Jenn Pocock

Our Students Can Hack It

Katarina Benson — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 18:39:34 +0000

Our Students Can Hack It Katarina Benson Tue, 03/24/2026 - 14:39

91�� students have key roles to play in the future of cybersecurity—and they are rising to the occasion. Over the past few years, the university has advanced as a leader in this rapidly developing field. In the 2025 Country-to-Country Capture the Flag contest, for example, only 100 finalists were invited from the world over—and five of them were from George Mason.

Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

“Our students are focused and curious,” says Sai Manoj, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and advisor to George Mason hackathon participants. “And they're very interested in participating in hackathons.”

Hackathons, like PatriotHacks and other competitions such as Capture the Flag and Defend the Republic, are considered essential extracurricular activities by many students in the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC). Whether a student is passionate about hardware, software, datasets, AI-driven workflows, puzzle-solving, or flying robots, there is something for everyone.

“These competitions are an important bridge between our academic programs and the evolving demands of the technology and cybersecurity industries,” says Kamaljeet Sanghera, MS Information Systems ’00, executive director of talent development and a professor of information technology at CEC who has served as a faculty sponsor to George Mason’s annual PatriotHacks.

She says these competitions complement students’ classroom education and allow them to gain real-world, hands-on experience while networking with professionals in settings that encourage innovative thinking.

“Industry involvement definitely enriches these experiences,” says Sanghera of the companies that sponsor these competitions. “Sponsors and mentors introduce students to real-world tools, datasets, and AI-driven workflows, helping them see how their skills apply in professional settings.”

And it opens doors for these students. One George Mason student, Fatima Majid, discovered this when she placed in the top 10 at the 2025 National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Cyber Competition against defense professionals. She so impressed those attending that the NDIA vice president introduced himself afterward, and she had a large group of attendees interested in talking to her.

Sanghera notes that these challenges also set George Mason grads up for post-collegiate success in other ways. “They challenge students to tackle complex problems under time constraints,” she says. “Whether by developing innovative solutions in a hackathon or analyzing and defending systems in a Capture the Flag competition, both experiences help students build technical skills, while also strengthening essential soft skills such as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and creative thinking.”

These events provide important lessons, too, in learning how to get up again after experiencing difficult setbacks and challenges. The recent George Mason Fail-a-Thon encouraged students to “fail forward” by judging them on ambition, creativity, and iteration instead of penalizing for mistakes. “The goal was to celebrate experimentation and meaningful learning,” says Humaira Akhtari, a term instructor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, who judged the event.

Students don’t have to go far to find an opportunity either. The 2025 Raytheon Defend the Republic autonomous blimp contest, for example, took place on the Fairfax Campus in EagleBank Arena.

“George Mason has a very strong background in general in security. It's not just about the faculty, but also the students and the locality,” says Manoj. “With the government and so many high-tech companies nearby, there’s a huge need for security in the area. That means that the students and faculty are seeing a lot of opportunities for growth.”

Meet a few of the George Mason students who are advancing in cyber competitions at the national level.

This content appears in the Spring 2026 print edition of the Mason Spirit Magazine.

More Than Meets the Eye

Katarina Benson — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:34:11 +0000

More Than Meets the Eye Katarina Benson Tue, 03/24/2026 - 13:34

The knifefish is a predatory fish with a distinctive frilly fin on its underside that allows it to move backward and forward. It’s normally found in South American rivers–so what is one doing wafting through the air in George Mason’s EagleBank Arena?

Knifey, a nature-inspired blimp based on the knifefish’s movement (with an added ferocious glare), is just one of junior Alexia De Costa’s projects combining art and robotics. “I love any way to get people interested in tech and also understand complicated things visually,” she says.

De Costa played with robotics kits as a kid, then got into Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, where she developed her skills even further and connected them with her love of nature. “In high school, I made puppy, guinea pig, and bunny robots that could all do different things. I love figuring out how to make the robots more visually pleasing to make the interactions more appealing to the user.”

Alexia De Costa is an applied CS major. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

When De Costa came to George Mason as an applied computer science major and an Honors College student, she became involved in the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX). There, she ran a Robot Night workshop, teaching students how to make robots from scratch.

Since then, she has leveraged George Mason resources to power her projects. Through the Research and Interdisciplinary STEM Experiences (RISE) Scholars program, De Costa hosted a robot blimp-making workshop for middle school students. She also became involved with the Mason Autonomous Robotics Center (MARC) as a research assistant. This is where she designed and built Knifey, which she piloted in the 2025 Defend the Republic blimp competition in EagleBank Arena.

In 2025, also through MARC and with support from the Office of Student Creative Activities and Research, De Costa led a team of eight students to develop giant art and tech pieces. “It was a series of works to convey very technical information. It blends art and robotics to make these topics engaging to the general public.”

One of these pieces was a giant interactive eye with pixelated sensors that help viewers understand how computer vision works. Another was a lenticular design project illustrating how sea life inspires their robot blimps. De Costa is working to have these pieces installed at spots across campus.

Her current research project harkens back to her high school roots but with a twist. De Costa and her team took second place at Sauceathon 2025, a hardware-focused hackathon hosted by Open Sauce and the National Havoc Robot League, for their robotic cat.

The challenge began with a $500 combat robot kit and a mission: modify the base design to complete a rescue scenario in an apocalyptic setting. The 24-hour event tested De Costa and her team’s endurance and ingenuity. Against a backdrop of camera crews and livestreams, George Mason’s team stood out for its creativity and adaptability. Even after a late-night power outage forced participants to improvise, the team completed two rescue runs, performing “emergency surgery” with duct tape between rounds.

“Usually hackathons are software focused, so building a robot was so much fun,” says De Costa. “Seeing it succeed was exciting. We’re definitely planning to attend the next one.”

They train, compete, and perform at the highest levels—only their arena is cybersecurity. Like top athletes, George Mason's cyber-focused students prove themselves when the pressure is on.

Read more from this series >>

Young, Scrappy, and Hungry

Katarina Benson — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:33:07 +0000

Young, Scrappy, and Hungry Katarina Benson Tue, 03/24/2026 - 13:33

Cybersecurity engineering major Fatima Majid is certainly not throwing away her shot. The senior has made it her mission to take advantage of every opportunity George Mason has to offer.

After transferring from Northern Virginia Community College and struggling in her first semesters, Majid persevered, raising her GPA and earning a spot on the Dean’s List. She says her professors were extremely supportive during that time. They helped boost her confidence to keep her in the program.

Majid says one professor especially kept her motivated. “In a class of 90 people, he pointed me out and said, ‘That girl can code! If you have any issues with the work, she can help.’ It changed my mentality. I realized that I could actually do it.”

Soon she was ready to take on the competition. When she joined her first hackathon—the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) cyber competition—she thought it was a George Mason student event. Instead, she discovered she was going against professionals in the defense contract industry.

Majid is a senior and a Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Innovation Scholar. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

In the end, she was the only one-person team (and the only student) to place in the top 10, placing 9th out of 51 teams with a project designed to protect against miniature drone strikes like the one that Ukraine launched on Russia.

Majid’s lightbulb moment for her SkyEyes project came at a traffic light while considering the significant network of traffic cameras in the commonwealth. SkyEyes applies an artificial intelligence (AI) model to the live feed of the Virginia 511 camera network, which provides real-time traffic information to citizens and transportation officials. Majid was able to demonstrate how a low-cost, AI-enabled surveillance layer could differentiate threats from non-threats by employing geofencing logic to define safe versus threat zones around sensitive sites. 

“I understand how drones work because of the work I’ve done at George Mason’s MIX—and since I know how to build it, I also know how to jam it,” she says.

Majid also credits her summer in Richmond at the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s undergraduate policy program as giving her confidence and exposure to how government works.  

Majid says the strong showing at the NDIA competition gave her tremendous exposure to influential professional contacts. She fielded several questions about her simulation and future professional plans from a man she only later realized was Retired Brigadier General and NDIA Executive Vice President Guy Walsh. 

“Because he showed interest, after he walked away, a crowd of people gathered around to ask me questions. It was very validating.” 

Now in her senior year, Majid is a Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Innovation Scholar and part of a statewide program that comes with a $2,000 professional development award and training in cyber start-ups.

Eventually, she says that she wants to find a job that’s exciting and fun and isn’t ruling anything out. “I’m taking a bite of everything and seeing where I want to go. I’ve seen the potential that I have.”

One way Majid takes advantage of every opportunity available is by taking the shuttle from the Fairfax Campus to Mason Square any time an event is offered at Fuse. “I just walk up and start talking to people,” she says.

Mastering networking and making connections are just a small part of Majid’s range of skills. “Some people think that I get lucky, and these opportunities just fall into my lap,” she says. “But I tell them that they are there for other students to find too. They don’t see all of the effort I put in to do more and be better—that is my goal as a student.”

They train, compete, and perform at the highest levels—only their arena is cybersecurity. Like top athletes, George Mason's cyber-focused students prove themselves when the pressure is on.

Read more from this series >>

Playing Through

Katarina Benson — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:31:36 +0000

Playing Through Katarina Benson Tue, 03/24/2026 - 13:31

Nhat Le has always loved puzzles. From Rubik's Cubes to role-playing games, he plays them all. Now a graduate student in cyber security engineering at George Mason, Le came to his studies “through the back door,” as a hacker might say.

Le moved to the United States from Vietnam six years ago for his senior year of high school. While studying computer science at New Mexico State University for his bachelor’s degree, he was bored and lost in his Linux administration class. To make it easier, he went online to learn in a more fun and hands-on way.

“I found this website, OverTheWire, that had a game called Bandit, where I had to perform some Linux puzzle tests to get the password to unlock the next level,” he says. “It was so much like gaming that I wanted to learn more. The curiosity, creativity, and puzzle solving hooked me right away.”

Le is pursuing his master's in cyber security engineering. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

He didn’t know it, but that was his first step into cybersecurity. It paved the way for his entry into capture the flag (CTF) competitions. He entered his first as a junior in 2022.

“Capture the flag competitions are usually a way for cybersecurity people to practice their skills,” says Le. “Most people discover cybersecurity first, then find out about CTF as a way to improve. For me, it was the other way around.”

His game training taught him cybersecurity techniques that let him play his way into a new field of study. So when the time came for his master’s degree, he was drawn to George Mason for its stellar top five cybersecurity program ranking. While here, he’s mostly moved on from CTF competitions to practice the real thing. However, in July 2025, Le was invited to the elite Country-to-Country Capture the Flag finals held in Boston in July. Le was one of five finalists from George Mason and 100 finalists worldwide.

Now, he’s obsessed with application security, which involves finding out how web applications work and trying to reverse engineer them. He also loves penetration testing, or going into other people’s programs and trying to disable them—with their permission and in the name of making them better, of course.

“I love breaking things,” says Le. “I want to know what’s happening under the hood, understand how it works, and figure out how to break it.” Normally, this would be illegal, but when Le does it, it’s through a program called Bug Bounty Hunter. App creators submit their software so that hackers like Le, known as white-hat hackers, can try to expose holes in their security.

His next focus? Learning how to fix what he breaks.

They train, compete, and perform at the highest levels—only their arena is cybersecurity. Like top athletes, George Mason's cyber-focused students prove themselves when the pressure is on.

Read more from this series >>

The Eye of the Tiger

Katarina Benson — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 17:30:25 +0000

The Eye of the Tiger Katarina Benson Tue, 03/24/2026 - 13:30

Computer science major Noah Kabiri is no stranger to high-adrenaline competition. As an elite coder and winner of hackathons in only his second year at George Mason, this ambitious sophomore performs a balancing act on par with elite college athletes training to go pro.

Kabiri’s passion for cybersecurity started early thanks to television. “I remember always seeing the cool hacker guy on the TV shows,” he says. “He's typing on his computer and doesn't stop. As a kid I was like, I want to be that guy!”

Growing up in Springfield, Virginia, Kabiri started teaching himself to code in elementary school, before he really understood what coding was. Then in sixth grade, he tried to make his first app—a calculator in C++. “This app was so bad. I wasn't good at coding so you could only add two numbers at a time, and there was no order of operations,” he says with a laugh.

Kabiri is a sophomore CS major. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

At Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, Kabiri was exposed to hands-on computer work and niche fields. He continued to teach himself as well, so his skills were developed enough to land a software development internship at Seamless Migration toward the end of his senior year in high school.

Now Kabiri attends as many competitions and conferences as possible. His hackathon team, which included fellow students from the College of Engineering and Computing recently took third place at a National Defense Industrial Association hackathon, where they addressed a need in the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance category.  

Their product was a SaaS (software as a service) that takes footage and video feeds from anywhere—drone surveillance video, infrared, geospatial satellite images, security cameras, body cams, and more—and analyzes the environment. While the competition only looks for proof of concept over the 72-hour project period, Kabiri believes that he can take the project forward.

“I have this really high drive to be successful and want to make as much out of this experience as possible,” says Kabiri. “I want to be as well-rounded as possible, but that means I’m working 40 hours a week along with school.”

For Kabiri, this means taking care that he doesn’t burn out. To help avoid that, he moves his body regularly and takes time to decompress. He does this by attending 6:30 a.m. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes and weekly knitting club meetings—he’s currently making a blanket. “My evenings are very hectic, so I like getting up early to move.”

While his rigorous time management and the discipline of a professional athlete allow him to pursue his goals, Kabiri admits that it leaves him little time for anything else. “I have to stay off of social media, and I miss some things I want to do. I haven’t watched Netflix in forever.”

Since Kabiri is only in his second year of college, he is still figuring out his direction. He would like to use his skills for good–possibly cybersecurity or defense. He likes making things that add value to people’s lives or that they enjoy using. For now, he keeps strengthening his skills and his eye on the prize.

They train, compete, and perform at the highest levels—only their arena is cybersecurity. Like top athletes, George Mason's cyber-focused students prove themselves when the pressure is on.

Read more from this series >>

George Mason PhD student Jessye Gassel captures timelapse of a supernova

Katarina Benson — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 15:45:31 +0000

George Mason PhD student Jessye Gassel captures timelapse of a supernova Katarina Benson Fri, 02/13/2026 - 10:45

Jessye Gassel has always been fascinated with spinning bodies.

“I grew up figure skating,” said physics PhD student at 91��. “From 3 years old to 23, I spent all my free time on the ice. And I had a lot of curiosity about how I could do the things I was doing.”

Gassel found herself looking forward to her high school physics class every day and knew, by junior year, that she would pursue it in college. A senior-year astronomy class honed that direction toward astrophysics.

George Mason doctoral student Jessye Gassel presenting at the American Astronomical Society. Photo provided

Now she is working with Brian Williams, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is also her PhD advisor, and she recently presented a video compilation of Kepler’s Supernova Remnant (SNR) over the course of 25 years and related research at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Phoenix, Arizona.

Kepler’s supernova remnant is the result of a Type Ia supernova–a white dwarf star in a binary system that exploded. In fact, it’s a relatively young and nearby celestial object in cosmic terms: only 400 years old and 17,000 light years away. The video was created using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory captured over more than two and a half decades.

“Type Ia supernovae are super cool but super rare,” said Gassel. “Cosmologists can actually use the behavior of the remnants to measure the expansion of the universe, and glean more information as to its structure, but there is still much unknown about the details of the actual explosion.”

Kepler’s SNR, she found, is expanding at different rates in different directions. The top is moving at 4 million miles per second (.05% of the speed of light), and the bottom is moving at 13.8 million miles per second (2% of the speed of light). This suggests that the top is expanding into a much denser material than the bottom. Part of what Gassel and her team want to explore next is what, exactly, that material is made of.

“The newest observations of Kepler were taken in summer 2025, and we started putting everything together last November for the January conference,” said Gassel, who has a bachelor’s degree in physics and mathematics from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.

Gassel and Williams previously investigated Tycho’s supernova remnant in 2024 before moving on to Kepler.

The release of the video brought Gassel and Williams—and Kepler—lots of media attention. While publishing papers is standard for researchers, having a NASA press release about your work isn’t, so Gassel said having this opportunity as a doctoral student has been an honor.

“Seeing a news release on the front page of the NASA website with my name attached to it and reading all of the articles that other outlets published about it has given me a major confidence boost,” she said. “Since high school, I’ve struggled with imposter phenomenon as a woman in STEM, so this has truly felt like a ‘I’ve made it’ moment.”

On the doctoral front, Gassel is still putting together her dissertation committee and hasn’t settled on a project yet, although she is pretty sure it will involve supernova remnants and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Chandra the dog dressed as Chandra the telescope for Halloween. Photo provided

In fact, Gassel named her dog, Chandra, after the telescope that has brought so much meaning to her professional life. Dog Chandra debuted at the Department of Physics and Astronomy’s Halloween party last fall dressed as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and won first prize.

Although Gassel is focused on the stars, she said her terrestrial plans after George Mason include seeking at teaching position and continuing with her research.

Learn more about George Mason's Grand Challenge Initiative

Videos: Supernova Remnant Video From NASA's Chandra Is Decades in Making

Animation courtesy of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory illustrating the supernova studied in this research.

Watch the full animation and visualizations

Topics

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Off the Clock: Jeffrey Kenney put himself on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Katarina Benson — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 14:31:43 +0000

Off the Clock: Jeffrey Kenney put himself on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Katarina Benson Wed, 01/28/2026 - 09:31

Jeffrey Kenney is no stranger to showing art in Virginia—he is, after all, an associate curator for Mason Exhibitions at 91��. He regularly helps bring together world-class artists and their work in service of the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) through the six galleries that the Mason Exhibitions team oversees across Northern Virginia.

Kenney with his work. Photo provided

This time, however, it’s his work in the public eye. As a recipient of a 2025-26 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts fellowship, Kenney’s series of paintings, “Along the Inner Branches,” is on view in the museum’s fine-dining Amuse Restaurant.

“Significant artists over the history of Virginia’s art landscape have won the fellowship,” said Kenney, who joined George Mason in 2013. “It’s an honor to be grouped in that lineage.”

The VMFA Fellows’ works are featured in many different areas around the commonwealth. Some are in different buildings around the museum complex; others are at Richmond International Airport. Kenney’s location in the restaurant means that he has a great position to capture the notice of high-end art lovers and fine diners.

“I've had a couple people send me notes saying that they saw my work while they were down there unexpectedly,” said Kenney. “They were visiting the museum and having lunch and suddenly like, ‘oh! I know him!’”

Kenney is especially excited about this body of work because it’s a departure from his roots. “I'm sort of an artist that's wandered between mediums,” he said. “I studied sculpture in undergrad and have a master's in photography.”

Seven years ago, however, he was feeling lost in his artistic journey and began playing with linocuts and painted patterns.

“My art has always involved a kind of process where half of the work is me trying to develop ways of working. To me that's the fun—the puzzle-solving of it,” he said. “So if you're looking at my work, you'll see there's a lot of repeated fragments.”

Kenney working on one of his pieces. Photo provided

In the 2022-23 academic year, Kenney won a Robert K. Purks Faculty Enrichment Fund grant from CVPA, a $2,500 prize that helped him develop his current body of work. His art combines painting and printmaking through rhythmic layers that blend a variety of graphic elements, which emerge from the study of diverse sources—historical and contemporary—such as early modern printed books, textiles, cartoons, and scientific diagrams.

“All of this work is new to the public,” said Kenney. “So the fellowship was definitely a boost to my confidence.”

The VMFA fellowship program recognizes some of the commonwealth’s most talented up-and-coming artists. Kenney has, in the past, used the fellowship to help him identify artists to use in Mason Exhibitions, including Anikó Sáfrán, Sharon Shapiro, and Ricardo Vicente Jose Ruiz.

The fellowship comes with an $8,000 prize, some of which Kenney says he will put back into his studio. But most, he says, he will save for his eight-year-old son’s future.

“When you’re an artist, it can take away from other things that you cherish, especially when you have a full-time job. I see this as a way of paying it forward.”

View more of Jeffrey Kenney’s art here.

More about the College of Visual and Performing Arts

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Faculty and Staff News

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

Mason Exhibitions

Off the Clock

In This Story

Jeffrey Kenney

Students S.E.R.V.E. those who have served

Jennifer Pocock — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 20:47:53 +0000

Students S.E.R.V.E. those who have served Jennifer Pocock Tue, 10/28/2025 - 16:47

91�� students take third in competition to help veterans maintain their quality of life.

Team 7 shows their prosthetic liner solution after winning third place at the Project S.E.R.V.E. National Design Competition. From left, Kunaal Jindal (student), Steve McMillian (Project S.E.R.V.E. Northeast Program Manager), Cassidy Worzalla (student), Dibyashree Basu (student), Shani Ross (senior design instructor), and Gabriel Gibson (student). Photo provided

Miami-based nonprofit Project S.E.R.V.E. (Student Engineering for Resilience of Veterans and Emergency Responders) helps wounded responders get back on their feet and gives bioengineering students valuable hands-on experience in the prosthetics field at the same time. It has sponsored prosthetic limbs for more than 1,300 veterans and first responders from more than 2,000 students since its founding in 2009.

In May, the nonprofit (formerly known as Quality of Life Plus) brought eight teams together for a national competition in Blacksburg, Virginia. Universities from Ohio, Florida, New Jersey, and Virginia gathered to see who could design a prosthetic socket and liner that would mitigate heat and moisture for lower limb amputees.

George Mason’s team comprised Gabriel Gibson, Cassidy Worzalla, Dibyashree Basu, and Kunaal Jindal, all bioengineering majors. Over the course of two semesters, they developed, tested, and evaluated multiple prototypes. They also had to present their progress and proposed solutions twice in fall and once in spring to a group of stakeholders, including prosthetic wearers, for feedback. 

On May 3, the day of competition, Team 7 presented their solution: a silicone liner made with a thermal conductive polymer and containing moisture-absorbent strips. They were judged on two different real-time tests: how much the design lowered the temperature, and how the design helped control temperature and humidity levels when a test subject performed a physical activity.

“The judges liked the innovative design and thought their idea was creative and promising,” said Shani Ross, the senior design instructor and bioengineering associate professor. “We are very proud of the work that the team did. They showed ingenuity, tenacity, and teamwork and represented 91�� well.” 

Their product helped them take third place—and contributed to the science of prosthetics, and a better quality of life for affected heroes.  

In This Story

Shani Ross

Topics

Bioengineering

competitions

Students

College of Engineering and Computing

Veterans

Expanded BioE Buzz summer camp brings high schoolers to life sciences

Jennifer Pocock — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 17:56:23 +0000

Expanded BioE Buzz summer camp brings high schoolers to life sciences Jennifer Pocock Tue, 10/21/2025 - 13:56

New offerings and a healthy dose of competition left campers happily humming along.

BioE Buzz students work on a polymer testing challenge at the 2025 summer camp. Photo provided.

When the 2024 BioE Buzz camp was declared a success, the 91�� organizers used the momentum to level up in 2025. Its inaugural year boasted one week of experiments, tours, lectures, and activities for 16 high school juniors and seniors.

This past summer, however, introduced a new element that lit the fire for bioengineering-curious kids: competition. Expanded to two one-week sessions for 32 students, the camp’s codirectors Khadija Zaidi-Rashid and Liszt Yeltsin Madruga randomly assigned them into teams.

“We would do lab tours, meet faculty experts, and have seminars in the mornings,” said Zaidi-Rashid, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering in the College of Engineering and Computing. “After lunch, we would separate them into their groups, where they would develop a certain skill and work on a team challenge.”

One day, the kids used 3D printing to model a bone that couldn’t break. The next, they mixed polymers to see which could suspend a steel ball. Another day saw them swabbing campus benches, rocks, and trashcans to find out which would result in the petri dish with the richest bacteria culture.

“They were very creative in working with our parameters,” said Yeltsin Madruga, a research assistant professor in bioengineering. “We told them they could not swab anything biological, like humans. They pushed this by swabbing a bench they saw animals climbing on, or the bottom of a person’s shoe.”

All of the projects were tested live on the final day of camp in front of the campers and parents, where the winners were announced. The prize? A one-week internship in the students’ department of choice.

According to Zaidi-Rashid, both the competition and the prize were huge hits with campers. “At the beginning of the week, we took them to the EDGE ropes course to encourage team development. They were immediately psyched about the competition, asking if they could get points for finishing the course,” she said.

The camp’s hands-on aspect was also motivating. One camper returned for a second year at the urging of his parents. “At first, he wasn’t excited," said Yeltsin Madruga. “He was afraid it would be a repeat from last year. At the end, he came up and told me, ‘I thought it would be an adult’s idea of educational…like lectures.’ He was happy to be wrong!”

And the fact that the reward could help them in their careers and get aspiring bioengineers to take a deeper look at George Mason was a win for campers and the college alike. “Many of the campers arrived on the first day wearing college t-shirts and sweatshirts—and none of them were from Mason,” said Zaidi-Rashid. “On the last day, they were all wearing Mason apparel, and lots of them were interested in our programs because they saw what we could actually offer.”

The most rewarding, however, was helping the kids build community. “On the first day, the students were very quiet. By the end of the camp, they were all very friendly and chatty,” she said. “In high school, it’s hard to know who has your same future aspirations, so it was nice to see them find their people.”

Topics

Summer Camps

K-12 Partnerships

Bioengineering

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Students

Bringing safe water to the table

Jennifer Pocock — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 21:55:22 +0000

Bringing safe water to the table Jennifer Pocock Tue, 09/30/2025 - 17:55

New 91�� researcher goes beyond engineering to connect communities.

Smith visits a well with a handpump in Apac district, Uganda with colleague Paska Anyapo Sizzela, Senior Sanitation Officer for International Lifeline Fund. Photo by James Winter

Fresh water is not just the foundation of life; it’s also at the center of every society. From ancient watering holes that brought all the animals to the yard to municipal systems that bring refreshment from tap-to-glass, water connects us all.

Daniel Smith is a water treatment engineering expert who advocates for clean water and sanitation in both large municipalities and tiny rural communities. The newly appointed assistant professor of environmental engineering and water resources in the Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering brings experience working with organizations in Honduras, Uganda, Bangladesh, and across the United States—just to name a few.

What makes him really interesting, though, is how he blends social sciences with his engineering research. He's implemented research on a phenomenon called social capital, which is a way to measure how much a community trusts—or distrusts—one another and its effect on infrastructure management. “That was an amazing concept to me as an engineer.”

In communities with high social capital, he found, it's easy to get widespread buy-in for community-managed infrastructure. “They tend to raise more money, have better communication with less misinformation, and better implement training programs,” he said.

The projects are easier to get off the ground, gain trust and enthusiasm, and create a “virtuous circle” where the buy-in creates better living situations, which raises social capital overall, and allows for openness to further improvements.

In communities with low social capital, however, communication is difficult, projects are hard to get going, and a vicious cycle starts, which leads to even less trust and buy-in overall (and poorer water quality). In those cases, he's worked on communication methods to help raise community trust.

As a new face in civil and environmental engineering, Smith is still in the process of setting up his water quality lab at the Potomac Science Center. When it’s finished, he will bring his nonprofit and research collaborations with water utilities in the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area and nonprofit organizations, such as AguaClara Reach in Honduras and International Lifeline Fund in Uganda, to George Mason.