Author: Author Listing Page

A background of empty plastic water bottles with a blue tint.

USC chemist leads new NSF center focused on developing sustainable, eco-friendly plastics

June 23, 2025, Chris Horn

By 2050 plastic manufacturing around the world is projected to total 1 billion tons, and more than half of all that plastic is expected to end up in landfills and the ocean. It’s an industry that relies on petroleum as a key ingredient and produces products that can’t easily be recycled without generating additional waste. But USC's Chuanbing Tang has a game-changing idea for the world’s plastic crisis.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Careers, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences

man stands in front of a building with greenery in the background

Electrical engineering research group poised to advance manufacturing technology for next-gen semiconductors

June 03, 2025, Chris Horn

Twenty-five years ago, electrical engineering professor Asif Khan and his team helped put the University of South Carolina on the map in semiconductor electronics and photonics research, garnering several large grants and gaining widespread scholarly recognition along the way. Now, Khan and several colleagues in the Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing are poised to do it again in the field of next-generation extreme semiconductor chips that can function in harsh environments — including outer space.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing

Head and shoulders photo of Jessica Gonzalez

Nursing faculty member achieves her goals by degrees and with determination

May 21, 2025, Chris Horn

Nursing faculty member Jessica Gonzalez was recently selected to become a Jonas Scholar, an elite cohort of emerging nursing leaders from across the country. And her current Ph.D. research, which focuses on disparities in breast cancer diagnoses, was recognized by the National Institutes for Health with an R25 training grant.

Topics: Faculty, Academics, Research, Recognition, Health Sciences, Leadership, Careers, College of Nursing

man stands in front of a wall of windows

Biomedical engineering faculty member studying the biomechanics of brain injury

April 23, 2025, Chris Horn

Sudden violent impact to the head, the kind that can happen in car crashes, football games and other activities, can shear and stretch brain tissue in ways that are very difficult to see. That’s why USC biomedical engineering assistant professor Ahmed Alshareef is part of a team studying the biomechanics of brain injuries with a goal of understanding exactly what happens dynamically to the brain during concussive events.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Health Sciences, Careers, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing

woman stands in front of a glass wall

New Economic Policy Center offers data-driven analysis to state agencies, other policymakers

April 07, 2025, Chris Horn

In a perfect world, state agencies and local governments would implement each new policy and program only after rigorous economic analysis that maps out the cost benefits, potential side effects and hidden costs of choosing one option over another. That data-driven approach to policymaking is the focus of S.C. EPiC, the South Carolina Economic Policy Center based in the economics department of the Darla Moore School of Business at USC.

Topics: Faculty, Research, SC Impact, Darla Moore School of Business

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- A Touch of Faith Gospel Choir

March 04, 2025, Chris Horn

In the decade after USC desegregated, the small but growing number of Black students wanted to establish a sense of belonging on a big campus that was growing bigger every year. In 1975, the Southern Christian Fellowship student group was established with a gospel choir called A Touch of Faith. 

Topics: History

maxcy monument orb

Remembering the Days: 60 years of transformation

January 21, 2025, Chris Horn

Harry Lesesne's A History of the University of South Carolina, 1940-2000 covers the six fascinating decades of history in which USC was transformed into a modern research university. How he organized and wrote the book is a story in itself.

Topics: History

a health care worker looks at a computer screen with equipment in the background

USC scientists deploy artificial intelligence, digital twin models to build new resources for medical care

November 20, 2024, Chris Horn

A team of USC scientists is using a $3.4 million grant to develop new technology for personalized medical treatment and more accurate medical diagnoses. USC faculty members from medicine, chemistry and mathematics are leading various aspects of the five-year project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

Topics: Faculty, Research, Health Sciences, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, Medicine (Columbia)

people stand on a platform in a saltmarsh

National estuarine monitoring system keeps watchful eye on coastal research sites, impact from changing climate

November 08, 2024, Chris Horn

Around the clock and every day of the year for the past three decades, an environmental monitoring system has been keeping a finger on the pulse of 30 diverse estuaries across the country, collecting water quality and weather data. The integrated System-Wide Monitoring Program and Centralized Data Management Office is headquartered in Georgetown, S.C., at USC’s Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health

USC professor and alumna Anna Hoppmann stands in the atrium of the children's hospital at Prisma Health-Midlands.

Anna Hoppmann leads pediatric cancer research effort

September 10, 2024, Chris Horn

Anna Hoppmann is a pediatric oncologist with Prisma Health and a clinical assistant professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia where she graduated nine years ago. She also chairs the S.C. Childhood Cancer Taskforce, which recently released a 25-year trend report on childhood cancer incidence, survival and mortality in South Carolina.

Topics: Alumni, Faculty, Research, Health Sciences, Leadership, Careers, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, Medicine (Columbia), South Carolina Honors College

man wearing a white coat stands in the middle of a laboratory with people and lab equipment in the background

New endowed chair brings focus in Alzheimer's drug research

July 31, 2024, Chris Horn

Qun Lu’s quest to develop an effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases has brought him to the University of South Carolina. Lu, who joined USC in January as the new SmartState Endowed Chair in Neurotherapeutics Chemical Biology, has developed, with his research team, novel therapeutic molecules that have demonstrated effectiveness in rodent models that mimic Alzheimer’s disease.

Topics: Research, Health Sciences, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Gamecock Jeopardy!

July 12, 2024, Chris Horn

Imagine if all of the clues in the popular TV gameshow Jeopardy! were related to the University of South Carolina. USC archivist Elizabeth West's new book, The University of South Carolina Trivia Book, provides plenty of material — more than 500 questions and answers — for a "Gamecock" Jeopardy version of the show.

Topics: History

A photo of a group of colorful rubberbands isolated on a white background.

Ring polymer research points way to new industrial and biomedical applications

March 06, 2024, Chris Horn

Imagine smartphones that bend, twist and stretch like rubber. Or 3D-printed material that mimics the pliable characteristics of human cartilage found in knees, noses and ears. It’s not much of a stretch for Ting Ge, an assistant professor in chemistry and biochemistry who has just begun a five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation to delve deeper into the field of ring polymers.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Health Sciences, Entrepreneurship, Careers, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, Breakthrough Research

A person in protective gear with clipboard observing waste in a landfill.

Engineering team experiments with new method for processing problematic landfill compound

February 29, 2024, Chris Horn

An experimental project led by a team of USC engineering researchers could lead to a more efficient process for converting landfill gases into cleaner fuel — and simultaneously deal with a silicone-based compound called siloxane that has become problematic for landfills.

Topics: Faculty, Academics, Research, Experiential Learning, Leadership, Careers, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, Breakthrough Research

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- USC during Reconstruction

February 05, 2024, Chris Horn

USC's modern desegregation took place in 1963 when three African American students enrolled at the historically white university — but they actually weren't the first black students in the university's history. For a brief window in the 1870s, USC became the only state-supported public university in the South to open its doors to white and black students alike.

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- 3 in 1: The Women's Quad

January 22, 2024, Chris Horn

A century ago, USC built its first dormitory for women, whose presence on campus had not been warmly welcomed when they first arrived in the 1890s. While other women's dorms have come and gone on campus, the Women's Quad retains its status as the original location for and the only present location of women's-only residence halls at the university. 

Topics: History

a pair of hands operate controls in a flight simulator

Remembering the Days -- Flying high: aviation at USC

November 29, 2023, Chris Horn

USC's connections to aviation go higher than you might think. From civilian and military aviator training to the state's only aeronautical engineering degree program, the university has been spreading its wings for decades. One chapter in the story includes a farmboy who flew a plane by himself at age 12.

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Hoops venues, 1908 to the present

November 21, 2023, Chris Horn

In the years since USC's first basketball season tipped off in 1908, the Gamecocks have played in no less than seven different venues on campus — including an outdoor court in their first season. For many years, games were played in a now-demolished field house that once occupied a spot in the middle of campus. 

An electric car being charged in a parking garage.

USC researchers energize new SC Nexus initiative

November 14, 2023, Chris Horn

In the past two years, companies focused on battery development and electric vehicles have invested around $11 billion in the Palmetto State.Many of those firms have research ties with the University of South Carolina, which has more than a dozen faculty members and scores of graduate and undergraduate students engaged in battery and battery-related research.

Topics: Research, SC Impact, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing

woman stands next to a wall with a sign that reads community health

Reaching the most vulnerable

October 23, 2023, Chris Horn

Fifteen years ago, Julie Smithwick was a community health worker focused solely on new Latino mothers and families in South Carolina. Today, she directs a new center at the University of South Carolina that’s training hundreds of community health workers who assist vulnerable populations with health and social needs ranging from children with disabilities to adults with chronic diseases and more.

Topics: Initiatives, Health Sciences, Arnold School of Public Health

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- The wilderness years: USC sports in the independent era

October 19, 2023, Chris Horn

The two decades between USC's departure from the Atlantic Coast Conference and entry into the Southeastern Conference were a challenging time for Gamecock sports. But USC sports enthusiast Alan Piercy's new book about that era reminds us that a lot of cool things —  including a Heisman Trophy winner and a new iteration of USC's mascot — came about in the midst of those wilderness years. 

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Booked solid: the history of USC Press

October 10, 2023, Chris Horn

For nearly 80 years, the University of South Carolina Press has been publishing books — more than 1,000 and counting — on topics ranging from the history of the Palmetto State to literary figures, cuisine and much more. Pull up a reading chair and learn more about the Press came to be. 

Topics: History

Sanaz Sadati wears safety glass in a lab with workers in lab coats in the background

Chemical engineering team pioneers 3D-printing techniques to mimic natural materials

September 27, 2023, Chris Horn

Replicating the shimmering iridescence of a butterfly wing, the hammer-like hardness of a mantis shrimp claw or the strength of mammalian cortical bone is no simple matter. But a chemical engineering scientist and her research team at the University of South Carolina are pioneering 3D-printing methods to create novel soft materials that mimic intricate nanostructures found in nature.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Double parked: campus parking, parking tickets and the campus shuttle

September 27, 2023, Chris Horn

Visit any urban campus in America and the No. 1 complaint almost always will be the parking situation. Parking at USC became an issue in the 1960s as enrollment skyrocketed. The university dealt with it by building parking garages and adding a campus shuttle system. To enforce the parking rules, there was a regiment of parking officers, which, for nearly half a century, included 'Miss Pat.'

Topics: History

sophomores in 1965 at USC

Black students in the early years of USC's desegregation

August 30, 2023, Chris Horn

The first three Black students enrolled at USC on Sept. 11, 1963, but the university’s desegregation was a process, not a once-and-done event. In the years that followed, more Black students would enroll — a trickle that would eventually become a steady stream. What were their experiences at what had been an all-white university?

Topics: Alumni

James wolf stands in a restaurant wearing a gamecock club golf shirt

Business graduate heads active alumni group in Queen City

August 16, 2023, Chris Horn

James Wolf has been a Gamecock since he saw his first football game at Williams-Brice at the age of 7. Wolf, a 2005 business school graduate and financial adviser, has been president of the Charlotte, N.C., chapter of the Gamecock Club and USC Alumni Association for 14 years. He brings an energy to the role that is equal parts motivational speaker and loyal alumnus.

Topics: Alumni, Leadership, Darla Moore School of Business

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Rutledge Chapel wedding bells

May 18, 2023, Chris Horn

An integral part of the oldest building on campus, the Rutledge Chapel has been in continuous use since 1805 and has a rich history of its own. But that history is still being written as, every year, alumni say their wedding vows inside the venerable chapel's walls.

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- The campus during wartime

May 11, 2023, Chris Horn

Since its founding in 1801, the University of South Carolina, its students and alumni have been profoundly affected by wars, most notably the Civil War, WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. As Memorial Day draws near, it is a fitting time to remember.

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- 'Believe It or Not!'

May 01, 2023, Chris Horn

Decades ago, an illustrator named Robert L. Ripley presented tales of the strange, the bizarre and the unexpected — and challenged the public to 'believe it or not!' In that spirit, here are three such tales from the University of South Carolina's past.

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Remembering the pioneers

April 17, 2023, Chris Horn

Sixty years ago, the University of South Carolina opened its doors to all students, regardless of race, when it enrolled three Black students — Henrie Monteith, Robert Anderson and James Solomon. But what was campus life like for the Black students who immediately followed in their footsteps in 1964 and beyond?

Topics: History

podcast artwork

Remembering the Days -- Message in a bottle

February 16, 2023, Chris Horn

USC students in 1977 buried an eclectic assortment of items for a time capsule that was unearthed in 2001 as part of the university's bicentennial celebration. That same year, another time capsule was buried on the Horseshoe — with its own treasure trove of items — with an opening scheduled for 2051.

Topics: History

The library named after Peden McLeod, at the USC Salkehatchie campus in Walterboro.

Family and community support fuels building renovation at USC Salkehatchie

February 09, 2023, Chris Horn

Peden McLeod, a 1967 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law believed in public service. Founder, chairman and CEO of the Bank of Walterboro as well as a state legislator, McLeod worked tirelessly to establish and support the USC Salkehatchie campus. It’s fitting, then, that the only building named for an individual on the campus in Walterboro honors McLeod: the Peden McLeod Library, which was dedicated in 1998.

Topics: Alumni, Recognition, Leadership, Careers, Joseph F. Rice School of Law

Maggie Kemp, December 2022 graduate

Graduating engineering student looks ahead to career in coastal conservation

December 02, 2022, Chris Horn

Maggie Kemp grew up a five-minute drive from windswept Assateague Island National Seashore on the Maryland coast, and that locale inspired her undergraduate research pursuits and plans for graduate school at USC.

Topics: Students, Academics, Research, Experiential Learning, Scholarships, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, South Carolina Honors College

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- The Duel of 1833

November 14, 2022, Chris Horn

Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton engaged in an infamous duel in 1804, and a number of South Carolina College students nearly got tangled up in duels in the years before the Civil War. History records only one duel  involving South Carolina College students that ended in fatality — and this is the strange story of that tragedy. 

Topics: History

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- Palmetto Ivy: How the Honors College came to be

October 31, 2022, Chris Horn

USC's Honors College was established in the 1970s around the time that several other of the nation's first honors colleges came into being. But the South Carolina Honors College would eventually emerge as one of the nation's best, boasting hundreds of honors courses and attracting some of the best students from the Palmetto State and beyond. 

Topics: History

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- First things first

October 17, 2022, Chris Horn

Curtis Frye, head coach of field and track head at USC, knows a thing or two about coming in first place and being the first to do something. He's done all of those in his time at Carolina, including bringing home the university's first-ever national championship trophy. Perhaps most importantly, Coach Frye understands the importance of putting first things first. 

Topics: History

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- The not-so-secret gardens

September 26, 2022, Chris Horn

“If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world … is a garden.” When Frances Hodgson Burnett penned those words more than a century ago in her classic children’s book The Secret Garden, there probably were very few, perhaps not any flower gardens on the University of South Carolina campus. But we’ve made up for it in the past 50 years or so. On this short tour, you'll learn the history of several not-so-secret gardens on campus and what's planted in each one. 

Topics: History

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- The Myth of Commodore Capstone

August 25, 2022, Chris Horn

What building on the University of South Carolina campus was named for a Confederate navy commodore and commemorated on a picture postcard? It's a trick question! A high-rise residence hall was featured on a postcard in the late 1960s, and the caption on the postcard said the building was named in honor of alumnus Epaminondas J. Capstone, a Confederate commodore. But separate fact from fiction is the real story.

Topics: History

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- Sink or Swim: the freshman lifesaver course

August 22, 2022, Chris Horn

Fifty years ago, it wasn't uncommon to hear professors give the "look to your left, look to your right — one of you will have failed by the end of the semester" speech. But exactly 50 years ago, Carolina tried something different: a course designed to help freshmen feel like they belonged along with the academic tools they needed to succeed. It was called University 101, and it became model for hundreds of colleges across the country.

Topics: History

Remembering the Days podcast art

Remembering the Days -- Fair play: the 50th anniversary of Title IX

June 03, 2022, Chris Horn

Women's college sports barely on the radar in the early 1970s, but Title IX changed everything by leveling the playing field for men's and women's sports at the collegiate level. Meet two of the first 18 women to receive athletics scholarships at the University of South Carolina, which is now a national leader in parity for its men's and women's sports programs.

Topics: History

image of brick block with 2x4

UofSC engineers develop disaster-resistant building materials

June 01, 2022, Chris Horn

For the past 10 years, Fabio Matta, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, has been engineering earthen building blocks made from local soil. Up close, the blocks don’t look like anything special, but their simplicity is the appeal — the blocks don’t require firing in energy-intensive kiln furnaces and can stand up to the worst Mother Nature can throw at them.

Topics: Faculty, Research, Experiential Learning, Initiatives, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Careers, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing

Story Topics