Teresa M. Donnellan

A group of local rising high school juniors and seniors attended the BioE Buzz Summer Camp hosted by the Department of Bioengineering at George Mason University in June. Throughout the week, campers met students and faculty, received tours of research facilities, and participated in hands-on lab activities. 

In the quest to combat Alzheimer's disease, George Mason professor Abolfazl Safikhani is working with neuroscientists and imaging experts at the University of Washington’s Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) to pioneer groundbreaking advancements in biomarker identification. 

A team of graduate students in information sciences, psychology, and special education aims to create a more integrated understanding of how different populations, such as individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are affected by cybercrimes and how they can be better protected.

Recent graduate in electrical and computer engineering Upneet Singh is dedicated to bringing practical engineering experiences to students in elementary and high school. As a volunteer with VEX Robotics, Singh recently demonstrated research from George Mason’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department to students attending a statewide robotics competition. 

Doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering Sreenitha Kasarapu presented “Leveraging Explainable AI for Designing Evolvable Malware” at the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative 2024 Symposium in April.  

Several faculty members in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology received a planning grant from the National Science Foundation to work on developing effective support mechanisms for low-income students. 

In two recent research projects, George Mason statistics professor Abolfazl Safikhani has applied machine learning tools to time series analysis of land use and real estate pricing to help decision-makers in urban planning and real estate.  

A team of electrical and computer engineering professors met weekly throughout the spring 2024 semester to discuss inclusive teaching strategies and applying them in two foundational courses. The team had won an Inclusive Excellence in Teaching Mini-Grant from George Mason University's Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning for their proposal, “Volts, Wires, and Waves: Charging Up, Building Connections, and Breaking Through.”

Bo Han, a computer science professor in the College of Engineering and Computing at George Mason University, is working with colleagues Songqing Chen, Parth Pathak, and Craig Yu to create a research infrastructure capable of connecting extended reality experiences across varying distances.

Long Jiao, who received his doctorate in electrical and computer engineering in 2023, is finishing up his first year as a college professor. As a faculty member in the Computer and Information Science Department at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Jiao has continued his research while learning the ropes of curriculum design and student engagement.