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George Mason and Virginia Tech collaborate to build science policy connections

Katarina Benson — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:50:00 +0000

George Mason and Virginia Tech collaborate to build science policy connections Katarina Benson Mon, 01/13/2025 - 13:50

Today, Virginia is one step closer to bridging the gap between science and policy—a critical relationship necessary to navigate a range of socio-technical issues including climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, and poverty. This connection was the result of a yearlong research project to identify U.S. and Virginia-based science policy programs that engage STEM-H scientists and engineers in science policy, with the goal of helping both elected officials and others access technical information to assist in decision making.

Adriana Bankston and K.L. Akerlof. Photo provided

This work was completed thanks to a coalition of faculty and students supported though a 4-VA@Mason grant. The team was led by K.L. Akerlof in ��AV’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy and Todd Schenk, chair and associate professor in the Urban Affairs and Planning Program of the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech and director of the Science, Technology and Engineering in Policy Program.

“This funding supported our cross-institutional collaboration and ability to conduct baseline research and networking that have been fundamental to understanding how the landscape of science policy training programs is evolving across the United States,” Akerlof said.

The team created a database of U.S. science policy programs and conducted a case study of those in Virginia through surveys and interviews with their leaders, with the goal of advancing best practices for professional mentorship of early career researchers and building capacity for training researchers to engage in public policy. Akerlof and Schenk were assisted in the study by science policy expert Adriana Bankston; George Mason students Kelsey Mitchell, Kate Saylor and Aniyah Syl; and Kenneth Dewberry at Virginia Tech.

Following the yearlong collaboration, the results of their research have been developed and are featured on a new website—along with program blogs and a listserv—created to support this emerging network of science policy programs.

The results showed that the majority—57%—of U.S. science policy programs are state based. These programs include student organizations, government placements and fellowships, academic certificates, degrees, and other training. However, it was recognized that there is a limited ability to implement evidence-based approaches within these programs.

The team compared program outcomes from Virginia’s science policy programs with those described in academic literature. Academic and professional scholarship in science communication and public affairs suggests that curricula for engaging scientists and engineers should broadly cover communication and policy processes, which could be improved.

In addition, they found that training programs would benefit from evaluation models and measures, although the lack of consistent theoretical foundations across this highly multidisciplinary scholarship reduces their utility. It was concluded that a common framework, which includes shared terms and relationships, is needed to promote the growth of the field.

With the results of their analysis in hand, the team, including George Mason undergraduate student Aniyah Syl and PhD student Kelsey Mitchell, helped lead a state webinar on science policy programs featuring Virginia program leaders. Syl co-presented on the project at a Virginia Sea Grant Symposium which was also the topic of an American Geophysical Union e-lightning talk.

Master’s student Kate Saylor successfully defended her thesis on the Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering and Science (COVES) Policy Fellowship and subsequently presented her results to James Aylor, president of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

The first of two research articles based on the project has just been accepted by the journal Evidence & Policy. A second article has also been submitted for publication. Syl and Mitchell participated as co-authors on the publications.

The team is also in conversation with the leadership of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine about the development of a new weeklong science policy program for undergraduate students from across the commonwealth’s public universities.

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Research using AI to track Amazon rainforest species produces landmark results

Colleen Rich — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 13:47:06 +0000

Research using AI to track Amazon rainforest species produces landmark results Colleen Rich Mon, 11/25/2024 - 08:47

Thanks to the tenacity of a ��AV biology professor, animals in the Amazon have a lot less privacy these days, but that’s good for scientists who to want know what’s going on in the Brazilian rainforests.

David Luther recognizes the importance of playing the long game in research, but even he couldn’t have imagined the hurdles and roadblocks ahead of him following the approval of his 2019 4-VA Collaborative Research Grant proposal, “Species richness resilience to habitat fragmentation and restoration in tropical rainforests.”

His plan was to install recording equipment at 50 sites as part of the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP) in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. These audio and video devices were meant to document and measure differences in animal community composition and the rate of animal recovery in secondary forest and forest fragments.

The proposed budget was devoted entirely to purchasing the wide array of materials necessary for the effort — cameras, acoustic recorders, and batteries—along with the international travel needed to bring the project to fruition.

In March 2020, all of Luther’s efforts came to a halt due to the pandemic. Additionally, one of the key members of the planning team, Tom Lovejoy, passed away in December 2021. Lovejoy was recognized as one the world’s leading conservation biologists and often referred to as the “godfather of biodiversity.” With Lovejoy’s passing, Luther lost a mentor and a critical member of the team.

Tens of thousands of animal images, such as this ocelot, have been collected for the project from camera traps. Photo provided

However, Luther stayed the course, revamping his team and rewriting the schedule. Finally, in June 2022, he received the green light to move ahead. Between June and October 2022, 136 cameras and 81 acoustic devices were installed across 50 sites at BDFFP.

Today, to Luther’s great delight, the results have proved far more successful than he could have ever anticipated. Tens of thousands of animal images from camera traps and audio recordings have already been collected.

To analyze the data, Luther built a team of 15 George Mason undergraduate researchers, artificial intelligence (AI) experts, and members of Arbimon, a nonprofit organization that specializes in analyzing acoustic recordings from the tropics to identify animals.

The student volunteers on this project included Alexis Lembke, Amanda Jones, Adriana Em, Madison Cheung, Morgan Ellingsworth, and Grace Carriero. Aline Medeiros, a PhD student in environmental science and policy, helped manage the undergraduate researchers working on the audio files. Medeiros will also use the captured data as the basis of her PhD research.

Another set of students helped identify animals in the camera images and entered that information into a large database. Hibo Hassan, Jordan Seidmeyer, Katie Russell, Carolian Sanabria, Adrian Em, Alix Upchurch, Piper Robinson, Tristan Silva-Montoya, and Estefany Umana spent hours creating this treasure trove of records. Emilia Roberts, a master’s student in environmental science and policy, managed these undergraduate researchers.

Discussing the project, Luther explained that, for the acoustic recordings, they built templates for 250 bird species and trained AI models to automatically detect and classify songs for each.

Channel-billed toucan. Photo provided

“The model performed very well in our evaluations. We have already detected 201 of the 250 species,” said Luther, who teaches in the Biology Department of George Mason’s College of Science. “Thanks to our model, new recordings can be passed through it to automatically detect species calls, facilitating long-term monitoring and efficient analyses moving forward. We are now working with local experts in Manaus, Brazil, to apply the same platform for frogs at our study sites in the Amazon rainforest.”

The biodiversity data is being used to assess how each species responds to variations in forest structure and recovery from forest fragmentation. Luther brought on Konrad Wessels from George Mason’s Geography and Geoinformation Science Department to assist with satellite information from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation instrument, which uses high-resolution lasers to provide detail in three-dimensional forest structure. These results will build predictive models to study how the forest structure can forecast mammal and bird diversity and individual species occurrence in tropical rainforests.

In an important finding, the team has determined that the three-dimensional complexity of the forest structure, as measured by foliage height diversity, is the biggest predictor of mammal and bird diversity at this research site, and potentially others, in the Amazon rainforest.

The project continues to gain traction. The team has created a website featuring the results of the acoustic portion of the research, which has been very well received. Some of the acoustic training models have been used by teams competing for the X-Prize, a competition designed to encourage technological developments supporting “radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity.”

Building on the 4-VA funded study, Luther also received a $200,000 National Science Foundation grant to continue both the camera and acoustic research. Luther and Wessels recently submitted a grant to NASA to expand on the research findings and apply them to the entirety of the Amazon basin.

“Through 4-VA@Mason, this project is up, running, and delivering fantastic information that will help scientists worldwide better design monitoring schemes for biodiversity in remote tropical forests, as well as those interested the relationship between habitat structure and degradation and species resilience to disturbance,” said Luther.

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George Mason team identifies technology to enhance artificial photosynthesis

Colleen Rich — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 18:12:52 +0000

George Mason team identifies technology to enhance artificial photosynthesis Colleen Rich Tue, 09/17/2024 - 14:12

When a 4-VA Collaborative Research Grant results in the production of a novel concept for technology solutions to support energy and climate issues, while also sharing resources and data between higher education institutions in Virginia and providing faculty and student research opportunities, it is a win for all involved.

Yun Yu. Photo provided

This was achieved following 4-VA’s approval of a proposal by ��AV’s Yun Yu, an assistant professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department, for a grant titled “Nanoscale Visualization of Electrocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction Activity at Cu Nanocatalysts.”

Yu’s goal was to investigate options in catalytic electrode materials to improve and enhance electrocatalysis, a process essential for harnessing sustainable energy sources for artificial photosynthesis. While nanostructures are currently recognized as the most successful catalyst for many chemical reactions, there is more to understand about tailoring their crystalline planes to improve activity and selectivity.

Yu wanted to gain deeper insights into various nanocatalysts used in carbon removal technologies. The conventional approach to conducting this study often involves measuring the entire catalyst, composed of numerous small particles with varying sizes and shapes. However, critical information, such as the impact of heterogeneities on performance, is often lost in such ensemble measurements.

Yu saw the potential for leveraging the nanoscale scanning electrochemical microscopy at George Mason to obtain detailed surface reactivity maps of nanocatalysts. However, to do so, Yu needed to acquire shape-controlled nanostructures, including copper nanowires, copper nanocubes, and nickel–iron layered nanosheets. He did so through a partnership with Sen Zhang, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia.

Graduate student Dan Tran operating the scanning electrochemical microscope. Photo provided

Yu’s team—graduate student Dan Tran and undergraduate students Solyip Kim, Melissa Nguyen, and Mackenzie Dickinson—played a key role in the project, receiving funding and real-world research experience. Together, they identified furfural reduction, an important reaction for sustainable biofuel generation, and they noted a distinct contrast in activity between copper and graphite support.

“These preliminary experiments have demonstrated the viability of our scanning electrochemical technique in spatially resolving catalytic activity across nanoscopic structures,” said Yu. They further expanded the application to the study of nickel–iron catalysts.

“Our data suggested that adding trace amount of cerium oxide to the catalysts significantly enhances water oxidation activity. We would not have these insights without this powerful electroanalytical technique,” said Yu.

The initial results have provided Yu with a springboard to develop external grant proposals to systematically study the role of cerium oxide and quantify the effects of its loading on the apparent catalytic activity of the developed catalysts.

“This 4-VA opportunity allowed us to create a partnership with UVA, create a team to implement further investigation via George Mason’s nanoscale scanning electrochemical microscopy, and now apply for further funding to move this project forward,” Yu said.

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4-VA supports childhood working memory research collaboration

Colleen Rich — Thu, 08 Aug 2024 13:06:22 +0000

4-VA supports childhood working memory research collaboration Colleen Rich Thu, 08/08/2024 - 09:06

As an undergraduate, Sabine Doebel became fascinated by children’s thinking and how it changes with age. Now, as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at ��AV, she spends much of her time in the Developing Minds Lab designing studies to understand how young children learn to think.

Photo provided

Although these executive function skills are vital to children’s success in school and beyond, much remains unknown about their development. Particularly important for academic success is working memory—the capacity to maintain and manipulate information in mind, such as words, numbers, and other symbols. Working memory is often measured using tests including the Backward Digit Span, in which children repeat increasingly long sequences of digits in backwards order.

“I have always been interested in how experience may shape working memory skills,” said Doebel. She was particularly curious about how early learning experiences at home— specifically in the domains of literacy and numeracy—could foster growth in working memory span.

With the support of a 4-VA award, Doebel had the opportunity to share this new project idea with her colleague and mentor Angeline Lillard, a widely respected developmental psychologist and researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia (UVA).

“Our collaboration would not have taken off the way it did if it hadn’t been for Angeline, because she was the one who sent me an email about 4-VA,” said Doebel. “She said, ‘Have you heard of 4-VA? We should consider this option.’”

The core purpose of 4-VA is to improve efficiencies in higher education and research and promote collaborations among the Virginia public universities. So Doebel’s project, How Does Experience Support Working Memory Development?, was a perfect fit.

Doebel’s lab recruited and tested more than 100 children on four different variations of the backward span tasks. Parents also completed a detailed survey reporting frequency and variety in various home learning practices. At UVA, Lillard leveraged her own participant pool and school connections to recruit an additional sample of conventionally schooled and Montessori-educated children.

Doctoral student Nicole Stucke working with a student in the lab. Photo provided

Doebel enlisted George Mason students Jordan Hassani, BA Psychology ’23, and Nicole Stucke, PhD Psychology ’24, to collect the data. Hassani created the survey, tested the children, and coded the data. Stucke, who has functioned as the Developing Minds Lab manager, helped with testing. Other team members, including George Mason undergraduate Scarlett Bird-Guerra, BS Psychology ’23, were involved in community-based recruitment efforts.

UVA undergraduate Maksud Juraev and graduate student Abigail Kissinger led the UVA data collection efforts.

The team noted that the results were both as predicted and surprising. As expected, they found that children show larger backward spans for items that are relatively familiar—for example, performance on trials that involved the digits 1, 2, 3 was better than on trials involving 7, 8, 9.

However, while Doebel expected that children who engaged in more numeracy practices at home might show better performance on a backward span task involving digits, support was not found for this hypothesis. Instead, it was observed that children’s backward digit span was related to home literacy practices, and that this was true even after accounting for other home learning practices and age.

Doebel presented the findings at meetings of the American Psychological Association and at the Society for Research on Child Development. She and Lillard are also preparing manuscripts for publication in academic journals in the field.

Next up for the team is to dive deeper into Lillard’s connections in Charlottesville with Montessori schools to test whether children who are Montessori-educated show larger backward digit spans than children who are educated in conventional schools, as expected given the emphasis Montessori schools place on literacy and numeracy.

Doebel said the 4-VA support not only helped the project be successful but made a difference for the student researchers as well. “As a result of this funding, my students have progressed in their career trajectories—Jordan is now at the University of Maryland as a research coordinator in a National Institutes of Health-funded lab, and he’s hoping to gain admittance to a Ph.D. program in clinical psychology. He got that opportunity in part because he participated in this project where he engaged real research experience.”

The original project has also led to a further study that will investigate the role of language in working memory by exploring how bilingual children with varying degrees of exposure to numerical language perform on the backward digit span task. This project is led by Victoria Rabii, a PhD student in George Mason’s Applied Developmental Psychology Program. Funded by a Presidential Scholarship, Rabii is being mentored by Doebel and psychology professor Adam Winsler.

The goal of this project is to better understand how young children’s working memory performance may be affected by their proficiency with relative linguistic concepts. “Previously, when children scored low on the task, it was pretty common for this to be interpreted as indicating low working memory ability,” said Doebel. “But now things are changing a bit, and we are asking whether children may show better performance if they are more fluent with the specific content that is integral to the task.”

Personally and professionally, Doebel is grateful for the collaboration with Lillard. “Angeline has been a major mentor for me. We have published together previously, and we are always thinking about new project ideas that could lead to external funding. This likely never would have happened if not for 4-VA,” said Doebel.

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Seventeen George Mason faculty awarded 4-VA grants

Colleen Rich — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 19:35:18 +0000

Seventeen George Mason faculty awarded 4-VA grants Colleen Rich Tue, 07/30/2024 - 15:35

Through 4-VA@Mason, ��AV faculty members have embarked on new pilot research projects in collaboration with higher education institutions throughout Virginia.

The 4-VA Collaborative Research Grants, first launched in the 2013-14 academic year, are designed to forge relationships in Virginia higher education to leverage the strengths of each school, decrease working in silos, and launch novel research projects that can provide a springboard for future external funding.

Other schools in the 4-VA system are the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Old Dominion University (ODU), University of Virginia (UVA), Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia Tech (VT). Christopher Newport University is also participating in Collaborative Research Grants.

During the 2024-25 year, nine of the Collaborative Research Grants are being led at George Mason and 11 faculty members will serve as co-principal investigators (co-PIs) for research spearheaded at partner institutions.

“Each year, we are more and more impressed with the breadth and depth of the proposals,” said Janette Kenner Muir, vice provost, academic affairs, and campus coordinator of 4-VA at Mason, adding that this year’s 25 proposals were especially strong.

The 4-VA@Mason 2024-25 Collaborative Research Grant awardees, proposal title, and partner schools (in parentheses) are the following:

Rosalina Christova, College of Science, Department of Environmental Science and Policy and Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center, “Integrative Characterization of the Anatoxin-a-Producing Benthic Cyanobacterial Genus Microcoleus in the Shenandoah River” (UVA/Wise)
Arie Croitoru, College of Science, Department of Computational and Data Sciences and Center for Social Complexity, “Quantum-Inspired Modeling for Understanding Social Complexity” (ODU)
Nadine Kabbani, College of Science, School of Systems Biology, “Proteomic profiling of molecular changes associated with chemotherapy induced neuropathy” (VCU)
Myeong Lee, College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Information Sciences and Technology, “Understanding Multidimensional Measures of Social Capital: Impacts of Ethnic Heterogeneity, Social Classes, and Historical Legacies of Urban Policy” (VCU)
Rayanne Luke, College of Science, Department of Mathematical Sciences, “Data-Driven Modeling of the Time-Dependent Immune Response to Infection and Vaccination” (UVA)
Amanda Madden, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History and Art History, “Historical Mapathons: Team-Based GIS Training and Transformation of Seventeenth Century Maps” (VT)
Sang Nam, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Game Design Program, “Developing A Multimodal LLM AI Agent for the XR, Extended Reality Platform for Personalized and Highly Immersive Trauma Training” (UVA)
Xiaokuan Zhang, College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Computer Science, “Uncovering Secrets from Virtual Reality Headsets via Electromagnetic Side Channels” (VT)
Xijin (Emma) Zhang, College of Engineering and Computing, Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, “Multifunctional Fungi-Based Biosurfactants for Durable Concrete Structures” (UVA)

The following George Mason faculty received funding as co-PIs for the 2024-25 academic year collaborating with other 4-VA institutions:

Shaghayegh Bagheri, College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, “MOMENTUM: Assessing the Merits of Personalized Feedback with Generative AI for Foundational Engineering Mechanics Courses” (VT)
Michael S. Bloom, College of Public Health, Department of Global and Community Health, “A new green space exposure index utilizing AI methods and an eye-tracking device” (VT)
Harrison Bray and Anton Lukyanenko, College of Science, Department of Mathematical Sciences, “Collaborative workshops in topology” (UVA)
Pei Dong, College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, “Printing of Ultrathin Conductive Films on Liquid for 3D Wearable Electronic” (UVA)
Jessica Otis, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History and Art History, and Heidi Lawrence, Department of English, “Human Dimensions of Infectious Diseases” (VT)
Jingyuan Yang, Costello College of Business, “Building Machine Learning Resilience During Disasters” (UVA)

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George Mason’s ROTC continues to provide a path for personal and professional growth

Colleen Rich — Thu, 16 May 2024 21:07:23 +0000

George Mason’s ROTC continues to provide a path for personal and professional growth Colleen Rich Thu, 05/16/2024 - 17:07

��AV’s Army ROTC Patriot Battalion is on the rise. From its humble beginnings more than 40 years ago in 1982 with little more than 20 students, the program now boasts nearly 150 cadets and continues to grow in recognition.

Two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters transported 62 Mason ROTC cadets and two cadre to the Marine Corps Base Quantico for Mason ROTC’s spring Joint Field Training Exercise (JFTX), which it holds annually with ROTC students from Georgetown and Howard universities. Photo by Cristian Torres/��AV

The George Mason ROTC program was launched in 1982 as an extension of the Georgetown University Army ROTC, before splitting off independently in 2002. Today, the Patriot Battalion hosts co-enrolled students from Marymount University, University of Mary Washington, and Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA).

The number of first-year students making the choice to pursue a commission as an Army officer increased ninefold in the last five years, more than ever before. This year one of Patriot Battalion’s own—Mason Cadet Bryan Vega—was recognized as the premier ROTC Cadet in the nation.

Lt. Col. Matthew M. Kuhn, an active-duty officer and department chair, leads George Mason’s ROTC effort. “ROTC combines courses in military science with practical leadership training to prepare for success in college, as leaders in the Army, or in any profession of choice,” he said.

Students in the program receive classroom instruction and participate in a weekly leadership lab and early morning physical training activities.

First-year students and sophomores can participate in the first two years of Army ROTC without committing to serve in the Army. Students offered an ROTC scholarship then contract and incur a military obligation. There are also opportunities for juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

Students work on their Combat Water Survival Test at the Aquatic and Fitness Center. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Students must contract by their junior year or first year of graduate school to continue with the advanced course program, obligating them to serve four years of active duty in the regular Army, or six to eight years in a unit of the Army National Guard or U.S. Army Reserves, depending upon whether they received an ROTC scholarship. Officers may then continue to serve the remainder of their obligation in their current component or transfer into the Reserve Components or the Individual Ready Reserve.

A quick scroll through Mason’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Instagram and Facebook accounts provides a visual of the wide range of Mason cadet activities—including an annual senior trip, physical training at the EagleBank Arena, the Patriot Battalion Military Ball, commissioning ceremonies, field training exercises, and the Patriot Games. What it does not reveal is what cadets consistently agree are the overarching benefits of the ROTC experience—the physical, psychological, and financial support provided through the corps.

“My unit is a second family to me,” said Matthew Rigdon, a Military Science 3 (MS3) junior.

“Some of the best memories you’ll make in ROTC are in the field with other cadets making the most of a challenging time—where you’re being stress-tested to see how you perform under pressure,” said Rigdon, who is from Stafford, Virginia. “My fellow cadets are friendly, encouraging, and determined to succeed even when put in tough situations, especially since the success of each cadet contributes to the overall success of the team.”

Mason ROTC Color Guard at Washington Spirit Soccer Game. Photo courtesy of ROTC

For Cadet Christopher Roman, an MS2 sophomore, college tuition assistance was paramount. “The financial aid is extremely helpful and was very important to me,” said Roman, who hails from Canton, Ohio. “Although my parents were going to pay for my degree, I felt a responsibility to help them.”

Sahar Khalid-Schieber, an MS4 Senior, who comes to George Mason from London, England, echoes Roman’s appreciation for financial support. The Army ROTC is the largest provider of post-secondary school scholarships in the United States and one of the nation’s foremost leadership development programs.

Khalid-Schieber explains that ROTC offered more than just discipline and a pathway to military service; it presented an opportunity to be part of an organization that goes beyond the individual. “ROTC is not just about me; it's about a collective sense of purpose, an interconnected web of responsibilities, and a shared mission,” Khalid-Schieber said. “In ROTC, I found an environment where I could channel my innate desire to give back, to serve not just a cause, but a country, a community, and a set of ideals.”

About a quarter of the cadets arrive at George Mason through NOVA, often through the ADVANCE Program, which provides a seamless pathway for community college students to earn a four-year degree. It was that route that brought MS4 Raymond Bonniwell to Mason. Bonniwell, a dual major in anthropology and Russian studies who emigrated from South Africa, noted the advantage of the monthly stipend, the ability to get a security clearance, and the chance to serve his adopted country as key motivations for joining ROTC.

Roman, who plans to pursue a career in law enforcement, also touts the professional support found through the program. “The experience that ROTC provides, especially for me, is perfect. My cohorts are motivated leaders that continuously strive to make each other better.”

“My favorite memory in ROTC is from the Spring 2023 Field Training Exercise where I was fortunate enough to ride in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter down to Marine Corps Base Quantico,” said Rigdon, who studies operations and supply chain management and hopes to be an active-duty quartermaster officer after graduating and commissioning into the U.S. Army. “This experience was one of the coolest things I have ever done.”

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The top ROTC Cadet in the nation is Bryan Vega, a George Mason graduate student working on a master’s in data analytics engineering. Learn more about him.

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Mason and UVA collaborate to create energy-efficient desalination technique

Colleen Rich — Tue, 04 Apr 2023 14:36:27 +0000

Mason and UVA collaborate to create energy-efficient desalination technique Colleen Rich Tue, 04/04/2023 - 10:36

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Pei Dong

With 97% of the world’s water held by oceans, the effort to develop effective saltwater desalination is a high priority amongst the world’s scientists. Capacitive deionization (CDI), where ions and chemicals are removed from water by applying a low electrical charge, is the most prevalent process. However, there is much more to understand about the kinetics of the process, which could improve the salt absorption capacity of CDI.

Mason researcher Pei Dong in her lab. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

It was this challenge that caught the interest of Pei Dong, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at ��AV’s College of Engineering and Computing. She recognized that tackling this topic would be substantially boosted by incorporating research underway in the lab of Baoxing Xu of University of Virginia’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.

Their project, “A study on the ultrahigh salt adsorption capacity of an energy-efficiency water desalination technology,” was supported by a 4-VA@Mason Collaborative Research Grant with the goal of designing next-generation electrode materials to advance the energy-efficient CDI technology.

Xu’s group investigates multiscale/multiphysics modeling and simulations of solid-liquid interactions, especially systems in response to external stimuli such as temperature, electrical, and mechanical fields. Together, Dong’s group and Xu’s group could investigate the adsorption process to further identify, design, and synthesize more effective carbon materials for use in the CDI process.

Fast forward through the research—complete with a pandemic and the resulting lab closures—Dong and her team report that they have indeed synthesized different carbon materials that show a much higher salt absorption capacity. Dong anticipates that this technique could dramatically lower desalination costs and contribute to the sustainable development goals in Virginia, the United States, and beyond.

Along with this successful research outcome, the project also produced several other beneficial consequences, especially a new collaboration among Mason and UVA faculty and students. Dong also noted the journey provided a rich educational experience for students—with a combination of experimental and computational skills allowing them to contribute to future engineering innovation in this emerging field.

From left, students Rui He, Crystal Bowers and Xiaozhou Huang working on the project in Pei Dong's lab. Photo provided

That experience was especially true for PhD candidate Rui He. He oversaw the project in Dong’s lab and administered the tests, including those for surface area, water contact angle, electrical property, and water desalination. He also prepared the wood-converted carbon and the potassium hydroxide activation.

“I learned a lot about teamwork,” He said. “I needed to teach the undergraduates how to run the lab experiments and data analysis as a team, and make sure every step is what we wanted.”

In addition, the team worked together to print a 3D CDI cell and assembled the experimental setup, installing the wood-converted carbon into the cell.

“Sometimes we didn’t get the results we expected, and we needed to find out where things went wrong and fix the problem,” He said. “For example, the 3D-printed CDI cell was a challenge at the beginning because it can’t prevent the leakage of water. We tried a lot of different designs, and finally got one to work.”

Several of the other Mason students involved in the research were undergraduate Crystal Bowers and PhD candidate Xiaozhou Huang.

Thanks to the project’s success, the research has received wide recognition. Their work “Binder-Free Wood Converted Carbon for Enhanced Water Desalination Performance” has been published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

He won the Excellent Student Presentation Award in the 242nd Electrochemical Society Meeting for both his oral presentation and poster about the project. This work has also been presented at Virginia Clean Energy and Catalysis Club 2022 Summit (poster) and the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition 2022 (oral presentation).

4-VA is a partnership among eight Virginia universities, created to foster collaborations that leverage the strengths of each university and improve efficiencies in education across the commonwealth. Thanks to 4-VA, unprecedented alliances between schools, departments, faculty, and students generate significant, innovative solutions to educational and real-world challenges.

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4-VA @ Mason awards 2022-23 Collaborative Research Grants

Colleen Rich — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 18:57:50 +0000

4-VA @ Mason awards 2022-23 Collaborative Research Grants Colleen Rich Wed, 06/29/2022 - 14:57

Eleven pilot research projects, submitted from a wide range of departments across ��AV, will launch July 1, 2022, thanks to funding from the state-sponsored 4-VA program. The 4-VA Collaborative Research Grants are designed to encourage new and innovative research conducted in conjunction with faculty at other 4-VA schools across the commonwealth.

4-VA was established in 2010 based on recommendations from the Governor’s Higher Education Commission and the Governor’s Commission on Economic Development and Job Creation.

4-VA@Mason grants are offered in four broad areas—collaborative research, course redesign, shared courses, and degree completion.

“Our 4-VA@Mason Team, as well as our Advisory Board, were impressed by the depth and breadth of the proposals we received this year,” said Janette Kenner Muir, vice provost, academic affairs, and campus coordinator of 4-VA @ Mason. “From athletic training degrees for marginalized students to green infrastructure, from rural Virginia land ownership trends to avian window collision, there’s going to be a terrific variety of research under our 4VA@Mason banner.”

In addition to promoting partnerships among the 4-VA schools, the Collaborative Research Grants provide seed money to prove out novel concepts, which often go on to receive funding from public and private institutions based on the initial 4-VA catalyst funds.

One such grant goes to Kuo Tian, assistant professor, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, and Ran Ji, Assistant Professor, Systems Engineering and Operations Research, both in Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing. Together with a colleague at Virginia Tech, the researchers will closely analyze several critical factors in solid waste collection to develop a model for reducing the impact of waste.

U.S. municipal solid waste production is rapidly increasing due to population growth and urbanization, and can create ecological, economic, and societal challenges. With anaerobic digestion on the cusp of providing a promising technology to reduce food waste, it is important to get a clear picture of real-time garbage waste and the prospect and potential of community buy-in. The team plans to partner with the Prince William County Solid Waste Division to conduct research, do community assessments, and provide a blueprint for implementation of the process.

“This subject is of great interest to public agencies,” Tian said. “This grant is the first step to help us provide municipalities with a clear and success-oriented process of execution,” Tian said. “We are very hopeful that with our results, we can scale up the methodology with a subsequent larger research grant.”

In addition to Mason, the 4-VA collective includes the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Tech.

“We look forward to telling the stories that develop from the excellent cross-institutional research that will soon be underway,” said Muir. “Congratulations to the Mason faculty receiving a 2022-23 4-VA @ Mason Collaborative Research Grant.”

The grant recipients are listed below with the principal investigator’s name, grant title, and co-collaborating schools:

— Shelby Broberg, Department of Communication, College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), “Communication Center Tutor Training Needs Assessment and Open-Access Resource Development.” (partnership with Virginia Tech and James Madison University)

— Amanda Caswell, Professor, School of Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). “Athletic Training JEDI [Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion] Increasing Retention and Academic Performance of Athletic Training Students of Marginalized Students Through a Mentoring Program” (partnership with James Madison University, Old Dominion University, and University of Virginia)

— Sabine Doebel, Department of Psychology, CHSS, “How Does Experience Support Working Memory Development in Early Childhood?” (University of Virginia)

— Daniel Hanley, Department of Biology, College of Science, “Coordinated Outreach across Virginia Universities and Behavioral Experiments to Invent Novel Technology that Reduces Avian Window Collision Mortality.” (partnership with William and Mary)

— Younsung Kim, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, COS, “Assessing Green Infrastructure Potential Using Multi-Level Ecological and Economic Factors: The Northern Virginia Case.” (partnership with University of Virginia)

— Nupoor Ranade, Department of English, CHSS, “Ethical Data Analytics: Investigating Data Analytics as a Pedagogical Practice for the Humanities.” (partnership with Old Dominion University, James Madison University, and Virginia Tech)

— Byunghwan Son, Global Affairs Program, CHSS, “Globalization in Reverse: The Diffusion of K-POP in the United States.” (partnership with University of Virginia)

— Kuo Tian, Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, Volgenau School of Engineering. “Decision Support Tools for Smart Municipal Solid Waste Collection.” (partnership with Virginia Tech)

— Levi Van Sant, School of Integrative Studies, CHSS, “Participatory Methods for Land Ownership Research in Rural Virginia.” (partnership with James Madison University)

— Xuan Wang, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing, “Data-driven Prediction and Regulation of Firing Rate Dynamics in the Brain.” (partnership with William & Mary)

— Margaret Weiss, School of Education, CEHD, “Co-teaching in Secondary Inclusive Classrooms: A Professional Learning Series.” (partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University)

For more information, visit 4va.gmu.edu or www.facebook.com/4VAMason.

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