A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department announced that the suspect was a male student.
Officials said the student was set to be interviewed Friday night and that his name would be released after he was booked.
USC President C. L. Max Nikias identified the professor who was killed as Bosco Tjan.
Officials said Tjan was pronounced dead at the scene.
Tjan joined USC in 2001, taught in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and served as co-director of the Dornsife Cognitive Neuroimaging Center, Nikias said.
"As the Trojan family mourns Professor Tjan's untimely passing, we will keep his family in our thoughts," Nikias said.
LAPD HQ  @LAPDHQ
 USC campus secure no outstanding suspects-stabbing not a random act. Suspect is in custody.
According to the USC Department of Public Safety, the attack is believed to be the "result of a personal dispute," also stating that investigators believed the attack was not a random one.
The university's Trojans Alert emergency texting service quickly put out a message urging students, faculty and employees to stay away from the area that the attack occured.
"Police-related incident in progress at Seely G. Mudd. No danger to USC or the community. Stay away from the area," the text read.
"People talk about scientists as very cold or robotic. Bosco is a guy that he could talk to anybody about anything," Chris Purington, project manager at Tjan's lab said. "He couldn't move through a room without being sidetracked in all these conversations.
"He just had this energy about him. Kinetic might be the word," Purington added. "He had a huge impact on my life."
USC has nearly 44,000 students enrolled.