innovative classes

Building a strong foundation one course at a time

sbrown79 — Fri, 15 May 2026 17:26:49 +0000

Building a strong foundation one course at a time sbrown79 Fri, 05/15/2026 - 13:26

As one of the key focal points of 91��’s Grand Challenge Initiative, building a climate-resilient society requires not just innovation in sustainable infrastructure, but innovation in how the university prepares future leaders in sustainability.

Assistant professor Xijin “Emma” Zhang recently launched CEIE 499/619 Innovations in Civil Engineering Materials, a first-of-its-kind special topics course in George Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing that aims to give students—undergraduate and graduate alike from any degree program — a strong foundation in the emerging technologies that are reshaping the future of civil engineering.

Emma Zhang presents to her students. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

The course was developed after Zhang submitted a proposal to the Institute for a Sustainable Earth’s Creating Impactful Research Connections Through Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) program. Following panel review, the proposal was selected for development, an outcome that underscores George Mason’s emphasis on translating research into real-world solutions.

“My hope is that the course helps students understand how climate issues impact material properties and how we can improve material properties [when designing] future infrastructure,” said Zhang.

In the course, students study the fundamental physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of major construction materials, including aggregates, steel, concrete, asphalt, and wood. This course also introduces students to analytical techniques for assessing material performance and explores how advancements in civil engineering materials are influencing modern design, construction, and sustainability practices.

“I noticed that there was an opportunity to further expand students’ exposure to civil engineering materials within the CEIE program, and I really wanted to help students become more familiar with this topic,” Zhang said. “While developing this course, I spoke with government agencies and community partners that specialize in sustainability design in the Northern Virginia area and beyond to better understand the skills and knowledge communities and industries are seeking from future professionals in terms of sustainable infrastructure techniques and materials.”

One of Zhang's students presents his work. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

Those conversations also highlight another defining strength of George Mason: its close connections to government, industry, and regional partners. Zhang engaged with organizations including Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Federal Highway Administration’s Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Virginia Department of Transportation. 

 Discovery interviews with these partners helped shape the course around real-world priorities such as safety, cost efficiency, and sustainability maintenance. In turn, students’ semester projects focus on analyzing the life-cycle of construction materials, encouraging them to think critically about how engineering decisions affect both infrastructure performance and environmental outcomes.

In preparing the course, Zhang also worked with George Mason’s University Sustainability to learn more about sustainable materials and practices already being implemented across campuses.

“I ask students to think about how materials are produced. For example, we need to consider their manufacturing process and the amount of carbon emissions associated with it,” Zhang said. “Also, I encourage students to think about what happens at the end of the materials’ life cycle, how can we recycle or re-utilize it for another project?”

Zhang said she hopes students will carry this mindset into their future careers in the civil engineering industry.

Senior civil engineering major Andres Lozano already sees how the course connects classroom learning to real-world impact Lozano hopes to enter the civil engineering field, specializing in structural and water resources engineering.

“I see this class as an opportunity to learn about innovations in materials and to contribute to the industry with new applications that are not yet widely used in current practice,” Lozano said. “There is still a gap between research and field implementation, but in Professor Zhang’s class, we’re working toward filling that gap by analyzing the performance and sustainability of current material applications and exploring potential improvements for future practice.”

Lozano, a Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s student, also works as a research assistant in George Mason’s Flood Hazards Research Lab revising projects for real-world clients from jurisdictions such as Fairfax County, Arlington County, the City of Petersburg, the City of Emporia, and the Town of Jarratt in Virginia.

Zhang and her students in the Engineering Building. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

“The bridge infrastructure in Virginia and throughout the country is facing challenges related to aging, durability and rehabilitation,” Lozano said. “I see myself contributing to the development of rehabilitation strategies, that strengthen infrastructure resilience and protect the communities that depend on it. This course’s focus on materials and construction methodologies is such a good fit for me, and I now feel more prepared to take on these challenges in a professional setting.”

Through courses like Innovations in Civil Engineering Materials, George Mason is equipping students with the technical expertise, collaborative mindset, and community-connected experience needed to lead in a rapidly changing world. In doing so, the university continues to advance its mission of producing knowledge that matters—and solutions that strengthen communities locally and globally.

In This Story

Emma (Xijin) Zhang

Explore Sustaintability at George Mason

Topics

Sustainability

College of Engineering and Computing

Community Engagement

Bachelor’s to Accelerated Master’s

innovative classes

Students

Learning experience design course helps students dive head-first into client consulting

sholla4 — Wed, 06 May 2026 17:26:55 +0000

Learning experience design course helps students dive head-first into client consulting sholla4 Wed, 05/06/2026 - 13:26

Learning doesn’t stop when you finish school. Whenever you start a new job or a new program, you learn new rules, new strategies, and new systems. And just like classroom education, there’s science behind how that learning can be best supported.

Lisa Giacumo. Photo provided.

“Large multinational or national organizations need people with knowledge of how people learn and how to create systems and supports for learning and development,” explained Lisa Giacumo, associate professor of learning design and technology in 91��’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD).

Learning experience design (LXD) and user experience (UX) research are two key pillars of the CEHD’s learning design and technology master’s program. Giacumo has spent her faculty career developing courses on accessible workplace learning, needs assessment, and evaluation, that merge theory with hands-on application to give students a “nuanced” understanding of real-world use cases. The research and design courses (i.e., EDIT 732 and EDIT 752) she leads currently pair students with live clients to develop solutions for LXD problems or new opportunities.

“The recursive loop of asking for input, getting feedback, professional reflection, and making revisions is an important part of the process that is hard to conceptualize from textbook alone,” said Giacumo. “With live clients, students get a chance to see how things might work outside of a textbook while learning how to communicate as a consultant.”

This semester, students worked with two startups: EMK Learning Solutions LLC and Research Sphere.

“Working with a live client and a team really made the whole experience feel more like a UX job. You have deadlines, you have limitations, you have to make decisions and iterate. It feels very realistic,” said George Mason alumna Georgiana Patrichi-Abarca, BA Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’15, a current student in the learning design and technology master’s program. She’s been able to apply what she’s learned in class to her full-time job with the U.S. Department of State, developing training for a new piece of software.

Master’s student Tyler Girvan came into the learning design and technology program with a background in video game design and graphic design. “Getting that practical experience from research inception to executing a prototype was the stand-out element of the course for me,” said Girvan. “It helped me understand where I can feed my past skills through these new filters.”

Girvan continued, “You have to balance meeting the needs of the user while negotiating the ideas and goals of the client, and that’s a skill we were able to develop working with real clients as opposed to simulations."

“The closer you connect what you do in the learning environment to what you need done in the performance environment, the easier it is for learners to transfer what they learned into desired performance on the job,” said Giacumo.

Maurine Kwende, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’15, CERG Learning Technologies ’15, and PhD Education ’23, is the founder and CEO of EMK Learning Solutions LLC, one of the participating businesses for the course. Her business works with companies to help improve their training and leadership capabilities, leveraging Kwende’s own expertise in learning systems and design. This semester, students worked on developing a professional development chatbot for EMK Learning Solutions that could coach employees when a human coach and trainer isn’t available or isn’t an option. The bot will also be a thinking and brainstorming partner for new employees to get a head start on ideas prior to meeting with their supervisors or stakeholders.

Kwende found the commitment of the students in the course commendable. “They’re dedicated and passionate about our field,” she said. “In the beginning, it felt like a mentoring process ,which was very exciting. Then it became a two-way process: I mentored them as a consultant, and they reverse-mentored me in the areas of technology. In the end, the students helped expand my thinking and showed me the potential of the product. They grew a seed into a full tree.”

“George Mason attracts many very talented, smart, and driven individuals,” said Giacumo. “These students contribute to these organizations’ success stories. And after the classes are over, my students build their own success stories by landing their next job or promotion and continue developing their consulting practices on a solid foundation.”

Learn more about the College of Education and Human Development

Topics

Artificial Intelligence

College of Education and Human Development

Mason Day 2026 marks 61 years of community and tradition

ckearney — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 20:11:50 +0000

Mason Day 2026 marks 61 years of community and tradition ckearney Thu, 04/30/2026 - 16:11

Mason Day, 91��’s largest and longest-standing tradition, brought the community together for a carnival with games, rides, food, and music. This year’s concert headliner was hip-hop artist JT from City Girls, with support from indie pop band The Aces. The event—sponsored by University Life’s Student Involvement unit and free for George Mason students, faculty, and staff—occurs every April before final exams. This year, the festival attracted a record-setting 7,420 attendees.

This year’s Mason Day also included activities developed and implemented by students taking the event management course TOUR 221 Event Implementation and Evaluation, expanding the long-running event with a vital student perspective.

President Washington (center in green) catches up with students at Mason Day. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Mason Day has always been designed to accommodate everyone—energetic and overstimulated, celebratory and exhausted, longtime Patriots and first-time visitors. This year, attendees could decorate tote bags, make stuff-a-fluff plushies, and line up for carnival rides, while those who needed a quieter moment could step into an expanded sensory tent and reset with fidget toys and puzzles.

Lauren Long, executive director of Student Involvement, said accessibility was one of the major goals of the event. “In addition to the traditions students have come to expect, this year’s attendees experienced a Silent Disco, expanded Low Stimuli and Sensory tents, roaming artists, and a larger vendor fair. While Mason Day has changed over time, the true spirit that started 61 years ago to present live music and bring students together in community is still the center point of the event today.”

Photo by Andani Munkaila/Office of University Branding

Senior Bethel Tessera, a psychology major, made it to Mason Day for the third time, and brought her friend Lily Velapatino up from Richmond for the occasion. After a busy semester taking 18 credits, Tessera said the timing couldn’t have been better. The two started the afternoon decorating tote bags in the sun and decompressing after a long semester. Velapatino, taking it all in as a first-time visitor, said she was “very jealous of all the free activities and fun rides Mason Day has to offer.”

Vendors are also a big part of Mason Day, many of them students or alumni. Among the vendors this year was Hanieh Faani, a fine arts senior debuting her small business featuring handmade Iranian art, embroideries, and prints. The business is a family affair: Faani’s mother, Mahina Rajaei, a master’s student in counseling at George Mason, was there alongside her. A third generation will soon attend Mason as well—Rajaei’s granddaughter is set to enroll in fall 2026 to study physics.

“The proximity to our home and the tolerant environment makes Mason such an anchor in our family,” Faani said.

The rain didn't diminish the enthusiasm of the crowds at the evening concert. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

When the rain came in that evening, it didn’t faze the crowd. People gathered at the center stage with glow sticks and Mason Day swag, singing along with JT as the lights cut through the dark. By the time the concert ended and the carnival came down, Mason Day had done what it has done for 61 years: made room for all.

Topics

Special topics courses help students bridge science and communications

sbrown79 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:39:20 +0000

Special topics courses help students bridge science and communications sbrown79 Thu, 04/09/2026 - 16:39

After taking notice of the growing distrust between the scientific community and the general public, 91�� adjunct professor Jennifer Lewis decided to take action by creating two special topics courses in George Mason’s Environmental Science and Policy Department (ESP)—EVPP 490 Conservation Storytelling and EVPP 490/505 Media Production for Environmental Science and Policy—that teach students how to communicate with the public about science in a way that is captivating, interesting, and easy to understand. All emphasizing the use of story, which is the preferred method to communicate for humans.

Jenn Lewis and her students in Nepal. Photo provided.

Emerging scientists enrolled in these undergraduate/graduate classes to learn how to be better communicators with the public, putting information in context for them so they can be more informed, interested, and take appropriate action.

“Communication skills aren’t traditionally taught in scientific fields, so these courses definitely give students an advantage,” said Lewis, an adjunct professor. “Audiences need to be able to understand the information you’re trying to convey, so I teach my students how to simplify complex ideas so that anybody can understand them.”

Jenn Lewis and her students in Nepal. Photo provided.

Aligned with the Global Education Office, EVPP 490 is cross listed with EVPP, FAVS, and COMM, and is open to students of all majors. The course takes students to Nepal over winter break, giving George Mason students the opportunity to learn directly about global conservation issues, and how to share these stories with the public using visual media. Film topics from past classes include climate impacts in the Himalayas, human–wildlife conflict with growing tiger populations, and the use of endangered elephants as work animals.

U.S. Army veteran Ryan Franks is a senior environmental science major who took both special topics courses with Lewis. While in Nepal, he tested the water quality of the Bagmati River in the heart of Katmandu and created social media and YouTube content about his findings for one of his projects. The river is notorious for its pollution due to the lack of municipal solid waste infrastructure and clean water regulations in the city.

“People who live there rely on this water source, so it was great to be able to address this important issue with cleanup efforts,” said Franks, who is also a certified permaculture designer and master gardener who runs a small homestead garden where he grows his own produce.

Jenn Lewis and her students in Nepal. Photo provided.

“You can inform people that this river has 10 times the acceptable levels of mercury and phthalates, but then to show a picture or video of the river with literal trash floating across the surface and an oily sheen on the water will allow people to absorb that information differently,” said Franks. “Being able to take the skills that [Dr. Lewis] was teaching us, adding that visual element to it, and turning technical research into something that the general public could not only use, but would be genuinely interested in, was really cool.”

Ryan McIntire, MA Environmental Science and Policy ’25, took the media production course in fall 2024. The course implements multiple methods of storytelling, including podcasts, films, editorials, social media, and speaking engagements. 

“I really enjoyed Jen's approach to the course because scientists are expected to be very dry and factual with our communication, so it was nice to be a little more creative. I'd never done that in an academic setting before,” said McIntire, who was a teaching assistant for two years in the ESP Department.

Rachel Kelmartin, BS Biology ’16, is graduating with a masters in ESP with a concentration in Aquatic Ecology in May 2026. Kelmartin’s video projects incorporated her research on recreational fishing catch and release mortality statistics of striped bass.

“A really great way to spread awareness about this issue is social media. It has severely changed how we consume news; people need something bite-sized and easy to comprehend while hitting all the high points, but with these different platforms we can be sure to feature visual media to bridge that gap,” said Kelmartin, a part-time lab technician and Graduate Research Assistant in George Mason’s Freshwater Ecology Laboratory. 

Kelmartin also credits Lewis with showing her how to adjust posting news and research updates on social media when there are shifts in the algorithms.

Jenn Lewis and her students in Nepal. Photo provided.

Many of the projects in Lewis’s courses have lasting impact including the fall 2023 film “Black Peaks” about the climate change impact in Nepal, which was shown at the International Mountain Film Festival and at COP27 in Egypt.  

EVPP 490/505 Media Production for Environmental Science and Policy is offered this coming fall. EVPP 490 Conservation Storytelling will be open for applications this summer. Learn more.

Topics

College of Science

Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP)

Global Education Office

innovative classes

Students

study abroad

George Mason College of Public Health students learn AI implementation and management in graduate-level health administration course

Taylor Thomas — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 15:55:03 +0000

George Mason College of Public Health students learn AI implementation and management in graduate-level health administration course Taylor Thomas Mon, 03/30/2026 - 11:55

Key Takeaways:

The health care field is rapidly evolving to include AI as standard across organizations and in care delivery.
HAP 621, a graduate level course taught by Associate Professor Renee Geschke in the fall 2025 semester, included a project where students engaged with real-life AI scenarios and implemented problem-solving as a health care leader, improving their AI literacy and analysis skills.
Jadon Thomas, an oncology nurse and George Mason health informatics student, reflects that the project prepared future health care leaders to be proficient with AI in clinical settings.

Photo via Unsplash.

Future health care leaders must be equipped to make data-informed, ethical, and emotionally intelligent decisions in environments increasingly influenced by artificial intelligence (AI). A graduate-level health administration and policy course (HAP 621) taught by Associate Professor Renee Geschke in the fall 2025 semester taught students how to become those leaders.

Geschke assigned a new project where students evaluated decisions, engaged with AI tools, and proposed responsible strategies for implementation in health care settings. Students were challenged to analyze a realistic leadership scenario when AI is being implemented within a health care organization.

For the project, students chose or proposed an AI-related leadership scenario relevant to their professional interests. They then experimented with at least two AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Tableau, Power BI) to analyze how AI impacts leadership communication, emotional intelligence, team engagement, key ethical and organizational considerations (e.g., bias, transparency, accountability, workforce trust), and how leaders can ensure ethical governance. Finally, students suggested actionable leadership strategies for responsible AI implementation in health care.

For example, an AI system flags a patient at high risk for readmission to the hospital. Staff are concerned about data accuracy and potential bias of the AI system. Students, as the hypothetical organizational leader, needed to address these concerns while balancing innovation and ethical oversight.

By the time the project was complete, students were better prepared to enter a rapidly evolving health care field.

“This assignment helped us think beyond everyday use and consider how AI is being integrated into clinical environments” said Jadon Thomas, a health informatics student with a concentration in management, who was enrolled in HAP 621. "Learning how these tools work and understanding how to use them effectively prepares health care workers like myself for a future in health informatics, where connecting clinical needs with technological capabilities will be needed."

Why learn AI now?

As Thomas, an oncology nurse for the DC VA Medical Center, pointed out, AI is moving from a transformative concept to a practical tool integrated into clinical systems.

“Just as the health care field transitioned from paper documentation to electronic medical records, we are now entering a new phase where AI will be integrated into these electronic medical records to improve clinical workflow and reduce burnout,” said Thomas.

Geschke was inspired to create this project after observing her students’ needs and industry demands. First, she noticed students were already encountering AI tools in informal and unstructured ways, but lacked the skills to use AI to its full potential. In addition, Geschke recognized that ignoring AI would place students at a disadvantage when entering the workforce. Rather than prohibiting AI use, Geschke designed a structured, transparent learning experience that explicitly teaches how and when AI can be used responsibly.

“Health care leaders will routinely interact with AI-enabled systems across operations, quality improvement, workforce management, and patient engagement. Developing AI literacy helps students recognize limitations, bias, and ethical concerns, ask better questions, and lead thoughtful organizational conversations about technology adoption,” said Geschke. Her expertise focuses on health systems management, health policy, and curriculum development, with an emphasis on student-centered and experiential learning.

Thomas echoed the sentiment, saying, “Health care organizations are actively developing and adopting AI-driven tools, so gaining this knowledge now is essential for understanding how these technologies will shape our workflows, responsibilities, and expectations in the future.”

Topics

Healthcare Administration

Healthcare Technology

Healthcare Education

Artificial Intelligence

innovative classes

Students

Inside George Mason’s first VR art classroom, students build new worlds

sbrown79 — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:38:20 +0000

Inside George Mason’s first VR art classroom, students build new worlds sbrown79 Wed, 03/18/2026 - 13:38

When students step into AVT 496 Intro to VR for the Artist, they're not just walking into another studio course—they're entering entirely new worlds of their own making. 91��'s School of Art launched the course this spring, marking its first-ever deep dive into virtual reality (VR) as an artistic medium.

AVT 496 student presents their virtual reality world. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding.

Taught by John von Bergen, assistant professor of sculpture and expanded fields, the class meets inside the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX) and previously held workshops in the visualization and virtual reality lab in Research Hall. For many students, it's their first time creating art in a fully immersive digital space.

Von Bergen designed the course to give artists hands-on experience with emerging tools shaping the future of digital art. His students primarily use Open Brush, a VR painting program that lets them draw, sculpt, and animate in 3D space using a wide range of virtual brushes.

"I imagine that there will be way more job opportunities for students who have the diverse skillset that relates to new media and potentially digital art fabrication," von Bergen said. "Exploring these tools in class helps students see what's possible."

There are 16 students in the course, which builds on the work students completed in his fall Aesthetics class, AVT 307. Five students from AVT 307 volunteered to create a pilot VR project titled "The Real Reality," now displayed in video form on the Digital Wall at Fuse at Mason Square.

Digital Wall at Fuse at Mason Square. Photo by Shayla Brown/Office of University Branding.

The project showcases the students' first experiments with Open Brush—floating landscapes, glowing brushstrokes, and imaginative environments that stretch beyond the limits of traditional studio materials.

For sophomore art and visual technology major Ash Porrata, the course has been transformative. "This course experience has not only made me a better artist, but a better team member," she said. "It was really a group effort making something of this scale. We had to communicate constantly and work with Fuse faculty to keep everything on track."

Porrata, who hopes to become an animation director, said the VR tools opened up new creative possibilities. "Having access to the virtual world and virtual art is really inspiring. Getting to explore another side of visual art will be so helpful in the job market."

Junior transfer student Mason Caporuscio came into the course with no VR experience at all. By the end of the semester, he had built an entire virtual kitchen scene—complete with a fruit basket, a loaf of bread, a bar stool, and a wine glass.

"We each built our own world on the headsets, and the video just rotates through them, kind of like musical chairs," he said. "There was so much variety."

Mason Caporuscio presents his virtual reality world. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding.

Other students created fantasy forests, amusement park inspired spaces, and surreal environments that could only exist in VR.

Behind the scenes, the course has been supported by several George Mason partners. The Department of Computer Science provided much of the equipment, with faculty member Craig Yu offering guidance. MIX makerspace manager Max Kazemzadeh helped the class set up its own VR lab inside the MIX. Additional funding came from the School of Art, the Research and Teaching Support Fund, and the Office of Student Creative Activities and Research. The course will be offered again in Spring 2027.

"There are a lot of technical aspects that aren't typical for a sculpture class," von Bergen said. "Building good relationships with other colleges has been instrumental."

Topics

In This Story

Lap-Fai (Craig) Yu

Learn about George Mason's Grand Challenge Initiative

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George Mason collaborating with National Park Service to examine Revolutionary War from tribal nations' perspective

Katarina Benson — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:18:12 +0000

George Mason collaborating with National Park Service to examine Revolutionary War from tribal nations' perspective Katarina Benson Thu, 03/12/2026 - 17:18

As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary this year, 91�� is collaborating with the National Park Service (NPS) to make sure the contributions of all Americans are being recognized.

Gabrielle Tayac, an associate professor in the Department of History and Art History in the College of Humanities of Social Sciences, has received a grant from NPS to lead Phase Two of Tribal Nations and the Revolutionary War, a community-driven research project that will examine the Revolutionary War and its aftermath from the perspectives of tribal nations.

Tayac serves as the principal investigator and will assist the NPS in facilitating educational and interpretive strategies that will be implemented in sites around the Mid-Atlantic region and throughout the Northeast.

Gabrielle Tayac has received a grant NPS to lead Phase Two of Tribal Nations and the Revolutionary War. Photo provided

“My hope is that it will help everyone get a sense of deep connection and relationship to the lands we live on now, to the people who are still here and maybe who are not here and wonder what happened to them,” Tayac said. “To be better caretakers of our communities and places.”

The NPS grant runs through 2027 and coincides with America’s semiquincentennial celebration. Tayac is working with fellow Department of History and Art History professors C. Joseph Genatin-Pilawa and George Oberle, BA History ’96, MA ’98, PhD ’16, who also serves as a history librarian and the director of the Center for Mason Legacies (CML). Digital Humanities Librarian Alyssa Fahringer, who collaborates with Oberle in the CML, will also contribute to the project.

Tayac, who served as the inaugural curator historian at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., and New York, will set up workshops in the Northeast region from the Chesapeake Bay up to Maine. These seminars will provide insight from historians, NPS park rangers, and Indigenous community scholars. Tayac and her George Mason colleagues will then produce digital work for historic sites and visitor centers.

Tayac, who collaborated on the 400th anniversary of Jamestown in 2007, hopes the project and the 250th celebration will serve as a focal point to “deepen those histories so that people can see them for a long time.”

“It is really critical it is done in a way that Native communities want their stories to be told,” said Tayac, who is an enrolled citizen of the Piscataway Indian Nation. “We also know that it has to be done in a way where the American public can really understand it, relate to it, and find the information relevant and intriguing to open up those conversations.”

George Mason alum and NPS regional cultural anthropologist Noel Lopez, PhD Cultural Studies ’18, serves as a tribal liaison officer for the National Capital Region. He said previous interactions with George Mason, such as collaborations on ecological study units with tribal communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, have made the transition into the project easier.

“A lot of the work all of us do, whether it is anthropology or tribal liaison, a lot of it is around connections with people and connections with networks,” Lopez said. “All of this work we’re doing on both sides is relationship building. It is building trust with people.”

George Mason students will also play a role. Tayac will offer training and hands-on opportunities, including through an undergraduate course, History 397 Public History in Action, which she will teach in spring 2027. Students will pull from the tribal communities’ stories and transform those into projects for museums, historic sites, a cultural center, or a website.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity for this project to not only workshop in the relationships with Native tribal community representatives but also to bring it back into Mason,” Tayac said. “In real-time, my students can also have a hand in it. I think that’s really important, and it tends to make them really excited about history work, too.”

Topics

Research

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

partnerships

innovative classes

Alumni

Center for Mason Legacies

George Mason is launching a Space Forward Frontiers Seminar with Northrop Grumman

Domonique Hopkins — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:45:36 +0000

George Mason is launching a Space Forward Frontiers Seminar with Northrop Grumman Domonique Hopkins Mon, 01/26/2026 - 10:45

Explore the College of Science

Explore Mechanical Engineering

91��’s College of Science is launching the Space Forward Frontiers Seminar Series in spring 2026, in partnership with Northrop Grumman and George Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing.

The one-credit, in-person seminar (PHYS 391/590, cross-listed as ME 500) is open to undergraduate and graduate students of all majors interested in the space industry.

Limited to 50 students, the Thursday afternoon seminar features weekly lectures from George Mason faculty and industry professionals, offering practical and academic perspectives on today’s space sector. Topics include the space industry’s foundations, enabling technologies, policy considerations, and future directions, with the inaugural offering focusing on crowding and events in the space environment.

With no prerequisites or textbooks, the course is highly accessible and connects students to such emerging opportunities as NASA’s Landolt Mission, led by George Mason faculty. The seminar also supports the university’s Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI), advancing both 21st-century education and pioneering space exploration through industry collaboration.

Topics

Aerospace

Space

College of Science

College of Engineering and Computing

mechanical engineering

innovative classes

Students

George Mason student project presents sticky situation for hackers

tdonnel — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 20:56:10 +0000

George Mason student project presents sticky situation for hackers tdonnel Wed, 12/17/2025 - 15:56

When a cloud computing class at 91�� called for a team project, master’s student Kevin Landry saw an opportunity to share what he knew and give classmates a taste of real-world cyber defense.

A seasoned cybersecurity enthusiast, Landry introduced his team to the concept of a honeypot—a decoy system designed to lure and monitor cyber attackers. As he put it, honeypots allow you to “reach out and touch actual attackers,” bringing textbook concepts to life in a way few classroom exercises can match.

“You’ll never look at the internet the same way again after running a honeypot,” Landry said. “It’s eye-opening to see how many bots are out there scanning for vulnerabilities.”

For his teammates—many of whom had never built home labs—the project offered hands-on experience that mimicked an enterprise environment and bridged the gap between theory and practice. Honeypots aren’t just academic tools; companies maintain them to study hacker activity, identify patterns, and share intelligence that helps reveal common vulnerabilities.

Kevin Landry. Photo provided.

“It’s a low-investment, high-yield product that’s passive,” Landry explained. “You do all the coding and setup, then just let it run and watch attackers come in.”

The team deployed Cowrie, an open-source honeypot that simulates a Linux shell. But Landry didn’t settle for the default configuration.

“I changed every standard setting possible,” he said. “Fake encryption keys, fake password files, fake directories—everything to make it look like a lazy or incompetent sysadmin left the doors open.”

Those tweaks made the trap convincing enough to attract hundreds of attackers, from automated bots to human hackers.

Once customized, the honeypot started buzzing—logging intrusion attempts almost immediately. To make the experience even more interactive, the team integrated real-time alerts through Discord, receiving up to 500 notifications a day whenever an attacker engaged with the system.

At one point, the attack volume was high enough that Discord temporarily rate-limited the alerts, thinking they were automated traffic. Landry resolved the issue by rotating through multiple webhooks and fine-tuning the alert frequency to keep everything running smoothly.

Over the course of 48 days, the honeypot captured an extensive dataset. Landry even created an interactive visualization of the activity for the team’s class presentation, showing where attacks originated and how they unfolded over time.

To make the project even more aligned with industry practices, Landry’s team uploaded the attackers’ IP addresses to Gray Noise Intelligence, a company that allowed him to use its enterprise-grade platform for the project. The software analyzes IP addresses and assigns confidence levels indicating how likely each one is malicious, giving students a window into professional threat intelligence workflows.

“It makes me feel good that I’m wasting hackers’ time or bots’ time,” Landry said.

For Landry—who served ten years in the U.S. Coast Guard and earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Mary Washington before pursuing his master’s in applied information technology at George Mason—the honeypot was both an academic milestone and a career-building moment. He believes projects like this are essential for breaking into cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity jobs—even entry-level—want three years of experience, but you can’t get experience without getting a job,” he noted. “Home labs and projects like this help build a portfolio and show employers you can do the work.”

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated, George Mason’s applied approach to technology education ensures students are ready to meet them head-on. For Landry, the honeypot was not only a class assignment but also a chance to turn passion into practice—and to share that experience with others.

An image from the interactive visualization of the project. Full visualization available here: https://gemini.google.com/share/24b205428724.

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George Mason dance students perform alongside Limón Dance Company

sbrown79 — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 17:27:00 +0000

George Mason dance students perform alongside Limón Dance Company sbrown79 Wed, 12/03/2025 - 12:27

This fall, 91��’s dance studios buzzed with excitement as School of Dance students prepared for and performed José Limón’s 1958 original composition Missa Brevis, alongside professional dancers from the Center for the Arts artists in residence Limón Dance Company.

“We’re thrilled to welcome one of the most prestigious modern dance companies to George Mason,” said Victor Adebusola, assistant director of programming and engagement in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “Their residency gives our School of Dance students the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with incredible professional artists.”

More than 80 George Mason students participated in an intense audition process, led by Limón company members Kurt Douglas and Logan Francis Krueger, and 13 were selected to perform the piece.

Junior dance major Avery Nank said that these auditions can get pretty intense. Nank had previous experience with the dance company, participating in two Limón summer intensive sessions in Colorado and New York City, but auditioning still made her nervous.

“I had previously learned some of the choreography, but I was still really nervous because I wanted it so badly,” she said.

After winning a spot in Missa Brevis, the students then worked with Douglas and Krueger to learn the choreography and prepare for the company’s November Concert Hall performance.

Guest artist residencies are intense learning opportunities and a chance for George Mason dance students to make connections that are invaluable to their careers. After the guest artists choose their cast, a challenging 10-day rehearsal period begins that parallels a professional work schedule. These long days result in a finished work that is performed before a Center for the Arts audience.

School of Dance students rehearsing with Limón Dance Company members. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

Limón Dance Company was founded in 1946 by José Limón and Doris Humphrey. The piece Missa Brevis takes place during World War II and was inspired by Limón’s tour of Europe, organized by the U.S. Department of State. The choreography is meant to reflect resilience and hope amidst devastation.

“When [Limón] went to Poland, he saw how ruined it was, but also how uplifting the people were,” said sophomore dance major Robert Harris. “He wanted to carry that and show the world that even though something can be torn down, the fight against adversity is higher and that you can achieve what you want to with your community.”

The guest artist program lets George Mason dancers learn to perform the piece and gain insights into the lives of professional dancers.

“It was cool to hear about the dancers’ experiences that led them to Limón,” said Harris. “They were very open with us, answering all of our questions and being very patient with us. It was a very eye-opening experience because it showed me that there really is a possibility of me being able to do this in the future.”

“As a young student, it's not often that you get to work with a professional company as a learning opportunity. I’m very thankful knowing that I was able to be a part of this. It was once in a lifetime,” said Harris.

Nank said her biggest takeaway was the possibility of growth when working as a team.

“We can all grow immensely if we're doing it at the same time and we’re doing it together. It just takes patience, discipline, and taking the time to care about the people around you,” she said.

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