1) USC Viterbi’s Jernej Barbič recently won an Academy Award for:

a) Ziva VFX software for highly realistic muscle and skin animation (“Dune: Part Two,” “Garfield,” etc.)
b) VFX software to de-age Paul Rudd in every motion picture
c) Fight choreography for “Deadpool & Wolverine”
d) Elphaba’s green makeup in “Wicked”

2) USC Viterbi is fond of unicorns because:

a) Their horns have great resale value
b) We are ranked fourth among U.S. engineering schools for number of unicorn founders (alums who create startups valued at over $1 billion)
c) Princess Celestia from “My Little Pony” is our spirit animal
d) Unicorns are basically optimized horses

3) The best thing to watch right now on Amazon Prime is:

a) “Weird or What? With William Shatner”
b) “The Summer I Turned Pretty”
c) “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”
d) “Cloudwalkers: ISI and the Inventors of the Future” (Documentary film on the history of the USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI), the university’s crown jewel research institute)

4) USC Viterbi is launching this unique major in fall 2026:

a) B.S. in Artificial Intelligence
b) B.S. in Chocolate Engineering
c) B.S. in Prompt Engineering
d) B.S. in Minecraft Civil Engineering

5) USC Viterbi’s Professor Daniel Lidar recently demonstrated what breakthrough in quantum computing?

a) The ability to play solitaire in the multiverse
b) An exponential speedup advantage over classical computers
c) The unmasking of Bitcoin’s mysterious creator
d) The ability to explain quantum mechanics in a single meme

6) What new research by Assistant Professor Maral Mousavi’s lab could aid new moms?

a) Pacifier that doubles as an air freshener
b) Baby carrier that harvests mechanical energy to charge iPhone
c) Smart crib that prevents SIDS
d) Wearable smart lactation pads that detect chemicals and nutrients in breast milk

7) USC developed new VR surfing technology to:

a) Help patients with chronic pain (50 million in the U.S.)
b) Win the U.S. Open of Surfing
c) Help would-be surfers in Des Moines, Iowa
d) Introduce surfer slang like “stoked” and “kook” to an unsuspecting public

8) The USC Center for AI in Society (CAIS) recently used the power of AI to do what?

a) Find your perfect match on Tinder
b) Predict the migratory patterns of Komodo dragons
c) Identify airports potentially involved in illegal wildlife trading
d) Confirm how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop

9) USC recently announced the $12 million Institute on Ethics & Trust in Computing to:

a) Combine philosophy and computing, and offer ethical guidance to students and researchers of AI and other technologies
b) Provide guidance on restaurant tipping etiquette
c) Shame college students for using ChatGPT
d) Ban all trolleys, the scourge of innocents

10) According to Research.com, USC was listed among the top 10 institutions (universities and companies) with the best:

a) Cupcake vending machines
b) Computer scientists
c) Bronze Age heroic statues
d) Use of Adobe Caslon typography

 

Answers:

1. a
2. b
3. d
4. a
5. b
6. d
7. a
8. c
9. a
10. b