USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service

Leonard D. Schaeffer and his wife, Pamela, have donated $59 million to establish the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Institute for Public Policy & Government Service, which will be anchored at USC and in the university’s new Capital Campus in Washington, D.C., university President Carol Folt announced today. The mission of the new institute is to…

DoT National Center for Metropolitan Transportation Research (METRANS)

METRANS is located in Southern California, which is home to nearly 2/3 of the state’s population and the most congested metropolitan area in the US. The region is a center for international trade: the Los Angeles/ Long Beach port complex is the largest container port in the US (trade in 2011 was $382 billion); and LAX…

Center for Climate Journalism and Communication

We empower journalists and other communicators to tell stories about climate change

Landscape Justice Initiative

The Landscape Justice Initiative (LJI) is a platform for USC’s Graduate Program in Landscape Architecture + Urbanism to position and implement its work in areas of Environmental, Spatial and Climate Justice.  This platform provides a vehicle and support structure both for community partnerships to contribute to immediate local impact on neighborhoods and their ecosystems, and for multidisciplinary…

Center for City Design

The Center for City Design advances radical alternatives to exclusionary policies and extractive practices that shape our cities today. Through the lens of spatial and social justice, the Center catalyzes critical research, creative work, and strategic collaborations to address precarious living and working conditions in cities everywhere.

METRANS Transportation Consortium

As a center of both international trade and immigration, the Los Angeles region is home to both extreme wealth and extreme poverty, and has one of the largest transit-dependent populations in the country. METRANS is committed to addressing the transportation challenges of regions such as Los Angeles. METRANS includes the Pacific Southwest Region University Transportation…

Center for Sustainable Cities

CSC conducts multi-disciplinary research, education and community engagement on the sustainability challenges of metropolitan areas. The Center seeks to develop and propose policies and strategies that make our cities and metropolitan areas more sustainable, just, and economically vibrant. The Center’s faculty and student researchers focus on the spatial structure of cities – where housing, jobs,…

Visualizing New Narrative Forms through Quantum Physics, AI, and Sustainability

The Visualizing New Narrative Forms through Quantum Physics, AI, and Sustainability collaboration is designed to drive new forms of pedagogical innovation and creative research at the intersection of art, science, and technology. The outcome will result in new types of narrative structure and media creation utilizing animated forms, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual…

Strengthening Community-Engaged Sustainability Scholarship & Education

The Strengthening Community-Engaged Sustainability Scholarship & Education network aims to promote a just and transformative approach to community-engaged sustainability scholarship and education across USC. They deepen awareness of the value, science, and best practices of community-engaged research in addressing sustainability challenges; facilitate opportunities for sustainability scholars and students to initiate meaningful community-engaged research projects; and…

Community Health Equity Solutions

Community Health Equity Solutions (CHES) is a multidisciplinary collaboration of over 40 faculty/students between several USC schools, centers, institutes and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The CHES Collaborative addresses health disparities problems in diverse communities — such as poverty, food security, social justice, cancer, environmental justice, sustainability, immigration, and climate change — by working with representatives…