Student Organization Professional Events

Viterbi student organizations play a pivotal role in your professional development and networking opportunities. Check out some of their past events and connect with them for future involvement!

Grad Panel

For our first event, we hosted a discussion event with a panel of grad students and alumni from USC. The panel took place on November 14th, 2016, and we had around 10 attendees, with about 80% of them AAEES members. We invited Kevin Gibson, who works for LA Metro on the subway system extensions; Rebecca Peers, who is a third year PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering; Dr. Eric T. Watson, who is a Postdoctoral Scholar at USC working in the Marine and Environmental Biology division; and Luyue Zhang, who works in the Groundwater Permitting Unit for the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. These panelists discussed their career paths and answered questions presented by attendees. Through this event, students learned about the different career paths available to them after their undergraduate studies.

LPA Resume Workshop

We co-hosted a resume workshop with American Society of Civil Engineers on January 17th. The workshop was organized by Lilian Barajas, who invited representatives from LPA, Inc. to have office hours to review student resumes and to give career advice. Due to the nature of this event, it is hard to obtain the exact number of attendees; however, we estimate that at least five AAEES members attended this event.

ACT Enviro CEO Guest Speaker

On February 21, 2017, CEO of ACT Enviro Walter Singer spoke to AAEES members. During this event, CEO of ACT Enviro Walter Singer spoke about his time at USC, his career path, and gave tips about how to navigate the professional world. Mr. Singer is an alumni of USC and is active in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This event was marketed via the AAEES facebook page, physical flyers posted around campus, and word of mouth at AAEES meetings. 100% of the event attendees were from AAEES with the total number of attendees making up 20% of the total number of AAEES members. The speaking event was sponsored by the Environmental Student Assembly (ESA), which provided food from Azla, an ethiopian vegan restaurant.

Signature Speaker Series #1 – Dr. Geoff Spedding

The event was a lecture by Dr. Spedding, Chair of the AME department. The event was a lecture style format during which Dr. Spedding overviewed the department, the research he was involved in, and the progress that was being made towards supporting new projects.

Professional Development Workshop – Resume Reviews

SpaceX Factory Tour

The event was a factory tour of SpaceX’s facilities in Hawthorne, CA. The tour included the entire factory floor, as well as the workstations that engineering and non-technical personnel conducted their day to day business. The tour was sponsored by two USC alums, one a graduate of Viterbi, another a graduate of Marshall. The tour also involved speaking with the USC Alum sponsors of the event about the career opportunities for internship, coop, and entry level positions within SpaceX.

AIChE at USC’s inaugural Career Fair

AIChE at USC’s inaugural Career Fair was our most successful event to date. Over the summer, we decided to launch USC’s first ever Chemical Engineering-only Career Fair. We attracted nine, paying, companies as well as over 200 students. Feedback from the event was overall positive from both companies, members, and students. The Mork Department has pledged to help us make next year’s career fair even more successful by helping us recruit companies through their vast network and helping us with their many resources. This event served also has a fundraisers to help us plan more events for the year and reach out to even more students.

FM Global Information Session

This event was aimed at those wishing to learn more about the insurance industry with respect to chemical engineering as well as those wishing to network with FM Global

AIChE National Conference

Every year, using funds from USG, the Mork Department of Chemical Engineering, Viterbi, and Chevron, our chapter sends 10 to 15 students to the national conference. This conference is a great opportunity for chemical engineers to find out more about the various industries and professions associated with their fields, to network with fellow classmates, professors and professional, and to discover the research happening in the field. This year, the conference was hosted in San Francisco. Due to its proximity compared to previous years we set out to send the most students to the conference. We funded 29 students to attend.

Fall Social

ASME hosted a Fall Social Night where we provided pastries, refreshments as well as a raffle. This event allowed for students to further expand their network and get to know other Mechanical Engineers in the community. The target audience was the general Viterbi student body, with focus on the Mechanical Engineering department. About 22 undergraduate students attended, of which 10 were active members of ASME. This was funded entirely by ASME.

CMAA Symposium 2016

The USC chapter of the Construction Management Association of America organization organizes an annual Symposium event designed to bring together professionals and students to discuss topics relevant to the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industries. Event speakers are political and industry leaders, with past speakers including Debora Flint, Frank Gehry, Art Leahy, and Norman Mineta. The Symposium was held on the evening of November 3rd, 2016 at Town and Gown on the USC campus. This year’s event focused on the booming industry of Healthcare Construction, and was the third year of a five-year series exploring Mega-Projects in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. CMAA was pleased to have Lloyd Silverstein, Director of USC Capital Construction, give a presentation on USC’s expansion in this industry and long-term development plans. After this, there was a Panel Discussion featuring Ivan Caso, Director of Southern California Construction Management for Kaiser Permanente National Facilities Services; Sean Collins, Director of Facilities Planning, Design, and Construction for Cedars- Sinai Medical Center and Health Services; and Edward Avila, Principal at HMC Architects with extensive experience in healthcare project management. Beyond the educational insight provided during the event, the Symposium serves as the fundraising staple for USC CMAA. The Symposium supports not only CMAA activities but direct student scholarships – this year, five CMAA student members were awarded scholarships totaling $15,000 funded entirely through the Symposium. The attendance at this year’s event brought together about 75 students representing diverse programs at USC, including Civil Engineering, Architecture, Construction Management, Public Planning, and Diplomacy and over 200 industry professionals from over 20 sponsoring, providing valuable
professional development opportunities to students.

Rising CM Conference

CMAA National hosts the CM Conference for industry professionals in a different city each year. About five years ago they decided to create a “Rising CM Conference” which is targeted for students, undergraduate and graduate, as well as anyone starting off in the construction industry. Ever since, USC CMAA has been supporting the event by sending a couple of selected students, around 5-10, to attend the conference and gain valuable knowledge. Interested students are encouraged to fill out a questionnaire and then the executive board selects the most promising students to attend. This year the conference was held in San Diego, CA, and we sent a total of 10 students. The conference takes place over a weekend, Saturday and Sunday, and multiple speakers present providing their insight of the construction industry. The event is also an excellent place to network and meet other rising construction managers because in a couple of years we will all be working together in the same industry.

Information Sessions

We have also had companies host breakfasts in Kaprielian Hall, mock interviews, resume reviews, as well as a “personality assessment test” for all of our students competing in the SPARKS competition as their way of getting to know students. We have hosted over 15 companies this year and are proud that many of our students are able to get internship and full-time opportunities from these events. Some of the companies we have hosted are: Swinerton Builders, Hensel Phelps, Westfield, Turner Construction, ISEC, Morely Builders, DPR Construction, Webcor Builders, Lend Lease, Hill International, Whiting-Turner, and many more.

SPAC Networking Dinner

The Student Professional Awareness Conference (S-PAC) is IEEE@USC’s signature event in which undergraduate and graduate students with a primarily electrical engineering background have an opportunity to network with companies over a free 3-course dinner at the Radisson Hotel Ballroom. The students were able to interact and network with companies that included Accenture, Boeing, CIA, JPL, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Sandisk and more. The event also included a talk from Professor Bhaskar Krishnamachari, who is the Co-Director of the Ming Hsieh Institute and the Popular Science’s Brilliant 10.

Rising Stars Conference

Sent 6 IEEE Student Members from USC to the Rising Stars Conference in January to learn about professional development and leadership. It will give students the opportunity to network with IEEE leadership and students around the region. This year, after attending the conference, we learned about the resources student branches could use for website hosting from the IEEE Region 6 Webmaster. Returning, IEEE@USC updated its website and used the platform provided by IEEE. We also learnt more career opportunities and got connected with those companies, including hyperloop one, hp, Made in Space and so on. Returning we bring all those career resources to USC students via holding info session and network conference.

NSBE, EMSA, and IEEE Microsoft Leadership Guest Lecture

USC NSBE, EMSA, and IEEE hosted the head of new product introduction and supply chain management at Microsoft, Zohreh Khademi. She gave a guest lecture on leadership and technology management for people interested in hardware development and improving their leadership skills. Students came prepared with their resumes in hand hoping to be hired for fall 2016 full time positions or summer 2017 internships.

KPMG SAP Technology Consulting Info Session

Info session about potential job opportunity (internship/ full time) in technology consulting (SAP) at KPMG

USC IISE Disney Info Session

Presentation about Industrial Engineering at Disney Resorts and info about internship/ full time applications

NSBE, EMSA, and IEEE Microsoft Leadership Guest Lecture

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems Plant Tour

Demo Night

Demo Night brings our friends from the Los Angeles community, prospective members from USC, alumni members,
USC faculty / staff, and current members. Each team pitches their idea to venture capitalists, the Los Angeles Community, and our USC friends at Demo Night, in an effort to get funding for their startups. Teams also have their first version of their product developed and ready to demo to our guests. Demo Night yields 350-400 attendees and is held in the TCC Ballroom. 20% of the attendees are current members. 50%+ of members are in attendance.

Medical Device Design Process Guest Lecture

Dr. Gerald Loeb, who is a member of BME faculty and the director of the Medical Device Development Facility, was
invited to give a guest lecture on the medical device development process, followed by a question and answer session.

Medical Device Customer Discovery Guest Lecture

Dr. George Tolomiczenko, the director of the Health, Technology, and Engineering program at USC was invited to
give a guest lecture on the medical device customer discovery process. The lecture was followed by a mock customer interview.

Goldman Sachs Financial Literacy Event

“NSBE had an event with Goldman Sachs and an employee from their finance team. Students were able to hear firsthand about the role of the Goldman Sachs employee, Goldman Sachs as a company itself, and the opportunities available for them. Students also learned about internship opportunities and had an opportunity to network.”

Boeing Meeting

“NSBE had Boeing employees come and speak at a general body meeting. Students and members were able to hear about the opportunities available at Boeing and the best ways to pursue those opportunities, as well as network with the employees. Students were also able to ask the employees any questions they had about their role at Boeing, and Boeing itself, in a more intimate setting compared to the larger Q&A open to all of Viterbi.”

Fall Regional Conference

The 2016 Fall Regional Conference was held in Denver, Colorado at the Westin Hotel. The conference featured a career fair consisting of 35 companies, General Conference with workshops; general sessions and entertainment; a Pre-College Initiative Conference, (for high school and middle school students), featuring a science fair, competitions, group projects, and workshops; and a Professional Development Conference, (for technical professionals), featuring networking sessions, career fair, professional development workshops, and entertainment. The entire event was well organized and there was a good total outcome for the event.

FSAE Lincoln Design Presentation

The design presentation is one of the most important events at our annual competition, Formula SAE Lincoln. This event requires our team to present our completed vehicle to industry experts from the Society of Automotive Engineers. This event is performed by team leads from each of our four subteams and tests our knowledge of exactly how the components were designed and why we designed them as such. This event makes up 15% of our total competition score.

Presentation to Northrop Grumman

We were able to present to Northrop Grumman and show how their support of Viterbi allows our team to succeed. We covered the basics of our team, how their funding helps us each year, and the future direction of our team.

Mooney

USC Racing Sponsor hosted a formal event exclusively for USC Racing team members. They discussed the companies history, work environment, and opportunities for future advancement at Mooney.

HENAAC Conference

Functioning as the main event of the Great Minds in Stem (GMiS) organization, the HENAAC conference celebrates the
incredible technical achievements of our nation’s top engineering and science talent. The HENAAC Conference is
the place where thousands of the finest minds from top executives and innovative professionals, to the brightest STEM
students convene. This is a great opportunity for our members to network with other Hispanic students and engage with
professionals from across the country. In just a few short days this event hosts professional development, leadership
development, and academic development workshops to benefit all members. Additionally, a career fair is held every
year which provides countless internship and full time job opportunities for our members.

SHPE National Conference

The SHPE National Conference is the major event for SHPE Inc. and the largest technical and career conference for
Hispanics in the country. Each year, the SHPE Conference attracts nearly 5,000 engineering professionals, students and
corporate representatives. This is a great opportunity for our members to network with other students and engage with
professionals from across the country. In just a few short days this event hosts professional development, leadership
development, and academic development workshops that benefit all members. Additionally, a career fair is held every
year which provides countless internship and full-time job opportunities for our members.

Leaders VS. Leading Workshop

The outgoing Executive Board will host a day of engaging presentations and activities challenging our members to
contemplate the differences between Leaders and Leading. A case study will be presented for our members to work on as
teams. The case studies will be based on problems our chapter is facing or has faced; therefore the solutions are
directly applicable. This event will be mandatory for all members who will be up for election as part of next year’s
LeaderSHPE Team.

SWE Regions ABJ Leadership Summit

The annual Leadership Meeting held by SWE Regions A, B, & J (West Coast) is an opportunity to share important information with new leaders and collaborate on events and initiatives for the coming year. From the USC SWE section, only the President was able to attend, but she brought back extremely valuable information to the USC SWE executive board and section. Throughout a series of planning workshops, the President was able to consolidate goals for our section, learn about requirements to remain in good standing with the region, and also receive leadership coaching. At this conference, we were introduced to contacts in the SWE Los Angeles Section, who proved to be valuable resources later in the semester to answer questions and to invite professional SWE members in the LA area to our events.

WE16 National Conference

WE16, the Society of Women Engineers National Conference in Philadelphia offered unique and invaluable experiences for our members. Every activity throughout this conference challenged attendees to push their comfort zone and dive into this exciting celebration of engineering and diversity in engineering. One of the main benefits of the SWE conference network was the opportunity to connect with other collegiate and professional sections. During the Region B mandatory leadership meeting, we received important information about our region goals and logistics. We learned new rules about upholding good standings and new goals and requirements that the National Organization wants us to continue or change. We also were able to meet the SWE senate representatives for our region and vote and discuss on certain motions that will be affecting the leadership positions for collegiates next year. I also learned about new collegiate positions available that I can encourage our USC freshman and sophomores to apply for and represent USC in Region B. Facilitated by the meeting, we were also able to meet with other section presidents from other West Coast colleges and plan a mixer event for our sections in LA to get to know each other and share practices. Additionally, the Career Fair with over 300 companies was another incredible opportunity. 10 of our attendees received at least one interview during the conference. 3 attendees received more than one interview, and 5 people heard back with an offer or follow-up steps within 2 weeks. The conference workshop series occurred throughout Thursday, Friday and Saturday, with the following tracks: Career Management and Life Transitions, Advocating for Change, Career Enhancement, Women in Academia, Inclusion and Cultural Awareness, Innovation and Disruption, and more. Our attendees were required to attend a minimum of 3 workshops throughout the conference and write up a description of their experience. Some of the workshops the girls attended include: “Fostering Confidence Today in Tomorrow’s Female Leaders”; “Innovation and Best Practices in Maintenance of Marine Structures: A Case Study”; “The Great Balancing Act: Reviewing Goals and Achieving Work Life Balance”; “”Building Yourself as a Leader””; “Journey to Embracing My Identity: Female, Muslim, Brown, and a Mechanical Engineer” and many, many, more.
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Fall Evening with the Industry

Fall Evening with the Industry was on the night of the career fair and allowed engineering students to network over dinner and dessert with company representatives from Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, Intel, Sandia, Microsoft, EA, EY, Facebook, Medtronic, AT&T, and many other corporations. FEWI is one of the main events where our members connect to the representatives on a more personal level and land internships. In addition, because the event was on the night of the career fair, the members were able to network with the representatives at the fair and then were able to learn more about them and the company at FEWI. An attendee was able to seat with a preferred company for dinner and another one for dessert; thus, this gave the members opportunity to talk to their dream companies.

Industry Panel: The State of Animation Tools

Professionals from companies Disney, DreamWorks, xRez Studio and Digitial Domain speak about the roles they have played in researching, engineering, and utilizing tools for animation and visual effects.

An Evening with Paul Debevec: “Lighting Hollywood's Photoreal Digital Actors”

A talk by Paul Debevec, the Chief Visual Officer of the USC ICT, with him talking about his works. Specifically, introducing students to how the Light Stage scanning systems and HDRI lighting techniques were developed and how they helped create digital actors in a wide range of recent films.

Women in Animation - Panel and Presentation

A panel and presentation from members of Women in Animation as part of SCA’s Talent Week. It was also followed by a presentation about WIA, introducing students to their mission, goals, and what they’re looking to achieve in the future.

Theta Tau Faculty Dinner

A dinner to encourage relationships between the members of Theta Tau and the Viterbi Faculty. Four professors shared their insights about their career paths and their fields of interest. Members rotated to the different faculty.

Theta Tech Talk - Google Brings Machine Learning to USC

Ben Johns, a Google software developer gave a technical lecture on machine learning. The objective was to make a complicated topic approachable and intriguing. He talked about the history, current approaches, and his role at Google. This was a success.

JPL tour

A few members were able to tour JPL in Pasadena in collaboration with an AME class.

VRSC’s VR/AR Job Fair

Interested in finding a job in VR and/or AR? VRSC is hosting our second job fair on October 18. Recruiters will include: Blizzard, Cryworks, Freeform Labs, Here Be Dragons, Within, Lux Virtual, Mira Labs, Red Pill VR, Springbok Entertainment, Trigger, USC Annenberg, Virtually Live, Specular Theory.

VRSC DevNight: Jaunt VR w/ Grant Anderson

VRSC will be treated to an inside look at VR filmmaking by one of the top experts in Los Angeles. Jaunt VR has created the most advanced stereoscopic 360 camera and developed the cloud stitching and rendering tools to support it. Jaunt Studios in Santa Monica, CA creates cutting-edge VR content with partners like Disney, Lucas Arts, ESPN, and many more. Come hear about the past, present, and future of virtual reality from the Head of Jaunt Studios, Grant Anderson.

VRSC DevNight: Exploring Space in VR with Solaris Entertainment

Join Solaris Entertainment as they discuss their company and current productions. Solaris Entertainment is developing a space exploration multiplatform game and VR experience in partnership with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, the
celebrity astrophysicist who runs the Hayden Planetarium in NYC. It shall be anchored in real space and physics, with a vision to make space/science accessible to everyone in a dynamic and engaging way.

Speaker Series: CEO of MediaHound

Interactive session on the process of starting a startup. In addition, the pros and cons of starting a startup as opposed to going into industry were discussed. The speaker in question was none other than Addison McCaleb – the CEO of MediaHound. Also featured pizza and drinks.

VP of Engineering at Ticketmaster

An informal conversation with Nasi Peretz, the Vice President of Engineering at Ticketmaster, about his education, early career, and the founding of his companies. Meeting included pizza and refreshments and covered topics from education, entrepreneurship, and venture capitalism.

Professional Development Workshop with Deloitte

Co-host an interactive workshop with Deloitte that teaches our members an important professional skill.

Published on April 20th, 2017

Last updated on June 24th, 2021