Schar School News August 2022

Taxman, ACE!, Probing St. Louis’s Troubled Jail

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 16:42:23 +0000

Taxman, ACE!, Probing St. Louis’s Troubled Jail Andrew J Schappert Wed, 08/31/2022 - 12:42

In This Story

Schar School of Policy and Government’s Faye S. Taxman, founding director of the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence (ACE!), is helping administrators at St. Louis County Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri, develop new racial equity policies and programming to improve the jail’s culture and reduce its population.

The 18-month, first-of-its-kind study, funded by a $300,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, will focus on rampant racism and mistreatment of inmates.

If successful, those new practices and policies could be adapted by criminal justice systems across the country.

The study team includes researchers from ACE!, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and justice system partnerships.

—Buzz McClain

Topics

Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence

ACE!

Research

Schar School News August 2022

Political Insider Speaker Series Kicks Off, Is Open to All

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 13:05:45 +0000

Political Insider Speaker Series Kicks Off, Is Open to All Andrew J Schappert Fri, 08/26/2022 - 09:05

In This Story

Steven Pearlstein

George Mason alumnus Danny Diaz, left, speaks during a First Tuesday lecture series in Fall 2018, moderated by Steve Pearlstein, right. Photo by Lathan Goumas/Creative Services

A new speaker series examining the run-up to the 2022 mid-term congressional elections will bring to the Fairfax Campus nine political insiders who will dissect campaigns, explain strategies, and explore breaking headlines, all the way up to the Tuesday before Election Day.

The series, “First Tuesday: A Weekly Speakers Series on the 2022 Congressional Elections,” is open to all ��AV students, staff, and faculty, and takes place each Tuesday (except for October 11) at 9 a.m. in the Main Reading Room of Fenwick Library.

The series is moderated by Robinson Professor of Public Affairs Steven Pearlstein as part of his Govt 490: Polarization and the 2022 Election course.

First First Tuesday guest speaker, Schar School’s Ashley Jardina

“The purpose here is to give students a sense of what campaigns and elections are like from the inside,” said Pearlstein, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Washington Post. “I am particularly excited to have Bill Hamilton, who is the only person to have ever been the political editor of both the New York Times and the Washington Post.”

Pearlstein also expects intriguing insights from U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, one of the few Republicans who stood up to the previous president’s election challenge and, the professor added, “lived—politically—to talk about it.”

The series begins Tuesday, September 6, with guest Ashley Jardina, a new associate professor at the Schar School and author of the well-received book, White Identity Politics. She won the 2022 Emerging Scholar award from the American Political Science Association (APSA) for her work in the field of racial politics.

The complete lineup is below.

September 6
Associate Professor Ashley Jardina
Mason Professor, Author of White Identity Politics

September 13
Jeff Horwitt
Hart Research, NBC-Wall St. Journal Poll

September 20
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)

September 27
Danny Diaz
GOP Media Strategist, George Mason alumnus

October 4
Mike Henry
Chief of Staff to Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

October 11
No Speaker

October 18
Rebecca Pearcey
Political Director, Elizabeth Warren presidential campaign

October 25
Kristin Davison
Strategist to Governor Glenn Younkin (R-Va.) campaign

November 1
Bill Hamilton
Former Washington Editor, New York Times

Topics

Schar School News August 2022

First Tuesday

Campus News

innovative classes

Study: To Reduce Jail Populations, Increase Mental Health Services in Communities

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 19:21:05 +0000

Study: To Reduce Jail Populations, Increase Mental Health Services in Communities Andrew J Schappert Thu, 08/25/2022 - 15:21

Faye Taxman: ‘This study is important because it illustrates the interconnection between mental health services in the community and the size of the jail population…’

A new study by Schar School of Policy and Government researchers concludes that U.S. jails are de facto mental health institutions, with nearly 10 times as many individuals with serious mental illness in prisons and jails than in state psychiatric hospitals.

The study also found that access to affordable healthcare services and behavioral health treatment in the community changes how the jail is used and reduces the size of the jail population.

“This study is important because it illustrates the interconnection between mental health services in the community and the size of the jail population—that is, if counties invest in expanding local health services, then they can reduce how they use their local jail,” said Faye S. Taxman, founding director of the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence (ACE!) at ��AV and the principal investigator of the study.

The data is relevant “to policy makers at federal, state, and local government agencies in terms of reducing the unnecessary use of local jails,” she said. “It also illustrates a connection that the number of services in the community is important to improve outcomes.”

Researchers included Niloofar Ramezani, a biostatistician at Mason’s College of Engineering and Computing, and collaborators from Michigan State University and the University of Central Florida. Working with $3.6 million in funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, the researchers studied the size of jail populations in 3,100 U.S. counties to explore factors contributing to the over-use of incarceration in county jails in the face of increased mental health challenges within those communities.

The study’s conclusions point to increasing mental health services—particularly in counties with smaller populations, reduced numbers of high school graduates, and fewer treatment services—to reduce prison and jail populations.

There is hope on the horizon, Taxman pointed out.

“The new Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill has funds for mental health services,” she said. “If used, that funding can help to reduce the over 11 million Americans who are processed by local jails each year.”

The complete study is here.

Probing St. Louis’s Troubled Jail

Taxman and ACE! are helping administrators at St. Louis County Justice Center in St. Louis, Missouri, develop new racial equity policies and programming to improve the jail’s culture and reduce its population. The 18-month, first-of-its-kind study, funded by a $300,000 grant from the MacArthur Foundation, will focus on rampant racism and mistreatment of inmates.

If successful, those new practices and policies could be adapted by criminal justice systems across the country.

The study team includes researchers from ACE!, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and justice system partnerships.

In This Story

Faye S. Taxman

Learn more about the Schar School

Read the full study

Topics

Schar School News August 2022

Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence

New Academic Program Lets Students Design Their Own Energy and Climate Change Policy Area of Emphasis

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 14:54:02 +0000

New Academic Program Lets Students Design Their Own Energy and Climate Change Policy Area of Emphasis Andrew J Schappert Thu, 08/25/2022 - 10:54

In This Story

Richard Kauzlarich

Joel Hicks

Joel Hicks: ‘These courses will be taught by senior-level practitioners in relevant industries and agencies.’ Photo by Buzz McClain/Schar School of Policy and Government

A new interdisciplinary Schar School of Policy and Government curriculum offering will allow students to design their own course of study that addresses global and local challenges involving energy and climate change.

A timely and innovative program, Energy and Climate Policy, is open to graduate students and undergraduates and will launch in Spring 2023.

As part of Schar School’s Center for Energy Science and Policy (CESP), and funded by a recent Provost Curriculum Impact Grant, this new curriculum offers undergraduates and graduates an opportunity to focus on local or international energy and climate policy.

In the local track, students can learn and engage with low-income and marginalized Virginia communities to model greenhouse gases, develop climate mitigation plans, improve community resiliency and sustainability, and work to ensure energy equity and environmental justice.
In the international track, students can learn and engage on issues with senior-level policymakers on geopolitics of energy security, climate change and national security, and clean energy policies for developing countries.

Each track requires four courses, including two “core” courses—a total of 12 credit hours—to complete, with multiple electives available depending on the track the student chooses.

Paul Bubbosh: ‘The mainstay for both programs is the opportunity to work and engage with some of the leading organizations and policymakers in the energy and climate policy area.’

“The mainstay for both programs is the opportunity to work and engage with some of the leading organizations and policymakers in the energy and climate policy area,” said Paul Bubbosh, an instructor in the College of Science and co-director of the Local Climate Action Planning Initiative in the CESP. “Those include environmental advocacy groups, academic think tanks and consultancies, federal, state, and local governments, private sector, and multinational organizations.”

The program is entirely student developed, he added, meaning students have the flexibility to design a program that fits their needs as part of a graduate or undergraduate program.

“We surveyed employers in the field of energy and climate policy about what they most desired in new hires, and based on these findings, we crafted a program that identified two core courses—one on energy policy and the other on energy and climate law, as well as the local and international tracks,” said Joel Hicks, an instructor at the Schar School and a CESP research fellow who helped develop the program.

“These courses will be taught by senior-level practitioners in relevant industries and agencies,” he said. “They will bring real-world experience and expertise to the Mason classrooms.”

CESP co-director Richard Kauzlarich

The program is well-timed, to say the least.

“The new Inflation Reduction Act will jumpstart a massive wave of innovation and energy transition planning, requiring skills from across the academic spectrum,” Hicks said. He also pointed out that employment growth in these fields widely outpace other sectors of the U.S. workforce.

“Jobs related to net-zero emissions made up about 40 percent of total energy jobs in the U.S.,” he said. “Energy job growth outpaced other sectors of the workforce by 30 percent.”

This program appears poised to place Mason students in a more advantageous position with the influx of new spending and job hires, Bubbosh said. “As a former federal government hiring official, I can tell you with confidence that the courses we have developed in the Energy and Climate Policy program will prepare students for these competitive positions.”

Addressing climate change is one of the main reasons Master’s in Public Policy student Tony Striner chose the field of study.

“In my eyes,” he said, “the issue of climate change has two fundamental components: sustainable energy generation and environmental protection. CESP's curriculum addresses both of these areas in a meaningful way. This sort of in-depth analysis from expert practitioners is exactly what I was looking for."

CESP co-director Richard Kauzlarich said the Energy and Climate Change emphasis area will be attractive to students from several of Mason’s colleges, including the Volgenau School of Engineering, the College of Science, the School of Business, School of Integrative Studies, and Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, as well as government and policy majors at the Schar School.

Topics

Schar School News August 2022

Climate Change

Energy

policy

Center for Energy Science and Policy

Incoming freshman is determined to be heard

Colleen Rich — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 15:38:25 +0000

Incoming freshman is determined to be heard Colleen Rich Tue, 08/23/2022 - 11:38

Meet the Class of 2026

Freshman Joshua Dias has long been a part of the Mason Nation
October 13, 2022
Mason was the university next door, now it’s this freshman’s home
September 15, 2022
Incoming Patriot leaps from high school to her sophomore year of college
August 31, 2022
Another chance to lead for Mason volleyball star
August 30, 2022
Incoming freshman is determined to be heard
August 23, 2022

Charly Dutton had a decision to make, and it would depend as much on her emotions as her determination.

The incoming freshman at ��AV and member of Mason’s Honors College was on campus competing to become a University Scholar, which would pay her tuition.

Charly Dutton. Photo provided

But the day before her session, Dutton got word that the dog she had for 10 years, a Maltese/Yorkie mix named Brenna, had died.

Eva Bramseco, associate director for undergraduate admissions at the Honors College, gave Dutton the option of going home and continuing the intensive competition virtually. But Dutton, who will major in government and international politics, was steadfast and earned her scholarship.

“In the moment, I was just numb,” Dutton said. “But I took it, like, she made it this far, because had she died before I left, I wouldn’t have been able to make it. So I did the competition with the feeling that I did it for her. She made sure I got down [to Mason].”

“Competing for a full scholarship and the death of a pet are big life events for any of us,” Bramesco said. “That she was able to carry all the emotions and still be a full participant during our group challenge certainly stood out to me.”

Dutton, from Sicklerville, New Jersey, about 25 miles southeast of Philadelphia, definitely stands out.

She was student body president at her high school. When the school’s principal was asked about students who might be interested in joining the NAACP East Camden County Youth, he immediately thought of her. And when Sicklerville had this summer’s Juneteenth celebration, Dutton, a part of the Black Lives Matter movement, was the host on stage.

She plans to one day be on an even bigger stage when she runs for office, maybe to be a senator from New Jersey.

“Since I want to run for office, I need to help the driving force of my generation,” Dutton said. “It seems like everyone wants to be involved. I just want to be part of that and inspire others to get involved as well.”

Dutton, who also wants to be a lawyer, got a taste of that involvement when she spoke in front of the New Jersey Apportionment Committee, which is in charge of drawing the lines of the state’s 40 legislative districts.

“When they gerrymander the map, they break up the communities and suppress the minority vote,” Dutton said. “I did not want that to happen to my community.”

“When I spoke, they really took time to listen,” she added. “They actually emailed me later and told me ‘great job and we’re really going to look into it.’ I really did feel heard.”

Dutton feels as enthusiastic about Mason, even though it wasn’t originally on her radar. During a trip to the area to visit colleges, she and her mother drove by a Mason sign on the highway.

“And when we toured, I just loved it,” Dutton said. “It felt so right.”

It helped when a current student with whom Dutton was on line at a campus coffeehouse talked Mason up as well.

“She just told me how much fun she was having and how many opportunities she had,” Dutton said. “She wasn’t my major, but she sounded like she was going far. I want to go far like her.”

Topics

Meet the Class of 2026

Honors College

University Scholars

Students

Schar School News August 2022

Schar School BA in Government and International Politics

Schar School Student Spotlight

Graduate Students Get a Hands-On International Security Experience in South Korea

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 14:28:12 +0000

Graduate Students Get a Hands-On International Security Experience in South Korea Andrew J Schappert Tue, 08/16/2022 - 10:28

In This Story

Ellen Laipson

The Schar School delegation poses at the War Museum of Korea during the late May visit.

Just two days after President Biden completed his diplomatic visit to South Korea in late May, 16 Schar School graduate students followed in his footsteps and embarked on the trip of a lifetime.

Schar School Professor Ellen Laipson, director of the Schar School’s Master’s in International Security degree program, led a cohort of ��AV students on the visit to the country. The team, made up of students from various Schar School programs—including International Security, Biodefense, Public Administration, and Public Policy—explored Busan, Incheon, Seoul, and the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).

This study abroad program was the first for graduate students. Originally intended to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the Korean War in 2020, the course finally launched when South Korea lifted its COVID-19 restrictions for foreign travelers.

The course, according to Laipson, was designed to expose Schar School students to the complexities of the Korean peninsula and the security challenges posed by North Korea, China's rise, and some uncertainties in recent years in the U.S.-Republic of Korea security alliance.

“President Biden's trip to Korea in late May, on the eve of the course, really focused attention on the alliance, and made the discussions with Korean experts even more pertinent,” Laipson said.

Beginning with a visit to the growing Mason campus in Songdo, academic activities included attending an international symposium at the Center for Security Policy Studies and a half-day crisis simulation involving President Harry S. Truman's decisive National Security Council meetings in 1950.

The students also had opportunities while in Seoul to visit the National Assembly, the Korean War Museum, and Yongsan Park.

“This was the first time I've ever left the country so getting to dive in and understand more of the culture, background, and issues in that part of the world was really special,” said international security student Meaghan Mackey. “All of the things we talk about and learn about are real issues and not just in a book. There are real people who are affected by these policies every day. I enjoyed getting that perspective.”

Near the end of the trip the students received a guided tour of the DMZ, which Riggs Ordonez, also an international security student, said was a highlight for him.

“It was such an eye-opening experience,” he said. “I actually thought it was really beautiful and it was hard to believe this place carried so much history—and tension.”

Topics

Schar School News August 2022

study abroad

South Korea

The Schar School Announces New Undergraduate Degree Program: International Security and Law

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 15 Aug 2022 19:32:06 +0000

The Schar School Announces New Undergraduate Degree Program: International Security and Law Andrew J Schappert Mon, 08/15/2022 - 15:32

In This Story

Mark J. Rozell

Heba F. El-Shazli

Heba El-Shazli: ‘Organizations need people who understand the myriad threats out there and potential solutions.’

A new, one-of-a-kind undergraduate degree program at the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV will prepare students to help organizations and agencies assess risk and propose policy solutions to international threats based on knowledge of law and diplomacy.

Students can apply now to begin their degree in International Security and Law in fall 2023. The bachelor of arts degree program joins the Schar School’s existing undergraduate programs, Public Administration and Government and International Politics.

The new program was created to respond to the increasingly complex relationships among traditional threats such as war and nuclear proliferation, and nontraditional, including cyberattacks and forced migration crisis. The courses within the new program will provide students with the skills to identify threats to international security, understand laws which enable and inhibit methods to address these threats, and to apply methodological tools to evaluate solutions.

“Leaders around the globe need policy analysts capable of navigating a range of challenges,” said ��AV Provost and Executive Vice President Mark R. Ginsberg in describing the program. “Security threats of all kinds take on new urgency and lethality in today’s digitally connected world. Security practitioners require access to a range of innovative tools and diverse policymaking frameworks to cope with these challenges.”

“In a complex world where nations’ actions can have serious consequences to human security, organizations need people who understand the myriad threats out there and potential solutions,” said associate professor Heba El-Shazli, director of undergraduate programs at the Schar School.

In this program, she said, “students will graduate with sharp critical thinking and analysis skills and be able to contribute to the risk and security departments of private industry as well as, for example, the United Nations; international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; various security-focused research think tanks; and government contractors. We have already had prospective students contact us about pursuing this path, and our faculty are just as excited to launch this program.”

“We are gratified that in approving the program the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia agreed the world needs educated and motivated practitioners who are prepared to address the most significant challenges facing modern times,” said Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School. “It’s telling that nearly half of prospective students we surveyed indicated they intend to continue their education at the graduate level. We believe this will be a very popular major.”

Topics

Schar School News August 2022

Undergraduate Degrees

International Security

law

Damali Lambert: Meet the Teacher (Who Is a Student) Who Started a Nonprofit

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 19:54:45 +0000

Damali Lambert: Meet the Teacher (Who Is a Student) Who Started a Nonprofit Andrew J Schappert Thu, 08/11/2022 - 15:54

Damali Lambert: ‘I want the organization to grow with me, hand in hand.’

Students come to the Schar School with ideas. Some want to research subjects that deeply interest them; others want to gain the knowledge they feel they need to create a business or lead a public institution. In Damali Lambert’s case, she couldn’t wait to graduate with her Master’s in Public Policy degree to make her mark.

“It’s very unusual for a student who is still taking a master’s program to start their own nonprofit,” said Steven Ruth, a professor of public policy at the Schar School. “It’s a wonderful program, with wonderful purpose, but I don’t know any students who have done this in all my years of teaching.”

Ruth has been teaching at ��AV since 1978.

Lambert took the initiative in 2020 to start Steps to Another Reality, or STAR for short. The public charity provides school children in Baltimore and surrounding Prince George’s County, Maryland, with academic support and resources, such as school supplies.

“When I started the nonprofit, I said as I grow in my master’s program—and hopefully my PhD program—that the organization can grow with me,” she said when asked why she started STAR when she did. “I want the organization to grow with me, hand in hand.”

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Lambert grew up in Georgetown, Guyana, where she began working with children in orphanages. After earning her bachelor’s degree at Binghamton University in New York, she graduated early and moved to Maryland “to get out of the cold and snow,” she said only half-joking.

She landed a teaching position at Green Street Academy in Baltimore where she is now an English Language Arts interventionist, someone who steps in to help students who are struggling,

The turmoil of the George Floyd murder and the subsequent rise of the Black Lives Matter movement inspired her to “be the change” in the form of creating opportunities for children in need of assistance, academic or otherwise. “It was like I couldn’t focus on anything else,” she said, “except trying to make things better for the community.”

That assistance works two ways: Teachers also benefit when students have fewer obstacles.

“I was doing more work than I needed to do because my students didn't have as much as they needed to be successful,” she said. “So how can I help teachers like me? I needed to find a way to support their students.”

The COVID-19 lockdown “was a blessing, really; instead of having to be in the classroom from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., I had way more time.”

And with that time, STAR was born.

Her studies at the Schar School, particularly in the Nonprofit Management program, have revealed to her issues that “I might not have gotten to know as much information about otherwise; it definitely gave me some clarity on how to be more culturally responsive as an organization leader.”

She appreciates the support she receives from her professors, particularly since her entire degree program has been conducted virtually, beginning during the pandemic and continuing until today.

“I was initially scared of the virtual setting,” the veteran school teacher said. “But having the professors that I do, and having them available to me has been really helpful.”

Topics

Master’s in Public Policy

Nonprofits

Schar School News August 2022

Incoming Schar Professor Earns Emerging Scholar Award from the American Political Science Association

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 18:05:16 +0000

Incoming Schar Professor Earns Emerging Scholar Award from the American Political Science Association Andrew J Schappert Tue, 08/09/2022 - 14:05

Ashley Jardina: ‘I’m interested in understanding what racism looks like and what its political consequences are.’

Growing up just south of Richmond, Virginia, "race just felt like an ever-present, salient issue in the area all the time," said Ashley Jardina.

Her interest in studying race and politics continued as she earned both an undergraduate and doctoral degree from the University of Michigan. She has spent the last six years at Duke University teaching as well as working on her own research.

Jardina is now an associate professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government, teaching a graduate-level course on race and politics as well as instructing an undergraduate honors thesis course.

She describes the Schar School as a perfect fit for her expertise. “There’s a diversity of scholarship happening,” she said. “There’s such a diversity of faculty at ��AV that brings so many different strengths to the school, and so many opportunities for students.”

As for her field of study, it could not be timelier, or more important.

“I study the nature of white racial attitudes in the U.S.,” she said. “I’m interested in understanding what racism looks like and what its political consequences are.”

Her successful and unprecedented research, which includes the award-winning 2019 book White Identity Politics (Cambridge University Press), has earned her a prestigious award from the American Political Science Association (APSA). Jardina was nominated by fellow political scientists and is one of two recipients of the 2022 Emerging Scholar Award. This award is given by the Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section of the APSA to top scholars within 10 years of earning their PhD.

Through both her teaching and her research, Jardina aims to answer several key questions about political behavior. “I’m interested in why people have the attitudes that they have, why they vote for whom they vote for, why they support the policies they support,” she said. “These questions are a really central part of understanding politics.”

Jardina said she looks forward to being close to Washington, D.C., in her new position at the Schar School and continuing her research in the political epicenter of the nation. She will also continue to be involved with the nonprofit organization Opportunity@Work, where she looks at racial disparities within the labor market to increase job opportunities for those who do not have college degrees.

Topics

Schar School News August 2022

TraCCC and Amazon team up for policy hackathon to stop counterfeiters

Colleen Rich — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 16:18:35 +0000

TraCCC and Amazon team up for policy hackathon to stop counterfeiters Colleen Rich Fri, 08/05/2022 - 12:18

In This Story

Louise I. Shelley

��AV’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) and Amazon have joined forces to help combat counterfeiting and its criminal supply chain networks.

The method? Co-hosting the 2022 Bring Down Counterfeiting Public Policy Hackathon, a first-of-its-kind event, administered by Blue Clarity, that will challenge teams from U.S. academic institutions, companies and other affiliations to develop innovative ideas to combat these global challenges.

Registration opened August 5 ahead of an August 27 virtual kickoff event. An in-person final judging will be on November 5, when teams will compete for more than $20,000 in prizes. Go to expeditionhacks.com/counterfeiting for details and to register.

“Our goal is to bring together U.S. policy makers, domain experts, and academic institutions to raise awareness of the threats and generate powerful new ideas to stop this criminal activity,” said TraCCC Director Louise Shelley, a University Professor in the Schar School. “We are excited to have Amazon as a partner in this initial event and we appreciate their leadership in fostering a culture of open cooperation and innovation. The results from this hackathon will also be used to inform our ongoing research on counterfeit and other criminal supply chain networks.”

As ideas are developed, teams will be able to engage real-time with a diverse group of mentors from across the public and private sectors, including Edward Huang, a member of TraCCC and an associate professor in Mason's College of Engineering and Computing.

“Mason is taking on these global challenges that we must confront as humanity,” Mason alum Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president of global innovation policy and communications, said in April at the groundbreaking for the Fuse building at Mason Square in Arlington.

“The fact is, Mason is not just a pipeline for tech talent,” Shelley said. “We have a unique perspective that Amazon sought out, which is to place tech in context to inform policy. This makes Mason different from other tech programs, and is what brought Amazon to us in the first place.”

The hackathon continues and expands Mason’s partnership with Amazon.

The Fuse building is part of a large-scale expansion at Mason Square. Scheduled to open in 2025, it will be a 345,000-square-foot facility that will serve as a technological hub in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, connecting students, faculty, industry, and government.

The campus, which is adjacent to Amazon’s new headquarters, is part of Mason’s commitment to expanding its programs in computer science, computer engineering, information technology and other closely related fields to rapidly increase the number of highly skilled graduates for Amazon and other regional employers.

Mason also just completed a collaboration with Amazon and the Maryland Chamber Foundation in a program that provided current and potential computer science teachers in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. with an opportunity to shadow Amazon experts and take a companion three-credit, graduate-level class at Mason. That program is now funded by Google.

“Mason’s partnership with Amazon to curate real-world experiential learning initiatives like the TraCCC hackathon positions Mason students as some of the best-trained, work-ready talent pipelines in the nation,” said Liza Wilson Durant, Mason’s associate provost for strategic initiatives and community engagement. “This event not only supports our students’ professional development, but will lead to impactful solutions to a challenging real-world threat.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that pirated and counterfeit products make up 2.5% (roughly $464 billion) a year in world trade. Counterfeiters deprive brand owners of the value of their intellectual property and compete unfairly with honest entrepreneurs. The supply chains of counterfeiters may also intersect with transnational networks in a wide range of illicit behavior, including illegal trade in narcotics, arms, people, and wildlife.

“Amazon is known for its customer obsession, and a critical part of that is earning and maintaining our customers’ trust,” said Mary Beth Westmoreland, vice president of brand protection at Amazon. “While we are proud of the progress we have made, we will not stop until we drive counterfeits to zero in our store, and we will continue to invest and innovate until we get there.”