Academic Advisement

VASE AdvisorsThe office of Viterbi Admission and Student Engagement (VASE) provides services and resources to help students in the successful pursuit of their graduate degrees. All engineering graduate students are welcome to stop by the VASE office to discuss their academics and student life.

Academic AdvisorsAdvisement on course registration/planning is provided by your academic department advisors and research advisement is provided by faculty in the respective academic departments.

VASE Advisors

Nora Sandoval

Director, Master's Student Affairs

Nora oversees the Master’s Student Affairs operation including advisement, international student services, DEN@Viterbi, student engagement and academic probation/interventions.

Patty Rinehart

Advisor, Master's Student Services

Patty oversees DEN@Viterbi student services and provides general advisement for on campus and DEN@Viterbi admitted and limited status students. Patty reviews program extension requests from international students.

Yadi Wang

Advisor, International Student Programs

Yadi provides advisement services for on campus and online master's students regarding academic and immigration rules and manages student affairs programs and events for students.

Andrea Mora

Advisor, Master's Student Services

Andrea provides general advisement for all on campus students. Andrea reviews RCL and OPT requests from international students and oversees special populations including Pre-Masters and Military Connected Students.

Meet with a VASE Master's Advisor

*Drop-in Advising available: Monday - Thursday: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm / 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm (PST); Friday: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm (PST)

Andy Chen

Director, Doctoral Program

Andy oversees the Doctoral Student Affairs operation including advisement, academic progress, leaves of absences and Ph.D. admissions.

Tracy Charles

Coordinator, Doctoral Program

Tracy oversees doctoral student accounting and fellowship payments, as well as organizes events and provides other support services to doctoral students. Tracy loves history, geology, and goes camping and hiking as often as possible!

Meet with a VASE Doctoral Advisor

*Drop-in Advising available: Monday - Friday: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm (PST)

Academic Department Advisors

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 Susan Sath
Email	amegrad@usc.edu
Website	https://ame.usc.edu/current-students/graduate-student-resources/
Advising
By-Appointment	E-mail department for calendly link.
Additional Information	Advisement meetings are being held via Zoom and in-person (OHE 500) by appointment. Students may email amegrad@usc.edu to request an appointment or request Susan and Lauren's Calendly link.

Astronautical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Luis Saballos
Email	lsaballo@usc.edu
Advising
By-Appointment	By email and calendly
Additional Information	Monday through Wednesday (in person and online zoom appointments available-OHE 500Q) Thursday & Friday (zoom online appointments only)

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	Mondays to Fridays, 10AM-4PM (In-person)
By-Appointment	Mondays to Fridays, 10AM-4PM (In-person or virtual)

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Anthony Tritto Karen Woo
Email	artritto@usc.edu karenwoo@usc.edu
Advising
By-Appointment	Anthony Tritto: www.calendly.com/artritto Karen Woo: www.calendly.com/karenwoo
Additional Information	For general questions please email mfdinfo@usc.edu

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Christine Hsieh
Email	ceedept@usc.edu
Website	https://cee.usc.edu/current-students/masters-students/
Advising
By-Appointment	E-mail advisor directly.

Computer Science & Data Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Flor Martinez Idania Takimoto Liliana Ochoa-Spring Norma Perry Steve Pham Art Perez Mara Ragan Sabrina Rodriguez Alexandra Slakter Kimberly Serrano
Email	CSCI: cscimasters@vsoe.usc.edu DSCI: dscimasters@vsoe.usc.edu
Website	https://www.cs.usc.edu/students/academic-advisement/
Advising
By-Appointment	by appointment only through myviterbi.usc.edu

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Ryan Pineda Gabby Garcia Samantha Graves Jaime zelada
Email	studentinfo@ece.usc.edu
Website	https://minghsiehece.usc.edu/students/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Tuesdays from 3pm-5pm and Fridays from 10am-12pm (Virtual Drop-in)
By-Appointment	E-mail advisor directly.
Additional Information	Student Service Office (EEB 102) is open 9-5pm M-F for immediate assistance. Last Name (Family Name) begins with: A – G, your Academic Advisor is Ryan Pineda, rcpineda@usc.edu. H – L, your Academic Advisor is Gabby Garcia, garc635@usc.edu. M – V, your Academic Advisor is Jaime Zelada, zelada@usc.edu. W – Z, your Academic Advisor is Samantha Graves, smgraves@usc.edu

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Morgan Ponder
Email	isedept@usc.edu
Website	https://ise.usc.edu/current-students/
Advising
By-Appointment	Request appointment by email.

Note:

Financial Engineering and Green Technologies is housed within the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.
Petroleum Engineering is housed within the Chemical Engineering & Materials Science department.
System Architecting & Engineering is housed within the Astronautical Engineering department.

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)	Chrissy Franks Sayed
Email	cfranks@usc.edu
Website	https://ame.usc.edu/current-students/graduate-student-resources/
Advising
By-Appointment	E-mail department for calendly link.
Additional Information	Advisement meetings are being held via Zoom and in-person (OHE 500) by appointment. Students may email cfranks@usc.edu to request Chrissy's Calendly link or to set up an appointment via email.

Astronautical Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Luis Saballos
Email	lsaballo@usc.edu
Advising
By-Appointment	By email and calendly
Additional Information	Monday through Wednesday (in person and online zoom appointments available-OHE 500Q) Thursday & Friday (zoom online appointments only)

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	Mondays to Fridays, 10AM-4PM (In-person)
By-Appointment	Mondays to Fridays, 10AM-4PM (In-person or virtual)

Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Anthony Tritto
Email	artritto@usc.edu
Advising
By-Appointment	Anthony Tritto: www.calendly.com/artritto
Additional Information	Please reach out to Anthony for any PhD concerns.

Civil & Environmental Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Christine Hsieh
Email	christih@usc.edu
Website	https://cee.usc.edu/current-students/phd-students/
Advising
By-Appointment	E-mail advisor directly.

Computer Science

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Lizsl De Leon
Email	ldeleon@usc.edu
Website	https://www.cs.usc.edu/students/academic-advisement/
Advising
By-Appointment	by appointment only through myviterbi.usc.edu

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Diane Demetras
Email	demetras@usc.edu
Website	https://minghsiehece.usc.edu/students/
Advising
Drop-in Advising	Thursdays from 10am-12pm PST (Virtual Drop-in)
By-Appointment	E-mail advisor directly.

Industrial & Systems Engineering

Department Advisor(s)
Advisor Name(s)	Shelly Lewis
Email	lewisml@usc.edu
Website	https://ise.usc.edu/academics/ph-d-program//
Advising
By-Appointment	Request appointment by email.

Note:

Financial Engineering and Green Technologies is housed within the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.
Petroleum Engineering is housed within the Chemical Engineering & Materials Science department.
System Architecting & Engineering is housed within the Astronautical Engineering department.