Start with the problem.
Projects are grounded in pressing local and global challenges, from health and education to sustainability, peacebuilding, and the built environment.
LIVES, NOT GRADES
Work that matters beyond the classroom.
Students work across disciplines on real problems, building practical solutions with communities, researchers, industry, NGOs, and public partners rather than treating innovation as a classroom exercise.
THE PROGRAM
A lab for problem solvers.
The model combines technology with social innovation and puts students in direct contact with the people and institutions closest to the problem. The result is work that moves from research and empathy to prototypes, ventures, and field-tested solutions.
Build with people, not around them.
Affected communities, industry leaders, NGOs, government agencies, faculty, and students shape the work together.
Cross disciplines on purpose.
Students from more than 50 disciplines have participated, bringing together engineering, computing, business, policy, film, health sciences, and more.
EMMY-WINNING STORY
The work became a documentary.
The program's story was captured in the Emmy-winning documentary Lives Not Grades, which aired on PBS. The film helped carry the program's core idea beyond USC: education can be a platform for ethical leadership, critical thinking, and bold action in the real world.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Recognition that followed the work.
Students and alumni from the lab have received major fellowships, scholarships, innovation prizes, entrepreneurship awards, and national recognition for work developed through and around the program.
A shorthand recognition wall based on the program's published awards list:
Emmy-winning documentary / PBS
United Nations · Digital Solution Selection
Forbes 30 Under 30
Knight-Hennessy Scholars · Stanford
Fulbright Fellowship
Watson Institute · Planet Tech Fellows
VentureWell · Pioneer Grant
Grand Challenges Scholars · NAE
Blackstone Techstars Fellows
EdVentures Fellows
LARTA Institute · Venture Fellows
Antler · Entrepreneurs-in-Residence
President's Volunteer Service Award
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholarship
Teen Vogue · Summit Scholarship
Samvid Scholars
Los Angeles Business Journal · 20 in Their 20s
USC Stevens · Student Innovator Showcase Winner
Albert Dorman Future Leader Award · USC Viterbi
ABC Innovation Prize · USC Viterbi
The Westly Prize
Social Impact Prize
Athena Hacks
USC Valedictorian
U.S. Marine Corps Leadership Award
Sustainability Prize · USC Viterbi
Min Family Challenge
Bender-Scheman Africa Award
GO DEEPER
Explore the full Lives, Not Grades ecosystem.
The dedicated Lives Not Grades site contains the program structure, manifesto, startups, student cohorts, people, news, and application information.
Program language and recognition details on this page are adapted from the official Lives Not Grades / Global Challenges Innovation Lab website.