USC’s second annual Techstars Demo Day showcased eight innovative startups founded by members of the Trojan community after completing a three-month accelerator program. The startups presented solutions across industries including healthcare, artificial intelligence, robotics, family organization, influencer marketing, and consumer products. Featured companies included Avarie Femcare, Claimio, Drafted, FlexTogether, Jam, nowfluence, Sensate Robotics, and VascAI. The event highlighted USC’s growing entrepreneurship ecosystem, which supports founders through programs such as Startup Weekend, University Catalyst, and the USC and Techstars accelerator. University leaders emphasized the diversity of participants and the program’s role in helping founders transform ideas into scalable businesses with real-world impact.

Scientific computing experts at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have selected the first nine research projects that will run on Discovery, the nation’s next flagship supercomputer, slated for deployment in 2028. The projects will be developed through the Discovery Center for Accelerated Application Readiness program at ORNL’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. The program is designed to ensure that a suite of leading-edge scientific applications is optimized and ready to deliver results as soon as Discovery becomes operational.

New research from Murdoch University has the potential to transform the way titanium metal is produced. Murdoch’s Extractive Metallurgy Hub has been commissioned by Empire Metals to help develop an advanced process for converting titanium dioxide (TiO₂) into titanium metal using molten salt electrolysis, powered by renewable energy. This process has the potential to be a more efficient, lower-cost, and a lower-emission alternative to current methods.

Researchers from Texas A&M AgriLife are sending hundreds of grape seeds to the International Space Station, where the seeds will spend approximately six months exposed to cosmic radiation before returning to Earth for planting and study. The project could produce what researchers believe to be the first wine made from grapes grown from seeds that traveled through space.

- ORNL researchers have developed advanced tools to immediately detect abnormal power grid conditions that lead to wildfires, equipment damage and blackouts. 

- The approach incorporates artificial intelligence to rapidly analyze grid data and automatically alert a utility to dangerous grid behaviors requiring immediate response. 

- ORNL is partnering with utility Southern California Edison (SCE) to validate the technology against five years of field-collected data.

It is becoming increasingly urgent to study the impacts of climate change on the global ocean system. Future projections indicate significant changes in the Mediterranean and Atlantic circulation system, which could have unpredictable climatic consequences, especially for one of the most influential ocean currents in the global climate: the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

Scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MKS) are part of an international consortium working to determine the biological functions of the roughly 20,000 protein-coding genes in the human genome.

A research team led by Dr. Hyung Chul Yoon at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER, President Yi Chang-Keun) has developed Korea’s first technology for producing high-purity deuterated ammonia (ND₃), opening the door to domestic production and industrialization.

From ride-on seats for children with cerebral palsy to sensors to assess swallowing difficulty in adult populations, researchers with Lehigh University's Center for Community-Driven Assistive Technologies develop devices to help people with disabilities across life stages.