Our research impacts life in South Carolina and beyond through scientific advances, artistic innovation and exploration of the human condition. The College of Arts and Sciences pushes the frontiers of knowledge, driving innovation that leads to change both small and large. Our faculty collaborate across their disciplines to answer questions that matter to the mind and heart.
We host award-winning scientists, scholars and teachers that span the arts, humanities, natural science and social science disciplines.
Why wait until after college to do what you love when you can get hands-on research experience right now?
Our research facilities encourage innovation among our faculty and students.
Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences receive more than $30 million in grants each year to support research, outreach and other educational programming. Explore them here.
When Ethan Older thinks of bacteria, he envisions tiny chemists at work inside us. A doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Older researches the bacteria that live in the human digestive tract from a genetic standpoint. His work may lead to breakthroughs in treating diseases scientists have yet to fully understand.
In her forensic chemistry lab, Molly Kantor learned techniques to analyze crime scenes and gained skills she hopes to use in a future career with the FBI. Kantor is one of the first students to take the forensics minor, a new program organized by Dr. Way Fountain of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Huan Ning, a Breakthrough Graduate Scholar in geography, is using artificial intelligence to bridge technology with geographic information science research.
A class at USC is making significant contributions to the history of the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Part of a project led by history professor Valinda Littlefield, this research involves multiple institutions nationwide.
McCausland Fellow Besim Dragovic has a favorite mineral —it’s garnet, of course. Garnet is a mineral that carries a wealth of information about unique locations on Earth and their history as well as element-containing rocks hold several possibilities for sustainability.
Cultural anthropologist Monica Barra studies how racial inequalities are shaped by scientific practices, racial histories and climate change in the U.S. South.
University researcher Erin Meyer-Gutbrod aims to protect endangered right whales from ship strikes using underwater listening robots to track their locations.
