Student Research

At Fuse topping out ceremony, student researchers predict malicious intent from drone flight patterns

Sarah Holland — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 14:54:24 +0000

At Fuse topping out ceremony, student researchers predict malicious intent from drone flight patterns Sarah Holland Mon, 02/12/2024 - 09:54

With today’s use and demand for all-access video, small Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), colloquially known as drones, are commonplace tools in everything from defense contracting to filming backyard barbeques.

While useful technology, UAVs can pose a serious security risk. ��AV systems engineering and operations research undergraduates Dyar Aziz and Markus Garretson are working with professor Ali Raz to develop a methodology for inferring UAV intent based on sensor data.

Tell us about your project.

UAVs are becoming ubiquitous for commercial, defense, and hobbyist operations, but pose a serious security risk to various defense and state installations (such as airports and military bases). While sensors can provide detection and tracking information for UAVs, it is vital to infer any potential malicious intent of the UAV so that counter measures can be put in place in a timely manner.

Our project focuses on predicting the state and intent of UAVs from uncertain sensing data. This work shows how an inference engine for UAV state-estimation and intent can be built by exploiting sensing and tracking data from a multisensor installation, using state-of-the-art, high-level information fusion and systems engineering tools. We are applying model-based systems engineering techniques to simulate multisensor fusion and determine a UAV’s (specifically drones) movement and behavior.

What inspired you to select this topic?

We were introduced to the project by our former professor Raz and decided to work on it as we are both interested in aerospace.

What has been your greatest success thus far?

We have been able to develop multiples models and scenarios simulating both drones and real-world use cases of drone tracking such as a radar installment at an airport.

What is one thing you’ve learned while working on this project that will be useful to you in the field?

We have developed our knowledge and ability to apply model-based systems engineering (SysML), as well as building simulations in MATLAB. Additionally, we have learned about data fusion, fusion techniques, sensor types, and potential uses for them. Finally, we have been able to gain insight into the future of counter drone system development and high-level data fusion as it is at the cutting edge of technology.

How would dedicated research space, such as the plans for Fuse at Mason Square, help sustain your project?

A dedicated research space would enable us to collaborate amongst our team and with other teams with similar experience and knowledge, as well as with teams from other disciplines.

Read about the recent celebration at Fuse at Mason Square

Discover the Systems Engineering and Operations Research program at Mason

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Research

College of Engineering and Computing

Volgenau School of Engineering

Student Research

Fuse at Mason Square

Students

Tech Talent Investment Pipeline (TTIP)

TTIP

Tech Talent Investment Program

In This Story

Ali K. Raz

At Fuse topping out ceremony, student researcher uses satellites to better predict storm surges

Sarah Holland — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 17:44:31 +0000

At Fuse topping out ceremony, student researcher uses satellites to better predict storm surges Sarah Holland Mon, 02/05/2024 - 12:44

Satellites aren’t just for pinging cell service across the globe: They’re also a critical resource for observing areas as large as Earth’s oceans.

Soelem Aafnan Bhuiyan, PhD student in civil engineering at ��AV, is working with College of Engineering and Computing professor Viviana Maggioni to improve coastal water level predictions with satellite observations in the hopes of better predicting storm surges amidst rising sea levels. We spoke with Bhuiyan about his research and his personal connection to the impacts of rising sea levels.

Tell us about your project.

I am working on improving the water level estimation in coastal areas. Nearly 40% of the world's population lives within 10 miles of coastlines. Coastal regions worldwide are frequently impacted by hurricane storm surges, and the risk increases in the face of climate crisis. Thus, accurately predicting coastal water levels is of utmost importance. I am developing a novel approach that rectifies numerical model-generated water levels with satellite observations dynamically, producing superior coastal water level estimation. This innovation will augment our capability to produce robust coastal storm surge and flood warning schemes globally.

What inspired you to select this topic?

I come from Bangladesh, which lies at the forefront of the climate crisis. Each year, Bangladesh battles natural hazards like hurricanes and coastal floods, which are projected to exacerbate the climate risks for the low-lying Bengal delta. With the successful implementation of my research on improved coastal flood forecasting, the coastal communities, such as the ones in Bangladesh, will benefit enormously from a more robust disaster preparedness program.

What is one thing you’ve learned while working on this project that will be useful to you in the field?

If there is one thing that my PhD training has taught me so far, it is perseverance. A PhD project is often similar to a puzzle, and as PhD students, we often have to spend hours, days or even months on trying to solve just a single piece of that puzzle. In those situations, dedication and perseverance are the keys. I believe these traits will be beneficial to me in the long run in my professional career too.

How would dedicated research space, such as the plans for Fuse at Mason Square, help sustain your project?

The impact of having a dedicated research space like Fuse at Mason Square would be significant. Such spaces would provide access to state-of-the-art research equipment and facilities that may otherwise be hard to come by elsewhere. Being in a dedicated research facility would put me in proximity to other research groups from similar/different research fields. This would foster the chances of collaboration between the groups, providing the opportunities to trade innovative ideas and share resources, ultimately increasing the quality of my project. The interdisciplinary nature of such facilities also attracts perspectives and expertise from different fields, helping the holistic characteristics and overall sustainability of my project. Additionally, a dedicated space like this means more networking opportunities among peers and greater access to educational and skill-building opportunities, immensely beneficial for personal growth and career development.

In This Story

Viviana Maggioni

Read about the recent celebration at Fuse at Mason Square

Delve into Civil Engineering research at Mason

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Fuse at Mason Square

Student Research

research and insight

College of Engineering and Computing

Research

Tech Talent Investment Pipeline (TTIP)

TTIP

Tech Talent Investment Program

From zoonoses to mental health interventions, MPH student’s interdisciplinary research at Mason leads to CDC Fellowship

Mary Cunningham — Thu, 03 Aug 2023 18:46:17 +0000

From zoonoses to mental health interventions, MPH student’s interdisciplinary research at Mason leads to CDC Fellowship Mary Cunningham Thu, 08/03/2023 - 14:46

Ryan Shelton, a recent graduate of the ��AV's Master of Public Health (MPH) program, accepted a full-time ORISE Fellow position at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia. He is part of the Science Team in the Division of Emergency Operations where he works in the emergency preparedness sector preparing reports, interpreting data, and providing recommendations for CDC emergency response processes.

Ryan Shelton. Photo provided

Shelton credits the academic and research opportunities at Mason's College of Public Health for preparing him for this role.

“Mason's MPH program allowed me to gain experience with interdisciplinary research through the diverse classes offered as well as research assistantships like the one I had with Dr. Roess,” Shelton said.

During his program, Shelton worked as a research assistant under Mason researcher Amira Roess performing multiple studies surrounding zoonoses, diseases that can be passed between humans and animals. His primary assignment focused on infectious disease research about the mother-to-child transmission of specific bacteria in rural Bangladesh.

“The goal of this study was to examine bacteria levels in expecting mothers, their immediate households, and any animals they had contact with to determine how many samples of bacteria were in each mother before birth, and about six months after birth,” Shelton said.

In a separate survey-based study, Shelton also tracked human-deer interactions across Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Southern Maryland to determine risks of disease spread in urban areas.

“The goal of the deer-human interaction survey is to document where the deer are migrating and gain insight on their geographical placement in urban environments,” said Shelton. “This will help determine the risk of zoonotic disease spread between humans and deer in densely populated areas.”

Both studies necessitated Shelton to have an understanding of infectious disease, animal science, and geography, consistent with the public health practice of One-Health.

Under Roess’s tutelage, Shelton designed surveys, performed literature searches, conducted data analysis, and created figures to visualize data---many of which he is already using in his current role with the CDC.

Versatile communicable and chronic disease research skills

In addition to his work with zoonotic diseases with Roess, Shelton is completing research to address the mental health crisis afflicting public health workers across the globe with Project HOPE, a global nonprofit whose public health work includes improving access to mental health services for all populations.

Shelton recognizes the need to reduce the stigma associated with mental health so health care workers feel they can seek help.

“Prioritizing and normalizing mental health is highly important so the workers can share their concerns and be open to receiving treatment,” he said.

Shelton’s interdisciplinary work with Project HOPE integrates the fields of mental health, public health, sociology, and emergency preparedness and response. He is currently working on a resiliency training program to teach frontline health care workers coping mechanisms for high-stress situations.

“It is an unfortunate reality that health care workers do not often receive the mental health support they need in trying times,” Shelton said. “With Project HOPE, I am working on analyzing and improving a mental health and resilience training program that is implemented to address the mental health crisis for nurses, doctors, and other emergency responders around the world.”

Like his work with Roess, the data analysis and public health program evaluation skills he developed while in Mason’s MPH program have proven to be invaluable.

Mason students pursuing the MPH are instructed in the core public health competencies while also being exposed to the various fields where public health intersects with. Those concentrating in global health, like Shelton, are trained to promote public health worldwide, as well as prevent infections and chronic illnesses.

“I took many classes that exposed me to a variety of sub-fields within the public health sphere,” said Shelton. "Within the MPH global health concentration, courses covered a variety of topics including infectious diseases, human migration patterns, and even biostatistics, but most importantly, how these different areas come together in public health."

Learn more about our Masters in Public Health Program

In This Story

Amira Roess, PhD, MPH

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College of Public Health

internships

Conference draws faculty, students to Mason Square to share a vision for an inclusive, anti-racist future

Colleen Rich — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 21:02:42 +0000

Conference draws faculty, students to Mason Square to share a vision for an inclusive, anti-racist future Colleen Rich Wed, 10/26/2022 - 17:02

��AV’s first Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Conference celebrated both the impact of research and the shared goal of shaping a more equitable future.

The Research Panel: Conducting Research through and Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Lens. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“There’s so much research happening today—and this is the beauty of this conference,” said keynote speaker Gail Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity and a senior scholar in Mason’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. “We can do the research to change the narrative to drive new stories, to amplify those new stories, to demystify and refute the fallacies. Research is an important part of getting rid of antiquated beliefs.”

More than 400 people attended the Monday conference either at Mason Square or virtually. Sharnnia Artis, Mason’s vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, marked the event as a milestone for one of Mason President Gregory Washington’s signature objectives. Artis, who facilitated the Mason groups that planned the conference, also served as emcee.

Washington launched ARIE within weeks of arriving at Mason in July 2020 to root out any biases in Mason practices and policies with the ambition that Mason would become a national exemplar for inclusive excellence. Mason is the seventh most diverse public university in the country—and the most diverse public university in Virginia— according to U.S. News & World Report.

Anne M. Kress, president of Northern Virginia Community College (left) with Mason's Sharnnia Artis. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“There is a generation coming behind us—68 million people of the most diverse group of individuals that this country has ever had,” Washington said in opening the afternoon session of the conference. “They’re going to inherit the country, and they’re going to have to know how to deal with an environment that’s diverse. They need to be prepared to deal with one another.”

Washington later welcomed Northern Virginia Community College President Anne M. Kress and Virginia State University President Makola Abdullah for a presidential panel on advancing anti-racism and inclusive excellence in higher education.

The morning panel focused on conducting research through that lens. It featured three Mason professors and panelists from Harvard and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Charles Chavis, director of Mason’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice and Race, noted that he had returned the previous day from a research trip with students to the Maryland Eastern Shore to work with descendants of racial violence. He talked about treating research subjects as collaborators and partners and empowering them to tell their own story.

Mason students shared their research during the poster session. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

“I see what we do as service first,” Chavis said. “And in that service our research needs and our research focus really is birthed out of the expressed needs of those we’re serving.”

During that morning panel, Jerome Offord Jr., Harvard associate university librarian for anti-racism, said he isn’t looking for allies in the cause. He’s looking for “co-conspirators.” That term caught on in the room came up throughout the day.

“This is not just a BIPOC issue,” Offord said. “This is an us issue. I need people who are going to take the risk professionally, personally, academically. People have to be willing to be in the front of the center conversation with me, not in a break room supporting me, not sending me emails saying ‘great job.’”

On an afternoon panel about translating research into action, Mason professor of integrative studies and history Wendi Manuel-Scott used the Enslaved People of George Mason Memorial as an example. The memorial, dedicated earlier this year, came about after five students set out to learn more about the people George Mason IV enslaved at Gunston Hall.

Manuel-Scott said that early in her teaching career she used to get “blank eyes” from students when she talked to them about civil rights actions.

Mason President Gregory Washington chats with students during the poster session. Photo by Stephanie Aaronson/Office of University Branding

“Today, I don’t get blank eyes,” she said. “Students are incredibly engaged and passionate and fearless. That is everything. Don’t lose that audacity, don’t lose that courageous spirit. Continue to ask those questions. Because the memorial that you see today would not exist if our students hadn’t been willing to ask the questions that they asked and challenge us as faculty members to step up.”

Student and faculty researchers across disciplines displayed about 40 posters highlighting research related to anti-racism and inclusive excellence.

Christopher noted that it takes more than passion to eradicate racism. It requires realistic strategy and creativity to assess the challenges, particularly in the age of disinformation.

“It’s a matter of grace and it’s a matter of love and understanding that we’re all on this journey, and we’re each at different places,” Christopher said. “There are extremes, and some people will stay at their extreme no matter what. But there is a wide swath in the middle, and our job is to mobilize that middle and to do so with great intention.”

Topics

Campus News

ARIE

President's Task Force on Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Student Research

Strategic Direction

Graduation Spotlight: Twin Sisters Uplift Communities with Public Health Awareness Through Nonprofit Organizations

John Brandon Cantrell — Thu, 26 May 2022 13:46:46 +0000

Graduation Spotlight: Twin Sisters Uplift Communities with Public Health Awareness Through Nonprofit Organizations John Brandon C… Thu, 05/26/2022 - 09:46

Ashley and Briana Dawson share highlights from their undergraduate experience before becoming Master of Public Health students at Mason.

Ashley Dawson (left) and Briana Dawson (right) earned their Bachelor's degrees in Community Health and minors in Dance Appreciation.

Sisters Ashley and Briana Dawson have been helping others improve their health since they were in high school. With their dance studio business, the twins assist the youth in their community to exercise, socialize, and adopt healthy lifestyles with chances to compete and participate in events across the DMV area. Their love for helping others did not diminish during their undergraduate career at Mason. As May 2022 graduates, they share highlights from their experience in the Bachelor of Community Health program, including opportunities that allowed them to help community members around the globe overcome health obstacles through nonprofit organizations.

While excelling in their program and as student-athletes with Mason Cheer and members of the Honors College, the sisters pursued opportunities to gain hands-on experience working with communities across the nation through ElevateHER, a Maryland nonprofit organization with a focus on improving community health.

Gaining Real-World Experience in Public Health

Working with ElevateHER, Ashley and Briana use the skills they learned throughout undergrad in real-world situations. As a community health worker, Ashley worked with underserved communities on health campaigns, such as It's Worth a Shot, a campaign designated to educate others on the COVID-19 vaccine. In this role, she went door-to-door to answer questions, share insight, and provide guidance on immunization.

"I explained how the vaccine was developed, its purpose, and preventative measures they can take to avoid COVID. I learned that communication is so important," Ashley said. "Many of the residents had never been vaccinated, so building a rapport with them and educating them in a way that wasn't hassling was great."

Throughout her time at ElevateHER, Ashley also gained experience as a health behavior analyst and later as a funding and development specialist. Her current role allows her to research, write, and apply for grant funding, such as the $32,000 she helped the nonprofit gain for a diabetes prevention program.

Briana manages its social media channels as the community health campaign and events manager. She creates health campaigns consisting of tailored educational messaging, press releases, and webinars to help others gain insight into health disparities and tools for overcoming health concerns.

In partnership with the Morehouse College of Medicine and the National COVID Resiliency Network, Briana created and organized the webinar series, "COVID-19: What Do We Really Know," to educate others on the latest information regarding COVID-19.

"At first, we were focusing on COVID and how there was vaccine hesitancy," said Briana. "Now we are shifting gears into more mental health topics. Recently, we had a live stream webinar about Black youth mental health, how parents can talk to their kids and give them strategies and resources."

With a mission to help educate others on public health through new avenues like social media, the sisters became involved with American Women for International Understanding (AWIU) to provide educational material on Rwanda Children. This organization provides shelter, education, medical care, and support to at-risk children in Rwanda. The sisters created a YouTube video for the AWIU that explains the mission of Rwanda Children to raise awareness and gain funding for the organization.

Engaging in Health Communication Research

Ashley and Briana Dawson holding their Delta Omega Public Health Honorary Society certificates.

The twins' nonprofit work gained attention from Jennifer Warren, assistant professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, who taught Ashley and Briana in a health communication course. Warren invited the sisters to work on two research projects. The first examined the effect of Alzheimer's disease on African American communities.

"We were looking for the impact of adversity and how that makes African Americans more susceptible to cognitive dysfunction as they age. Alzheimer's and dementia are more common in African American populations, so we want to discover what is causing this health disparity," said Ashley. "We had already learned that Black communities are less likely to donate their bodies to science. Therefore, there is already less information on their brains. So, we wanted to learn whether it was a predisposing condition, genetic, brought on by stress or racism, and so on."

Continuing their dedication to public health, Ashley and Briana pursued another research opportunity with Warren called the Black Women's Resiliency Project. In this project, Ashley and Briana look at how Black women are labeled resilient when facing adversity.

"A lot of people refer to resilience as bouncing back, but we want to dive even further and not just think of this stereotypical phrase of 'the strong Black woman,'" Briana said. "We want to learn how they cope, how they heal and continue on, what strategies they are using, and determine if resilience is more so a process."

From these projects, Ashley and Briana learned how health communication theories relate to their community health coursework and can strengthen their goals of being public health consultants while opening the doors for new opportunities.

Making an Impact at Mason

From the beginning of their undergraduate careers, the twins pursued new avenues to strengthen themselves as public health professionals, which resulted in the sisters being honored with many awards for their achievements, including the induction into the Delta Omega Public Health Honorary Society.

Now that they achieved their undergraduate degrees, the sisters look forward to obtaining Master of Public Health degrees at Mason to prepare themselves to help communities around the globe as public health consultants.

Topics

Department of Global and Community Health

Community Health

Examination of Middle East Politics Wins Undergraduate Research Award

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 11 May 2022 16:37:42 +0000

Examination of Middle East Politics Wins Undergraduate Research Award Andrew J Schappert Wed, 05/11/2022 - 12:37

In This Story

Heba F. El-Shazli

Peter Mandaville

Delaney Soliday: ‘Being in this program and being so supported by peers and other professors really allowed me to find my stride…’

Growing up in Irwin, Pennsylvania, Delaney Soliday remembers learning about Flight 93. Her small hometown sits roughly 50 miles from Shanksville, where the plane crashed on 9/11.

“I heard a lot about that and I wanted to understand it,” she said. “That led to my interest in Middle Eastern politics and it kind of showed me that there is so much more to the region.”

Now a junior in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at ��AV, Soliday, a global affairs major with a concentration in global governance, has immersed herself in her classes and in-depth research.

Peter Mandaville, a professor of government and politics in the Schar School of Policy and Government, has taught Soliday in courses including Introduction to International Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East. He has been impressed with her enthusiasm and scholarship.

“She has a genuine passion for learning, and for relating what she is studying to real-world events and policy considerations,” he said. “The questions and contributions she brings to the classroom are incredibly impressive.”

Soliday frequently discussed her research ambitions with Mandaville, and he connected her with faculty whose interests matched her own.

“Professor Mandaville has been amazing in helping me find a community and professors who were supportive of my research ideas,” Soliday said. “He has been really great in helping me take an initial idea and turning it into a plan that actually makes sense.”

Mandaville introduced her to Heba El-Shazli, an assistant professor in the Schar School, who also serves as director of the Undergraduate Research Community (URC). El-Shazli encouraged Soliday to join the semester-long program, which gives students the opportunity to gain hands-on research and analytic skills while contributing to topics of interest and earning class credit.

As part of the program, students work on a project and present it at an annual Undergraduate Research Fair. Soliday’s initial idea proved too broad, but after brainstorming with El-Shazli, her topic came into focus.

The finished product, The Taliban Over Time—A Diachronic Case Study of Governance in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, examined how today’s Taliban differs from the group that led Afghanistan in the 1990s.

“Professor El-Shazli really helped me to organize the idea because my initial idea was too all encompassing,” she said. “I came out with a much stronger project because of that.”

Indeed, Soliday earned first place at the Undergraduate Research Fair for her work.

“The poster and presentation were excellent on all levels: research question, visuals, content, responses to questions, and an overall engaging presentation of your research,” El-Shazli said in a congratulatory email to Soliday.

To say she was surprised is an understatement.

“I was really shocked,” Soliday said. “I was just over the moon. There were so many other incredible projects and I was just blown away by everyone’s creativity.”

Hoping for a career in homeland security or intelligence analysis, Soliday looks forward to her upcoming internship with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where she will serve on the counterterrorism and intelligence team.

“When I am working at the Washington Institute this summer, I will be getting open-source intelligence analysis training,” she said. “That’s something I’m really excited to put toward a future career where I’m able to use those skills potentially in a more classified setting.”

Soliday feels thankful she joined the URC, where she found community and confidence.

“Being in this program and being so supported by peers and other professors really allowed me to find my stride and also recognize that my research interests are not just a weird quirk,” she said. “This will actually get you somewhere, get you a career with the skills you are developing.”

Topics

Student Research

Schar School News May 2022

Undergraduate research conference is a spotlight on excellence

Colleen Rich — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:30:06 +0000

Undergraduate research conference is a spotlight on excellence Colleen Rich Thu, 03/31/2022 - 13:30

Karen T. Lee said she really likes conferences.

The assistant director for ��AV’s Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR) especially likes the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.

That is where undergraduate students from across the country showcase their research to their peers and their mentors, network, and meet with graduate school representatives.

Even though this year’s event, April 4-8, is again virtual, Lee said the impact is just the same.

“It’s a way for students to see what other students in their field are doing,” she said. “This is a possibility to meet people who might be lifelong colleagues, and undergraduate conferences are often the best places to get that opportunity.”

Fifteen Mason students will make presentations at the event. Lee said having one’s research accepted by the conference review board is high praise.

“In a typical year there are several thousand presentations,” Lee said. “For a student to be accepted, it means their research was judged to be significant, well thought-out, and interesting from a disciplinary perspective; not only well put together, but something people would want to know about.”

Here is some of the research to be shared by Mason students:

Lin Grodi. Photo provided

Lin Grodi
Senior, Human Development and Family Science
Teacher-Family Communication among Latinx Immigrant Families and Teachers of Young Latinx children during COVID-19

The research: Grodi said the overarching focus of her study is family engagement. She examined teacher-family communication during the pandemic among Latinx immigrant parents and teachers whose students’ parents were immigrants of Latinx descent.

Why the research is important: According to Grodi’s research, the nature of online learning provided teachers a wider window to better understand students and families. Moving forward, technology can continue to play an important role in supporting ongoing communication between parents and teachers. Interpreters are essential in breaking down language barriers, so that parents can be invited as partners into their children’s education. Grodi said that this is even more significant for communication and relationships across parents and teachers from different cultural backgrounds.

Quotable: “The findings from Lin's project provide important insight for the early childhood field in terms of how we might build on the momentum of the lessons learned during the pandemic to further support families and teachers in building reciprocal relationships through two-way communication," said Colleen Vesely, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development, who served as Grodi’s mentor.

—Lauren Reuscher

Molly Izer. Photo provided

Molly Izer
Sophomore, Government and International Politics
Misinformation Gone Viral: How Paywalls Impact the Consumption of Misinformation

The research: Izer is studying where people go after they hit a paywall when looking online for credible information and news. “There’s a critical gap between when people hit a paywall versus where they find information after all,” said Izer, an Honors College student who has interned in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Izer said she is surveying a randomized group on their information consumption habits, personality, political orientation, and demographics. She’s also gathering quantitative data from observing additional participants as they live-react to finding information and reaching a paywall.

Why the research is important: “As society becomes more and more heavily digitized, we’re seeing society becoming more hyper partisan,” Izer said. “Getting to know online journalism, paywalls, and the consumption of misinformation will allow us to better legislate around that issue and better understand how we can make an informed civil society.”

Quotable: “Molly is ambitious, tenacious, and courageous,” said Associate Professor Jennifer N. Victor. “She performs and operates on campus more like a graduate student than a first-year student. She is an excellent class participant, strives to meet her personal and academic commitments ahead of schedule, and is helpful to her peers.”

—Mariam Aburdeineh

Tulane Simpson. Photo provided

Tulane Simpson
Senior, English
Ecoandrogyny: Examining Environmentalism Beyond the Gender Binary

The research: Simpson said they wanted to study how to make environmentalism more gender neutral. Their research examines how important gender has historically been in shaping how people think about the environment, with, for example, women traditionally being cast as eco-caretakers and men traditionally being cast in opposition to nature.

Simpson used “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” a children’s animation show, as a case study in leveraging individual gender expression for environmental goals.

Why the research is important: Jessica Hurley, assistant professor of English who helped supervise Simpson’s research, said, “The project is about giving people the freedom to decide how they want to fight for environmental justice without being limited by gender roles and expectations.” Simpson’s work also will be displayed in a virtual presentation of “Posters on the Hill,” which showcases student research to members of Congress.

Quotable: “In any television show, having more representation is a good thing,” Simpson said. “If a show has the goal of encouraging environmentalism, it should portray different gender expressions to appeal to people more broadly.”

—Anna Stolley Persky

Ruoyu Xie. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Ruoyu Xie
Senior, Computer Science
Bilingual alignment for optical character recognition text

The research: Xie is exploring natural language processing, a form of artificial intelligence in which computers can learn, understand, and respond to text or speech. Xie is applying this to the endangered language of Griko, a Greek variety spoken by about 60,000 to 70,000 people in southern Italy. By using books in which Griko and standard Italian are displayed side-by-side as the software data, Xie is providing the computer a tutorial from which to translate between Griko and Italian.

Why the research is important: There are more than 7,000 distinct languages across the globe, according to Ethnologue, with about 3,000 in danger of becoming extinct because of lack of use. By using optical character recognition systems to digitize the endangered language into machine-readable text, and software that ties words in an endangered language to words spoken in a widely used language, Xie says a computer can “learn” the endangered language. That will make it available for web translations and help linguists and communities document these languages. As Antonios Anastasopoulos, an assistant professor of computer science and Xie’s mentor, said, “We’re running out of time.”

Quotable: “Language is one of the representations of a culture,” Xie said. “So you can say, ‘Yes, languages come and go.’ But if we forget about a language, we forget about the culture as well.”

—Damian Cristodero

Topics

Students

Office of Student Scholarship Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR)

Student Research

Mason receives NSF grant for Conservation Incentives and the Socio-Spatial Dynamics of Water Sustainability

Rena Malai — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 14:02:38 +0000

Mason receives NSF grant for Conservation Incentives and the Socio-Spatial Dynamics of Water Sustainability Rena Malai Thu, 12/09/2021 - 09:02

In This Story

Shima Mohebbi

Clean water is a vital component of life, and without it, human existence as it’s known today would quickly cease. This is largely why water conservation is an important and ever- growing concern, particularly when it comes to natural resources, like rivers, and the allocation and management of fresh water resources.

Shima Mohebbi, assistant professor in the College of Engineering and Computing at ��AV, together with researchers from the University of Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Clark University, Oklahoma State University, and Florida International University, received a nearly $1.6 million project grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for Conservation Incentives and the Socio-Spatial Dynamics of Water Sustainability.

Although this project focuses on the Red River, the second-largest basin located in the southern part of the United States, Mohebbi says the solutions and lessons gained throughout are transferable to water systems around the world.

“Water resource management is a complex problem that is affected by water scarcity, the impact of climate change on water supplies, and decision-makers’ behavior (behind water conservation policies),” Mohebbi says. “Capturing the complex feedback between social and environmental systems over time can raise new fundamental questions in the field of Operations Research and Systems Engineering. This in turn can help with further understanding the intricacies behind water resource management and incentives allocation."

Under this grant, Mohebbi will develop novel game theory models to understand how conflicts and propensities for cooperative behavior among water users — including farmers — might vary over time across the river network.

The project will start in January 2022 and will run for five years. Working alongside colleagues from fields including geography and environmental sustainability, ecology, and agricultural engineering, Mohebbi says the project’s end goal is to demonstrate how voluntary conservation incentives—like offering subsidies to water users—could potentially be used to achieve water sustainability.

"Along with my student researchers, we will work closely with collaborators, use data collected on user’s belief and behavior, formulate the game theory models, and discover novel and fair solutions around water conservation incentive schemes,” Mohebbi says.

Additionally, Mohebbi is working on another NSF-funded project for Integrative Decision Making Framework to Enhance the Resiliency of Interdependent Critical Infrastructures. This targets water, transportation, and cyber infrastructures.

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Mason DEVA Project addresses state wide air pollution

Rena Malai — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 17:04:26 +0000

Mason DEVA Project addresses state wide air pollution Rena Malai Fri, 10/15/2021 - 13:04

In This Story

Jenna Krall, PhD

DEVA project leaders and students
gather to discuss recent research findings.

Taking a deep breath of fresh, clean air is a necessity many take for granted. This basic yet vital physical function is essential for health and well-being.

Mason is doing its part to protect clean air through the “Detailed Emissions in Virginia: Novel Approaches to Estimate Air Pollution Sources for Environmental Justice” (DEVA) research project funded by the Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Interdisciplinary Research.

A dedicated team of Mason professors and undergrads will apply their research skills in 2021-2022 while exploring the sources of air pollution in Virginia and how it directly affects the surrounding communities.

“DEVA will examine the major sources of air pollution in Virginia,” says Jenna Krall, an assistant professor in the Department of Global and Community Health and DEVA project co-lead at Mason.

According to Lucas Henneman, assistant professor of environmental engineering at Mason and DEVA project lead, some populations can be more exposed to air pollution than others.

He says in the state of Virginia, there is a gap in research that explores the link between air pollution sources and vulnerable populations. One goal of DEVA is to try to fill this gap, and the research findings could play an important role in shaping clean air policies.

“We will study emission sources in Virginia—like power plants, cars, and factories—and see what the surrounding community around these sources is like in terms of income, race, and proximity to air pollution sources,” says Henneman.

An important aspect of the funded work is providing undergraduates an opportunity to perform academic research under faculty mentorship.

Students benefit from learning effective research practices that can apply to their careers.

According to junior Gabriella Armada, she sees working on DEVA as a way to help her become a better data scientist.

“I wanted to apply my data science skills outside my courses, and I wanted a real-world application like DEVA where I could apply those skills,” says Armada, who is majoring in computational and data science at Mason.

Air pollution is a major concern for Mason junior Sara Alhassani, a statistics major, and she says working on research that can help to change clean air policies is important to her.

“Looking at how air pollution affects people of lower income and minority groups is a big issue,” says Alhassani. “Being able to identify the root causes and how to minimize air pollution can have a domino effect on everything else, like health.”

The Thomas F. and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust was founded in 1981 with the mission of benefitting the people of Virginia. The Jeffress Trust Program provides seed funding to support one-year pilot studies, like DEVA.

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Students, faculty showcase summer research projects in virtual presentations

Colleen Rich — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 17:23:43 +0000

Students, faculty showcase summer research projects in virtual presentations Colleen Rich Mon, 08/16/2021 - 13:23

Linguistics major Bren Yaghmour was part of the Summer Impact Project team that used a special ultrasound machine to track the tongue's movements in people learning a new language.

Undergraduate and graduate students from ��AV presented the results of their summer multidisciplinary research and creative projects on Aug. 5-6 in a virtual celebration of student scholarship.

Videos created by the students about their research projects can be viewed on the Celebration of Student Scholarship and Impact website. A total of 98 students participated either individually or in groups, and they created 60 video presentations.

The celebration highlights Mason’s emphasis on ensuring students have research opportunities. Many of the students conducted their research through the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research’s (OSCAR) Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.

Other students participated in a Summer Team Impact Project (STIP).

Julia Sullivan Burns, Mason Impact student support specialist, said the virtual celebration is a way to showcase the wide variety of summer research projects in which Mason students were involved.

Biology major Louise Singer studied the microbiome of snails.

“Intellectual curiosity is one of the greatest assets we have as human beings,” Burns said. “One way Mason students get to satisfy their curiosity is by engaging in research. Every chance we have to display their research and intellectual curiosity is a chance to validate the work these students have done.”

Three projects were declared the Summer 2021 Top Presentations.

Louise Singer, a senior biology major, used her OSCAR funding to examine snails from two different lakes in Fairfax County. Her video presentation is called “Analyzing the Microbiome of Avian Schistosomiasis Vector Gyraulus Parvus.”

“My project was looking at how much of an influence location has on the microbiome of snails,” Singer said. “It was great that people valued my research enough to fund it.”

Singer said that it was meaningful to design and execute her own research project.

“The idea that people could be interested in it is exciting,” she said.

Faculty members Vincent Chanethom and Harim Kwon oversaw a Summer Team Impact Grant project using ultrasound to analyze tongue movements when English speakers learn French. The student team helped build and populate a linguistic corpus website aimed at furthering our understanding of how tongue movements affect accents.

Hannah Brennan, a senior English major concentrating in linguistics, said participating in the linguistics corpus research project was fun, especially learning to use the ultrasound machine and helping collect data.

“I was giddy the whole summer,” she said. Brennan worked with fellow students Domi Hannon, Bren Yaghmour and Jaxon Myers on the project.

Kwon said she was proud of the students who helped conduct research over the summer.

“You can see it in their videos how much fun they are having,” said Kwon, an assistant professor of linguistics, “and how motivated they are.”

Another of the top presentations was by Casper Brooks who was experimenting with web-based storytelling under the guidance of English professor Jessica Hurley.

For the research project, Brooks focused on apocalyptic trauma by creating a narrative framework and a website for the lead character’s organization, The Aspera Group.

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Students

Office of Student Scholarship Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR)

Student Research

Mason Impact

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