Escape Velocity USC Viterbi School of Engineering

The 30+ year journey of a Black engineer in K-12 education – featuring Dr. Darin Gray

Dr. Brandi Jones, vice dean for diversity and strategic initiatives at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, speaks about her life's work, the people who have shaped her and those whose lives she has shaped — as well as her experiences leading equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives at some of the nation’s top engineering schools.

Episode 3 "The Black Engineering Student Experience" by USC Viterbi School of Engineering

An intimate conversation at the intersection of race, STEM and academia with two legendary Black leaders: Dr. Wanda Austin, retired CEO of Aerospace Corporation and former President of USC, and Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, former director of the National Science Foundation, former President of Occidental College and Chancellor of the University of Maryland.

Dr. Timothy Pinkston and Dr. Stacey Finley, two pastor's kids who became leading figures in STEM, talk about the burdens of being first and how their experiences in academia have been shaped by being #BlackInTheIvory.

Every day, we do thousands of movements that we take for granted. But what if our bodies were a prison? Who would unlock it for us? At four months old, following a severe brain injury, Ralph Hernandez was condemned to be a prisoner of his own body. Then, he met Dr. Terry Sanger.