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George Mason scientist takes part in NASA mission to track Earth’s changing ice and forests

Katarina Benson — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 21:43:26 +0000

George Mason scientist takes part in NASA mission to track Earth’s changing ice and forests Katarina Benson Wed, 04/15/2026 - 17:43

Konrad Wessels, associate professor of geography and geoinformation science at 91��, is part of a NASA-funded team studying how ice levels and ecosystem carbon stock are changing—work that could impact climate resilience planning, disaster management, ocean navigation, and national security.

Wessels is contributing to NASA’s Earth Dynamics Geodetic Explorer mission (EDGE), which will be the world’s first satellite system to use imaging laser altimetry to map Earth’s surface. Selected after a two-year development and evaluation process, this EDGE mission relies on laser altimetry, a technique that sends pulses of light toward Earth and measures the time it takes for them to reflect back to the spacecraft.

Konrad Wessels, associate professor of geography and geoinformation science. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

These measurements allow scientists to precisely calculate the elevation of land, ice, and forest structure. If confirmed, the total estimated cost of EDGE, not including the launch, will not exceed $355 million, with a mission launch date of no earlier than 2030.

“The NASA EDGE mission will generate high-resolution, three-dimensional views of forests and savanna ecosystems, along with detailed measurements of glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice,” said Wessels. “Together, this data will help scientists better understand how ice and forests are changing over time. It also has a rapid response capability, which can collect higher-detail data in case of emergencies or natural disasters.”

Wessels’ role has focused on ensuring the mission can accurately track changes in the world’s forests and savannas. As a member of the Terrestrial Ecosystems Science team, he helped develop a Science Traceability Matrix, a framework that connects the mission’s scientific objectives to specific measurement requirements. This includes forest height, fire fuel loads, biomass/carbon stocks, and their changes. This process directly informs the design of the mission’s LiDAR sensor, satellite orbits, and data-processing methods.

“Tracking global forest carbon stocks is critical for understanding how Earth is responding to environmental change, especially since carbon emissions from land-use change and forest degradation rival those from the entire transportation sector,” Wessels said. “By improving our ability to monitor forests worldwide, this mission can inform natural resource management efforts that aim to protect forest carbon stocks and biodiversity along with many ecosystem services. EDGE could provide a quantum leap forward in monitoring forest structure and dynamics around the world.”

The EDGE mission brings together 25 scientists and engineers from institutions around the world. Helen Amanda Fricker, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California San Diego, is principal investigator, and John Armston of the University of Maryland is the deputy principal investigator. Mission leadership also includes instrument principal investigator Bryan Blair and project scientist Scott Luthcke from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

In a NASA-issued press release, Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., described the importance of EDGE and the recently advancing STRIVE (Stratosphere Troposphere Response using Infrared Vertically-resolved light Explorer) missions. “By understanding Earth’s surface topography, ecosystems, and atmosphere, these missions will help us better study the extreme environments beyond our home planet to ensure the safety of astronauts and spacecraft as we return to the Moon with the Artemis campaign and journey onward to Mars and beyond,” he said.

Deputy PI Armston spoke to Wessels’ contributions, saying, "Konrad has helped shape EDGE’s science to capture the dynamics of savanna ecosystems and their response to disturbance and environmental change and will play a key role in the mission’s calibration and validation efforts across terrestrial ecosystems."

In addition to Wessels, the terrestrial ecosystem structure team includes researchers from Boise State, the National University of Singapore, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, UCLA, the University of Bristol, the University of Maryland, U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The ice elevation team includes scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, the Colorado School of Mines, the University at Buffalo, the University of Tasmania, and the University of Washington.

The EDGE project has been selected for continued development as part of NASA’s Earth System Explorers Program, which conducts principal investigator-led Earth science missions based on key priorities laid out by the science community and national needs. The EDGE mission will be subject to confirmation review in 2027, which will assess the mission’s progress and the availability of funds.

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$1 million U.S. Department of Justice grant will support virtual reality training for domestic violence response

Taylor Thomas — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:05:16 +0000

$1 million U.S. Department of Justice grant will support virtual reality training for domestic violence response Taylor Thomas Mon, 04/13/2026 - 10:05

Domestic violence 911 calls often place first responders in the midst of crisis and confusion. The scene may involve conflicting stories, visible injuries, frightened children, and little clarity about what just happened.

At 91��, researchers have secured more than $1 million in federal funding to help frontline professionals prepare for these complex moments. The grant from the U.S. Department of Justice will help fund a novel virtual reality (VR) training program to strengthen interprofessional responses to domestic violence.

Social work professors Denise Hines and Holly Matto will co-lead the one-year project in the College of Public Health, partnering with local law enforcement, domestic violence organizations, and health care providers in Northern Virginia to design and pilot the training. The team also includes social work assistant professors Michelle Hand and Anna Parisi as co-investigators, and Bethany Cieslowski, chief innovation officer for immersive technologies.

The faculty members, as well as College of Public Health Dean Melissa J. Perry, expressed gratitude to U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia for their support of the congressional funding, and to the Department of Justice for administering the $1,026,029 award through its Byrne Justice Assistance Grants program.

VR headsets in the college's Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation.

“We’re thankful for the leadership and support to bring the power of virtual reality to improve health and safety,” Perry said. “Virginia will lead the way in coordinated, prevention-focused responses to domestic violence. Looking ahead, the model developed here can one day help communities across the country.”

Using technology and resources in the College of Public Health’s Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation, the project team will build VR case scenarios that reflect the complexities of domestic violence calls. The simulations will allow frontline professionals to practice coordinated responses and experiment with different approaches before facing similar situations in real life.

“The innovation here is bringing together professionals like law enforcement, social workers, and health care providers to co-design new VR cases that are relevant to challenges on the ground,” Matto said.

Domestic violence remains a public health and safety crisis. In Virginia alone, the statewide domestic and sexual violence hotline received more than 70,000 calls in 2023. Family and intimate partner violence accounts for roughly one-third of all homicides in the state annually. And for first responders, these calls can also be among the most volatile and unpredictable situations they encounter.

“Domestic violence calls are some of the toughest calls, but also some of the most common calls that law enforcement will come across,” said Hines, the Elisabeth Shirley Enochs Endowed Professor of Social Work. “They're often coming in at a precarious and dangerous moment.”

Thumbnail photo via Pexels.

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Key Takeaways:

Domestic violence calls can be complex and dangerous situations for first responders.
George Mason researchers secured more than $1 million from the U.S. Department of Justice to develop a virtual reality training program to improve domestic violence response.
The VR simulations will allow law enforcement, health care providers, and social workers to practice coordinated responses to difficult domestic violence scenarios in a safe training environment.

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Denise Hines, PhD

Holly Matto, PhD, LCSW-C

Michelle D. Hand, PhD, MSW, LSW

Bethany Cieslowski, DNP

Melissa J. Perry, Sc.D., MHS, MBA

George Mason partnership amplifies HBCU history and culture

Shayla Brown — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:09:52 +0000

George Mason partnership amplifies HBCU history and culture Shayla Brown Thu, 04/09/2026 - 16:09

91�� is equipping a new generation of archivists, scholars, and museum professionals with hands‑on digital preservation skills as part of a national effort to make hidden artifacts of Black history accessible to the public.

Since 2021, George Mason has been working on a first-of-its-kind initiative with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country to archive collections of century-old letters, photographs and other artifacts that document the Black experience. 

Deepthi Murali (second from right) and team outside the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Photo provided.

The HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium project brings together museum professionals, librarians, archivists, and higher education faculty to digitize, describe, and interpret materials. 

Initially, it was George Mason’s technology expertise that brought the university into the project. Under the leadership of then-executive director Mills Kelly, George Mason’s Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) helped develop and became a leading resource for users of the Omega S software, the primary software used to manage the project’s digital archival work.  

George Mason’s role was to train faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and student interns at partner institutions in digital history methodologies and metadata analysis software such as Omega S. However, as the project evolved, the university took on a broader role overseeing operations and project management.   

“We train them in broader public history writing, presenting digital public history to audiences, HTML coding, as well as how to work with AI coding,” said Deepthi Muralli, assistant professor in the Department of History and Art History and principal investigator for the project. 

Murali began her involvement as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History and Art History.  

“The digitization itself comes from the Smithsonian,” she added. “Once the materials are digitized, we step in and teach [researchers] how to do digital archival metadata work—essentially how to interpret these materials for the public.” 

Joanna Söderberg. Photo provided.

Joanna Söderberg is a digital library project coordinator at Fisk University who is completing George Mason’s graduate certificate in digital public humanities. Her work on the project fulfills the certificate’s internship requirement. 

“Digitization is not something that many HBCUs have had access to previously, so George Mason’s program has not only helped me, it's also helped my students and peers,” said Söderberg. “I could not have taken on the responsibilities of this internship without the information and knowledge that I've gain from the program; I wish I could spend more time with it.”

Söderberg says her favorite part of the project is discovering and working with materials from the Black Panther Party. “It’s so exciting for me to see old stuff from America good and bad because it's so vastly different from where I come from,” said Söderberg, who is from Sweden.

“When you share something like this project with the community, they will reach out and engage with us as well,” she said. “Sometimes through their family history or life experiences, they will have relevant materials that they weren’t even aware of until viewing our digital archives. Finding ways to implement and integrate the community's narrative is a really important next step.”

Student intern Annabelle Spencer, MA History ’24, is a second-year PhD student in George Mason’s Department of History and Arts History and worked on the project while completing her master’s degree. Spencer credits her coursework with preparing her for the internship. 

“It was so interesting to work in a space that I had simultaneously been learning about,” Spencer said. “My coursework was basically smaller versions of this project—it combined all the nuts and bolts of archiving, collecting, and allowed me to practice analyzing and organizing metadata and thinking about design.” 

Annabelle Spencer. Photo by Benjamin Little.

“Getting to teach these storytelling skills to people from other higher education institutions is amazing,” she added. “It's a big part of what it means to be a public historian.” 

Participating HBCUs include Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University. 

“These institutions have some remarkable objects and text-based materials that have never been seen or digitized,” said Murali, who is an affiliate faculty member at the RRCHNM. “We hope to bring them to the public and make the rich collections of these HBCUs visible to the world.” 

The project will be featured in a travel museum and on an official website. It will also be displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture until summer of 2026.

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Inside the competition for capital at some of the world’s biggest banks

Katelynn C Hipolito — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:08:43 +0000

Inside the competition for capital at some of the world’s biggest banks Katelynn C Hipolito Wed, 04/08/2026 - 12:08

As the U.S. economy becomes more consolidated, the strategic decisions of senior leaders at leading companies carry ever-greater weight. A lot is riding on how these companies are run, yet their day-to-day decision-making remains, in most cases, obscure.

Barbara Su. Photo by Jeffrey Porovich/Costello College of Business.

But the banking industry is an exception. As Barbara Su, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business at 91��, notes, “Because the banking industry is heavily regulated, it allows us to have access to subsidiary banks’ financial information. We can observe how much money parent companies take from each subsidiary, as well as the internal capital allocation between subsidiaries by headquarters.”

Su’s forthcoming paper in Management Science finds that in multi-bank holding companies (MBHCs), especially those with multiple subsidiary banks or geographically dispersed operations, it’s essential to bridge the information gap between HQ and local subsidiaries. That is why corporate leaders strongly rely on internal accounting information, as a complement to financial performance, to help them make intramural investment decisions.

Su says that although recent rounds of deregulation and interstate banking consolidation have reduced MBHCs’ economic profile, studying their behavior is relevant “because they provide a clean empirical setting. With multiple legally distinct bank subsidiaries, we can directly observe how the parent allocates capital across units.”

“We often hear that bank holding companies should act as a ‘source of strength’ for subsidiaries. There is some truth to the ‘source of strength’ idea, but our paper also observes that holding companies don’t just allocate funds to save subsidiaries from failing. They’re also allocating funds for the better-performing ones, when the accounting reporting quality is good, to help them thrive.”

—Barbara Su, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business

The paper was co-authored by Scott Liao of University of Toronto and Allison Nicoletti of University of Pennsylvania.

The researchers zeroed in on the subsidiary banks’ loan loss provision—an accounting adjustment reflecting anticipated loan defaults—as an especially meaningful indicator.

Their dataset included financial statement information from 3,031 bank subsidiaries affiliated with 799 bank holding companies, for the period 1996 to 2019.

Su’s hypothesis was that “the accuracy of the loan loss provision coming from the subsidiaries will, or should, guide the internal capital allocation at the holding company level.” In other words, HQ would be wise to interpret valid accounting information as a general quality index, helping them identify worthy targets for investment.

The evidence confirmed Su’s suspicions. The average accuracy of subsidiaries’ loan loss provisions was positively associated with HQ’s ability to pick winners, i.e., to invest in subsidiaries that would go on to achieve relatively high ROA or return on assets.

A follow-on study showed that this association was strongest for two subsets of holding companies: those more dependent on lending for their revenue, as well as those where HQ was most distant (either geographically or economically) from the local branches. Banks with troubled subsidiaries saw the weakest association between accounting information accuracy and wise internal investments. This amounts to further supporting evidence for the utility of loan loss provision as an in-house investment index for dispersed organizations, assuming the investment thesis has to do with picking winners rather than subsidizing struggling subsidiaries.

For Su, this research complicates commonly held beliefs about bank consolidation producing slow-moving behemoths getting by on sheer market power. “We often hear that bank holding companies should act as a ‘source of strength’ for subsidiaries,” she says. “There is some truth to the ‘source of strength’ idea, but our paper also observes that holding companies don’t just allocate funds to save subsidiaries from failing. They’re also allocating funds for the better-performing ones, when the accounting reporting quality is good, to help them thrive.”

Su also surmises that the decision-making method covered in her paper—HQ referencing internal accounting information as a gauge of quality—could apply outside banking. For example, it could come into play when evaluating subsidiary managers’ performance prior to a turnover decision.

Nonetheless, Su recommends that leaders maintain a balanced informational environment. Internal accounting information should be used to augment, not replace, standard performance metrics such as ROA. “I guess we could roughly think about it in a two-by-two matrix,” she says. “The ideal scenario would be high ROA, with high information quality. You could also have high ROA and low information quality—that means you’re cooking your numbers.”

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Doctoral student brings teacher well-being to the front of the class with dissertation research

sholla4 — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:42:07 +0000

Doctoral student brings teacher well-being to the front of the class with dissertation research sholla4 Tue, 03/24/2026 - 11:42

Teacher well-being has been a persistent issue in education, and the COVID-19 pandemic marked a significant turning point, intensifying existing challenges and highlighting the need for greater support. A 2025 RAND report on the State of American Teachers found that teachers were more likely to report experiencing poor well-being across all indicators than their peers in other fields, with 53% reporting feeling burned out. And as teacher and administrator resignation rates remain above pre-pandemic levels, education is reaching a critical juncture.

Megan Sharkey. Photo provided.

Megan Sharkey, a doctoral student in educational psychology in the College of Education and Human Development at 91��, is hoping her research on teacher well-being will give districts and divisions the insights needed to get teachers the support they need.

Prior to coming to George Mason, Sharkey taught elementary, special education, and early childhood education for almost 20 years. Across public, charter, and private schools from the Bronx in New York City to New Orleans and Northern Virginia, Sharkey's experiences teaching across varied geographical settings, demographics, and school systems shaped her approach to research.

“She’s unique in that not only does she have the knowledge of where we are and where we’re headed from a research perspective, but she also has the practical, firsthand understanding of how teacher well-being implicates the lives of many educators across different settings and systems,” said Betsy Levine-Brown, associate professor of education and Sharkey’s dissertation chair.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, Sharkey’s experiences teaching under increasingly challenging conditions helped narrow her research interests to teacher well-being.

“I just felt like our story [as teachers] during COVID-19 wasn’t being told,” she said. “We value education. We work hard for the best outcomes for our students and families. At times, that goes unnoticed, and I wish our world valued the work of educators more.”

Now, she’s hoping her dissertation research will help educators, administrators, and schools better understand where wellness support is needed. With funding from the American Education Research Association (AERA) Stress, Coping, and Resilience Special Interest Group (SIG), Sharkey is working with a large school division in Northern Virginia to examine teacher, school, and organizational well-being efforts with a focus on elevating teachers’ voices to better understand and address comprehensive educator well-being resources and supports.

Sharkey’s research aims to answer two main questions: how are teachers’ well-being perceptions shaped by organizational policies and supports, and in what ways do teachers explain their well-being in relation to their daily work experiences? This includes looking at district- and administrative-level supports for educators, as well as surveying and interviewing teachers to understand how they experience and interpret their well-being across personal, professional, and organizational domains. It’s an approach that allows Sharkey to look at the layers of impact, from the macro level of administration to the micro level of one-on-one teacher/student interaction.

“Administrators want to build the workforce, and they want teaching to be a sustainable career path. Turnover is hard, and turnover is expensive,” said Sharkey. “And retaining teachers begins with understanding working conditions and why teachers leave the profession.”

Sharkey noted that recent research on teacher well-being shows how it can have a big impact on school culture and student achievement. Like with any job, employee satisfaction improves workplace climate. In schools, these effects can extend into the classroom, as a more positive school climate has been associated with a range of student outcomes, including engagement, attendance, and academic performance. When teachers are supported with the conditions they need to show up as their best selves, students benefit.

“This type of research is at the intersection of scholarship, policy, and applied practice and will have a real contribution to the daily lives of education professionals and the organizational structures of our school divisions,” said Levine-Brown.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the research practice partnerships I’ve built during this process,” said Sharkey. “Through them, there’s real opportunity for this research to have direct impacts on Northern Virginia educators.”

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Five ways future health care leaders can tackle burnout in the workforce

Taylor Thomas — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 16:17:15 +0000

Five ways future health care leaders can tackle burnout in the workforce Taylor Thomas Mon, 03/23/2026 - 12:17

Photo by Vladimir Fedotov via Unsplash.

The fight against widespread burnout in the health care workforce should begin with the training of future health care administrators, according to a new paper from the 91�� College of Public Health.

Published in the Journal of Health Administration Education, the paper examines how health administration programs can better prepare future leaders to address burnout by focusing on workplace factors, such as working conditions, leadership support, job design and workload, social connections, and opportunities for advancement. More than three-quarters of health care workers report feeling stressed or stretched thin, with burnout contributing to problems like higher turnover and staffing shortages that can affect patient care.

Drawing from existing research and national frameworks on workforce well-being, the principal investigator Debora Goetz Goldberg outlines several leadership strategies that can help counteract burnout, including:

Build workplaces where staff can speak up

Health care leaders must create environments where employees can report mistakes, raise concerns, and discuss safety issues without fear of punishment. Clear reporting policies, open communication, and a culture of trust are key for psychological safety.

Redesign jobs to reduce overload

Many health care roles involve long hours, heavy documentation, and clunky technology that add to daily stress. Leaders make decisions about staffing, scheduling, and tools that can either ease those pressures or make them worse.

Prevent violence and protect staff safety

Health care workers face some of the highest rates of workplace violence of any profession. Leaders can help reduce risks by establishing zero-tolerance policies, training staff to de-escalate tense situations, and putting safety measures in place before incidents occur.

Involve frontline staff in decisions

The people delivering care often know exactly where problems arise. When leaders directly involve nurses, physicians, and other staff in decisions about schedules, policies, and daily operations, the changes are more likely to succeed.

Measure and improve workforce well-being

Health care organizations routinely track patient outcomes and financial performance. Workforce well-being deserves the same attention. Leaders can measure burnout, engagement, and working conditions and use that data to steer improvements.

John Cantiello, also from George Mason's College of Public Health, and Riva Kamat from Lotus Clinician WellBeing, Inc., co-authored the paper.

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Debora Goetz Goldberg, PhD, MHA, MBA

This initiative supports the Improving human health, well-being, and preparedness solution of George Mason's Grand Challenge Initiative

Key Takeaways:

Burnout affects a majority of health care workers and contributes to turnover, staffing shortages, and risks to patient care.
A new paper from 91�� argues that health care administration programs should train future leaders to address burnout through organizational decisions and workplace design.
Leaders can help counter burnout with strategies like creating psychologically safe environments, preventing workplace violence, and involving frontline staff in decisions.

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91�� engineering professor awarded Office of Naval Research grant to launch 'NEXT' mechatronics workforce program

Martha Bushong — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:45:35 +0000

91�� engineering professor awarded Office of Naval Research grant to launch 'NEXT' mechatronics workforce program Martha Bushong Fri, 03/20/2026 - 08:45

91�� faculty member Ningshi Yao received a $750k grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to establish a hands-on mechatronics training program aimed at building the next generation of high-tech engineering technologists.

The three-year funding will support the creation of the Natural EXTension (NEXT) program. As emerging technologies like autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing continue to expand, the NEXT program will serve the national interest by providing students with rigorous, experiential learning opportunities directly aligned with defense and industry workforce needs.

Ningshi Yao. Photo provided.

"Traditional classroom learning is essential, but engineering is ultimately about building systems that work reliably in the real world," said Yao, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, director of the Control, Intelligent Autonomy, and Optimization Lab, and the sole principal investigator on the project. "With the NEXT program, we are implementing a 'flipped classroom' model. Students will review video lectures and technical instructions as their homework, allowing us to dedicate our entire class time to building and testing the mechatronic vehicles. This highly dynamic 'learning-by-doing' approach prepares students for the complex problem-solving required in today's high-tech workforce."

The program, which will welcome its pilot class in fall 2026, moves beyond standard laboratory exercises. A centerpiece of the NEXT curriculum is a high-stakes endurance mechatronics competition. Student teams will be challenged to design, build, and deploy autonomous mechatronic vehicles during a 72-hour rapid prototyping sprint, followed by a live, 90-minute competitive match on an outdoor field.

This intense environment forces participants to manage limited resources, modify hardware, program the systems on the fly, and ensure their systems can handle unpredictable real-world elements like uneven terrain and weather.

"We want to push students' engineering creativity and strategic thinking to the absolute limit," said Yao. "By bridging the gap between academic theory and rigorous physical deployment, we are ensuring our graduates are job-ready for defense and tech industry roles from day one."

George Mason is already known as one of the commonwealth's largest producers of tech talent. The NEXT program will further support the university’s efforts in building Virginia’s high-tech workforce by creating a regional talent pipeline.

"Relationships between universities and industry are common, but integrating direct, hands-on challenges that mirror the complexities of defense operations makes this initiative unique," Yao added.

This project is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research under award number N00014-26-1-2153.

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George Mason makes the National Academy of Inventors Top 100

ckearney — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:04:53 +0000

George Mason makes the National Academy of Inventors Top 100 ckearney Thu, 03/19/2026 - 14:04

91��, a university that has been recognized consistently for its innovation and entrepreneurship, has been named to the top 100 U.S. universities for patents. This spring, the National Academy of Inventors ranked George Mason No. 92 on its list for patents granted during 2025.

Utility patents cover the creation of a new or improved product, process, or machine. In 2025, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 14 utility patents to George Mason inventors for methods to improve virtual reality (VR) navigation, traffic congestion, and wound healing.

Craig Yu with VP Andre Marshall. Photo by Ayman Rashid/Office of University Branding

“This recognition from the National Academy of Inventors signals more than a ranking—it reflects George Mason’s vision for how research can shape the future,” said Andre Marshall, vice president for research, innovation, and economic impact. “Each of the 14 patents granted in 2025 represents an idea with the potential to improve lives, strengthen industries, and fuel economic growth. Our place among the nation’s top 100 universities affirms our commitment to turning bold research into meaningful solutions, expanding our global impact, and creating an environment where innovation thrives and talent is drawn to make a difference.”

Scene-aware teleportation, developed by George Mason researcher Craig Yu of the College of Engineering and Computing and his former doctoral student Changyang Li, PhD Computer Science ’24, gives VR users a significantly smoother navigation experience in virtual environments. The technique improves the navigation through teleportation by determining the most suitable teleport positions for the user. This invention may be used in a wide range of applications, such as gaming, virtual touring, and VR-assisted navigation of hazardous and military environments.

Brian Mark of the College of Engineering and Computing and Melvin Friedman, a retired physicist from the Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, developed a method for coordinating traffic lights and reducing traffic congestion. In 2023, Mark worked with three senior design teams on the traffic light control methodology, road geometry design, and hardware, which enables motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians to make every traffic light with a suitable road geometry. This invention can eliminate or minimize traffic congestion by substantially reducing red light wait time while maximizing traffic flow.

Monique van Hoek (right) in her lab on the Science and Technology Campus. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

George Mason researchers Monique L. van Hoek and Barney M. Bishop of the College of Science were awarded an additional patent for their work with antimicrobial peptides inspired by the Komodo dragon’s natural defenses. The duo has been collaborating since 2009 to study the peptides and their activity against important bacterial pathogens. These synthetic peptides represent a breakthrough in the fight against drug-resistant infections.

Also among the patents awarded in 2025 was the GMU Dynamic Low Visibility Pneumatic Cofferdam, invented by George L. Donohue, professor emeritus and founding director of the Center for Air Transportation Systems Research at the College of Engineering and Computing, and a team of students, now alumni. The coastal resilience system designed to protect against flooding was licensed by serial entrepreneur Anthony Fung and his company Valorlox LLC earlier this year and is the first commercial product to move forward under the state’s new Lab-to-Launch initiative, marking an early milestone in the commonwealth’s push to accelerate university research into the market.

“We are incredibly proud of the innovative work coming out of George Mason’s research community,” said David Grossman, senior director of technology transfer and industry collaboration. “Our role is to help move these ideas beyond the lab and into real‑world applications. By working closely with industry partners, we reaffirm our commitment to translating research into solutions that benefit society.”

The academy’s Top 100 lists are created using data provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The last time George Mason made the list was in 2022. Other Virginia universities in the top 100 included University of Virginia ranked at 38 and Virginia Commonwealth University at 88.

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Online ad fraud is a feature, not a bug

Katelynn C Hipolito — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:26:46 +0000

Online ad fraud is a feature, not a bug Katelynn C Hipolito Tue, 03/17/2026 - 13:26

Technological advancements and the dynamics of the platform economy make rooting out fraud more complicated than it may seem.

With print media circulation and broadcast television viewership in free fall, a lot is riding on the online advertising space being able to take up the slack. The good news is, digital ad spend is booming: The global total for 2025 is expected to surpass $678 billion, at an annual growth rate of nearly eight percent.

The bad news? A good chunk of that money is chasing a mirage.

Online ad fraud—where ad publishers falsely inflate engagement metrics (impressions, clicks, etc.) to boost revenues—is a growing problem that eats upwards of 20 percent of global ad spend.

(Left to Right) Abhishek Ray and Min Chen. Photo by Hannah Patterson/Costello College of Business.

Min Chen and Abhishek Ray, both professors in the information systems and operations management area at Costello College of Business at 91��, are researching how online ad networks, such as Google Ads, can improve upon existing anti-fraud methods. Their recently published paper in Management Science explores deep-rooted dynamics of the online ad ecosystem that make eliminating fraud even more complicated than it may seem at first glance. The paper was co-authored by Subodha Kumar of Temple University.

The researchers used a game-theoretic model to replicate the interconnected decision-making of the three players involved: advertisers, publishers, and the networks that serve as go-between.

“The way the ecosystem works is that the platforms in the middle, the ad networks, shares the benefit from the transaction,” Chen explains. “People have been arguing whether the network is incentivized to put their best efforts behind deterring fraud, since the fraudulent traffic benefits the networks too. So we tried to create a model to capture this.”

“If the advertisers rely solely on the reports from the ad networks, they may be at risk. They should use third-party tools to audit the performance better.”

—Min Chen, information systems and operations management professor at the Costello College of Business at 91��

In addition, the model incorporates the two main fraud deterrents that networks routinely use. One is technological—platforms can adopt tougher standards for fraud detection, widening the scope of suspicious activity that gets flagged. The other is economic—lowering payments to all publishers so as to disincentivize large-scale fraud.

Surprisingly, the researchers find that the online ad economy works best when the two approaches seem to be working at cross-purposes. A tightening in fraud detection technology, paired with high payments for publishers, may sometimes produce the best outcomes for advertisers, publishers, and networks, as the market evolves.

The reason is rooted in the imperfect nature of fraud detection. To be sure, detection systems are improving all the time, especially with the advent of AI. But fraudsters do their best to blend in and adapt, using technological tools that often outpace those of their pursuers. “You cannot catch all the fraud, and if you try, you are going to mis-detect a lot of non-fraud,” Chen says.

Tougher fraud detection, then, will always mean more false positives, no matter how good the technology gets. To counter this inherent unfairness that penalizes good and bad actors alike, the ad network’s payment to publishers need to go up. Otherwise, publishers may take their business elsewhere—especially those most valuable to the system, i.e. those that are trustworthy— thereby decreasing the advertisers’ valuation on ad traffic.

“These ad networks are kind of a unique system where you can be monetarily rewarded for being honest, or punished for being dishonest,” Ray says. “What we discover for this system is there can be a way in which we can give carrots to people, not just sticks.”

On a similar note, the researchers find that an attempt to purge “bad apple” advertisers from the system can backfire due to false positives. In fact, fraud can sharply increase if networks, believing they have solved the problem, relax their fraud detection standards and raise incentives for the remaining advertisers. “Since the publishers who produce the fraudulent traffic are fewer now, the ad network may no longer need to maintain a strict detection policy. This can encourage the remaining ones to commit much more fraud,” Chen explains.

To Ray and Chen, online ad fraud is, in at least one sense, no different from older forms of malfeasance that are found in all free societies. “We need to have some kind of mechanism for managing the level of fraud, because the fraud detection method is never going to be perfect, whether it’s financial fraud, accounting fraud, etc.,” Chen says.

But as an example of the contemporary platform economy, the online advertising ecosystem is also distinctive, in that its de facto regulatory authority has skin in the game. The ad networks’ mixed incentives—as both beneficiaries and inhibitors of fraud—can undermine integrity and trust within an already-compromised system.

“If the advertisers rely solely on the reports from the ad networks, they may be at risk,” Chen says. “They should use third-party tools to audit the performance better.”

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George Mason establishes C5I Center Korea: Leading the AI-driven defense transformation

Katarina Benson — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:21:45 +0000

George Mason establishes C5I Center Korea: Leading the AI-driven defense transformation Katarina Benson Mon, 03/16/2026 - 16:21

New C51 center will spearhead South Korea's defense AI transformation and bolster the Republic of Korea-U.S. tech alliance.

It began in 1989 with a small but ambitious research center founded by Harry L. Van Trees at 91�� in Fairfax, Virginia. A West Point valedictorian and former principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for C3I, Van Trees built what would become one of the most consequential defense research institutions in the United States. More than three decades later, that legacy has crossed the Pacific.

What started as the C3I Center has since evolved into a C5I powerhouse, steering mission-critical research and development (R&D) for the U.S. Department of War and NATO, including NORAD early warning systems and MILSTAR satellite programs. Now, that same expertise is being brought to bear on Korea's emerging command and control architecture.

This March, George Mason's Center of Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyber and Intelligence (the C5I Center) officially inaugurated the C5I Center Korea at its Songdo campus in Incheon. The expansion is more than a geographical footprint. It is a deliberate strategic alignment between the U.S. and Korea campuses, aimed at driving artificial intelligence (AI) transformation across increasingly volatile and complex modern battlefield environments.

From left, Soyoung Kwon, director of the Industry-University Collaboration Foundation at Mason Korea; Insub Shin, director of C5I Center Korea; Vice Provost Janette Muir; and Dean Joshua Park. Photo provided

Paulo Costa, director of the C5I Center in Fairfax, framed it plainly: "Integrating South Korea's premier IT infrastructure with George Mason's systems engineering expertise creates a transformative synergy, one poised to redefine the future of intelligent defense capabilities."

On the ground in Songdo, the director of C5I Center Korea, Insub Shin, sees the urgency firsthand. Hyper-connected intelligence, he noted, has emerged as the definitive edge in contemporary warfare, a trend underscored by recent global operations.

"C5I Center Korea is currently anchoring a robust collaborative framework across military, industrial, and academic sectors to ensure tactical needs," Shin said. "Furthermore, the center intends to establish a flexible R&D model that recognizes the evaporating boundaries between civil and military applications in AI and cyber technology.”

Janette Muir, George Mason’s vice provost for academic affairs, underscored the center's significance. “The C5I Center Korea serves as a cornerstone of the ROK–U.S. defense R&D partnership,” she said. “Expanded technical collaboration with NATO and regional partners supports the university’s vision of Mason Korea as a hub for impactful research and teaching in Asia, and this center positions George Mason at the forefront of next-generation C5I innovation.”

The C5I Center Korea is designed to function as the "core engine" driving the practical implementation of South Korea's Defense AX. Researchers are focusing on AI-integrated command architectures and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), where physical assets and digital networks operate as a single, organic entity, ensuring disparate weapon systems achieve peak effectiveness.

By adapting the Fairfax center's proven research milestones, including multisensor data fusion and ontology-based methodologies, for the Korean security environment, the center provides substantial technical backing for major national defense programs.

The impact, however, is not confined to the battlefield. Dual-use R&D initiatives are designed to transfer military innovations, from situational awareness systems to unmanned platform controls, into the civilian sector. This could include smart city disaster management, autonomous drones, and maritime traffic control. Defense research, in this vision, becomes a catalyst for national industrial competitiveness.

To sustain this momentum, C5I Center Korea is investing in the next generation of defense leaders. An executive program tailored for military leadership and defense researchers will leverage George Mason's academic rigor to cultivate the talent essential for South Korea's rise as an AI powerhouse.

Looking ahead, C5I Center Korea will make its international debut at KADEX 2026, anchoring a dedicated Defense C5I·AI Convergence Pavilion alongside a high-level international seminar, and begin propelling domestic information and computer technology and cybersecurity firms onto the global stage.

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