27 minute read
HOW OUR SENSES WORK
How Many Senses Do We Have?
If we think of our senses as limited to only five, we might be missing out.
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By Margaret Crable
While the notion that people have five basic human senses is often considered a universal truth and can be traced back to Aristotle’s De Anima (On the Soul), many philosophers and neuroscientists are now debating whether we may have anywhere from 22 to 33 different senses.
Among these lesser-known senses are equilibrioception, which is associated with our sense of balance; proprioception, which enables us to know which parts of our bodies are where without looking; and chronoception, how we sense the passing of time.
And that’s just humans. “There are senses that other species have that we don’t, like directional senses and magnetic senses,” says Tok Thompson, professor (teaching) of anthropology. Iron oxide in the abdomen of honey bees, for example, can detect changes in the Earth’s magnetic field that enable them to navigate to their hive.
THE “X” SENSE Then there is the hotly debated existence of the so-called “sixth sense.”
“The ‘sixth sense’ usually refers to an ‘unknown’ sense, but now that we know there are more than five senses, the idea could perhaps be better thought of as the ‘x sense,’ where ‘x’ equals the unknown — whether some yet undiscovered natural sense, or something more along the lines of psychic abilities,” says Thompson.
In some Indian philosophies, the mind, or “manas,” itself is considered a sixth sense that coordinates the five primary senses with other mental faculties.
Western societies generally equate the sixth sense with extrasensory perception — something that in Celtic culture is traditionally known as “second sight.” Among the supposed powers of those with the gift was the ability to predict death, even seeing fish scales (implying a watery grave) appear on someone they sensed would drown soon.
Do a little online digging into the sixth sense and you will find myriad claims of life-changing premonitions that appear to defy the idea that our five senses are our only faculties of perception.
Among them is the inner voice that Wall Street executive Barrett Naylor claimed saved his life — twice. According to a 2009 book about premonitions by physician Larry Dossey, Naylor was heading to work at the World Trade Center on Feb. 26, 1993, when something told him not to go into the building. Later that day, it was bombed. That same instinct, Naylor claimed, also saved him from the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. But a belief in mystical, psychic abilities isn’t required to believe that our perceptions can extend beyond the physical senses.
“There are many layers to the mind,” says University Professor Antonio Damasio, professor of psychology, philosophy and neurology, and David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience. “Facts, actions, feelings — all those contents can be retrieved, but are not equally accessible. Some are essentially shrouded in darkness, making conscious access to them difficult.”
As a result, Damasio notes, our unconscious mind can suddenly provide us with an answer when we least expect it.
“Intuition is not a myth; it calls attention to the richness of our minds,” he says.
THE COLORS OF MY NUMBERS BY FELICIA TABING ASSISTED VISIONS Seeing what others don’t can sometimes require a catalyst. In many indigenous cultures, psychedelics are ingested to induce ecstatic experiences that bring revelations. The mushroom Psilocybe mexicana is regarded with such awe by Mexico’s indigenous communities that the Aztecs dubbed it “teonanacatl,” or “God’s Flesh.”
Visions, primarily those brought on by lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, have also been the focus of scientific study. A chemical compound accidentally invented by Swiss researcher Albert Hofmann in 1938, LSD induces powerful, emotional hallucinations.
Of course, LSD eventually found its way into the counterculture, and its ability to inspire visions of an interconnected world helped power the nascent environmental movement of the 1960s. However, the drug’s potent effects also triggered numerous tragic outcomes.
Researchers are now evaluating the potential for microdoses of other hallucinogenic substances such as psilocybin mushrooms to help people suffering from PTSD, depression and anxiety.
SEEING IS BELIEVING Not all visions require chemical prompting, however. Catholic saints who claimed to have striking visual or auditory hallucinations often lived piously in religious orders. Saint Catherine of Siena is said to have had her first visitation from Christ at the age of 5 or 6. Those in deep, meditative states sometimes tell of encounters with light beings or other strange, visual phenomena.
Nowadays we might assume that these sorts of visions, if not induced by mind-altering substances, are the product of a brain disorder like schizophrenia. But even in medieval times, the church questioned the authenticity of such visions and imposed strict rules to evaluate a vision’s legitimacy.
“This is well before psychiatry, of course, but people living during this era still recognized crazy when they saw it,” says Lisa Bitel, Dean’s Professor of Religion and professor of religion and history. “If someone was mentally ill, their visions would not be taken seriously. You had to be well-regarded in the community and whatever you saw had to be doctrinally correct. A claim that you saw the Virgin Mary riding in on [the medieval equivalent of] a celestial skateboard wouldn’t be taken seriously.”
For the devout, the modern argument that seeing angels is actually evidence of insanity, or at the very least the result of an overactive imagination, appears absurd. The devout believe that a person who has spiritual visions has gained special access to the truth, not lost their mind. “They would say that the enlightened person is actually seeing things as they really are,” says James McHugh, professor of religion.
Visions are still a regularly occurring phenomenon, despite our supposedly more rational approach to the world, says Bitel. Today’s reported sightings of UFOs, sometimes said to be inhabited by celestial beings bearing wise words, might just be the descendants of yesteryear’s angels.
“Cultural terms may have changed, but the apparitions go on,” she says. “The visions we hear about are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Painting By Numbers
For some people, like USC Dornsife mathematician Felicia Tabing, the senses pair up and produce inspired results.
This painting, titled The Colors of My Numbers, by USC Dornsife mathematician Felicia Tabing was inspired by her synesthesia, a neurological condition that enables her to see numbers as colors.
What color is Tuesday? What does purple smell like? Does the word “star” have a taste? These seem like absurd questions to most of us but for about 3% of the population, they make perfect sense.
That’s because about one in 2,000 people have synesthesia, a neurological condition in which sensory input creates unlikely reactions. Hearing music generates smells, seeing shapes may induce a taste. Or, as in the case of Felicia Tabing, a USC Dornsife lecturer in mathematics, numbers appear as a particular color. Neuroscientists still don’t know the exact cause of synesthesia.
Tabing only put a name to her unusual abilities a few years ago. “My husband was listening to a program on NPR about synesthesia and he asked me, ‘What color is three?’ and I said, ‘It’s pink,’ ” recalls Tabing. Before this exchange, she had assumed everyone saw numbers in distinct colors.
Tabing’s numerical rainbow inspires her artistically. She paints “geometric series,” sequences of mathematical fractions that can be visualized using boxes. She then colors the squares in shades evoked by the fractions. “For example, in the decimal for Pi, 3.14, three is pinkish, one is white and four is red. The number Pi is purplish,” she explains.
An artistic mathematician may seem unusual, but creativity and math are actually closely linked, Tabing says. Think of architecture, for instance. Perspective drawing, which deploys carefully measured grids to get angles correct, is another example. These sequences of boxes bear a considerable resemblance to Tabing’s geometric series.
Others may place a street scene over the top of their perspective grid. Tabing, however, will dab blue, lavender or yellow colors inside the boxes, depending on what the numbers tell her. —M.C.
USC Dornsife’s Center for Advanced Genocide Research is the only non-German partner in the #LastSeen project, the first major international initiative to search for and analyze forgotten images showing Nazi deportations during World War II. Here, two young Jewish girls await deportation from Munich to a Nazi-established ghetto in 1941. Their identity is unknown.
Bundled up against the winter chill, two little girls gaze out of the black-andwhite photograph. The younger child at right offers a rueful smile. But it is the solemn little girl on the left, wearing a fur scarf and hat, her mournful gaze directed straight at the camera, who holds our attention. Her beauty and sadness alone are enough to haunt our dreams. But when you add the Stars of David stitched to both children’s coats, branding them as Jewish under Nazi rule, and then note the photograph’s date — Nov. 11, 1941 — the image becomes unforgettable.
The two children shown in the photo, along with nearly 1,000 other German Jews, were deported from Munich on Nov. 20, 1941 — then murdered days later in Nazi-occupied Lithuania.
Through the study of more photographs depicting Nazi deportations, like this rare image — one of only a few hundred known to exist worldwide — participants in a groundbreaking new initiative hope to improve their understanding of these events and piece together the untold stories of both victims and perpetrators of the Holocaust. For assistance, they are turning to the public.
“Photographs of these tragic events are rare, but with the public’s help, we hope more, currently unknown, images will be discovered — not only in archives and museums, but also in private attics and basements,” says Wolf Gruner, founding director of the Center for Advanced Genocide Research (CAGR) at USC Dornsife, ShapellGuerin Chair in Jewish Studies and professor of history.
CAGR is currently the only institution outside Germany supporting the initiative #LastSeen — Pictures of Nazi Deportations, launched late last year. Funded by the German government, the goal of the project is to gather, analyze and digitally publish pictures of Nazi mass deportations of Jews, Romani people and people with disabilities from the German Reich between 1938 and 1945.
“Who knows how many photographs like the one of the two little girls above are lying forgotten in the homes of survivors and their descendants?” says Gruner. “As the only North American organization involved in the project, we need the English-speaking public’s help to search for these images, so we can analyze them to build a more detailed picture of what happened during Nazi deportations.” —S.B.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF MUNICH ARCHIVES
PHOTO BY MIKE GLIER
Faculty News
CHRISTOPHER BEAM, assistant professor of psychology and gerontology, won the Fuller and Scott Award from the Behavior Genetics Association — the highest honor given to a junior association member.
A paper by DANIELA BLEICHMAR, professor of art history and history, was elected as one of 12 preeminent articles published in the Renaissance Society of America’s commemorative 75th anniversary issue of Renaissance Quarterly.
ROBIN COSTE LEWIS, writer in residence, was named an inaugural Ford Foundation Scholar in Residence at The Museum of Modern Art.
JOAN FLORES-VILLALOBOS, assistant professor of history, was named a 2022 Career Enhancement Fellow by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.
LAURA MELISSA GUZMAN, Gabilan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Quantitative and Computational Biology, received a 2022 ASN Early Career Investigator Award from The American Society of Naturalists.
PIERRETTE HONDAGNEUSOTELO, Professor Emerita of Sociology, and MANUEL PASTOR, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity, and Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change, received a Robert E. Park Book Award honorable mention from the American Sociological Association Community and Urban Sociology Section for their book South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A. (NYU Press, 2021). SCOTT KANOSKI, associate professor of biological sciences, was elected 2023 President of the International Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior.
SMARANDA MARINESCU, associate professor of chemistry, received a Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, supporting her research aimed at achieving environmentally sustainable energy storage and production.
NATALIA MOLINA, Distinguished Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, was elected a member of the Society of American Historians.
ALAINA MORGAN, assistant professor of history, was named a Scholars-in-Residence Fellow by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
CHRISTIAN PHILLIPS, assistant professor of political science, received the 2022 APSA-IPSA Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award for Nowhere to Run: Race, Gender, and Immigration in American Elections (Oxford University Press, 2021) from the American Political Science Association and the International Political Science Association.
KAREN STERNHEIMER, professor (teaching) of sociology, received the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award from the American Sociological Association, recognizing her work as creator and founding editor of the Everyday Sociology blog, deemed “an individual project of outstanding impact on the teaching and learning of sociology.” KAREN TONGSON, professor of gender and sexuality studies, English and American studies and ethnicity, was named the 2023 Hunt-Simes Chair in Sexuality Studies by the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Center at the University of Sydney.
DAVID TREUER, professor of English, was awarded the Berlin Prize by the American Academy in Berlin. He will use the fellowship in Berlin to work on his book The Savage Mind, an autobiographical essay about the nature and culture of American violence.
WENDY WOOD, Professor Emerita of Psychology, was elected to serve as presidentelect of the Association for Psychological Science.
HAJAR YAZDIHA, assistant professor of sociology, was awarded a 2022 Ford Foundation Fellowship by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
Looking for Alumni News, Alumni Canon and Faculty Canon? They can now be found online at
dornsife.usc.edu/magazine-alumninews/ dornsife.usc.edu/alumni-canon/ dornsife.usc.edu/faculty-canon/
Submit your alumni news for consideration online at
dornsife.usc.edu/alumni-news. Information may be edited for space. HONORS
Prestigious Distinction
Sociologist Manuel Pastor named to American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Manuel Pastor, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity at USC Dornsife, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Founded in 1780, the academy convenes leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas and address pressing national and global issues.
Pastor, who holds the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change and is director of USC Dornsife’s Equity Research Institute, is the 27th faculty member at USC Dornsife to be elected.
He joins 260 accomplished individuals in the academy class of 2022, including such luminaries as authors Sandra Cisneros and Salman Rushdie, retired military leader and diplomat John R. Allen, singer-songwriter Buffy SainteMarie and actor Glenn Close.
An award-winning, nationally recognized scholar, Pastor studies issues surrounding the economic, environmental and social conditions that low-income urban communities face, as well as the social movements that aim to address and improve those conditions.
Pastor has authored and edited numerous books delving into socio-economic issues. His work led California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020 to appoint Pastor to the governor’s new Council of Economic Advisors, which aims “to keep California moving toward an economy that is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable.”
Pastor views election to the academy as a call for scholars — particularly those early in their careers — to bring their work to bear on societal challenges.
“In a world that faces multiple crises — climate change, widening inequality and the fragility of our multiracial democracy — we need more academics to enter what USC Dornsife has termed the ‘public square.’ Fortunately, this next generation of scholars wants to do exactly that,” he said. “This award — which notably was given in the category of public affairs — gives all of us both a permission slip and a mandate to make sure our work makes a difference.” —D.S.J.
ENTER THE USC DORNSIFE MAGAZINE CREATIVE WRITING CONTEST As an alumnus/alumna or student of USC Dornsife, you are invited to enter the USC Dornsife Magazine Creative Writing Contest. The winner will have their work published in USC Dornsife Magazine, which has won more than 45 awards for excellence and is distributed to 70,000 alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends of USC Dornsife.
Entries will be judged by Dana Johnson, professor of English and director of the USC Dornsife PhD Program in Creative Writing and Literature; David Ulin, professor of the practice of English, editor-in-chief of USC Dornsife’s literary magazine Air/Light, author and former book critic of the Los Angeles Times; and Susan Bell, editor-in-chief of USC Dornsife Magazine. Both Johnson and Ulin have served as judges for National Book Award and for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. In addition, Ulin has twice been a Pulitzer Prize judge and Johnson has served as a judge for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.
RULES: The contest is open to USC Dornsife alumni and students (undergraduates and graduates) — with the exception of published authors.
Deadline to submit entries is March 15, 2023.
You may enter creative writing in any of the following genres: fiction, poetry, memoir or essay.
All entries must be original, previously unpublished work.
Your entry must be inspired by the theme of the Spring / Summer 2023 issue of USC Dornsife Magazine — “Energy.”
Entries must not exceed 500 words.
We reserve the right to edit entries in consultation with the writer.
The winning entry will be published in the Spring / Summer 2023 issue of USC Dornsife Magazine, accompanied by a short bio of the author.
We may also publish the winning entry in our e-newsletters to students, faculty and staff and alumni and post it on the USC Dornsife website.
Good luck! We look forward to reading your entries. SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY BY SCANNING THE QR CODE or at dornsife.usc.edu/creative-writing-contest/ CONGRATULATIONS to the winner of the inaugural USC Dornsife Magazine Writing Contest — Tania Apshankar. A senior in creative writing who writes under the pen name Tanaayaa, her winning entry, “Waiting for Curry,” was the unanimous choice of the contest judges. Launched in August, the contest was open exclusively to USC Dornsife students. It attracted 28 entries from 18 students across a diverse range of majors. The brief was to write a maximum of 500 words inspired by the theme of this issue, “The Senses,” in any of the following genres: fiction, poetry, memoir or essay.
The judges were impressed by the high quality of work submitted. “These stellar entries to USC Dornsife Magazine’s first creative writing contest reveal the varied and impressive talent of our students, whose poetry and prose shines with beauty, humor and deep insight,” said Dana Johnson, one of the contest’s three judges.
WHAT THE JUDGES SAID ABOUT THE WINNER: “Filled with small moments observed by a young girl, this story reverberates with meaning and nuance and beautifully illuminates the small moments that change lives forever.”
DANA JOHNSON, professor of English and director of the USC Dornsife PhD Program in Creative Writing and Literature
DAVID ULIN, professor of the practice of English, editor-inchief of USC Dornsife’s literary magazine Air/Light
SUSAN BELL, editor-in-chief of USC Dornsife Magazine
To read the second and third place winners visit: dornsife.usc.edu/runners-up.
COMPOSITE BY LETTY AVILA/IMAGE SOURCE: ISTOCK APSHANKAR PHOTO COURTESY OF TANIA APSHANKAR
And the Winner Is …
Waiting for Curry
By Tanaayaa (Tania Apshankar)
Each strand of the basmati was long and thin. Nani sprinkled some salt, ruby pomegranates and coriander. Finally, she squeezed a lemon over it and the rice was the most fragrant dish I had ever known.
“Kadhi ke liye toh ruk.” Wait till you taste the curry. But all my attention was on the rice.
When I rubbed the grains between my fingers, a starchy web formed.
“Chakh le,” she probed. So I tried it, and it was more delicate than any other rice, as though each grain had been individually boiled in a special cooker the size of a fingernail. I smiled at the thought of a thousand tiny pressure cookers lining the counters of my grandmother’s kitchen.
Ma entered, elated to see her 7-year-old daughter taking an interest in cooking. She had worn her hair different, braided, with coconut oil keeping the stray strands in place. I was irritated that she had not braided my hair under the white tube light in the guest bedroom. I wanted her fingers on my scalp, smoothening the knots in my black strands. Here, in Nani’s house in India, she wouldn’t hug me the way she did in California. In India, she wore long “kurtas” — loose collarless tunics — the hollows under her eyes dark, scalp always smelling of coconuts and her skin of sweat. She asked me to help in the kitchen, and in the evenings, to play cricket with my cousins.
Ma announced to Nani, “Lawyer’s papers are in. We’ll ship the last boxes here soon.”
“What paper?” I asked, accusingly. I could sense that Ma was hiding from me, always texting on her phone in the dark when the lights were out. Pa had also disappeared during the vacation, without saying goodbye. My heart ached for him, the familiar woody cologne on my shirt after he hugged me, his mustache against my cheek.
“Nothing. Wash the other lemon.”
Sulking, I turned my back to them as they moved to the living room, talking in hushed voices. My heart beat fast as I strained to eavesdrop. Under the faucet, a strong lemon scent released into the summer air thick with humidity. I rubbed at the slimy peel that gave way to a roughness.
They returned to the kitchen with the “chum-chum” of Nani’s anklets in every footstep. “Can I eat the rice?”
“Curry isn’t ready,” Nani said.
I hovered, inhaling the rice aroma that was slowly disappearing into the room. It was the longest wait, the curry bubbling to my side, hot droplets flying towards the ceiling spotted with brown stains. I turned to see Ma’s fallen face, wet streaks marking her brown cheeks.
“Kha le,” Nani said tenderly. Go eat.
Ma bent down to wrap her arms around me, squeezing tight, spreading her warmth over my back.
I put the rice in my mouth, the acidity blending with juicy pomegranates, coconut flakes in the curry, tangy “kokam” spice and a soft bark of cinnamon. Eyes closed, my tongue warm and a little sweet. Tania Apshankar (Tanaayaa), a senior majoring in creative
writing, grew up in India and California. Hours spent helping her grandmother prepare food in her kitchen in India inspired her winning entry, “Waiting for Curry.” Apshankar’s interest in learning languages blossomed when she took her first Spanish class during her freshman year at USC Dornsife. She now speaks four languages and is currently learning a fifth. Her love of languages also inspired her to help start Trojan Bloom, USC’s only multilingual journal. Launched in Spring 2022 and featuring undergraduates’ writing in 15+ languages, it is published online by USC Dornsife’s Center for Languages and Cultures. Apshankar serves as editor-in-chief. A strong believer in giving back, Apshankar joined the Joint Educational Project (JEP) as a tutor in its ReadersPlus literacy program in her first semester at USC Dornsife. She now supervises a team of tutors at Vermont Avenue Elementary, a member of the USC Family of Schools served by JEP. Apshankar says her goals are to write and to increase access for aspiring writers in under-resourced spaces. —S.B.
USC DORNSIFE SCHOLARS IN THE MEDIA
COSMOS
JOHN VIDALE, Dean’s Professor of Earth Sciences, in a June 11 story on his new research that finds Earth’s core travels more slowly than the outer surface and changes direction.
SMITHSONIAN
ALICE BAUMGARTNER, assistant professor of history, in a July/August story about enslaved people who fled the United States for freedom in Mexico prior to the Civil War.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
University Professor DAVID ST. JOHN, professor of English and comparative literature, in a July 12 story about the new poet laureate of the United States, Ada Limón.
AXIOS
ROBERT METCALFE, associate professor of economics, in a July 22 article regarding his new research, which found that shoppers who use Amazon more frequently were more likely to be affected by phony ratings. LOS ANGELES TIMES
LANITA JACOBS, associate professor of American studies and ethnicity, and anthropology, in a Nov. 1 article regarding a new film about Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
TOK THOMPSON, professor (teaching) of anthropology, in a Oct. 23 article regarding the pre-Christian realm of the dead, known as the Otherworld.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES
ANN CRIGLER, professor of political science and policy, planning and development, in an Oct. 23 story regarding the U.S. midterm elections and election deniers.
U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
DAVID RAICHLEN, professor of biological sciences and anthropology, in an Aug. 23 article about his new research on the value to older adults of exercising their bodies and minds to decrease the risk of dementia.
VIDALE ILLUSTRATION BY EDWARD SOTELO;LIMÓN PHOTO BY SHAWN MILLER/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; TILL PHOTO SOURCE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; OTHER IMAGES: ISTOCK THOMPSON PHOTO BY PETER ZHAOYU ZHOU; BIEDERMAN PHOTO BY PHIL CHANNING; FURTH PHOTO BY IRENE FERTIK REMEMBERING
Globe-trotting physicist RICHARD “DICK” THOMPSON, Associate Professor Emeritus of Physics and Astronomy, worked at research labs in France, the Soviet Union and Germany before joining USC Dornsife in 1970. At USC, he served as director of graduate studies in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, becoming a beloved mentor and colleague in the ensuing five decades before his death on Oct. 7 at age 83.
“Dick was thoughtful and sincere, bringing a lot of compassion and warmth, especially towards graduate students from abroad who had to undergo hardships to get here,” said Stephan Haas, chair and professor of physics and astronomy.
Born in Hobbs, New Mexico, Thompson earned his PhD at Harvard in 1966.
At USC Dornsife, he specialized in research on superconductors — materials that show no electrical resistance when cooled to extremely low temperatures. His focus on changes in electrical conductivity that occurred as a result of fluctuations in temperature led to his bestknown contribution to the field — the Maki-Thompson effect. This arises from important fluctuations in electron transport that occur in superconductors when they are close to their critical transition temperature. —M.M.
A Voracious Seeker of Knowledge
Neuroscientist Irving Biederman explored the brain’s role in vision.
Driven by an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, neuroscientist Irving Biederman, Harold Dornsife Chair in Neurosciences and professor of psychology and computer sciences, forged a career spanning nearly six decades. Biederman died on Aug. 17. He was 83.
Biederman, a Brooklyn native, was regarded as a giant in the field of the brain’s role in vision, including shape, object, and scene and face recognition.
“He was very much driven by the seeking of truth and knowledge and how to see the big picture,” said Laura Baker, professor of psychology. Describing him as “a force, a powerhouse,” Baker said Biederman “was probably one of our most illustrious faculty members at USC.”
Biederman joined USC Dornsife in 1991. As director of the Image Understanding Lab, Biederman concentrated on how a scene, object or face can be recognized in a fraction of a second — even if an image had never been encountered before. He and his lab colleagues also probed the neural basis of perceptual and cognitive pleasure, based on a gradient of opioid receptors in the same pathway by which image understanding is achieved.
“He was someone who loved biology, science and psychology. He was a real intellectual and a good scientist and very productive,” said Gerald Davison, professor of psychology and gerontology. “He added luster to our department and to the entire university.”
Biederman was a beloved mentor to countless students and postdoctoral researchers, many of whom are now prominent scholars around the world.
In 2019, on his 80th birthday, Biederman’s former students held an “Irv-fest” in his honor at USC. One former student came all the way from Germany and another from Israel.
“That speaks a lot about how much Irv was admired and respected,” said Antoine Bechara, chair and professor of psychology. —G.H.
CHARLOTTE FURTH, Professor Emerita of History died on June 19. She was 88.
During her 30-year career at USC Dornsife, Furth’s achievements included a groundbreaking book on the history of Chinese women’s reproductive care, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History 960-1665 (University of California Press, 1999). Born Charlotte Davis in Charlottesville, Virginia, she met her future husband, Montgomery Furth, in New York when both were in third grade.
In 1981, Furth was one of the first scholars to enter China on a Fulbright Scholarship once the program resumed following its disbandment after the 1949 communist revolution.
Furth later recorded her experiences in a memoir, Opening to China: A Memoir of Normalization, 1981-1982 (Cambria Press, 2017).
Furth was an accomplished teacher, helping develop the doctoral program in Chinese history at USC Dornsife and mentoring PhD students.
In 2012, she was honored with the Association of Asian Studies Award for Distinguished Contributions to Asian Studies. She retired in 2018.
Furth is warmly remembered as a generous colleague, mentor and friend.
“She was so smart; every conversation was stimulating and challenging,” said Brett Sheehan, professor of history and East Asian languages and cultures. “Talking with her always gave you an electric charge.” —M.C.
USC DORNSIFE ALUMNI FIGHT ON! AT INAUGURAL HOMECOMING PICNIC The sense of excitement was palpable as more than 400 alumni, family and friends attended USC Dornsife’s first-ever Homecoming Picnic on Saturday, Nov. 5 — shortly before the Trojans triumphed 41-35 over the Cal Bears at the Coliseum.
HOMECOMING PICNIC PHOTOS BY ILIANA GARCIA; ONCE SEEN, NEVER FORGOTTEN PHOTO BY CHRIS SHINN
ONCE SEEN, NEVER FORGOTTEN Affectionately dubbed “The Cheese Grater” for its unusual facade, the USC Ahmanson Center for Biological Research on USC’s University Park Campus was designed in 1964 by renowned Los Angeles-based architect William Pereira. His unmistakable architectural style, influenced by his love of science fiction, helped define the look of mid-20th century America.
University of Southern California SCT-2400 Los Angeles, California 90089
Life Moment
A red-tailed hawk finds a nighttime perch atop the graceful statue of Hecuba that rises 20-feet-high above the Central Piazza of USC Village.
University of Southern California
TÊTE-À-TÊTE
