Cloudwalkers cast highlight: Yannis Yortsos

In 1972, following the release of the Pentagon Papers, a small institute in Los Angeles was given the power to design, develop and run the Internet. What followed was one of the greatest explosions of information in human history.

by Magali Gruet

October 2, 2025

This week, watch our interview with Yannis Yortsos on the theme From Mainframes to Meaning

Cloudwalkers is now on Amazon Prime Video.

Yannis Yortsos sees engineering not just as invention, but as transformation. As Dean of USC’s Viterbi School, he reflects on the Information Sciences Institute as a living experiment in what happens when a university embraces use-inspired research at scale, bringing together faculty, PhD students, and government collaborators to tackle problems that matter.

In this conversation, Yortsos traces ISI’s evolution from a DARPA outpost to a national engine of computing innovation. From early internet infrastructure to today’s efforts in AI, quantum, and trustworthy systems, ISI’s value lies in how it bridges academia and application, theory and deployment. For Yortsos, the future of engineering will be defined not only by technical excellence, but by how well we shape technology to serve human needs—with responsibility, integrity, and foresight.

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