Undergraduate Research Opportunities

The following Viterbi faculty are currently open to working with undergraduate researchers:



Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

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  • Faculty Name: Mitul Luhar
  • Contact Email: luhar@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Fluid-Structure Interactions Lab
  • Lab Description: We’re a curiosity-driven research group working on a range of fluid mechanics and flow-structure interaction problems. In general, our research can be classified into two major themes: turbulent flows interacting with complex materials and surfaces, and interaction between flow and flexible structures. This work addresses applications in flow control, soft robotics, as well as environmental science, and involves a combination of laboratory experiments and theory. If you’re an existing undergraduate or MS student at USC and interested in pursuing research in our group, please get in touch with Dr. Luhar and attach your CV or resume
  • Contact URL: Luhar, Mitul

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Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering

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  • Faculty Name: Eun Ji Chung
  • Contact Email: eunchung@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Chung Lab
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  • Contact URL: Chung, Eun Ji

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  • Faculty Name: Francisco Valero-Cuevas
  • Contact Email: valero@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: ValeroLab
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  • Contact URL: Click here to apply

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  • Faculty Name: Jesse Yen
  • Contact Email: jesse.yen@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Yen Lab
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  • Contact URL: Yen, Jesse

Astronautical Engineering

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Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

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  • Faculty Name: Yalda Khashe
  • Contact Email: khashe@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: HFE Lab
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  • Contact URL: Khashe, Yalda

This lab is participating in the following programs

  • SURE
  • OTHER

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Information Sciences Institute

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  • Faculty Name: Jelena Mirkovic
  • Contact Email: mirkovic@isi.edu
  • Lab Website: STEEL
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  • Contact URL: Mirkovic, Jelena

Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

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  • Faculty Name: Xuehai Qian
  • Contact Email: xuehai.qian@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: ALCHEM
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  • Contact URL: Qian, Xuehai

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  • Faculty Name: Constantine Sideris
  • Contact Email: csideris@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Analog/RF Integrated Circuits, Microsystems, and Electromagnetics (ACME) Lab
  • Lab Description: We design, model, and implement integrated circuits and systems for biomedical applications, wired and wireless communications, and emerging technologies. We also develop and leverage computational techniques to efficiently model and optimize new electromagnetic devices and sensors with cutting-edge performance. Multiple openings are currently available at the graduate, postdoctoral, and undergraduate levels. Interested individuals are highly encouraged to apply and contact us.
  • Contact URL: Sideris, Constantine

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  • Faculty Name: Jia Grace Lu
  • Contact Email: jialu@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: NAMI
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  • Contact URL: Lu, Jia Grace

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  • Faculty Name: Murali Annavaram
  • Contact Email: annavara@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: SCIP lab
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  • Contact URL: Annavaram, Murali

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No Academic Department

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Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

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  • Faculty Name: Lucio Soibelman
  • Contact Email: soibelma@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: ILab
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  • Contact URL: Soibelman, Lucio

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  • Faculty Name: Ketan Savla
  • Contact Email: ksavla@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Savla Research Group
  • Lab Description: My current research interest is in distributed robust and optimal control, dynamical networks, state-dependent queueing systems, and incentive design, with applications in civil infrastructure (e.g., transportation, energy) and robotic (e.g., automated vehicles, multi-agent) systems.
  • Contact URL: Savla, Ketan

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Technology and Applied Computing Program

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The Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

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  • Faculty Name: Jayakanth Ravichandran
  • Contact Email: jayakanr@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Laboratory for Complex Materials and Devices
  • Lab Description: We are interested in the rational design and synthesis of novel complex materials such as oxides, chalcogenides etc. Typically, the materials of interest tend to be either ternary or quaternary in composition. Our research interests also encompass studying artificial materials structures such as heterostructures, superlattices, and devices made from such materials for applications in energy and electronics. Our research program has thematic relevance to the ancient research area of “alchemy
  • Contact URL: Ravichandran, Jayakanth

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  • Faculty Name: Noah Malmstadt
  • Contact Email: malmstad@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Malmstadt Lab
  • Lab Description: In the laboratory for biomimetic phase interfaces, we engineer systems to replicate and take advantage of phase coexistence phenomena seen in biological systems and elsewhere in nature. Our research ranges from studies of nanoscale phase separation processes in the membranes of artificial cells to multiphase microfluidic reaction systems controlled by material properties and interactions.
  • Contact URL: Malmstadt, Noah

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  • Faculty Name: Shaama Mallikarjun Sharada
  • Contact Email: ssharada@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Sharada Lab
  • Lab Description: We are a team of Postdoc, PhD, Masters, and undergraduate students spanning chemical engineering, chemistry, and materials science disciplines. We are interested in developing and utilizing quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics methods to establish in silico design principles for molecular, supported, and photocatalysts. We are uncovering CH activation mechanisms and constructing linear free energy relationships for designing bio-inspired copper-oxygen complexes for direct, selective, and efficient conversion of shale gas to liquid fuel. We are also characterizing electron transfer kinetics and identifying trade-offs between activity and degradation for light-assisted conversion of CO2 using organic chromophores. To address the viability question of surface catalysis at the atomic limit, we are studying the dynamic evolution of atomically dispersed precious metals on oxide supports, and their implications for hydrogen production.
  • Contact URL: Mallikarjun Sharada, Shaama

Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science

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  • Faculty Name: Laurent Itti
  • Contact Email: itti@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: iLab
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  • Contact URL: Itti, Laurent

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  • Faculty Name: Cyrus Shahabi
  • Contact Email: shahabi@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Integrated Media Systems Center
  • Lab Description: The Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC) blends the unique resources available across the University of Southern California and Los Angeles to create a world-class, multidisciplinary hub for exploration and discovery. We engage a diverse faculty with expertise in fundamental research areas critical to every aspect of data science and are closely connected to the domain experts applying these tools through our affiliated schools and organizations. IMSC is built to deliver next-generation, custom-built data platforms based on bleeding-edge basic and applied research. These end-to-end solutions span the entire data pipeline, from the acquisition of real data to the application of mined insights, and are created for partners facing real-world problems across the globe.
  • Contact URL: Shahabi, Cyrus

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This lab is participating in the following programs

  • CURVE
  • SHINE
  • SURE

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  • Faculty Name: Maja Mataric
  • Contact Email: mataric@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Interaction Lab
  • Lab Description: The Interaction Lab focuses on developing computational principles, techniques, models, and interventions to enable socially assistive human-robot interaction that supports human health and wellness. Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR) uses non-contact social interaction interventions involving social, emotional, cognitive, and physical abilities of users, toward improved wellness, communication, learning, and autonomy. The Interaction Lab conducts research in an interdisciplinary SAR arena that uses computing, engineering, and human user studies to characterize, model, and understand complex human behavior. Our projects aim to contribute insights and individualized tools toward mitigating pervasive societal challenges -- including skill training for autism, anxiety, and depression coping, rehabilitation, and healthy aging -- that require sustained personalized support that supplement the efforts of caregivers, clinicians, parents, and educators.
  • Contact URL: Click here to apply

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  • Faculty Name: Ram Nevatia
  • Contact Email: nevatia@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: IRIS CV Lab
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  • Contact URL: Nevatia, Ram

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  • Faculty Name: Ramesh Govindan
  • Contact Email: ramesh@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: Networked Systems Lab
  • Lab Description: Founded in 2002, our laboratory conducts research on the design and implementation of a wide range of networked computing systems.
  • Contact URL: Govindan, Ramesh

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  • Faculty Name: Nenad Medvidovic
  • Contact Email: neno@usc.edu
  • Lab Website: SoftArch
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  • Contact URL: Medvidovic, Nenad

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Note: Viterbi faculty can update their status on this list via MyViterbi at any time.