VITERBI LEARNING PROGRAM
Setting you up for academic success





Mission
Setting You Up for Academic Success
The mission of the Viterbi Learning Program is to enrich the Viterbi educational experience by supporting undergraduate students through peer mentoring, tutoring, academic skills workshops, and group study sessions, helping students learn better study habits and thrive in their classes.
Tutoring Update During COVID-19:
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the USC Viterbi Learning Program (previously known as VARC) has suspended in-person contact and will be conducting all business remotely until further notice.
Please note that tutoring for the fall 2020 semester will end on Friday, November 13th. We look forward to offering tutoring in the spring 2021 semester!
Additional resources to the students:
Make a Tutoring Appointment
Step 1: Register With the Viterbi Learning Program
- Go to http://www.tutormatchingservice.com/viterbi
- Click on the “Login/Sign Up” at the top right corner of the screen.
- Login to Tutor Matching Service (TMS) and create your student profile. In order to schedule a free session, you must log-in with Google and use your USC email account (usc.edu). Tutoring through the Viterbi Learning Program is only available when you schedule an appointment with your USC email account.
- You should now be registered with TMS. You can go back to TMS and create an appointment with a peer tutor.
Step 2: Set Up a Tutoring Appointment
- Select the tutor with whom you would like to schedule an appointment. Click on “View Tutor.” Peer tutors will have a badge showing their affiliation with the center.
- In the tutor’s profile, select “Book or Message Tutor Name.“
Step 3: Meet With Your Tutor Through GoBoard
The Viterbi Learning Program (VLP) now offers online tutoring for students! The GoBoard platform serves as a great resource to have a tutoring appointment remotely. All tutors are trained and happy to help through GoBoard. To learn how to use GoBoard, please see https://viterbi.goboard.com/ and click Learn More in the upper right corner.
Drop-In Tutoring
The Viterbi Learning Program (VLP) will continue to offer drop-in tutoring online through GoBoard. Please note that drop-in tutoring will be scheduled by subject area. The Fall 2020 schedule will start on Wednesday, September 16th and will end on Friday, November 13th. Below, please find the drop-in hours by subject.
Math 125/126/129/226/229
- Monday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (PST)
- Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. (PST)
Computer Science 102/103/104/170
- Thursday from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (PST)
Physics 151/152
- Friday from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (PST)
Student will be able to submit a question through our new live chat feature. To submit a question, click on the button below:
Please note that tutors will only be available for drop-in tutoring at the designated hours. If you would like to submit a question outside of drop-in tutoring, please schedule an appointment with a tutor or contact viterbilearningprogram@usc.edu
Meet the Tutors
Ariella Simoni
Biomedical EngineeringBryce Rogers
Aerospace and Mechanical EngineeringRiyana Jennifer Gobin
Electrical and Computer EngineeringKwayera Burrows
Aerospace and Mechanical EngineeringAamani Ponnekanti
Chemical EngineeringShan Kutagulla
Chemical EngineeringAaron Berden
Civil EngineeringLynne Bai
Computer ScienceClasses Offered
Courses Available for Tutoring
Ariella: BME 101, MATH226/229, MATH245, CHEM105a, CHEM105b, CHEM322a
Bryce: MATH125, MATH126/129, MATH226/229, PHYS151/161, PHYS152/162, AME201, AME204
Riyana: MATH125, MATH126/129
Kwayera: AME101, AME201, AME204, AME 310, MATH125, MATH126/129, MATH226/229, MASC110, PHYS151, PHYS152, ITP168
Aamani: MATH125, MATH126, MATH226, MATH245, CHEM 105a, CHEM105b, CHEM 322a, PHYS151, CHE120, CHE330, CHE305, CHE350, CHE444a
Aaron: All CEE courses, PHYS 151, PHYS152, MATH 125/225/226/245
Shan: CHE120, CHE330, CHE485, CHE460, CHE350, CHE305, MATH125, MATH126, MATH226, PHYS151, PHYS152
Supplemental Instruction
USC Dornsife College of Arts and Letters offers SI sessions for many classes engineering students take, including:
- BISC 220
- CHEM 105a
- CHEM 105b
- CHEM 115b
- CHEM 332a
- CHEM 322b
- MATH 126
- MATH 226
- PHYS 151
Check out the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences SI schedule for the latest information. We strongly encourage you to make SI sessions a regular part of your study habits. Plus, many sessions are led by your fellow Viterbi students!
Writing Consultations
Engineering Writing Program
A consultant from the Engineering Writing Program is available in the Viterbi Learning Program to answer your questions about writing for your all your courses – not just your engineering classes! The writing consultant can help you:
- Develop your writing skills.
- Organize your reports.
- Learn proper form and grammar.
Appointments
Make your appointment with the writing consultant through the Online Appointment System. We strongly recommend booking your writing appointments as far in advance as possible, as appointments book up very quickly and there is typically little walk-in availability.
Appointments with the writing consultant follow the same policies as all other Viterbi Learning Program peer tutoring appointments.
Writing Center
The writing consultant isn’t your only resource for help with writing! All USC students can visit the USC Writing Center, located in THH 321. For more information on consultation times, workshop information, and other services, visit the Writing Center’s website.
Online Writing Resources
Common Errors in English Usage
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary Online Edition
Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
A complete listing of online resources is available on the Writing Center’s website.
Tips for a Productive Consultation
Writing consultations are most productive when you have thought in advance about what you would like to work on with the consultant. If you are in the beginning stage of working on a paper, let the consultant help you explore brainstorming techniques to generate ideas for answering your instructor’s assignment. If you have written a draft, go through the draft and mark those areas you are least satisfied with.
Bring any or all of the following with you:
- Your assignment.
- Papers previously marked and returned to you from your instructor.
- An idea of what the person grading your paper wants you to do with this assignment.
- Any work you have already done on the assignment.
Whatever you do, come ready to participate, with some specific discussion topics in mind. Some topics might be:
- I would like to narrow the thesis for this paper.
- I would like to develop some relevant examples for this paper.
- I would like to revise this paper to incorporate my instructor’s suggestions.
- I need to cite my evidence correctly.
- I’m not sure that I have chosen an appropriate voice.
- I don’t know if this evidence is convincing or relevant.
- How can I use commas correctly?
Courtesy of the USC Writing Center.
Workshops
Academic Success Workshops
During the fall 2020 semester, the Viterbi Learning Program (VLP) will be offering a series of workshops to support students with study strategies and online learning. Workshops will be recorded and the recording will be available as a link in the topic. The workshops will be held on the following dates and time:
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. (PDT)
Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. (PDT)
- Topic: Online Learning Strategies
Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. (PDT)
- Topic: Academic Integrity Session
Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. (PDT)
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 12:00 p.m. (PDT)
For more information, please see the publication below.
Course Producers
Course Producers (CP) are current students who support students with specific courses across Viterbi departments. CP profiles are made available below with the course they support and their office hours. Please feel free to join CP office hours for help in your specific course!
*Course producer profiles for fall 2020 will be updated shortly.*
Meet the Course Producers
Computer Science
CSCI 102
Lily Perry
Monday 1:30-3:30 P.M.Chloe Kuo
Friday 2:00-4:00 PMAlice (Shuyao) Xie
Tuesday 3:00-5:00 PMCSCI 103
Jack Vomacka
Monday 6-9 PM, Wednesday 12-2 PMEunsook (Victoria) Shin
M: 2-4pm, W: 2-4pm, F: 9-11amCSCI 104
Jason Yik
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:00-5:00 PMWooju Yim
Monday and Wednesday 6:00~8:00 PMPilar Luiz
Monday and Wednesday 6:00~8:00 PMLeo Du
T: 11-12:30 & 5:00-8:00, Th: 11-12:30 PMSean Syed
W: 12:00-3:00 PM, F: 11:00-12:00CSCI 170
Kaitlyn Yang
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 2:30-5:00 PMYang Qiao
Th: 5:00-7:00 PM, F: 8:00 -10:00 AMLeo Du
T: 11-12:30 & 5:00-8:00, Th: 11-12:30 PMEmily Fang
Monday and Wednesday: 9:00-2:00Shreya Havaldar
Tuesdays and Thursdays: 10:00-12:00Amy Huang
Sunday: 3:00-5:00 PMCSCI 201
Varun Bhajekar
M: 7:00-9:00, Sat: 11:00-1:00Yiqian Yang
Hours coming soon!Omid Nezami
Monday: 2:00-4:00 PM, Fridays: 3:00-5:00CSCI 270
Hasan Kamal
T: 8:30 - 10:00 AM, W: 5:30 - 7:00 PMCSCI 310
Karthik Siva
Monday 12:00 - 2:00, Wednesday: 4:00 - 6:00CSCI 350
Nilay Pachauri
Monday 9:00 - 12:00 & 2:00 - 3:00 PMCSCI 356
Chirag Renoji
Wednesday: 2:00 - 6:00 PMYuxi (Andy) Zhou
Hours coming soon!Nianxu Wang
Monday: 1:00 - 5:00 PMZixuan Li
Tuesday and Thursday: 12:00 - 2:00 PMVarun Girish
Tuesday: 9:30 - 11:30, Thursday: 5:30-7:30Farahanaaz Shaikh
M: 11-1 PM, Th 9-10 AM, F: 9 -10 AMCSCI 360
Shuaiqing Luo
Tuesday 8:00 - 10:00 AMPurvam Pujari
Thursday: 1:00 - 3:00 PMNamita Nair
Friday: 1:00 - 3:00 PMSourish Banerjee
Friday: 11:00 - 1:00 PMXuanyu Chen
Monday: 12:00 - 2:00 PMUrmil Shah
Wednesday: 12:00 - 2:00 PMPriyanshi Neelesh Vora
Monday: 8:00 - 10:00 AMCSCI 499
Prathik Rao
By Appointment: prathikr@usc.edu
CSCI 552
Roger Lin
Thursday: 5:00 - 7:00 PMElectrical and Computer Engineering
EE 109
Emily Kuo
Tuesday: 4:00 - 5:30 PM, Friday 3:30-5:00EE 141
Olivia Brasher
T: 11:50-1:50 PM, Th: 3:30-4:30 PMEE 250
Yubin Lin
Wednesday: 4:00 - 6:00 PMContact Us
For more information, feel free to email us at viterbilearningprogram@usc.edu or call us at 213.740.4530.
Once campus reopens, we will be located at Ronald Tutor Hall (RTH) 222.