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USC Taps Techie Nikias As President

The University of Southern California is tapping C. L. Max Nikias, currently Executive Vice President and Provost of the school--and former Dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering--as a replacement for outgoing President Steven B. Sample, the school announced this morning. Nikias has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among other positions. Steven Sample, who served as president of the school since 1991, was also an electrical engineer, making Nikias the second Electrical Engineer in a row to head up the university. Nikias was recruited to USC in 1991 to head up the school's Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC), which conducts research in 3D modeling, augmented reality and virtual reality, video streaming, body tracking, and other areas.