Spirit Fall 2023

Where are They Now: Mason Basketball Edition

Lynn Tierney — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 17:31:58 +0000

Where are They Now: Mason Basketball Edition Lynn Tierney Wed, 11/15/2023 - 12:31

The saying “Once a Patriot, Always a Patriot” is especially true when it comes to Mason student-athletes.

Now that ��AV alum Tony Skinn, BA Communication ’06, is the men’s basketball team’s head coach, not only is there nostalgia for the Final Four squad, but we’ve also been seeing a lot of basketball alumni on campus.

In fact, three members of that 2006 Cinderella team now work on campus. Folarin Campbell, BA Communication ’08, was the first player to return to his alma mater when he joined the Patriot Club as its assistant director in January 2022. This spring Lamar Butler, BA Communication ’06, came on board as the men’s basketball program’s director of player development.

In late June, Coach Skinn and the men’s basketball program invited Mason basketball alumni back for a special practice at EagleBank Arena. Many familiar faces showed up, including George Evans, a three-time Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year who played for Mason from 1997 to 2001, and Jay Marsh, BA ’73, retired senior associate athletic director.

Photos from that day show the camaraderie and team spirit of these Patriots are still alive and well.

Numbers in parenthesis indicate years on the team.

The 2023–24 Mason men’s basketball team with the program’s alumni at the June 30 event. Photo by Art Pittman/Athletics.

Three-time CAA Player of the Year George Evans (1997-2001) shares a moment with Assistant Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Marvin Lewis and Assistant Director of the Patriot Club Folarin Campbell (2004–08). Photo by Art Pittman/Athletics.

From left, Shevon Thompson (2014–16), Myles Tate (2013–17), and AJ Wilson (2016–21). Photo by Art Pittman/Athletics.

From left, Jai Lewis (2002–06), Head Coach Tony Skinn (2002–06), Gabe Norwood (2003–07), Ahmad Dorsett (1996–2000), and Patriot Club Assistant Director Folarin Campbell (2004–08). Photo by Art Pittman/Athletics.

From left, Tremaine Price (1997–2001), Terrance Nixon (1998–2002), and George Evans (1997–2001). Photo by Art Pittman/Athletics.

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Patriot Profile: Arion Lillard-Green

Priyanka Champaneri — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 20:43:13 +0000

Patriot Profile: Arion Lillard-Green Priyanka Champaneri Tue, 11/07/2023 - 15:43

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Year: Doctoral Student
Major: Health Services Research
Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky

The thought of hospice care can stir up many emotions, including grief, fear, or dread. But what about peace, comfort, or courage? As a former hospice chaplain, Arion Lillard-Green, MHA Health Systems Management ’21, has probably seen–and felt—all of these. When she started her doctoral program at Mason, Lillard-Green brought experience from a unique combination of disciplines: journalism, theology, and health administration. Her goal of earning a doctorate in health services research comes from a desire to bring these disciplines together to ask important questions that impact health policy.

Asking Deeper Questions: Lillard-Green studied journalism as an undergraduate because she enjoyed investigating issues and bringing truths to light. She then completed a master’s degree in theology, which pushed her to think more deeply about issues based on theological and philosophical principles. During seminary, Lillard- Green worked as a private caregiver for aging adults alongside hospice clinicians. This inspired her to complete a hospice chaplain residency program, where she spent a year learning the art of spiritual counseling in the hospital setting.

Providing Comfort: Lillard-Green spent 17 years working as a hospice chaplain. This sparked her interest in the health care field. “Although a career in health care wasn’t my initial goal, it somehow found its way into my work,” she says. She gained insight into the issues people face at the end of life: their spiritual and emotional needs and the physical realities of hospice and palliative care.

Facing Difficult Realities: Working in rural West Virginia and in Northern Virginia, she observed disparities in access to and quality of care. She counseled patients who were financially secure and who lived paycheck to paycheck. “The most significant lesson I learned during my time as a clinician is the reality that socioeconomic status determines the way we live, and it determines how we die,” Lillard-Green says.

Support for Her Work: In fall 2023 Lillard-Green earned a spot in the second cohort of the Public Voices Fellowship at AcademyHealth. This fellowship, conducted in collaboration with The OpEd Project, is dedicated to amplifying underrepresented voices in public health, research, and social justice.

Rethinking the End-of-Life Journey: Lillard-Green hopes that her research will help capture the degree to which hospice and palliative care providers are meeting the needs of patients and families, along with barriers to access. “We need to find ways to collect better, meaningful data to gain a well-rounded understanding of social risk factors,” she says. “The end-of-life journey should not start at the end of life. Unfortunately, aging and dying well is a privilege that needs to be extended to all persons earlier in the health care continuum.”

Learn more about the College of Public Health

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Covering Inequity in the Tourism Industry

Rebecca Kobayashi — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 19:59:40 +0000

Covering Inequity in the Tourism Industry Rebecca Kobayashi Tue, 11/07/2023 - 14:59

In her new book, Inclusion in Tourism: Understanding Institutional Discrimination and Bias (Routledge, April 2023), Sue Slocum, an associate professor in Mason’s School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management, has gathered essays from experts to provide global examples of overcoming discrimination within tourism institutions around the world.

Sue Slocum. Photo by Creative Services

What inspired you to do this book?

Tourism is often assumed to be an inclusive activity where anyone with money or interest can participate. In reality, the travel and tourism industry is rife with structural barriers that prevent or discourage participation for people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ people. Moreover, the industry has historically privileged white males in senior management positions. For example, there are more than 650 destination marketing organizations in the United States, which promote a locale for recreational travel and/or business travel, and only 10 of those are managed by a person of color or a woman. In order to address these disparities, I felt a book of this nature could draw attention to these inequalities as a first step to remedying them.

How did you decide what topics to cover?

Edited books often rely on authors to submit their ideas for a book chapter. It is often dependent on what research is being conducted at the time you begin a project. As the chapters were submitted, I did reach out to well-known scholars to help fill the gaps. I also cowrote a chapter to ensure the topics in the book cover a variety of populations, as well as different types of structural discrimination.

Was there anything that surprised you in the research for this book?

I was surprised by chapters that discussed immigration policies that limit opportunities for marginalized groups. For example, there is a chapter on immigration policies in Canada, where academic or experience qualifications from certain countries (mostly developing countries where migrants are non-white) are not recognized, resulting in highly qualified people working in low-paying hospitality jobs, even if they have managed properties in their home country.

What are you working on now?

I am engaged with Airbnb hosts to assess stakeholder perceptions of Airbnb diversity policies. Many of these policies are a result of lawsuits filed against Airbnb. The challenge is that Airbnb hosts are not actually employees of the company, but private business entities, so that brings in elements of personal property rights versus diversity and inclusion.

Learn more about the School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management

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Covering Inequity in the Tourism Industry
November 7, 2023
Tina Jones is March Employee of the Month
March 1, 2022
Tourism industry will rebound once the pandemic is under control, Mason professor says
May 3, 2021
Tourism class organizes virtual conference on the impact of technology on hospitality
June 9, 2020

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Mason-Led System Supports Crops and Environment

Rebecca Kobayashi — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 19:14:15 +0000

Mason-Led System Supports Crops and Environment Rebecca Kobayashi Tue, 11/07/2023 - 14:14

With support from the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator, a Mason team is designing a CropSmart Digital Twin—a public-facing decision support system that provides the crop farming industry with real-time data and optimal decision advice. The team’s goal is to help increase U.S. agricultural production by 40 percent while also cutting the country’s environmental footprint in half by 2050.

The CropSmart Digital Twin will measure data from machinery like this center-pivot irrigation system. Photo courtesy of Liping Di

Liping Di, director of Mason’s Center for Spatial Information Science and Systems, leads the multidisciplinary research team building scientific data modeling tools to take the guesswork out of crop management decisions. Di will work with researchers from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Kansas State University, Purdue University, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and Mississippi State University, as well as end users from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and farms in the Midwest.

Learn more about the CropSmart Digital Twin

Business student’s summer internship is an opportunity to practice sustainability
July 31, 2024
George Mason earns solid gold in sustainability
June 7, 2024
Sustainability MBA elective matches student teams with partner companies
May 20, 2024
Meet the Mason Nation: Kevin Brim
April 26, 2024
Office Supply Swap is a staple of sustainability at Mason
April 19, 2024

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Q&A with Vanessa Blair-Lewis

Corey Schaut — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 17:40:17 +0000

Q&A with Vanessa Blair-Lewis Corey Schaut Tue, 11/07/2023 - 12:40

How have you been able to make such dramatic progress in a short time?

Usually when you get hired, you have to wait for four classes to leave before you start bringing in all “your people.” We didn’t start with that mindset. [The existing team was] my people when I got the job. What the girls felt and what I leaned into is that you’re welcome here. And that was just our motto: With who you are right now, you’re welcome. So whatever we all have here, it’s enough for us to bring it together and try to do something great. We were believing big for moments that we knew were going to happen.

Photo by Ron Aira

One of your primary strengths as a coach is relationship building. How do you create and maintain a consistent culture when players come and go every year, including transfers from other college programs?

The summer is our time. It’s our “intimate moment,” as we call it. That’s when we get a chance to find out who these student-athletes are as people and then that trajectory takes us into the season. We have Fun Fridays [where] we pick out something that’s not basketball or weightlifting, like rope climbing or hot yoga. We talk about controversial issues, political issues so we can get things on the table and know more about who our sisters are, what they struggle with. It may not be what you struggle with. But how can we lean into each other? We want to build their bodies, minds, and spirits.

You have international players and players from across the country, as well as players who grew up locally. How much of a recruiting advantage is Mason’s location?

We live in a corridor right now where our students graduate and get six-figure salaries. And the whole time you’re being prepared. We want to make sure they’re not just women who play basketball, but women who can do anything they want to do in the world. There are internships. There are alumni who want to hire athletes because they know what comes with that—a hard-working, stay-up-late, and get-there-early kind of mentality.

You recently signed a contract extension through the 2027–28 season. What does that say about your commitment to Mason and Mason’s commitment to you?

I really think [university leadership] saw the vision and what we were producing, not just on the court but [with] our young women holistically. It made me feel really great because I didn’t want to be anywhere else. This is home for me. When you’re in a relationship and the other person feels the same way about you that you feel about them, it’s definitely a happy place to be.

Six different schools have won the past six Atlantic 10 women’s basketball tournament titles. Mason could make it seven….

It’s wide open. We told our girls, “The journey is 20-plus wins, and the tourney.” That’s our nifty little slogan. That’s what we want to go get this year. The hunger is there.

Learn more about Vanessa Blair-Lewis's start at Mason

See the Women's Basketball Team in Action

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Q&A with Tony Skinn

Corey Schaut — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 17:38:18 +0000

Q&A with Tony Skinn Corey Schaut Tue, 11/07/2023 - 12:38

How does it feel to be back on the campus where it all began for you and where you became a key part of school lore with that improbable 2006 Final Four run?

It’s still surreal. I don’t think a moment is going to come when I settle down from my thoughts and my initial happiness from just being here. It’s definitely become a little bit easier just with managing a team and putting a team together. When I got the job, I had nine scholarships [to fill]. I only had four returners, so there was a lot—a lot of work to do. So as excited as I was, right after that press conference [in April], there was a lot of anxiety. It’s a little nerve-racking just trying to get your staff together, then find your players, and [I was] trying to do a little bit of both. Now it’s about getting after it and getting acclimated to our guys.

Tony Skinn. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

What are the biggest obstacles in cherishing the past while looking to move forward, and how do you overcome them?

I told myself when I left Mason that—as a good of a feeling as that run was—I wanted to make sure that I was always evolving. As a pro, I had that same mindset.

Even when I finished playing and got into coaching, I didn’t allow the Final Four to define me—I always wanted to reinvent myself. So, when I hear the Final Four—as happy as I am to have been a part of it—the one thing I haven’t done through my career is use that as a crutch. And I think that’s helped put me in this position because I wouldn’t be here as a basketball coach just because of the Final Four. I put myself in the position where I learned from a lot of great coaches along the way. [The Final Four] is definitely a part of who I am, but at the same time, the sky’s the limit to where I want to take this program.

With the promise of immediate gratification so readily available in the form of the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals, how do you convince student-athletes to be patient and that their time will come if they’re willing to put in the work?

I think that’s all part of the recruitment process. You have to navigate who you think fits the culture. At the end of the day, you have a roster to fill and a team to manage. Some guys’ expectations are different than others, and it’s a battle of how to keep everybody happy. It’s not easy, and it’s definitely become more difficult with [the advent of the transfer portal and NIL deals]. But I think having a really good coaching staff that understands that it’s not just about bringing in any kid, but bringing in the right kid. [That] makes a difference.

See the Men's Basketball Team in Action

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Q&A with Marvin Lewis

Corey Schaut — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 17:34:20 +0000

Q&A with Marvin Lewis Corey Schaut Tue, 11/07/2023 - 12:34

President Gregory Washington has said he believes you are the right person to take Mason Athletics to the next level. What does that look like to you?

It’s three things. One, it’s transformational experiences for all of our student-athletes. It’s developing a championship culture throughout our department, and it’s telling our story and getting our message out there. We’re a young university, a little over 50 years old. There are a lot of great things happening here, and we’ve got to get the word out, not just locally but nationally and internationally.

Photo by Ron Aira

Mason Athletics had a lot of success in the spring 2023 semester, with Atlantic 10 championships in women’s track and field, softball, and baseball. How does an athletic director help continue and expand that success?

My job is to make sure our student-athletes have the resources to not only compete at a high level but to make sure they graduate. It takes fundraising and being creative with resource generation, as well as optimizing how we use our resources. My goal is to make sure the resources we provide allow us to sustain success, so all programs feel really confident with the direction they are headed.

What mentor in your career taught you the most?

I start with my father, a high school history teacher and a basketball coach. He’s my first true mentor. But I’ve been truly blessed to have had a number of athletic directors that have really impacted my leadership, specifically [former University of Maryland athletic director (AD)] Kevin Anderson, [former Georgia State University AD] Cheryl Levick, and [North Carolina State University deputy AD] Todd Stansbury.

Is there a common thread that runs through all of their advice that has become a core value for you?

I would say teamwork. I’ve told multiple individuals that I don’t have all the answers. It’s going to take a team effort. All of those leaders relied on their senior leadership teams, campus university leadership, donors, and, more importantly, students to understand how to better [the student] experience.

What is the most important thing you take from being a player that you can apply to your job now?

I remember what it’s like to play in an Atlantic Coast Conference championship while having a final and needing to study in the hotel. Because of that, I truly respect what [student-athletes] do and appreciate how challenging it is. Having that experience gives me compassion, empathy, but also an intensity to make sure they have the resources to be successful.

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A Winning Combination

Corey Schaut — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 17:22:24 +0000

A Winning Combination Corey Schaut Tue, 11/07/2023 - 12:22

Photo by Ron Aira

With dynamic new leadership and some Final Four nostalgia, Mason Nation looks forward to another basketball season.

Something caught Marvin Lewis's eye during a visit to ��AV’s Fairfax Campus.

With plenty to learn and do, Mason’s new assistant vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics was on campus well before his official start date of July 1. One of his errands included a stop by Human Resources.

One of the items Lewis saw while in Merten Hall was a photo from the Mason men’s basketball 2006 NCAA Final Four appearance. Another was a poster with a simple message: “Wear your Mason gear—We're all in.”

It was just one of many reminders Lewis has encountered on campus that reassures him he’s found the right place.

"It’s those types of things, starting with the president to the overall support from the university, that gets me excited," Lewis says.

Read our full Q&A with Marvin Lewis.

There is a lot for the Patriots to be excited about as Lewis begins his tenure as the school's sixth athletic director. He grew up across the Potomac River in Germantown, Maryland, and knows the area well. He possesses a high-profile athletic background, which includes starting for four years with Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball team and capping his career with a Final Four appearance with the university’s Yellow Jackets.

Lewis knows both the advantages and challenges of working at schools in a major metropolitan area, since he has made stops at Georgia State University, University of Maryland, and Georgia Tech over the past 15 years.

He had major responsibilities for the last two years at Brown University, where he served as the school's assistant vice president and chief operating officer for athletics and recreation. He’s also earned a reputation as an exceptional communicator who has firm command of the demands of college sports during a tumultuous era.

As Lewis was preparing to join Mason, three of Mason’s 22 NCAA Division I sports teams brought home Atlantic 10 Conference trophies: baseball, softball, and women’s track and field.

"Of course, you want to win championships, retain really good coaches and staff, and continue to build on our momentum," Lewis says.

And there is a lot of momentum around basketball.

Read our full Q&A with Vanessa Blair-Lewis.

Women’s basketball head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis’s contract has been extended through the 2027–28 season. The extension comes after the Patriots’ rapid improvement under Blair-Lewis’s leadership during her first two seasons at Mason.

Two years ago, Blair-Lewis inherited a team that had finished 3-19 overall and 0-14 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. But today, the Patriots are on the rise. They finished 16-15 last season, with eight conference victories, and they won a conference tournament game in both years of Blair-Lewis’s tenure.

“In a short period of time, we have built an amazing family environment and a strong culture in which everyone is loved, valued, and respected,” says Blair-Lewis. “I am proud to serve this great university and will continue to make Mason Nation proud. In all we do, excellence is our standard.”

Read our full Q&A with Tony Skinn.

The selection of Mason alum Tony Skinn, BA Communication ’06, as the 12th head coach in the Mason men’s basketball program has generated excitement with alumni. A key starter on Mason’s 2006 Final Four team and one of the best all-around guards in program history, Skinn returns to Mason after nearly a decade of collegiate coaching.

During that decorated coaching career, Skinn has guided three different programs, including University of Maryland, to the NCAA Tournament; been a part of six 20+ win campaigns; and established himself as a stout recruiter both within the talent-rich Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and across the country.

“It is with great excitement that I return home to Mason,” Skinn says. “I’ve had some of my greatest memories here and I’m looking forward to making new ones with our fans and our community. Our best days are ahead!”

Patrick Stevens contributed to this article.

Facts about Mason Athletics

NCAA Division I Teams: 22

Athletic Conference: Atlantic 10 Conference

Men's Sports: Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Volleyball, Wrestling

Women's Sports: Basketball, Cross Country, Lacrosse, Rowing, Soccer, Softball, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Volleyball

1 of 4 Nationally: In spring 2021, Mason was named one of only 10 Division I athletic departments to post a perfect score of 100 on Athlete Ally's Athletic Equality Index (AEI). Mason also holds a perfect score of five on the Campus Pride Index (CPI). That makes Mason one of just four Division I schools in the nation to boast a perfect 100 on the AEI and a five on the CPI.

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Eating with an Entrepreneur

Lynn Tierney — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 19:29:00 +0000

Eating with an Entrepreneur Lynn Tierney Mon, 10/23/2023 - 15:29

In the endless sea of social media, perhaps you’ve stumbled upon the videos of @DCSpot and been introduced to a new hangout in the Washington, D.C., area.

Clocking in at under a minute, the videos feature first-person walk-through perspectives of a venue, making the viewer feel like they’re already there, taking in the vibe, about to dive into that dish or drink in front of them. Only at the end do you sometimes see the person behind @DCSpot’s more than 200,000 Instagram followers: Mason alum Alex Hussein, BS Information Systems and Operations Management ’21, who was featured in a February 2023 Washingtonian article about food influencers.

Mason alum Alex Hussein, owner/creater of DC Spot. Photo by Ron Aira/Creative Services

“My page isn’t about me,” he says of his content. “It’s about D.C. and the DMV. It’s like a community page.”

Community plays a large role in his career trajectory—particularly the community at Mason. His siblings and four of his friends—all Mason alumni—and his parents influenced his decision to transfer to Mason from Northern Virginia Community College. And when a fellow student suggested he make a video for a Mason sorority, Hussein found his passion and realized he could parlay his skill into a business.

“I wouldn’t have gotten the start I did if I didn’t go to Mason and make the connections I did,” he says. “I was able to network with people—that’s how the opportunity came.”

He took a two-year break from school to focus on his business, often cold-calling or emailing potential clients and offering his services for free. That initiative paid off, and his community circle began to include more individuals paying for his work. But Mason always lingered in the back of his mind, and in spring 2020 he decided to return, switch majors, and finish his degree. “My parents being immigrants, they wanted me to get the degree,” he says. “It felt good just to be able to say, ‘You know, I finished.’”

All the while, he continued growing @DCSpot into what it is today—a content creation company five employees strong. While many social media accounts focus solely on the trendiest new restaurants, Hussein has taken a distinct departure by highlighting family-owned institutions. With his large audience, such videos can have a real positive impact on a business owner’s future prospects. “I like storytelling [about] local small businesses who could use the support…it’s not just me making the impact, but all the people who go out there and support it too.”

Giving back is a major driver for Hussein. His most-watched videos show him walking around various city hot spots and randomly handing out gift cards and positive notes to people he encounters. “It makes for a fun video. I feel good giving back, too,” he says. “I just like to have a good connection with people.”

It’s a different approach, but it’s one that speaks to Hussein’s motivations. “I’m here to grow,” he says. “Doing your passion—you can make more of an impact that way in the world, too.”

As for other Patriots wondering how they can forge their own entrepreneurial paths just like Hussein, he has some advice. “Figure out what you’re passionate about and how you can provide value to people,” he says. “The number one step is to just start.”

This story appears in the Fall 2023 Mason Spirit magazine.

Hussein comes from a Mason family, and with @DCSpot he’s continuing to pay it forward to Patriots. His sister Manal Hussein, BS Administration of Justice ’08, is an alum, and brother Nader Hussein, BS Biology ’11, is an alum and has taught as an adjunct faculty member in the Honors College. And two more Mason alumni are on @DCSpot’s payroll—Emmy Hamed, BA Environmental and Sustainability Studies ’18, MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’20, and Emily Compton, BA Sociology ’20.

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Mason as a Living Lab

Lynn Tierney — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 16:53:59 +0000

Mason as a Living Lab Lynn Tierney Mon, 10/23/2023 - 12:53

In many ways, ��AV is a small town with a population of about 48,000. That’s a little bit bigger than Charlottesville, Virginia, which clocks in at 45,000.

Of course, this population isn’t all in one place.

The cherry grove by Mason Pond on the Fairfax Campus is part of the Living Lab. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

In Virginia, Mason has campuses in Fairfax County, Arlington County, and Prince William County, and sites in Loudoun County and on Belmont Bay in Woodbridge. There’s a contingent of students and researchers in Front Royal. On the other side of the globe, Mason Korea is about to celebrate its 10th year in Songdo, South Korea.

Our award-winning faculty is dedicated to tackling the grand challenges of our time, which include issues surrounding sustainability. That dedication can be seen anywhere you set foot on a Mason campus, with our nearly 1,000 acres of land, waterways, forests, and buildings being used as a dynamic Living Lab for hands-on applied environmental research.

From the canopies of the trees in our accredited Level II Arboretum to the stormwater running into Mason Pond, from our Green Leaf courses to serving as home to the commonwealth’s Virginia Climate Center, our experts are conducting research locally that can and will have an impact globally.

In 2011, Mason began reporting its sustainability progress to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and earned a Silver rating. By 2014, we were the first university in Virginia to achieve a Gold STARS rating.

In 2012, Mason committed to supporting the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals also drive much of the work coming out of the university’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE).
And still, Mason aspires to do more.

Putting Research into Practice

Part of what’s driving the Living Lab research, according to Andre Marshall, Mason’s vice president of research, innovation, and economic impact, is the desire to integrate Mason’s research and academic strengths in sustainability with campus operations to mitigate Mason’s impact on the environment and be good stewards of the resources we have.

He sees the value of the campuses serving as a test bed and “demonstration avenue” to test the effectiveness of these solutions so that “they can become realized beyond just the ideation stage.” In fact, as Virginia’s largest public research university, such experimentation is a responsibility.

For Leah Nichols, executive director of ISE, the Campus as a Living Lab concept “puts Mason research into practice here at home and helps launch solutions that can have global impact.”
As a Living Lab, Mason aims to stimulate and support the development of new research and scholarship that use the campuses and their physical and socio-ecological structures for experimentation and education to develop and advance sustainability solutions.

The success of a Living Lab is not just in the testing but also in the approach and collaboration. There are many campus partners involved in this work, from Mason Facilities, the 10 schools and colleges, and 600 faculty members, to the University Libraries and a university- wide Sustainability Council.

Frank Strike, vice president of Mason Facilities and Campus Operations, says the vision to see our campuses as a Living Lab sprouted years ago, when teams recognized Mason had the internal expertise to find solutions to the university’s challenges right here, and that could additionally have an impact on the student experience.

“This benefits students who get another opportunity for a hands-on approach to their learning experiences by approaching the work across disciplines, which is a priority for Mason, and by sharing teaching models across programs and operations,” says Strike.

The streams around the Fairfax Campus are a critical part of the university's stormwater management system. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

Water, Water Everywhere

Mason Pond is a popular place to hang out and the backdrop of countless graduation photos, but not many people realize that it is a critical part of Mason’s stormwater management.

“The stormwater channels that look like streams are the actual stormwater system,” says Mason researcher Jennifer Sklarew, PhD Public Policy ’15, a professor in Mason’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy. “The pipes outflow into those streams, and then everything goes into the pond.”

Sklarew is currently working with students on a hydro-power project, supported by the Patriot Green Fund, that will attempt to use that stormwater as a source of cleaner electricity by installing microturbines with battery storage at two sites on the Fairfax Campus.

The university just completed a stream restoration project that not only improved the flow of the waterways but also added asphalt sidewalks and some lighting so the campus community can enjoy the paths.

Project manager Deniz Callahan of Facilities says Mason faculty members were involved in planning early on and provided some advice and expertise. This included a list of native plants that could improve the health of the riparian buffer without introducing invasive species. There are also plans for a “foragers’ forest” to be established along the path.

But that is just the beginning when it comes to how Mason handles water resources on our campuses by using research and technologies that can be applied to the broader community.

At Mason Square, Mason Innovation Partners encountered a serious infrastructure issue that posed a frequent stormwater challenge for the area surrounding the new Fuse building. The existing county culvert was undersized and couldn’t handle the amount of stormwater that regularly comes through Arlington.

Replacing the culvert required precise coordination with the future building’s foundation design and intricate sequencing to control the constant flow of stormwater as it was diverted from the old culvert pipes to a new 12’ by 6’ box culvert.

Facilities also has an extensive list of mitigation protocols it applies, including illicit discharge detection and elimination and runoff control for the construction site and storms.

Pondering the Pond

Earlier this year, Mason graduate student Jamie Roth worked with the Patriot Green Fund and Facilities to purchase and install a weather monitoring station and trail cameras by Mason Pond.

Working with students in two statistics classes, Roth and others have been gathering data about the Yoshino cherry trees and the environmental conditions by the pond. Mason statistics students have collected and analyzed data on the bloom date of the cherry trees as a part of their coursework in STAT 490 Capstone in Statistics and STAT 634 Case Studies in Data Analysis and have integrated it with Mason’s local meteorological data. As a result of their work, the variations can be tracked over time to build a more accurate model for the bloom date of the cherry trees at Mason.

This research builds on the international Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition, which Department of Statistics professors Jonathan Auerbach and David Kepplinger help organize annually. This competition assembles data on the peak bloom date of cherry trees all around the world from Kyoto, Japan, to Vancouver, British Columbia.

“We hope to use the long-term data on Mason’s cherry trees to raise awareness and bring the concept of climate change closer to home,” says Roth.

Smart hives are just on of the ways Mason's honey bees play a role in the Living Lab. Photo by Sierra Guard/Office of University Branding

Buzzing with Activity

Since the Honey Bee Initiative was launched in 2013, the project has led to a large number of innovative teaching and research projects and public–private partnerships.

A multidisciplinary team of Mason researchers has been working on a project at the Science and Technology Campus to see if the honey produced by bees can help locate missing persons. Perennials featuring some of the honey bees’ favorite flowers have been planted at the Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory in support of ongoing research to determine if chemical traces of human remains can be identified in the plants or in the honey produced by the pollinators.

Engineering students are also working to make the campus apiaries into smart hives. A team of electrical and computer engineering students, mentored by Mason engineering professor Nathalia Peixoto, used the smart hive implementation as their senior cap-stone project.
Over the course of an academic year, the team designed and installed an internet-of-things-enabled sensor array, which is powered by solar panels, to monitor carbon dioxide and temperature in real time to track and predict the health of hives located by Pres-dents Park on the Fairfax Campus.

Getting Smart About It

Green Assessment and Decision Guidance Tool (GADGET) is probably the least visible Living Lab project, but it’s among the most comprehensive and complex. College of Engineering and Computing professor Alex Brodsky and his team are working to develop a tool that will help Mason reduce our carbon footprint and achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 in the most cost-effective way.

Brodsky and his team are gathering data on things like heating and cooling efficiency, energy costs and storage, and contractual agreements to create an algorithm and a computer model that university leadership will be able to use to project costs and savings and make sound decisions regarding Mason’s space and energy needs.

Having smart buildings like Mason’s Horizon Hall is also affecting the way Mason teaches data science. With funding from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy, engineering associate professor David Lattanzi is working with a team to improve the educational experience for students by integrating data science into Mason’s engineering curriculum and providing hands-on experiences with Mason’s own smart buildings.

Supporting Researchers

Mason’s Living Labs have a dedicated webpage and other resources, thanks in part to the work done by Judit Ungvári, ISE’s research and innovation officer, and Sarah D’Alexander, MBA ’23, sustainability program manager for University Sustainability.

Ungvári and D’Alexander can help researchers obtain the necessary approvals and permissions to do their research on one of Mason’s campuses. Other resources available to the campus community to assist with research include funding, such as the Patriot Green Fund and ISE’s seed funding for Living Lab research projects, and infrastructure, like the Living Lab DataVerse, an accessible online archive of campus datasets provided by researchers that was created in partnership with University Libraries.

“Whenever I talk about sustainability work at Mason, I always emphasize that we really rely on collaborations, partnerships, and support from the entire Mason community in order to do this work,” says D’Alexander. “And I’m so excited to be able to say that Living Labs have had so much support.”

What’s Next

Coming online this fall is the Smart Grid Lab at Mason Square, which will enable students and researchers to conduct various hands-on experiments, work with hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulations, and analyze simulation data related to the campus’s power and energy systems.

“We can start observing the campus energy flow and collect data,” says Mason engineering professor Liling Huang, who directs the lab. “That can support our future research in data analytics, machine learning, digital twins, computing, or cybersecurity of the smart grid and smart cities.”

A student-led project to convert the Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse to solar energy is also coming to fruition this fall with the installation of solar panels. Funded by the Patriot Green Fund and Facilities, the ground-mounted solar installation, a first at the Fairfax Campus, will provide a utility cost savings to power the greenhouse in the long term and decrease the university’s carbon footprint.

Shayla Brown, Sarah D’Alexander, and John Hollis contributed to this story.

This feature is from the Fall 2023 Mason Spirit magazine.

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