“A seminal moment for USC.” The USC community celebrated the official unveiling of the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science on Friday, September 8. Photo/Steve Cohn.
Almost 50 years since its inception in 1976, USC’s computer science department celebrated the unveiling of its new name on Friday: The Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science.
As the sounds of the USC Trojan Marching Band filled the air, more than 150 well-wishers gathered at USC Viterbi’s Epstein Family Plaza to commemorate the Thomas Lord Foundation’s transformative naming gift and a new endowed chair of advanced computing.
The department will be housed within the newly announced School of Advanced Computing, a unit of the Viterbi School of Engineering. A new LEED-Platinum certified building for computer science at USC, the Dr. Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Human-Centered Computation Hall, is scheduled to open in spring 2024.
USC President Carol L. Folt with computer science student and speaker Lavanya Sharma and Chair of the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science Nenad Medvidović. Photo/Steve Cohn.
Addressing the audience of faculty, staff and students, USC President Carol L. Folt said the ceremony marked a “seminal moment” in the launch of USC’s “historic and largest” university endeavor. The naming gift is part of Frontiers of Computing, a $1 billion-plus, multiyear initiative that further advances USC’s leadership in computing research and education.
Folt said the initiative aims to “create a digital backbone to integrate advanced computing into all of the university’s schools, and into every student’s life in a personalized way.” Most importantly, said Folt, it will be “deeply connected with ethics and humanity.”
She thanked the Lord Foundation of California for its generosity and the two visionary leaders who made it possible: Thomas Lord and Donald M. Alstadt.
“We are here, plain and simple, because of the generosity and the confidence of the Lord Foundation of California,” said Folt. “They believed in USC’s capacity to solve great challenges and, in 2019, gifted USC more than $260 million. With that remarkable gift began the path that we’re formalizing today.”
Plans for the initiative include recruiting cross-discipline faculty in advanced computing; developing new programs in AI and data science for all USC students; creating a center for quantum information sciences; boosting innovation in Silicon Beach; and advancing Viterbi’s “crown jewel” institutes, the Information Sciences Institute and the Institute for Creative Technologies.
“Every school at USC will be a part of this effort,” said Folt. “That’s a big dream. But before we get there, we have to start today, with our computer science department.”
Engineering a better world for all humanity
In his speech, USC Viterbi Dean Yannis C. Yortsos envisioned this gift’s potential for USC.
“By establishing the Frontiers of Computing initiative, the Lord gift will help seed the continuous growth of the many inspiring new initiatives in the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science and other exciting components in advanced computing,” said Yortsos.
Yortsos said he believes that today’s “extraordinary technological revolution,” would have been “warmly embraced” by Thomas Lord, Donald Alstadt, and their colleagues.
“The Lord gift will help seed the continuous growth of the many inspiring new initiatives.” Yannis C. Yortsos. Photo/Steve Cohn.
Today, computer science at USC boasts a student population of more than 1,800 undergraduate students, 3,600 master’s students, and 400 doctoral students taught by more than 90 faculty members, with 21 new faculty members recruited since 2022.
Pointing to a bright future, Yortsos said about 40% of computer science undergraduate students are women, an astounding statistic, and rare among U.S. higher education institutions.
Yortsos paid tribute to “trailblazing” USC computer science professors past and present, including Seymour Ginsburg, legendary computer science and original co-founder of computer science at USC; Len Adleman, co-founder of RSA cryptography and DNA computing; George Bekey, leading roboticist and early advocate of technology ethics; Shang-Hua Teng, a two-time Gödel Prize winner for his work in theoretical computer science; and Maja Matarić, who pioneered socially assistive robotics or “robots that care.”
An honor and a privilege
The gift also creates a new endowed chair, the Donald M. Alstadt Chair of Advanced Computing, which was awarded to Gaurav Sukhatme, a professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering, and executive vice dean of the Viterbi School of Engineering.
USC President Carol L. Folt and USC Viterbi School of Engineering Dean Yannis C. Yortsos present Professor Gaurav Sukhatme with the Donald M. Alstadt Chair of Advanced Computing. Photo/Steve Cohn.
Sukhatme, an Amazon Scholar and recipient of many national awards for his achievements in networked robots, thanked the Thomas Lord Foundation of California for their “extraordinary generosity,” and President Folt and Dean Yortsos for their “steadfast support.”
Sukhatme, an expert in underwater robots, recalled joining USC as a graduate student in August 1991 to study AI and robotics. “Those of us studying computer science then believed that it would change the world. Boy, were we right,” he said. “We just had no idea how much it would change the world.”
“I am thrilled that our newest school at USC is called the School of Advanced Computing,” said Sukhatme, “Signaling to the world our mission to ensure that the school provides a digital backbone for education and research across the university.”
A great American story
Folt invited special guests Lieutenant General Fred McCorkle and Paul “Mickey” Pohl, who served together as directors on the foundation’s board, to the stage.
Paul “Mickey” Pohl, Carol L. Folt and Lieutenant General Fred McCorkle. Photo/Steve Cohn.
“This is a great American story in so many ways,” said Pohl, recounting the LORD corporation’s humble beginnings.
In the early 1920s in Erie, Pennsylvania, patent lawyer Hugh Lord invented a way to bond rubber to metal. The company he founded, The Lord Manufacturing Company, became a national leader in mechanical noise and vibration control, solving many challenges facing the automotive and aviation industries.
In 2019, the sale of the corporation yielded over $1 billion to support research institutions chosen by Thomas Lord, Hugh’s son and successor, and his successor Donald Alstadt.
Pohl, a lawyer and decorated veteran, said Lord and Alstadt’s “extraordinary philanthropic vision” was an example of “socially responsible capitalism at its best, with the added benefit of having the wisdom to pair with great American Universities.”
Pohl closed by thanking the Trojan community. “I thank you on behalf of all the past Trustees with what you have accomplished here, and I just can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.”
Also speaking at the celebration was Lavanya Sharma, a junior with a major in computer science and business administration and minors in cybersecurity, digital forensics, and technology law
Sharma said she was thrilled to be at the forefront of such game-changing innovation.
“This department fosters the development of students who are not only technically-minded but also conscious of the world they live in – in other words, being multifaceted and intersectional is encouraged because it makes us better engineers,” said Sharma.
Her final message to the audience: “Let’s launch computing into the next frontier together, and take our first step today.”
At the close of the ceremony, Nenad Medvidović, chair of the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science; Suzanne Nora Johnson, chair of the USC Board of Trustees; and Lieutenant General Fred McCorkle joined the speakers onstage to formally unveil the new name amidst resounding applause.
Published on September 12th, 2023
Last updated on September 15th, 2023
