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Terry Benzel Wants to Lead the IEEE Computer Society Through Computing’s AI Inflection Point
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USC Space Lab Opens Its Doors as A New Era of Space Competition Takes Off
AI in 2026: Smarter Models, Harder Questions
Toward Quantum-Augmented Databases: New USC Study Could Turn Data Systems That Take Hours Into Minutes
USC Breakthrough Could Help Scientists Spot Disease Clusters, Fraud Networks and More
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ISI's mission is to advance society through pioneering research and technological innovation. We cultivate an intellectually vibrant environment where researchers are empowered to imagine bold solutions to complex problems and to develop into world-class leaders. Guided by integrity, inclusion, and a commitment to excellence, we create unprecedented capabilities that harness information to transform lives.
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Part of the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering, ISI is a pioneer in research and development across an exceptionally wide range of advanced information processing, computer, and communications technologies.
Our broad expertise spans artificial intelligence, computational systems and technology, space engineering, informatics systems research, and networking and cybersecurity. Bridging multiple technology disciplines through both academic and industry expertise, ISI continues to shape the technologies of tomorrow.
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ISI Centers are internationally renowned for pioneering research in a multitude of areas and disciplines, with collaborations with Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and numerous other organizations. From quantum computing to global space applications, ISI Centers push forward the boundaries of innovation.
MOSIS
In 1981, a request from DARPA led to USC establishing The MOSIS Service at ISI — a silicon prototyping and low volume production service for custom and semicustom integrated circuits.
Over the past 40 years, The MOSIS Service has collaborated with over 50 US government laboratories and agencies, 800 domestic and foreign colleges and Universities, and more than 100 commercial companies, and continues to support the advancement of microelectronics.
Join the Future
To build upon its successes and global reach, ISI actively recruits exceptional talent. We are dedicated to investing in tomorrow’s leaders, providing numerous internship, job, and program opportunities for students, as well as unique opportunities for exceptional researchers in information sciences and related fields.
Featured Job Openings
To build upon its successes and global reach, ISI actively recruits exceptional talent. We are dedicated to investing in tomorrow’s leaders, providing numerous internship, job, and program opportunities for students, as well as unique opportunities for exceptional researchers in information sciences and related fields.
Analog Design & Layout Engineer
Marina del Rey, CA
In Office
Seeking an engineer skilled in analog/RF and digital circuit design, and physical layout. The role involves working with MOSIS 2.0 customers, supporting USC’s tape out classes, and contributing to funded research projects in the USC ECE department.
EDA Infrastructure Engineer
USC University Park Campus
In Office
Manage and support multi-vendor EDA tool flows with a focus on digital design. Oversee cloud platforms for tool access and IP repositories, providing support to internal and external users in a collaborative, cloud-based EDA ecosystem.
ASIC/FPGA Research Engineer - Digital Design
Arlington, VA
Hybrid Eligible
Perform front-end digital design of advanced ASIC or FPGA-based prototypes addressing problems of national importance while developing novel computer architectures, RTL models, and systems-on-chip.
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Keep up-to-date with the ISI seminar series by subscribing below.
You will have the option of subscribing to individual seminar topics.
Information Sciences Institute
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ISI is committed to forging a better future. Please visit our careers web page to learn how you can become a part of the ISI community.
On Sept. 1, the USC Information Sciences Institute honored Craig Knoblock with lunches—and cake—in Marina del Rey, Arlington, Virginia, and Boston to celebrate his eight years leading ISI, including two as interim executive director.
During his tenure, Knoblock helped restore ISI’s financial footing and transform the original MOSIS into California DREAMS, a major microelectronics hub.
Knoblock a research professor of computer science and spatial sciences in the USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the USC Stevens School of Computing and AI, will remain at ISI.
Congratulations, Craig, on an extraordinary chapter of leadership—and the impact still to come.
AI systems can quietly use where you live to influence insurance premiums, mortgage rates and access to services—even when race and ethnicity are removed from the equation.
Nripsuta (Ani) Saxena “Ani” Saxena, a doctoral student in the USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Stevens School of Computing and AI, and Professor Abigail Horn, a USC Viterbi research assistant professor and research computer scientist at the USC Information Sciences Institute, are helping expose this hidden bias—and showing why fairer AI must account for geography.
Read the story: https://lnkd.in/g45mTKeZ
USC researchers Jelena Mirkovic, a principal scientist at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) and research associate professor at the USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science; David Balenson, a senior supervising computer scientist at ISI and interim director of its Networking and Cybersecurity Division; and Qishen Sam Liang, a USC M.S. student, put 97 highly rated cybersecurity research artifacts to the test.
What they found was striking: broken links, missing components, specialized computing requirements and outdated software can make even verified research difficult — and sometimes impossible — for other scientists to reuse.
That matters because every week spent rebuilding old research is a week not spent developing better cybersecurity defenses.
https://lnkd.in/gN385HZd
USC Viterbi School of Engineering researchers Marjorie Freedman and Jon May are developing ALICE, a new system designed to test whether chatbot answers are accurate, complete and safe to act on.
Freedman is a principal scientist and associate director of the AI Division at the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI). May is director of ISI’s AI Division and a research associate professor in the USC Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science.
Their goal: uncover the errors and missing warnings that polished AI responses can hide—and help determine which chatbots deserve our trust.
Story: https://lnkd.in/g7Q-PihD
Terry Benzel, Managing Director of the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI), part of USC Viterbi School of Engineering and USC Stevens School of Computing and AI is seeking the presidency of the IEEE Computer Society. Her vision: help the global computing community navigate AI’s rapid rise with integrity, collaboration and a clear focus on benefiting humanity.
Read the story: https://lnkd.in/grmgQ2bc
Meet Terry: https://lnkd.in/gqfNqYbd
IEEE Computer Society: https://www.computer.org/