College of Engineering and Computing / en Generous gift will name School of Computing, support scholarships /news/2025-04/generous-gift-will-name-school-computing-support-scholarships <span>Generous gift will name School of Computing, support scholarships</span> <span><span>Katarina Benson</span></span> <span>Mon, 04/28/2025 - 15:31</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p><span class="intro-text">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú received a gift with an impact of $36 million from the Kimmy Duong Foundation to name the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing within the </span><a href="https://cec.gmu.edu/"><span class="intro-text">College of Engineering and Computing</span></a><span class="intro-text">. The university’s Board of Visitors approved the name change on April 1, and it will become official pending approval from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia this summer.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-04/250425503.jpg?itok=rI3Mw7_K" width="560" height="374" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p>“We are so grateful to Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong for their continued support of the College of Engineering and Computing, now culminating in this generous gift,” said Dean Ken Ball. “We are proud to steward this gift in support of our students and the commonwealth’s Tech Talent Investment Program. George Mason is honored to be part of their legacy in Northern Virginia.”</p> <p>This is not the first significant gift to George Mason from Duong and her husband, who gave $5 million in 2009 for the state-of-the-art Nguyen Engineering Building, a facility providing cutting-edge research and education spaces for a new generation of engineering, computing, and information technology professionals.</p> <p>"Kimmy Duong and Long Nguyen have been good friends to George Mason, recognizing the opportunity our university provides for students to succeed,” said George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú Gregory Washington. “Kimmy came to this country with very little and climbed her way to success, not unlike how many of our students who—whether they are first generation or come from difficult socioeconomic circumstances—overcome their own challenges. George Mason has been a leader in computing for many years, and this transformational gift will help ensure that remains the case for many more years to come.”</p> <p>The naming of the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing represents a significant milestone for Mason Now: Power the Possible, George Mason’s historic $1 billion comprehensive fundraising campaign. Designed to enhance the university’s capacity and broaden its impact, Mason Now focuses on expanding access to education, driving innovation, and deepening the university’s influence across the region and beyond.</p> <p>“This transformational gift from the Kimmy Duong Foundation marks a pivotal moment in the Mason Now campaign,” said Trishana E. Bowden, vice president for advancement and alumni relations and president of the George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú Foundation. “The naming of the School of Computing stands as a powerful testament to their belief in George Mason’s mission and their commitment to expanding access—particularly in fields that shape innovation and prepare students for the future.”</p> <p>Duong was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1945 and earned a bachelor of science in economics and law from the Âé¶ąąú˛ú of Saigon in 1966. She joined IBM in 1968, where she worked until she left the country in 1975, when she fled Vietnam and arrive in the United States with only $30.</p> <p>From a refugee camp, she traveled back to the United States, moving to Northern Virginia and continued her work with IBM. In 1994, she joined Pragmatics, where she served as vice chairwoman and CFO. For 30 years, she has overseen their finance, legal, facilities management, and human resources departments, playing a key role in the company’s continued growth.</p> <p>In 2015, she established the Kimmy Duong Foundation, which supports a range of health, education, and welfare initiatives in the United States and Vietnam. It has given more than $4 million toward scholarship programs with endowments to Washington, D.C.-area universities. According to the foundation website, “Influenced by her Buddhist background, Kimmy Duong has always been concerned about the poor and sick. Being raised in a poor family and coming to the U.S. as a refugee, Mrs. Duong knows the many challenges that poverty brings.”</p> <p>She has been awarded the Mason Medal, George Mason’s highest honorary award for service to the community, state or nation, and the Glen Martin Medal from the Âé¶ąąú˛ú of Maryland.</p> <p>“Education is the cornerstone of life,” Duong told a gathering of George Mason students, noting that many in her generation worked multiple jobs to send their children to college. “Now, we are giving back.”</p> <p>The gift will establish three endowments: two within CEC to provide lasting support for scholarships and student success initiatives—both of which support the commonwealth’s Tech Talent Investment Program—and one for Âé¶ąąú˛ú Life to provide scholarships through the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong Scholarship Endowment especially with a preference for students majoring in nursing, education, or journalism</p> <p>With some of the funds dedicated to computing-specific majors, a portion of the gift would be eligible for matching funds from the Tech Talent Investment Program, thereby amplifying the impact of the gift. The Tech Talent Investment Program of the commonwealth aims to increase the number of graduates with computing degrees and strengthen the workforce by providing financial incentives to colleges and universities that enroll and graduate more students with these skills.</p> <p>George Mason’s School of Computing is known for its strengths in computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), and software engineering. It plays a key role in Northern Virginia’s thriving tech ecosystem, particularly due to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and partnerships with major government and industry partners. Among the strengths of the school:</p> <ul><li>AI and machine learning, with strong research and academic programs in AI, robotics, and human-computer interaction.</li> <li>Designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security.</li> <li>Its analytics faculty and students engage in cutting-edge big data research, particularly in health care.</li> <li>One of the most robust software engineering programs in the region.</li> </ul></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:feature_image" data-inline-block-uuid="113738f5-5e08-494c-9679-2ef5c9c540c4" class="block block-feature-image block-layout-builder block-inline-blockfeature-image caption-below"> <div class="feature-image"> <div class="narrow-overlaid-image"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/feature_image_medium/public/2023-06/resize%202.jpg?itok=SLw0sYVu" srcset="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/feature_image_small/public/2023-06/resize%202.jpg?itok=5-C-WHn- 768w, /sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/feature_image_medium/public/2023-06/resize%202.jpg?itok=SLw0sYVu 1024w, /sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/feature_image_large/public/2023-06/resize%202.jpg?itok=vdomrnI5 1280w, " sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 80vw,100vw" alt="The World Needs Mason Now. It's time to power the possible." /></div> <div class="headline-text"> <div class="feature-image-link"> <div class="field field--name-field-feature-image-link field--type-link field--label-hidden field__item"><a href="/masonnow">Power the Possible</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="c41675d1-5ded-4475-a9bb-03b8ca949389" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-7cc8d199ff495f2c36a5de7b48915c4675f42228366bde4a165bea8a9c1ed533"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"><li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/generous-gift-will-name-school-computing-support-scholarships" hreflang="en">Generous gift will name School of Computing, support scholarships</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 28, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/computer-science-major-uses-multiple-internships-prep-dream-career-tech" hreflang="en">Computer science major uses multiple internships to prep for dream career in tech </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 10, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-02/george-masons-new-visualization-and-virtual-reality-lab-changing-how-research" hreflang="en">George Mason’s new visualization and virtual reality lab is changing how research is conducted</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">February 5, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-01/cybersecurity-students-prepare-inaugural-districtcon-hacker-conference" hreflang="en">Cybersecurity students prepare for inaugural DistrictCon Hacker Conference </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">January 27, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-01/advancing-sensor-tech-foggy-situations" hreflang="en">Advancing sensor tech for foggy situations </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">January 13, 2025</div></div></li> </ul></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/116" hreflang="en">Campus News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17931" hreflang="en">Mason Now campaign</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4066" hreflang="en">Tech Talent Investment Program (TTIP)</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Mon, 28 Apr 2025 19:31:52 +0000 Katarina Benson 117006 at This campus greenhouse is powered by the sun—and student innovation /news/2025-04/campus-greenhouse-powered-sun-and-student-innovation <span>This campus greenhouse is powered by the sun—and student innovation</span> <span><span>Lauren Reuscher</span></span> <span>Wed, 04/23/2025 - 13:11</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="intro-text">Gardening season is here, and those with green thumbs are preparing their planting strategy for the season. In any garden, plants need basic essentials to grow: sunlight, soil or nutrients, air, and water. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="intro-text">Through a new solar array at George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú’s Fairfax Campus, the sun will play double duty in the successful growth of plants. Solar energy will power the Presidents Park Greenhouse with the electricity it needs to support the plants growing inside.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-04/220727511.jpg?itok=dq4blNH1" width="560" height="373" alt="Doni Nolan, greenhouse manager, lifts the tray holding some plants to see the roots beneath them in the President's Park Greenhouse" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>The Presidents Park Greenhouse uses hydroponics and aquaponics to grow produce on campus. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p class="MsoNormal"><span>Designed by student researchers and partially funded by a research grant, the solar array will help offset the energy consumption for the equipment and temperature controls in the greenhouse, which uses hydroponics and aquaponics to grow produce on campus.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>A team of 10 George Mason student researchers applied for support from the </span><a href="https://green.gmu.edu/patriot-green-fund/"><span>Patriot Green Fund</span></a><span>, an annual sustainability fund provided by Facilities and Campus Operations to make George Mason’s campuses more sustainable through infrastructure improvements. The Patriot Green Fund covers $20,000 of the total $185,000 project cost. The remainder of the budget is provided by Facilities and Campus Operations.</span></p> <blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span>“This student-led project is designed to reduce electricity costs, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and provide educational and volunteer opportunities for the George Mason community,” said Demin Zhu, Patriot Green Fund program manager with Âé¶ąąú˛ú Sustainability.</span></p> </blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>The Presidents Park Greenhouse operates year-round and produces approximately 1,000 pounds of fresh lettuce and salad greens annually, which are served on campus at Ike's dining hall. Other fruits, vegetables, and herbs are donated to the George Mason community through free produce pickups.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-04/group_photo_greenhouse.jpg?itok=DXBFS20E" width="560" height="373" alt="Student research team stands together in front of the President's Park Greenhouse" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>A team of 10 George Mason student researchers applied for support from the <a href="https://green.gmu.edu/patriot-green-fund/">Patriot Green Fund</a>, an annual sustainability fund provided by Facilities and Campus Operations to make George Mason’s campuses more sustainable through infrastructure improvements. Photo provided</figcaption></figure><p class="MsoNormal"><span>Students are a driving force behind greenhouse operations, working inside for service hours, internships, and experiential learning. They have the opportunity to learn about the greenhouse’s </span><a href="https://green.gmu.edu/campus-sustainability/campus-gardens/presidents-park-greenhouse/hydroponic-food-production/"><span>hydroponic and aquaponic food production systems</span></a><span>.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>“The electricity from the solar panels will feed into the greenhouse to power our fans, pumps, cooling system, and grow lights,” said Doni Nolan, greenhouse and gardens program manager with Âé¶ąąú˛ú Sustainability. “The electrical equipment helps us grow lettuce, baby greens, tomatoes and more in the greenhouse to provide local sustainable ingredients to our dining halls.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>The ground-mounted solar panels will be installed outside the greenhouse and are expected to offset more than 80% of the electricity it requires. The solar array is estimated to produce more than 22,000 kWh per year. The panels will reduce the building’s annual greenhouse gas impact by 13.8 metric tons of CO<sub>2</sub>, which is about equal to the carbon footprint of 2.2 typical single-family homes.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/14968728-3183-4dbf-b17f-0629beaabf55.jpg?itok=c9B8CLs8" width="350" height="263" alt="Contractors work to complete a concrete pad behind a chain link fence in Presidents Park to accommodate the solar array" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>The concrete pad under construction will accommodate the new solar array for the Presidents Park Greenhouse. Photo provided</figcaption></figure><p class="MsoNormal"><span>The students developed the project under the guidance of several George Mason faculty and staff, including Nolan, Christy Hogan, who is senior director of university asset management in Facilities and Campus Operations, and Colin Reagle, an associate professor in the </span><a href="https://mechanical.gmu.edu/"><span>Department of Mechanical Engineering</span></a><span>. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>George Mason currently has one other on-campus solar array, at Mason Square. Vertical solar panels on the face of Fuse demonstrate how a solar array can be integrated into a building’s design in an urban setting. A vertical solar array requires less space and captures sunlight from multiple directions throughout the day. The array produces about 1% of the electricity used by the building and is part of a </span><a href="https://masonsquare.gmu.edu/fuse"><span>range of sustainable features</span></a><span> that help Fuse meet LEED Platinum standards. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>The installation at President’s Park expected to be complete by early June. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Crystal Bowers, BS Mechanical Engineering ’23, was one of the students who led the solar array project during her time at George Mason.</span></p> <blockquote><p class="MsoNormal"><span>“Working on the Solar Greenhouse Project was one of the most impactful experiences of my time at George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú,” said Bowers. “It not only deepened my understanding of sustainable infrastructure and project management, but also demonstrated the power of collaboration in transforming ideas into tangible, lasting change on campus.” </span></p> </blockquote> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="155a9a79-0169-4c7d-8538-9e412916b2b2"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://green.gmu.edu/campus-sustainability/campus-gardens/"> <h4 class="cta__title">Learn more about the Greenhouse and Gardens <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="284399ca-dc8f-4a7e-8b7e-e3a5c0bc37da" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Read More Like This</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-05fd885b534d0d1a95b2bd4a98501e191a20396c424c4e5460bc95d9aa05ce3d"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"><li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a 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data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/116" hreflang="en">Campus News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17696" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/911" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7601" hreflang="en">Patriot Green Fund</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/19091" hreflang="en">Âé¶ąąú˛ú Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4706" hreflang="en">mechanical engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/18291" hreflang="en">Mason as a Living Lab</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> </div> <div> </div> </div> Wed, 23 Apr 2025 17:11:48 +0000 Lauren Reuscher 116911 at George Mason bioengineering team’s start-up is the next wave of athletic rehabilitation and performance /news/2025-04/george-mason-bioengineering-teams-start-next-wave-athletic-rehabilitation-and <span>George Mason bioengineering team’s start-up is the next wave of athletic rehabilitation and performance</span> <span><span>Shayla Brown</span></span> <span>Tue, 04/22/2025 - 17:09</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW198861940 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW198861940 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Based on their years of research studying how student-athletes move, George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú </span><a href="https://bioengineering.gmu.edu/"><span class="TextRun SCXW198861940 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">bioengineering</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW198861940 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> professors Parag Chitnis and Siddhartha Sikdar have created </span><a href="/news/2025-03/center-advancing-systems-science-and-bioengineering-innovation-cassbi-takes-new-focus"><span class="TextRun SCXW198861940 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">a start-up called Myokinetics LLC</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW198861940 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> with the goal of providing personalized rehabilitation programs for injured athletes that can help them recover faster and prevent them from getting injured in the future.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-04/patriot_perfomance_lab.jpg?itok=vC45a8Jb" width="380" height="560" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Erica King (left) and researcher testing the Myokinetics device. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding.</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW211609350 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">This effort builds on more than $5 million in funding from the Department of Defense for developing wearable ultrasound technologies that help rehabilitate musculoskeletal injuries through a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs grant, and two Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium awards, which is a funding mechanism that supports fast translation and development of new technologies relevant for military health.</span><span class="EOP SCXW211609350 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW211609350 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">For the past 10 years, Chitnis and Sikdar have been developing the </span><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Myokinetics</span><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> device “to understand not only when musculoskeletal injuries occur, but to help track the recovery process from the injury as well as prevent re-injury,” said Chitnis, who along with Sikdar, co-directs George Mason’s</span><s><span class="TrackChangeTextDeletionMarker TrackedChange SCXW211609350 BCX0 TextRun NormalTextRun TrackChangeTextDeletion" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span></s><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI), formerly the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions. </span><span class="EOP SCXW211609350 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW211609350 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Their device personalizes the treatments and rehabilitation that's provided so that users can recover in the most optimal manner. Chitnis and Sikdar are also working with multiple collaborators including George Mason PhD students, </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW211609350 BCX0" href="https://gomason.com/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">George Mason Athletics</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, and the </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW211609350 BCX0" href="https://cehd.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">College of Education and Human Development</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW211609350 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> (CEHD). </span><span class="EOP SCXW211609350 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW198861940 BCX0"><a class="Hyperlink SCXW118993472 BCX0" href="https://cehd.gmu.edu/people/faculty/mjones1/" target="_blank"><span class="FieldRange SCXW118993472 BCX0 TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange TextRun Underlined NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Margaret T. Jones</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW118993472 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> is the director of the Patriot Performance Lab within CEHD’s </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW118993472 BCX0" href="https://csm.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW118993472 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Center for Sport Management</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW118993472 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">. The lab conducts research and provides services that focus on athlete health and performance. </span><span class="EOP SCXW118993472 BCX0"> </span><span class="TextRun SCXW198861940 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="EOP SCXW198861940 BCX0"> </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-04/jones_and_students.jpg?itok=_tf_fxB4" width="412" height="560" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Margaret T. Jones (center right) with student athletes. Photo provided.</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW260576776 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW260576776 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“The wearable ultrasound allows you to look at what the muscles are doing underneath the skin when they contract and what the contraction looks like,” said Jones, who has been working with the George Mason men’s and women’s volleyball teams since August 2024. </span><span class="EOP SCXW260576776 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW260576776 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW260576776 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“The research methods vary based on the sport, but [the volleyball players] wear the ultrasound device and we go to their practice facility once a week. Since the sport involves a lot of jumping, we have them jump on what's called a force plate, which is sort of a fancy scale, and collect data to share with the bioengineering team that way,” she said. </span><span class="EOP SCXW260576776 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW260576776 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW260576776 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">In addition, Jones and the team monitor the athletes during their practices and games via the wearable microsensor, which assist in the interpretation of their findings from the weekly jumps and ultrasound tests.</span><span class="EOP SCXW260576776 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">As the team’s research scientist, fourth-year PhD bioengineering student Erica King, BS Bioengineering ’21, works closely with Jones and the Patriot Performance Lab. </span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“I’m using the device for specific applications and testing and validating against other gold standards that are currently in the market,” said King, who spent all four years of her undergrad on George Mason’s </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW92738935 BCX0" href="https://gomason.com/sports/womens-swimming-and-diving" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">women’s swim and dive</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> team.</span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“I've seen my fair share of injuries as an athlete, either my own or my friends, and it’s a continuous cycle. You'll rehabilitate the injury, feel better, and then when you go back to your sport or activity, you'll get injured again,” said King, who was in the Honors College. </span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“Being able to have a device to help understand what's going on at the muscle level during your rehabilitation to ensure that you're doing the exercises correctly to get the desired results and perform your sport while mitigating the risk of reinjury is so beneficial,” she said.</span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Partner collaborators include North Carolina State Âé¶ąąú˛ú, </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Cephasonics</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> Ultrasound, and Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT). IBT CEO Rahul </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Kaliki</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> is also a co-founder of </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Myokinetics</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> LLC. </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/e250417103_0.jpg?itok=B7pWgfDX" width="269" height="350" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>A close up of the device. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding.</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“At CASSBI, different people and resources are pulled in to work on multidisciplinary projects like this one. This collaboration enables a lot of iterative prototyping efforts, which would not have been possible without the center,” said Abhishek Aher, MS Bioengineering ’24.</span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“I would like to see the </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Myokinetics</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> device being used nationwide on the fields of major sports leagues. This should enable more metrics for the players,” said Aher, who is the </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Myokinetics</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> team’s research engineer. </span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“For example, metrics such as how many points a player scored or how many </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 ContextualSpellingAndGrammarError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">minutes</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> they ran are discussed pregame or postgame, but with our device, </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Myokinetic</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> metrics can become an essential conversation point. That’s where I would like to see this go in the next five years,” he said. </span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">King hopes to continue researching human performance after injury and focus on the most safe and effective ways that athletes can get back to their optimal performance.</span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW92738935 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“I hope to stick with </span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Myokinetics</span><span class="TextRun SCXW92738935 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> and implement the devices and the metrics that we're currently developing into the rehabilitation setting. This is for the general population, but athletes will always have a special place in my heart,” said King.</span><span class="EOP SCXW92738935 BCX0"> </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/ssikdar" hreflang="und">Siddhartha Sikdar</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/pchitnis" hreflang="und">Parag Chitnis</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:text" data-inline-block-uuid="83ff86b8-405b-4034-b7bd-36c1b6e9820a" class="block 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of Education and Human Development</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/761" hreflang="en">Mason Athletics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/821" hreflang="en">Honors College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2231" hreflang="en">Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/271" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:09:36 +0000 Shayla Brown 116881 at 4-VA team studies wastewater treatment systems /news/2025-04/4-va-team-studies-wastewater-treatment-systems <span>4-VA team studies wastewater treatment systems </span> <span><span>Katarina Benson</span></span> <span>Wed, 04/16/2025 - 12:17</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><em><span>Editor’s note: This story references a grant awarded in 2023. Furst is now  at 4Va partner school Virginia Tech.</span></em></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">One of the most pressing issues in human and ecological health is the abundance of poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and phthalate esters (PAEs) in our ecosystem—two classes of synthetic chemicals known as “forever chemicals.” In addition to their destructive nature affecting wildlife, soil, and agriculture, they are also responsible for causing human health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, fertility issues, and cancer.</span><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0 intro-text"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">While scientists worldwide are racing to learn more about how to combat PFAS and PAEs in a variety of settings, George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú researcher </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW183743902 BCX0" href="https://ise.gmu.edu/faculty-directory/kirin-e-furst-phd/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Kirin Emlet Furst</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> has been focused on PFAS AND PAEs in water treatment and wastewater reuse.  </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/furst_treatment_plant.jpg?itok=dsn4SmIy" width="263" height="350" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Working at the site. Photo provided</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Furst, an assistant professor in George Mason’s </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW183743902 BCX0" href="https://civil.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Department</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, reasoned that wastewater treatment facilities are a major avenue through which PFAS and PAEs can contaminate drinking water and air, as many of these compounds are insufficiently removed by typical treatment processes. Furst specifically wanted to explore the air-water interface. PFAS have a high surface activity, which results in their attraction to the air-water interface. And while PAEs have a lower surface activity, they might be attracted to other materials that accumulate at the air-water interface. Research in full-scale treatment systems was needed to understand these interactions.</span><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">The 4-VA@George Mason Advisory Board recognized the importance of this research and awarded Furst’s 4-VA proposal, “The role of the air-water interface in breakthrough of PFAS and phthalate esters during wastewater treatment.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Joining Furst in the research was 4-VA partner </span><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Zhiwu</span><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> (Drew) Wang, a specialist in wastewater treatment and biological processes at Virginia Tech. Furst also tapped Mason graduate student Meghana Kuppa who was already developing analytical methods to measure PFAS and PAEs. Ethan Gasper, an undergraduate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, assisted Kuppa with much of the bench work on the project.</span><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0"> </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/meghana_at_sink.jpg?itok=juzKCy2T" width="350" height="256" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Meghana Kuppa using the sink. Photo provided</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Kuppa collected water samples and scum, which is the material that accumulates at the air-water interface, from process unit tanks at a wastewater treatment plant to measure the target contaminants and water quality parameters known to impact partitioning behavior. Their goal? Quantify the role of the air-water interface in enabling breakthrough of PFAS and PAEs in wastewater treatment facilities and identify potential engineering solutions.</span><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW183743902 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW183743902 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Although developing the complex methodologies for the project was a challenge, several important outcomes were realized. First, high levels of multiple PFAS were found in the scum from both the primary and secondary treatment processes. The team concluded that the PFAS levels in the primary scum samples were much higher than they could accurately measure due to interference from particulates and oily substances in the water. However, analysis of the secondary treatment determined any PFAS present are more likely to be found in the treated water and may also contaminate the facility air.</span><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0"> </span></p> <p><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0">While fewer PAEs were found in the scum samples, Kuppa’s experiments show that phthalates can bind to organic material in the scum. This may contribute to the difficulty in removing phthalates during wastewater treatment.</span></p> <p><span class="EOP SCXW183743902 BCX0">“The 4-VA award empowered my group to pursue this new line of research and helped to support Kuppa’s innovative thesis projects,” said Furst. </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="08422752-7412-4cda-852a-c853b284f1bf"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://cec.gmu.edu/"> <h4 class="cta__title">Explore more from the College of Engineering and Computing <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="474abe6b-92c2-446d-834a-1d71423096e2" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-85ad7c0b453aa2e8728c74aa286e508ad5d928b170812ff2e6ddacba06ed4404"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"><li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/generous-gift-will-name-school-computing-support-scholarships" hreflang="en">Generous gift will name School of Computing, support scholarships</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 28, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/campus-greenhouse-powered-sun-and-student-innovation" hreflang="en">This campus greenhouse is powered by the sun—and student innovation</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 25, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/george-mason-bioengineering-teams-start-next-wave-athletic-rehabilitation-and" hreflang="en">George Mason bioengineering team’s start-up is the next wave of athletic rehabilitation and performance</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 22, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/4-va-team-studies-wastewater-treatment-systems" hreflang="en">4-VA team studies wastewater treatment systems </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 17, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/announcing-recipients-2025-presidential-awards-faculty-excellence" hreflang="en">Announcing the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 16, 2025</div></div></li> </ul></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/9201" hreflang="en">4-VA at Mason</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/271" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Wed, 16 Apr 2025 16:17:50 +0000 Katarina Benson 116621 at Announcing the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence /news/2025-04/announcing-recipients-2025-presidential-awards-faculty-excellence <span>Announcing the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence</span> <span><span>Lauren Reuscher</span></span> <span>Mon, 04/14/2025 - 10:49</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p><span class="intro-text">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú President Gregory Washington has announced the recipients of the 2025 </span><a href="https://president.gmu.edu/award-faculty-excellence" target="_blank"><span class="intro-text">Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence</span></a><span class="intro-text">, honoring 12 George Mason faculty members for their work on behalf of the university, students, and the broader community.</span></p> <hr /><p><span>The awards honor faculty with up to six years of service, six to 12 years of service, and more than 12 years of service.</span></p> <p><span>This is the ninth year for the Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence. Recipients are selected by a review committee that includes prior award recipients and senior leaders from relevant areas. They will be honored at a reception May 13.</span></p> <blockquote><p><span>“Faculty excellence is an undeniable reason why George Mason is consistently ranked as one the country’s top 50 public universities,” President Gregory Washington said. “We honor these faculty members’ scholarship and dedication to help students achieve their highest potential with the university’s highest faculty recognition.”</span></p> </blockquote> <p><span><strong>The John Toups Presidential Medal for Excellence in Teaching </strong>is presented to a faculty member whose teaching inspires and stimulates students in the finest tradition of higher education.</span></p> <p><span><strong>The Beck Family Presidential Medal for Excellence in Research </strong>recognizes extraordinary contributions by members of the Mason faculty to consequential research of high impact. The award is presented annually to a George Mason faculty member whose research represents groundbreaking advances in their field.</span></p> <p><span><strong>The United Bank Presidential Medal for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion </strong>recognizes extraordinary contributions in teaching, research, scholarship, creative works, or service that directly advances diversity and inclusion inside and outside the George Mason community.</span></p> <p><span><strong>The Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Excellence in Social Impact </strong>is presented to a faculty member in any discipline who makes extraordinary efforts to use their scholarship to solve real-world problems.</span></p> <p><span>The complete list of 2025 honorees is below. See </span><a href="https://president.gmu.edu/faculty-awards/recipients/past-recipients" target="_blank"><span>prior recipients</span></a><span> for 2017 to 2024.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/bethanycieslowskiwebsite_ho.jpg?itok=GND5FSR8" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Bethany Cieslowski" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Bethany Cieslowski</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Bethany Cieslowski</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Chief Innovation Officer for Immersive Technologies and Instructional Associate Professor, School of Nursing </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Bethany Cieslowski joined the faculty of the School of Nursing as an instructional faculty member in 2021. </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">She serves as the chief innovation officer for immersive technologies and the bachelor of science in nursing director in the </span><a href="https://publichealth.gmu.edu/"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">College of Public Health</span></a><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">. Since 2017, when she received the Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE) certification, she has devoted herself to educating the nursing workforce of the future using simulation and technology. </span><span>Cieslowski has been a pioneer at George Mason in the use of virtual reality (VR) simulations that immerse students in clinical nursing scenarios. To aid this effort she established the College of Public Health’s </span><a href="https://publichealth.gmu.edu/academics/lab-immersive-technologies-and-simulation"><span>VR SIM lab</span></a><span>, which is the first lab in the country to receive accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare for the use of immersive technologies in medical scenarios. </span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/angela_miller_140325715.jpg?itok=6B05zS5Y" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Angela Miller" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Angela Miller</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">John Toups Presidential Medal for Excellence in Teaching Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Angela Miller</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Development </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Angela Miller is an associate professor in the </span><a href="https://cehd.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Education and Human Development</span></a><span>. Her primary teaching focus is on quantitative research methods. She has taught 13 different courses in her time at George Mason, and she took the lead in redesigning the research methods curriculum for PhD students and developed three new courses to that end. While her own teaching has been focused on the graduate level, she took a lead role in developing, teaching, and now mentoring graduate students and other faculty in an undergraduate statistics course that is part of the Mason Core for Quantitative Reasoning. Miller makes deliberate efforts to tailor her instruction to the unique needs of her students and she consistently receives outstanding evaluations. She has made significant contributions to graduate mentoring, having chaired six dissertation committees, served as the methodologist on an additional 18 dissertation committees, and chaired six MA thesis committees, as well as an additional 16 MA capstone projects. She was also a recipient of the 2017 George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú Teaching Excellence Award.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/weiwen_jiang_240314553.jpg?itok=o-3kkoIt" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Weiwen Jiang" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Weiwen Jiang</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Research Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Weiwen Jiang</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Weiwen Jiang, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the </span><a href="https://cec.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Engineering and Computing</span></a><span>, received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Âé¶ąąú˛ú of Pittsburgh in 2019 and spent two years at the Âé¶ąąú˛ú of Notre Dame as a postdoctoral researcher. Jiang’s research </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">is in the relatively new field of quantum computing, which uses quantum mechanics to enable computers to solve more complicated problems. Jiang’s research has important applications. For example, one of his recent papers combines quantum computational techniques with machine learning to solve problems relating to the discovery of new medicines. </span><span>Jiang has an impressive research record of top-tier conference presentations and publications, some of which are in the most selective journals in his field (</span><em><span>Nature Communications</span></em><span>, </span><em><span>Nature Electronics</span></em><span>, </span><em><span>Scientific Reports</span></em><span>). </span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/230322358_xuesu_xiao_crop.jpg?itok=8-ImriuG" width="176" height="220" alt="Xuesu Xiao head shot" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Xuesu Xiao</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Research Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Xuesu Xiao </span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Xuesu Xiao received his PhD in Computer Science in 2019 from Texas A&M Âé¶ąąú˛ú, and after three years in industry as a roboticist with Everyday Robots, an Alphabet/Google company, he joined the Computer Science Department in the </span><a href="https://cec.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Engineering and Computing</span></a><span>. </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">His research aims to develop intelligent mobile robots that can navigate in challenging terrain with minimal human oversight. His cutting-edge work in the field of social robot navigation seeks to develop robots that can navigate human-occupied public spaces safely while respecting social norms. </span><span>At George Mason, he established the RobotiXX Lab, in which he works with postdocs, graduate students, and high school students to develop deployable robots. An outstanding researcher, he was awarded the New Generation Star recognition at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Robotics and Automation.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/aarthi_narayanan_230329105.jpg?itok=YKLnDO5v" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Aarthi Narayanan" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Aarthi Narayanan</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Research Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Aarthi Narayanan</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Professor, Biology Department</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Aarthi Narayanan joined the George Mason faculty as a tenure-line faculty in 2013 after spending six years at the National Centre for Biosecurity and Infectious Disease. She is currently a professor in the Biology Department in the </span><a href="https://science.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Science</span></a><span>. Her research focuses on the impact of viruses–including SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Dengue, and HIV–on disease progression at the tissue and cell level. Her work has led to important discoveries in vaccine development, drug discovery, and biomarker identification for infectious diseases. Narayanan has an exceptional record of publications and external funding for her research. Moreover, she has been an exemplary citizen of the university and her profession. She has been a dedicated mentor to emerging scientists in academic and industry settings; a leader in mentoring junior faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and students; a vital contributor to curriculum development for undergraduate and graduate programs; and dedicated to outreach to the local community, participating in STEM programs for girls.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/allison_redlich_210728502.jpg?itok=2jPH83ov" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Allison Redlich" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Allison Redlich</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">The Beck Family Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Research Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Allison Redlich </span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Professor, Criminology, Law and Society Department</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Founder and Director, Modeling Decision-Making in the Legal System (MoDiLS) Lab</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Allison Redlich is a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society in the </span><a href="https://chss.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Humanities and Social Sciences</span></a><span> and is the founder and director of George Mason’s Modeling Decision-Making in the Legal System (MoDiLS) Lab. </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Her research is deeply interdisciplinary. Trained in psychology, she brings insights from that field to address critical issues facing the legal system. For example, she has published influential research about interrogations and confessions in police and military contexts. This scholarship has been widely cited in amicus briefs to states and the Supreme Court, and Redlich herself has provided expert testimony in important cases involving contested confessions. She has produced similarly influential research on topics such as guilty pleas and mental health courts. Her work is credited with transforming scholarly thinking on these topics, and by all accounts is having a significant impact on current practices within the legal system. A prolific scholar and researcher, she </span><span>has been elected a Fellow to the three most influential organizations in her academic fields: the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Academy of Experimental Criminology. Redlich has also distinguished herself as a mentor and has received mentoring awards from George Mason and from the American Society of Criminology and the American Psychology-Law Society.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/daphne_king_-_faculty_profileho.png?itok=2CmgUlib" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Daphne King" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Daphne King</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Daphne King</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Assistant Professor, Social Work Department</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Daphne King joined the faculty at George Mason’s Department of Social Work in the </span><a href="https://publichealth.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Public Health</span></a><span> in 2020 as an assistant professor and also serves as the MSW Online Program director. Prior to arriving at George Mason, she had an impactful career as a social worker working with individuals experiencing mental health challenges, with homeless and incarcerated populations, and in school social work settings. King’s scholarship and national contributions focus on the intersection of social work practice, clinician identity, and pedagogical strategies. Within the Social Work Department at George Mason, she has been proactive in providing leadership in course development, course refresh processes, and faculty training, particularly around online teaching to ensure that there is adequate support for diverse learners in digital and hybrid learning environments. </span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/janani_umamaheswar_dsc5648.jpg?itok=qArbIOrh" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Janani Umamaheswar" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Janani Umamaheswar</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Janani Umamaheswar</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Associate Professor, Criminology, Law and Society </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Janani Umamaheswar joined the Department of Criminology, Law and Society in 2021 as an assistant professor in the </span><a href="https://chss.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Humanities and Social Sciences</span></a><span>. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Women and Gender Studies Program. </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">She is an accomplished scholar whose research addresses issues relating to social inequality, punishment and incarceration, and qualitative research methods. </span><span>In her teaching she makes a point to include a broad range of perspectives on whatever subject matter she is teaching, and in her course design she creates assessment methods that give students of diverse backgrounds and viewpoints the opportunity to share their learning in different modalities. She has also created experiential co-curricular activities designed to help students grasp issues relating to inequality. For example, she worked with the Douglass Project, the country’s foremost prison visitation program, to take George Mason graduate students for a guided dialogue session in the Washington, D.C., jail. She has been an active member of the mentoring programs run by multiple divisions of the American Society of Criminology. </span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/jacqueline_mcdowell_240314538.jpg?itok=rrlnPWNb" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot for Jacqueline McDowell" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Jacqueline McDowell</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">United Bank Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Jacqueline McDowell</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Associate Professor, School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Assistant Dean for Faculty Success</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Jacqueline McDowell is assistant dean for faculty success and associate professor in the School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management in the </span><a href="https://cehd.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Education and Human Development</span></a><span>. A well-respected scholar, her work focuses primarily on diversity and inclusion in organized sports and recreation organizations. She has published widely in this field, particularly on the experiences of women and sport, such as athletic administrators and coaches. One of her articles was awarded the 2017 President’s Award for Article of Distinction at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. In McDowell’s teaching, issues of inclusion are central. She has also been active in advancing inclusion in her professional service, both here at George Mason and in external professional organizations. For example, she serves on the American Kinesiology Association’s Membership Committee, where she has led efforts to bring more Historically Black Colleges and Universities into the field by developing outreach strategies. Due to the effectiveness of these efforts, she was asked to chair this committee for the American Kinesiology Association.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/margarita_tadevosyan_161207550.jpg?itok=JPFc14Km" width="176" height="220" alt="Head shot of Margarita Tadevosyan" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Margarita Tadevosyan</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Social Impact Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Margarita Tadevosyan</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Research Assistant Professor and Executive Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Margarita Tadevosyan received her PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú in 2019 and is a research assistant professor and executive director of the Center for Peacemaking Practice at the </span><a href="https://carterschool.gmu.edu/"><span>Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution</span></a><span>. She is a scholar-practitioner of conflict resolution and </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">local peacebuilding, with a focus on South Caucasus and other post-Soviet areas. Specifically, she focuses on long-term peacebuilding, local conceptions of peace, local practices to build peace, and ways that international and local peacebuilders can work together respectfully. </span><span>Tadevosyan’s social impact involves fostering dialogue and cooperation between communities that have experienced long-standing conflicts. She has also brought Carter School students into her work as co-planners, co-facilitators, and co-evaluators of conflict resolution and media literacy programs. </span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/susan_bio_photoho.png?itok=GiXuLR-O" width="150" height="188" alt="Head shot of Susan Howard" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Susan Howard</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Faculty Excellence in Social Impact Award Recipient</span></h5> <h5><span>Susan Howard</span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Instructional Associate Professor, School of Integrative Studies </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>Susan Howard joined George Mason as a full-time faculty member in the School of Integrative Studies in the </span><a href="https://chss.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Humanities and Social Sciences</span></a><span> in 2016. Howard is an educator, behavioral scientist, and entrepreneur-innovator who leverages and humanizes technology for social impact. Her teaching, research, and entrepreneurial focus is broad, ranging from global health to environmental science and design thinking. Her impact beyond the university has come primarily through the free digital gaming platform that her company has produced for an audience of marginalized youth in India and Nepal. The games, which are free to play, are designed to educate youth about the social and public health decisions they face in their own lives. To extend the impact of her work, Howard has formed partnerships with stakeholders in the adolescent health sector, including NGOs, women entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. Howard’s gaming platform, “Games of Choice, Not of Chance,” has received multiple accolades for its work, including the 2024 Innovation Award at the Global Digital Health Summit.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/media_library/public/2025-04/160914653-x2_rebecca_goldin_2_crop.jpg?itok=QE0uUHDy" width="176" height="220" alt="Rebecca Goldin head shot" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Rebecca Goldin</figcaption></figure><h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Social Impact</span></h5> <h5><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Rebecca Goldin </span></h5> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">Professor, Mathematical Sciences </span></p> <p><span>Rebecca Goldin is Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences in the </span><a href="https://science.gmu.edu/"><span>College of Science</span></a><span>. For many years she has served as a driving force behind a global effort aimed at promoting statistical literacy among journalists and connecting the scientific community to the media. </span><span lang="EN" xml:lang="EN" xml:lang="EN">In that capacity she has written more than 100 articles, appeared in dozens of high-profile news shows and podcasts (CNN, NPR, ABC News, and PBS), and given a great number of public talks and interviews to audiences at major conferences and mathematics festivals. </span><span>In addition to her far-reaching communication and outreach efforts, Goldin has done extensive volunteer work locally. Her efforts have been widely recognized by professional organizations in her field. In 2013, she was given the Association for Women in Mathematics Service Award for her contributions to the cause of educating women and girls in mathematics. In 2019, she was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, an extraordinary honor that goes to only a few mathematics scholars per year, for both her scholarly contributions to the field of differential geometry and for her efforts to promote mathematical and statistical thinking to a wide audience.</span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="99abe1cd-6b17-45a9-8250-12ab98b7699c"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://president.gmu.edu/award-faculty-excellence"> <h4 class="cta__title">About the Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"> <div class="field field--name-field-cta-icon field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Icon</div> <div class="field__item"><div> <div class="field 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<div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/206" hreflang="en">Faculty and Staff News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/5636" hreflang="en">presidential awards for faculty excellence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17226" hreflang="en">College of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/191" hreflang="en">College of Education and Human Development</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/291" hreflang="en">College of Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/391" hreflang="en">College of Humanities and Social Sciences</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1241" hreflang="en">Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2006" hreflang="en">School of Integrative Studies</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6746" hreflang="en">School of Nursing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/116" hreflang="en">Campus News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/19046" hreflang="en">C-TASC</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> </div> <div> </div> </div> Mon, 14 Apr 2025 14:49:41 +0000 Lauren Reuscher 116571 at Computer science major uses multiple internships to prep for dream career in tech /news/2025-04/computer-science-major-uses-multiple-internships-prep-dream-career-tech <span>Computer science major uses multiple internships to prep for dream career in tech </span> <span><span>Katarina Benson</span></span> <span>Wed, 04/09/2025 - 14:27</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú </span><a href="https://cs.gmu.edu/"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">computer science</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> major Nasrin Ali has a unique accomplishment—she has completed two internships with Microsoft and begins her third this summer. She was part of the Xbox team, first as a</span><span class="TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><strong> </strong></span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">product manager and software engineer explore intern</span><span class="TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><strong> </strong></span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">and then as a software engineering intern. This summer she’ll be a technical program management intern. </span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0 intro-text"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Ali's interest in computer science began in </span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun CommentStart" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">sixth grade</span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> in Prince George’s County, Maryland, when she participated in Technovation Girls, a program that teaches girls to become tech entrepreneurs and leaders through learning to code mobile apps. She fell in love with the subject. In high school she participated in Columbia Âé¶ąąú˛ú’s Girls in STEM Initiative, Kode with </span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Klossy</span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, Exelon STEM Academy, Google Code Next, Jane Street Unboxed, and Google Computer Science Summer Institute.</span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span><span>Recognizing her high level of motivation, she joined George Mason's </span><a href="http://honorscollege.gmu.edu/" target="_blank" title="http://honorscollege.gmu.edu">Honors College</a><span> upon admission.</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">When she was a freshman at George Mason, a LinkedIn recruiter found her profile and reached out to her to encourage her to apply to the Microsoft Explore internship program. The program, a 12-week summer internship designed for freshmen and sophomores that focuses on software development, changed her life.</span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-04/image.jpeg?itok=eYUPkyZv" width="373" height="560" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Ali at Microsoft. Photo provided</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“My internships didn’t just shape my career—they shaped me.” she said. “They gave me clarity, connections, and experiences I never would’ve gotten otherwise. I learned so much about my work style, what </span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun AdvancedProofingIssueV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">actually excites</span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> me, and the different types of work I can see myself doing long term. And beyond just personal growth, you get to do work that actually matters. Seeing something you worked on ship, getting feedback from real users, or just knowing you contributed to something bigger—it’s a crazy feeling.” At Microsoft, she worked on front-end development. Her teams created an AI-generated game description feature for Xbox.com and worked to improve user experiences and Xbox’s game concept submission process. </span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Ali is also extremely involved on campus, which she credits with improving her confidence and people skills.</span><span class="TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><strong> </strong></span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">She has served as president of the National Society of Black Engineers, president of Minorities in Computing, vice president of the Black Student Alliance, and secretary of the Black, African, and Caribbean Heritage Coalition. She was also a student athlete, serving as coxswain of the women’s rowing team, and a Resident Assistant.</span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“To me, these organizations mean everything. I am very passionate about art, STEM, and community building. Being a part of them, whether as a leader or a member, has allowed me to advocate for underrepresented communities in the STEM field, build communities on campus, and bring opportunities to my peers,” she said. </span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Alongside her school and work commitments, she’s a part of Rewriting the Code and </span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">ColorStack</span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, nonprofit organizations that focus on uplifting minorities in tech, is a mentor in the Head Start organization, and works as an </span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">EduTutorVA</span><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> tutor. She is also a participant in Break Through Tech’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning Program, where she worked on a project for NestlĂ© and is currently competing in the Equitable AI for Dermatology Challenge that focuses on building AI models that promote fairness in dermatology.</span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW14208627 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW14208627 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">In the future, she hopes to find a career that combines what she loves: tech, law, creativity, and giving back. “And on a more personal note, I fully plan on having a really nice garden in my yard.” </span><span class="EOP SCXW14208627 BCX0"> </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:text" data-inline-block-uuid="aa3c1844-067f-4f34-b534-ba3510e88171" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocktext"> </div> <div 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class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/721" hreflang="en">internships</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4066" hreflang="en">Tech Talent Investment Program (TTIP)</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/821" hreflang="en">Honors College</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:27:11 +0000 Katarina Benson 116531 at George Mason ranks among Top 50 graduate programs nationally in engineering, public policy, and other fields /news/2025-04/george-mason-ranks-among-top-50-graduate-programs-nationally-engineering-public-policy <span>George Mason ranks among Top 50 graduate programs nationally in engineering, public policy, and other fields </span> <span><span>Colleen Rich</span></span> <span>Mon, 04/07/2025 - 15:40</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="intro-text">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú ranked among the top 5 in Virginia across all 25 categories in the engineering, law, nursing, and policy programs in which it was included in the latest </span><a href="https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools"><em><span class="intro-text">U.S. News & World Report</span></em><span class="intro-text"> Best Graduate Program</span></a><span class="intro-text"> rankings. </span></p> <figure role="group"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/extra_large_content_image/public/2025-04/fairfax_campus.jpg?itok=g9-jTaTn" width="1000" height="667" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Cherry trees by Mason Pond on the Fairfax Campus. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><h4><strong>Engineering Ranks Top 3 in Virginia and Top 50 Nationally</strong></h4> <p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://cec.gmu.edu/">College of Engineering and Computing</a> at George Mason ranks among the top 3 colleges in Virginia across all six engineering categories with civil engineering rising 14 spots to 73rd nationally and 51st among publics, and computer engineering climbing 20 spots among publics to 42nd. Nationally, George Mason’s systems engineering program ranks in the top 50, placing 37th overall and 27th among publics.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">George Mason plays a key role in strengthening Virginia’s position as a national leader in engineering education, with top-ranked programs in multiple disciplines. George Mason was one of only four Virginia universities recognized in bioengineering, civil engineering, and systems engineering, and one of five Virginia universities honored in overall engineering, computer engineering, electrical engineering, and dispute resolution programs.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">"With 13% of the world’s data centers based in Northern Virginia, the university continues to expand its engineering and computing programs, and state-of-the-art facilities to support the region’s workforce requirements for skilled professionals,” said <a href="https://volgenau.gmu.edu/profiles/ball"><span>Ken Ball</span></a><span>, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. ”George Mason is home to the first school of computing in the commonwealth and just announced Virginia’s only master's degree in artificial intelligence.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Additionally, earlier this year, two of the college’s <a href="/news/2025-01/george-mason-university-leads-virginia-strong-us-news-online-program-rankings">online programs made their debut by earning top national rankings</a> in <em>U.S. News</em>. The master’s in industrial engineering debuted as the No. 1 in Virginia and 10th nationally, and the master’s in IT for veterans ranked 21st nationally and 13th among publics.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">George Mason also recently opened its <a href="/news/2025-03/george-masons-new-life-sciences-and-engineering-building-stocked-potential-energy">Life Sciences and Engineering Building at its Science and Technology Campus</a>. These spaces provide students with hands-on experience in cutting-edge fields such as bioengineering, mechanical engineering, and robotics, equipping them to meet industry demands.</p> <h4><strong>Law School Retains Strong Rankings and Employment Outcomes</strong></h4> <p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://www.law.gmu.edu/">Antonin Scalia Law School</a> ranked 2nd among Virginia law schools, 31st among all U.S. law schools, and 12th among public schools. The part-time program was ranked 4th nationally among public law schools. The school ranked 11th nationally in the number of graduates employed in federal clerkships.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“Scalia Law is ranked 3rd among the 16 schools in the DMV,” said <a href="https://www.law.gmu.edu/directory/profiles/randall_ken">Ken Randall</a>, Allison and Dorothy Rouse Dean and George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú Foundation Professor of Law. “Âé¶ąąú˛ú No. 1 employment ranking among metro-DC schools highlights the marketability of our graduates. The faculty, staff, and students deserve thanks and recognition.” </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As the legal profession continues to grow—with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/legal/lawyers.htm#:~:text=Employment%20of%20lawyers%20is%20projected,on%20average%2C%20over%20the%20decade.">5% increase in lawyer employment by 2033</a>, or approximately 36,000 jobs per year over the next eight years, Scalia Law is well-positioned to prepare students to enter an expanding field and meet the rising demand for qualified legal professionals.</p> <h4><strong>Nursing Ranks Number 1 in Virginia </strong></h4> <p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://nursing.gmu.edu/" target="_blank">School of Nursing</a> within the state’s first <a href="https://publichealth.gmu.edu/" target="_blank">College of Public Health</a> set the standard for nursing education in Virginia, ranking first in the state for both its master’s in nursing and doctor of nursing practice (DNP) programs. Nationally, the doctor of nursing practice program placed in the top 6% according to <em>U.S. News & World Report</em>, while both programs ranked among the top 10 at public universities.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“The rankings reflect George Mason’s leadership in public health education and commitment to innovation,” said College of Public Health Dean <a href="https://publichealth.gmu.edu/profiles/mperry27">Melissa Perry</a>. “This dedication is exemplified by the one-of-a-kind interprofessional curriculum offered in the Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation, providing hands-on experience that enhances students’ expertise and readiness in the field.”</p> <h4><strong>Schar School’s Public Affairs Ranks Number 1 in Virginia</strong></h4> <p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="https://schar.gmu.edu/">Schar School of Policy and Government</a> at George Mason continues to excel, with all of its ranked programs placing in the top 50 nationally and the top 25 among public universities. Most notably, the school's ranking among public affairs programs rose to No. 1 in Virginia, ranking 36th nationally and 24th among publics. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">“Students choose the Schar School the strong depth of our faculty expertise and the opportunity to interact with thought leaders in various fields of policy and government studies,” said <a href="https://schar.gmu.edu/profiles/mrozell">Mark Rozell</a>, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government. “These rankings reflect the rising reputation of the Schar School for high-quality degree programs that prepare students for success.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">The school is ranked 4th nationally in homeland security <span>and 48th in political science</span>, making George Mason one of only two Virginia universities recognized in both fields. Additionally, the school is the only Virginia university ranked for nonprofit management and holds its position at 13th nationally and 10th among publics. The school also ranks 33rd nationally and 25th among publics for public management and leadership, as well as 31st nationally and 17th among publics for public policy analysis.</p> <h4><strong>Growing as a Top 50 Âé¶ąąú˛ú</strong></h4> <p class="MsoNormal">Other highly ranked programs at George Mason among the Top 50 among public universities nationwide include computer science (35th), health care management (16th), <span>history (36th), </span>public health (40th), and <span>part-time MBA and </span>economics  (both 48th).</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“George Mason’s representation in these rankings underscores its role as a leading institution and top choice for today’s career-focused students, both in Virginia and nationally,” said Provost <a href="https://provost.gmu.edu/about/meet-provost">James Antony</a>. “The university’s strong performance in these programs highlights its ability to produce highly skilled graduates ready to make an impact in their fields, with the majority staying in the commonwealth after graduation.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Check out the full list of George Mason rankings at <a href="/rankings">gmu.edu/rankings</a>.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="b7ebdc6e-69b9-465f-bb80-64713a0e009f"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="/rankings"> <h4 class="cta__title">Check out George Mason in the Rankings <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="226db574-6a94-4ff8-afbe-cdc17f7e3dec" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-db9b1d59a4c2d84094f10bfe47e3b1a16b5de0952f3554f1c3de285a9a1b1172"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"><li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/george-mason-highlighted-one-carnegies-opportunity-colleges-and-universities" hreflang="en">George Mason highlighted as one of Carnegie’s Opportunity Colleges and Universities </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 24, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/george-mason-ranks-among-top-50-graduate-programs-nationally-engineering-public-policy" hreflang="en">George Mason ranks among Top 50 graduate programs nationally in engineering, public policy, and other fields </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 8, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/rankings" hreflang="en">George Mason in the Rankings</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 7, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-02/george-mason-achieves-top-producing-institution-status-fulbright-scholars-program" hreflang="en">George Mason achieves “Top Producing Institution” status from Fulbright Scholars program</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">February 25, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-01/george-mason-university-leads-virginia-strong-us-news-online-program-rankings" hreflang="en">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú leads Virginia with strong U.S. News online program rankings</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">January 21, 2025</div></div></li> </ul></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/116" hreflang="en">Campus News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/1661" hreflang="en">Rankings</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17226" hreflang="en">College of Public Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/556" hreflang="en">Schar School of Policy and Government</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17356" hreflang="en">Strategic Direction</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Mon, 07 Apr 2025 19:40:17 +0000 Colleen Rich 116496 at Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI) takes on a new focus /news/2025-03/center-advancing-systems-science-and-bioengineering-innovation-cassbi-takes-new-focus <span>Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI) takes on a new focus</span> <span><span>Martha Bushong</span></span> <span>Sat, 03/29/2025 - 07:51</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Marvel superheroes use their superpowers to leap tall buildings and break through walls. Heroes at George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú's </span><a href="https://cassbi.gmu.edu/"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">) heroes use their "superpowers" to break through disciplinary silos and improve human health.</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“It’s very unique the way CASSBI brought so many disciplines together,” said Amy Adams, executive director of the </span><a href="https://ibi.gmu.edu/"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Institute for </span><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Biohealth</span><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> Innovation</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">. “Their human-centered approach has attracted faculty from all over the university, leveraging the expertise from so many fields of study.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-03/s._sikdar_small_image.jpg?itok=j3-UnHw5" width="250" height="350" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Professor Siddhartha Sikdar. Photo by Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">CASSBI leaders have always understood research efforts don’t take place in a vacuum—the more collaboration, the better. And since its inception in 2019, CASSBI has leveraged faculty from disciplines as diverse as mathematics and social work, or kinesiology and mechanical engineering, all to improve human health. </span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Professors Siddhartha Sikdar and Parag Chitnis, both from the </span><a href="https://cec.gmu.edu/program/bioengineering-bs"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Bioengineering Department in the College of Engineering and Computing</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, are co-leaders of the center that recently refreshed its mission and zeroed in more tightly on its translational research. They say that the new vision of CASSBI is advancing system science and integrating innovation with medical technologies.</span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“Âé¶ąąú˛ú work has always been translational,” said Sikdar, “In our earlier version, the translational focus was more on centering the priorities of our community partners and addressing their needs through research and creating and disseminating tools that would benefit them directly right now. For example, one success story is a nonprofit we created called </span><a href="/news/2023-03/mason-researchers-connect-community-members-develop-app-individuals-recovering-opioid"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">iConnect</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">,</span><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> which works with our community partners to support individuals in recovery from substance misuse. Now we are also working on supporting translation of technologies from the lab to the marketplace, and we will prioritize that equally," he said. </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">The center will emphasize spin-offs and start-ups from the technology developed at CASSBI in addition to community-engaged research.</span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-03/p._chitnis_small_content_image.jpg?itok=0Qxw1LVj" width="250" height="350" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Parag Chitnis. Photo by Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Sikdar and Chitnis are off to a good start with a new company that grew out of a Department of Defense grant on tendon and joint injury prevention and reduction using wearable ultrasound systems. In this case, the researchers saw that what they had developed for the military had a broader use and could improve more people's lives by marketing it to a civilian population.</span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“We’re trying to pursue research of consequence in a way where we are trying to understand the entire pipeline A-Z and how the activities that can be pursued at the academic level and the research lab or center level can eventually be brought to real world,” said Sikdar. </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">To the CASSBI team, this means all aspects of translation including preclinical, translational studies, clinical trials, commercialization, development of patents, and intellectual property. </span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Another important aim for CASSBI is to create a support structure for faculty, staff, and researchers to engage in these additional activities. Sikdar and Chitnis want to build out the enhanced support system for devise fabrication, and for navigating the regulatory pathway when working with federal agencies, or for obtaining grant funding that is not traditional academic grants. “We’re becoming more geared towards translational, entrepreneurial, and industrial activities,” said Chitnis.</span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW42868411 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW42868411 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Chitnis summarizes the new direction: "We're looking at a more holistic approach and how the impact of our science, research, and development can be felt outside of the university.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW42868411 BCX0"> </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/ssikdar" hreflang="und">Siddhartha Sikdar</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/pchitnis" hreflang="und">Parag Chitnis</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:text" data-inline-block-uuid="5cadc473-438b-4cc8-a135-eb2183a38e41" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocktext"> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="ccd13c15-35c9-408d-8c06-dd376a186a33" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related Stories</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 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hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/20776" hreflang="en">Hea</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/271" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6691" hreflang="en">entrepreneurship</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Sat, 29 Mar 2025 11:51:21 +0000 Martha Bushong 116846 at George Mason’s new Life Sciences and Engineering Building is stocked with potential energy for students and the region /news/2025-03/george-masons-new-life-sciences-and-engineering-building-stocked-potential-energy <span>George Mason’s new Life Sciences and Engineering Building is stocked with potential energy for students and the region</span> <span><span>Lauren Reuscher</span></span> <span>Wed, 03/26/2025 - 09:48</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="intro-text">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú's new Life Sciences and Engineering Building at the Science and Technology Campus (SciTech Campus) in Manassas, Virginia, supports the university's growing need for highly specialized instructional labs, classrooms, and support spaces.</span></p> <hr /><figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-03/250122020.jpg?itok=xC5ULltT" width="560" height="373" alt="View of the new four-story Life Sciences and Engineering Building at the SciTech Campus on a sunny day." loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>The Life Sciences and Engineering Building at the Science and Technology Campus includes more than 30 different laboratories for teaching, design, and fabrication. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p class="MsoNormal"><span>To meet the needs of the university and the commonwealth, in particular providing university access for students in Prince William, Fauquier, western Fairfax County, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, and beyond, the General Assembly and the Prince William delegation led by Delegate Luke Torian, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, was instrumental in strategic support and state funding for the new building. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>With university classrooms and more than 30 different laboratory spaces for teaching, design, and fabrication, the building offers state-of-the-art facilities for training in disciplines like athletic training and kinesiology, microbiology, chemistry, engineering, forensic science, robotics and autonomous vehicles, and more. The building opened for classes for the spring 2025 semester.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-03/2503070304.jpg?itok=DWhxR9Ni" width="350" height="233" alt="Three science students work together in a classroom, with one student showing a tablet to the others. Model skeleton pieces are on the tabletop" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>The building offers interdisciplinary spaces for hands-on learning and collaboration. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p class="MsoNormal"><span>“Designed for rigorous hands-on learning, the Life Sciences and Engineering Building marks a major state investment in our outstanding George Mason faculty to educate and inspire our students—Virginia’s next generation of leaders, researchers, innovators, and problem solvers,” George Mason President Gregory Washington said. “This facility, and the advancements it will produce, further establishes the Science and Technology Campus, and this Innovation District, as an anchor of the economic corridor that runs from Mason Square in Arlington to the Fairfax Campus to here in Manassas, further entrenching George Mason as a major driver of the prosperity of our region and state.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>The building will foster interdisciplinary connections across many academic units, including the College of Education and Human Development, College of Engineering and Computing, and the College of Science.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/2025-03/2503070314.jpg" width="4200" height="2801" alt="A student wearing PPE works in a biomedical lab and holds a syringe, while two others look on" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Laboratories in the Life Sciences and Engineering Building offer experiential learning in microbiology, kinesiology, forensic science, engineering, and more. Photo by Eduardo Macedo/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding</figcaption></figure><p><span>Encompassing 132,000 square feet of space, the building is designed to promote collaboration and engagement among students and faculty. The ground-level engineering labs and student design competition bays open directly onto the campus’ exterior pathways, allowing visibility into the work happening inside.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>The project was originally planned as an expansion to Katherine G. Johnson Hall, an academic building at the SciTech Campus. When the university identified the need for additional labs, classrooms, and workspaces, the scope of the project changed to a four-story, free-standing building.</span></p> <div style="float:left;padding:5px;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="600" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xuWYm9KmO8c" title="George Mason’s new Life Sciences and Engineering Building #MasonNation" width="337"></iframe></div> <p><span>The SciTech Campus, which was established in 1997, will anchor a new Innovation District, which includes the development of two residential and commercial town centers directly connected to campus. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span>“The planned town centers will create a stronger link between the campus and the surrounding community,” said Colby Grant, director of administration and operations for the SciTech Campus. “Combined with the new Life Sciences and Engineering Building, these developments further establish the campus as a dynamic hub for science, technology, the arts, entertainment, and recreation.”</span></p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="8cd634e6-2b27-4dfc-b922-813fa68561d8"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://scitechcampus.gmu.edu/"> <h4 class="cta__title">Learn more about the Science and Technology Campus <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="7c152b24-db93-4857-8352-c512dea42cb5" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Read More Like This</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 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class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/116" hreflang="en">Campus News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17356" hreflang="en">Strategic Direction</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> </div> <div> </div> </div> Wed, 26 Mar 2025 13:48:01 +0000 Lauren Reuscher 116296 at Engineering professors develop human-AI colorization tool for cartoonists /news/2025-03/engineering-professors-develop-human-ai-colorization-tool-cartoonists <span>Engineering professors develop human-AI colorization tool for cartoonists </span> <span><span>Shayla Brown</span></span> <span>Mon, 03/03/2025 - 12:28</span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">George Mason Âé¶ąąú˛ú professor </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW26862917 BCX0" href="/profiles/shong31" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Highlight Underlined SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Sungsoo</span><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> Ray Hong</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> has always been a huge fan of cartoons, comics, and animations. By combining his passion with his research area of human-computer interaction, he has created a new tool for cartoonists, </span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 SpellingError intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">ShadowMagic</span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0 intro-text"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Hong, his colleague </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW26862917 BCX0" href="https://cragl.cs.gmu.edu/bio.html" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Yotam Gingold</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, and their PhD students published a paper, “</span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW26862917 BCX0" href="https://cragl.cs.gmu.edu/shadowmagic/ShadowMagic-%20Designing%20Human-AI%20Collaborative%20Support%20for%20Comic%20Professionals%20Shadowing%20(Amrita%20Ganguly,%20Chuan%20Yan,%20John%20Joon%20Young%20Chung,%20Tong%20Steven%20Sun,%20Yoon%20Kiheon,%20Yotam%20Gingold,%20Sungsoo%20Ray%20Hong%202024%20UIST).pdf" target="_blank"><span class="FieldRange SCXW26862917 BCX0 TextRun Underlined NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">ShadowMagic: Designing Human-AI Collaborative Support for Comic Professionals’ Shadowing,</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">” elucidating the need for the tool, which aims to boost product quality and designer</span><span class="TextRun MacChromeBold SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"><strong> </strong></span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">productivity through study-informed human-AI interaction.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0 intro-text"> </span></p> <div style="float:right;padding:5px;"> <iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="600" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T4aNxmtGC-k" title="AI Colorization Tool Short" width="337"></iframe></div> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">The team worked with professional cartoonists to find common workflow of colorization that is shared within the industry as a reference point for their research, which examines the evolution of designing technology as cartoonists transitioned from using PCs in the 1980s to artificial intelligence, said Hong, who is an </span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">assistant professor at the </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW26862917 BCX0" href="https://ist.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="FieldRange SCXW26862917 BCX0 TextRun Highlight Underlined NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Department of Information Sciences and Technology</span></a><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Creating a comic book is a team effort as there are many roles throughout the process including story drafting, sketching, colorizing, editing, and sending to a production company, said Hong.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“Professional cartoonists are sometimes producing content every other day,” said Hong, who is also director of George Mason’s</span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW26862917 BCX0" href="https://alignment.lab.gmu.edu/index.html" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Highlight Underlined SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Alignment Lab</span></a><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">. </span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“You cannot commit to these kinds of deadlines doing everything by yourself. That's why the colorization industry is so helpful to professional cartoonists.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Colorization is a sequential process of line drawing, flatting, base colorization, shadows and/or lighting, background and other special effects. The tool stems from a previous project, </span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">FlatMagic</span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">, another AI-driven tool designed to improve the creative process for digital comic professionals. </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“This is a fairly standardized process, especially in South Korea and growing throughout the United States as well,” he explained. “The solutions to these network visualizations should be contextualized, but we have the limited resources. We can’t build everything for everybody. That’s my motivation here.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Gingold also specializes in human-computer interaction and “has always been interested in sketching and how computers can help us express ourselves,” said the Department of Computer Science associate professor.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"><div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-03/honggingold600.jpg?itok=2tdRuw67" width="560" height="368" loading="lazy" /></div> </div> <figcaption>Yotam Gingold (left) and Ray Hong in Research Hall, presenting their colorization tool. Photo by Cristian Torres/Office of Âé¶ąąú˛ú Branding.</figcaption></figure><p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“We looked at artistic challenges, usually tedious things that aren’t so fun for the artists and break down those problems, so that they can focus more on the creative parts of it,” said Gingold, who is the director of George Mason’s </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW26862917 BCX0" href="https://cragl.cs.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Computational Reality, Creativity, and Graphics Lab</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">There are millions of pixels in an image, and if an artist wants to move or change the color of a building for example, they point at one pixel among the millions. The artist wants the rest of the pixels to follow along naturally so the rest of the building should also change, he explained.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“The computers will do the math where we can write formulas to update all the other millions of pixels. Another example would be keeping lines parallel and corners perpendicular, and that’s where a lot of my research comes in,” said.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">While a doctoral student at George Mason, Chuan Yan, PhD ’24, was recruited by Gingold for this project and conducted research on sketching and painting. Yan’s area of expertise encompasses computer graphics fundamentals and sketch-related computer vision techniques, which he had learned extensively from Gingold, he explained.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">The </span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 SpellingError" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">ShadowMagic</span><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US"> tool was built as an Adobe Photoshop plug-in, and since its release, the team “has garnered significant interest from artists inquiring about updates and expressing a strong desire for a tool that could free them from the labor-intensive flatting process,” said Yan, who is currently a postdoc researcher at Stanford Âé¶ąąú˛ú. </span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“This response is both exciting and humbling. It confirms that our research is addressing a real need in the industry yet also highlights the remaining challenges in making [the tool] ready for widespread adoption.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">Yan believes that as more sophisticated generative AI systems continue to emerge, AI-human collaboration will become increasingly vital. </span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW26862917 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW26862917 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US" xml:lang="EN-US">“I am excited to witness and contribute to this transformation, helping to shape a future where AI acts as a powerful tool that amplifies human creativity rather than replacing it,” he said.</span><span class="EOP SCXW26862917 BCX0"> </span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/shong31" hreflang="und">Sungsoo Ray Hong</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/ygingold" hreflang="und">Yotam Gingold</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="dd0938b9-32f2-4c50-9a59-5ec82e83e86f"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="/AI"> <h4 class="cta__title">Discover more Artificial Intelligence research from George Mason <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="51f576aa-1fc6-485d-a2c6-6eac1cd7a88b" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-442ec4cf58ddc264719eacd5663356065ba3aad1604ba0214c15f89199a0c53b"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"><li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/generous-gift-will-name-school-computing-support-scholarships" hreflang="en">Generous gift will name School of Computing, support scholarships</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 28, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a 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Magazine</strong></a> <em>with the title "AI Comes to the Aid of Cartoonists."</em></p> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="51545b2e-2175-4d26-ab02-93bcf60d7d8b"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="/spirit-magazine"> <h4 class="cta__title">More from Mason Spirit Magazine <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </h4> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:28:34 +0000 Shayla Brown 115971 at