College of Engineering and Computing

George Mason engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility

Katarina Benson — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:58:00 +0000

George Mason engineering team uses robotics to rethink accessibility Katarina Benson Tue, 06/09/2026 - 09:58

Many accessibility surveys depend on manual measurements, handwritten notes, and extensive walkthroughs with compliance checklists. A team of 91�� engineering students wondered if a robot could do it faster. Nine months later, they created one.

The project, called Salus, combines robotics, LiDAR technology, object detection, GPS mapping, cloud-based analytics, and a custom-built website to help survey public spaces for potential ADA accessibility barriers. Developed as part of a College of Engineering and Computing senior capstone project by mechanical engineering majors Lexi Chivers, Connie Lam, Mariah Tammera, Noemi Umanzor, and Tyler Yared, the system is designed to automate portions of the accessibility surveying process while allowing engineers and designers to better understand how people with disabilities experience physical spaces.

The Salus team with the robotic accessibility surveying system they developed as part of their senior capstone project at 91��. Photo provided

Salus was one of several George Mason capstone projects supported through a GO Virginia-funded initiative led by the Nexus234 Innovation District, which pairs students with industry-informed challenges and mentors.

“We saw a system that was operating poorly, and we wanted to optimize it,” said Chivers, the team lead.

The idea originated when one of Chivers’ teammates attended a conference and discussed the difficulties of collecting large volumes of survey data in the field with industry professionals.

“They basically said, ‘We wish we had something we could send out to collect data and not have to constantly manage,’” said Chivers. “That conversation sparked everything.”

The project consumed most of the team’s weekends as they worked through testing, software integration, fabrication, and constant iteration.

“A lot of people told us we weren’t going to be able to do this in nine months,” said Chivers. “At one point, someone told us it would take two years and eight NASA engineers.”

Instead, the students delivered a working proof of concept before graduation.

As the robot moves through a space, it uses LiDAR sensors, GPS mapping, and onboard cameras to identify and document potential accessibility issues. The data is processed through cloud-based systems and displayed through an interactive website. Rather than sorting through raw data, users can explore flagged locations through an interactive visual map built by the team.

For Chivers, the project also had a personal connection. She said her mother’s job teaching students with disabilities influenced the team’s conversations around accessibility and inclusion. “Just because something legally meets ADA standards doesn’t always mean it’s truly accessible for those with disabilities,” she said.

Kenan Aden, COO of Didlake and the team’s industry mentor, was introduced to the student team through Nexus234. He said the project impressed him both from its technical complexity and for the problem it set out to tackle.

“The entire team approached this project with an incredible level of determination and systems thinking,” said Aden. “What makes it especially meaningful is that they never lost sight of the people this technology is intended to help.”

"This team’s focus and dedication have been extremely impressive," said Leigh McCue, professor and chair of George Mason’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Any time I popped my head into the senior design space, or walked visitors through for a tour, the team was hard at work and eager to showcase their technology."

One of the most rewarding parts of the experience for Chivers was discovering the kind of engineer she wants to become.

“I thought I wanted to stay in the background,” said Chivers. “But this project made me realize I really love being a leader, solving problems, and doing things that actually matter to people.”

Currently, the students are working with George Mason’s Office of Technology Transfer to explore patent protection for the project’s intellectual property. Although the team is still deciding what comes next, Chivers said the technology has potential beyond the capstone project itself, including with construction firms, municipalities, designers, and accessibility planners.

In her advice to other entrepreneurs, Chivers said, “Your dreams are never too big. You just haven’t found all the tools you need to make them happen yet.”

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Why did the AI agent cross the road?

tdonnel — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 18:31:17 +0000

Why did the AI agent cross the road? tdonnel Mon, 06/08/2026 - 14:31

Workshopping, an iterative process where creators share ideas, test what works, and refine what doesn’t through collective feedback, is at the heart of any writers’ group. This collaborative dynamic inspired 91�� PhD students Shiwei Hong to explore whether artificial intelligence (AI) could benefit from a similar approach.

Hong developed a novel multi-agent system that simulates a collaborative comedy writing environment in which AI agents generate, critique, and refine humorous content together. Her research, recently accepted to the prestigious 64th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, investigates how structured interaction among AI agents can improve creative output.

Shiwei Hong. Photo provided.

Humor remains challenging for artificial intelligence. “Generating a joke or something that is very funny is actually a very tricky question, because it requires a lot of how humans interpret the generated piece,” said Hong, who is working on a degree in computer science.

She created a “sandbox” environment to mirror real-world creative collaboration, populated by 35 AI agents assigned distinct roles and personalities powered by GPT-4.

“Five agents acted as performers. The rest acted as critics or audience members,” said Hong.

Designing 35 unique agent personas required imagination as well as technical expertise. Drawing on her interest in writing fiction, Hong created characters with varied social and cultural backgrounds, adding depth to the simulated interactions.

In one experimental environment, the performer agents generated two scripts in sequence without feedback; in another, they engaged the audience members in critique and discussion between the rounds of generation. The difference was significant.

Human evaluators compared outputs across multiple criteria, such as humor, coherence, and social tone. In more than 70 percent of cases, evaluators preferred scripts produced in the second round of the discussion-based environment.

The improvement appears to stem from collective learning. As agents interact, they build on shared insights, identifying patterns in audience preferences and refining their outputs accordingly. Technically, this process is supported by a shared conversational memory stored in a vector database, allowing agents to retrieve relevant past exchanges and incorporate them into new content. The result is an iterative, emergent form of creativity that begins to resemble human collaboration.

Looking ahead, Hong and her advisor, Assistant Professor Zhicong Lu, aim to expand the system by incorporating human participants and richer modes of interaction. Future directions include integrating voice, gestures, and immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality to better capture the nuances of live performance.

“In real comedy, we have faces, gestures, and real voices,” she said. “We hope to bring more of that into the system.”

By demonstrating that workshopping can significantly enhance machine-generated humor, Hong’s work suggests the future of artificial intelligence may lie not only in more advanced individual models, but also in communities of agents learning, creating, and perhaps even laughing together.

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CIO Charmaine Madison honored with Change Champion Award

Charmaine Madison, vice president for information technology and chief information officer, has been honored by Cloudforce with a Change Champion Award for leading transformative change at George Mason in the realm of AI, inspiring teams, and challenging the status quo to adopt new ways of working.

Learn how Madison champions the adoption of generative AI across the university.

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George Mason engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation

ckearney — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 20:58:30 +0000

George Mason engineering students turn personal experience into accessibility innovation ckearney Tue, 06/02/2026 - 16:58

For Owais Yousuf, inspiration began at home. His father, who contracted polio as a child, relied on crutches to move through daily life. Growing up, Yousuf watched him navigate airports and crowded spaces with difficulty. Three of his fellow 91�� mechanical engineering students had similar experiences with relatives who struggled with mobility. The four of them began wondering: How do you make airport travel more independent and less stressful for people with mobility challenges?

From left, Calvin Nguyen, Javier Carpio Jota, Turner Applegate, and Owais Yousuf, creators of the B-Drive, with their prototype. Photo provided

The answer to that question became B-Drive, a senior capstone project developed by Yousuf, Turner Applegate, Javier Carpio Jota, and Calvin Nguyen that combines autonomous navigation, computer vision, and adaptive mobility technology to help wheelchair users move through transportation hubs on their own terms.

B-Drive was one of several George Mason capstone projects supported through a GO Virginia-funded initiative, led by the Nexus234 Innovation District, which pairs students with industry mentors and opportunities to address pressing needs.

"The people we love aren't just statistics," said Yousuf, the team's lead. "They're people we care about. We've seen the frustrations they face firsthand. That experience gave us the context to build something that could provide them some relief."

As the team dug deeper, they found that navigating a large airport can present obstacles at nearly every step. Long walks, unfamiliar layouts, limited assistance, and confusing signs can make traveling on their own difficult for many passengers.

To better understand those barriers, the team participated in the National Science Foundation's I-Corps program, which helps entrepreneurs move a business idea or discovery toward licensing or commercialization. Program participants assess the commercial viability of their idea by conducting customer interviews and working closely with a mentor. Yousuf and his team spoke with travelers, transportation professionals, accessibility advocates, and industry experts.

"We consistently heard that people wanted the freedom to move through an airport with greater dignity and confidence," said Yousuf.

Those conversations led to B-Drive. The team decided early on that B-Drive needed to fit into existing airport operations, so they designed it to work with wheelchairs already found in many airports.

Bringing B-Drive to life required more than technical expertise. After delays in obtaining testing equipment, the team drove to New Jersey to buy a wheelchair themselves rather than wait.

Members of the B-Drive team demonstrate their prototype. Photo provided

Their persistence impressed Robert "Bob" Schneider, executive director of OmniRide and the team's industry mentor, who was introduced to the students through Nexus234.

"They didn't let anything stop them. They went out and got it done," said Schneider.

Schneider guided the students as they narrowed the project's scope and found a realistic way to put their ideas into action. He suggested the team pick one clear, manageable use case. They decided to focus on a journey that’s familiar to many travelers at Washington Dulles International Airport: getting from the Silver Line Metro station to their destination inside the airport.

As the project progressed, the students began thinking beyond the classroom. The team is currently exploring intellectual property protection and potential avenues for commercialization through George Mason's Office of Technology Transfer.

Leigh McCue, professor and chair of George Mason’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, believes that moving from classroom projects to real-world applications is among the most valuable lessons for students.

"One of the hardest parts of engineering is defining the right problem to solve," said McCue. "This team resisted the temptation to build technology for its own sake and grounded their approach in the experiences of the people they aimed to empower.”

The project also prompted Yousuf to rethink what it means to be an engineer. "Engineering is ultimately about people," said Yousuf. "Technology is only valuable if it improves someone's life. That's what motivated us from the beginning, and it's what continues to motivate us now."

Graduation marked the end of the capstone project, but the team hopes B-Drive's story is only beginning. The goal remains the same for Yousuf as when the project first started on a whiteboard.

"We're not going to stop until we bring a smile to people's faces," said Yousuf. "That's what this has always been about."

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George Mason PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 10:51:19 +0000

George Mason PhD student recognized for blockchain privacy research Nathan Kahl Tue, 06/02/2026 - 06:51

91�� computer science doctoral student Aayush Yadav co-authored a paper that received a Distinguished Paper Award from the IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, one of the industry’s premier conferences in the security field. The conference typically accepts around 13 percent of submissions.

Aayush Yadav. Photo provided

The paper addresses a growing challenge in blockchain technology—how to protect sensitive transaction information before it becomes public, focusing on improving privacy protections within blockchain systems while maintaining the transparency and decentralized structure that define the technology.

His research grew out of an internship last summer with Category Labs, a company developing blockchain tools and infrastructure. The work addresses a vulnerability tied to how blockchain transactions are processed before they are officially added to the chain. Traditionally, blockchain transactions are publicly visible before they are finalized. That visibility allows entities responsible for processing transactions to potentially manipulate their order for financial gain.

“These entities can act maliciously in some way,” Yadav said. “Because this information is public, these actors know the direction of the order of the transactions before the rest of the public. And they can take advantage of that.” Consider that if an actor sees that someone is about to make a major purchase or sale, they can quickly place their own trade first, causing the market price to change. The original user then receives a worse price than expected, while the actor profits from the price movement, effectively creating a hidden cost for the user.

The team’s research focuses on encrypting transactions while they are waiting to be processed, helping prevent that kind of exploitation. The goal is to encrypt or hide transactions as they are sent, revealing them later.

The paper introduces new approaches to what researchers call “mempool privacy,” referring to the protection of transaction data before it becomes part of the public blockchain ledger. The work also explores “threshold encryption,” which requires multiple parties to work together to decrypt transaction data, helping eliminate single points of trust or failure.

Yadav, who is completing his PhD in computer science this year, said his interest in theoretical computer science and algorithms started early in his academic career. “I enjoyed the process of solving problems that were algorithmic in nature,” he said. “Thinking about these abstract things, but then also being able to solve them concretely using an algorithm, is very satisfying.”

He chose George Mason in part because of the university’s large computer science faculty and breadth of expertise. After arriving at George Mason in 2021, Yadav took his first cryptography course with Foteini Baldimtsi, an experience that shaped the direction of his research. “It had the right mix of theory and practice. The problems are very theoretical in some sense, and the way you solve them is theoretical, but at the same time they are grounded in real applications.”

“I am very proud of Aayush,” said Baldimtsi. “Throughout his PhD, he has worked on some of the most important challenges in modern cryptography, including signature protocols and privacy-preserving authentication for digital identities, while also focusing on post-quantum security. The award is a well-deserved recognition of his talent, dedication, and impact on the field.”

Later this year he will start a tenured-track faculty position at his alma mater, Rutgers University–Camden.

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Chaos theory finds its voice

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 19 May 2026 15:42:55 +0000

Chaos theory finds its voice Nathan Kahl Tue, 05/19/2026 - 11:42

Talk may be cheap, but it is still rich with data, and George Mason's Anomadarshi Barua is using artificial intelligence (AI) and a new approach to chaos theory to rebuild missing pieces of speech with incredible accuracy.

"When we talk, our voices have a frequency component from zero kilohertz (kHz) to around 8 kHz," said Barua, an assistant professor in the Department of Cyber Security Engineering. "Capturing all those frequencies normally requires devices to collect and process large amounts of data, which consumes power, storage, and computing resources."

He will present a paper he coauthored on this topic at the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) annual meeting later this summer. ACL is one of the world's leading conferences in natural language processing and speech technologies, and the paper was accepted in the top 15 percent of accepted submissions at a conference with a 19 percent acceptance rate overall.

Smaller devices and sensors operating with limited battery life or bandwidth have difficulty capturing an entire signal, and so record a smaller slice, attempting to reconstruct the missing frequencies later. Barua says this is known as bandwidth extension or bandwidth reconstruction.

Imagine listening to a song through a wall and trying to mentally fill in the muffled higher notes. Barua's research teaches AI systems to do something similar, but with far greater mathematical precision. The team's major breakthrough came from incorporating a concept not often associated with speech: chaos theory.

"Our speech is actually a chaotic signal," Barua said. "'Chaos' does not mean completely random."

Instead, he describes speech as "deterministically random," meaning sounds and phonemes are strongly connected to one another in predictable ways. "You can actually determine what could be the next phoneme if you have the sufficient information from the previous phoneme," he said.

To capture those hidden relationships, the researchers developed what Barua calls a "chaotic discriminator" inside a machine-learning framework known as a generative adversarial network, or GAN. In simple terms, one part of the AI system generates reconstructed speech while another checks whether the recreated speech preserves the natural chaotic patterns found in human voices.

The approach significantly improved reconstruction quality compared to previous methods. "We are getting more improved results compared to the previous baseline," Barua said, "because of the incorporation of the chaotic properties."

By integrating chaos-informed modeling, the team dramatically reduced the size of the AI system needed for reconstruction. "We actually reduce the size of the discriminator by 14 times," Barua said. Smaller models require less memory and computing power, making them more practical for real-world devices.

For Barua, whose earlier work focused primarily on cybersecurity before expanding into speech and natural language processing, the ACL conference's acceptance marks an important milestone. "This is my first paper in natural language processing," he said.

While the current paper focuses on speech, Barua sees much broader possibilities ahead. The same reconstruction techniques could eventually be applied to electrical signals, sonar, lidar, and other sensing technologies. "This concept is not only limited to speech," he said. "We are trying to open up a larger branch in different signal modality."

And that message comes through loud and clear.

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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.

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Disrupting disaster response: Systems engineering students get top spot in Patriot Pitch

Nathan Kahl — Thu, 07 May 2026 16:44:16 +0000

Disrupting disaster response: Systems engineering students get top spot in Patriot Pitch Nathan Kahl Thu, 05/07/2026 - 12:44

What began as a routine college course quickly turned into an innovation with real‑world impact for a team of systems engineering students, winning first place in the George Mason Patriot Pitch Social Impact Track along with a People’s Choice Award. The team also captured first place in the U.S. Military Academy System Engineering Design Competition.

“One minute we were playing video games in our dorm room. The next we were in the system engineering capstone class designing ways to deliver humanitarian aid to citizens in distress,” said Tim Shipman, a senior system engineering major. “Systems engineering is mind‑blowing.”

The student team set out to address a growing global challenge. According to team lead Hocine Filali, the demand for humanitarian aid is increasing. “Over the last 10 years, an average of 380 natural disasters per year required humanitarian aid delivery,” he said.

One major bottleneck in disaster response is transporting aid from cargo ships—often anchored up to five miles offshore—to temporary distribution warehouses on land. Traditionally, aid is transferred using helicopters, ferry boats, or trucks traveling across floating causeways.

To evaluate these options, the team developed a stochastic simulation model comparing three delivery methods for transporting 10,000 aid pallets over a 90‑day period. “Ferry boats are the least expensive option, but they’re also very slow,” said team member Alan Garcia. “Floating causeways are costly and take too long to install. Helicopters can deliver aid quickly, but they cost about twice as much as ferries.”

Beyond technical modeling, the students conducted interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, including representatives from nongovernmental organizations, aid workers, and military personnel involved in humanitarian missions.

“The ecosystem is incredibly complex,” said team member Nesma Khalafalla. “Economics, regulations, and politics often create perverse incentives. One thing became clear very quickly: if aid could move from ship to shore as fast as helicopters but at a lower cost, it would fundamentally improve the system.”

Exploring alternatives, the team examined the use of remotely piloted, heavy‑lift electric drones, an emerging technology capable of matching helicopter speeds at significantly lower operating costs. However, the drones presented a critical limitation. “The problem is battery recharge time,” explained team member Amr Hamza. “It slows the entire operation.”

A depiction of the Automated Floating Power Line System. Image provided.

The breakthrough came when the team discovered a catenary power system—an overhead power system similar to those used by city trams. In this approach, drones draw continuous power from an overhead electric line through what’s known as a pantograph, eliminating the need for battery recharging.

Designing that power infrastructure posed the next challenge. “We needed a power line that could stretch five miles from ship-to-shore,” said Shipman. “Our solution was a series of floating utility poles equipped with propellers that allow them to motor into position and hold steady against ocean currents. Detailed simulation models showed the concept is feasible.” The result was the Automated Floating Power Line System (AFPLS), a novel approach to ship‑to‑shore humanitarian aid delivery.

“The comprehensive nature of this design really showcases the power of system engineering,” said Guiping Hu, chair of the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department. “We are extremely proud of our students and their ability to tackle complex, real‑world problems.”

“I highly recommend this course to any undergraduates who really want to learn how to develop innovative solutions to the world’s toughest problems,” said Filali.

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George Mason students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems

tdonnel — Mon, 04 May 2026 18:53:10 +0000

George Mason students fly into first place with no GPS, no grade, and (almost) no problems tdonnel Mon, 05/04/2026 - 14:53

Driven by passion, persistence, and what they call “the love of the game,” a group of 91�� students affiliated with the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) claimed first place at the 2026 Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition at EagleBank Arena on April 24, 2026.

Meah Chambers and Gagan Manjunatha at the competition. Photo by Andani Munkaila/Office of University Branding

The competition challenged student teams to design and deploy autonomous aerial and ground vehicle systems capable of executing a series of increasingly complex missions. Unlike prior outdoor iterations, the 2026 competition eliminated access to GPS, forcing teams to rely on advanced onboard sensing and visual navigation techniques to orient themselves in space. EagleBank Arena has been hosting national robotics competitions since 2023 with support from an Office of Naval Research grant to transform the venue into a robotics experimentation and sporting venue.

George Mason’s autonomous robotics team rose to the challenge. Over the course of the competition, their system successfully completed all three mission objectives, earning the top overall score and securing first place. The win capped months of late nights and creative problem-solving by a team that was not competing for a grade, credit, or formal requirement, but purely out of enthusiasm for robotics.

“This isn’t even an official club yet,” said computer science major Gagan Manjunatha. “We’re here for the love of the game.”

For many teams at the competition, participation counts as a senior design project. George Mason’s team, however, had no such structure. “A lot of teams do use this as their senior design project, but the nice thing about us not doing it is that we have people that can come back year after year,” said team lead Meah Chambers, a junior majoring in electrical engineering.

Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

“I like the hands-on experience,” she said. This was Chambers’ third robotics team competition, each of which she found rewarding. “It’s like I’ve done three mini senior designs. I like the design team experience, working on a team for an end goal.”

The technical demands of the competition were steep. Challenge one required a drone to autonomously take off from a moving ground vehicle and land back on it. The second challenge layered on autonomous search and detection, requiring the drone to identify a visual tag, communicate its location, and guide the ground vehicle to the target. A third challenge added obstacle detection and avoidance for both aerial and ground systems.

To meet those demands, the team divided into drone and ground sub‑teams, with students specializing in software, hardware, mechanical design, and systems integration. Majors across electrical engineering, computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and computer science were represented. Visual‑inertial simultaneous localization and mapping (VSLAM) replaced GPS, allowing the drone to understand its position using cameras and onboard sensors.

“We were given the challenges in September and two semesters to plan and work on our system,” said electrical engineering major Emma Misevschi. Without senior design funding or course integration, students volunteered their time over the academic year to design, build, test, and refine their system. “Everything just happened to come together this week,” she said.

Some members of George Mason's 2026 Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition team. Photo by Andani Munkaila/Creative Services/91��.

Funding constraints added another layer of difficulty. While funding for system components were provided by competition sponsor Raytheon, the money arrived late in the academic year, forcing the team to borrow equipment, lean on shared research lab resources, and compress months of testing into intense overnight sessions.

Despite many team members having stayed up testing into the wee hours of the night before the competition, spirits were high at the end of the first day of the two-day competition. Chambers joked, “Two hours is like a nice nap instead of sleeping for the night.”

Computer engineering major and ground team lead Logan Teyema added the (understandably tired) motto of hustle culture, “Water is life, food is fuel, and sleep is a crutch.”

In the end, their teamwork paid off. When the judges arrived, George Mason’s system performed cleanly and consistently, earning top marks across the challenges and finishing first overall.

The full team includes Luis Anchundia, James Daniel, Konraad Ludwig, Hassan Youssef, Emma Misevschi, Thomas Fletcher, Christopher Romero-Klevisha, Toan Do, Meah Chambers, Gagan Manjunatha, Connor Roberts, William Maynard, Logan Teyema, Ellie Kwon, Rico Rodriguez, Nick Kasa, and Yousif Alani. Faculty advisors include Cameron Nowzari, Xuesu Xiao, and Ningshi Yao.

Are you interested in joining the team? Learn more on the team’s website and watch a video about their experiences.

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Two SEOR faculty named Fellows in their fields

Nathan Kahl — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:18:01 +0000

Two SEOR faculty named Fellows in their fields Nathan Kahl Tue, 04/28/2026 - 14:18

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Janis Terpenny

Two 91�� College of Engineering and Computing faculty were honored with the rank of Fellow in 2025. Janis Terpenny and Chun-Hung Chen were named Fellow in their respective professional societies, a recognition reserved for leaders with significant contributions in their discipline.

Janis Terpenny

Terpenny, professor in the Departments of Systems Engineering and Operations Research (SEOR) and Mechanical Engineering, was named a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The distinction honors her as a “pioneer and thought leader in engineering education dedicated to impacts of partnerships and real problems on motivation and learning.” Terpenny’s work influenced new degree programs, innovative courses, revised curricula, and faculty development initiatives across multiple institutions.

Terpenny views engineering education as a holistic ecosystem. “We should approach what we do in preparing the next generation in a very thoughtful way,” she said, emphasizing motivation, retention, and pedagogy. Her decades of involvement with ASEE included leadership roles, more than 40 conference papers, and service as director at large for the manufacturing division.

Chen, a SEOR professor, was named a Fellow of INFORMS, the leading international association for operations research and analytics. INFORMS recognized Chen for “fundamental contributions to simulation optimization and stochastic sampling methodology; contributions to O.R. practice in manufacturing, healthcare, air transportation and defense systems; and sustained service to the profession.”

Chun-Hung Chen

Chen is internationally known for advancing simulation-based optimization, rare-event simulation, and efficient sampling techniques, work influencing both theory and real-world decision-making. His research has been applied across industries, from improving manufacturing processes to enhancing aviation safety and supporting complex defense systems. Chen has served on editorial boards for major journals, chaired key professional committees, and mentored generations of graduate students who now work in academia, government, and industry.

Chen is active in both INFORMS and IEEE and was named a Fellow of IEEE in 2015.

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George Mason graduate programs rank #1 in Virginia and Top 50 nationally according to U.S. News

ckearney — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:24:03 +0000

George Mason graduate programs rank #1 in Virginia and Top 50 nationally according to U.S. News ckearney Mon, 04/06/2026 - 15:24

According to the U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Program rankings, 91�� placed 20 programs in the national top 50, including seven in the top 10, reflecting broad strength across business, engineering, law, nursing and public health, public policy, education, fine arts, and sciences. Regionally, seven programs ranked in the top three in the Washington, D.C., region, with 13 programs topping at No. 1 in Virginia.

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

"George Mason's growth in rankings is a direct reflection of the university’s commitment to student success through high-quality, career-focused graduate education," said Ajay Vinze, interim provost and executive vice president. "George Mason’s programs are competing at the highest levels nationally and leading the way in Virginia. This expansion signals not just the breadth of what we offer, but the strength of what we deliver."

Of the 21 George Mason programs newly represented this year, 15 earned rankings for George Mason for the first time. The remaining six appeared in categories that U.S. News had not been updated in several years, including doctoral programs in science disciplines and the master of fine arts last updated in 2020.

Policy Leads the Region

Public policy specialty areas were among the strongest performers this year, placing all seven of its ranked subject areas in the top 50 nationally and in the top 25 among public universities. Six subject areas ranked No. 1 in Virginia overall, and four ranked No. 1 in the Washington, D.C., region among public universities.

"As we mark the 10th anniversary of the school’s naming, these rankings speak to what the Schar School has become over the past decade: a place of real national consequence in public affairs education," said Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government. "From homeland security and nonprofit management to international global policy and public finance, these rankings reflect the breadth of the Schar School’s excellence and the growing national recognition of its strengths.”

That strength comes amid rising national demand for public service professionals, with employment in public administration projected to increase 6% from 2021 to 2031, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The homeland security and emergency management ranking maintained its position at 4th nationally and among public universities, and No. 1 in Virginia. George Mason was the sole Virginia institution included in both the public management and leadership and nonprofit management specialty areas, with each ranking in the top 20 among public universities nationally. Two new areas of strength debuted this year: international global policy and administration, which ranked No. 1 in Virginia and for the Washington, D.C., region, 15th nationally, and 4th among public universities, and the public finance and budgeting program placed 31st nationally, 25th among public universities, and 2nd in Virginia.

Where Business Leaders Begin

Business programs significantly expanded their presence this year, with 12 programs ranked as among the best in their categories. Eleven are newly ranked for George Mason, with seven placing in the top 50 among public universities. Three programs ranked No. 1 in Virginia, including one that also placed as the No. 1 ranked program in the Washington, D.C., region.

The part-time Costello Flex MBA program continued its upward trajectory, rising from 80th to 59th nationally, and to 37th among public universities. The part-time Costello Flex MBA, MS in accounting, MS in management, and graduate marketing certificate programs each ranked 2nd in Virginia. Among newly ranked graduate certificate programs, the information systems management certificate ranked No. 1 in Virginia. International business, which is predominant across Costello graduate programs through the college’s global residency experience, is also ranked No. 1 in Virginia.

"Our continued collaboration with business and industry supports strong career outcomes and contributes to growth in student enrollment," said Cheryl Druehl, interim dean of the Costello College of Business. "The expansion of programs comes at a time when demand is growing for professionals who combine durable business skills—from critical thinking and decision-making—with technical expertise in areas like business analytics and operations."

Computing and Engineering Drive STEM Growth

George Mason is ranked in nine programs across engineering, computer science, and statistics, with seven programs placing in the top 50 among public universities and eight in the top three in Virginia. The university is one of five (or fewer) Virginia universities included in eight programs.

In the engineering schools ranking, George Mason rose to 76th nationally (up from 85th) and 47th among public universities. The systems and industrial engineering program stands out at 35th nationally and 25th among public universities, while statistics debuted in the top 50 nationally (49th) and among public universities (35th). All three programs ranked 3rd in Virginia.

"We build programs that combine strong disciplinary foundations with applied problem solving to prepare students for an evolving workforce," said Ken Ball, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. "Launching Virginia’s first standalone master of science in AI reflects that commitment, while our applied research centers, like the Rapid Prototyping Research Center, drive growing research expenditures that lead to higher overall rankings.”

Nursing and Public Health Rank No. 1 in Virginia

Continuing to set the standard for health education in Virginia, three programs ranked No. 1 in the commonwealth: master’s in nursing, doctor of nursing practice (DNP), and public health.

The master’s in nursing ranks among the top 12% of all universities included, placing 18th nationally and 9th among public universities. The DNP and health care management program both ranked in the top 50 nationally—33rd and 35th respectively—and in the top 20 among public universities at 20th and 19th. Public health ranked 63rd nationally and 39th among public universities.

"These results reflect what makes our college distinctive—expanding access to excellence while maintaining the highest standards of quality," said Melissa Perry, College of Public Health dean. "Students should not have to choose between opportunity and academic rigor. At George Mason, we are committed to preparing a diverse, workforce-ready generation of public health and health care leaders by delivering programs that are accessible, innovative, and deeply connected to the communities we serve."

That mission comes at a time of sustained and growing demand for nursing professionals nationwide. Nurses now represent more than half of the U.S. health workforce, underscoring the importance of George Mason’s programs in preparing graduates to meet critical health care needs."

Law Holds Strong

The Antonin Scalia Law School maintained its strong positioning with the part-time law program rising to 6th nationally, placing it in the top 8% of programs, and 3rd among public universities.

“Employment of our graduates reached 97% in a very competitive market,” said Ken Randall, Allison and Dorothy Rouse dean and 91�� Foundation Professor of Law. “These outcomes bode well for the school’s long-term success.”

Leadership Across Disciplines

U.S. News expanded and refreshed its rankings to include four George Mason science programs and a master of fine arts. These programs, along with education and clinical psychology, rank in the top four in Virginia and the top 10 in the Washington, D.C., region.

George Mason’s math program is 3rd in Virginia, placing 93rd nationally. "As emerging fields like AI, digital twins, and data science accelerate, mathematics remains the foundation that fuels innovation," said Cody W. Edwards, dean of the College of Science. "George Mason’s graduate mathematical sciences program prepares students with the analytical depth, applied expertise, and mentorship needed to solve complex challenges across fields such as health, space, sustainability, and government, while leading in a rapidly evolving workforce."

In education, George Mason remains 4th in Virginia, rising to 84th nationally and 70th among public universities."This recognition underscores the excellence and real-world impact of our graduate programs," said Ingrid Guerra-López, dean of the College of Education and Human Development. “We are steadfast in our commitment to developing future-ready educators and leaders who possess the skills, adaptability, and vision needed to succeed in an evolving educational landscape.”

Clinical psychology improved its national standing to 100th nationally, and to 72nd among public universities, while maintaining its position in 4th in Virginia. "This advancement reflects the contributions of our faculty and their impact to student success," said Ann L. Ardis, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “Through the Center for Community Mental Health, our PhD students gain hands-on experience delivering evidence-based, culturally responsive care, preparing them to serve veterans, hospitals, and communities most in need."

The master of fine arts program ranked 65th among public universities, and 2nd in Virginia and in the Washington, D.C., region among public universities. "Our MFA is distinguished by the intensely personal journey of discovery that it offers," said Rick Davis, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. “Our students are working artists who have a vision and a mission, and they come to us to explore how to make it grow.”

To view the full list of all programs included, visit gmu.edu/rankings.

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