsife, we see this in the knowledge we hand down through WRITERS AND EDITORS the generations. Our faculty, as teachers and mentors, extend the continuum of progress 6 FROM THE HEART OF USC Susan Bell and insight by training the next generation of scholars. As researchers, they contribute Researchers track emotions to Michelle Boston understand food consumption; Laura Paisley to an ever-evolving process of discovery and a continuously expanding reservoir of human knowledge. Kids test-drive tech; Students put DESIGNERS We also see this in the impact we’re making in our community and the planet at large. Our age-old skills to work; Scientists Letty Avila uncover possible solution to Matthew Savino world-renowned scientists are developing new ways to extend and improve life. Other faculty are working on sustaining the Earth’s natural environment. Still others delve into historical greenhouse gas. VIDEOGRAPHER AND PHOTOGRAPHER research that preserves and adds context to the stories that defne humanity. Mike Glier We have made it our highest value to ask the most difcult questions and to consider the 7 Curriculum COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT perspective of others. By relying on the authority of evidence and ideas, USC Dornsife is Deann Webb 8 making a positive impact on society today that will last long into the future — an impact that Archive CONTRIBUTORS transcends the life of any one individual or any one moment in time. 10 Ian Chafee, Joanna Clay, Emily Gersema, Stephen Koenig, Profle Zen Vuong, Susan L. Wampler, Mira Zimet Amber D. Miller THE (IM)MORTALITY ISSUE USC DORNSIFE ADMINISTRATION 13 Dean of USC Dornsife Lexicon Amber D. Miller, Dean • Stephen Bradforth, Divisional Dean for Natural Anna H. Bing Dean’s Chair 20 Sciences and Mathematics • Steven Finkel, College Dean of Graduate and 14 Te Bench Professional Education • Andrew Lakof, Divisional Dean for Social Sciences • Stephen Mackey, Vice Dean for Administration and Finance • Eddie UMementoSC Dornsife scholars explore Moriour dramatically evolving attitudes toward death and mortality. By Susan Bell 18 Sartin, Senior Associate Dean for Advancement • Andrew Stott, College Our World Dean of Undergraduate Education • Sherry Velasco, Interim Divisional 28 59 Vice Dean for the Humanities Legacy USC DORNSIFE BOARD OF COUNCILORS Immortal. Beloved. 60 DORNSIFE FAMILY Robert D. Beyer, Chair • Wendy Abrams • Robert Alvarado • William Alumna Kathryn Sermak recounts her decade-long association with one of the most celebrated actresses in Three faculty earn Guggenheim By Dan Knapp Barkett • Leslie Berger • Susan Casden • Richard S. Flores • Shane Foley • Hollywood history, and how it helped to shape her career and her ideas about aging and death. Fellowships; Alumna empowers Lisa Goldman • Jana Waring Greer • Pierre Habis • Yossie Hollander • women; Physics grad perfects Janice Bryant Howroyd • Martin Irani • Dan James • Stephen G. Johnson • 36 Suzanne Nora Johnson • Peter YS Kim • Yoon Kim • Samuel King • martial arts skills; Alumna’s Arthur Lev • Robert Osher • Gerald Papazian • Lawrence Piro • Kelly scientific contributions are out Porter • Michael Reilly • Harry Robinson • Stephanie Booth Shafran • AWhats researchers explore Lies ancient fossils Beneath and artifacts, they look to this immortalized record of what once was of this world. Carole Shammas • Glenn A. Sonnenberg • Kumarakulasingam “Suri” to understand the future and how we can act to ensure we remain a part of it. By Laura Paisley Suriyakumar 60 USC DORNSIFE MAGAZINE 44 Faculty Canon Published twice a year by the USC Dornsife Ofce of Communication 61 Faculty News at the University of Southern California. © 2017 USC Dornsife College. Hanging by a Tread? Te diverse opinions expressed in USC Dornsife Magazine do not neces- Nobel Prize–winning economist Angus Deaton has uncovered startling data that show mortality numbers 64 sarily represent the views of the editors, USC Dornsife administration are climbing for certain groups of Americans. How can we buck the trend? By Michelle Boston Alumni Canon or USC. USC Dornsife Magazine welcomes comments from its readers to [email protected] or USC Dornsife Magazine, 1150 S. Olive St. 66 Alumni News T2400, Los Angeles, CA 90015 50 69 Remembering PHOTO BY DAMON CASAREZDAMON BY PHOTO Power to the People Imaginative new approaches to battery technology may give us longer-lasting power in smaller packages. More 70 IN MY OPINION important, they may give renewable energy the charge it needs to fnally succeed on a wide scale. By Darrin S. Joy Youth to Power 54 71 READERSHIP SURVEY ADyinglumna and radio talk to show Talkhost Dawn Gross aims to revolutionize how we talk about death, hospice and palliative care. Oh, and she also teaches death ed to teenagers. By Susan Bell SOCIAL DORNSIFE Twitter CLASSICS Readership Survey @USCDornsife @just_quia: I started my FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES college career in community FRUIT OF THE AGES college and now I’ll be attend- CoverThe pomegranate is a highly Story SPRING / SUMMER 2012 MAGAZINE FALL 2012 / WINTER 2013 MAGAZINE SPRING / SUMMER 2013 MAGAZINE FALL 2013 / WINTER 2014 MAGAZINE ing USC (my dream school) evocative fruit. With its jewel- in the fall. Beyond grateful. Te Memory Issue #IGotIntoUSC like seed pods, or arils, it has THISREMEMBER USC Dornsife researchers investigate long been a symbol of fertility how memory works and why we forget. — reaching back to the myth- @DrCarlsHorn: I’m now officially a #newPI @USCDornsife! ology of ancient Greece. #MarineInverts adorn my bldg “In the Greek imagination, Te Intersections Issue door. I think I’m going to like it VISION PUSCERFE Dornsife 2020 daresCT to tackle the problems of the world with rigorous and relevant research. fertility was the form of Te Sustainability Issue here Te Creativity Issue TURNINGTIDE FREE YOUR THEOur researchers are transforming immortality that was available IMAGINATION environmental woes to wins. Experience the originality and flair of USC Dornsife’s masters of ingenuity. to human beings,” explained @nolahtheveil: Recalling Daniel Richter, associate how powerful coordinating the diversity predoctoral professor of classics at FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF USC DANA AND DAVID DORNSIFE COLLEGE OF LETTERS, ARTS AND SCIENCES F O R A L U M N I A N D F R I E N D S O F U S C D A N A A N D D AV I D D O R N S I F E C O L L E G E O F L E T T E R S , A R T S A N D S C I E N C E S institute was last wknd w/ USC Dornsife. @christiangrose & @USCDornsife Pomegranate seeds figure SPRING / SUMMER 2014 MAGAZINE FALL 2014 / WINTER 2015 MAGAZINE SPRING/ SUMMER 2015 MAGAZINE FALL 2015 / WINTER 2016 M A G A Z I N E support.