Brief Facts About the School

The University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering has approximately 1800 undergraduates, with more than 30 combined degree options - some of them unique to USC - available to them.  Approximately  3800 graduate students pursue degrees in over 25 fields; the USC graduate program in engineering is consistently ranked in the top 10 in the U. S. News and World Report rankings.

With over $170 million in external funding support, the school is among the nation's highest in volume of research activity.

More than a third of its 165 faculty members are fellows in their respective professional societies. With 31 faculty members elected to the National Academy of Engineering, and over 45 others who have earned Presidential Early Career, Presidential Young Investigator or NSF/NIH Young Investigator awards, the school ranks among the nation's very best in these important metrics of a school's present and future strength.

Some additional points of distinction for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering include:

• One of only four engineering schools nationwide, and the only one in California, that houses two active National Science Foundation-funded Engineering Research Centers: the Integrated Media Systems Center, the only NSF ERC for multimedia and Internet technologies (established 1996, renewed 2001), and the Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Center (established 2003).
• Home of the Information Sciences Institute (ISI), birthplace of key Internet technologies, including the Domain Name System (DNS) and (with other centers) the TCP/IP protocols. ISI co-developed the Globus Grid computing architecture. Its MOSIS chip brokerage was instrumental in industrial development of numerous widely used chips.
• In partnership with the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development, awarded the nation’s first Department of Homeland Security Research Center of Excellence.
• Home of the Biomedical Simulations Resource, which is advancing state-of-the-art biomedical modeling and simulation. No other research center has received more longstanding support from the National Institutes of Health.
• Basic research at USC or by USC researchers forms the basis of jpeg and mpeg compression standards and numerous pattern recognition systems. USC researchers’ error correction and signal codes are used in CDs, interplanetary communications, cell phones and numerous other applications.
• USC Engineering Distance Education Network: More than 1,360 students in 30 M.S. degree programs;  over 250 masters degrees awarded in 2007.
• The USC Viterbi School was also a principal partner in the selection of USC for two other major research institutes:
  
  The Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering is a $100-million center dedicated to the development of medical devices to improve human health and well-being.
  
  The Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) is a partnership of the U.S. Army, education, and the entertainment and computer industries to develop new media to improve the nation's learning abilities and training programs.