Offices & People

USC Research and Innovation (OORI) is the university point of contact for submission of research proposals; identifying sources of research funding both inside and outside the university; and participation in, and initiation of, major inter-disciplinary university research programs and formation of research units.

We also provide training for pursuing major research and research funding opportunities; clearance for institutionally limited research competitions; financial disclosures and conflict of interest statements; and research ethics and handling research misconduct.

Senior Vice President of Research and Innovation

Ishwar K. Puri
Senior Vice President of Research and Innovation

Dr. Ishwar K. Puri is senior vice president of research and innovation at University of Southern California and guides the university’s research programs.

At USC, he also serves as professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering, and professor of chemical engineering and material science.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and holds the Engineering Medal for Engineering Excellence awarded by Professional Engineers Ontario and Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

Dr. Puri is the author of over 200 archival publications and books that have been cited over 8,500 times per Google Scholar with an H-Index of 53. He has founded and mentored startups. He is ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the world based on the citations of those who published between 1965-2019.

Prior to his appointment at University of Southern California, Dr. Puri was dean of the Faculty of Engineering and professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. In Canada, he was one of eighteen members of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, an appointment made by the Governor General of Canada. He served as chair of the Canadian National Council of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science, now called Engineering Deans Canada. 

Before that, he was N. Waldo Harrison professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) at Virginia Tech where he served as department head from 2004-13.

He served as a postdoctoral fellow and Assistant Research Engineer at the University of California, San Diego from 1987-90.

Thereafter, he was appointed as assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) in 1990, promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure in 1994, and to the rank of professor in 1999. He served at UIC as associate dean for research and graduate studies (2000-01) and as executive associate dean of engineering (2001-04).

Dr. Puri serves on the editorial board of Scientific Reports, a Springer Nature journal, and is an associate editor of Research, a Science partner journal.

Erica Cardoza
Executive Secretary

Interim Associate Vice President of Research Administration

Jeri Muniz
Interim Associate Vice President of Research Administration

Jeri Muniz is the interim Associate Vice President of Research Administration (AVP-RA) in Research and Innovation. She oversees key areas of research administration, including the Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG), Office of the Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS), Department of Animal Resources (DAR), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Research Technology Services (RTS), and Office of Research Integrity (ORI).

Jeri is an able and skilled Research and Innovation leader. She evolved DCG into a unit where professional staff support the development and comprehensive review of proposals, and skillfully negotiate externally sponsored awards on behalf of USC. She has mentored strong team leaders who serve as primary customer service points of contact for designated units, oversee staff well trained in various types of agreements and sponsor requirements, and ensure equitable distribution of workload. The structural changes that Jeri enabled in DCG have created an efficient and effective unit that supports USC research and has considerably improved customer experience.

Interim Associate Vice President of Research Strategy and Innovation

Steven O. Moldin
Interim Associate Vice President of Research Strategy and Innovation

Dr. Steven O. Moldin is the interim Associate Vice President of Research Strategy and Innovation (AVP-RSI) in Research and Innovation. At USC, he also serves as Adjunct Research Professor of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine. He oversees the functions of the Office of Research Advancement (ORA), Stevens Center for Innovation, Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII), and Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering (AMI-USC).

Dr. Moldin received his B.A. magna cum laude with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa in Psychology from Boston University, his M.A. in Psychology from Yeshiva University, and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University. He conducted research at New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University and was on faculty at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In 1995, Dr. Moldin joined the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the National Institutes of Health. He led the Office of Human Genetics and Genomic Resources and served as Associate Director of the Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science. Dr. Moldin was responsible for the fiscal and scientific management of a $200 million extramural grants and contracts portfolio. Dr. Moldin has published over 50 papers, including articles in Nature Genetics and the Journal of Neuroscience, as well as book chapters in the areas of psychiatric genetics, schizophrenia, autism, and neuroscience. He is co-editor of the books Methods in Genomic Neuroscience and Understanding Autism: From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment. 

Dr. Moldin has served as Executive Director of ORA since its inception in 2006. Under Dr. Moldin’s leadership, ORA has contributed to the submission of over 1,000 proposals to multiple federal funding agencies, of which over 300 have been funded for a total of $850 million.

Alfred E. Mann Institute

The Alfred E. Mann Institute (USC AMI) bridges the gap between biomedical innovation and the creation of commercially successful medical products.

Winn Hong
Deputy Executive Director

Mr. Hong has over 16 years of experience in high-tech product development and high-tech start-up successes and leadership.

Prior to joining USC AMI, Winn was a senior technology strategist for the Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) focusing on biotechnology, alternative fuel, medical device, and internet, media, and related software technologies.

Winn began his career as a researcher at the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1996 to 1999 where he was involved in the design, fabrication, and testing of sensors for military, medical, commercial, and space exploration applications.

Mr. Hong was co-founder and COO of Sega.com, Inc. and Sega.com, Ltd. (publicly traded on the HKSE) and has been involved in company formation, funding, and management.  Since then, companies include alternative fuel, green chemicals, medical devices, and material sciences and held various executive level positions in each of these companies.

From June 2005 to December 2007, Winn worked as a principal for Convergent Ventures, LLC, a venture capital firm that invests seed capital, management, and operational participation in early-stage life science and technology investment opportunities in Southern California.

Mr. Hong obtained a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago in 2005. He received a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from UCLA in 1996 and 1993, respectively. Winn is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Kathleen Bonagofsky
Communications Coordinator

Department of Animal Resources

The Department of Animal Resources (DAR) provides and ensures appropriate care in all aspects of USC animal research.

Ari Aycock-Williams
Executive Director

Dr. Ari Aycock-Williams has always enjoyed working with animals in multiple capacities. She put this joy to work after earning a B.S. in Biopsychology and the Cognitive Sciences from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then obtaining a D.V.M. from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine in East Lansing, Michigan. She then trained to specialize in Laboratory Animal Medicine through the combined residency at the University of Southern California and City of Hope in Duarte, California. She is board certified by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine.

Dr. Aycock-Williams first joined USC in 2009 and has served in various roles supporting research, including Clinical Veterinarian, Senior Clinical Veterinarian, and Associate Director. She has implemented didactic animal training programs, enhanced surgical veterinary care and support for various projects, and provided regulatory guidance to continue USC’s accreditation. She is also a member of several committees that frame USC’s commitment to service. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, a member of the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science, American Association of Laboratory Animal Practitioners, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. In her free-time she enjoys traveling with her husband, cycling, running, and cuddling her Beagle/Shar-Pei/Chihuahua mix.

Graciela Gonzalez
Senior Operations Manager

Department of Contracts and Grants

The Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG) supports USC’s investigators from proposal development to award closeout, ensuring that USC’s sponsored project agreements are consistent with university standards for academic freedom, research ethics, and fiscal responsibility.  DCG staff support the development and comprehensive review of proposals, skillfully negotiate externally sponsored awards, and serve as the primary points of contact and Authorized Institutional Officials in communications with research sponsors and regulatory agencies.  DCG has primary responsibility for the interpretation of University-wide and campus policy, sponsor guidelines, and applicable federal and state laws and regulations related to sponsored projects.  DCG also executes all outgoing subawards issued under sponsored projects agreements.

Jeri L. Muniz
Interim Associate Vice President of Research Administration (AVP-RA)

Ms. Muniz, in her role as AVP-RA, provides strategic oversight and leadership for research administration, including the Department of Contracts and Grants (DCG), Office of the Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS), Department of Animal Resources (DAR), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Research Technology Services (RTS), and Office of Research Integrity (ORI).  She works to streamline and integrate research administration processes and systems to meet Research and Innovation goals to:

  • Improve service to faculty researchers and reduce their administrative workload
  • Increase operational efficiencies
  • Improve institutional and regulatory compliance

Ms. Muniz began working in the field of research administration as a student at the University of California, Irvine.  During her tenure at UCI, she held a number of roles in research administration: Grants Officer, Contracts Officer, Trainer, Conflict of Interest Administrator, Assistant Director and Director, Sponsored Projects.  Ms. Muniz joined the Trojan Family as the Executive Director for the Department of Contracts and Grants in March 2008 and assumed responsibility for the overall management and administration of pre- and post-award non-financial services related to extramural proposals and awards.  In July 2022, she was promoted to interim Associate Vice President of Research Administration expanding her oversight and role in supporting the USC research community.

Department of Contracts and Grants
DCG Staff Directory

Human Research Protection Program

USC’s Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) develops program-wide policies for the conduct and review of human subjects research at USC, provides education and training, and oversees the Institutional Review Boards (IRB), which review projects involving human subjects research.

Julie Slayton
Director

Dr. Slayton serves as the Director of the Human Research Protection Program. She is responsible for AAHRPP re-accreditation, reviewing and developing policies, identifying and implementing best practices, and fostering research ethics education for USC. Dr. Slayton previously served as the Chair of the University Park Campus Institutional Review Board from 2014-2019. She serves or has served as a member of the faculty for the Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) Advancing Ethical Research Conference and the planning committee and faculty for the PRIM&R Social, Behavioral, and Educational Research Conference.

Dr. Slayton is Professor of Clinical Education at USC Rossier, where she teaches in the Educational Leadership and Organizational Change and Leadership EdD programs. She is a qualitative researcher, focusing on the quality of instruction provided to children in elementary school classrooms and adults in professional development settings. As a researcher, she continues to be most interested in understanding and creating the learning conditions and the pedagogy/andragogy necessary to improve child and adult learning opportunities in urban preK-20 settings.

Prior to her tenure at USC, Dr. Slayton worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District for almost 10 years. During that time, she served in a variety of research and leadership roles. As the Director for Research and Planning and the Executive Director for the Office of Strategic Planning and Accountability, she directed research and policy analysis related to the implementation of instructional policies and programs in the District. Prior to this position, she served as the Assistant Chief of Staff to the Superintendent, the Chief Accountability Officer for the District and as a Chief Research Scientist for the District’s Program Evaluation and Research Branch. Prior to her work with the District, Dr. Slayton studied charter schools and school finance at UCLA. In addition, Dr. Slayton practiced law and was a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention on Federal and State laws pertaining to students’ constitutional rights on campus and inter-agency information sharing regarding juveniles who are at risk of or already engaged in delinquent behavior. She holds a BA in History for the University of California, San Diego (1989), a J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law (1993), and a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the U.C.L.A. Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (1999).

Human Research Protection Program
HRPP Staff Directory

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee

The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) oversees USC’s animal programs, animal facilities, and policies ensuring appropriate care, ethical use and humane treatment of animals.

Don Casebolt
IACUC Chair

Donald B. Casebolt is Chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and Associate Professor Emeritus in the Department of Pathology at USC. He was formerly Executive Director of the USC Department of Animal Resources, a position which he held for 24 years.

Dr. Casebolt received his BS in Animal Science, Masters of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees from the University of California, Davis. He completed a National Institutes of Health fellowship in laboratory animal medicine and comparative medicine and is board certified by the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. He has extensive experience in clinical veterinary care, preventive medicine, research support, and administration of animal care programs at academic research institutions in the United States and Canada. He serves as member of the AAALAC International Council on Accreditation and is a member of the Board of Directors of the California Society for Biomedical Research.

Grace Gonzalez
IACUC Administrator

Research Initiatives and Infrastructure

The Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) advocates for faculty research interests and supports faculty-led research across the university, including faculty mentoring and development and training through the Center for Excellence in Research. Additionally, RII has oversight of internal award programs, limited submissions, as well as core facilities/shared resources invoicing.

Silvia da Costa
Director

Dr. da Costa received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Southern California. Her research focused on cytoskeletal filament system regulation of membrane traffic and development of a disease model for Sjögren’s syndrome. She also holds bachelor’s degrees in Physics, French and Journalism, is a native speaker of English and Portuguese, and has working knowledge of Spanish, French and Italian.

Dr. da Costa serves as Director of Research Initiatives and Infrastructure, as well as Diversity Officer for Research and Innovation and is Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Mann School of Pharmacy. Previously, she worked as a Research Scientist for Access Business Group, investigating the efficacy and safety of medicinal plants for use in therapeutic product development. She holds various product patents.

Research Initiatives and Infrastructure advocates for faculty research interests and supports faculty-led research across the university including faculty mentoring, development and training, through the Center for Excellence in Research (CER). Additionally, RII has oversight of internal USC-funded grants, awards, and research funding as well as core facilities/shared resources invoicing.

Melody Pham
Program Administrator

Araceli Roach
Public Communications Coordinator

Amy Wood
Project Assistant

Michael Yarsky
Program Specialist

Research Integrity

The mission of Research Integrity (ORI) is to foster a culture of integrity within the entire USC research community. The office works at university, school, and department levels to educate faculty, staff, trainees and students about responsible conduct in research and laboratory practices.

Kristen Grace
Director, Research Integrity Officer

Serving in the role of a senior scientist-investigator and acting in the role of deputy director at the Division of Investigative Oversight (ORI), Federal Office of Research Integrity (ORI), Dr. Grace was a leading speaker in federal research regulations, research misconduct and the responsible conduct of research (RCR). Dr. Grace has trained and counseled RIOs nationally on the proper conduct of research integrity investigations, utilizing many of the ORI data forensic techniques that she helped develop.

As a physician, she worked closely with the federal Office of Human Research Protections regarding matters of human subject research integrity. Dr. Grace served as Director of Human Subject Research and Compliance at both Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City and at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, where she combined her medical ethics training, regulatory knowledge and commitment to investigative excellence in guiding institutional review boards and clinical research teams.

Dr. Grace acted as subject matter expert for “The Lab” and co-creator of “The Research Clinic,” two interactive instructional videos used by institutions nationwide. Dr. Grace received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the State University of Stony Brook in New York. She trained in OB/GYN at Albert Einstein in New York followed by a post-doctoral fellowship in reproductive sciences at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Research Strategy and Development

The Research Strategy and Development (RSD), formed in 2006, is a service resource for USC that strategically pursues competitive federal funding opportunities with a targeted focus on large, multidisciplinary research endeavors.

Steven O. Moldin
Interim Associate Vice President of Research Strategy and Innovation (AVP-RSI)

Dr. Moldin, in his role as AVP-RSI, provides strategic oversight and leadership for research strategy and innovation, including the Office of Research Advancement (ORA), Stevens Center for Innovation, Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII), and Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering (AMI-USC).

Dr. Moldin received his B.A. magna cum laude with distinction and Phi Beta Kappa in Psychology from Boston University, his M.A. in Psychology from Yeshiva University, and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University. He conducted research at New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University and was on faculty at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. In 1995, Dr. Moldin joined the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the National Institutes of Health. He led the Office of Human Genetics and Genomic Resources and served as Associate Director of the Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science. Dr. Moldin was responsible for the fiscal and scientific management of a $200 million extramural grants and contracts portfolio. Dr. Moldin has published over 50 papers, including articles in Nature Genetics and the Journal of Neuroscience, as well as book chapters in the areas of psychiatric genetics, schizophrenia, autism, and neuroscience. He is co-editor of the books Methods in Genomic Neuroscience and Understanding Autism: From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment. 

Dr. Moldin has served as Executive Director of ORA since its inception in 2006. Under Dr. Moldin’s leadership, ORA has contributed to the submission of over 1,000 proposals to multiple federal funding agencies, of which over 300 have been funded for a total of $850 million. In October 2022, he was promoted to interim Associate Vice President of Research Strategy and Innovation expanding his oversight and role in supporting the USC research community.

Research Technology Services

Research Technology Services (RTS) maintains and supports the following systems: diSClose and iStar. diSClose is used for managing conflicts of interest and iStar is used by research involving human subjects, animals, biohazardous substances and radioactive substances or emitting devices.

Martin Koning-Bastiaan
Director

Martin Koning-Bastiaan is responsible for the iStar research regulatory system and the diSClose conflicts of interest system. These systems support research compliance for several regulatory committees, including the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at USC and CHLA; the conflicts of interest in research committees at USC and CHLA; the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at USC; and the Biosafety and Radiation Safety committees at USC. He has been at USC since 2006.

Prior to his current position at USC, he worked as Director of Technology for MERLOT, an international consortium of universities collaborating on the use of online educational resources, originating out of the California State University system. Martin was responsible for the design and implementation of the MERLOT system. He began his technical career as a research scientist in Apple’s Advanced Technology Group in 1997. Martin holds a Master’s degree in Educational Theory from Stanford University and is currently working on a doctorate in Regulatory Science at USC.

Johnson Kwong
Programmer Analyst IV

Jerry To
Programmer Analyst II

Mario Sotelo
Programmer Analyst II

Sydney Chang
Programmer Analyst I

USC Stevens Center for Innovation

As the technology licensing office for the University of Southern California, the Stevens Center for Innovation plays a key role in Southern California’s innovation ecosystem.

Erin Overstreet
Executive Director

Dr. Overstreet holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in molecular and cellular biology. Dr. Overstreet has over 16 years of experience working with early-stage technologies and companies, having held prior roles at the University of California, San Francisco and the University of Texas, Austin, among others. She has licensed over 200 technologies and assisted over 40 startups in their journey to spin out from universities, which have collectively been financed by VCs to over $500 million, with 3 IPOs. Dr. Overstreet has broad experience in evaluating early-stage technologies, refining and protecting key IP, marketing to industry partners, and negotiating deals that mature the technology, satisfy stakeholders, and ultimately lead to commercialization. Most recently, Dr. Overstreet was Head of Corporate Strategy at a cancer immune-oncology company, Delta TpX, where she gained first-hand operational experience in forming and financing early-stage companies. 

Stephanie Cuevas
Administrative Assistant II