Advising at Viterbi

At Viterbi, advising services are a partnership between your academic department advisors, as well as by the Graduate Academic Services and Programs (known as Graduate ASP) office. Academic departments oversee traditional academic advising, which includes advising on your program, requirements, course registration, academic plan etc. Graduate ASP serves as a more general office that can answer more general USC and Viterbi-wide inquiries.

Department Academic Advisors

Department Academic Advisors are specialized units that provide program-specific academic advising on the following topics:

- Degree requirements
- Graduation timeline
- Course recommendations/course planning
- On-campus D-clearances
- STARS Report updates
- Change of Major
- RA/TA Funding
- Departmental Fellowship

VGASP Advisors

Viterbi Graduate Academic Services & Programs (VGASP) is a centralized office that manages and advises on Viterbi-wide policies and procedures such as:

- Academic eligibility* for the following processes:
  1. Curricular Practical Training (CPT)
  2. Optional Practical Training (OPT)
  3. Leave of Absence (LOA)
  4. Academic Difficulty & Medical Reduced Course Load (RCL)
  5. Program Extension (PE)
  6. Progressive Degree Program I-20 (PDP I-20)
- DEN D-clearances & Petitions
- Ph.D. Exam/Defense
- Grad School Fellowship
- MS and Ph.D. Progress Review
- General USC and/or Viterbi-wide questions

Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering

Astronautical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Chemical Engineering & Materials Science

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Computer Science / Data Science

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Lauren Terazawa, Zoe Ashmead, Deise Benitez
Email	amegrad@usc.edu
Website	https://ame.usc.edu/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	No
By-Appointment	Email, Advise USC
Additional Information	Advisement meetings are being held via Zoom and in-person (OHE 500) by appointment. Students may email amegrad@usc.edu or schedule an appointment in Advise USC.
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Astronautical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Luis Saballos, Prisila C Vasquez
Email	Lsaballo@usc.edu prisilac@usc.edu
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Drop in advising through email, phone call, zoom online and in person
By-Appointment	Calendly links : Luis Saballos Prisila C Vasquez
Additional Information	Available Every Monday - Friday 8am-5pm. Use links above to schedule appointment.
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Biomedical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Daisy De Leon
Email	daisyd@usc.edu
Website	https://bme.usc.edu/student-resources/graduate-student-resources/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	No
By-Appointment	In-person appointments available Monday, Thursday and Friday Virtual appointments available Monday-Friday
Additional Information	Students may schedule advising appointments via calendly, by email, or by phone.
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	William Wences
Email	mfdinfo@usc.edu
Current Student or Academic Advisement website link	https://chems.usc.edu/current-students/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Yes
By-Appointment	Calendly
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Christine Hsieh Emily Millard
Email	Students should contact their advisor via Advise USC cee.advise@usc.edu (for students outside the department they can use this email address)
Website	https://cee.usc.edu/
Advising
Drop-In Advising	No
By-Appointment	Advise USC Platform (Advisor Connect > submit case)
Additional Information
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	https://cee.usc.edu/academics/masters-degree/

Computer Science & Data Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Flor Martinez, Idania Takimoto, Steve Pham
Email	CSCI: vsd-csms@usc.edu DSCI: vsd-dsms@usc.edu
Website	https://www.cs.usc.edu/students/ms-students/
Advising
By-Appointment	by appointment only through myviterbi.usc.edu
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Gabby Garcia, Samantha Graves, Patty Rinehart, Jaimie Zelada
Email	ece.studentservices@usc.edu
	https://minghsiehece.usc.edu/students/

Drop-in Advising	Wednesdays only from 10am-12pm (Virtual Drop-In)
By-Appointment	via email directly to advisor
Additional Information	Student Services Office (EEB 102) is open 9-5pm M-F for immediate assistance. A– J, your Academic Advisor is Patty Rinehart, ptrinida@usc.edu K – L, your Academic Advisor is Gabby Garcia, gabby.garcia@usc.edu M – T, your Academic Advisor is Jaime Zelada, zelada@usc.edu. U – Z, your Academic Advisor is Samantha Graves, smgraves@usc.edu
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Alexandra Retana
Email	retanaa@usc.edu
Website	https://ise.usc.edu/current-students/

Drop-in Advising	In-person 3 days, remote 2 days; recommend students schedule appts, but walk-ins are welcome
By-Appointment	Advise USC
Additional Information
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Meet with a Department Advisor

Academic Department Advisors

Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering

Astronautical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

Chemical Engineering & Materials Science

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Computer Science

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Deise Benitez
Email	deiseben@usc.edu
Website	https://ame.usc.edu/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	No
By-Appointment	Email, Advise USC
Additional Information	Advisement meetings are being held via Zoom and in-person (OHE 500) by appointment. Students may schedule an appointment in Advise USC or email to set up an appointment.
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Astronautical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Luis Saballos
Email	lsaballo@usc.edu
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Drop in advising through email, phone call, and in person.(In person Tuesday and Thursday)
By-Appointment	Calendly and email Calendly: https://calendly.com/lsaballosusc/usc-aste-sae-advising-appointment-luis-saballos
Additional Information	ZOOM appointments: available Every weekday: Monday - Friday In-Person -- Tuesday and Thrusday, Location OHE 500Q
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Biomedical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	William Yang
Email	yangwill@usc.edu
Website	https://bme.usc.edu/student-resources/graduate-student-resources/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Yes In-person, Mondays to Fridays, 10AM to 4PM
By-Appointment	In-person or virtual, Mondays to Friday, 10AM to 4PM
Additional Information	Students may email, call-in, and walk-in to schedule an advising appointment
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	William Wences
Email	wences@usc.edu
Current Student or Academic Advisement website link	https://chems.usc.edu/current-students/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Yes
By-Appointment	Calendly

Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Christine Hsieh
Email	Advise USC
Website	https://cee.usc.edu/current-students/phd-students/
Advising
By-Appointment	Advise USC
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Computer Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Ellecia Williams
Email	cs.phd@usc.edu
Website	https://www.cs.usc.edu/students/ms-students/
Advising
By-Appointment	Email to cs.phd@usc.edu to request appointment
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Diane Demetras
Email	demetras@usc.edu
Website	https://minghsiehece.usc.edu/students/

Drop-in Advising	Thursdays from 10am-12pm PST (Virtual Drop-in)
By-Appointment	via E-mail directly to advisor
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Shelly Lewis
Email	Email, https://calendly.com/lewisml
	Click here for more Info
Advising
Drop-in Advising	No
By-Appointment	Request appointment by email or calendly
Degree Requirements
Curriculum	Click here for more Info

Please note that:

1. Financial Engineering is housed within the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.
2. Petroleum Engineering is housed within the Chemical Engineering & Materials Science department.
3. System Architecting & Engineering is housed within the Astronautical Engineering department.
4. Green Technologies is housed within Civil and Environmental Engineering.

VASE Academic Services Advisors

Meet with a Graduate Academic Services Advisor

To ensure you have all your questions answered during your meeting with an advisor, research your questions and set expectations of what you hope to be answered at the end of your appointment.

*Thursday Drop-in hours are reserved for PhD students

Drop-in hours will NOT be available on the following dates:

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Monday, May 26, 2025

Virtual Drop-in Advising*Monday-Thursday 10:00am-12:00pm.

Schedule 1-1 Appointment

vasems@usc.edu

vasephd@usc.edu

Published on August 4th, 2023Last updated on May 20th, 2025