IDEAS IN ACTION | USC's Podcast Series

Latest Episodes:

Coping with COVID: Mental health and young adults, a conversation with Dr. Vivek Murthy and and Jim Steyer Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

March 2021 marks the one-year anniversary of the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Illness, distance learning, and social isolation have turned our lives upside down. Depression rates are up among teens and young adults. How have young people fared after a year of lockdowns, remote schooling, and the disruption of social norms?

Join Dean Willow Bay, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, and Common Sense CEO Jim Steyer for a conversation on how young people use digital devices and media to manage their mental health. The discussion will also cover a groundbreaking new research report on the mental health of today's young adults.

Additional participants include Associate Vice Provost for Student Health Dr. Sarah Van Orman and student co-moderators Josie Bullen, Abel Jaquez and Anushka Joshi.

A Conversation with Channing Godfrey Peoples Mar 19, 2021

Show notes

As part of USC's International Women's Day 2021 celebration, USC President Carol L. Folt sits down with rising filmmaker and USC alumna Channing Godfrey Peoples for an inspiring conversation about Peoples' career and her critically acclaimed, award-winning film, "Miss Juneteenth." USC Cinema Dean Elizabeth Daley provides introductions.

How to Encourage Vaccine Adoption Jan 20, 2021

Show notes

Scientific innovation was put to the test in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, and it resulted in two vaccines in record time that are at least 94% effective in clinical trials. Now the task of vaccinating the population has begun with many skeptics fearing side effects, rushed science in its development, and political involvement. There is also a segment of the population who are generally vaccine skeptics.

Join the USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy and the USC Behavioral Science and Well-Being Policy Initiative for an expert discussion on how to encourage vaccine adoption.

Learn more about the USC Schaeffer Center at healthpolicy.usc.edu

Five lessons we've learned about COVID-19 since the pandemic began Nov 21, 2020

Show notes

When COVID-19 emerged, it was a new coronavirus we knew little about. Over the past year, experts from across the globe have worked together to better fight the pandemic.

Listen in as faculty experts from the Keck School of Medicine of USC discuss what we've learned so far about COVID-19:

Paula Cannon, a microbiologist who is an expert in all the ways COVID can, and cannot, be transmitted.
Susan Butler-Wu, also a microbiologist, is an expert on COVID testing.
Ali Gholamrezanezhad, a radiologist who has viewed the pandemic through a unique lens: chest x-rays.

Should Halloween be canceled because of COVID-19? Oct 28, 2020

Show notes

Holidays represent normalcy for children during uncertain times. With Halloween around the corner, as well as other fall celebrations, USC's Rita V. Burke, Assistant Professor of Clinical Preventive Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, offers tips for having fun without spreading or catching COVID-19.

Alzheimer's, inflammation and COVID-19 Sep 21, 2020

Show notes

Listen in as Caleb Finch and Axel Montagne (in conversation with Leigh Hopper from USC's University Communications), discuss their respective research on Alzheimer's disease, including how pollution may cause inflammation in the human body, contributing to the acceleration of dementia.

Axel Montagne is an Associate Professor of Research Physiology & Neuroscience at Keck School of Medicine at USC and Assistant Director of the USC Functional Biological Imaging Core.

Caleb Finch is University Professor, ARCO/William F. Kieschnick Chair in the Neurobiology of Aging at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Gerontology, Biological Sciences, Anthropology, and Psychology at USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

The Unexpected Spy Aug 13, 2020

Show notes

As an undergraduate majoring in history at USC Dornsife, Tracy Walder had planned to become a teacher. Until the CIA recruited her. Not long after graduating, the former sorority sister known for dressing in pink was wearing camouflage fatigues, toting an assault rifle and hunting down Al-Qaeda as a counterterrorism field agent in the aftermath of 9/11. Returning to the U.S., she made the almost-unheard-of-transition to the FBI, where she continued to take down bad guys out of the L.A. field office. Walder sat down with USC Dornsife historian Peter Mancall, divisional dean for the humanities, to discuss her larger-than-life career as a spook — and why she left that life behind to return to her first love: teaching history.

Dornsife Dialogues Join us for stimulating online forums in which leading scholars and distinguished alumni from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences share new perspectives, research-based findings and fresh insight on timely topics. The free events are open to the entire USC community and general public. https://dornsife.usc.edu/dornsifedialogues/

Countdown to Mars 2020 Perseverance Launch Jul 29, 2020

Show notes

Listen in on the conversation with experts from USC Dornsife, USC Viterbi and the California Science Center about the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance rover launch.

Kenneth Phillips is Curator for Aerospace Science at the California Science Center and an adjunct professor of the practice of physics and astronomy at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He's an expert in aeronautics, space exploration and science education.

Anita Sengupta is an associate professor of astronautics at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and a former engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She's an expert in spacecraft design for interplanetary exploration and was responsible for the supersonic parachute system of the Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in 2012.

Ken Nealson is an emeritus professor of Earth science at the Dornsife College. He is an expert in astrobiology, microbial life in extreme environments and the evolution of life in the universe. He led the astrobiology program at JPL, started the geobiology program at USC and is a member of the science team for the 2020 Mars mission.

Garrett Reisman is a professor of astronautical engineering at the Viterbi School of Engineering at USC. He was an astronaut for NASA and conducted missions aboard the Space Shuttles Endeavor, Discovery and Atlantis as well as the International Space Station. He was also director of space operations for SpaceX and remains a senior advisor to the company.

Stronger Than Hate Jun 04, 2020

Show notes

Resources and Solutions at USC

The novel coronavirus pandemic has Americans across the country fearful for their personal health and well-being, but for Asian Americans, the virus has stirred up another threat: a wave of verbal and physical attacks. While we employ social distancing to keep us safe from COV19, how do we prepare our USC community for widespread acts of individual bigotry when we reenter the world?

Stronger than Hate: Resources and Solutions harnesses the power of USC's resources in the area of hate and extremism, outlining tangible resources and real solutions to better help our community navigate the complex challenges presented by this crisis.

USC Pacific Asia Museum: Bethany Montagano, PhD, Director
Quade Yoo Song French, PhD Clinical Psychologist, Office of Well-being and Education, Office of the Provost
USC Campus Wellbeing and Crisis Intervention: Patrick Prince, Associate Vice Provost of Threat Assessment and Management
USC Price: Erroll Southers, DPPD, Director of the Safe Communities
USC Shoah Foundation: Stephen Smith, PhD, Executive Director
USC Department of Public Safety: Josh Voyda, Intelligence and Threat Manager
USC TIX/OED: Kegan Alee-Mowad, PhD, Associate Director of Student Civil Rights, Conduct and Compliance
USC Center for Work and Family Life: Linda Snouffer, Director

With opening remarks by USC President Carol L. Folt.

Presented by:

USC Pacific Asia Museum USC Price School -Safe Communities Institute USC Shoah Foundation OED Title IX

Dornsife Dialogues: "Pandemic Preparedness: What Went Wrong and What Have We Learned?" May 26, 2020

Show notes

Why weren't we better prepared for the COVID-19 outbreak and what can we learn from our current ordeal to be better prepared for the next pandemic? USC Dornsife's Andrew Lakoff and Nils Gilman, Vice President of Programs at the Berggruen Institute, talks with journalist and author Mark Perry about how the U.S. did and didn't prepare for COVID-19. Lakoff, Professor of Sociology and Divisional Dean of Social Sciences, is the author of Unprepared: Global Health in a Time of Emergency, in which he describes the challenges of properly anticipating and preparing for biological threats. Gilman previously worked as Associate Chancellor at the University of California Berkeley and as Research Director and scenario planning consultant at the Monitor Group and Global Business Network. Perry is a contributing editor at The American Conservative and writes for Politico and Foreign Policy. His latest book is titled The Pentagon's Wars. Watch the video >>

Dornsife Dialogues

Join us for stimulating online forums in which leading scholars and distinguished alumni from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences share new perspectives, research-based findings and fresh insight on timely topics.

https://dornsife.usc.edu/dornsifedialogues/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

IDEAS IN ACTION | USC’s Podcast Series

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected