The Dean

Man in black blazer seated before a steel wall

Biography

Dr. Thanassis Rikakis is dean and professor of the Iovine Young Academy (IYA) at the University of Southern California (USC). The IYA provides unique BS and MS degrees at the intersection of technology, creativity and innovation through a transdisciplinary Challenge Based Reflective Learning (CBRL) framework. Thanassis is also courtesy professor of Bioengineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and leads the Interactive Neurorehabilitation Lab. His research focuses on complex systems for cyber-human intelligence, interactive neurorehabilitation, adaptive learning and experiential media. Before joining the IYA Thanassis served as founding director of the Calhoun Honors Discovery Program , an initiative that provided adaptive transdisciplinary learning pathways across five colleges. From 2015 until 2017 Thanassis served as executive vice president and provost at Virginia Tech. He led the development of transdisciplinary discovery communities (Destination Areas) and a new resource model (Partnership for an Incentive Based Budget) and co-led plans for the expansion of the VTC Health Sciences campus in Roanoke and for cross sector VT initiatives in Northern VA. From 2012 to 2015 he served as vice provost for design arts and technology at Carnegie Mellon University where he founded the Integrative Design, Arts and Technology (IDEATE) network. He has also served as founding director of the School of Arts, Media and Engineering at Arizona State University and Associate Director for Research and Development of the Computer Music Center at Columbia University. He has led gift efforts from philanthropy and industry totaling more than $75,000,000. He has been PI or co-PI in research grants from NSF, NIH, NEA and industry totaling over $16,000,000. He has authored over 50 publications spanning computing, engineering, health, education, design and the arts. He has composed 30 original music compositions performed internationally. He remains an active teacher of undergraduate and graduate courses and research supervisor of graduate students.

Selected Publications

Talks

“The Techniques of Sociotechnical Creativity”, This is a presentation on the Iovine Young Academy (IYA) Challenge Based Reflective Learning Framework (CBRL). Presentation was given at the 2024 Erich Bloch Materials Design and Innovation Symposium at the University of Buffalo.

“Multilayered Reflective Learning at the IYA” , This is a presentation on Reflective Learning at the USC Iovine Young Academy presented at the TEFL Kuwait 2023 meeting.

Books

Rikakis, T., Arnold, A., Keyel, J. et al. (2020). Adaptive Life Long Learning for an Inclusive Knowledge Economy. Virginia Tech Publications in partnership with the International Academic Forum and the Future Talent Council; https://doi.org/10.21061/adaptive-learning-report

Papers

T. Ahmed, T. Rikakis, A. Kelliher and S. L. Wolf, (2024), "A Hierarchical Bayesian Model for Cyber-Human Assessment of Movement in Upper Extremity Stroke Rehabilitation," IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2024.3450008
Sung, S., Thomas, D. & Rikakis, T., “Enacting Transdisciplinary Values for a Postdigital World: The Challenge-Based Reflective Learning (CBRL) Framework”. Postdigit Sci Educ (2024). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42438-024-00485-1
Sarker, A.; Emenonye, D.-R.; Kelliher, A.; Rikakis, T.; Buehrer, R.M.; Asbeck, A.T., “Capturing Upper Body Kinematics and Localization with Low-Cost Sensors for Rehabilitation Applications”, Sensors 2022, 22, 2300. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22062300
Ahmed, Tamim; Thopalli, Kowshik; Rikakis, Thanassis; Turaga, Pavan; Kelliher, Aisling; Huang, Jia-Bin; Wolf Steven L., “Automated Movement Assessment in Stroke Rehabilitation”, Frontiers in Neurology, Vol 12, 202, DOI=10.3389/fneur.2021.720650
Y. Han, A. Varadarajan, T. Kim, G. Zheng, K. Kitani, A. Kelliher, T. Rikakis, and Y-L Park. “Smart Skin: Vision-Based Soft Pressure Sensing System for In-Home Hand Rehabilitation”, Soft Robotics, Vol 9, no 3, p 473-485, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1089/soro.2020.0083
Arnold, Amy J., Jared Keyel, Alkan Soysal, Michael Kretser, Shahabedin Sagheb and Thanassis Rikakis. “Toward an Integrative Professional and Personal Competency-Based Learning Model for Inclusive Workforce Development”, International Multi-Conference on Society, Cybernetics and Informatics (IMSCI 2021), https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:266050743
A. Kelliher, S. Zilevu, T. Rikakis, T. Ahmed, Y. Troung, S. Wolf. (2020). “Towards standardized processes for physical therapists to quantify patient rehabilitation”, proceedings of ACM SIGCHI 2020 (CHI’20), Hawaii, USA, April 25 – 30, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376706

Musical Compositions

Krisis, for flute, bassoon, cello and trombone [MP3]

For a comprehensive list of the Dean's research, compositions and presentations, please visit his website.