Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 28 | Friday October 3, 2008
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
7 · Sports
12 · Classifieds
14 · Crossword
16 · Lifestyle
Music War: Three
music events rock
L.A. today. PAGE 16
Duck and Cover: Trojans
will face Oregon’s high-powered
offense. PAGE 5
By maria nikias
Daily Trojan
The Spirit of Troy, USC’s marching
band, began competing Monday against
some of the top marching bands in the
country in ESPN’s “Battle of the Bands
and the Quest for the Crystal.”
The contest gives college bands the
opportunity to compete for the Crystal
championship trophy and $25,000. The
six other bands competing are from
Auburn University, Clemson University,
University of Georgia, University of
Florida, Louisiana State University and
University of Texas.
To compete in Battle of the Bands,
each band recorded a performance of
the Indiana Jones theme song. The USC
band took time after a three-hour prac-tice
last month to be the first to record
the performance.
Despite the grueling practice that pre-ceded
it, band members said they felt
confident about their performance.
“The only discomfort was it was a little
hot, but other than that I think the band
performed well,” said Emily Clapper, a
sophomore majoring in health promotion
and disease prevention and a twirler for
the band.
Each band’s performance was posted
Spirit of Troy reps USC in Battle of the Bands
The ESPN-sponsored contest features
seven bands; the winner gets $25,000.
| see Bands, page 2 |
Joshua Sy | Daily Trojan
Band of Trojans · Members of the Trojan Marching Band perform a rendition of the “Indiana Jones” theme song. The Spirit
of Troy will compete against six other marching bands for $25,000 as part of ESPN’s Battle of the Bands contest.
By taren fujimoto
Daily Trojan
Legendary digital communications pioneer and
namesake of USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering
Andrew J. Viterbi was one of eight people award-ed
the 2007 National Medal of Science, the nation’s
highest honor for science and technology, at a gala
Sept. 29.
Viterbi won the award for his development of the
maximum-likelihood algorithm for convolutional
coding, known as the “Viterbi algorithm,” which is a
method for solving complex mathematical problems.
Viterbi was also honored for his contributions to
Code Division Multiple Access, technology that has
expanded the digital communications industry and
is often found in cell phone networks.
“There is nothing more he can receive,” Viterbi
Dean Yannis Yortsos said. “It’s like he’s in the hall of
fame, if you will.”
Yortsos, who accompanied Viterbi to the ceremony
at the White House, said he thinks the Viterbi School
of Engineering will benefit from the award.
“It has a halo effect on the school,” Yortsos said.
“The university is very much honored as a whole.”
USC President Steven B. Sample recently an-nounced
there will be an on-campus event to recog-nize
Viterbi’s award on Oct. 30.
“You can’t measure the effect of the award imme-diately,
but it increases the school’s visibility and rep-utation
and has a long-term impact,” Yortsos said.
Melvin A. Breuer, a Viterbi professor of electrical
engineering and computer science, said Viterbi is al-ready
a superstar in the electrical engineering com-munity.
“This award opens him up more to the laymen who
know about cell phones but are more aware of his
name because the president recognized him,” Breuer
Viterbi wins
‘Nobel Prize of
science’ honor
The engineering school’s namesake is one of
eight awarded 2007 National Medal of Science.
| see Viterbi, page 2 |
By CA T HERINE LYONS
Daily Trojan
Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin faced off
Thursday night in the highly an-ticipated
vice presidential debate
that addressed domestic issues,
energy policy and the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan. More than 300
students gathered on campus to
watch and evaluate Palin’s perfor-mance
against the 35-year Senate
veteran in the wake of a series of
high-profile blunders made by the
governor in the last week.
The debate, held at Washington
University in St. Louis and mod-erated
by PBS’s Gwen Ifill, whom
some critics predicted would be
biased against Palin, thoroughly
addressed a variety of topics but
focused on the economy and cur-rent
financial crisis as well as each
candidate’s positions on foreign
relations and their policies on con-flicts
in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Palin, who proved she could
speak more eloquently than she
did in the heavily criticized and
parodied interview with CBS News
anchor Katie Couric, exceeded
expectations and did what she
Students revved up as Palin
and Biden take center stage
More than 300 students filled
the Annenberg lobby to watch
the two VP candidates spar.
| see debate , page 3 |
Photo courtesy of Washington University in St. Louis
Meet me in St. Louis · Vice presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and Alaska Gov. Sarah
Palin debated for the first and only time at Washington University in St. Louis on Thursday night.
SPORTS EXTRA PAGE 5
32
Days Until
Election
COUNTDOWN