In the News

Publish Date:
Monday, May 6, 2019 Dr.

Dr. Ali Abbas, Director of the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership, participated in a panel along with USC Dean of Religious Life, Varun Soni, University Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center on Public Diplomacy, David Craig, Clinical Associate Professor at USC Annenberg's School for Communication and Journalism and Dr. Julie Albright, sociologist specializing in digital culture and communications The panel discussed society's relationships with digital devices, including ethical implications and issues with addiction.

For more information, click here.

https://latimesfestivalofbooks2019.sched.com/event/M5HO

Jim O'Toole's book "The Enlightened Capitalist" has been reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

To see review, click here

James O'Toole, Advisory Board Member of the Neely Center, has a new book, The Enlightened Capitalists, featured in Financial Advisor, news article. Reviews the ethical social responsibilities in business. To read article, click here.

To view the article, click here

“Social networks are scrambling to filter out fake news. One direction is hiring cybersecurity firms or using pattern recognition to identify fake news sources and content for the important issues. Another is to change fundamentally their model and vet news; this direction is not being explored.”

What does this mean to us as users of social media?

“We must learn to take lightly what we read on social media sites if they are not vetted.”

What does this mean to social networks?

“They will eventually lose credibility as information sources unless something is done. Identifying the sources is one direction, but changing the model to make it more reliable, albeit at the expense of complexity, is another. This is the real decision social networks need to address.”

Ali Abbas is the director of the USC Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making and a professor of industrial and systems engineering and public policy, a joint appointment between the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the USC Price School of Public Policy.

Publish Date:
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Albert Einstein famously said: “Relativity applies to physics, not ethics,” and nowhere was this mindset more echoed than in the Next Generation Ethics Conference, a March 30, 2018 USC summit surveying the new webs of ethical dilemmas spun by explosions in innovation across disciplines.

Why a next generation?

“Because our world is dealing with ethical questions we haven’t grappled with before,” said Ali Abbas, professor of industrial and systems engineering and public policy, , who organized the conference and directs the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making at USC.

A national research center housed in three schools: the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the USC Marshall School of Business, and the USC Price School of Public Policy, the Neely Center’s mission is to inspire and develop leaders dedicated to making effective, ethical and legal decisions. Read More.

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Publish Date:
Wednesday, April 25, 2018

By Matthew Kredell

Leading experts in the fields of public policy, business, engineering, technology and medicine converged at USC on March 30 for the Next Generation Ethics Conference, a discussion of important ethical dilemmas that society currently faces, or will face in the near future.

The symposium is the first major event by the Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making, a multidisciplinary center jointly housed at the USC Price School of Public Policy, USC Marshall School of Business and USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

“We’re living in incredible times,” said Professor Ali Abbas, director of the Neely Center. “When you think of some of the features of this era and the advances in engineering and technology, the advances in medicine, new business models, influences of information on voting and public policy, and advances in artificial intelligence, all of these fields have an intersection with decisions and ethics.” Read More.

Link:
Next Generation Ethics Conference

Publish Date:
Tuesday, April 3, 2018

By OMAR YOUSIF
April 3, 2018 in Campus, News

Five students placed in USC Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making’s inaugural Student Ethics Competition, themed “Towards an Ethically Sensitive Society,” on Friday. Graduate student Jacqueline Orr received first place followed by graduate student David Newman and sophomore Fiona Sequeira who tied for second and graduate students Rashi Chaudhary and Kermit Franklin who tied for third.

The competition gave 27 students the opportunity to present their ideas regarding ethics and decision-making to faculty members from the Marshall School of Business, Viterbi School of Engineering and Price School of Public Policy. Throughout the competition, faculty helped discuss ethical dilemmas with the students and advance their proposals. Read More

Publish Date:
Saturday, March 24, 2018

After stumbling through a series of political scandals about how Facebook’s technology and data have been manipulated to influence public opinion and undermine democracy, some are questioning how long Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg can survive. Read More.

Link:
Globe & Mail

Publish Date:
Friday, March 23, 2018

Neely Center director Ali Abbas discusses the future for Facebook with USC News.

By Emily Gersema

What does this week mean for the future of Facebook?

After news broke that the political data firm Cambridge Analytica accessed private Facebook user data and then used that information to target ads supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, a #DeleteFacebook movement grew. By Wednesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had apologized for the “breach of trust,” but for many the damage to Facebook’s reputation had been done. Read More.

Publish Date:
Wednesday, January 3, 2018

By Dr. Marsha Ershaghi Hames

As we near year-end, Artificial Intelligence is ranked as one of the top business trends for 2018. Leading organizations are investing in AI to enable more automation of tasks and decision making. As organizations integrate machine learning into various aspects of their complex business processes, it will be interesting to explore whether AI can also predict patterns of risky behavior.

In December 2009, TIME Magazine published a memorable cover entitled “The Decade from Hell” stating “bookended by 9/11 and a financial wipeout, the first 10 years of the century will likely go down as the most dispiriting decade Americans have lived through since World War II.” Spiraling levels of trust in business and decision making were at an all-time low. Financial markets underwent a significant shift as the multi-billion dollar accounting scandals of Enron and WorldCom unfolded. Leadership accountability began to thrust into the spotlight, questions arose around who knew what, when? Analysts wondered how such epic failures of corporate malfeasance could fester for so long. Read More.

Publish Date:
Friday, December 1, 2017

With new federal and state regulations looming, and companies like Waymo and General Motors testing automated vehicles on the streets of Phoenix and San Francisco, driverless cars could be on roads across California by the middle of next year. USC experts discuss the long road to taking our hands off the steering wheel, and what the long-term and short-term implications might be for handing our car keys over to automation and artificial intelligence. To read Neely Center Director Professor Abbas' thoughts click here.

Publish Date:
Tuesday, November 21, 2017

The Transportation Security Administration should consider expanding expedited screening measures like TSA Precheck for airline passengers, according to a new study in the journal Risk Analysis.

“A value-measure for public sector enterprise risk management: A TSA case study” was co-authored by a USC professor and one of the principal architects of the Transportation Security Administration’s screening system.

The researchers found that the strategy most effective at maximizing overall value to society was in fact increased expedited passenger screening programs where passengers pay a fee to go through a background check and obtain special clearance for the convenience of low-hassle security screenings. They also found that expedited screenings carry a minimal risk to passenger safety.

Using publicly available information from the TSA, the researchers modeled the drawbacks and benefits of six different types of security measures. Of the six strategies, expedited screening provided by far the greatest overall benefit. Read More

Link:
What Airline Passengers...

Neely Center Director Professor Ali Abbas discusses the benefits of Decision Analysis in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live.

To listen to the interview click here. Interview begins at 1.16.

Publish Date:
Tuesday, November 7, 2017

A trust-centred culture contributes to real business results. When people work in an organisation with an ethical culture of trust at its core, they are 11 times more likely than rivals to innovate, and 32 times more likely to take risks with potential to benefit the company, according to LRN research.

A recent CEB study indicates that employees from strong cultures of integrity are 90% less likely to observe misconduct and are more likely to report that which they do see. Yet only 8% of organisations have cultures where people trust and collaborate with each other, and let purpose and values guide their behaviour. Read More.

Link:
Business Trust

Publish Date:
Thursday, September 7, 2017

Beginning this semester, students will be able participate in “Towards an Ethically Sensitive Society,” a competition on ethical decision making through the Jerry and Nancy Neely Center for Ethical Leadership.

The competition is open to all USC students, and the institution encourages entries that reflect multiple facets of ethics and strategy.

“There is a misconception that if it is legal, it has to be ethical,” Neely Center Director Ali Abbas  said. “We’ve seen that rules change, so we can’t tie ethical conduct to a legal system that is constantly changing.” Read More

Link:
Student Competition

Publish Date:
Monday, August 14, 2017

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The Globe Post

Publish Date:
Wednesday, August 2, 2017

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Fortune.com

Publish Date:
Wednesday, August 2, 2017

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Future of Uber

Publish Date:
Wednesday, July 12, 2017

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Artificial Intelligence

Publish Date:
Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Link:
Gun Missed At LAX Screening

Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPgruTzOAjE&feature=youtu.be

Publish Date:
Thursday, May 19, 2016

(CNN)The disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804, which vanished from radar on its way from Paris to Cairo early Thursday, has once again prompted people to ask a question that looms in the back of the mind of many travelers: Is flying really safe? Read more.

Link:
Why We Worry About Flying

Publish Date:
Thursday, February 20, 2014

WTTW Chicago talked to DECIDE director Ali Abbas about calculating good life choices. Watch the interview by following the link below.

Link:
Calculating Good Life Choices

Publish Date:
Tuesday, February 11, 2014

DECIDE director Ali Abbas discusses Ahoona.com. Read the interview by following the link below.

Link:
Website Tackles Decision Making

Publish Date:
Saturday, January 4, 2014

DECIDE director Ali Abbas interviewed for the Informs podcast. Listen to the full interview by following the link below.
 

Link:
Helping Teens Make Life-Changing Decisions

Publish Date:
Tuesday, May 7, 2013

DECIDE director Ali Abbas interviewed by the National Science Foundation. Read the full interview by following the link below.

Link:
Helping People Through the Decision-Making Process

Publish Date:
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Should I buy a house or a condo in Chicago? Should I have this surgery? What can I do to impress my girlfriend’s mother? We make a host of decisions every day, some of them large and some of them small. But how do we decide?  

Read the full article by following the link below.

Link:
"Facebook for Decision Making"