The Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
20th Naming Anniversary Celebration
Research Festival & Alumni Symposium
October 22nd & 23rd, 2026
Celebrate 20 Years of Innovation. Shape What's Next.
Join us for the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's 20th Naming Anniversary & Research Festival, a two-day event celebrating two decades of pioneering research, transformative partnerships, and the people who have shaped the department's extraordinary legacy. Bringing together faculty, students, alumni, industry leaders, and community, the festival highlights groundbreaking research spanning artificial intelligence, robotics, quantum technologies, communications, computing, semiconductors, and more.
Throughout the festival, attendees will experience research presentations, poster sessions, technical demonstrations, networking opportunities, and special anniversary programming designed to spark new ideas and strengthen connections across academia and industry. Whether you're returning to campus, recruiting future engineers, discovering new research, reconnecting with colleagues, or celebrating this milestone with us, we invite you to be part of this landmark event.
We will honor our inaugural Ming Hsieh ECE Changemakers, in recognition of USC ECE alumni whose work has transformed a field, industry, technology, company, or community. Nominations are now open.
Event Components
- State of the ECE Department
- Faculty Research Highlights
- Alumni Lightning Talks
- Alumni Industry Panels
- Lab Open Houses and Demos
- Alumni-led Master Classes
- Faculty-led Master Classes
- Student Research Posters and Demos
- Alumni-Student Recruitment and Mentoring Lunch
- Alumni-led Round Table Discussions
- Receptions and Dinner
Featured Speakers & Panelists
Diana Marculescu
Department Chair and Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
Steven P. DenBaars
Distinguished Professor of Materials and Electrical & Computer Engineering, UC Santa Barbara
Fan Bai
Technical Fellow and Lab Group Manager, General Motors
Rachel Morford
General Manager, Space Based Sensing, The Aerospace Corporation
Firooz Aflatouni
Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania
Kyung Sung
Professor of Radiological Sciences, Bioengineering, and Physics & Biology in Medicine, UCLA
Mi Zhang
Associate Professor, The Ohio State University
Louis Blankemeier
Co-Founder and CEO, Cognita
Prathamesh Khedekar
Souvik Kundu
Senior Staff Research Scientist, Intel Labs
Daniel Wong
Associate Professor, University of California, Riverside
Hyeran Jeon
Associate Professor, University of California, Merced
Sunil Bharitkar
Director (Research), Samsung Research America
Chang Xu
CPU RTL Engineer, Apple
Alumni
Welcome Back to Campus!
Explore research showcases featuring emerging technologies, reconnect with classmates and faculty, and meet students tackling tomorrow's engineering challenges. Along the way, share your own journey, explore research collaborations, and discover opportunities to mentor students, recruit talent, or strengthen your organization's connection to USC.
Industry
Discover Research Ready for Real-World Impact.
Meet faculty advancing breakthrough research, explore technologies with commercial potential, and connect directly with graduate and undergraduate researchers working on today's most pressing engineering challenges. Through demonstrations, poster sessions, and networking events, you'll discover opportunities for collaboration, technology translation, and strategic partnerships.
Faculty
Connect Across Disciplines.
The festival brings together faculty and researchers from across USC Viterbi to share ideas, discover complementary expertise, and build new interdisciplinary collaborations. As engineering challenges grow more complex, innovation depends on connecting diverse perspectives—and the festival provides the ideal setting to make those connections.
Student Presenters
Present Your Research to Leaders in Engineering.
Gain experience communicating your research to both technical and non-technical audiences, receive valuable feedback, and expand your professional network. Showcase your work to organizations interested in research collaboration, graduate education, internships, and future hiring.
Sponsorship
Partner With Us!
Sponsors play an important role in creating an engaging experience for attendees while supporting opportunities for collaboration among faculty, students, alumni, and industry leaders. Your partnership demonstrates a shared commitment to advancing research, fostering innovation, and preparing the next generation of engineers.
To learn more about sponsorship opportunities or become a sponsor, please contact Cathy Huang at chiachih@usc.edu.
Calling all USC ECE alumni! Below are some ways for you to stay connected to our department:
