Good morning newsrooms!

Here's your USD News Connect — where each week the University of San Diego public affairs team offers expert voices to speak on stories impacting our community. If you're interested in the stories below, or need experts for any other topic you might be working on, don't hesitate to reach out to us at press@sandiego.edu.*

High School Students Get University-Level Scientific Research Experience at USD 

Over the course of two weeks, nearly two dozen 11th grade students from Hoover High School will spend each day working alongside University of San Diego professors to do their own scientific research in the university's lab. The students are part of the Ocean Discovery Institute (ODI), an organization that creates pathways to connect students, who have been historically underrepresented in science, with STEM opportunities. For many of the students, who come from first-generation backgrounds, this is their first opportunity to experience scientific research at the university-level. During the program, students will go out in the field, come back to the university's labs to analyze this data and then present their findings. 90% of students at ODI go to college and 60% end up in a career in STEM. Interviews and B-roll opportunities available.

USD Professor Creates Bilingual Children's Book About Tijuana-San Diego Border Ecology

After studying the unique ecology at the U.S.- Mexico border alongside students and through the Border Design Lab, architecture professor Adriana Cuellar decided to take this research a step further by partnering with Promotora de las Bellas Artes to create a bilingual children's book that shares their findings with the next generation of learners. Written in English and Spanish, "Alas al Borde: Borderland Wings” tells the story of a native bird and a migrant duck who meet at the border and embark on a journey to discover the unique border landscape while understanding the environment's relationship to nearby cities. Adriana Cuellar is available for interviews to discuss the newly-published book, its development through research and community partnership, and how she hopes the book can encourage kids to understand the importance of our border landscape.

OpenAI Models Responsible for Cyberattack Against an AI Startup

OpenAI says that they are investigating a cyberattack after their models were responsible for compromising the infrastructure of an AI startup, Hugging Face. Nikolas Behar, cybersecurity professor, is available to discuss how this cyberattack happened and why we might see more of these types of attacks with AI. *Only available via Zoom

For all media inquiries, email our team at

press@sandiego.edu.

* Please note that times of availability will vary according to professors' schedules.