Now that the Winter Olympics are over, it’s time to shift attention to LA28.
For faculty and students at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, LA28 is a true engineering grand challenge – one that requires a multi-year run-up to achieve gold.
“The Olympics are more than just a sporting event; they are a complex systems challenge that depends on civil and environmental engineering at every level,” stated Burçin Becerik-Gerber, Dean’s Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and chair of the USC Sonny Astani Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) at USC Viterbi.
“Delivering safe, resilient, and sustainable venues requires advances in infrastructure, materials, mobility, environmental systems and data-driven decision-making. As we look toward LA28, our department is uniquely positioned to contribute innovative ideas and entrepreneurial talent that will help ensure that the Games are not only spectacular, but sustainable and impactful long after the closing ceremony.”
From ideas to impact
With that ambition in mind, CEE is hosting The Games Week from 2-6 March; five thematic panels featuring USC researchers and representatives from government and industry to address the questions that will define the fate of the Games in LA. How resilient is the grid under concentrated global demand? How do you move millions across a decentralized metropolitan area? And what are the repercussions at the local level – how can neighborhoods leverage the Games to strengthen local economies and strengthen community ties?
Ideas are important – but crucially, it’s not all talk. That’s why the panels are paired with a weeklong hackathon. Teams of student entrepreneurs (many of whom are already involved in the Innovate x LA: Das Family Student Competition) will be tasked with developing business-driven solutions specific to the Games, and pitching the idea to a panel of judges who are already deep in decision-making for LA28.
Taking place at venues across the USC campus, here’s the lineup of the week’s events:
Monday March 2: What the Games Mean to LA & Hackathon Kickoff
Hear directly from city leaders and architects of LA28 on the long-term civic, economic, and cultural impact of the Games, then stay for the official Hackathon Kickoff as student teams are tasked with developing business-driven solutions specific to LA28.
Tuesday March 3: Powering LA28: Energy, Infrastructure & the Future of Los Angeles
What does it take to power the largest global event in LA’s history? From grid resilience to clean energy strategy, leaders from LA28, LADWP, and Southern California Edison discuss how today’s infrastructure decisions will define the next generation of the city.
Wednesday March 4: Planes, Trains & Air Lanes: The LA28 Transportation Blueprint
15 million people. 16 days. One region. Transportation leaders across Metro, LA28, LAWA, and emerging aviation break down how Los Angeles will move the world, and what that means for mobility long after the Games end.
Thursday March 5: Game Day: Athletes, Media and the LA28 Stage
From athlete preparation to global broadcast coverage, this panel explores what happens when the spotlight turns on LA. Olympians, Paralympians, media leaders, and organizers discuss performance, storytelling and the global stage of LA28.
Friday March 6: Final Showcase
Hackathon teams present their solutions live before industry leaders and judges, competing to turn ambitious ideas into real-world impact. Which ideas will meet the judges’ standards – which have the potential to thrive in the economic ecosystem of LA28?
A student-led launchpad
For Becerik-Gerber, the standout aspect of The Games Week is the fact that it’s a student-driven initiative.
“We realized that there was not yet a clear student-facing platform at USC connecting infrastructure innovation to LA28. So, rather than wait, we built one,” said Mitchell Kirby, executive chair of the initiative and a senior studying civil engineering – while simultaneously completing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. “The Games Week at USC serves as a forum for real, innovative and directly applicable solutions. The goal is not to create a standalone week of programming, but to ignite years of continued work.”
Kirby’s involvement builds on extensive participation in USC CEE’s innovation ecosystem. He competed twice in the department’s Innovate x LA: Das Family Student Competition – winning both times, first with FungiFix in 2024, a concept to use fungi to clean up polluted soil and generate sustainable building materials, then with FireWarden in 2025, a system to use swimming pools for wildfire defense.
Working alongside Kirby is Alex Bartolomei, executive director of outreach for The Games Week and a junior studying environmental engineering. While Kirby’s focus is on program architecture and hackathon dynamics, Bartolomei’s emphasis is on coalition-building and institutional reach.
“From investigating sustainability and infrastructure stress, to exploring opportunities for culture-shaping storytelling, every discipline at USC has a role to play,” Bartolomei reflected. “The Olympic and Paralympic movement is built on unity, excellence, and resilience, and those values are deeply embedded in our Trojan community.”
Like the Games themselves, The Games Week is far more than a passing event – this is about the ideas, innovations, and systems that feed into the culture of a department, a university, and a city in the long-term.
You can follow the events of the week via the CEE LinkedIn and see coverage on the USC Viterbi Instagram account, and in the coming weeks we’ll be sharing how the key takeaways from The Games Week are feeding into the research and innovation culture at CEE – with perspectives on how to leverage those insights for impact. Join us starting from March 2, 2026.
Published on February 26th, 2026
Last updated on February 26th, 2026