The fall issue of IT at USC highlights some of the ground-breaking work being done in computing- and technology-related fields by USC faculty and supported by national grants. Representing a range of disciplinary approaches from seismology to computational sciences and engineering, these projects speak to the vitality of information technology and information sciences at USC and beyond. The level of funding that these projects have achieved is a recognition of the far-reaching importance of these fields.

Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC), was recently awarded a $1.6 million federal stimulus grant for SCEC's ongoing high-resolution earthquake simulation project. Headquartered at USC, SCEC brings together 600 scientists from more than 60 universities and research institutions to promote a better understanding of earthquakes and their risks.

Ewa Deelman, research associate professor in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's department of computer science, and her research group will contribute to FutureGrid, a project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The goal of FutureGrid is to serve as a test bed to promote the development of parallel, grid, and cloud computing.

Shrikanth Narayanan, director of the Signal Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, has been awarded a $2.2 million NSF grant for the development of a speech-to-speech translation system that will promote better communication between patients and medical personnel.

Priya Vashishta, Rajiv Kalia and Aiichiro Nakano, of USC's Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, held their annual summer outreach workshop in computational science for underrepresented groups through funding from the NSF's Materials Theory Program and the Department of Defense's High-Performance Computing Modernization Program. These workshops have encouraged many students from underrepresented groups to pursue graduate degrees and careers in computational and information technology.

As always, this issue contains important computing security announcements, intended to raise awareness about phishing schemes and safe computing practices. In addition, you will find helpful information about support options for using Blackboard 9, the updated version of the university's learning management system.

We encourage you to send your feedback to it-news@usc.edu. If there is an area of information technology that you would like to learn more about, please let us know.

Ilee Rhimes
Chief Information Officer and
Vice Provost for Information Technology Services