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USC Libraries Research Award

This LibGuide provides information about the USC Libraries Research Award. It includes submission guidelines, requirements, previous award winners and jury members, as well as additional information about primary source materials at USC.

Award Winners

Winners of the 2025 Research Award

 

Undergraduate Awards

3rd Prize ($150 each)
Jordan Ferdman
“Better Dead Than Coed”: Turning Back to Coeducation’s Early Implementations to Look Forward

Parenda Foroghi
Deepfake and Gender Representation in Media
 

2nd Prize ($300 each)
Alexis Mesa
Postpartum Nightmares: Jewish Motherhood as a Source of Oppression and Defiance Under Nazi Persecution

Isabel Jansen-Montoya
Out of the Closet: National Expansion and Queer Identity in Community Based Organizations During the AIDS Crisis
 

Victor Zhang
Beyond the Ghetto: Jewish Refugees in Interior China During World War II
 

1st Prize ($500)
Hudson Bishop Fey
Disaster’s Silver Linings: Mineral King, Community, and Environmental Justice
 

Graduate Awards

2nd Prize ($300)
Misha Kouzeh
Closing the Gender Divide: How Social Status, Connections, Media, and Culture Relate to Public Attitudes toward Female Social Entrepreneurs
 

1st Prize ($500)
Xiangyi Hou
Becoming the King of Japan—Diplomatics Between Japan and other East Asian States, 1268–1368

 

You can see all previous award winners here. 

Previous Jury Members

Jury Members Research Award 2020

USC Libraries faculty and staff Anthony Anderson, Amy Chatfield, Lisa Marie Crow, Nora DeVita, Elizabeth Galoozis, Sandra Garcia-Myers, Samir Ghosh, Cari Kaurloto, Eddie Loh, Sophie Lesinska, Sue Luftschein, Suzi Noruschat, Michael Oliveira, Bree Russell, Linda Truong, Michaela Ullmann, and Ruth Wallach; Jennifer Sopchockchai Bankard of the USC Dornsife Writing Program, Joan Flores-Villalobos of the USC Dornsife History Department, Carmen Lee of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Cory Nelson of the USC Dornsife Writing Program and the Writing Center, and Ashley Uyeshiro of the USC Chan Division of Occupational Therapy; along with last year’s student winners Matthew Tomazic and Michael Anthony Turcios.

 

Jury Members Research Award 2019

Undergraduate Student Papers

Special Jury French language:
Danielle Mihram & Olivia Harrisson

General Jury undergraduate students: 

Alyssa Elaine Brissett, Suzanne Noruschat, Eddie Loh, Nikhil Vettikattu (student winner 2018), Tang Li, Andy Rutkowski, Prof. Lindsay O’Neill, Griffin Williams (student winner 2018), Javier Sepulveda Garibay, Melissa Miller, Annie Ly (student winner 2018), Tyson Gaskill, Prof. Christopher Smith  

 

Graduate Student Papers

Jury graduate student papers:

Sue Luftschein, Anthony Anderson, Stacy Williams, Darshana Mini (2018 Graduate student winner), Alyssa Elaine Brissett, Suzanne Noruschat, Eddie Loh, Nikhil Vettikattu (student winner 2018)

 

2017 Research Award Jury:

  • Jose Alaras, student, biochemistry major  (2016 Research Award winner)

  • Rebecca Corbett, Japanese Studies Librarian, USC Libraries

  • Elizabeth Galoozis, Head of Information Literacy, USC Libraries (lead)

  • Karin Huebner, Director of Programs, Harman Academy for Polymathic Study

  • Kevin Klipfel, Instructional Design & Assessment Librarian, USC Libraries

  • Sue Luftschein, Head of Special Collections, USC Libraries

  • Danielle Mihram, Reference and Instruction Librarian, USC Libraries

  • Darshana Mini, Ph.D. student, School of Cinematic Arts (2016 Research Award winner)

  • Suzi Noruschat, Southern California Studies Specialist, USC Libraries

  • Andrea Parra, Associate Professor (Teaching) of Spanish

  • Eimmy Solis, Social Sciences Data Librarian, USC Libraries

  • Shalini Ramachandran, Science and Engineering Librarian, USC Libraries
     

2016 Research Award Jury for undergraduate student papers:

  • Sean Nye, Assistant Professor for Practice in Musicology

  • Emily Hodgkins, USC History, 2016 & 2015 USC Libraries Research Award winner

  • Melanee Vicedo, Head, Education and Social Work Library Services

  • Andrew Justice, Head, Music Library

Special jury for Spanish-language papers:

  • Liana Stepanyan, Associate Professor, Spanish & Portuguese, Dornsife College

  • ​Maria Mercedes Fages Agudo,Senior Lecturer, Spanish & Portuguese, Dornsife College
     

 2016 Research Award Jury for graduate student papers:

  • Kristin Diehl, Associate Professor of Marketing

  • Helga Haraldsson, Head, Business and Accounting Libraries

  • Sue Luftschein, Head, Special Collections
     

2015 Research Award Jury:

  • Carolyn Caffrey Gardner (USC Libraries)

  • Jack Merritt (1st place undergraduate student winner 2014)

  • ​Rotem Gilbert (USC Thornton Music School)

  • Natalie Dame (1st place graduate student winner 2014)

  • Elizabeth Galoozis (USC Libraries)

  • Michaela Ullmman (USC Libraries) (ex officio)

  • Sue Luftschein (USC Libraries) (ex officio)

 

2014 Research Award Jury:

  • Nitya Ramanathan, 1st Place Winner, USC Libraries Research Award 2013

  • Glenda Goodman, Postdoctoral Fellow, History Department

  • Gian-Maria Annovi, Assistant Professor of French & Italian

  • Elizabeth Namei, Assistant University Librarian and Reference and Instruction Librarian

2013 Research Award Jury Members:

  • Leo Braudy, University Professor and Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature and Professor of English and History

  • Tyler Cundiff, USC Sophomore, Political Science, Communication, Human Rights

  • Joseph Hawkins, Director, ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

  • Lindsay O'Neill, Lecturer, USC Dornsife, Department of History