The Office of the Vice President for Research is pleased to announce the 2025 ASPIRE and ASPIRE AI funding recipients.
The Advanced Support for Innovative Research Excellence (ASPIRE) Program is one of the university's primary internal funding mechanisms to support research by USC faculty at all levels, across all campuses. The 2025 funding cycle emphasizes support for early-career faculty who intend to pursue subsequent extramural funding. This year, ASPIRE will support 27 scholarly projects by faculty members.
This year, the Office of the Vice President for Research will also fund the inaugural cohort of Advanced Support for Innovative Research Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (ASPIRE AI) Program awardees. ASPIRE AI was created to expand the reach of the ASPIRE program to include research projects focused specifically on artificial intelligence. Like ASPIRE, ASPIRE AI especially targets those faculty members intending to pursue extramural funding, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary teams combining AI expertise with domain knowledge. This year, ASPIRE AI will support scholarly projects by 23 faculty members and 3 faculty teams.
"We are excited to launch the inaugural ASPIRE AI cohort, which reflects the Vice President for Research's commitment to supporting innovative, interdisciplinary research that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence," says Associate Vice President for Research Development Emily Devereux. "By investing in these forward-thinking projects, we are positioning our institution at the forefront of AI-driven discovery across disciplines.”
Please join us in congratulating the 2025 ASPIRE and ASPIRE AI funding recipients!
2025 ASPIRE Recipients
| Name | Department | College |
|---|---|---|
| Meisam Arjmandi | Communication Sciences & Disorders | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Pieter Baker | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Kyndall Braumuller | Epidemiology & Biostatistics | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Jeanne Britton | Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections | University Libraries |
| Mitchel Colebank | Mathematics | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Molly Dawes | Educational & Developmental Science | College of Education |
| Rebecca Entress | Political Science | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| T. Chase Francis | Drug Discovery & Biomedical Sciences | College of Pharmacy |
| Yanzhou Fu | Mechanical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| David Fuente | School of Earth, Ocean & Environment | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Nada Goodrum | Psychology | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Seyyedamirhossein Hosseini | Chemistry & Biochemistry | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Christian Johnson | Chemistry & Biochemistry | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Andrew Kaczynski | Health Promotion, Education & Behavior | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Ting Fung Ma | Statistics | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Alexander Monin | Physics & Astronomy | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Alessandra Porcu | Drug Discovery & Biomedical Sciences | College of Pharmacy |
| Shan Qiao | Health Promotion, Education & Behavior | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Katherine Ryker | School of Earth, Ocean & Environment | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Caroline Sawyer | Communication Studies | USC Beaufort |
| Nader Taheri-Qazvini | Chemical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Nicholas Truex | Chemistry & Biochemistry | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Eric Vejerano | Environmental Health Sciences | Arnold School of Public Health |
| Peter Vento | Psychology | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Michael Wirth | Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science | College of Nursing |
| Mingli Xu | Biological Sciences | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Caizhi Zhou | Mechanical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
2025 ASPIRE AI Recipients
| Name | Department | College |
|---|---|---|
| Forest Agostinelli | Computer Science & Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Ali Brian | Educational & Developmental Science | College of Education |
| Mathieu Deflem | Sociology | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Jeffry Dudycha | Biological Sciences | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Carmen Farrell | Psychology | USC Beaufort |
| Yanzhou Fu | Mechanical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Shamia Hoque | Civil & Environmental Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Jianjun Hu | Computer Science & Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Juan Leon Oyola | Drug Discovery & Biomedical Sciences | College of Pharmacy |
| Kelan Lu | Political Science | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Kevin Lu | Clinical Pharmacy and Outcomes Sciences | College of Pharmacy |
| Krishna Mandal | Electrical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Campbell McInnes | Drug Discovery & Biomedical Sciences | College of Pharmacy |
| Joseph McQuail | Pharmacology, Physiology & Neuroscience | School of Medicine Columbia |
| Alexander Monin | Physics & Astronomy | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Eric Montie | Biology | USC Beaufort |
| Melissa Moss | Chemical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Biplav Srivastava | Computer Science & Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Vandana Srivastava | Digital Research Services | University Libraries |
| Nader Taheri-Qazvini | Chemical Engineering | Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing |
| Hengtao Tang | Leadership, Learning Design, & Inquiry | College of Education |
| Paula Vasquez | Mathematics | McCausland College of Arts and Sciences |
| Xuewen Wang | Exercise Science | Arnold School of Public Health |
Propel AI teams receiving ASPIRE AI funding
The inaugural Propel AI cohort funded three interdisciplinary research seed projects to advance innovative applications of artificial intelligence.
- Propel AI Team One:
- Michael Gavin, English Language and Literature, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences
- Jung-Hwan Kim, Retailing, College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management
- Drew Martin, Tourism Marketing, College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management
- Hengtao Tang; Leadership, Learning Design and Inquiry; College of Education
- Propel AI Team Two:
- Ahmed Alshareef, Mechanical Engineering, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing
- Ann Blair Kennedy, Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine Greenville
- Mercy Namateng, Student, College of Social Work
- Thien Nguyen, Student, School of Medicine Greenville
- Nader Taheri-Qazvini, Chemical Engineering, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing
- Propel AI Team Three:
- George Khushf, Philosophy, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences
- Ayse Ozturk, Marketing, Darla Moore School of Business
- Yanjiao Yi, Chemical Engineering, Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing
5 June 2025