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George Mason researcher brings critical AI literacy program to Prince George’s County

Nathan Kahl — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 22:18:35 +0000

George Mason researcher brings critical AI literacy program to Prince George’s County Nathan Kahl Mon, 08/31/2026 - 18:18

As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly transforms society, 91�� researcher Thema Monroe-White is helping prepare the next generation not just to use the technology, but to navigate it thoughtfully and responsibly. Her work empowers students to understand AI's opportunities, limitations, and consequences, giving them the agency to make informed choices in an increasingly AI-driven world.

Thema Monroe-White. Photo provided

Monroe-White, an associate professor with appointments in the Department of Computer Science and the Schar School of Policy and Government, is part of a new $1 million initiative aimed at helping Prince George’s County students understand not only how to use AI, but how AI works, who it affects, and when it should and should not be used.

The project is funded by the Pull Up Fund, a philanthropic organization focused on supporting youth in Prince George’s County through its Youth AI Mastery and Proficiency initiative. George Mason is working with Ashley Griffin Gilchrist at Bowie State University and Evan Shieh at the Young Data Scientists League (YDSL) on the project. The initial award covers a one-year pilot, with the potential for two additional years of funding.

For Monroe-White, “AI mastery” shouldn't simply mean becoming proficient at using the latest AI platform. “To have or gain AI mastery requires not that you know how to prompt any given model,” she said. Instead, students should understand some of the technical machinery underneath AI, including how models generate outputs, as well as the human and social systems surrounding the technology.

That approach, known as critical AI literacy, asks students to examine issues such as algorithmic bias, labor, privacy, surveillance, environmental impacts, and the human work involved in creating AI systems. It also encourages them to question the technology itself rather than treating AI as a mysterious digital oracle.

“What does it mean? What is it doing? How is it operating? How is it affecting my life?” Monroe-White said.

The Prince George’s County initiative builds on work Monroe-White recently completed with New York City Public Schools and YDSL. Through the Exploring Equity in AI fellowship, educators explored ways to bring critical AI literacy into K-12 classrooms. The program defines AI literacy as encompassing not merely using AI, but “critiquing, researching, evaluating, (re)designing, and reimagining AI.”

The New York effort included topics ranging from AI and consent and algorithmic auditing to data centers and questions about how “intelligent” artificial intelligence actually is. Monroe-White and YDSL Executive Director Evan Shieh served as facilitators of the Critical AI component. Monroe-White is also an external research collaborator with YDSL.

After completing the New York pilot and a public showcase in June, Monroe-White saw the Prince George’s County project as an opportunity to expand the approach closer to home.

“We wanted to expand it and keep the work going,” she said. “And so that’s what we’re doing with Maryland and this county.”

Ultimately, Monroe-White wants young people to understand the technology well enough to make informed decisions about it themselves. Students, she said, should graduate “armed and equipped with the knowledge that most don’t have that demystifies AI,” allowing them to engage in meaningful conversations about when AI is appropriate and what consequences its use might have.

“It’s more of an agency-based training,” Monroe-White said. “It’s lifting up their own individual agency so that they’re empowered in this revolutionary moment.”

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The human side of intelligence: lessons from a presidential briefer

sholla4 — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 14:41:11 +0000

The human side of intelligence: lessons from a presidential briefer sholla4 Mon, 08/31/2026 - 10:41

The President's Daily Brief is arguably the most sensitive document in American government. It’s a report, delivered in person every morning, updating the President on the most dangerous national security threats facing the nation. During President Obama’s first term, the person charged with delivering that report was a decorated career intelligence officer named James "Jim" Danoy – the first officer from outside the CIA ever trusted with that weighty task.

And Danoy got his start here, as a student at 91��.

Danoy’s path in national security didn’t begin in a situation room. It began in a classroom – the place where a young person first learns about thinking under pressure, judging information, weighing options, and making hard decisions. Now, as an adjunct faculty member at George Mason's Schar School of Policy and Government, Danoy is teaching students who are travelling the same path he did.

On this episode of Access to Excellence, Danoy discusses his career, as well as how judgment, character, and resilience can be taught, and whether we’re doing a good job of it.

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Public Service Drives Schar School Graduate in State House of Representatives Race

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 26 Aug 2026 17:35:48 +0000

Public Service Drives Schar School Graduate in State House of Representatives Race Andrew J Schappert Wed, 08/26/2026 - 13:35

A year after graduating from 91��'s Schar School of Policy and Government with a degree in public administration, Dylan Morse found himself a candidate for Vermont House of Representatives.

Dylan Morse, BS Public Administration ’25, is running for state representative in Vermont.

He had been working in local elections and writing on his Substack page, which attracted some attention with readers who encouraged him to get involved in local politics.

“I wrote for fun to keep up with the habits I built at the Schar School, researching and writing,” he said. “It started to grow and I had some people reach out to me and that lit a spark in me. [Getting into politics] has always been a goal of mine, but I didn't imagine that I would do it so soon.”

Morse filed for his candidacy in May and won the August 11 primary for his seat representing the Windsor-1 district, which includes his hometown of Hartland, as well as the towns of Windsor and West Windsor. (The general election is November 3.) He spent his summer knocking on doors and attending all kinds of community events meeting and engaging with voters. Exhausting work to be sure.

“It’s one of the hardest things I've ever done because it takes a lot of work to do it right,” he said. “It's a really big time commitment and I've had to make some sacrifices elsewhere in my life. There's always the constant stress in the back of your mind, Am I doing enough?”

When he meets with constituents, Morse sometimes faces skepticism given his young age. He knows that experience is a valuable part of governing and he stresses his internship experience at the Schar School, which included working for both Vermont’s Governor Phil Scott and Senator Peter Welch.

“One of the main jobs from both of those internships was talking with constituents and trying to help them, and that’s been the entire campaign this summer,” he said. “My job is to talk to voters and learn what’s working for them, what isn't working for them.”

More often than not, Morse has been welcomed on the campaign trail.

“It's seen as a great positive that a young person is getting involved,” he said. “People are excited when I come to their door and can offer a different perspective. It's one way I’ve differentiated myself from other candidates.”

Morse’s platform focuses on securing a Vermont where everyday people can live their lives comfortably, which is getting harder to do because of costs and lack of affordable housing.

“I’m a ninth-generation Vermonter,” he said. “My family is a 9-to-5 working family. I see and hear that that life is getting harder to do. I want to do all I can to make that not be the case.”

He credits his family for instilling his passion for public service and a desire to give back, a commitment he continued to develop through his studies and internships at the Schar School. The son of a career firefighter, Morse remembers his father teaching fire safety or picking up people in an ambulance.

“I saw the meaning behind being an active part of the town and the community,” he said. “I want to chip into that. I don't want to do a job just to earn a paycheck. I want to do something that means something.”

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From Schar School Biodefense Doctoral Student to Global Health Security Leader: How Saskia Popescu is Shaping the Future of Biosecurity

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:33:15 +0000

From Schar School Biodefense Doctoral Student to Global Health Security Leader: How Saskia Popescu is Shaping the Future of Biosecurity Andrew J Schappert Mon, 08/24/2026 - 12:33

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Standing before more nearly 1,300 delegates from 88 countries at the opening of the 4th Global Health Security Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saskia Popescu welcomed a global community tasked with discussing some of the most pressing challenges facing global health security today. Since earning her PhD in Biodefense from 91��'s Schar School of Policy and Government in 2019, her career has spanned infection control, outbreak response, pandemic preparedness, biosecurity policy, and now global health leadership.

Saskia Popescu, who received her PhD in Biodefense from the Schar School in 2019, leads the Global Health Security Network while continuing to teach and conduct research in biosecurity. Photo provided

Today, she serves as CEO of the Global Health Security Network (GHSN), an Australian-based multidisciplinary NGO dedicated to facilitating evidence-informed policy for the detection, prevention, and control of infectious disease threats, regardless of origin.

Through her leadership at the GHSN, Popescu has helped create a platform for experts across disciplines and around the world to address the evolving challenges facing global health security, most recently by leading the planning and execution of thefourth Global Health Security conference, one of the only global health security-focused conferences.

Reflecting on the conference, Popescu highlighted the need to build a global architecture, emphasizing the importance of moving forward by addressing existing gaps, rather than focusing on what’s been lost. Additionally, she emphasized the importance of maintaining partnerships and investing in preparedness and response efforts outside of disease outbreaks or public health emergencies.

“How do we ensure that response and preparedness mechanisms are sustainable and agile in the event of shifts in policy or funding, without negatively impacting existing efforts and foreign relationships? I really want to focus on how we can be more collaborative, not just in emergent times,” she said.

When asked what conversations or themes from the conference she believes had and will continue to have the greatest impact in the months following the conference, Popescu highlighted the large number of cross-disciplinary conversations, the exposure to a wide variety of topics and expertise, and networking that often do not occur within traditional professional silos. For example, professionals working in biosecurity policy had the opportunity to learn more about the technical aspect of biosurveillance or professionals in the public health sector gained a greater understanding of military-civilian partnerships in the Indo-Pacific.

“You have high-level delegates [minsters of health, government officials] and then your boots-on-the ground subject-matter experts such as epidemiologists working in outbreak response and laboratory biosafety professionals getting to interact with each other and have those frank conversations of how policy decisions affect the people doing the work,” Popescu said.

The conference also underscored the dedication and commitment of the more than 1,200 attendees who, despite ongoing public health emergencies including the Hantavirus outbreak and the third-largest Ebola outbreak to date, along with competing funding and operational priorities, took the time to have difficult but important conversations while sharing their research and contributions in the field of global health security.

Beyond her leadership at the GHSN, Popescu continues to shape the field through research and education. Currently, she maintains an appointment as policy researcher at RAND, where her work focuses on enhancing biosecurity and resilience by aiming to identify and address key vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure and private industry. Most recently, she contributed to “Mapping the Informal Bioeconomy,” a project that assesses the informal bioeconomy, focusing on the biosecurity implications, practices, governance, and oversight of community-based biotechnology laboratories. The project was featured as one of the poster presentations at this year’s global health security conference.

In addition, Popescu serves as an adjunct professor at the Schar School in the Biodefense Program. The program prides itself on equipping its students with the skills and education to bridge the gap between science and policy by providing the knowledge and analytic skills necessary to assess the risks posed by natural and man-made biological threat and develop strategies for reducing risk to national and international security.

Popescu noted that one of the program’s greatest strengths is not only the connections fostered by the school and its leadership, but also the program’s ability to provide students with a diverse toolkit. Rather than being limited to one facet of biodefense or biosecurity, students are exposed to the many disciplines that make up the field and are encouraged to think across science, policy, and public health.

“I’d be remiss if I didn’t call out the community with the program,” she said. “I always felt supported by faculty and my peers, both in my studies but also navigating the journey that is dissertation writing and career development. The biodefense program is really the first place I felt pushed to lean into being multidisciplinary rather than pressured into a specific field or role. It was very much a divergence from trying to fit into a preconceived biodefense box and more about ‘Let’s break the box and build something that serves the complex spaces we actually exist in.’”

If you’re hoping to take a class with Popescu, you might want to get in line. Both of her classes this fall, Biodefense Strategy and Biosurveillance, are one of the few classes that currently have a waitlist!

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University project shows logistics, not apathy, suppress student voting

Katarina Benson — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:09:21 +0000

University project shows logistics, not apathy, suppress student voting Katarina Benson Thu, 08/06/2026 - 12:09

Every election cycle brings headlines about the lack of voter participation among 18- to 24- year-olds. The conventional wisdom is that young people are too apathetic or tuned out to vote. But, according to 91�� research from the 2025 election cycle, that story is wrong.

For the past four years, Jennifer Victor, an associate professor of political science, has led groups of undergraduates at the Schar School of Policy and Government in experiential research activities to discover what actually keeps college students from voting. 

More than 60 students volunteered to help with the research. Photo provided

“We surmised it’s not that students don’t care,” said Victor. “Maybe it’s that voting is actually hard for them.”

During the 2022, 2023, and 2024 elections in Virginia, Victor worked with Schar School students to conduct experiments and surveys to understand the barriers to voting and test ways of overcoming them. One previous finding was that—not unlike their older counterparts—students are more likely to vote when someone they know personally asks them to. 

Victor and her team found that students often juggle multiple addresses, live in temporary housing, and move between states with different rules. Many assume they have to travel home to vote. And when the process feels confusing or inconvenient, participation drops. What happens if those barriers are removed? Victor and her student researchers wanted to find out.

“For the 2025 election, the student volunteers put into practice all the principles I’d learned in the prior studies,” Victor said. “But could we really increase turnout during an off-year election with no federal candidates on the ballot? The low salience 2025 election was a good test to see if our methods would work.”

Victor said that key to the effort was creating a cross-campus coalition with a leadership team that included staff members from the Offices of University Life and Community Engagement and Civic Learning. Working with a local chapter of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters, they recruited and trained more than 60 volunteers who wanted to help their peers vote.

Professor Jennifer Victor (far right) with some of the Mason Votes volunteers. Photo provided

The program, organized as Mason Voting Ambassadors, included formal training in regulations around voter registration, on-campus tabling events, classroom presentations, and an Instagram campaign, as well as broadcast and editorial content produced with Student Media and a website and email hotline for accurate voting information and resources.

After the election, the students analyzed turnout at the university’s precinct in Merten Hall, the polling place for on-campus residents. Voter turnout increased.

“The results stunned us,” said Victor. “George Mason was the only precinct in all of Fairfax County to see an increase in voter turnout compared to the 2024 presidential election.”

Not only that—she said turnout at the polling place was 48 percent higher in 2025. “In a year when turnout typically falls across the state, George Mason moved dramatically in the opposite direction. It seems we did something right.”

Their research confirmed that students vote when the barriers to voting are lowered. Making voting understandable, accessible, and relevant can help drive young people to the polls. 

“This is the type of evidence-based social science that students at the Schar School are learning—turning their passions into action and developing the social science tools to shape smarter, more responsive public policy for the world they’re inheriting,” Victor said.

This initiative supports strengthening peace, trust, and engagement in democracy solution of George Mason's Grand Challenge Initiative.

Schar School Graduate—and Grandmother—Reaches Goal of Bachelor’s Degree

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 19:16:10 +0000

Schar School Graduate—and Grandmother—Reaches Goal of Bachelor’s Degree Andrew J Schappert Wed, 04/29/2026 - 15:16

At 72, Irma Garcia will walk across the stage to receive a bachelor’s degree decades in the making. For her, earning a bachelor's degree in public administration degree from the Schar School of Policy and Government at 91�� was never a straight path. But it was always a goal; education is very important to her family.

Irma Garcia earns her bachelor’s degree at age 72.

Originally from Puerto Rico, Garcia moved to the Washington, D.C., area in 1978 to raise her three young daughters. Settling in Virginia, she worked many different jobs—mainly in local government and nonprofits—after earning a general studies degree from Northern Virginia Community College.

“What I really wanted to do was to help people,” she said. “I started getting jobs closer to what I enjoyed, which was giving services to people in need.”

Garcia also took a couple of classes at George Mason while she worked—sometimes two jobs—and took care of her family. But she had to hit pause.

“I stopped because it was just too hard for me,” she said. “I was just tired.”

Life continued but circling in the back of Garcia’s mind was the goal of earning a bachelor's degree. Five years ago, she enrolled in the Schar School choosing public administration as her major. Her eight grandchildren, five of whom have graduated from college, encouraged her.

“They gave me all kinds of tips,” she said. “They were very happy to see me go to school.”

Garcia says she never felt hesitant about returning to the classroom as a nontraditional student.

“I love school,” she said. “I had a great time with my classmates. I was accepted and I made friendships. I just felt like I was in a room full of grandchildren. I was the abuela.”

Irma Garcia (far left) with her three daughters

Garcia notes that many of her classmates came from a similar background as hers and they too juggled jobs with academics.

“Half of my friends who go to school with me, most of them are either immigrants or their parents are,” she said. “They are working but you see them in school every day.”

Garcia took classes through the Senior Citizen Waiver Program and praises her advisors, Ann Ludwick and Jana Biever, and the Registrar’s Office for assisting her and keeping her on track.

“I had a lot of questions about what classes to take and they were very supportive,” she said. “They were very informative and always processed my requests quickly and easily.”

Now, Garcia looks forward to the Schar School's Degree Celebration on May 16. She will have her own cheering section, with one of her daughters and three grandchildren in attendance.

Even though she is semi-retired, Garcia would like to continue to give back and find a part-time position at a nonprofit organization.

“That has been what I’ve enjoyed the most,” she said, “helping people use the resources available to them to become self-sufficient.”

Garcia’s educational journey has now come full circle. While the route to a bachelor’s degree sometimes challenged her, the achievement of earning it feels wonderful.

“For me, as a single mom raising three daughters by myself, it was very hard,” she said. “But if you want to do it, you can find ways of doing it. Maybe it won’t happen immediately. I would just tell people whatever they dream, try to achieve it. It can be done.”

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Meet the Degree Celebration Keynote Speaker: State Senator, Schar School Graduate Saddam Salim

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 19:26:43 +0000

Meet the Degree Celebration Keynote Speaker: State Senator, Schar School Graduate Saddam Salim Andrew J Schappert Wed, 04/22/2026 - 15:26

Keynote speaker Sen. Saddam Salim on his run for Congress: ‘It’s one of those opportunities where you help a lot of people at your current job and then you see you can scale that up at the national level.’ Photos provided

Virginia State Senator Saddam Salim (D) still sounds a little surprised when he talks about coming back to campus—not as a student, but as the keynote speaker for the May 16 Schar School of Policy and Government Degree Celebration at 91��. When invited, he recalled thinking, “I’m not important enough to be doing this, but I will give it a go.”

2012 and 2015 Schar School graduate, Sen. Saddam Salim

That humility is a throughline in Salim’s story, one shaped in classrooms and experiences at the Schar School, where he earned degrees—BS in Public Administration and Master of Public Administration in 2012 and 2015, respectively—and began to see how public service as less a destination for a career than a set of options—practical, varied, and close at hand. Today, as a state senator, he draws a direct line between those experiences and the work he does in Richmond.

Born in Bangladesh, his family emigrated to the United States in 2000 after surviving the devastation of severe drought followed by a catastrophic flood. He was 8. After a year in Washington, D.C., the family was made homeless when their building was sold and converted into luxury condominiums.

Low-income and affordable housing helped the family survive in Falls Church, Virginia, as did the available community health centers and a web of public services. These experiences inform his public service to this day.

“When you are struggling, when you’re stuck, that is going to be part of life,” he said. “But you are going to realize there are so many more people that would like to lend you a hand and say, ‘Look, we got you.’”

That perspective—equal parts realism and encouragement—reflects both his personal journey and the ethos he encountered at George Mason.

At the Schar School, Salim, who lives in Falls Church with his wife, Fatimah, found more than political theory—he learned how to use practical tools in the real world. An example that continues to resonate: One class offered hands-on use of sophisticated software used by key agencies in Washington. That kind of exposure, he said, translated directly into opportunity.

“For you to put that on your resumé, that was true real-life experience,” he said.

Schar School faculty members with careers beyond academia helped map the terrain and put into focus how careers unfold, he said.

“It’s not always you get a degree and you go right into government,” he said. “You can go into nonprofit, you can go into many other sectors” with a government or policy degree. That flexibility proved essential—not just for him, but for classmates who went on to roles across government, nonprofits, and even elected office.

Salim’s trajectory, which includes being honored as the George Mason University Alumni Association Alumnus of the Year in 2025, reflects another lesson he shares with students: Impact often starts closer to home. After experiencing the range and complexity of federal work, he scaled back and realized he could make a more immediate difference at the state and local levels of government. His Schar School education, he said, “really fits in any of these levels.”

Starting locally allowed him to build relationships, experience, and a record that could grow over time. He now serves on several committees in the Virginia General Assembly, including Rehabilitation and Social Services, Courts of Justice, Privileges and Elections, and Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources.

Circumstances being what they are, current political headwinds have afforded him with another way to apply his penchant for public policy to a larger field. In early April, Salim, who works as a federal financial management contractor, announced he would be running as a candidate for Congress, joining a crowded field of Virginia Democrats vying for a seat in a newly created district in Northern Virginia.

“It’s one of those opportunities where you help a lot of people at your current job and then you see you can scale that up at the national level,” he said. The party primary will be held August 4; the general election is November 3.

Salim assured us his Degree Celebration speech will not be a campaign effort. “I’m here as a sitting senator, an alumni who enjoyed his time here, and really want to empower the students in the audience,” he said.

He knows the audience will be students who are familiar with the classrooms he once sat in. The message, if his own path is any guide, is straightforward: Start where you are, use what you’ve learned, and don’t assume the path has to be linear—even if the opportunity ahead feels a larger than expected.

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Schar School Students Turn Language Barriers into Award-Winning Entrepreneurial Opportunity

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 19:44:15 +0000

Schar School Students Turn Language Barriers into Award-Winning Entrepreneurial Opportunity Andrew J Schappert Mon, 04/20/2026 - 15:44

Schar School senior Jayden Banks, left, and sophomore Anthony Even-Vaca pose with ceremonial checks at the Baylor New Venture Competition. Photo provided

Two Schar School of Policy and Government undergraduates took third place and an honorable mention award during the 14th Annual Baylor New Venture Competition in March for pitching a prototype of their medical language translation platform.

The Doctors United DPT/91�� sign at the Baylor New Venture Competition

The cofounders “really felt like the underdogs,” said Anthony Even-Vaca, a 19-year-old sophomore in the Schar School’s International Security and Law degree program at 91��. “I definitely was the youngest there.”

The national competition held at Baylor University’s Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation in Waco, Texas, drew student entrepreneurs from around the country eager to pitch their startup business ideas to panels of judges for cash awards and sage advice. Many of the competitors were doctoral students affiliated with established ventures, Even-Vaca said, heightening the sense of being underdogs in a field of seasoned innovators.

He and graduating government and international politics senior Jayden Banks took the $1,500 honorable mention prize and $500 for placing third in the elevator pitch competition for their self-funded platform, Doctors United DPT.

The idea for the language translation platform stemmed from Banks’s experience working for the last two years at the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus as a clinical technician, assisting the medical staff in patient care. He began building the app, he said, about a year-and-a-half ago after witnessing firsthand the difficulties of language barriers in a medical environment and how they can complicate even routine interactions.

“I started testing the prototype on the nurses, my coworkers, and they were super supportive of it,” he said. “I interviewed doctors, neurosurgeons, cardiac surgeons, and asked them how language barriers affect them specifically to their specialty.“

Banks and Even-Vaca became friends after working together as coaches at a swim school and then sharing a room for a week during a Schar School study-abroad program to Switzerland. Eventually, Banks recruited Even-Vaca to the Doctors United DPT project “and he immediately had ideas for it, like bringing it to refugee camps. And so we started working on it together,” Banks said.

It was during a second Schar School study-abroad trip, this one to Israel, where the work they were doing in translating medical terminology became real.

“I got sick, I couldn’t get out of bed for a day,” Even-Vaca said. “I was wondering, am I going to have to go to a doctor? I don’t know Hebrew or Arabic, and I felt a little bit hopeless.” (It turned out to be a bad cold. Still, the plane ride home was miserable.)

The app uses AI to render instantaneous translations of some 200 languages, Banks said. It was Even-Vaca’s idea, he said, to add a “confidence meter” to override AI’s sometimes questionable reliability in translations. “The judges loved it,” he said.

The cofounders are actively seeking George Mason alumni and business professors for guidance in building out the award-winning business.

“We’re trying to make more connections, networking, and raising capital,” Banks said. “We see a big demand for interpreter services in other areas, such as international forums and institutions as well as immigration law. We want to implement it around the world and bridge cultural gaps, help people, make a difference. That’s our hope, our vision.”

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