The Armani Lab only accepts PhD students who are on the normal admit cycle (apply in the fall and start the following fall).
2013-2014 Academic Year: There are openings for BME rotation and Chemistry entering students. Please contact Prof. Armani soon to discuss these positions. All other RA offers for the 2013-2014 academic year have been made.
2014-2015 Academic Year: It is anticipated that there will be positions for the 2014-2015 academic year.
Students interested in joining the lab must apply through USC Graduate Admissions, and should specifically indicate their interest in joining the Armani Lab in the appropriate locations in their application and in their personal statement. Students admitted to the Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering depts can easily join the group. Students admitted to the Physics and Chemistry Departments can also join the Armani Lab, but the applications are not automatically routed to Prof. Armani. Therefore, apply to the department appropriate to your background, but follow the directions outlined below.
By indicating your interest in joining the Armani lab on your application, your file will be directed to Prof. Armani after it is complete. However, it is always beneficial to contact Prof. Armani directly after applying, especially if you apply to the Physics or Chemistry departments. On this note, Prof. Armani and/or her students are not able to comment on your chance of being accepted before you have applied. This decision is made after evaluating the entire application, which includes recommendation letters. Therefore, emailing Prof. Armani and/or students before applying is strongly discouraged.
Please note that although the official deadline for applying to USC is in January, to be eligible for internal USC fellowships, it is crucial to apply by December 1st. Ideally, students will have applied by November 1st.
General comment for international students: To be admitted to the Armani Lab, it is typically necessary to have a TOEFL score above 105, a verbal/quant GRE score above 155/166 and a writing score above 4.0. More information about the average admission scores for USC is available on the USC Graduate Admissions website, above.