June 10, 2026, Robert Kubenic
Writing for The Conversation, Political Science Assistant Professor Robert Kubenic collaborates with Alexis Montambault-Trudelle, Postdoctoral Fellow in International Studies, Université Laval, to explore Saudis' opinions on the U.S.-Iran war.
May 22, 2026, Jeff Stensland
The University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia is now officially named in honor of the late longtime trustee and surgeon Dr. Edward “Eddie” Floyd and his wife, Kay Floyd. The school is now known as the University of South Carolina Kay and C. Edward Floyd, M.D., School of Medicine.
May 12, 2026, Andy Shain
The University of South Carolina has agreed to license an algorithm developed by a renowned cancer and nutritional epidemiologist to 20/20 BioLabs, a health sciences company that offers home cancer screening tests.
May 07, 2026, Chris Horn
Frank Avignone has been fascinated by physics longer than most people have been alive, an intense curiosity that began in the waning days of World War II. Now, more than six decades after being recruited to the faculty of USC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, Avignone continues to conduct particle physics research with renowned scholars, some of them at international laboratories he helped build decades ago.
April 23, 2026, Kristine Hartvigsen
Award-winning professor Beth Krizek has been named an American Association for the Advancement of Science Honorary Fellow. Learn more about her research in plant biology.
April 20, 2026, Marketing and communications
Every year, USC students and scholars from a variety of backgrounds and academic disciplines come together to present at Discover USC. The conference features 1,000-plus research projects. Undergraduates, graduate students, medical scholars and postdocs work with faculty mentors to hone their research skills and learn to present their findings. We talked with a few of the presenters.
April 10, 2026, Delaney Freistuhler
Building on the University of South Carolina’s early adoption of ChatGPT and its continued commitment to responsible AI use, Provost Mary Anne Fitzpatrick has appointed Mark Uline as the university’s first associate vice president and vice provost for AI strategy.
April 08, 2026, Magdalena Stawkowski
Writing for The Conversation, associate professor Magdalena Stawkowski describes her field research at a Soviet-era nuclear test site in Kazakhstan. Thousands still live around its cratered perimeter and stay because of their collective refusal to reject systems that had abandoned them and instead create their own terms for survival.
April 02, 2026, Chris Horn
Blood clots in the lungs are a leading cause of cardiovascular-related deaths. But what if gene editing, made possible through ultra-small nanoparticles, could effectively treat clot-induced tissue damage? For USC School of Medicine Columbia scientist Colin Evans, the question is no longer hypothetical.
March 27, 2026, Collyn Taylor
Five University of South Carolina students earned the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship in 2026. This sets a record for the most Goldwater Scholars at USC in a single year and marks the 34th consecutive year the university has had at least one Goldwater Scholar.
March 19, 2026, Andy Shain
What the USC Board of Trustees approved at their March meeting — including new construction and renovation projects, various contracts, academic changes, and housing and meal fees.
March 18, 2026, Daniel M. Stuart
Silent meditation and silent prayer have shaped spiritual lives within a variety of religious traditions for thousands of years. Today, however, those practices are often being offered in secular settings. Daniel M. Stuart, an associate professor of religious studies at USC, writes for The Conversation about emerging trends in secular meditation practices.
March 17, 2026, Gregory Hardy
USC marked a major milestone in providing specialized cognitive care at a ribbon cutting for its Brain Health Center on the Health Sciences Campus on Wednesday. The facility is designed to deliver exceptional diagnostic, treatment and support for patients living with cognitive conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.
March 11, 2026, Jeff Stensland
The University of South Carolina and Prisma Health are partnering to provide specialized care for patients with complex neurological conditions at the new Brain Health Center in Columbia. The center will expand statewide access to advanced technology, expert care teams and innovative treatments.
March 06, 2026, Laura Erskine
Medicine’s understanding of women’s health lags behind men’s. At USC, researchers in multiple fields are working to address the women’s health care gap. One of them is Alyson McGregor, an emergency medicine physician, professor and associate dean at the School of Medicine Greenville and an expert in sex and gender.
March 06, 2026, Kristine Hartvigsen
Scientists at USC’s Baruch Institute are studying the semi-invasive juvenile blue catfish, normally a freshwater animal, that has appeared in estuarine habitats of the Winyah Bay. The researchers are trying to determine whether the interloper’s diet is interfering with the food supply of native estuarine species.
March 03, 2026, Gregory Hardy
University of South Carolina researchers can share their scholarship with national and global audiences through The Conversation, a nonprofit news outlet that pairs scholars with professional editors and syndicates stories worldwide. Learn how to get involved when their representatives visit campus March 25–26.
February 24, 2026, Gregory Hardy
Skiing can be both a thrill and a full-brain workout. USC exercise science chair Shawn Arent explains how downhill skiing sharpens cognition, why concussion risks are higher than many people realize and simple steps that can protect your brain before you hit the slopes.
February 20, 2026, Andy Shain
Sarah Kirby, USC’s associate vice president for clinical affairs, briefed the Board of Trustees on Friday (Feb. 20) on the university’s efforts to develop a comprehensive system of care that could transform health care in the state — a statewide network of brain health clinics, a brain health center and South Carolina’s first stand-alone neurological and rehabilitation hospital.
February 19, 2026, Rebekah Friedman
When she’s not riding her Harley, Karan “Kay” Andrea explores the role women have played in motorcycle culture. The first-year Ph.D. student has also built a community where female motorcyclists can connect and develop confidence.
February 19, 2026, Page Ivey
Longer lifespans mean more diagnoses of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Researchers at USC’s College of Pharmacy are combining their expertise in data science, artificial intelligence and pharmacology to identify potential connections between existing treatments for chronic illnesses and neurocognitive disease.
February 18, 2026, Megan Sexton
When a pediatrician told researcher Elizabeth Adams about the barriers patients faced while trying to access food, it sparked an idea. Now, Adams is leading a pilot study to test strategies for making healthy foods more accessible.
February 17, 2026, Hadley McCollester
Batteries are part of our everyday lives, but not many of us think about how they work or what they are made of. For researchers at the Lab for Materials Properties and Structures, these questions are a full time job. Golareh Jalilvand and her team at USC's Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing are dedicated to testing alternative battery materials such as lithium iron phosphate that will help make batteries a part of the country's sustainable future. This documentary explains why for batteries, it's what's inside that counts.
February 16, 2026, Molly Dawes
Teasing is a common but complex behavior that can serve pro-social functions, but it can also have anti-social functions and harm the targeted person. Teasing interactions are influenced by factors such as the relationship between teaser and target and the content of the tease. Molly Dawes, associate professor in the Department of Educational and Developmental Science at USC, writes for The Conversation about the complexities of teasing.
February 16, 2026, Laura Erskine
On average, rural residents live farther away from hospitals compared to urban residents. Cassie Lewis Odahowski, assistant professor of public health, says those longer distances can lead to worse health outcomes. As a researcher for the Arnold School’s Rural Health Research Center, Odahowski studies access-to-care issues for rural communities using an advanced mapping tool available at USC.
February 09, 2026, Megan Sexton
From faculty members inventing new tools to help students learn the intricacies of treating heart defects in infants to opening up pathways to nursing careers for people with disabilities, the University of South Carolina College of Nursing is stepping up every day.
February 06, 2026, Rebekah Friedman
Strongyloides stercoralis is an intestinal parasite rarely seen in the U.S. University of South Carolina researchers Dr. Melissa Nolan and Dr. Matthew Haldeman wondered if these worms might still be lingering under the radar in South Carolina. What they found surprised them.
February 04, 2026, Conor Harrison
The government directed data centers to turn on backup generation in parts of the U.S. Conor Harrison, an associate professor of geography in the School of Earth, Ocean and Environment, co-authors this story for The Conversation on how expanding distributed generation could improve grid resilience.
February 01, 2026, Gregory Hardy
February is American Heart Month. The University of South Carolina is home to many faculty members who are available to offer their expertise in cardio care and research.
January 30, 2026, Brett Robertson
Winter storms pose multiple dangers at once, and people often underestimate how quickly conditions can become life-threatening. Here is what people need to know to reduce their risk of injury during severe winter weather.
January 22, 2026, Rebekah Friedman
Fabio Matta’s next-generation building materials include fiber-reinforced plastic bars — essentially, glass fibers immersed in a strong polymeric resin. They are stronger than steel, don’t corrode and are lighter than traditional materials — all qualities that make them ideal for bridge and infrastructure rehabilitation.
January 08, 2026, Bryan Gentry
A new grant from the National Institutes of Health will help USC faculty study fragile X-associated health conditions, which may affect thousands of people in South Carolina, and identify new ways to diagnose and treat the conditions.
December 19, 2025, Kristine Hartvigsen
No area of government, business, industry or law goes untouched by the latest technologies, whose benefits also come with risk. David Sella-Villa, assistant professor at the Joseph F. Rice School of Law, says the current system of privacy laws demands that a sense of “caveat emptor” accompany the choices we make with our data.
December 12, 2025, Chris Horn
An environmental chemistry research lab at USC at the forefront of efforts to find and identify disinfection byproducts in U.S. water treatment systems has discovered a new, highly toxic class of byproducts.
December 12, 2025, Chris Horn
USC chemistry professor Linda Shimizu has a long list of accomplishments, including recently being named a fellow of the American Chemical Society, one of only 36 chemistry professors worldwide to receive the honor in 2025 for scientific and professional accomplishments.
December 11, 2025, Chris Horn
Millions of times smaller than a grain of salt, nanocrystals have become extraordinarily useful in electronics, drug delivery, biological imaging and beyond.
December 10, 2025, Dan Cook
Heading into 2025, the field of higher education faced significant challenges. But at the University of South Carolina, all signs point to dynamic growth and institutional strength.
December 09, 2025, Collyn Taylor
Biomedical engineering professor Ehsan Jabbarzadeh became the University of South Carolina's fourth National Academy of Inventors fellow.
December 08, 2025, Page Ivey
South Carolina Honors College student Michael Pitre likes to get up around 3 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to make the two-hour drive to Folly Beach to surf at the Washout before heading back to Columbia and his 11:40 a.m. class. It’s a regimen that aligns nicely with the Marshall Scholar finalist’s jam-packed schedule that includes earning his BARSC-MD degree in just three years, working as an emergency medical technician, and researching the circuitry of the brain on his way to becoming a neurosurgeon.
December 05, 2025, Chris Horn
Electrical engineering professor Guoan Wang got his first U.S. patent while in graduate school and now has more than 60 patents and more than 50 additional patents pending. He was elected to the National Academy of Inventors’ 2024 Class of Fellows, the highest professional distinction awarded to inventors.
December 04, 2025, Chris Horn
A common food additive used as a thickener in soups, salad dressings and ice cream has demonstrated high potential for another use — slowing dangerous erosion on overtopped dams and levees.
November 26, 2025, Alexey A. Petrov
Scientists working with the James Webb Space Telescope discovered three unusual astronomical objects in early 2025, which may be examples of dark stars. Alexey Petrov, a USC endowed chair in physics, writes for The Conversation on how this could alter scientists’ understanding of how ordinary stars form.
November 18, 2025, Golareh Jalilvand
Imagine an electric car that could go 600, 700 or even 1,000 miles on a single charge. Golareh Jalilvand, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at USC's Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, writes for The Conversation on how battery researchers are seeking options to lithium-ion batteries that have better performance, improved environmental sustainability and lower cost.
November 18, 2025, Laura Erskine
Heart defects affect about 1 percent of all babies born in the United States each year, making the cardiovascular system an important part of the nursing curriculum. To help students master this material, assistant professor Stephanie Schaller invented a new tool that lets students learn heart defects through hands-on activities.
November 13, 2025, Jennifer Springhart
Many Americans who lack or have insufficient health insurance seek health care from a network of safety net clinics called community health centers. Dr. Jennifer Springhart of USC's School of Medicine Greenville writes for The Conversation about how decreasing their capacity could destabilize other elements of local health care delivery systems.
November 12, 2025, Megan Sexton
USC Honors College student and public health major Hannah Brennen, who was a Rhodes scholar finalist, plans to attend medical school to pursue her interest in maternal health.
November 11, 2025, Valerie Weingart
South Carolina Honors College student Michael Pitre has been named a finalist for the 2026 Marshall Scholarships. If selected, he plans to pursue an MPhil in biological sciences to develop novel treatments for Parkinson's disease before returning to USC for medical school.
November 05, 2025, Page Ivey
Nikki Wooten was a soldier before she was a scholar — a fact that helps drive and inform her research dedicated to helping American’s military members and veterans access the resources they need for better mental health.
October 28, 2025, Kristine Hartvigsen
USC professor Chester DePratter has been sorting through archaeological evidence gathered over nearly four decades of investigation at the 16th century Spanish settlement of Santa Elena on present-day Parris Island. Here's what he and his team found.
October 24, 2025, Jewel Scott
Emerging adulthood is a life stage where behaviors that diminish heart health—such as spending more time sitting, consuming more fast food and using more tobacco and alcohol—become more common. Jewel Scott, assistant professor of nursing science in USC's College of Nursing, writes for The Conversation about the power of habits on our behavior.