SPIRIT
S P R I N G 2021
A M A G A Z I N E F O R T H E G E O R G E M A S O N U N I V E R S I T Y CO M M U N I T Y
TRUTH OR
CONSEQUENCES It is time to act on the problems plaguing the planet that are detrimental to our health, economy, and society
R E CO R D R E S E A R C H | CO N S E R VAT I O N S TA R S | H O R I ZO N H A L L
PHOTO BY RAFAEL SUANES
FEATURES The Patriots have carried on despite the pandemic. Here, Mason men’s basketball takes on Virginia Commonwealth University on January 6 before an audience of fan cutouts.
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About the Cover Illustration by Claire Brandt, photos by Getty Images
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Tackling the World’s Grand Challenges Great research universities tackle the grand-challenge problems of our time. It is called research of consequence for a reason—we face serious consequences as a planet if we cannot solve our most pressing global challenges.
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A Record Year for Research Mason research hit an all-time high in research funding, reporting $221 million in research expenditures for fiscal year 2020, which shows significant progress toward the university’s strategic goal of $225 million by 2024.
Conservation Stars Mason graduate students are traveling the globe to tackle some of the planet’s dire environmental problems—and they’re being recognized for their efforts.
Mason’s Homecoming 2021 celebration kicked off February 5 with the SI2GO truck at the Tip-Off Party. Photo by Evan Cantwell
DEPARTMENTS 2 FIRST WORDS
45 CLASS NOTES
3 FROM OUR READERS
46 From the Alumni Association President
4 @MASON
ALUMNI PROFILES
44 Nathan Loda, MFA Art and Visual Technology ’15
47 Saskia Popescu, PhD Biodefense ’19
49 Gregory Fowler, MA English ‘95
36 INQUIRING MINDS 40 SHELF LIFE 42 ALUMNI IN PRINT 43 PATRIOT PROFILE
53 MASON MEMORIES
MORE ON THE WEB When you see this graphic, follow it to the magazine’s website for more: spirit.gmu.edu. Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 1
MASON SPIRIT
FIRST WORDS
A MAGAZINE FOR THE GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY
spirit.gmu.edu
UNIVERSITIES MUST LEAD THE WAY George Mason University and other leading research institutions must tackle the complex, grand challenges of our time. This is essential as part of our mission as problem solvers. Understanding these grand challenges is the first step because each one cuts across disciplines and cultures—and other challenges. No one person, university, or country will solve one of these interlocked problems working alone.
PHOTO BY RON AIRA
Our approach to research must start by identifying the problems, assembling partners on our campuses and off, and working through a global lens. Only then can we maximize our impact. Some of our work has been outlined for us by the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. These goals, incorporating environmental, economic, and social global challenges, provide clarity for research organizations to determine how they want to deploy their intellectual and financial capital. At Mason, we are focusing our efforts in four interconnected areas—assuring a healthy planet, healthy people, healthy economy, and healthy society. It’s about improving quality of life for all and recognizing that our collective fate and well-being is intertwined across oceans and borders. An unequal outcome means an unsolved problem. In this issue of Spirit, you will see how we have confronted the COVID-19 challenge by developing a rapid-result test and helping vaccinate thousands of citizens. You’ll see how our drought and wildfire forecasting and efforts to increase climate literacy can result in a healthier planet. You’ll see how our Small Business Development Center Network is assisting the state’s business community in a tough economy and how Mason plans to upskill workers. You’ll see how our research into policing can create a more just society. Our research works in tandem with our educational mission. Through experiential learning opportunities, our students grasp the interconnected global challenges we face and work alongside our faculty to learn the interdisciplinary commitment, methods, and procedures required to grapple with such challenges. We want our students to graduate as budding leaders with the ability to articulate and enact solutions in their communities, or on a broader scale. As one of the nation’s Tier 1 research universities, and given our advantageous location, Mason is and should be taking the lead to focus on these goals. We’re poised for even greater impact because we’re poised to work with all of the stakeholders. Public universities are here to serve the public, and Mason is ready to take on these grand challenges. Gregory Washington President, George Mason University
Follow President Washington on Twitter at @gmupres. 2 | SPIRIT.GMU.EDU
M A N AG I N G E D I TO R Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95 A S S O C I AT E E D I TO R S Melanie Balog Priyanka Champaneri, BA ’05, MFA ’10 Rob Riordan, MPA ’19 E D I TO R I A L A S S I S TA N T S Liam Griffin, BA ‘20 Delaney Harrison CO N T R I B U TO R S Mariam Aburdeineh, BA ’13 Jerome Boettcher Martha Bushong Damian Cristodero Elizabeth Gillooly Kristen Greiner, MFA ‘20 John Hollis Anna Stolley Persky Corey Jenkins Schaut, MPA ’07 Pam Shepherd Preston Williams D E S I G N A N D I L LU S T R AT I O N Claire Brandt Joan Dall'Acqua David Lewis Marcia Staimer P H OTO G R A P H Y A N D M U LT I M E D I A Ron Aira Melissa Cannarozzi Evan Cantwell, MA ’10 Lathan Goumas Ian Shiff P R O D U C T I O N M A N AG E R Brian Edlinski E D I TO R I A L B O A R D Paul G. Allvin Vice President for Strategic Communications and Marketing Trishana E. Bowden Vice President for Advancement and Alumni Relations Kathleen Diemer Associate Vice President for Advancement Relations Jennifer W. Robinson, JM ‘02 Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations Michael Sandler Associate Vice President for Communications Mason Spirit is published three times a year by the Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations and the Office of Communications and Marketing. George Mason University is an equal opportunity employer that encourages diversity.
FROM OUR READERS
Adding Context ➤I was disappointed with President Gregory Washington’s First Words column (Fall 2020) lacking context of the history of slavery in the country. Aside from mentioning that America’s forefathers “...were incapable of rising above the norms of their time...”, he fails to mention that slavery is not exclusively America’s original sin, but humanity’s original sin. Slaves and enslavers have been of every race and religion throughout the world. Just as Europeans enslaved Africans, North Africans enslaved Europeans, and so on. Instead of falling into the presentism trap, we should celebrate the group of men—of which George Mason belonged—who risked their lives to lay the foundation of a nation where everyone is considered created equal, at a time when that was considered anathema. Robert Lazaneo, BA ’98
A Wasted Opportunity? ➤With a Black man inaugurated as the new president of Mason, it was a wasted opportunity putting the focus on racism as one of his first initiatives. The United States twice elected a Black man president, the state of Virginia has a Black lieutenant governor, and Mason has a Black president, yet President Washington wants to look under every rock, look in every crevice, to identify racial bias. Yet, he says he wants Mason to be a beacon for reconciliation and healing. Huh? A clear majority of students at Mason are “communities of color,” but Washington feels the need for an anti-racism task force. Please stop the witch hunts and focus on education. Paul Barsnica, MEd ’00
Remembering George Mason, the Man ➤If you visit George Mason’s home you will learn some things about this man. You may have noticed that he did not sign the documents signed by the other Founding Fathers. He wanted it written in those documents that slavery would be abolished. It did not get passed. His response was “I would rather cut off my right hand than sign these documents.” He left and went home. He spent the rest of his life as a very private citizen. June D. Leeuwrik, BS ’87
Equal Opportunity in Action ➤If you are like me, you are one among generations between the 1980s and today who earned admission to
and/or a degree from GMU according to “anti-discrimination” and “equal opportunity” principles for all. It was not a myth, and it was more than just the posted law on campus: We subconsciously agreed it was the right way to behave and the fairest way to conduct life’s business. Our experience at GMU included a diverse, international group of professors and classmates. When one professor in particular was hired by GMU, it was fantastic breaking news— not because of his race, gender, or other immutable characteristic, but because he was a superstar in the field of economics (his name was Walter Williams). “Equal opportunity” and “anti-discrimination” framed how we conducted our professional lives after GMU. Some of us went on to public service and other fields where diversity was abundant and obvious. We all encountered some measure of unfairness, cruelty, and disappointment—not because we were victims of exclusion tactics, but because that’s life. The perfect life did not exist for anyone; neither did “systemic racism” until folks began peddling it and related concepts, ironically, from positions of power. Kristin Matsuda, BA ’92
Taco Bowl Wednesdays ➤Throughout my four years at Mason (2003–07), I was a proud member of the Mason cheerleading team and was known for my over-the-top green and gold spirit! Back then we had the annual opportunity to compete nationally against some of the best Division I college cheer teams in the country, and this is what Mason Cheer lived for. Somewhere along the way it became routine for my teammates and I to attend what we adoringly referred to as “Taco Bowl Wednesdays” at the JC Bistro. After Wednesday morning practices, a group of us would go to the Bistro for lunch and indulge in what I still to this day argue may have been the best taco bowls I have ever had. There was something so gratifying about putting our blood, sweat, and tears (literally, some days!) into a strenuous practice, and then going straight to the Bistro afterwards to stuff our faces with delicious taco bowls…in our Mason Cheer gear, of course. We would go our separate ways afterwards, only to look forward to reconvening the following Wednesday at our spot in the Bistro. I am still friends with several of these teammates today, and I think I can speak for all of us that we would do anything to enjoy another Taco Bowl Wednesday at the Bistro together.
We want to hear from you. Letters to the editor are welcomed. Send correspondence to Colleen Kearney Rich, Managing Editor, Mason Spirit, 4400 University Drive, MS 2F7, Fairfax, Virginia 22030. Or send an email to spirit@gmu.edu. Need to change your address or update contact information with us? Or prefer not to receive the magazine in the mail any longer? Just let us know via email at development@gmu.edu.
Laura Lazarus Jessup, BA ’07
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What Lies Beneath
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ith the opening of the new Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory this spring, George Mason University becomes just the eighth location in the world capable of performing transformative outdoor research in forensic science using human donors. The five-acre facility on the Science and Technology Campus will offer a distinctive learning experience for Mason students, allowing them to perform cutting-edge forensic science research pertinent to the criminal justice system while developing highly sought-after skills as careerready graduates. The lab, administered by the Forensic Science Program, will also serve as a proving ground for technological advances in applied forensic sciences. “Our vision is to be interdisciplinary and collaborative in our pursuit of the latest high-tech and hands-on course work for our students,” says program director and former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole. “[And] to set a new bar for a wide range of research, from scent dog and chemistry research to determining the postmortem interval.” The laboratory will receive its first human remains late in the spring semester. It is dedicated to studying the processes
PHOTO BY IAN SHIFF
Mason researchers Anthony Falsetti and Mary Ellen O’Toole on the grounds of the outdoor Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory.
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of human decomposition in various conditions for the purposes of solving crimes. This will include the examination of environmental changes, soil composition, animal scavenging, floral diversity, and insect species variations. This information will be used for medical-legal applications and law enforcement training. Detailed measures have been put in place to assure security and environmental integrity. Donations of human remains to the research facility will come through the Virginia State Anatomical Program, a part of the Virginia Department of Health. The lab’s location presents opportunities to partner with federal and state agencies and U.S. military organizations, such as the Virginia State Medical Examiner, Virginia Department of Forensic Sciences, University of Virginia’s Applied Biodynamics Laboratory, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in addition to local, state, and national law enforcement agencies. “This facility will be breaking ground, setting new standards, researching new forensic techniques, and ultimately solving cases,” O’Toole says. —John Hollis
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eorge Mason University improved its already strong ranking as one of the nation’s most diverse universities in the latest U.S. News & World Report list. Mason is ranked 15th nationally in ethnic diversity, up nine spots, and the best in the Washington, D.C., area. Mason is also the top Virginia school for innovation, and 35th nationally, in the U.S. News 2021 Best Colleges rankings. The university made significant gains in several high-profile categories, including its ranking among national universities (No. 143, up 10 spots) and public universities (No. 65, up seven spots). It also reached the top 100 best schools for veterans and is listed as an “A+ School for B Students.” “Mason continues to be on the move as a top research university,” Mason President Gregory Washington says. “I’m particularly pleased to see these rankings confirm that our inclusive approach to excellence is working. Our ratings for both quality and inclusion are strong and getting stronger.” —Damian Cristodero
OVERALL Best Value: No. 129 (previously 135) Best University for Veterans: No. 100 (previously 109) Social Mobility: No. 144 (10-way tie) A+ School for B Students (selection, no rankings)
PROGRAM RANKINGS Undergraduate Business: No. 81 Undergraduate Computer Science*: No. 71 Undergraduate Engineering (Doctoral): No. 102 (previously 108) *New category for 2021
Q&A with Scalia Law Dean Kenneth Randall
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ntonin Scalia Law School dean Kenneth Randall has an impressive track record when it comes to using innovation to transform academia. Prior to coming to Mason, Randall served for two decades as the law dean at the University of Alabama. Under his leadership, Alabama’s U.S. News & World Report law ranking leapt from No. 96 to 21. In addition to being named one of legal education’s most transformative deans of the last decade by Leiter’s Law School Reports, he founded iLaw Ventures Distance Learning in 2013. Randall started at Mason on December 1.
PROVIDED PHOTO
Diversity Tops Mason’s Big Gains in U.S. News Rankings
What drew you to Mason? It’s a great university with an energetic new president with a successful track record. I do relate to a student body that has a lot of first-generation students. It has what I consider to be a top 20 faculty and a top 20 student body. The law school is distinguished by having academic centers, and several of them are the best, not only in the country, but in the world. It’s the best law and economics and antitrust law school anywhere. I like what’s happening in Arlington. With Amazon having its headquarters there, I think there’s real potential for interdisciplinary growth. In my many trips to Mason, whether giving a talk, attending a conference, or interviewing, it felt right. I am really excited and honored to be at Mason. How will diversity play a role in the strategic plan? It will be significant, and to start, there are three initiatives: First, we are initiating enrollment-pipelining programs with [historically Black colleges and universities] in the commonwealth. Second, we have another program in place to help pipeline Mason undergraduates into the law school. Third, we’ll be expanding the part-time evening program to increase inclusive opportunities. We’re going to use technology to make legal education more accessible for nontraditional and adult students. We’ll have a program starting in fall 2021 that allows students to come to the law school just two nights a week. —Mariam Aburdeineh, BA ’13
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SpecUdate Changes the Dating Game
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ILLUSTRATION BY MARCIA STAIMER
hen Mason student Cameron Smith bought his first lottery ticket shortly after his 21st birthday, it reminded him of his experiences with online dating. Both “are kind of a crapshoot,” he recalls thinking. “That was the bingo moment.” A year later, Smith and Dennis Nayandin, both seniors majoring in computer science and club hockey teammates, created the SpecUdate app. Users play simple games such as Two Truths and a Lie with prospective partners, something Smith says helps break the ice and improves potentially awkward first conversations. Smith has become known around campus as “the SpecUdate guy” for passing out flyers between classes, while Nayandin has worked behind the scenes on coding and development.
“I’ve never built a full stack app before, so each step was basically a learning process,” Nayandin says. In its first month, the app gained nearly 500 users, over half of whom were Mason students. Smith and Nayandin used resources from Mason’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Small Business Development Center to develop their idea, and they eventually plan to expand to other universities and colleges around Virginia. Their main focus now is growing the number of users. “It’s totally about helping people have fun while finding meaningful connections online and [having] better conversations with people they meet,” Smith says. SpecUdate is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. —Delaney Harrison
Mason Launches Military, Veterans, and Families Initiative
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pproximately 10 percent of George Mason University’s student body identifies as military-connected, whether as active-duty military, a veteran, or a dependent. To ensure these individuals and their families receive the assistance and acquire the skills they need, Mason is expanding comprehensive services for this population through the newly formed Military, Veterans, and Families Initiative (MVFI). “Members of the military—and their families—make untold sacrifices for the sake of the nation. It is our responsibility to give back to these individuals in whatever way we can,” MVFI founder and director Keith Renshaw says. MVFI had its beginnings in 2015 when a group of faculty and staff began discussing ideas for a center dedicated to servicemembers and veterans at Mason. Over time, the idea evolved to focus on organizing and bringing together Mason’s many activities that support militaryconnected students. For example, when a veteran or family member goes to the Office of Military Services for help with benefits, they can also learn about arts workshops, mental health services, scholarships, and specialized programs. If someone who 6 | SPIRIT.GMU.EDU
attends a Veterans and the Arts Initiative workshop might benefit from additional support, staff from the workshop can share information about specialized services available at the Center for Psychological Services. Under Renshaw’s guidance, and with the support of a philanthropic gift from Technatomy, whose CEO, Nadeem Butler, BS Finance ’91, is a veteran, the initiative launched this year. MVFI programs are divided into four “pillars,” which are education, research, direct services, and workforce development. External partnerships are important as well, Renshaw says, with MVFI continuing to form relationships with area nonprofits that serve military-connected populations. Future programming includes a panel with Northern Virginia veterans on how to better meet the health care needs of veterans during the pandemic, and working with the Warrior Centric Healthcare Foundation to develop programming for health care professionals on some of the common psychological issues in veteran populations. “Much of our work is emerging as we connect with more people and gain more traction,” Renshaw says. —Pam Shepherd
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BY THE NUMBERS Graduation 2020
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eorge Mason University honored a recordhigh number of graduates at the virtual 53rd Commencement on December 17. Livestreamed on GMU-TV, with graduates and their families and friends tuning in from around the world, the pre-recorded ceremony recognized the more than 9,700 students who graduated in the spring, and the more than
4,600 who completed their degree work during the summer and fall. The guest speaker was Charniele L. Herring, BA Economics ’93, the first woman and first African American to serve as majority leader of the Virginia House of Delegates.
CLASS OF 2020
5,075
Number of degrees and certificates conferred
63
Number of Countries Represented
TOP FIVE UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS • Information Systems and Operations Management
163
Number of doctoral degrees conferred
41
Number of states represented (plus the District of Columbia, Guam, and Military APO)
31%
Graduating students identifying as first generation
• Psychology • Computer Science
INFOGRAPHIC BY MARCIA STAIMER
• Management • Criminology, Law and Society
1.2M
The number of plastic bottles Mason has kept out of landfills since adopting the green gowns in 2011.
POINT of PRIDE Academic Influence has named Mason Distinguished Professor David Weisburd No. 2 on its list of the 25 most influential criminologists in the world. The website, dedicated to measuring the impact of some of the world’s top academic influencers, cited Weisburd’s “meaningful research into white-collar crime, as well as the micro-geography of crime.”
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Each GreenWeaver gown by Oak Hall is made from 23 plastic bottles (20 ounce). Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 7
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PHOTO BY MATT STARKEY/CLEVELAND BROWNS
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During three games this past season, Callie Brownson filled in as a position coach for the Cleveland Browns.
Making History in the NFL
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his past November, Callie Brownson, BS Sport Management ’16, achieved a lifelong dream and made NFL history in the process. Brownson became the first woman to coach a position group in an NFL regular-season game when she served as interim coach of the tight ends for the Cleveland Browns during their win over Jacksonville. The sideline jacket she wore that day and an autographed game ball are on exhibit in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “I think it’s a really cool time for women to see all these possibilities and all these barriers breaking,” Brownson says. “There’s a lot of examples [showing that] you can be anything you want to be right now.” Since graduating from Mason less than five years ago, Brownson has helped blaze a trail for women in sports. The Alexandria, Virginia, native was the first full-time female Division I college football coach when she served on Dartmouth College’s staff, and a year later, she was an intern for the Buffalo Bills. She again shattered the glass ceiling last March when the Browns hired her as their chief of staff—the first woman to ever hold that position in the NFL. Brownson oversees the 8 | SPIRIT.GMU.EDU
logistics and operations for Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski. Navigating a pandemic and altering schedules at a moment’s notice have only made the job more challenging, but it is a role Brownson has relished in a breakout year for the Browns, who made the playoffs for the first time since 2002. “I get to live my dream, and years ago I didn’t think that anything like this would be possible,” she says. “So I’m grateful. Honestly, it’s a tribute to all the people who helped me get here.” That list includes faculty in Mason’s sport management program such as Charley Casserly, a former NFL executive for the Washington Football Team and Houston Texans who Brownson calls a mentor. Seeing the program as a “stepping stone” for her career, Brownson says Mason’s professors were influential in helping her sharpen her skills, narrowing down her career direction, and developing a plan to reach those goals. “You’re able to really establish a rapport with these professors,” she says. “It was such a rewarding experience for me to be able to work with all of them.” —Jerome Boettcher
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Engineering and Computing Schools to Reorganize into a New College
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n October, the George Mason University Board of Visitors approved the creation of the College of Engineering and Computing, pending approval by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The college will house the proposed new School of Computing and the existing Volgenau School of Engineering. Ken Ball, the current dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering, will serve as dean of the new college. “The Volgenau School of Engineering has greatly benefited over its history from its strong ties to computing,” says Ball. “The visionaries who founded the engineering school at Mason grounded in computing and information technology would be proud of its evolution and growth as it becomes the new College of Engineering and Computing.” The School of Computing will provide an
array of computing and related courses to students from all backgrounds and at all levels. The school will eventually include multidisciplinary programs created in collaboration with faculty in Mason’s other colleges who have an interest in teaching and conducting research related to computing. Many see computing and digital fluency as central to every other discipline and every aspect of business and society, and envision endless opportunities for collaboration with experts in the humanities, health care, and business. The launch of the School of Computing also leverages investments from the Commonwealth of Virginia that were driven by Amazon’s decision to locate its East Coast headquarters in nearby Crystal City. An international search for permanent divisional deans for the two schools is underway.
In the meantime, Sanjeev Setia is the interim dean for the School of Computing and Ariela Sofer is interim dean for the Volgenau School. Setia, Volgenau’s associate dean for computing programs and initiatives, served as chair of the Computer Science Department for two terms from 2011 to 2019, and he also served as interim chair of the department when the Computer Science and Information and Software Engineering departments merged during the 2006–07 academic year. Sofer is the associate dean for administration and faculty affairs in the Volgenau School and served as department chair for the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research for almost 16 years. Martha Bushong and John Hollis contributed to this article.
Peterson Honored with 2021 Outstanding Faculty Award
PHOTO BY RON AIRA
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eorge Mason University philosophy professor Andrew Peterson is among the 12 educators honored by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) with its 2021 Outstanding Faculty Awards. Peterson was selected as a Rising Star from 72 nominees. Working in Mason’s Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy since 2016, Peterson has quickly established himself as an up-and-coming leader in the field of bioethics. His expertise in health-driven and evidence-based strategies could help policymakers forge a comprehensive approach to a COVID-19 vaccine strategy that benefits all Americans. “It means a great deal to me,” he says of the honor. “I grew up in a military family and took a leap of faith to pursue an academic career rather than enlisting. This award gives me confidence that I chose the right path.” The award is the highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private institutions of higher learning, recognizing those who exemplify the highest standards of teaching, scholarship, and service. Peterson is Mason’s 23rd recipient since the award’s inception in 1987. The Rising Star category was created in 2004 to recognize faculty with more than two but less than six years of full-time experience. Two recipients are selected for this category annually. College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean Ann Ardis credits Peterson for fostering the next generation of scholars through his innovative classes, commitment to mentoring, and outstanding bioethics teaching. “Andrew epitomizes the world-class research and engaged teaching and mentoring on which our college thrives.” —John Hollis
Andrew Peterson accepted his award virtually in March. Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 9
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MASON ”Going forward we are choosing to be an institution that amplifies marginalized voices—voices from the past and voices in the present.” —Wendi Manuel-Scott
Anti-Racism Task Force Prepares to Share Recommendations, Receive Feedback
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ver the past several months, members of George Mason University’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force have been hard at work analyzing the current state of the university, making recommendations, and preparing for the major work ahead.
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More than faculty, staff, and students are involved in the task force.
We recently spoke with the task force leadership—Dietra Trent, the interim vice president for Compliance, Diversity, and Ethics and special advisor to the president, and co-chairs Shernita Rochelle Parker, Mason’s assistant vice president for HR strategy and talent management, and Wendi Manuel-Scott, a professor of history in the School of Integrative Studies within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the former director of the African and African American Studies Program—to see how the initiative is going. “[The task force’s work] is important not just so we can check boxes and make sure that we are viewed amongst our peers as the best,” says Trent. “We know that there are structural racism and biases built in every system. This task force wants to help Mason as a whole understand where our challenges are and have been, and then partner to overcome those challenges.” “I’ve been at Mason for almost two decades as a faculty member,” says Manuel-Scott. “While the campus has grown, I think what has remained consistent is a deep desire
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that Mason be an institution that lives up to who we say we are and give meaning to what we say our core values are on a daily basis.” Committee reports were due October 31. What’s happening now? Trent: The task force was launched in late August. Many of the committees started working immediately. In their reports, the committees recommended short-term goals (within this academic year) and longer-term goals (within the next academic year) to accomplish. To ensure that everyone on campus has an opportunity to review and weigh in on the committee recommendations, we will host a series of town halls. We are also planning to engage the community. We believe everyone can contribute and should be provided an opportunity to do so. We are also setting up an interactive website where the Mason community can stay informed about this initiative, and offer suggestions and solutions to some of our challenges. There will be plenty of resources on the website, including committee recommendations and deliverables; performance measures; faculty, staff, and student spotlights; interviews; a report card; [and so forth]. This website is a key way for Mason to tell our story, keep our community engaged, and share our progress.
@ Dietra Trent
PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
PHOTO BY LATHAN GOUMAS
PHOTO BY LATHAN GOUMAS
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Wendi Manuel-Scott
Does Mason really need a task force to do this work? Manuel-Scott: It is important to keep in mind that justice-centered work at Mason did not begin with the establishment of the task force. There are so many individuals across the campus— staff, faculty, administrators, and students—who believe in building an inclusive university, and they have been doing that work for years. The more than 130 members of the task force are from many different corners of campus, and they all have different gifts, skill sets, and expertise. They are committed to creating an anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-heterosexist, and anti-classist institution. Even in the scariest and most difficult moments, we continue to talk to each other, stay engaged, dream boldly, and imagine an institution that sees and values every single person. What makes this task force unique from other institutions’ anti-racism efforts? Parker: We have had a lot of conversation about what Mason’s definition of anti-racism might be. We thought it was important to get some sense of what anti-racism means for the committees in terms of the work on which they were focused. Each committee created its own definition as a part of their reports, and those definitions will be made available to the Mason
community on the website. We’re trying to figure out how Mason community members can also add their anti-racism definitions. When we talk about thriving together, this work is a testament to that commitment. It’s the action that goes with the words. It’s a long-term effort and challenging, but it’s work that’s so worthwhile because it speaks to what we need to do and should do. How is the task force including all voices in this work? Trent: Dr. Washington charged the task force with leading Mason in becoming a national exemplar in anti-racism and inclusive excellence. Mason’s capacity to accomplish this depends on the full diversity and inclusivity of our community. We define diversity in the broadest sense of the word—with no one excluded. We welcome all voices. Inclusive excellence requires that we leave no one out. Students are playing a large role in this initiative. Why is that? Trent: Student perspectives are key to this effort. Our student members are offering viewpoints and solutions that promote diversity and inclusion. They serve on every committee. When we’re looking at university policies and procedures, pedagogy and curriculum, research, training
Shernita Rochelle Parker and development, or campus and community engagement in the committees, students’ voices are well represented. Additionally, there is a Student Voice committee, co-chaired by an undergraduate and graduate student, that has 12 to 15 members. The Student Voice committee meets regularly and has contributed significantly to the task force’s work. What are the next steps for the task force? Manuel-Scott: There are going to be some short-term initiatives that we can do immediately, and the funding will be available to tackle those quickly. Then there are going to be the institutional changes that are going to require a long-term commitment, such as thinking about how we recruit and how we can be more intentional in terms of who we recruit. It is a complex effort, and the initiatives will impact people across campus. Going forward we are choosing to be an institution that amplifies marginalized voices—voices from the past and voices in the present. —Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95
For more information on the task force and to see the full interview, go to arie.gmu.edu.
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Honors College students Shayn Kilpatrick and Alexis Massenburg listen during a session of HNRS 240 Reading the Past.
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PHOTO BY LATHAN GOUMAS
s the unusual fall semester ended, we took the opportunity to talk to several George Mason University professors who taught in-person or hybrid classes. Here are their thoughts on what worked well for them. The new requirement of regularly sanitizing classrooms kept Kathleen Mulcahy, director of woodwinds in the Dewberry Family School of Music, on her feet—literally. Because Mulcahy does a significant amount of one-on-one teaching and the rooms need to be sanitized, Mulcahy must change venues after each student. “It’s been an adjustment getting used to carrying my instruments between several different locations on campus, but it has been worth it.” Mulcahy says she did not hesitate to return to campus to teach this fall. “I felt like our school did so much more research on safe options for teaching music,” she says. “My colleagues at other schools were very impressed with the information I was receiving from our leadership. None had received anywhere near the level of support available to me.” When the weather was nice, Mulcahy moved her classes outside. “The students are so appreciative of the opportunity to play live and together,” she says. That student affirmation is echoed by Robinson Professor of Public Affairs Steven Pearlstein. “The students really appreciate it,” he says. “They see that the professor is working hard to make the class possible.” One student even told Pearlstein that his class was the highlight of his week.
It was important to Pearlstein to maintain the same Socratic method format for this class that he has honed over the years. He credits the classroom he uses for the ability to deliver his lectures as he always has. The room was equipped with microphones to allow students and Pearlstein to be heard clearly through their masks. During a career spanning almost six decades, Mason history professor and former provost Peter Stearns has been through it all. Teaching during a pandemic provided new challenges, and Stearns jumped in when the call went out for faculty interested in teaching face-to-face for fall 2020. “I saw this as a legit opportunity to pitch in,” he says. Any concerns Stearns harbored regarding teaching faceto-face evaporated when he arrived at his classroom in Robinson Hall B. “It’s a very well-organized arrangement, all done by Facilities,” Stearns says. “The other chairs are completely gone; wipes and hand sanitizer are provided.” Stearns says both history courses he taught this semester—one hybrid, one online—went well. He also noted an interesting phenomenon. “Some students are actually doing things better this semester,” Stearns says. “More students are turning in work early and the quality of work for the freshman students is especially better than I’ve previously seen.” That, according to Stearns, is a silver lining in this unprecedented semester. —Elizabeth Gillooly
@
MASON
MEET THE M AS ON N AT ION Deborah Beck Corbatto
PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
Job: Deputy Athletic Director, Internal Operations and Risk Management
Deborah “Debi” Beck Corbatto, BS Marketing ’86, MS Exercise Science, Fitness, and Health Promotion ’03, PhD Education ’18, has been making a difference for Mason student-athletes for more than 15 years. A certified athletic trainer, she has held various positions on the athletic training staff at Mason, including assistant athletic director for sports performance and associate head athletic trainer. Now, as deputy athletic director, she leads Mason’s efforts to support its student-athletes through programs in nutrition, conditioning, and sports psychology. PROMOTING WELL-BEING ON AND OFF THE PLAYING FIELD: “The most dramatic change in my role has been from being the ‘boots on the ground’ operational person working with individual athletes and sports teams to being the strategic planner,” she says. “This has allowed me to impact the wellbeing of many more students at Mason.” Corbatto has also played a role in the university’s Safe Return to Campus Plan. MEDALS AND MEMORIES: In addition to her work with Mason, Corbatto has worked extensively with USA Basketball and the U.S. Olympic Training Center. For her work as a trainer with USA Basketball, Corbatto won a FIBA World Cup gold medal. One of her favorite Mason memories centers around when she
was the athletic trainer for the men’s basketball team during their 2006 Final Four run. “We had just cut down the nets at the regional championship in D.C., and we heard there were people spontaneously gathering at the Patriot Center,” she says. “When we arrived, it was joyful chaos. Our community had gathered in celebration for this amazing accomplishment. The chanting, dancing, tears, and hugs are a memory for a lifetime!” CHOOSING MASON AGAIN AND AGAIN: Corbatto was originally drawn to Mason to finish her undergraduate degree in marketing and has gone on to complete two additional Mason degrees. “Mason has always been a place where students can create their own path to success,” she says. “Even in the early 1980s.” EMBRACING THE DIFFICULT: If there’s any lesson that Corbatto could impart to others in the Mason community, she says it’s a willingness to embrace the difficult and dare greatly. “Every day we experience risk, uncertainty, social situations, and challenges that actually help us grow as a person,” she says. “We have to be courageous and curious as we choose opportunities to keep pushing our boundaries and allowing us to grow and learn, even at my age!”
POINT of PRIDE According to InsideHigherEd.com, Mason is one of only five universities nationwide to earn an A+ rating from We Rate COVID Dashboards, a project started by two Yale College of Medicine professors.
—Liam Griffin, BA ’20
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ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLAIRE BRANDT
Tackling the World’s
Grand Challenges 14 | SPI RIT.GMU.EDU
George Mason University has long prided itself on innovation and meeting the needs of our students, the region, and beyond. The world changed in 2020 in ways no one could have anticipated, and so have we. The engineering world has called them “grand challenges.” The United Nations calls them “sustainable development goals.” These are the problems plaguing the planet that can’t be tackled by one person, one university, or even one country—climate change, social justice, the opioid crisis, and COVID-19, to name a few. “Great research universities tackle the grand-challenge problems of our time,” says George Mason University President Gregory Washington. “We call it research of consequence for a reason—we face serious consequences as a planet if we cannot solve our most pressing global challenges.”
As Virginia’s largest public research university, Mason is committed to being part of the many solutions the world needs. Faculty researchers at the forefront of their fields and our innovative students—all committed to making real change happen—are helping Mason make an impact in the United States and abroad with their inventions, scholarship, and analysis. The university has pinpointed four key areas where Mason hopes to move the needle and contribute on a large scale: healthy planet, healthy people, healthy economy, and healthy society. These challenges affect all of us regardless of who we are or where we live. By making inroads in these four areas, Mason will be making a global impact for years to come.
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Healthy Planet Wildfires raging unchecked, rising global temperatures and sea levels, drought on one side of the planet and hurricanes on the other—current and future generations must be ready to face climate change-related challenges. One thing is clear: No country will be able to proceed into the future unscathed. Paving the way to a healthy planet and finding a way to thrive in this new reality requires a multifaceted approach that crosses disciplines and traditional ways of thinking. Here are some of Mason’s efforts to innovate solutions: •
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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected scientists from Mason’s Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies to lead the effort to create a more reliable drought forecasting model. Daniel Tong, an associate professor of atmospheric chemistry and aerosols in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, is using aircraft campaign data to assess the quality of a new satellite fire product that NOAA officials are considering to support their next-generation wildfire forecasting system. Mason’s Business for a Better World Center focuses on training Mason students to become leaders who keep the planet foremost in mind as they embark on future endeavors.
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One of the center’s projects involved partnering with the university’s Honey Bee Initiative and Fairfax County to convert mowed land at the I-95 Landfill Complex in Lorton into meadows that are ideal for honey bee pollination and to install an apiary there. •
Mason has a unique partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. Together, through the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation, they offer a range of compelling, hands-on, interdisciplinary, residential programs in conservation biology for students and professionals at its facility in Front Royal, Virginia.
•
This year Edward Maibach and researchers at the Center for Climate Change Communication reported on data that showed how, over the past decade, its programs have increased U.S. climate literacy. Maibach was recently recognized with the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication.
•
Mason’s Flood Hazards Research Lab focuses on developing innovative water resources and coastal engineering ideas, methods, and systems aimed at restoring and improving urban infrastructure and society resilience in the National Capital Region, the Chesapeake Bay, and beyond.
Healthy People The coronavirus pandemic has put public health in the spotlight and brought the health disparities that exist across social, racial, and economic groups into sharper focus. Mason researchers are exploring disease detection, treatment, and prevention. A public health focus in Mason’s College of Health and Human Services helps position the university to be a leader in health and wellbeing in the region. Here are a few of the projects that made a difference this year: •
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Mason epidemiologist Amira Roess played a crucial role in the overall planning of Mason’s successful Safe Return to Campus in the fall, including developing the university’s online Health Check Tool. Roess also advises public and private organizations on how to safely resume operations and is frequently quoted in the media. The 10 Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinics serve the uninsured and refugee communities within Prince William and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia. In addition to providing health care, school physicals, screenings, and mental health services for vulnerable populations, they have pitched in during the pandemic to provide COVID-19 testing and vaccines. Mason researchers Ali Andalibi, Lance Liotta, and Virginia Espina are leading Mason’s on-campus COVID-19 testing in 2021 with a saliva-based test they developed and piloted with the university’s student-athletes in the fall. Mason’s innovation makes it possible to increase our weekly
surveillance and random COVID-19 testing from around 1,000 tests per week to a goal of 10,000 tests per week in the spring semester. •
The Mercatus Center, under director Tyler Cowen, BS Economics ’83, created the Fast Grants initiative to rapidly fund COVID-19-related research. Starting with a $1 million grant from the Thiel Foundation, the program has received more than $22 million in funding and offered more than 130 grants through the fast-tracked program, which provides responses to applications within 14 days.
•
Mason’s Center for Psychological Services has long been a mental health resource for the Northern Virginia community. In November 2020 the center established a COVID-19 Essential Workers Emotional Support Line, a telephone line for those affected most by COVID-19 to speak to a trained provider about stress, anxiety, depression, or grief—for free. The help line is staffed largely by Mason undergraduate psychology student volunteers, which is in keeping with the center’s goals.
•
Mason education professor Elizabeth Levine Brown recently surveyed PreK–12 teachers throughout the United States about their experience teaching during the coronavirus pandemic and discovered that 55 percent of teachers tended to student wellness, often at the expense of their own emotional health.
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Healthy Economy Accelerated by the pandemic, the nation’s economy has endured drastic changes in the past year. Up to 40 percent of jobs lost in 2020 are likely gone forever, and the unemployment rate of college graduates is at its highest since the Great Depression. With small businesses shuttering and companies having to quickly adapt to remote-work culture, revitalizing the economy will take time and ingenuity. Given the links between a healthy regional economy, a robust workforce, and an innovative university, Mason is critical to the region’s economic success. •
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The Mason-based Virginia Small Business Development Center Network (SBDC) has been crucial in advising and assisting the commonwealth’s business community during a financially challenging year. The SBDC Network quickly scaled up its remote capacity to offer more consultations, webinars, training opportunities, and online tools and resources. In 2020, the SBDC assisted 9,500 businesses, resulting in $86 million in new capital received and 1,167 loans obtained. The Stephen S. Fuller Institute and the Center for Regional Analysis identify trends and conditions affecting the region’s economy. Businesses and government leverage this critical data to make informed decisions regarding the region’s future.
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•
With a $1 million grant from Strada Education Network, the ADVANCE Program, Mason’s partnership with Northern Virginia Community College, launched the ADVANCE Career Accelerator Toolkit, a first-of-its-kind web-based application designed to help prospective students select majors based on desired career outcomes and better communicate to employers how their experiences relate to prospective jobs.
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Mason’s Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) program is working to address the growing skills gap from multiple angles. In addition to developing and delivering professional certification for entry-level and middle managers looking to advance their careers, Mason is focused on serving dislocated workers with degrees and helping them fill a skill gap—known as upskilling—that improves their eligibility for a career switch.
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Assistant professor of accounting Bret Johnson was awarded a one-year academic fellowship with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Johnson is assisting the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant with its oversight of accounting and auditing issues, helping companies implement new accounting standards, and assisting regulators in keeping up-to-date with the latest academic research on economic and financial reporting regulatory issues.
•
The launch of the new School of Computing leverages investments from the Commonwealth of Virginia that were driven by Amazon’s decision to locate its East Coast headquarters in nearby Crystal City. With these investments, Mason has an unprecedented opportunity to play a leadership role in shaping the future of computing regionally, nationally, and globally.
Healthy Society These are turbulent times. The Black Lives Matter movement has spurred a necessary national dialogue on race and policing, and the recent presidential election has left us a country divided. Cyberattacks on the United States show the critical need to fortify our data networks. And we can’t forget the lives lost to the global pandemic, as well as COVID-19’s often crippling effect on worldwide economies, travel, and trade. Here are a few of the efforts Mason is making to affect change in the United States and abroad: •
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The Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy seeks to make scientific research a key component in decisions about crime and justice policies and carries out this mission by advancing rigorous studies in criminal justice and criminology through research-practice collaborations, and proactively serving as an informational and translational link to practitioners and the policy community. The new Peace Labs at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution incorporate knowledge, innovation, and unconventional methodologies to design solutions and processes for reducing violence, building sustainable peace, and restoring relations among social groups around the world. Lab practitioners create evidence-based, measurable, and reproducible responses to the challenges posed by conflict.
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Robinson Professor Laurie Robinson is a two-time former U.S. assistant attorney general who served in both the Clinton and Obama administrations. She co-chaired the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing and is frequently in the media for her police reform expertise.
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In 2020 Mason was selected to house one of 23 Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Centers in the United States, which focus on using Rx Racial Healing Circles to build trust and understanding among diverse groups.
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Scholars at the Schar School of Policy and Government and the Antonin Scalia Law School monitor the political climate in both the United States and abroad and are quoted in the media daily.
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The Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis Center (CINA), a Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, is a multidisciplinary academic consortium led by Mason that pursues innovative strategies and solutions to advance criminal network analysis, forensics, and investigative processes. CINA researchers are developing tools and technologies, as well as innovative educational and training solutions, to advance our nation’s abilities to counter transnational criminal activities.
Melanie Balog, Priyanka Champaneri, BA ‘05, MFA ‘10, and Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ‘95, contributed to this article.
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A RECORD YEAR FOR
RESEARCH Mason researchers across academic disciplines are hard at work answering questions that matter. B Y CO L L E E N K E A R N E Y R I C H , M FA ’ 95
PHOTOS BY OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING
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From top, a few of the Mason faculty who are working on grand challenges are the Volgenau School of Engineering’s Celso Ferreira, the College of Health and Human Services’s Farrokh Alemi, the College of Education and Human Development’s Brenda Bannan,Volgenau’s Siddhartha Sikdar, Robinson Professor Spencer Crew, and the College of Science’s Chi Yang. To learn more about their work and other projects, go to bit.ly/gmuresearch.
From examining exoplanets to learn more about the origin of the universe to using nanotechnology to create an inexpensive test for tuberculosis, George Mason University’s research impacts the world. This year, for the first time, research funding surpassed $221.4 million, an all-time high for the university that is well on track to meet Mason’s strategic goal of $225 million by 2024. That’s a 18.87 percent increase over 2019 when the university reported $186.3 million in research expenditures to the National Science Foundation Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey. The total includes funds provided by federal and state government entities, industry, nonprofit organizations, affiliated organizations, and the university itself. “Mason has a strong tradition of conducting research of consequence, from our pioneering work in cybersecurity decades ago to developing ways of testing for the coronavirus today,” says Mason President Gregory Washington. “We have grown our research portfolio significantly in recent years as more entities seek out productive partnerships with the largest and most diverse public university in Virginia.” “Mason has strategically pursued the goal of elevating research by supporting our community as they engage in high-impact research, scholarship, and creative activities across all of our disciplines,” says Aurali Dade, interim vice president for research, innovation, and economic impact. “The continued growth in expenditures—more than doubling since setting the goal in 2014—is very impressive and
reflects the deep commitment and expertise of our faculty and their willingness to engage in new partnerships on emerging topics.”
ON BECOMING A TOP-TIER RESEARCH UNIVERSIT Y Mason was first ranked among the highest research institutions in the country by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in 2016 and then again in 2018. By earning the “very high research” (R1) designation, Mason is among an elite group of 131 institutions known for performing at the highest research level in terms of research productivity and impact. And Mason is the youngest university on the list. As most large research problems are multidisciplinary, the university has organized much of its research enterprise around three institutes: the Institute for Biohealth Innovation (IBI), the Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE), and the Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA). These institutes bring together hundreds of Mason researchers from different academic fields under broad topics—health, sustainability, digital innovation—and build communities of research and practice that encourage collaboration. They also connect faculty and student researchers with other key players, such as policymakers, businesses and organizations, and potential partners and investors. This organizational structure not only serves as a catalyst for new research projects, but it can also help break down institutional walls and disciplinary boundaries, says Leah Nichols, ISE executive director. “For a certain project, you might need an economist and an engineer, and this model helps make that happen.” In addition to the institutes, the Office of the Provost, in collaboration with the colleges and schools, also supports transdisciplinary centers for advanced study led by multidisciplinary
faculty working together to address complex problems. These include the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions, the Quan tum Science and Engineering Center, the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities, the Center for Advancing Human-Machine Partnership, and the Center for Humanities Research (see page 37 for more information). Taking that collaborative model a step further, the university has also established initiatives that bring together researchers working within a particular arena. The first of these is the newly formed Military, Veterans, and Families Initiative, which combines research as well as university services that support active-duty servicemembers, veterans, and their families (see page 6 for more information).
TR ANSL ATING THE NE W TECHNOLOGY INTO PRODUC TS As the university’s body of research has grown so has the number of inventions, technologies, and innovations being patented by Mason faculty and students. Over the past five years, Mason’s patent portfolio has grown by 50 percent and includes a number of innovations that are helping change lives, such as cancer treatments, medical devices, and cybersecurity tools, to name a few. But having an idea isn’t enough. Researchers need help developing their discoveries into a product or service—that’s where Mason’s Office for Technology Transfer comes in. This office helps facilitate partnerships among Mason researchers, industry partners, and entrepreneurs to bring new technologies and other innovations to the marketplace. As the university’s translational research and commercialization activities are growing, the Office of Technology Transfer is also growing its team. Additional staff will help the office provide broad assistance to Mason researchers Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 21
TOP GR ANTS FOR 2019–20 In 2019–20, Mason researchers were working on more than 1,358 grants from a variety of sources including the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, and others. Among the highlights are •
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With $15 million in grant funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Mason has established a Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) Coordinating and Translation Center. Mason joined 11 research institutions named to the JCOIN, part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative, which aims to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. Led by University Professor Faye Taxman, the center manages logistics, engages with practitioners and other key stakeholders in the justice and behavioral health fields, and disseminates key findings. A multidisciplinary team of Mason researchers is part of a groundbreaking approach funded by the NSF that could change the face of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduate education in the future. Mason bioengineering professor Siddhartha Sikdar leads the team that has received a nearly $3 million NSF Research Traineeship grant to train more than 100 PhD students, including some with disabilities, to use state-of-the-art data analytic methods and wearable computing technologies. The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the planet, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of the changes to come. With the support of a $3 million NSF grant, Mason engineering professors Elise Miller-Hooks and Celso Ferreira, Carter School professor Sara Cobb, and a team of multi-institutional researchers are diving into how melting ice in the Arctic will affect the people, habitats, and social fabric of this remote region. Mason researchers have also been on the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus. More than 100 Mason faculty and student researchers are doing their parts to help thwart the COVID-19 pandemic, inventing new diagnostic tools and exploring promising therapies and vaccine delivery systems. The university received seven NSF Rapid Response Research grants designed to get researchers into the field and lab quicker than the traditional grant process.
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For fiscal year 2019, Mason was ranked 86th among public universities by the NSF. and inventors with filing patents and trademarks or copyright documents and negotiating partnerships and licensing agreements to bring new technology to the marketplace. Securing a patent is a long process, but Hina Mehta, director of the Office for Technology Transfer, says invention disclosures, an early step in that process, are up about 50 percent. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, there were concerns that many types of research would halt or slow. Surprisingly, the pandemic has actually spurred Mason research and is keeping Mehta and her staff busy. Mehta says technology transfer is also a lengthy process, and depending on the technology, the path to market can range from two to 10 years. As an example, Mehta cites the Nanotrap technology, created by Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, that has become an important part of COVID-19 testing. “The technology was licensed back in 2009, and it saw a lot of activity in 2020 because they could apply it to COVID-19,” says Mehta. She says there is also activity around telehealth licensing out of the College of Health and Human Services because of its relationship to dealing with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. “We want our faculty to know that a technological discovery may not be patentable as per patent laws, but it can still fulfill a need in the market,” says Mehta. “Hence, we look at everything from a ‘market need’ perspective.” And the research momentum is expected to continue as Mason’s research profile continues to rise nationally. For fiscal year 2019, the university was ranked 86th among all public universities by the NSF, and fiscal year 2020 promises even greater gains. Mason produces a quarterly research newsletter, Mason Momentum. To subscribe, go to bit.ly/gmumomentum.
$619k $2m $1.9m $1.2m $4.5m $2.9m
$1.6m $1.8m $2.9m $3.79m $3.79m
$5.8m $6.9m
$15.6m
$10.5m $91.8m
$33.5m
$63.1m
$12.2m $12.8m
Expenditures by Federal Agencies* Department of Defense
Expenditures by Funding Source
Department of Health and Human Services
Federal
National Science Foundation
Federal pass-through
Other Federal Agencies
Foundations
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Industry
Department of Education
State
Small Business Administration
Others
Department of Transportation
Association and Nonprofits
Department of Commerce
Local Governments and Schools
Department of Justice
Foreign Entities
Department of State
Total: $154.4 million
Total: $125.4 million * includes pass-through funds
Awards Expenditures
Research Awards and Expenditures FY 2010–20
(in millions of dollars) $200
$183
$176
150
$154
$148
$144
$129
100
$115
$109 $100 $92
$96
$97
$102 $92
$98
$98
$100
$101
$101
$101
$108
$100
50
0
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
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PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
SHINY AND NEW Four active-learning classrooms in the new Horizon Hall opened in time for the spring semester. The six-floor, 218,000-square-foot building is the centerpiece of the Core Campus Project that is transforming the center of the Fairfax Campus with a new and expanded Wilkins Plaza, which includes the Enslaved People of George Mason memorial; a renovated Harris Theatre; new green space; and an upgrade to the university’s utility infrastructure. Though there is still plenty of work to be done—the old Robinson Hall B must be torn down to make room for the terraced amphitheater and meditation garden—the opening of Horizon Hall represents a significant milestone for the university, especially considering the challenges from COVID-19 for the project.
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ONSERVATION
STARS Mason graduate students are traveling the globe to tackle some of the planet’s dire environmental problems—and they’re being recognized for their efforts. B Y M A R I A M A B U R D E I N E H , B A ’13
A PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
round the world, environmental crises are making headlines, from the potential extinction of species and ecosystems to climate change. Students in George Mason University’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy (ESP) are driven to make a difference.
In 2020, five Mason PhD students received grants from the Cosmos Club Foundation to tackle a wide range of conservation efforts. In any given year, Mason has received one or two Cosmos grants, says Kathryn Agoston, director of graduate fellowships at Mason. “To earn five is very exciting.” The role Mason students play in helping the Earth is extremely fundamental, says A. Alonso Aguirre, ESP
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department chair, adding that Mason’s top-tier faculty, R1 research status, and unparalleled opportunities in the backyard of the nation’s capital help take their impact to a new level. “Now more than ever you see the passion of students to work with species and ecosystems that are threatened, mostly by human impact,” Aguirre says. “They are committed to solving actual problems.” “This is the time to get involved in conservation of species and ecosystems, as many factors are threatening the health of all,” Aguirre says. Read on to learn how Mason’s Cosmos Scholars are making an impact.
Mason undergraduates also can take part in conservation work through the SmithsonianMason School of Conservation. Here, SMSC students practice using telemetry equipment in the field.
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ONSERVATION
STARS
PROVIDED PHOTO
An elephant at the Denver Zoo, as photographed by Cosmos scholar Chase LaDue. 28 | SPI RIT.GMU.EDU
PROVIDED PHOTO
Mason PhD student Chase LaDue with an elephant at the Patara Elephant Farm in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
CHASE LADUE: WHERE THE ELEPHANTS ARE
A
frican elephants have had time in the spotlight when it comes to research and media attention due to the ivory crisis. But a different elephant species, one doing worse in terms of survival, has received far less attention. Chase LaDue is changing that with his research on male Asian elephants in Sri Lanka.
“I study male Asian elephants in particular because they’ve been less studied than African elephants, and male elephants are unique because they go through this period called musth,” says LaDue, a Dallas, Texas, native. “It’s completely unique, only elephants do it.” Musth, which means “intoxicated” in Urdu, is similar to rutting season for a deer, LaDue explains. Testosterone levels and aggression are high, but unlike for other animals, there is no predictable musth season. Elephants in musth can also pose an economic burden, he says. “Elephants will raid farmers’ crops, so that can be dangerous to the people who live around elephants, and a single elephant can wipe out a farmer’s crop for the entire year,” LaDue says.
Through behavioral observations and hormone analysis in fecal samples, LaDue will examine what environmental and social factors influence musth. Because Asian elephants are classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the findings could also contribute to understanding how to better conserve their populations. This year marks the second time LaDue has earned a Cosmos grant. He also received a Fulbright scholarship to go to Sri Lanka in 2019 but had to return to the United States early due to terrorism in the country. LaDue works closely with two Mason alumnae: Mason professor Elizabeth Freeman, PhD Environmental Science and Public Policy ’05, who is his research advisor, and Wendy Kiso, PhD Environmental Science and Public Policy ’12, who is the conservation science manager for White Oak Conservation Foundation in Yulee, Florida. “I’m happy to say that the three of us continue to actively collaborate on elephant studies here in the U.S. and abroad in Sri Lanka, even despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic,” LaDue says.
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ONSERVATION
PROVIDED PHOTO
STARS
Cosmos scholar Meadhbh Molloy
MEADHBH MOLLOY: EXPLORING BEYOND FACE VALUE
I
n one of her first graduate classes on disease ecology, Meadhbh Molloy, BS Biology ’15, MS Environmental Science ’15, read a paper projecting the extinction of Tasmanian devils. An aggressive and highly contagious facial cancer would likely be the cause of termination within a couple decades, the researcher estimated. Yet, while the species currently remains endangered, they have not become extinct.
“[The cancer] spreads like crazy and almost always leads to death,” says Molloy, who also works as a graduate teaching assistant. “But [Tasmanian devils] are persisting in the wild, and no one really knows exactly how.” Since the class, Molloy said she became fascinated by how species co-evolve with diseases. “When I learned that diseases were in a way caused by pathogens trying to survive, I started to understand their role in ecology and how they’ve shaped the evolution of other life forms,” Molloy says.
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Through the Cosmos grant and an award from the American Australian Association, Molloy will spend up to a year in Australia, working in a lab at the University of Sydney, where she will be analyzing devil fecal samples. She will also be potentially looking at the species’ microbiomes and parasite loads to see if there are differences between diseased and cancer-free wild devils. “It’s all about making sure they are successful when they’re released into their native habitat,” says Molloy, who first realized she could have a career with endangered species after a field trip and Mason courses at the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation in Front Royal, Virginia. “I’m looking forward to the challenge,” the Northern Virginia native says. “I’m looking forward to a lot of personal growth and being able to work with the species that I have been thinking about since I first started my master’s.”
TOVAH SIEGEL: HER OWN BEST ADVOCATE
T
ovah Siegel had never met or spoken to Thomas Lovejoy, and knew him only as the world’s preeminent conservation biologist. But that did not stop Siegel from emailing the Mason University Professor to ask if he would be her advisor as she pursued her PhD in environmental science and policy at Mason.
One return email and three or four phone calls later, he agreed. “You have to advocate for yourself,” says Siegel, who is from Oregon and earned her undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Puget Sound in Washington. Siegel, who is also a Smithsonian Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History, is studying the interactions of
species and how forest fragmentation in the Brazilian Amazon impacts those interactions. “A lot of research looks at how one species responds individually to fragmentation. But there isn’t a lot of research about how species A impacts species B that relies on species A,” Siegel says. “You can take that information and say we shouldn’t be looking at one species. We should be looking at these ecosystems as a complex array of interactions.” Siegel, who previously used a Boren Fellowship to take field courses in the Amazon, will continue her research with the help of the Cosmos grant. —Damian Cristodero
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Tovah Siegel, pictured here in the Peruvian Amazon, holds a few piranhas she caught for dinner that night.
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ONSERVATION
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STARS
Cosmos Scholar Betsy Collins stands next to a palo santo tree (Bursera graveolens in the family Burseraceae) in the Marañón valley, Peru.
BETSY COLLINS: LEAFING FOR ANSWERS
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rom churches to yoga studios to individual homes, communities have been burning palo santo—holy wood—for generations. The South American plant similar to frankincense and myrrh is primarily used as incense, and it has been so widely marketed that its populations are declining due to habitat loss. Betsy Collins hopes her research can help save the species.
“It’s really important when you’re planting for refores tation that what you’re planting is genetically diverse,” says Collins, who is from West Palm Beach, Florida, and completed a BS in botany and an MS in environmental engineering sciences at the University of Florida.
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“I’m looking at comparing the genetics of the replanted populations with the natural population to see [whether] they are in line or can be doing better in our reforestation projects.” A National Geographic grant in 2018 took Collins to Peru, Mexico, and Colombia to collect leaf samples and preserve the plants’ DNA. With her Cosmos grant, she will work in Mason’s labs to extract and analyze the DNA from those hundreds of samples, she says. “No country has unlimited sources for conservation,” Collins says. “I hope that this research can give some ideas as to where there are some really unique genetically diverse populations that we should look at protecting.”
PHOTO BY RON AIRA
CHARLES CODDINGTON: FLOCKING TO THE AMAZON
irds of a feather may flock together, but to avoid predators, birds of different species will do the same. Once the birds reach their destination, Charles Coddington, MS Biology ’18, wants to know how deforestation and habitat fragmentation affect them.
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Going into Amazonian forests, Coddington will study how these birds use regenerating forest fragments, and how their nesting behaviors are affected in forests that have developed naturally (primary forests) versus forests that are recovering from human disturbances (secondary forests).
“One of the most critical [threats] to conservation is the loss of diversity,” says Coddington, who has a bachelor’s degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. “I hope that my research will help contribute to better restoring biodiversity to fragmented landscapes.”
After finding the nests, Coddington says he will set up camera traps to record what happens when predators are near. He will also set up artificial nests in primary and secondary forests “to see if predation is one of the limiting factors that’s preventing [birds] from successfully breeding in secondary forests.”
Mix-species flocks are found on every continent except Ant arctica, Coddington says, and they are especially prevalent in the Amazon. Hundreds of birds and dozens of species fly there.
The opportunities Coddington has had at Mason, including a fellowship with the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conser vation and now the Cosmos grant, have allowed him to foster a community and conduct meaningful research, he says.
Charles Coddington says he has been able to continue his research during the pandemic, although not in Brazil.
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Making Beautiful Music P
PHOTOS BY EVAN CANTWELL
lants are the musical composers and performers in artist-in-residence Sam Nester’s Arcadia, a public sound and light installation on Mason’s Fairfax Campus. Arcadia uses modified biodata-sonification sensors to convert the natural, real-time biorhythms of Virginia native plants in the Presidents Park Hydroponic Greenhouse into Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data. Data collected from the plants are sent to a computer that processes the information, and then outputs realtime sound through a variety of MIDI instruments. Simultaneously, signals controlling the MIDI instruments also control an LED light display corresponding to the pitches of the MIDI instruments. The installation is accessible until December 2021 via its dedicated Twitch livestream at twitch.tv/masonarcadia, or you can see it in person by driving by Presidents Park. Learn more at bit.ly/gmuarcadia.
Above, from left, Murals at Mason director Yassmin Salem, BA Integrative Studies ’20 (also right), sustainability program manager Sarah D’Alexander, and university curator Don Russell set up and help maintain the Arcadia installation. 34 | SPI RIT.GMU.EDU
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INQUIRING MINDS
Center Creates New Lyme Disease Test
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urine-based Lyme disease test created by a team of George Mason University researchers could soon become available statewide after a recent clinical validation study confirmed that it meets sensitivity and absolute molecular specificity standards. The research project, which was led by Alessandra Luchini, has been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Institutional Review Board after demonstrating its effectiveness among a cohort of 408 patients. The project was supported by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the National Institutes of Health. Luchini says that Mason is uniquely qualified to offer the test, citing the novel technology she and her team have developed and the high-tech laboratory certified for its reliability, accuracy, and timeliness that is being used by Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM). The College of Science provided two new mass spectrometry instruments that significantly increased patient testing capacity in the CAPMM laboratory.
Luchini and her team have developed a method that detects molecules derived from tick-borne pathogens in the urine of patients. Molecules shed by pathogens are eliminated from the body through urine after circulating in the blood. “Using mass spectrometry, we can see hundreds of thousands of protein fragments in the urine,” says CAPMM research associate Ruben Magni. “We developed a new software to sieve through the data and to identify protein fragments derived from tick-borne pathogens with high-stringency criteria.” Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is largely caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks. If left untreated, the infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system. The idea of a urine-based Lyme disease test originated a few years ago when a high school student participating in Mason’s Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program, Temple Douglas, asked Luchini and Liotta to work on a test for Lyme disease. Now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Douglas used a nanotechnology invented by the Mason scientists to develop a test that detected one protein derived from Borrelia burgdorferi. The nanotechnology used in the test has been licensed to the Virginia-based company Ceres Nanosciences. The early stage of the project was supported by the state through a Virginia Biosciences Health Research Corporation grant that began in 2017, with trials beginning the following year. Since then, the Mason scientists decided to use mass spectrometry to expand the capability of the test to simultaneously measure thousands of proteins derived from all tick-borne pathogens, including Borrelia, Babesia, Rickettsia, and Anaplasma. “Our goal is to expand the study to a statewide testing service, a clinical survey trial for which any doctor and any patient in Virginia can volunteer,” Luchini says.
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—John Hollis
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RESEARCH
Supporting Research in the Humanities
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—Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95
PHOTOS BY LATHAN GOUMAS, GETTY IMAGES, AND EVAN CANTWELL
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he new university-wide Center for Humanities Research was established to support and showcase humanities research, foster interdisciplinary research partnerships, enhance intellectual life on campus, and engage the public in dialogue over the importance of the humanities in the contemporary landscape. “The humanities are more important now than ever as they provide a navigational tool for us to make sense of what’s going on in the world and imagine a better future,” says President Gregory Washington. “This center makes humanities research visible and accessible to the campus and the broader community.” The College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), home to many of the humanities fields, is partnering with the Provost’s Office in supporting the new center, which takes its place alongside Mason’s other transdisciplinary research centers. “Humanities research is also critical to the mission of the university and helped Mason attain its Carnegie R1 status,” says Alison Landsberg, the inaugural director of the center. Planning for the center has been in the works for two years. Landsberg says each time committee members met with the university administration they were encouraged to “think bigger.” The center’s agenda is a big one. Not only will it serve as a research incubator, providing scholarly support and funding for faculty and graduate students, the center will also serve as an intellectual hub, encouraging research partnerships and collaborations and hosting conferences, lectures, workshops, and working groups. “This type of research is normally solitary work,” says Landsberg, who teaches in the Department of History and Art History and the Cultural Studies PhD Program. “And yet there is so much to be gained when we engage in intellectual exchange.” The center’s conferences and lectures will be organized around annual themes, and the center’s leaders hope to encourage participation not only from across the university but also among scholars at the regional and national levels. The theme for 2020–21 is “dissent.” Learn more at chr.gmu.edu.
Protecting America’s Supply Chains
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eorge Mason University is a managing member in the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII), a $111 million publicprivate partnership led by the University of Texas at San Antonio. CyManII will have a five-year cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy to lead a consortium of 59 proposed member institutions in introducing a cybersecure energy return on investment that drives American manufacturers and supply chains. Mason anticipates operating CyManII’s East Coast headquarters on the Arlington Campus, which will contain lab space and equipment to demonstrate, test, and validate CyManII’s emerging cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing technologies and products. Mason researchers from the Volgenau School of Engineering will play key roles in CyManII’s first-year projects, including finding ways to protect manufacturing supply chains from cyber threats and designing better security for advanced manufacturing plants. —Martha Bushong Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 37
PHOTO COURTESY OF BRIGHTLINE INTERACTIVE
INQUIRING MINDS
Using Virtual Reality to Support Addiction Recovery
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an virtual reality help people with substance abuse issues avoid a relapse? A team of Mason researchers thinks it just might. The multidisciplinary team, which includes faculty members Holly Matto, Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, Stephanie Carmack, and Nathalia Peixoto and graduate student Matthew Scherbel, is working with Brightline Interactive and using virtual reality (VR) simulations to examine the effect of recovery cues on preventing drug relapse. This work is supported by a Small Business Technology Transfer Grant from the National Institutes of Health. Brightline Interactive is a team of creative technologists that design and build immersive virtual reality experiences for simulation and training purposes. Prior to becoming a professor, Matto was a social worker who worked with individuals in recovery from substance use. In her work, she found that the first weeks in recovery are a tricky time with a critical need for support to maintain a person’s sobriety goals. “It takes
more than a strong commitment to be sober,” Matto says. “You may not be able to think your way through [when triggered].” She says research shows that the intensity of the craving experience can still be quite high even after two months of abstinence. This led Matto to think about the importance of real-time interventions to support recovery when these individuals leave treatment. “We are interested in understanding how we can disrupt the drug trigger-craving-relapse chain by using customized recovery cue substitutions,” she says. The intervention the team is working on with Brightline involves having the person wearing the VR goggles interact with triggering objects related to their addiction while their physiological response is assessed. The results may lead to the development of a mobile nonpharmacological support system to help individuals manage cravings and avoid relapse. —Colleen Kearney Rich, MFA ’95
Research Shows Disparities in Care of Newborns
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n the United States, Black newborn babies are three times more likely to die than white newborn babies during their initial hospital stays, according to a peer-reviewed study co-written by Brad Greenwood, an associate professor in Mason’s School of Business. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that
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when Black doctors cared for Black babies, their mortality rate was cut in half. “Babies are dying,” Greenwood says. “That’s not a political statement. That’s what’s happening, and it’s unacceptable.” Greenwood and his co-authors examined 1.8 million hospital birth records in Florida from between 1992 and 2015, identifying the race of the doctor in each birth. The study found that the race of the doctor caring for white babies did not appear to make a difference in the likelihood of survival. “Strikingly, these effects appear to manifest more strongly in more complicated cases, and when hospitals deliver more Black newborns,” Greenwood and his co-authors wrote. “The findings suggest that Black physicians outperform their white colleagues when caring for Black newborns.”
“So the next question is why,” Greenwood says. “There’s a million possible explanations, so the next step is to, through observations, find out the reasons for such a difference.” Greenwood has previously been a coauthor for studies on medical disparities based on race and gender. In a study published last fall, he and his co-authors found that physicians should use digitized protocol when making decisions on patient care as a way of overcoming potential racial bias. “It’s important to focus on the issues of disparities in health care to understand what’s going on and try to figure out how to change things for the better,” Greenwood says. —Anna Stolley Persky
RESEARCH
Expanding Forensic Science Training in Rural Areas $2 million grant from the National Institute of Justice will enable Mason to create a National Center on Forensics to provide forensic science training that expands services in rural areas nationally. Former FBI profiler Mary Ellen O’Toole, director of Mason’s Forensic Science Program, says the grant will allow Mason to collaborate with partners to ensure that all victims and their families receive justice. “Too often victims and their families and the professionals investigating the crimes who reside in rural areas don’t have access to the same resources as those from metropolitan areas,” says O’Toole. “This gap can be significant and stand between case resolution and years of never knowing what happened. This grant will allow us and our partners to work to increase the number of much-needed forensic experts like medical examiners and coroners and to provide state-of-the-art training for them and other professionals.” Mason professors Joseph DiZinno, a former FBI forensics expert, and Anthony Falsetti, a forensic anthropologist, will serve as co-principal investigators. Mason will partner with the National Institute of Justice, the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the National Association of Attorneys General, the University of Washington Schools of Medicine and Law, and the Montana Forensic Science Division to raise awareness about and address the shortage of medical examiners and coroners, particularly in rural areas. The center will provide learning opportunities for medical students training as deputy medical examiners and coroners in rural areas while also offering forensic science and legal training to district attorneys, judges, and law enforcement officials. “By increasing the number of forensic pathologists and by training the medical examiners, coroners, and legal communities, the center will directly impact the criminal justice system’s ability to determine if crimes have been committed and ensure that the guilty are held accountable and the innocent are not unfairly charged or convicted,” DiZinno says.
Collaboration Benefits Antiviral and Antibacterial Research
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eorge Mason University has signed a collaboration agreement to give Sykesville, Maryland-based Noble Life Sciences access to the National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) facility at the Science and Technology Campus. The agreement enables Noble Life Sciences to carry out federally and nonfederally funded BSL-3 animal model projects to support the development of new antiviral and antibacterial agents against infectious and resistant pathogens. Mason and Noble Life Sciences have also agreed to explore collaborative research opportunities. “The collaboration opens doors to new opportunities for the development of novel therapeutics and diagnostics by Mason scientists and enables us to partner with an entity that has extensive experience bringing such new discoveries to the marketplace,” says Ali Andalibi, the lab’s chief scientific officer and senior associate dean in the College of Science.
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—John Hollis
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SHELF LIFE Recently published works by Mason faculty and staff Bridging the Seas: The Rise of Naval Architecture in the Industrial Age Larrie D. Ferreiro, adjunct faculty, History MIT Press, January 2020 As technology advanced in the 19th century, the building of ships changed as well. A new era of materials led to new practices, new possibilities, and new expectations for what naval transportation could be. This text delves into several topics, including the theoretical developments in naval architecture.
We Are the Leaders We’ve Been Waiting For: Women and Leadership Development in College Julie Owen, associate professor, Leadership Studies Stylus Publishing, May 2020 In the world we live in, there’s no longer any justification for keeping women out of lead ership roles. The demand has grown for colleges to help prepare women to become modern leaders. In this book, Owen exam ines intersectional identities, critical con sciousness, and student development theory and situates them within the context of helping women leaders.
Family Violence in the United States: Defining, Understanding, and Combating Abuse Denise Hines, associate professor, Social Work, with Kathleen Malley-Morrison and Leila B. Dutton SAGE Publishing, August 2020 A well-rounded and accessible approach to discussing the concept of violence and abuse within family units, this book emphasizes the role that larger social systems play and how they contribute to abuse, in addition to discussing effective prevention and inter vention of family violence.
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If Food Could Talk: Stories from 13 Precious Foods Endangered by Climate Change Theodore Dumas, associate professor, Psychology Koehler Books, September 2020 This book recognizes the broader dangers of climate change, focusing on the potential loss of food sources. It analyzes the history of these foods and their cultivation, with an explanation of their value within society, including the spiritual, sociological, and nutritional impacts. Each chapter ends with a recipe featuring an endangered food.
Understanding University Committees: How to Manage and Participate Constructively in Institutional Governance David Farris, PhD ’16, executive director, Safety and Emergency Management Stylus Publishing, September 2020 Committees play a vital role in the effec tive operations of any college or university. However, there is not usually a great amount of guidance available to determine how to best organize and conduct these commit tees. The author uses empirical analysis, interviews, and organizational theory to address concepts like planning, composi tion, conduct, and the structural support necessary to ensure a successful committee.
Creating Good Data: A Guide to Dataset Structure and Data Representation Harry Foxwell, PhD ’03, associate professor, Information Sciences and Technology Apress, October 2020 Many people do not view data as necessarily good or bad, but rather as a set of facts or circumstances that have been collected. This text argues otherwise and provides an out line for the creation of good data during the collection process. This book is designed to help researchers and data analysts conduct analyses and report their findings in a more effective way.
Teaching Math at a Distance: A Practical Guide to Rich Remote Instruction Theresa Wills, MEd ’07, PhD ’15, assistant professor, Math Education Corwin, November 2020 2020 has led to a drastic increase in the amount of distance learning taking place across the many levels of education. In this guide, the author uses her own experience and the experiences of other teachers in K-12 virtual classrooms to provide a groundwork for effective remote instruction.
Demography and Economic Emergence of Sub-Saharan Africa John May, research professor, Schar School of Policy and Government Académie royale de Belgique, November 2020 More than 48 countries make up sub-Saharan Africa, an area that has long been considered less developed compared to Europe or the Americas. This text addresses the numerous challenges that stand between these countries and continued economic growth and ana lyzes how they can be overcome.
The Unitary Executive Theory: A Danger to Constitutional Government Mark Rozell, founding dean, Schar School of Policy and Government, with Jeffrey Couch and Mitchel Sollenberger University Press of Kansas, November 2020 The Unitary Executive Theory can be best summed up by a quote from former president Donald Trump about Article II of the U.S. Constitution: “I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” This theory stands in opposition to the system of checks and balances that some think defines the American system of government. This text traces the rise of the theory from its roots in the Reagan administration to the Trump administration.
The City of Good Death Priyanka Champaneri, BA ’05, MFA ’10, editorial manager, Office of Communications and Marketing Restless Books, February 2021 Winner of the 2018 Restless Books Prize for New Immi grant Writing, this debut novel takes place inside India’s holy city of Banaras, where the manager of a death hostel shepherds the dying who seek the release of a good death, while his own past refuses to let him go.
6 0 S E C O N D S T O N U C L E A R WA R In a recent episode of the Access to Excellence podcast, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Mason history professor Martin Sherwin discusses his new book, Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis (Knopf, October 2020), and tells a terrifying, and not well-known, story of how close we came to nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Do most Americans realize just how perilously close we came to nuclear war in October 1962? Until I researched this book, I really didn’t realize how close we had come. It was literally a matter of a minute or less. That’s one of the reasons that the crisis ended so precip itously on October 28, 1962. Nikita Khrushchev was terri fied that things were spinning out of control and a nuclear war could result. And it was even closer than Khrushchev thought. For example, one of his submarine captains—wor ried that U.S. Navy antisubmarine forces were trying to sink his boat—came within a minute of launching a nuclear tor pedo at an American aircraft carrier. The book begins with a detailed description of that terrifying story because I saw it as a metaphor for the entire crisis. How did this whole crisis begin in the first place? Well, there are lots of different ways to define the crisis. Initially, it was defined as the 13 days from October 16 to 28. October 16 was the day that President Kennedy was informed that a U2 [aircraft] had taken photos that demon strated that the Soviets had medium- and intermediaterange missiles in Cuba. However, what Gambling with Armageddon does is to go back to Hiroshima and to look at the crisis as what I call the long Cuban Missile Crisis, from the Truman administration through the Kennedy administration. It is not unreasonable to argue that the Cuban Missile Crisis was initiated by the United States, along with the Soviet Union. We introduced nuclear weapons as weapons of war with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Eisenhower administration escalated the role of nuclear weapons enormously. Eisenhower had an arse nal of about 1,200 nuclear weapons in 1953 when he was inaugurated, and when he left eight years later, there was an arsenal of more than 22,000 nuclear weapons. And that cre ated the framework for the whole Cuban Missile Crisis. Listen to the podcast at bit.ly/sherwinbook.
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ALUMNI IN PRINT Recently published works by Mason alumni Necessary Sins: Lazare Family Saga, Book One Elyse Becker, MFA Creative Writing ’07 In antebellum Charleston, South Carolina, a Catholic priest grapples with doubt, his secret African ancestry, and his love for a slave own er’s wife in this debut novel (Claire-Voie Books, August 2019), the first book of the Lazare Family Saga. Becker, who publishes under the pen name Elizabeth Bell, is a staff member with Mason’s University Libraries. She was a finalist for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship and a finalist in the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards.
Choose to Cruise: The Ultimate Resource for Cruising with the Family Nicole Emard Ratner, BA Communication ’00 Going on a cruise can be a daunting proposition. This guide (BookBaby, December 2019) answers many commonly asked questions, from the true cost of cruising to the best way to cruise with children. In addition to her writing career, Ratner is the CEO of The Next Steps LLC. She currently lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and business partner, Dan, and their two daughters.
I Love You Bye Bye Bye Bye Alyse Knorr, MFA Creative Writing ’12 This chapbook (Ethel, 2020) is being published in a lim ited run of 60 handmade copies. The poetry explores the function of language in a society full of technology. Knorr is an assistant pro fessor of English at Regis University. She is also the co-editor of Switchback Books. She has published several works of poetry, including Mega-City 42 | SPI RIT.GMU.EDU
Redux, Copper Mother, and Annotated Glass.
from the world of politics, where malaphors run wild on both sides of the aisle.
a parenting style that will fit even the wildest of situations.
One Dark Morning: The True Story of Surviving a Fallen Trooper
Hatfield is a long-time fan of wordplay. His first book, He Smokes Like a Fish and Other Malaphors, was pub lished in 2016. A retired administrative law judge, Hatfield currently lives in western Pennsylvania.
Granville holds degrees from Mason and Columbia University. She lives outside of Boston with her hus band, their two children, their dog, and their cat.
Linda Cavazos, BA Govern ment and Politics ‘97 This memoir (self-published, March 2020) traces what it takes to survive the death of a loved one who dies in the line of duty. Cavazos tells her story from the time her husband became the first Mexican American state trooper in Virginia to how she has continued to grow and recover in the years fol lowing his death. Cavazos, the mother of two adult children, now lives in Colorado. This is her first book.
The Last Voyage of the Whaling Bark Progress: New Bedford, Chicago and the Twilight of an Industry Daniel Gifford, PhD History ’11 For the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, a whaling vessel, the Progress, was redesigned to be a mobile museum of whaling. This book (McFar land Press, May 2020) traces the last days of the Progress and how its rise and fall mir rors the whaling industry as a whole. Gifford is a public historian with particular interests in American history and pop culture. His previous book, American Holiday Postcards 1905–1915: Imagery and Context, was published in 2013. He currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky, where he teaches at several local universities.
Things Are Not RosyDory: Malaphors from Politicians and Pundits David Hatfield, JD ’84 A malaphor is a mixture of a metaphor and a malaprop. This book (Amazon, July 2020) collects malaphors
The Book of Real-World Negotiations: Successful Strategies from Busi ness, Government, and Daily Life Joshua Weiss, PhD Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’02 This book (Wiley, August 2020) takes negotiation out of the hypothetical world and into the real world. The author emphasizes that no solution is impossible, as he outlines how to achieve “win-win” outcomes, how to successfully negotiate across cultures, and the vital impor tance of underlying interests. Weiss is an author, consul tant, and speaker specializ ing in conflict analysis and resolution. He is also the co- founder of the global nego tiation initiative at Harvard University, the president of Negotiation Works Inc., and the director of the master’s in leadership and negoti ation program at Bay Path University.
Modern Manners for Moms and Dads: Practical Parenting Solutions for Sticky Social Situations Evanthia Granville, MEd ’08, and Sarah Davis While there is an abundance of parenting books, many of them ignore the reality of parenting. This book (Mango Publishing, October 2020) takes a more realistic and humorous approach to helping new parents. The authors combine their experience as parents and their careers as educators to help readers develop
The Greek Fire: American-Ottoman Relations and Democratic Fervor in the Age of Revolution Maureen Connors-Santelli, MA History ’08, PhD ’14 This book (Cornell University Press, December 2020) ex amines the United States’ entanglement in the Greek Revolution of the 1820s and 1830s and how that involvement shaped the course of U.S. diplomacy and foreign relations. Connors-Santelli is an associate professor of his tory at Northern Virginia Community College.
Paradoxes of Power: A Collection of Essays on Failed Leadership and How to Fix It Carl Hunt, PhD Information Technology ’01, editor This text (September 2020) collects several essays that dissect failures of power in the past few decades. Power, in this context, is discussed in areas such as religion, government, edu cation, and gender. Hunt, a retired U.S. Army colonel, enjoyed a career as a military police officer and an information technology officer. He has published work in political science and information technology. He lives in Colorado.
PHOTO BY EVAN CANTWELL
PAT R I O T P R O F I L E
Dominique Dowling YEAR: Junior MAJOR: Integrative Studies HOMETOWN: Richmond, Virginia
Junior Dominique Dowling has been working to enact social change since high school. She joined the university’s NAACP chapter in her second year at Mason, and now she is the group’s vice president. GETTING INVOLVED: Through the chapter, she has been involved in numerous panels and committees, which inspired her to do more anti-racism work on campus. “Being part of the NAACP has exposed me to different initia tives and people who have been doing this work for years,” she says. “It made me realize that anti-racism work requires an ongoing dedication because there is always work to be done.” BEING PART OF THE SOLUTION: During her time at Mason, Dowling has been involved with a number of organizations, including Student Government. She is also on the AntiRacism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force, serving on the Student Voice and University Policies and Practices com mittees. She was excited to be involved with the task force because she believes students are often left out of the con versation. “Many times our voices are not heard due to the lack of representation or the simple fact that one student can’t express the concerns of more than 30,000 students,” says Dowling. “I felt like this was my opportunity to elevate the voices and grievances that many students have.”
THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE: When asked about her career goals, Dowling is clear about her aspirations: She wants to one day be the U.S. secretary of education. With that goal in mind, she plans to continue on at Mason to complete her MEd, and then become an elementary school teacher and eventually work in school administration. And she says her task force work has influenced her trajectory. “I want to implement anti-racist and social justice compo nents into my teaching,” she says. “Through administrative roles, I want to help other teachers to also implement those principles so that young people don’t have to wait until they get the opportunity to take a college course on iden tity to become aware of inequities.”
Dowling is one of the more than 130 faculty, staff, and students involved in the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force. These individuals are being profiled in the new online series Mason Lighting the Way: Spotlights from the Task Force. To see more of their stories, go to arie.gmu.edu.
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class notes
Painting the Past
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magining this nation’s Founding Fathers as real people can be a difficult task. Fortunately, Nathan Loda, MFA Art and Visual Technology ’15, has found a solution— creating paintings that reimagine the Founding Fathers as hipsters. The idea originated as a commission from the Farmers Restaurant Group in 2016, but Loda has continued the series in the years since with his paintings of Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, and others hanging in the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. He also has a commissioned painting in the new Education and Rehearsal Wing of Mason’s Hylton Performing Arts Center that depicts musicians participating in the Veterans and the Arts Initiative.
Nathan Loda in his home studio with one of his daughters
Loda’s life has changed greatly since working as an adjunct professor at Mason in 2017. He and his wife had two children and moved to rural Homer, New York. The change of scenery may seem like a strange choice to some, but Loda saw the move as an enticing opportunity. “I was ready to try a career as a full-time painter,” he says. “And with the relatively low cost of living up here, I thought it would be a great place to sink or swim.”
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY NATHAN LODA
The move to New York and the switch to full-time painting have also affected Loda’s perspective and work. “The idea of being a full-time working artist is probably my biggest inspiration,” he says. “Waking up every day
Reproductions of Young Betsy Ross (right) and Young Ben Franklin (top right) are available through Loda’s website.
with a work schedule that says it’s time to paint is a rewarding lifestyle for me and keeps me wanting to do it longer.” Loda splits his attention between gallery work, in which he can express himself creatively, and commissions. “A lot of my current business can be traced back to connections that I created while I was a graduate student at Mason.” One of the key factors that led Loda to choose Mason was the many facilities available to students. “I was blown away [by] the Art and Design Building and the incredible studio spaces. I remember thinking that, between the 2D studios, wood shop, and metal shop, I could fabricate just about anything I could imagine.” Loda still vividly remembers his Mason experience. “Showing up to my graduate studio and having the opportunity to paint in a setting where people could easily stop by, and new connections were made almost weekly, was invaluable to my career today.” He encourages artists at Mason to take advantage of the opportunities available to them. “Try and create as many networking connections as you can while in school and while you have so many resources at your fingertips.” —Liam Griffin, BA ’20
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class notes
1970s
John Hare, BA English ’73, retired in May 2020 from Montgomery College in Germantown, Maryland, after working at the college for 33 years. After earning his bachelor’s degree at Mason, he earned his MA at the College of William and Mary, and his PhD at the University of Maryland. He returned to Mason between earning his MA and PhD to take American studies courses with professors Jane Censer and Steve Diner. While he was working, he wrote Will the Circle Be Unbroken? Family and Sectionalism in the Virginia Novels of Kennedy, Caruthers, and Tucker, as well as I’m Not Making This Up: An Introduction to Research, Writing, and Critical Thinking. He hopes to do more writing and motorcycle riding in his retirement. Deborah Bundy-Carpenter, BSN ’79, received the highest honor for a state employee in Virginia: the 2020 Governor’s Honor Award. Bundy-Carpenter is employed as a public health nurse senior manager for the Virginia Department of Health. She received the award in the category of Personal and Professional Excellence for her dedication and excellence in her
profession, public health, and collaborative spirit with other health care entities and agencies.
1980s
Michael Reinemer, MA English ’81, is editor of the magazine Outdoor America, which has published articles on conservation and environmental topics since 1922. He also serves as director of communications at the Izaak Walton League of America, which publishes Outdoor America. The league has achieved many important land and water conservation victories over the past 99 years. Anne K. Altman, BS Marketing ’82, received the 2020 School of Business Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Jeffery K. Taubenberger, BS Biology ’82, was the 2020 recipient of the College of Science Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Colleen D. Kiko, JD ’86, and Philip G. Kiko, JD ’87, were the 2020 recipients of the Antonin Scalia Law School Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Associ-
ation’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction.
1990s
Lisa Packard, BS Social Work ’90, retired from her role as the executive director of the Eau Gallie Arts District, a nonprofit organization in Melbourne, Florida. After graduating from Mason, she adopted her son, and was an active parent and community volunteer. She became interested in nonprofit management and studied at the Rollins Center for Philanthropy in Winter Park, Florida. Over the span of her career, she learned how crucial it is to be resourceful, never be afraid to ask questions, recognize your own biases and overcome them, and be grateful for everyone who taught you something.
Elisabeth Murawski, MFA Creative Writing ’91, will publish the chapbook, Still Life with Timex, in early 2021 with Texas Review Press. The chapbook won the
Robert Phillips Poetry Chapbook Prize. Whitney Hopler, BA English ’92, wrote Wake Up to Wonder about awe and well-being. The book was published by Elk Lake Publishing Inc. on September 25, 2020. Steve Monfort, PhD Environmental Biology and Public Policy ’93, received the 2020 George Mason University Alumni Association’s Alumnus of the Year Award. Sumeet Shrivastava, EMBA ’94, was selected as a finalist for the Government Contractor Executive of the Year at the Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum’s 12th annual Government Contractor Awards for his work as president and CEO of ARRAY Information Technology. Melissa Long, JD ’95, was sworn in to the Rhode Island Supreme Court in January 2021. She is the first Black justice on the state Supreme Court. Long was
previously Rhode Island’s deputy secretary of state before becoming a superior court judge in 2017. Francis Gary Powers Jr., MPA ’95, published Spy Pilot: Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 Incident, and a Controversial Cold War Legacy with historian Keith Dunnavant in September 2019. The son of famed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers presents the facts and dispels misinformation about the Cold War espionage program that turned his father—a pilot in the U.S. Air Force who completed 27 U-2 photographic reconnaissance missions for the CIA, including several overflights of the Soviet Union, until shot down by a Soviet surface-to-air missile on May 1, 1960— into a Cold War icon. This new account of Powers’s life is based on personal files that were previously available. Delving into old audio tapes, letters his father wrote and received while imprisoned in the Soviet Union, the transcript of his father’s debriefing (continued next page)
What’s New with You? We are interested in what you’ve been doing since you graduated. Moved? Gotten married? Had a baby? Landed a new job? Received an award? Submit your class notes to alumni.gmu.edu/whatsnew. In your note, be sure to include your graduation year and degree. Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 45
class notes
A
s we begin 2021, there is no doubt that our country, and our world, have reached a pivotal moment. We simultaneously face several grand challenges, as George Mason University President Gregory Washington rightly calls them (see page 14). And the university is responding, with climate change research, public health initiatives, peacebuilding, anti-racism efforts, and inclusive excellence prominent among Mason’s brave and bold undertakings.
Not only is our alma mater tackling these critical issues, our fellow alumni are doing the same—from the classroom to the boardroom. Mason alumni are frontline health care workers and nurses caring for others during a global pandemic. They are teachers inspiring the minds of the next generation. Researchers who are working to cure cancer and further our knowledge of COVID-19. Scientists who are exploring ways to turn back the tides of climate change. And scholars who are working to build peace around the world. Thousands of Mason alumni are standing up to these global challenges and leading the way. Each year at the Celebration of Distinction event, we highlight distinguished alumni and their accomplishments. You can also learn about the great work our alumni are doing through our monthly Alumni in Action series featured in The Scroll e-newsletter (If you’re not receiving The Scroll, visit alumni.gmu.edu to verify we have your current email address.). In a time full of uncertainty, there’s one thing you can be sure of: Mason alumni are working to better the world. With Patriot Pride, Sumeet Shrivastava, EMBA ’94 President, George Mason University Alumni Association
by the CIA, other recently declassified documents about the U-2 program, and interviews with the spy pilot’s contemporaries, Powers and Dunnavant set the record straight. This is also a book about a son’s journey to understand his father, pursuing justice and a measure of peace. Byron Derringer, BS Health, Fitness, and Recreation Resources ’96, accepted a Distinguished Flying Cross in June 2017 on behalf of his great-grandfather, Army Capt. James E. Miller, who served as a pilot during World War I in the 95th Pursuit Squadron and was the first U.S. combat aviation casualty of the war. On October 3, 2020, Derringer presented WWII “Tuskegee Airman” Brigadier General Charles McGee with a plaque thanking him for his outstanding example on behalf of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society. Robert D. Harris, MS Conflict Analysis and Res olution ’96, PhD ’03, and Ilana L. Shapiro, PhD Conflict Analysis and Res olution ’03, were selected as the 2020 recipients of the George Mason University Alumni Association’s Alumni Service Award. Jamie Argento Rodriguez, BA Government and Politics ’96, was the 2020 recipient of the Honors College Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Asso-
ciation’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Evan Balkan, MA English ’97, published his second novel, Independence, from the University of Wisconsin Press. It has been nominated for a PEN/Faulkner award, among other awards. This is his ninth published book. Lewis Dabney, MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’99, was the 2020 recipient of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Sheri Fink, BA Communication ’99, MA Telecommunications ’02, is a thought leader and best-selling author who released her 13th book, InstaGrateful: Finding Your Bliss in a Social Media World (November 10, 2020). Shawn N. Purvis, MS Information Systems ’99, was the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished Black Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. David Keith Sanders, MBA ’99, moved to Salem, Oregon, with his wife in September 2019, where they live in a retirement community. He is currently looking for a graduate school offering a PhD in engineering management. (continued on page 48)
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class notes
Hospitals’ First Line of COVID-19 Defense
H
ow do you prepare a hospital for a mass biological event with extreme consequences, such as the coronavirus? Mason alumna Saskia Popescu, PhD Biodefense ’19, can help.
Popescu says she was drawn to Mason’s Biodefense Program because it was the only one that offered what she calls a perfect intersection of science and policy. “If I could design a program, it would be this.”
The Schar School of Policy and Government assistant professor has been a go-to consultant for hospitals and the World Health Organization, helping to control infections and prepare for new outbreaks.
“I really love this program and am grateful to teach in it [because] it reaches across multiple specialties,” Popescu says. “[Mason] instilled that it’s never just coming at a global health security problem from one view; you have to look at all these moving pieces and put together a mosaic to really understand what’s going on.”
She also helps educate policymakers and the public. Popescu’s expertise on the coronavirus and approaches to containing it are highlighted regularly by elite media outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. She also serves as an infection prevention consultant for larger businesses and the City of Phoenix in their efforts to incorporate COVID-19 safety into the workplace.
—Mariam Aburdeineh, BA ’13
“I’ve always been fascinated by disease transmission dynamics,” Popescu says, adding that she first became interested in epidemiology at age 9, when her mom gave her a copy of The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. “We have known about [infectious disease] for hundreds of years but still struggle against it,” she says. “Learning from [each outbreak] and being able to pivot and evolve with that is a really fascinating process to me.” And that’s just what she gets to do each day.
“It’s extremely hard to build a robust response and preparedness program and be able to keep it agile, respond to changes in the science and data, and do it in a way that is pragmatic,” Popescu says. “Building something with the resources at hand and in a way that follows evidence-based measures is something I really love and am proud of, and getting to problem-solve and think critically in tough, chaotic situations.”
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SASKIA POPESCU
The Arizona native has built COVID-19 response and preparedness programs for hospitals from scratch, and is constantly looking at case counts and analyzing data locally and internationally to ensure she’s providing the most informed recommendations possible.
Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 47
class notes
2000s
Sharon B. Lamberton, MS Health Systems Management ’01, was the 2020 recipient of the College of Health and Human Services Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction.
Carol Hart Metzker, MS New Professional Studies ’01, was the recipient of the 2020 Schar School of Policy and Government Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction.
Hadi D. Rezazad, ENGR ’03, PhD Information Technology ’09, received the 2020 Volgenau School of Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Thomas Ammazzalorso, MA International Commerce and Policy ’04, MEd Education Leadership ’10, was named a 2020 Outstanding Educator by the University of Chicago. He is a high school social studies teacher for Prince George’s County (Maryland) public schools.
B. Steve Watson, MBA ’05, was recently named chief product officer for TRANSFR Inc., a company focused on creating simulation-based training in virtual reality to help people build the skills they need to get a job in partnership with workforce development and educational institutions. The EdTech startup recently closed its Series A fundraising round.
she explored the future of consumerism and the paradigm shift she refers to as the self-actualization economy, while drawing connections between her work with lululemon and the LEGO Group. Through these connections, she explains how businesses can use impact as a road to profit, and by doing so, solve problems for both their customers and the world.
Kerry Washington, philanthropic leader Wes Moore, and others, that draws on $10 million in seed funding from foundations, including the Greater Washington Community Foundation, CityBridge Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to invest in Black leaders working on issues of racial justice. She is the founder and CEO of Generation Hope.
Lindsay Angelo, BS Management ’06, gave the October 2020 TEDx Talk, “The Business Model Puzzle: How Brands Thrive beyond Crisis,” in which
Nicole Lynn Lewis, MPP ’06, was recently one of the inaugural awardees of the Black Voices for Black Justice Fund, a new initiative championed by actress
Eliana Imamura, MA International Commerce and Policy ’07, was awarded the Alumni Early Achievement Award by her undergraduate alma mater, Blackburn (continued on page 50)
GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS 2020–21 Sumeet Shrivastava, EMBA ’94, President Jennifer Shelton, BS Public Administration ’94, Immediate Past President Christine Landoll, BS Accounting ’89, MS Taxation ’92, President-Elect Yoshie Davison, MSW ’09, Vice President, Live Ty Carlson, BS Social Work ’96, Vice President, Work Raymond Wotring, BA Government and International Politics ’05, Vice President, Play David Atkins, BS Decision Science ’90, Treasurer Ailsa Ware Burnett, BS Public Administration ’93, MA Sociology ’96, MPA ’08, Historian Chatrane Birbal, MPA ’06, Director-at-Large Mary Bramley, BA History ’07, Director-at-Large Harold Geller, MA Interdisciplinary Studies ’92, DA Community College Education ’05, Directorat-Large David Kanos, BA Government and International Politics ’18, Director-at-Large
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Darcy K. Kim, BS Social Work ’02, MPA ’20, Director-at-Large
David Roth, BS Economics ’11, BA Music ’11, President, Green Machine Alumni Chapter
Whitney Ward, BA Communication ’08, Director-at-Large
Vacant, President, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution Alumni Chapter
Jesse Binnall, BA Communication ’01, JD ’09, President, Antonin Scalia Law School Alumni Chapter
Alejandro Asin, BA Sociology ’11, President, Lambda Alumni Chapter
Janae Johnson, BS Psychology ’11, MAIS ’15, President, Black Alumni Chapter
Rolando Flores Santos, BA Global Affairs ’18, President, Latino Alumni Chapter
Vacant, President, College of Education and Human Development Alumni Chapter
J. J. Stakem, MS Organization Development and Knowledge Management ’12, President, Schar School of Policy and Government Alumni Chapter
Kathi Huddleston, PhD ’08, President, College of Health and Human Services Alumni Chapter Daniel Lash, BS Economics ’97, President, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Alumni Chapter Taylor Sargent, BS Physics ’14, President, College of Science Alumni Chapter Molly Grimsley, BA Art ’81, President, College of Visual and Performing Arts Alumni Chapter
Scott Hine, BS Decision Science ’85, President, School of Business Alumni Chapter Hadi Rezazad, PhD Information Technology ’09, President, Volgenau School of Engineering Alumni Chapter Shelby Adams, Student Government Representative
class notes
A Leader in Online Learning
G
eorge Mason University alumnus Gregory Fowler, MA English ’95, started his new role as president of University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) in January 2021.
UMGC has more than 58,000 students in the United States and even more overseas. Fowler is the first African American to serve as president of the school on more than an interim basis. Fowler graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta and moved to the Washington, D.C., area to work at the National Endowment for the Humanities as an outreach specialist. During that time, he earned his master’s degree through Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. “My time at Mason came at a very formative period early in my career” says Fowler. ”I attended Mason while I was working full-time at the National Endow ment for the Humanities, where I was navigating the complexities of government funding of the arts and humanities. Mason gave me a new approach to how technology could enhance the learning experience— a key perspective that has informed my work in online education to this day.” Fowler went on to become a lecturer and assistant professor of literature and American studies at Penn State University–Erie while finishing his doctorate in English and American studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Fowler is a two-time Fulbright Senior Scholar. He had held senior-level academic and administrative positions at Western Governors University and Hesser College.
PHOTO BY MARK FINKENSTAEDT
Fowler, who previously served as president of the Southern New Hampshire University Global Campus, has had a 25-year career in higher education in which he has focused on online, competency-based, and hybrid learning.
“We at Mason are very proud of Dr. Fowler with his recent appointment, as well as his impressive careerlong achievements as an educator and leader,” says Mason Provost Mark Ginsberg. “Indeed, it is inspiring that a graduate of our university has achieved such heights as a leader in higher education.” —Anna Stolley Persky
“My time at Mason came at a very formative period early in my career.”
Fowler also holds an MBA from Western Governors University and was a Charles A. Dana Scholar at Duke University.
Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 49
class notes
College in Carlinville, Illinois. She is the first recipient of the award in the school’s 183-year history. Evanthia M. Granville, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’08, is the coauthor of Modern Manners for Moms & Dads: Practical Parenting Solutions for Sticky Social Situations (October 27, 2020). Courtney Erland, BA Government and International Politics ’09, married Bob Campbell on September 26, 2020, in Manassas, Virginia, in a ceremony officiated by Ryan Dempsey, BS Marketing ’10.
2010s
Ashlea Smith, BA Government and International Politics ’10, relocated from northwest Washington, D.C., to northwest Washington state, and back to Arlington, Virginia.
Laith T. Al-Nouri, MA Arts Management ’11, was the 2020 recipient of the College of Visual and Performing Arts Thomas W. Iszard IV Distinguished Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Anne Mendoza, BA Global Affairs ’11, and her husband, Jacob, welcomed a baby boy, Gabriel Thomas, on April 21, 2020. She also recently accepted the position of assistant director of elections and voter registration for York County, Pennsylvania.
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Sgt. Jacob Kohut, MM ’11, DMA ’16, made a huge splash on social media in January 2021 when, as a member of the U.S. National Guard, he continued to teach music to his Fairfax County Public Schools students in Virginia while deployed at the U.S. Capitol. Photo courtesy of Jacob Kohut
J. J. Stakem, MS Organization Development and Knowledge Management ’12, is founder of Objective Area Solutions, which was named 358th on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies List in the United States in August 2020 following a three-year growth rate of 1,259 percent. It ranked in the top 25 in the Business Products and Services industry category and in the top seven percent of all companies on the Inc. 5000 list. Kristina Colorado, BA Government and International Politics ’13, MPA ’15, commissioned into the U.S. Army Reserves on June 20, 2020, and began a new career with FEMA in September 2020 as a logistics management specialist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
David Flanigan, PhD Sys tems Engineering and Operations Research ’13, was part of the team that recently published the third edition of Systems Engineering Principles and Practice, a best-selling textbook that has been used extensively in the Johns Hopkins University systems engineer ing program. Stefanie “Nikki” Holden, BS Information Technology ’14, received her MEd from the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 2016 and began working as a full-time faculty member at UC’s School of Information Technology in October 2020. Dave Arena, BS Psychology ’15, earned his PhD in business administration from the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis.
After completing his degree last year, Arena accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position in the management department in the University of Texas at Arlington’s College of Business. Lisa Grimes, BA Foreign Languages ’15, has been serving as the social secretary to the Ambassador of France to the United States since February 2018. Claudia Galdamez, BIS ’16, is excited to welcome her younger sister, Sara Antillon, MS Forensic Science ’20, who graduated on December 17, 2020, to the George Mason University Alumni Association. Lee Marsh, MS Accounting ’16, and his wife, Mary Neven Marsh, welcomed their second daughter, Madeleine Louise Marsh, on October 20, 2020.
Leohana M. Carrera, BA Government and International Politics ’18, was the 2020 recipient of the Distinguished Latino Alumni Award at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction. Michael L. Brown, PhD Criminology, Law, and Society ’19, was the 2020 College of Humanities and Social Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award recipient at the Alumni Association’s Virtual Celebration of Distinction.
2020s
Jesse McCandlish, BS Computer Science ’20, was the 2020 recipient of the George Mason University Alumni Association Senior of the Year Award.
class notes
Obituaries ALUMNI AND STUDENTS
Howard Rant, early alumnus, d. September 25, 2020 Frederik R. Tellekamp, BA Biology ’68, d. Jan. 4, 2021 Marguerite Peterson, BSEd Elementary Education ’73, d. December 7, 2020 James H. Bush, BA Psychology ’74, d. September 25, 2020 Lacy J. McLaurin, MEd Education Administration and Supervision ’74, PhD Education ’94, d. November 28, 2020 Diane Altman, BA Psychology ’75, d. November 8, 2020 Marian R. Childress, MEd Elementary Education ’76, d. August 23, 2020 Peter F. Faber, MEd Education Administration and Supervision ’76, d. September 7, 2020 Kathleen M. Lord, BSN ’76, MSN ’85, d. October 15, 2020 Virginia F. Hicks, BSEd Early Education ’77, d. November 11, 2020 Patricia S. Wingo, BS Business Administration ’77, d. November 30, 2020 Thomas J. Vadnais, BS Business Administration ’78, d. November 15, 2020 William H. Warner, BS Business Administration ’80, d. August 31, 2020
John M. Bradley III, BS Public Administration ’81, d. September 13, 2020
Kimberly J. Dawson, BS Accounting ’89, d. October 27, 2020
Anne W. Sandlund, BA English ’92, d. October 16, 2020
Sharon M. Southard, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’00, d. October 17, 2020
Beverly J. Campbell, BS Chemistry ’81, d. December 14, 2020
David B. Martin, JD ’89, d. November 16, 2020
Judith A. Elliott, BIS ’93, d. October 19, 2020
Michael D. Bolling, BIS ’01, d. December 24, 2020
Elizabeth A. Roslewicz, BIS ’89, d. December 17, 2020
Sandra L. Francis, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’93, d. August 14, 2020
Thomas K. Kelly, MA History ’01, d. August 28, 2020
Eugenia J. Mayfield, BIS ’81, d. September 29, 2020 Louisa H. McAllister, BS Business Administration ’82, d. November 22, 2020 Arlene F. Black, BS Decision Science ’83, d. October 26, 2020 Patricia F. Blaine, BSN ’84, d. October 9, 2020 Mark R. Carreiro, BA Philosophy and English ’85, d. September 18, 2020 Wiley R. Wright III, BS Accounting ’85, d. October 27, 2020 Marcia A. Carman, MEd Counseling and Development ’86, d. August 20, 2020 Carter P. Swenson Jr., BA Government and Politics ’86, d. November 19, 2020 Sarah R. Vinroot, MS Biology ’86, d. November 7, 2020 Barry B. Baker, BS Fire Administration and Technology ’87, d. December 7, 2020
Steven A. Skonberg, JD ’89, d. October 4, 2020 Mildred C. Strange, BS Computer Science ’89, d. October 6, 2020 Susie L. Chan, BSN ’90, d. November 23, 2020 Meigs F. Hodge, BA English ’90, d. September 29, 2020 Harold F. Leiendecker, MA Economics ’90, d. November 28, 2020 Eve E. Puleo, BS Accounting ’90, d. August 5, 2020 Gary W. Smith, PhD Information Technology ’90, d. August 25, 2020 Shirl E. Greene, BA English ’91, d. September 13, 2020 Diana L. Humfeld, MEd Special Education ’91, d. November 30, 2020 Leslie C. Lindsay, BSN ’91, d. September 15, 2020 Daniel B. Stevens, BA Music ’91, d. August 16, 2020
Katherine O. Enos, BA Philosophy ’87, d. September 30, 2020
Luis H. Yabar Jr., BA Economics ’91, d. October 6, 2020
Janine C. Wurm, BS Social Work ’88, d. August 31, 2020
Amnon M. Salomon, MBA ’92, d. October 2, 2020
Lois J. Anderson, MA English ’94, d. November 25, 2020
Anne L. Nicholas, MA International Commerce and Policy ’01, d. October 28, 2020
Daniel C. Craig, BSEd Physical Education ’94, d. September 25, 2020
Bethany A. Wilkison, BA History ’02, d. December 1, 2020
Lynne A. Guilfoyle, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’94, d. October 17, 2020
Jasson C. Cwiekalo, MS Information Security and Assurance ’09, d. September 15, 2020
Leonard S. Goldberg, MA International Transactions ’95, d. December 16, 2020 Paul A. Daniels, JD ’97, d. December 11, 2020 Judith M. Mason, BS Psychology ’97, d. August 9, 2020 Susan S. Peer, MSN ’97, d. December 16, 2020 Ian P. Winne, BA Speech Communication ’97, d. November 6, 2020 Lihui Zhang, MS Information Systems ’97, d. September 1, 2020 Margaret M. Pompa, MEd Curriculum and Instruction ’98, d. November 25, 2020 Martin Lebowitz, MS New Professional Studies ’99, d. November 8, 2020
Betty J. Perkinson, DA Education ’09, d. December 24, 2020 Meagan L. Hale, MEd Counseling and Development ’13, d. September 23, 2020 Christina J. Kangelaris, BS Management ’14, MS ’15, d. November 6, 2020 Paul E. Redmond Jr., MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’15, d. August 21, 2020 Theodore D. Wilson, MS Systems Engineering ’17, d. October 17, 2020 Michael J. Pucci, BS Accounting ’18, d. October 21, 2020 Brian R. Duvall, former student, d. October 4, 2020
Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 51
Leilani Funaki, former student, d. October 15, 2020 Jacob S. Lustig, former student, d. October 16, 2020 Ryan A. McQuade, former student, d. September 29, 2020 Emily D. Miller, former student, d. November 26, 2020
Bobby K. Murugu, former student, d. December 6, 2020 Corey A. Proffitt, former student, d. November 10, 2020 Kristen H. Ries, former student, d. July 31, 2020
FORMER FACULTY AND STAFF
C. Alan Boneau, d. April 19, 2020
Esperanza E. Montesa, d. October 10, 2020
Ralph C. Baxter, d. September 14, 2020
Chong C. Cole, d. November 12, 2020
Robin E. Remsburg, d. December 3, 2020
Ernest J. Berger, d. September 25, 2020
Arthur Melmed, d. September 27, 2020
Johnathon D. Riley, d. October 10, 2020
Shawn Blackwell, d. November 4, 2020
FACULTY, STAFF, AND FRIENDS
Are you an alum who owns a business? List it in our alumni-owned business directory. Go to bit.ly/masonbiz to find out more.
James C. Renick, who as Mason’s vice provost in the early 1990s was the university’s first senior Black academic administrator and an early driving force behind the university’s mission of access, died January 3 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was 72. Renick was promoted from associate provost to Mason vice provost for academic initiatives and external affairs in 1993, after previously directing the university’s Early Identification Program from 1989 to 1991. Renick went on to serve as chancellor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and North Carolina A&T State University. Renick was a founding member of the Millennium Leadership Initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, a program intended to diversify university leadership. His honors included the American Association of Higher Education Black Caucus’s Exemplary Award for Public Service. Renick graduated from Central State University in Ohio in 1970. He earned a master’s degree in social work from Kansas University and a PhD in government/public administration from Florida State University. Amy Speed, a contracts administrator in the Office of Sponsored Programs, passed away on December 8 after a battle with breast cancer and kidney disease. She was 58. Many professors with difficult research projects sought out Speed’s assistance for her knowledge and expertise. A graduate of Duke University, she spent 20 years as an editor and writer at the Internal Revenue Service before coming to Mason. She is survived by her husband, son, and two sisters. Louise White, professor emerita of public and international affairs, passed away in Darlington, South Carolina, on December 26 from complications from COVID-19. She was 88. White was the chair of Mason’s Public and International Affairs Department (now part of the Schar School of Policy
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and Government), as well as director of the university’s International Institute from 1991 to 1998. She also served as director of the public administration doctoral program. In 1997, Mason awarded her its first International Educator of the Year award. She graduated magna cum laude from Smith College in 1954. In 1974, she earned her PhD in political science from American University, where she was a Danforth Graduate Fellow. As an expert in international development, she traveled to many countries, serving as a consultant on projects for the World Bank and for USAID. White is survived by her husband, five children, 12 grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. Walter E. Williams, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics, died December 2 at the age of 84. The prolific author, radio host, and syndicated columnist was a Mason faculty member for four decades and was teaching classes until the time of his death. Never one to shy away from controversy, Williams was a staunch defender of free market policies and limited government who focused much of his scholarly work on how economic and government policies affected minority groups. The Richmond Times-Dispatch once noted that while it was hard to imagine an economist achieving celebrity status, Williams came close, and his colleague, Nobel Prize winner James Buchanan, once joked that he was only the second most famous economist at Mason next to Williams. Raised in the Philadelphia projects by a single mother, Williams drove a cab after high school before being drafted into the U.S. Army. He completed his undergraduate work at California State University, Los Angeles, before earning a master’s degree and his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles. He joined Mason in 1980, where he served as Economics Department chair from 1995 until 2001. He is survived by a daughter and a grandson.
MASON MEMORIES
I
first visited Rose Brenkus in the George Mason Uni versity Nursing Department’s Office of Academic Advising in 1979 on a very cold, rainy winter day. She was kind and precise laying out a plan of courses and clinicals for the completion of my RN to BSN by 1982. It seemed painfully out of sight on that day, but the time would pass quickly. I took exams for credit and started with electives at Northern Virginia Community College. Rose told me I could do this! There were no surprises, and the academic requirements never changed. I literally followed the plan and her instructions and finished a very challenging, humbling program on time. During those years, her busy office was always open and inviting for students seeking her expertise and gentleness. Rose’s guidance and the faculty support of Linda Joseph, who started me with writing and publishing, and Ronnie Feeg, helped keep me on track for my subsequent PhD in nursing.
PROVIDED PHOTO
A REMARKABLE LEGACY
Rose was always there for me as an advisor and now as a friend. I am indebted to this remarkable nurse and teacher who always modeled trust, honesty, respect, and caring.
Barbara Happ, BSN ’82, PhD Nursing ’93, (above) has more than 35 years of experience as an instructor and course designer for the education of adult learners. A teacher in the Nursing Informatics Boot Camps and a volunteer for the W&OD Bicycle Patrol, she lives in Reston, Virginia.
Do you fondly remember certain places within the Mason community that exemplified the “college experience”? Did a specific Mason professor or mentor influence your life and career? If so, tell us about it. Send your submission to spirit@gmu.edu. Please keep submissions to a maximum of 500 words.
Spring 2021 M A S O N S P I R I T | 53
4400 University Drive, MS 3B3 Fairfax, Virginia 22030
PHOTOS BY EVAN CANTWELL
GETTING YOUR CLOCK CLEANED—In December the iconic Mason clock, a gift to the university from the Class of 1999, was reinstalled at what will be the center of the expanded Wilkins Plaza next to Horizon Hall, after a top-to-bottom refurbishment by the clock’s manufacturer, Verdin. The clock was cleaned, new scratch-resistant lenses were installed, and its electronics were updated. Photos by Evan Cantwell
