scholarship

Mason ECE graduate student gets SMART

Rena Malai — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 17:00:59 +0000

Mason ECE graduate student gets SMART Rena Malai Tue, 07/05/2022 - 13:00

Getting a Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) scholarship isn’t easy, but it’s a gainful step toward building a career of growth, enrichment, and opportunities within the U.S. government.

Sabrina Stenberg sees the SMART scholarship as a way to maximize her graduate studies at George Mason while remaining employed as a chemical engineer with the Department of Defense (DoD). Through the scholarship, Stenberg can focus on her master of science in electrical engineering at Mason full-time.

Stenberg says the scholarship is funded by DoD with the aim of attracting and retaining people into STEM careers at the government level.

“I am really happy to win this scholarship,” says Stenberg. “This way I can finish in three more semesters and make the most of the experience, connecting with other students and my professors.”

Stenberg, a Northern Virginia native, says the scholarship is not a one stop source of money. Rather, it requires commitment and accountability so anyone thinking of applying should be prepared.

“People should be mindful that this scholarship does have conditions,” says Stenberg. “You will be expected to commit to your program of study, keep up your grades, and agree to fulfill the one-to-one scholarship for service time commitment with DoD for every year of funded study. Any withdrawals can result in penalties, like paying back your tuition.”

She feels the conditions are worth it, as it will open up the doors to plenty of great job opportunities.

“In my current job, I became more interested in electronics and I decided to combine that interest by studying control and robotics,” says Stenberg. “It’s a valuable area to learn about as there are a lot of autonomous systems within the military.”

Although Stenberg was already employed by DoD, anyone interested in SMART does not have to be employed before applying. Potential applicants do need to be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, have a high GPA, and be able to accept employment with DoD after graduating.

The SMART program, part of the DoD science, technology, engineering, and mathematics portfolio provides STEM students with the tools needed to pursue higher education and begin a rewarding career with the DoD. Scholarship winners can receive full tuition as well as a stipend and full-time employment after graduation.

Topics

STEM

scholarship

diversity

Electrical Engineering

robotics and autonomous systems

Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center

2021 Katona Scholarship recognizes stand out bioengineering students

Rena Malai — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 19:49:29 +0000

2021 Katona Scholarship recognizes stand out bioengineering students Rena Malai Mon, 11/15/2021 - 14:49

From left, Dr. Peter Katona, Inas Zabin, and Michael
Buschmann, Mason bioengineering
department chair and professor

Recognizing and motivating bioengineering students to help the community in the field of bioengineering is a big part of what the Katona Scholarship for Excellence in Bioengineering is about, according to Claudia Borke, advisor for the bioengineering department at Mason.

“This is a scholarship that recognizes not only bioengineering excellence, but looks at the student holistically,” says Borke.

Named for Dr. Peter Katona, founder of the bioengineering program at Mason, the scholarship awarded $1,000 to 2021 winner Inas Zabin, a Mason senior whose education combines bioengineering with a concentration in pre-health.

“Winning the scholarship gave me the little bit of extra push that I needed, and I’m very grateful,” says Zabin. “There are so many qualified people in the bioengineering department. But if you’re thinking of applying for the scholarship, just go for it.”

According to Katona, the students selected for the scholarship show exceptional promise to engage in a successful bioengineering career, which in turn helps society.

“We certainly look at GPA, and it’s a part of the criteria for the scholarship, but it’s not all we see,” says Katona. “We also look at a student’s leadership skills and how they have tried to enhance their skills outside of the classroom.”

Showing an initiative to help other students is also an example of leadership that is a welcome asset for a potential scholarship winner, says Katona.

“We have had some excellent applicants, and we are delighted that we can do this for our bioengineering students showing exceptional promise,” he says.

The Katona Scholarship for Excellence in Bioengineering began in 2015, and is awarded to bioengineering seniors at Mason who show excellence across their academic performance, leadership initiatives, and career aspirations that aim to support society at large.

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Geo. Mason Wines raises a glass to student scholarships

Mariam Aburdeineh — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 20:58:45 +0000

Geo. Mason Wines raises a glass to student scholarships Mariam Aburdeineh Fri, 01/29/2021 - 15:58

Step into a local Total Wine or Whole Foods store and you may be surprised to find George Mason among the wine bottles on the shelves. Sporting a colonial hat with a modern pair of shades, he’s the face of ��AV’s private wine label.

Geo. Mason Wines is more than a classy addition to dinner. It’s also been generating scholarship funding for Mason students since 2018.

Here are 10 facts about its history:

1. It started with an alum…

Terri Cofer Beirne, BA Government and Politics ’88, knows a lot about wine. The chair of the ��AV Foundation Board of Trustees is a lawyer for the California wine industry and serves as Eastern Counsel for Wine Institute. When Foundation members were looking for additional revenue streams for student scholarships, she was inspired to create a Mason-branded beverage. So, she pulled together a group of volunteers from the Board of Trustees, the Board of Visitors, faculty and staff to get started.

Manu Gaiarin. Photo provided.

2. …with a little help from a former Mason soccer coach.

Manu Gaiarin, owner of Siema Wines and a former assistant coach for Mason’s men’s soccer team, partnered with the university as the supplier.

“I was happy to get involved due to my legacy to Mason,” said Gaiarin, who said he coached at Mason for six years in the 1990s and has a son who currently attends Mason. “We carefully selected the wine to be an exceptional good value for the price point, and we’re very proud that we had Mason students help us develop the final package.”

3. It’s student-centered.

“The best part of the whole process is that $3.50 from the sale of every bottle goes to student scholarships,” Beirne said.

Since 2018, Geo. Mason Wines has sold about 700 cases of wine and contributed approximately $29,000 to student scholarships.

And scholarships aren’t the only ways students have benefited.

4. It inspired some healthy competition.

After the name Geo. Mason was selected, a competition was held among teams of Mason art students to design the label, Beirne said.

“That was really fun to see how creative and clever these students were with their ideas,” she said, adding that some designs were contemporary and funky, while others were graceful and natural. “We settled on one hand drawn by a student with George in sunglasses, just to make him contemporary and reveal him as something different than expected.”

A second student group competed with their peers to help with the marketing plan. In addition to gaining experiential learning through the project, students from the design and marketing groups whose work was selected each received a $250 cash prize, Beirne said.

Mason students in Advertising Design worked on a branding campaign for Geo. Mason Wines. Photo by Alexa Rogers

5. What’s in a name?

Papers in colonial times often abbreviated names to save on ink, and “Geo.” hearkens back to this tradition. It also served as a way to avoid legal challenges that could have arisen with intellectual property protections of “George Mason” or “GMU,” Beirne said.

A bottle of Geo. Mason Chardonnay at the 50th Anniversary GMU Alumni Gala at Eagle Bank Arena in 2018. Photo Credit: John Boal Photography

6. Vino for all.

Unlike other universities with branded beverages priced upwards of $50, the Mason team wanted their brand to be high quality, but accessible. Mason’s two wines come in at about $20 a bottle.

7. From coast to coast.

The wine is sourced from California, despite a bubbling Virginia wine industry. Because Virginia wineries sell most of their wines in their tasting rooms, the team decided to go out-of-state to find a winery with the volume and experience of making private label brands, Beirne said.

8. It was years in the making.

“It took a good three years from throwing ideas around to actually getting wine in a bottle,” Beirne said. “It was a labor of love from a lot of people.”

The team agrees that the results were worth it, and they’re proud that the project is a way to give back.

9. What’s next for Geo. Mason?

“In the near future, we’re trying to increase the number of wines under the Geo. Mason brand,” Gaiarin said, adding that they currently have a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.

10. Where and why to find George.

“It’s by students, to help students.” Beirne said. “If you’re enjoying wine anyway, you might as well do something that supports Mason students.”

Visit Siema Wines's website for a list of retailers, or to have the wine direct-shipped to your home.

Mason grad student applies lessons learned from the Marine Corps to his studies

John Hollis — Fri, 08 Nov 2019 10:00:00 +0000

Mason grad student applies lessons learned from the Marine Corps to his studies John Hollis Fri, 11/08/2019 - 05:00

Rediet Woldeselassie served 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and did two combat tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. (photo provided)

School can be stressful, but ��AV alumnus Rediet Woldeselassie has the benefit of perspective after 12 years in the U.S. Marine Corps that included three combat tours and a stint in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Now a second-year master’s student studying health informatics with a concentration in health data analytics, Woldeselassie, 35, takes the unexpected ups and downs in stride.

“I learned not to stress,” he said. “School is stressful, a whole different kind of stress. But I also learned that it isn’t a permanent stress because there’s always ways around it. Learning that helps you to grow.”

It’s the kind of maturity you might expect from a seasoned Marine who completed two tours in Iraq and another in Afghanistan before leaving the Marine Corps as a gunnery sergeant in 2014. Known affectionately to his friends as “Red,” Woldeselassie enlisted in the Marine Corps in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He was serving in New Orleans as a logistics and supply administrator in the months following Katrina’s landfall, lending a helping hand to locals rebuilding their lives.

“It was pretty satisfying,” said Woldeselassie, who is a recipient this year of the ERPi Patriot Scholarship available to veterans and their dependents. “We got to build schools and help people. We were able to make a real difference.”

Following his departure from the military in 2014, Woldeselassie enrolled at Mason on the GI Bill the following year. But the transition to civilian life wasn’t easy. He was much older than his new classmates and had seen more real adversity than anything most of them might ever imagine. And he knew nothing about college life.

But Woldeselassie wasn’t about to let any of that deter him.

“There was definitely an adjustment period because I didn’t know anything about this lifestyle,” he said. “I knew about the military, but I didn’t know anything about college. So I challenged myself to learn as much as I could do about it. It took a little bit of humbling, but, at the same time, that was important because this was the life I wanted to be successful at right now.”

He proved to be as up to that challenge as he was to those he faced while serving in the Marine Corps. As an undergraduate, Woldeselassie worked as a research assistant in Mason’s College of Education and Human Development, analyzing the impact of education on minority and underrepresented university students. He earned a bachelor of science in health administration in May 2018 before immediately starting grad school two weeks later.

Since 2016, Woldeselassie has been actively involved with the National Academy of Medicine, volunteering as a research case author and lead co-author for the D.C. Public Health Case Challenge. He’s had several of his works published on public health topics such as gentrification, cancer, child brain development and maternal mortality. Woldeselassie said he hopes to become a data scientist or get involved in analytics.

In the meantime, he’s serving as the assistant transition coordinator for Mason’s Office of Military Services, said Director Jennifer Connors.

“Red’s contributions to student veteran success extends far beyond the campus community,” Connors said. “He is an active voice on the national stage, both in his academic research and advocacy for student veterans. We are lucky to have him!”

This wasn’t exactly the path Woldeselassie envisioned while in high school, but he says he’d have it no other way.

“There are steps to everything,” he said. “You can’t skip steps. If you skip steps, then you may miss the lesson.”

Scholarship recipient carries forward a legacy

Damian Cristodero — Mon, 26 Nov 2018 10:30:00 +0000

Scholarship recipient carries forward a legacy Damian Cristodero Mon, 11/26/2018 - 05:30

Mason mourns the passing of Alice L. Watts

Melanie Balog — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 21:30:09 +0000

Mason mourns the passing of Alice L. Watts Melanie Balog Wed, 09/28/2016 - 17:30

Alice L. Watts, academic coordinator in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA), died Friday, Sept. 23, of pancreatic cancer. She was 65.

Watts worked at ��AV for more than 25 years in a variety of capacities in the arts. While working on bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and English at Mason, Watts also volunteered for the Theater of the First Amendment, which was George Mason’s resident theater company. Her volunteer position soon turned into a wages position.

Just as she prepared to graduate in 1991 with her double major, an administrative job opened up in what was then the Department of Dance and Theater, and she jumped at the chance to continue her work at the university. As the arts grew at Mason, so did Watts’s responsibilities. Still she found time to continue her education and completed her MA in English with a focus on dramatic literature in 1997.

Helping students was her passion. As the academic coordinator of the college, Watts assisted with student recruitment and advising and helped plan the college’s convocation each spring. For her efforts she was recognized as an Employee of the Month in 2005. At the time of the award, she said, “The students make coming to work a pleasure. Seeing their growth from incoming freshmen or transfer students to confident, well-educated graduates is very rewarding.”

"Alice always gave 100 percent to whatever she did," said Rick Davis, CVPA dean, "whether that was working as an usher supervisor at the Center for the Arts, advising students, helping faculty navigate the thickets of policies and procedures, serving on university-level committees, tracking enrollments, you name it. And she did it with unwavering commitment to doing the right thing for the individual and the institution, while maintaining a sense of humor. It was a privilege to work with her for almost 25 years; we miss her every day."

She is survived by a sister, two brothers, six nieces and nephews, and her beloved Jack Russell terrier, Ariel.

The college has created the Alice L. Watts Memorial Scholarship in her memory. Donations to the scholarship can made to the ��AV Foundation and sent to the College of Visual and Performing Arts, 4400 University Drive, MS 4C1, Fairfax, VA 22030.

Topics

College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA)

scholarship