USC ECE Honors Inaugural Class of Changemakers for 20th Naming Anniversary

As part of its 20th naming anniversary celebration, the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and USC Stevens School of Computing and AI launched the inaugural Ming Hsieh ECE Changemakers Awards, honoring alumni whose work has advanced research fields, shaped industries and technologies, built companies and strengthened communities.

The inaugural class was recognized during the department's 20th Naming Anniversary Research Festival and Alumni Symposium, held on October 22-23.

Awards were given in two categories: ECE Distinguished Changemakers and ECE Emerging Changemakers.

The ECE Distinguished Changemakers Awards recognize graduates from 2011 or earlier who have established records of sustained professional distinction and impact. The ECE Emerging Changemakers Awards celebrate graduates from 2012 onward who have already made an outsized mark early in their careers.

As the department marks two decades under the Ming Hsieh name, the inaugural awards celebrate alumni whose achievements reflect ECE's enduring influence on engineering and society. A faculty committee, together with ECE Department Chair Richard Leahy, selected the recipients based on the significance and impact of their accomplishments, their leadership and contributions to the profession, and how their work reflects the department's mission and values.

With more than 24,000 alumni working around the world in industry, entrepreneurship, academia and research laboratories, USC ECE has helped shape the people and technologies driving innovation across generations. Today, the department's five largest alumni employers are Apple, Intel, Northrop Grumman, Google and NVIDIA. The awards also highlight the role of the Trojan Family in supporting the next generation of innovators.

Several honorees also returned to share their experiences and advice with students and faculty. Among them were Shouleh Nikzad, chief technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory; William Wang, founder and CEO of VIZIO; and Diana Marculescu, chair at The University of Texas at Austin's Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Their journeys are a testament to the many ways USC ECE alumni carry their education into leadership across technology, research and academia.

ECE Distinguished Changemakers

• Firooz Aflatouni (Ph.D. '11): Professor and undergraduate chair at the University of Pennsylvania, where he advances research and education in electrical engineering.
• Fan Bai (Ph.D. '05): Technical fellow and lab group manager at General Motors, working on automotive technologies and innovation.
• Steven P. DenBaars (M.S. '86, Ph.D. '88): Distinguished professor and director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency at UC Santa Barbara, known for his work in semiconductor materials and optoelectronics.
• Linnie Haynesworth (B.S. '80): Corporate board director and former sector vice president at Northrop Grumman, with leadership experience in the aerospace and defense industries.
• Sam Heidari (M.S. '90, Ph.D. '96): CEO of Lumotive, a company developing optical semiconductor technology for advanced sensing and connectivity applications.
• Hoshik Kim (M.S. '98): Executive and senior vice president at SK hynix, contributing to leadership in the global semiconductor industry.
• Diana Marculescu (Ph.D. '98): Department chair and Cockrell Family Chair for Engineering Leadership at The University of Texas at Austin, advancing engineering research, education and leadership.
• Rachel Morford (B.S. '07, M.S. '07): General manager of space-based sensing at The Aerospace Corporation.
• Shouleh Nikzad (B.S. '82): Chief technologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recognized for developing advanced semiconductor optical detectors and microdevices for space exploration.
• Olivier Bernard (M.S. '91): Senior engineering leader at Amazon Web Services, helping lead engineering initiatives in cloud computing.

ECE Emerging Changemakers

• Louis Blankemeier (B.S. '18): Co-founder and CEO of Cognita, working to advance artificial intelligence and its applications to radiology.
• Stephen Collins (B.S. '14): Principal manager for strategy and innovation at Edison International, supporting innovation and strategic initiatives in the energy sector.
• Rahul Gupta (Ph.D. '16): Head of responsible AI at Amazon AGI, working on responsible development and deployment of artificial intelligence.
• Hyeran Jeon (Ph.D. '15): Associate professor at the University of California, Merced, advancing research and education in electrical and computer engineering.
• Naveen Kumar (Ph.D. '16): Research scientist at Disney Research and Walt Disney Imagineering, developing technologies for research and interactive experiences.
• Souvik Kundu (Ph.D. '22): Senior staff research scientist at Intel Labs, conducting research in advanced computing and semiconductor technologies.
• Erick Moen (Ph.D. '17): Principal R&D imagineer at Disney Research Imagineering, developing research-driven technologies and interactive experiences.
• Ashkan Seyedi (Ph.D. '14): Vice president and general manager of digital photonics interconnect at ams OSRAM, leading work in photonics and advanced interconnect technologies.
• Daniel Wong (B.S. '09, M.S. '11, Ph.D. '15): Associate professor at the University of California, Riverside, advancing research and education in computer engineering.
• Qiumin Xu (Ph.D. '17): Senior software engineering manager at Google, leading software engineering initiatives.
• Yuhan Yao (Ph.D. '17): Senior researcher and engineer at Bosch, contributing to research and engineering innovation.

Richard M. Leahy is the Arthur G. Settle Trust Endowment for USC Leonard Silverman Chair and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, biomedical engineering and radiology. He holds joint appointments in USC Viterbi's Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) and USC Keck School of Medicine's Department of Radiology.

Published on November 5th, 2026

Last updated on November 5th, 2026