The fall 2026 Ming Hsieh Institute (MHI) scholars program kicked off this month, as the newest cohort of MHI scholars gathered for a meet and greet.

With five PhD scholars selected this year, the program is designed to empower students to serve as ambassadors for USC Viterbi and USC Stevens' Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, fostering community, social engagement and collaboration across research groups

This year, the talented lineup of students from diverse backgrounds brings a broad range of research interests, from quantum computing and superconducting hardware design to precision psychiatry and free-space optical communications.

Joining from five different labs, the new cohort of scholars will strive to make the department more socially active by building subcommunities based on common interests to help students connect outside of their individual research worlds.

Housed under the Ming Hsieh Institute, the MHI scholars program was established in 2010, with new cohorts selected annually.

"When we talk about full-stack AI, every aspect of it is touched by our department, not just in terms of education, but really inventing the next innovations that make it different," said Shrikanth Narayanan, MHI director, USC vice president for presidential initiatives and University Professor. "We wanted the Ming Hsieh Institute and its programs to not only celebrate these achievements but also to inspire new innovations."

Narayanan is also a Niki and Max Nikias Chair in Engineering and University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Linguistics, Psychology, Pediatrics, and Otolaryngology.

Led by Narayanan, and MHI co-directors, Bhaskar Krishnamachari and Hossein Hashemi, a committee of ECE faculty members selects scholars each year, with finalists asked to give a competition talk as part of the selection process.

The undergraduate version of the program is currently accepting applications from students passionate about research and helping build the department's research community.

Krishnamachari is a Ming Hsieh Faculty Fellow in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science, with joint appointment at the Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science.

Hashemi is a Ming Hsieh Faculty Fellow in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Meet the 2026 MHI Scholars

Beyza Zeynep Ucpinar PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

I'm a fifth-year PhD student in Massoud Pedram's lab, where I research superconducting hardware design for quantum and neural network applications. I earned bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Turkey. While pursuing my PhD at USC, I interned at both Google and Nvidia.

Hometown: Ankara, Turkey.

What's your research focus:

My research focuses on developing superconducting hardware for quantum and quantum-inspired applications, including Ising machine architectures for solving complex optimization problems. I also design brain-inspired superconducting neural network hardware to enable ultrafast, energy-efficient next-generation computing.

What do you hope to achieve as an MHI Scholar?

I want to build a culture where people from different labs know each other and chat, moving beyond just their individual research groups.

What's your favorite spot on campus?

I love sitting in front of the Traveler horse statue by the fountain and watching people come and go.

Yuxiang Duan PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

I'm a sixth-year PhD candidate and lab manager in the Optical Communications Laboratory, advised by Alan E. Willner. Before joining USC, I earned my bachelor's degree in optoelectronic information science and engineering from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China.

Hometown: Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, China.

What's your research focus:

My research area is on optical communications and sensing, particularly free-space optical communications, underwater communication and ranging.

What do you hope to achieve as an MHI Scholar?

I hope to build a more connected and socially active department by creating sustainable opportunities for students across cohorts and research groups to connect, whether through shared interests like board games and movie nights, cooking and coffee meetups, music and photography, or book clubs and game nights, or spaces to reignite their excitement for research, especially for students in the final years of their PhD programs.

What's your favorite spot on campus?

The road between the Downey Way parking structure to pet the cats that hang out there.

Kumar Saurav PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

I am a fifth-year PhD student, advised by Daniel Lidar and I do research in quantum computing in his lab. Before joining USC as a graduate student, I received my bachelor's degree in computer science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and worked as a software engineer at Google for more than two years.

Hometown: Patna, India.

What's your research focus:

My research focuses on the theoretical aspects of quantum computing, particularly quantum error correction, including decoding and fault tolerance. I also work on logical state circuit synthesis, gate characterization and device benchmarking.

What do you hope to achieve as an MHI Scholar?

My goal is to make ECE's PhD community more socially active than it was before I graduate.

What's your favorite spot on campus?

A quiet grassy area behind the USC Fisher Museum.

Lucine Oganesian PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

I'm a seventh-year PhD student in the Neural Systems Engineering & Information Processing Lab, and my advisor is Maryam Shanechi. Before starting my PhD at USC, I got my bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as a software engineer at Google for four years.

Hometown: Glendale, California.

What's your research focus:

My work focuses on building models of neural time series data that can be broadly used to decode various behaviors and brain states of interest.

What do you hope to achieve as an MHI Scholar?

She hopes to help PhD students who are in the middle of their programs to get excited and spark their curiosity again by facilitating spaces for them to connect.

What's your favorite spot on campus?

A secluded courtyard behind USC's Doheny Library, right outside of the Literatea coffee shop.

Mohammad Shafiqul Islam PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering

I'm a fifth-year PhD student in the USC Khan Lab, and my advisor is Yasser Khan. Before joining USC, I earned a bachelor's degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a master's degree from Princeton University, where I studied device physics.

Hometown: Barishal, Bangladesh.

What's your research focus:

My research focuses on wearable, implantable and ingestible sensors for precision psychiatry, leveraging my background in device physics.

What do you hope to achieve as an MHI Scholar?

My research focuses on sensing technologies for precision psychiatry, including wearable, implantable and ingestible sensors. I plan to apply my background in device physics to developing these sensing technologies in the lab.

What do you aim to achieve as an MHI Scholar?

I hope to build a community and find ways for people in the department to get connected outside of their specific "worlds" by creating sub-communities based on common interests. For example, we can create running or hiking groups for people who enjoy the outdoors.

What's your favorite spot on campus?

The green area/Founders Park in front of the USC bookstore and the Lyon Center gym.

Published on October 8th, 2026

Last updated on October 8th, 2026