FROM THE NANOSPHERE TO THE STRATOSPHERE
Academic year 2025-26: Despite recruiting challenges encountered by many colleges and universities, our enrollment remains healthy. We are focusing our energy on new recruitment strategies and tactics to support our students and maintain our growth.
$83.7M IN EXPENDITURES FY25
$66.8M IN AWARDS FY25
456 IN PROPOSALS, TOTALING $257.7M FY25
$12.4M IN INDIRECT COSTS FY25
Dear Alumni and Friends,
Today, higher education and universities face many obstacles, from reduced research dollars to declining enrollment; our landscape is shifting. The College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) must adapt and move with the changing landscape, and we will. Though current challenges are unprecedented and differ from those of the past, after 40 years we are still here and still responding with bold innovative solutions.
In 2025, George Mason University embarked on a 5-year quest to solve society’s grand challenges—creating the future we want, not the one we are forced to endure. Our Annual Report this year is built around this Grand Challenge Initiative, a task that CEC is uniquely positioned to address. Our solutions stretch from the nanosphere to the stratosphere. In this report, you will read about six solutions and our bold strategies to address them.
On our Northern Virginia campuses and around the globe, CEC’s researchers and their collaborators are making discoveries and making an impact. You will read about how they use AI to develop tools that enhance national security, secure our elections through cybersecurity, and build prosthetic devices to help people lead fuller lives. From nanotechnologies that can fabricate tiny circuits for computer chips to the payload for a satellite that will launch an artificial star into space, we are developing transformative solutions and preparing the next generation of leaders to drive sustainable systems forward.
Our alumni and friends continue to provide financial support and together with volunteerism that bolsters our efforts. Industry partners fund capstone projects, alumni provide valuable service on our advisory boards, and individuals donate to our annual fund for the college’s greatest needs. This year we broke previous fundraising records thanks to a leadership gift from our long-time friends Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong.
We honored their gift by naming our school of computing the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing.
The leaders and visionaries who gave rise to this school would be proud of the determination, creativity, and bravery of our students, staff, and scholars who are taking on the grand challenges by working to make the world cleaner, safer, and more prosperous. I hope you enjoy reading about just a few of our accomplishments.
Best wishes,
Ken Ball, PhD, PE Dean, College of Engineering and Computing
SECTION TITLES:
6 Advancing 21st Century Education For All
12 Building a Climate Resilient Society
20 Driving Responsible Digital Innovation
26 Timeline
30 Improving Human Health, Well-Being and Preparedness
36 Pioneering Space Exploration, Research, and Collaboration for Humanity
42 Strengthening Peace. Trust, and Engagement in Democracy
46 The World Needs Mason Now
College of Engineering and Computing
Transforming education to break barriers and to create inclusive and accessible learning opportunities for the workforce of the future, empowering communities worldwide.
t George Mason University, faculty and students are redefining what it means to prepare for crises. Through cuttingedge, AI-augmented games, they’re transforming complex challenges into interactive learning experiences that build skills and resilience.
The project, led by Shima Mohebbi, an assistant professor in the Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research along with PhD student Pavithra Sripathanallur Murali and Nischal Newar, MS Computer Science ’24, began as part of a National Science Foundation initiative to develop simulation-based games for resilient infrastructure. Inspired by a webinar hosted by George Mason’s Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities, where the Arlington County Department of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management shared their training needs, Mohebbi and her team expanded the project’s focus to emergency preparedness.
The games simulate emergency scenarios and provide participants with tailored insights into their decision-making process. By using advanced algorithms, the games create a dynamic learning environment where strategies can be tested and adapted in real time.
This shift led to the creation of two interactive AI-powered games—Go-Repair and Go-Rescue —which were developed over the course of a year to train utility managers and volunteers to make critical decisions in scenarios like infrastructure repairs and hurricane disaster evacuations.
The games simulate emergency scenarios and provide participants with tailored insights into their decision-making process. By using advanced algorithms, the games create a dynamic learning environment where strategies can be tested and adapted in real time.
“Go-Repair and Go-Rescue aim to provide volunteers and utility managers with realistic emergency scenarios in a comfortable environment, free from the stress and panic of an actual crisis,” said Mohebbi. “Through AI optimization and reinforcement learning models, players can assess whether their decisions lead to better or worse outcomes compared to the AI-generated solutions, helping them improve their skills in making science-formed decisions.”
Screen captures of the interactive games Go Repair and Go Rescue show how players can use the games to assess their decisions and improve skills. PHOTO PROVIDED.
Looking ahead, the team is incorporating feedback to introduce more complex resource allocation tasks and expand participation to include more George Mason students and utility managers. By continuously refining the games with fresh input, the goal is to develop a versatile and effective training tool emergency response and preparedness. As the project evolves, the team aims to expand its reach, offering a smarter, more scalable solution for communities nationwide.
Some Virginia K-12 students who returned to school last fall were confronted with smartphone-free hallways and classrooms as part of new state cellphone bans that are sweeping the United States. Nora McDonald, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, teamed up with the Prince William County Public Schools to try to understand how students, teachers, administrators, and parents reacted to these bans and the long-term implications.
Increasing concerns about the use of personal internet-connected (smart) phones and other devices among youth have dramatically intensified, especially about the constant connectivity in school settings. Scholars, educators, and lawmakers are taking action to combat the distractions, cyberbullying, and reduced face-to-face social interaction they perceive to be created and exacerbated by smart devices with near or total school-wide bans.
McDonald said, “It is urgent that we do this work. We do not understand how near-constant use of smartphones might simultaneously be eroding or limiting outlets for social support-seeking and identity expression offline.”
While individual schools have already responded with cellphone bans, Virginia is among those states that introduced a full K-12 ban in fall 2024, though not all adopted them until 2025. The goal of this research is to talk to teachers, administrators, parents, and students before and after the imposition
McDonald’s work builds on research in her field of human-computer interaction that has focused on the benefits of social media for marginalized identities but increasingly acknowledges the darker side of these privacy-invasive algorithms on young people’s sense of self.
of cell phone bans, creating a critical opportunity to determine what primarily psychosocial outcomes may be observed and whether any are sustained or even potentially amplified over time.
Through focus group interviews and qualitative surveys, McDonald worked on engaging parents and students to learn more about these cellphone bans’ impact on student behaviors and social experiences in and out of the classroom, specifically how it impacts the way students spend their time and where they are seeking social support.
Her work builds on research in her field of humancomputer interaction that has focused on the benefits of social media for marginalized identities but increasingly acknowledges the darker side of these privacy-invasive algorithms on young people’s sense of self.
Ultimately, McDonald said, she wants to “engage youth awareness to understand why they are seeing the toxic content or the misinformation they are seeing, and the privacy-invasive algorithms behind it.”
High-achieving students interested in cybersecurity may be eligible for to receive stipends of $27,000 per year for undergraduate students and $37,000 per year for graduate students, along with tuition and a professional allowance of $6,000 per academic year through George Mason’s new Empowering American Government Leadership in Security through Education (EAGLE) program.
A faculty team from the Department of Cyber Security Engineering (CYSE) and the Department of Information Sciences and Technology secured a $3.9-million grant from the National Science Foundation CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service program to support cybersecurity students’ intent on working for the U.S. government after graduation.
Over the next five years, EAGLE will support twelve undergraduate students, nine master’s students, and two PhD students, explained Kun Sun, the program’s Principal Investigator (PI).
“We have a strong team,” said Sun, referring to co-PIs Tanvir Arafin, Peggy Brouse, Paulo Costa, and Jianli Pan. Arafin, Brouse, and Costa are CYSE faculty and members of George Mason’s Center of Excellence in Command, Control, Communications© Computing, Cyber, and Intelligence.
EAGLE is an initiative aimed at bolstering the cybersecurity workforce within government agencies such as the National Security Agency, the Department of Energy, and military branches. The program also offers students opportunities for expert advice and hands-on experience. Each scholarship recipient is paired with an advisor and will complete summer internships with government agencies, which recruit from CyberCorps programs. So, not only do scholarship recipients receive a generous stipend, but they will also benefit from significant professional development opportunities.
“This is a huge undertaking, but with a strong team and dedicated students, we are confident in our ability to make a meaningful impact,” Sun said.
Costa, CYSE chair and C5I Center director, highlighted the significance of the program, saying, “This is a major step in establishing the College of Engineering and Computing as a national leader in cybersecurity education.”
Not only do scholarship recipients receive a generous stipend, but they will also benefit from significant professional development opportunities.
The EAGLE program is highly selective, aiming to attract top-tier students who demonstrate both academic excellence and a commitment to public service.
Activating research, scholarship, and creative activities for actionable solutions to foster resilient communities and ensure a sustainable future.
George Mason University’s Energy Exploration (E2) Center, the largest of its kind in the United States, engages students in hands-on nuclear science and engineering educational activities.
The center was funded by a grant from the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank, powered by the Virginia Department of Energy, a strategic investment in Virginia’s nuclear energy workforce development.
“Change to a reliable and increasingly clean energy future is what the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank is all about.”
Energy
NuScale E2 Centers feature a state-ofthe-art simulator that replicates a NuScale small modular reactor (SMR) control room.
Students at George Mason will have the unique opportunity to assume the role of a control room operator, engaging with real-life scenarios that bridge theoretical knowledge with practical application.
“This cutting-edge SMR control room simulator will ensure that our students have access to emerging technologies that will drive innovation,” said Ken Ball, dean of the College of Engineering and Computing.
“This partnership gives our students the tools and education they will need to prepare for the future and become part of Virginia’s dynamic workforce.”
George Mason is invested in solving humanity’s ultimate grand challenge: securing a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous future. The simulator is part of the university’s commitment to the Grand Challenge Initiative, advancing a 21st-century education for all, and building a climate-resilient society.
The establishment of NuScale’s E2 Center at George Mason also marks a significant advancement for Virginia’s educational landscape, preparing the next generation of nuclear professionals to engage with the evolving energy industry.
“A reliable and increasingly clean energy future is what the Virginia Clean Energy Innovation Bank is all about,” said Glenn Davis, director of the Virginia Department of Energy. “With this investment, we’re ensuring Virginia has the energy to power our thriving economy and the expertise to continue leading the nation in innovation, education, and opportunity.”
Fuse at Mason Square is a 345,000-squarefoot facility designed to promote technology, partnerships, and community engagement.
The E2 Center, which opened at the end of May, offers opportunities outside the college curriculum, such as practical demonstrations and interactive tours for local leaders and K-12 students, to deepen their understanding of nuclear power and the role it plays in providing reliable, clean energy.
In September 2024, destruction from Hurricane Helene included catastrophic flooding, storm surges, landslides, and tornadoes, resulting in more than 250 deaths and $78.7 billion in damages, which some estimate may rise to $110 billion. Areas of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee were devastated by the rainfall, and Southwest Virginia experienced significant flooding.
“Flooding is a growing issue across local communities,” said Celso Ferreira, who leads George Mason University’s Flood Hazards Research Lab. “It is one part of engineering that’s not well-solved. Communities want to understand and adapt to flood risk, but it’s expensive. If it were easy and cheap, it would already be solved. That’s where this idea came in—we thought, why not involve students? Not just teach them engineering but help them create useful products for these communities. Can we make a difference without a multimillion-dollar firm? Can we bridge the gap?”
Ferreira recently redesigned the Flood Hazard Engineering and Adaptation (CEIE 445/645) course to work with community partners to deliver real projects as part of the Institute for a Sustainable Earth’s NSF Accelerating Research Translation Seed Translational Research Project Program. He taught it for the first time in its new format in fall 2024.
In the course, undergraduate and graduate students work together in teams to develop flood risk maps and conduct analyses to help real clients in local communities improve their flood resilience. For some communities, especially smaller counties or tribes with fewer resources or no engineers on staff, this can provide critical data to help them address areas at higher risk of flooding.
The student teams used the recently developed Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) models, which provided ground elevation surface (topography), hydraulic friction values, and surface water infiltration values. This served as a common framework each project could be built upon.
During the first part of the semester, the students learned how to create models like those provided by Virginia DCR. Then, they worked with their clients to address individual case studies on flood mitigation.
Examples of student projects included:
• Pamunkey Reservation Flood Resiliency Plan
• Forwarding Roadway Resiliency Efforts in Mathews County
• Flood Adaptive Roadways in Quantico, Virginia
As part of their work, the student teams created ArcGIS storymaps for each project, available through the course website.
In the course, undergraduate and graduate students work together in teams to develop flood risk maps and conduct analyses to help real clients in local communities improve their flood resilience.
After the course, several students were hired as undergraduate research assistants to continue working on the projects so that they could take them beyond one semester’s work and provide the clients with more advanced projects. They are reviewing and enhancing all the projects to improve alignment with the clients’ requests and developing a standardized product that each client will receive.
In agriculture, combining the best traits of two plants via cross-pollination often yields hybrid offspring that are stronger and healthier than their two parents. The same may happen when universities join forces to provide real-world solutions to society’s Grand Challenges.
The College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) will collaborate with the Indian Institute of Technology–Ropar (IIT–Ropar) as one of three Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in AI. Last winter, India’s Ministry of Education called for proposals that would improve the nation’s AI ecosystem through worldwide partnerships. This collaboration is one result.
At these CoEs, top educational institutions, industry partners, and start-ups will conduct research, develop applications, and create scalable solutions in three areas: AI in healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities. George Mason’s CEC is part of the AI in agriculture consortium led by IIT–Ropar.
“The state of Punjab, where Ropar is located, is the breadbasket of India,” said Gurdip Singh, divisional dean of George Mason’s Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing and adjunct professor at IIT–Ropar. “We wish to improve agricultural methods and crop yields.”
Over the past generation, India has become a leading exporter of rice, milk, and sugarcane. But with population growth, urbanization, strained resources, and climate change, the country must find diverse economic solutions.
Over the past generation, India has become a leading exporter of rice, milk, and sugarcane. But with population growth, urbanization, strained resources, and climate change, the country must find diverse solutions.
“The CoE will leverage IIT–Ropar’s infrastructure to connect with farmers and develop AI-based economic solutions,” said Pushpendra Singh, dean for research and technology at IIT–Ropar, who will lead the project.
George Mason will contribute expertise in AI, robotics, and sensor technologies. “We can provide AI-based advice on sowing, harvesting, crop health, and extreme weather. We can also incorporate traditional and scientific knowledge into the solutions,” said Gurdip Singh.
This proposal was funded with $40M over four years and provides opportunities for George Mason to work with institutions from India—a fruitful partnership in the making.
University occasions like graduation and basketball games are high-water marks in student life. But how do they affect the ecosystem?
This year, using an Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE) grant, undergraduate and graduate engineering students have worked with University Facilities to sample air and water quality across campus. They are studying how activities like graduation celebrations and construction projects, along with natural events like rainstorms, affect the campus.
This year’s work by Zavareh, Neupane, and their student teams proves that ISE’s Mason as a Living Lab program offers great insights.
“Fairfax is a very active campus in terms of construction,” said Maryam Zavareh, who earned her PhD from George Mason in 2021.
“Weather is also a factor,” she added, “but so are projects like rain gardens (also called best management practices, or BMPs). Rain can affect a stream in a negative way, while BMPs can help quality.”
During her PhD studies, Zavareh took measurements around Mason Pond to use machine learning to predict water quality patterns. She worked with water resources engineering expert Associate Professor Viviana Maggioni and air quality expert Associate Professor Lucas Henneman. Maggioni called Zavareh back to run this new project.
Dinesh Neupane, a PhD candidate in civil and environmental engineering and student leader for the project, is excited to measure air quality as well.
“We want to calibrate the data we measure with satellite imagery to see if we can get the imaging to accurately take the readings for us,” he said.
Neupane said that campus events do not affect water quality. “We think big gatherings will affect air quality, but we don’t have that data yet.”
This year’s work by Zavareh, Neupane, and their student teams proves that ISE’s George Mason as a Living Lab program offers great insights.
Harnessing AI, other emerging technoligies, and sustainable cyberinfrastructure to solve critical human challenges, promote ethical innovation, and power a smarter future.
he U.S. Army relies on ground vehicles for successful operations, requiring vehicles that can navigate a variety of terrains and allow soldiers to be effective and safe. This creates a challenging set of requirements for new vehicle design, engineering, and operations that must be cost-effective.
George Mason is now an important contributor for researching novel approaches and development of new vehicles, thanks to a $1.6 million grant from the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences under Digital Enterprise Technology for Maintenance and Sustainment Improvements—Phase II effort, sponsored through the Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center.
Called DELTA-FORCE (Digital Environments for Life-Cycle Test and Evaluation For Off-Road Combat Vehicles), the project is a joint effort between the Center for Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyber, and Intelligence (C5I Center) and the College of Science’s Center for Collision Safety and Analysis. Ali Raz of the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department is the principal investigator (PI) and Steve Kan, a professor at George Mason’s College of Science, is the co-PI.
DELTA-FORCE will provide an opportunity through new undergraduate courses for George Mason students to get hands-on experience in building digital twins and conducting analysis.
This project develops a comprehensive digital engineering methodology for new vehicle concepts. “It’s a very unique opportunity in that we’re building a complete digital environment for life cycle testing and analysis,” Raz said. “Life cycle elements have their own domainspecific models and analysis tools that are not linked. We are building a digital environment to connect them. Essentially, we’ll build a digital twin for modeling the off-road vehicle and environments that is connected to a physical twin via reverse engineering.”
A key aspect of this project is creating an ontology and model-based systems engineering foundation that will connect the different domain-models, providing a common language for integrating the models and building interfaces in a digital environment.
Raz added that DELTA-FORCE will provide an opportunity through new undergraduate courses for George Mason students to get hands-on experience in building digital twins and conducting analysis.
When it comes to national defense, fresh and forward-thinking talent is always in demand.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more sophisticated, some old problems become easier to solve, but new ones arise. George Mason’s AI4Defense program is an innovative incubator that empowers high school and early undergraduate students to explore artificial intelligence applications in national defense. Kammy Sanghera is the executive director of global engagements and tech talent development and a professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology in the College of Engineering and Computing. She received a grant from the Griffiss Institute to lead the program.
Students not only gain technical and communication skills but also engage in customer discovery— working directly with mission partners to define problems and tailor AI solutions accordingly.
Funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, AI4Defense is a month-long, hands-on experience designed to immerse students in real-world problemsolving. Participants collaborate with mission partners—including the Department of Defense (DoD) and agencies such as Space Force and the Defense Digital Service—to develop AI-driven solutions to national security challenges. The College of Engineering’s long history and deep ties to the defense sector made it a perfect fit for the project.
The Griffiss Institute, a leading STEM accelerator for the DoD and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), helped expand the program’s reach and impact. “A very important element happened last year,” said Sanghera. “DIU joined forces with the same mindset—build the talent pipeline, engage mission partners to solve real-world problems, and use AI to create efficient and secure solutions. These three elements were perfect for the design of the program.”
Students not only gain technical and communication skills but also engage in customer discovery—working directly with mission partners to define problems and tailor AI solutions accordingly.
In 2024, one student team developed a proof-ofconcept AI agent for the U.S. Air Force to automate the creation of Self-Assessment Checklists (SACs). Traditionally a manual and time-intensive process due to regulatory complexity and frequent updates, the AI solution was able to extract key phrases from regulations and generate relevant questions, significantly improving the speed, accuracy, and consistency of SAC creation.
Sanghera emphasized the program’s multilevel impact: George Mason undergraduate and graduate students served as mentors to high school participants, gaining leadership experience and exposure to the defense innovation ecosystem.
Lithography, a printmaking technique using a plate or other hard, smooth surface to transfer ink onto a medium such as paper, was invented in the late 18th century by German playwright Alois Senefelder. It is used to create a myriad of products, many sitting around your home and office.
But what if you needed to create something really small using lithographic techniques—maybe at the nanometer level (one billionth of a meter)?
Ethan Ahn, an associate professor of electrical engineering at George Mason University, is using a new technique called electron-beam lithography (EBL), which scans a focused beam of electrons to draw shapes. In fact, as the only skilled practitioner at Northern Virginia’s only EBL facility, he’s eager to get students and other faculty members trained in the technology.
“This equipment is infamous for its sensitivity,” he said. “It’s a hard tool to use and it takes a lot of practice, a lot of training, and a lot of knowledge. So, this is not something that’s easily accessible to everyone.”
In fact, before Ahn’s arrival in 2023, students and faculty who wanted to work on EBL had to go to the National Institute of Standards and Technology campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland, more than an hour away from SciTech.
Students coming through Ahn’s EBL boot camp may find a more secure future, as they will be more marketable upon graduation, particularly in the high-tech hub that is the Washington, D.C., area.
“We will be able to get grants and funding that we wouldn’t without this technology,” said Ahn, about the opportunities the EBL opens. “And there’s an implication for myself, for example, because I’m working on nano electronics, and this will let us make nanoscale logic devices, nanoscale memory devices, and more.”
The microchip industry is one place where lithographic patterning is used extensively. “One chip is as small as my thumb. But if you zoom in to see what is in there until you see individual devices and components, you’ll see billions of transistors there. That’s what I do using EBL, making transistors that are faster, more energy efficient, more reliable, and more secure,” he said.
And students coming through Ahn’s EBL boot camp may find a more secure future, as they will be more marketable upon graduation, particularly in the hightech hub that is the Washington, D.C., area.
Funding to support the EBL capability, housed in the university’s Nanofabrication Facility on the Science and Technology Campus in Manassas, came from the GO Virginia Nano-IMAGINE program.
Ahn, associate professor of electrical engineering demonstrates lithography equipment in the new facility on the Science and Technology Campus.
1980
Area business leaders convince the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) that engineering degree programs are needed in Northern Virginia.
1981
SCHEV approves the establishment of the following programs at George Mason: BS in computer and electronic engineering, MS in computer and electrical engineering, MS in computer science, and MS in operations research and systems management.
1984
Three new information technology and engineering departments are established: Computer and Information Sciences, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Systems Engineering.
1986
1985
The Board of Visitors approves the School of Information Technology and Engineering (IT&E); Andrew P Sage becomes the first dean of IT&E.
IT&E’s first research center — The Center for Computational Statistics is established.
The Department of Systems Engineering is split into two departments: Systems Engineering and Operations Research, and Applied Statistics.
Technology Building.
The Center of Secure Information Systems (CSIS) has the distinction of being the first academic center focused on security at a U.S. university.
moves into the new Science and Technology II Building.
1992
The Systems Engineering and Operation Research and Applied Statistics Department is split into two departments: Systems Engineering and Operations Research, and Applied Engineering Statistics.
Dean Andrew P. Sage retires as dean and is named Founding Dean Emeritus and University Professor.
The Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering Department is established.
Lloyd J. Griffiths is named Dean of IT&E.
The Department of Systems Engineering and Operations Research are combined.
The BS Information Technology Program for undergraduates is established. 2005
In conjunction with its 20th anniversary, the school received a $10 million gift from Ernst and Sara Volgenau and was named The Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering in honor of this gift. This gift enabled the school to create new academic and research programs in bioengineering.
2006
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia approves name change to Volgenau School of Engineering.
School moves to a new building and the building is named in honor of Long and Kimmy Nguyen.
BS in Bioengineering is approved by SCHEV. 2012
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering changes name to Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering.
2012
Kenneth S. Ball is named Dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering.
MS in Data Analytics Engineering approved by SCHEV.
BS in Cyber Security Engineering and PhD in Bioengineering are approved by SCHEV.
BS in Mechanical Engineering approved by SCHEV. 2015
Department of Mechanical Engineering is established. 2019
College reaches highest research awards and expenditures to date.
MS in Cyber Security Engineering approved by SCHEV.
2020
All-time enrollment high of 8,000+ students. Cyber Security Engineering Department established. Proposed two schools, the Volgenau School of Engineering and the School of Computing approved by the Board of Visitors.
2021
Name change to College of Engineering and Computing approved by SCHEV.
HERD Rankings in top 100 for Engineering and Computing. Computing highest in Virginia.
The college’s administrative structure includes two schools, the School of Computing established in June 2021, and the Volgenau School of Engineering.
2025
George Mason honors a gift with an impact of $36 million by naming the School of Computing the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing.
Evgenios Kornaropoulos, an assistant professor in George Mason University’s Computer Science Department, focuses on computer security and applied cryptography, where he stays ahead of changes in the field. “The needs of everyday users have grown, and our technology’s privacy expectations must advance accordingly,” he said. “We’ve moved beyond simply communicating sensitive data securely; now, we need technology capable of performing computations on sensitive data without compromising privacy.”
He recently received a National Science Foundation CAREER award for $648,811 for his work on privacy and data security under the title “Encrypted Systems with Fine-Grained Leakage.”
“The new technology that we are developing allows the user to never expose any information in the clear to the cloud while maintaining functionality,” he said. “You want the cloud to do interesting computations for you without decrypting your information. If you don’t decrypt, the cloud never gets to see what you are processing.”
When users store sensitive information with common cloud-based providers the provider gains access to the document’s contents—exposing data in plain text to the cloud. A remedy is to encrypt the data before uploading it, but this approach comes with a drawback: when users need to access the encrypted data, they must download all the scrambled files locally and perform the computations on their own devices.
“Our new technology allows the user to never expose any information in the clear to the cloud while maintaining functionality,” Kornaropoulos said. “You want the cloud to do computations for you without decrypting your information.”
So how can the user still process the information but know that the cloud didn’t learn anything?
“We believe that the answer is the notion of ‘cryptographic leakage’, he said. “The cloud provider still sees some accesses on encrypted data but these observations are confusing.”
Kornaropoulos said, “Searching on encrypted data is one of the biggest functionalities and we have a research thrust in which we will collaborate with industry leaders and local organizations on this problem. Specifically, we have an active collaboration with the George Mason and Partners Clinics to explore the application scenarios of our technology to that setting.”
Empowering individuals and fostering thriving communities through lifelong health solutions and resilience for military and civilian populations alike.
For ten days, 16 students in the bioengineering BENG 417 class with trip leaders Claudia Borke and Shani Ross worked in Quito, Ecuador, with the Range of Motion Project (ROMP) to fit locals with high-quality prosthetic devices. Ketul Popat, chair of the Department of Bioengineering, brought the ROMP program to George Mason.
“I saw one 12-year-old boy walk for the first time. The impact that we had on his life overwhelmed me.”
Mechanical Engineering
Major Andres
Miguel Cruz Guzman
“This was the first year that we did this,” he said. “The goal was to give more hands-on experience to students so they could see how a background in engineering could make a difference in people’s lives instantly.”
Nicolas Garcia Callejas is a rising senior who began his academic career as a pre-med nursing student.
“We got to know the patients and help them through the process. Then we got to do everything from scratch in making the prosthetics,” he said. “We went from taking measurements, doing the sculpting and molding, refinements around the socket, and building the prosthetic. It was a full 9-5 job, but the time flew by because I was having fun.”
Andres Miguel Cruz Guzman, a mechanical engineering major, eventually wants to work on solar and water projects, but the personal and hands-on aspect of the Ecuador program attracted him.
“The prosthetics will be something the patients wear for the next three years. I was intrigued by that challenge.”
One thing he didn’t anticipate, however, was the emotional aspect of the work. “I saw one 12-year-old boy walk for the first time. The impact that we had on his life overwhelmed me,” he said.
Popat said that one thing that struck him was how quickly the students adapted to the work. “I went on the third day, and it didn’t seem like the students were new there,” he said. “They were already very comfortable with what they were doing.”
will soon receive a dose of empathy with the goal of helping to match people with depression to their best-fit medication.
Kevin Lybarger, an assistant professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology, received $1,049,998 in research funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to continue their work on developing an AI system that helps patients find the right depression medications.
A team led by Farrokh Alemi, a professor in the College of Public Health, and K. Pierre Eklou, an assistant professor from the School of Nursing is also engaged in the project.
The project, Evaluating Conversational Artificial Intelligence for Depression Management, will hone large language models to address known challenges in AI, including mitigating biases, reducing the potential for inaccurate information, and incorporating an empathetic tone.
The team is also developing a separate conversational agent that mimics patient responses. This simulator will allow researchers to test the AI system across diverse clinical scenarios, including screening for related conditions like bipolar disorder, ensuring its robustness and accuracy.
A key aspect of the project involves substantial student engagement in both teaching and research.
Graduate students in Workshop in Health Informatics (HAP 786) will contribute to development and evaluation of the AIdriven intervention, gaining invaluable hands-on experience in cutting-edge health informatics.
The development is a collaborative effort, bringing together students and professionals from Information Sciences and Technology, Computer Science, and Health Administration and Policy. The core of the project is an AI system designed to engage patients in natural language dialogue, collect medical history, and suggest appropriate antidepressants.
In a novel approach to testing and refinement, the team is also developing a patient simulator— a separate conversational agent that mimics patient responses. This simulator will allow researchers to test the AI system across diverse clinical scenarios, including screening for related conditions like bipolar disorder, ensuring its robustness and accuracy.
Beyond its immediate application, the project may advance AI more broadly. The AI system for recommending antidepressants based on individual medical history, including past diagnoses and prior treatment experiences, represents a significant step forward. This work is expected to contribute to a generalizable approach to medical reasoning that leverages historical electronic health record data, ultimately supporting predictive medicine across a wide range of clinical tasks.
Pioneering space innovations for Earth observation, planetary exploration, and space weather prediction to advance technology and protect global society.
When the National Science Foundation called for research proposals for the ISS, Jeff Moran, a life-long space nerd and associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering jumped at the chance. His experiment will examine how aerosols (small, suspended particles) move through the air in response to temperature differences—a phenomenon known as thermophoresis.
Thermophoresis is difficult to study in gases on earth because of the influence of gravity. Experimenting in space allows scientists to run their tests without creating air currents.
“Aerosols are everywhere—both because of humans and because of natural events like volcanic eruptions—and we don’t know the effect they have on the climate,” said Moran.
Thermophoresis is difficult to study in gases on Earth because of the influence of gravity. Another challenge with studying particle migration in temperature gradients on earth is that heated air rises, making it difficult to know why particles are moving. Experimenting in space allows scientists to run their tests with minimal gravitational influence to examine the effect of temperature on aerosols without creating air currents.
“We’ll send three aerosol samples into space in student-designed cuvettes for testing,” Moran explained. “There’s a microscope on the ISS, and the astronauts will place our cuvettes into an apparatus we’ve designed that applies heat and cold to opposite walls of the cuvette. They will use the microscope to determine how fast the particles move towards hot or towards cold. No one has made these types of measurements before.”
Before the experiment, Moran and his team need to determine the experiment’s parameters and materials.
“This is a work in progress,” said Moran. “We’re figuring out which particles to launch [based on] which materials matter the most to climate scientists [and] the biggest questions.”
He mentioned the possibility of experimenting with carbon soot.
“Carbon soot is produced by burning fossil fuels. It’s harmful to the environment because it absorbs sunlight,” he said. “An increasingly common source of carbon soot is rocket launches.”
The other two aerosols in the lead for extraterrestrial study are silica and sodium chloride (better known as table salt). Moran is working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to refine the plan.
Sandra Cauffman was watching with the rest of the world on July 20, 1969, as astronauts set foot on the moon. Like other children that day she turned to her mother and said she also wanted to walk on the moon’s cratered surface. What young Cauffman didn’t understand was, as a poor girl in Costa Rica with a single mother, her dreams were seemingly even farther away than the moon.
“Sometimes parents put a little realism in their kids’ heads, so they don’t dream too big,” she said. “But instead of telling me, ‘Well, we’re from Costa Rica and that’s the United States,’ or ‘we’re poor, and you are a woman’. Mom never said any of that.” Her mom said, ‘Put your mind to it and study hard. You never know!’”
Sandra spent three and a half years in industrial engineering in Costa Rica but, when she was 18 years old, her mother married a charming man from
Northern Virginia. Cauffman’s new father offered to facilitate the visa for Sandra to come to the United States to study.
Knowing no English, Cauffman came to the states, got a job at Scott’s Hardware, and took a class at George Mason to learn the language. In a few years she moved from those rudimentary classes to graduating with degrees in electrical engineering and physics.
Cauffman put herself on a path toward citizenship, gaining it in March 1989. And two years later, she got a job with NASA, where she worked for more than 35 years. She recently retired as the Deputy Director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate. For her accomplishments, she earned the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal; she is a three-time recipient of the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and four-time recipient of the Acquisition Improvement Award.
She wouldn’t have reached such celestial heights without George Mason’s welcoming environment. “I was around a lot of people like me, who came from elsewhere.
And they wanted to get a degree, and we were all learning English and working together.” She stays engaged with her alma mater and gives back, including speaking at the spring 2025 Volgenau School of Engineering Degree Celebration.
She wouldn’t have reached such celestial heights without George Mason’s welcoming environment. “I was around a lot of people like me, who came from elsewhere.”
Sandra Cauffman
She received a BS in Physics, a BS in Electrical Engineering, and an MS in Electrical Engineering, all from George Mason University. George Mason honored Cauffman’s achievements at its 50th Anniversary in 2018 as one of the 50 “exemplars”— alumni who embody the impact of a George Mason degree around the world.
Turns out, you don’t need moon boots to make giant leaps.
George Mason University is the home of the $20 million Landolt NASA Space Mission, placing a satellite that will serve as an artificial star in orbit around the Earth…and College of Engineering and Computing students are instrumental in the payload’s construction. It’s experience that not only significantly bolsters a resume but also allows students to work on a project of their dreams.
Fatima Bahzad, a computer science graduate student said, “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in school. Learning theoretical stuff is one thing but applying it is another. This is one of the first opportunities I’ve had to work on something ‘real.’”
“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had in school.”
Fatima Bahzad, computer science graduate student
Students and faculty are building the payload in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The artificial star will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes, more accurately measuring the brightness of stars both nearby and in far-off galaxies. The mission will address several open challenges in astrophysics, including the speed and acceleration of the universe’s expansion.
On the engineering side, the project is led by Piotr Pachowicz, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Pachowicz brought Jay Deorukhkar, a PhD student and one of his advisees, onto the project.
Deorukhkar has been working on testing the individual payload modules. “The great thing about this project is really the end-to-end experience, from the inception of the mission to the actual launch and operation of the science payload,” he said.
Deorukhkar also worked on the ThinSat project in 2021, which sent a small satellite into low Earth orbit. He knows about the anxiety as the launch date nears. “It’s a bone-chilling moment when the rocket starts and you know your device is on there and it’s out of your hands at that point,” he said.
Housed in the George Mason College of Science, the mission launches in 2029, when the artificial star will orbit Earth 22,236 miles up, far enough away to look like a star to telescopes back home.
George Mason faculty and students will work together with NASA, NIST, and nine other organizations on this first-of-its-kind project for a university in the Washington, D.C., area.
Strengthening trust and engagement in democratic institutions and fostering global stability by bridging economic divides and advancing strategic alliances and diplomacy.
Incoming college students are increasingly concerned with social justice, conflict resolution, and sustainability. These are byproducts of being raised in an interconnected, interdisciplinary world, where they’ve been taught to consider the downstream consequences of their actions and decisions.
In response, the George Mason University College of Engineering and Computing and Jimmy and Roslyn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution are now collaborating on a minor in peace engineering. The minor germinated from numerous places but was pushed forward by Liza Wilson Durant, CEC’s associate dean for strategic initiatives and community engagement, and Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the Carter School.
“I advised students in George Mason’s Engineers for International Development chapter on developing engineered solutions to community problems in remote lands in Central America,” said Wilson Durant. “The engagement with community members and the work to understand the needs of a vast number of community stakeholders was as important as the final engineered solution. It occurred to me that we could bring that kind of understanding to the classroom for more engineering students through collaboration with the Carter School.”
Jane Walker, director of undergraduate student services for the Carter School, said the minor is ideal for students at both colleges. “The engineering students will better understand culture, people, and the complexity of their interactions, and Carter School students will better understand systems thinking and engineering design.”
According to the university website, the minor “brings together expertise in systems-level science, engineering principles, and conflict resolution practice to support conditions for peace. It prepares students to engage in projects with conflict sensitivity and to understand the engineering technologies and approaches impacting human systems.”
“The engineering students will better understand culture, people, and the complexity of their interactions, and Carter School students will better understand systems thinking and engineering design.”
Rajesh Ganesan, an associate professor in the Systems Engineering and Operations Research Department, explained how systems engineering approaches are useful. “As we look at conflict on the whole from a global perspective and think of all the huge factors that play a role in any crisis, we want to incorporate systems thinking into conflict analysis,” he said. “It’s important for our students to have those systems thinking approaches.”
Sponsored by the National Security Agency and run by six Virginia universities including George Mason, Virginia Cyber Navigation Internship Program (VA-CNIP) helps improve election security in low-resource localities. In 2025, VA-CNIP received the Innovation Award from the Election Verification Network.
Duong Thuy Nguyen, an information technology (IT) major, supported Campbell County’s IT staff in complying with the Locality Election Security Standards required by the Commonwealth of Virginia. These requirements ensure that all localities, regardless of size, have baseline cybersecurity measures in place. The program prepared students for careers and left a lasting impact on local governments.
George Mason Associate Professor Max Albanese helped lead VA-CNIP, designing a prerequisite course in election security. In addition to the course, a two-day boot camp helped train interns.
Duong Thuy Nguyen noted how rewarding it was to work with the local IT department. Her tasks included developing security policies, conducting research on cybersecurity tools, and designing tabletop exercises to prepare local officials for possible cyber incidents on election day.
“The focus was on sending interns to localities most in need of upgrading their security posture,” said Albanese, “That means the more rural or less technologically advanced counties.”
Nguyen noted how rewarding it was to work with the local IT department. Her tasks included developing security policies, conducting research on cybersecurity tools, and designing tabletop exercises to prepare local officials for possible cyber incidents on election day. Nguyen raved about the internship, which was her first.
“Everyone was very welcoming, and they gave us all the support that we needed,” she said.
In summer 2025, 16 students participated in a new, exclusively George Mason program. VA-CNIP exemplifies the power of academia, government, and students working together to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time—ensuring the security and integrity of democratic processes.
The Virginia Cyber Navigator Internship Program won the 2025 Election Verification Network (EVN) Innovation Award
In summer 2025, 16 George Mason students participated in the program.
George Mason University received a gift with an impact of $36 million from the Kimmy Duong Foundation to name the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong School of Computing within the College of Engineering and Computing. The new name became official on July 15, 2025.
This is not the first significant gift to George Mason from Duong and her husband, who gave $5 million in 2009 for the state-of-the-art Nguyen Engineering Building, a facility providing cutting-edge research and education spaces for a new generation of engineering, computing, and information technology professionals.
Duong was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1945 and earned a bachelor of science in economics and law from the University of Saigon in 1966. She joined IBM in 1968, where she worked until she left the country in 1975, when she fled Vietnam and arrived in the United States with only $30.
She moved to Northern Virginia from a refugee camp and continued her work with IBM. In 1994, she joined Pragmatics, where she served as vice chairwoman and CFO. For 30 years, she has overseen their finance, legal, facilities management, and human resources departments, playing a key role in the company’s continued growth.
“Education is the cornerstone of life,” Duong told a gathering of George Mason students, noting that many in her generation worked multiple jobs to send their children to college. “Now, we are giving back.”
In 2015, she established the Kimmy Duong Foundation, which supports a range of health, education, and welfare initiatives in the United States and Vietnam. It has provided more than $4 million toward scholarship programs with endowments to universities in the Washington, D.C. area. According to the foundation website, “Influenced by her Buddhist background, Kimmy Duong has always been concerned about the poor and sick. Being raised in a poor family and coming to the U.S. as a refugee, Mrs. Duong knows the many challenges that poverty brings.”
“Education is the cornerstone of life,” Duong told a gathering of George Mason students, noting that many in her generation worked multiple jobs to send their children to college. “Now, we are giving back.”
The gift establishes three endowments: two within CEC to provide lasting support for scholarships and student success initiatives—both of which support the commonwealth’s Tech Talent Investment Program—and one for University Life to provide scholarships through the Long Nguyen and Kimmy Duong Scholarship Endowment with a preference for students majoring in nursing, education, or journalism
With some of the funds dedicated to computing-specific majors, a portion of the gift would be eligible for matching funds from the Tech Talent Investment Program, thereby amplifying the impact of the gift. The Tech Talent Investment Program of the commonwealth aims to increase the number of graduates with computing degrees and strengthen the workforce by providing financial incentives to colleges and universities that enroll and graduate more students with these skills.
Stanley and Rosemary Hayes Jones continued their legacy of philanthropy at George Mason University with a transformative $1 million gift to establish the Stanley and Rosemary Hayes Jones Networking Testbed Lab within the Fuse at Mason Square building.
The Stanley and Rosemary Hayes Jones Networking Testbed Lab is dedicated to network applications including secure communications, advanced antennae systems, next-G, and O-RAN innovations. It has applications in air transportation, high-speed and autonomous vehicles, smart power grids, intelligent buildings, manufacturing, technology, and national defense. Opened in June 2025, the lab supports both faculty and student research efforts.
Stanley Jones, who sadly passed away in July 2025 after the lab opened, was a surveillance and communications engineer and first-generation college graduate. He was dedicated to providing opportunities for future generations.
“Throughout my career in engineering, I saw the power of access to advanced research and technology. I’m excited about the possibilities this new testbed lab will bring, providing George Mason students with handson experiences in a cutting-edge field,” he said.
Rosemary Hayes Jones, who served the Northern Virginia community as a real estate agent for more than 35 years, shares this commitment to advancing education and community impact. “We believe that investing in education and innovation is essential to fostering a thriving community and a strong workforce.”
In April, the College of Engineering and Computing celebrated outstanding contributions of alumni and friends with a celebration launching the Academy of Engineering and Computing Excellence. Individuals were honored in four distinct categories. The purpose of the academy is to recognize the many outstanding alumni and friends and formally celebrate and honor their contributions to the college. We hope this celebration is the first of many.
The evening also paid tribute to Charlie Joyce who was a great friend to George Mason. In September 2009, he agreed to take on the task of reconstituting the dormant Advisory Board for the Dean of the Volgenau School of Engineering (VSE), Lloyd Griffiths. Joyce served as the chairman of the board until his passing in November 2019. Today, VSE is now the College of Engineering and Computing, which would have made Joyce very proud. His fondness for George Mason extended beyond the Volgenau School. He served four years as president of what is now the Friends of the Center for the Arts, followed by four years as chairman of the Arts at Mason board, the advisory board to George Mason’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. Joyce was a tireless advocate for George Mason and left a lasting legacy.
Charter Member Class
Comprised of the George Mason University Distinguished Alumni Award honorees from the College of Engineering and Computing over the past 20 years and includes the Alumni Exemplars who were honored for the 50th Anniversary Celebration in May 2018.
Mahfuz Ahmed BS Electrical Engineering ‘93
Maruf Ahmed BS Electrical Engineering ‘90, MS Electrical Engineering ‘95
Michael Akindele BS Information Technology ‘06
Paul B. Anderson, PhD Information Technology ‘93
Anousheh Ansari BS Electrical Engineering ‘89
M. Brian Blake PhD Information Technology ‘01
David Brown PhD Information Technology ‘04
Sandra Cauffman BS Electrical Engineering ‘88, MS Electrical Engineering ‘95
Brian Chromey, BS Urban Systems Engineering ‘95
Joseph M. Costantini MS Software Systems Engineering ‘93, PhD Information Technology ‘00
Chris DiBona BS Computer Science ‘05
Jeffrey Fissel BS Information Technology ‘06
Manesh Gupta, MS Computer Science ‘91
Alan Harbitter PhD Computer Science ‘02
Jack Harrington, BS Computer Science ‘89
Margaret E. Myers PhD Information Technology ‘88
James Ogletree MS Telecommunications ‘04
Dennis Pereira BS Computer Science ‘01
Shawn Chambliss-Purvis MS Information Systems ‘99
Hadi Rezazad, PhD Information Technology ‘09
Christopher Savage, BS Electrical Engineering ‘11
Steven M. Schorling MS Information Systems ‘98, PhD Information Technology ‘00
Matthew Slaight MS Telecommunications ‘03
Recognizes alumni who have made significant contributions to their profession and/or community within 10 years of graduating from George Mason. These individuals are identified as future leaders with the potential for continued success, service, and leadership in their careers and communities.
April Aralar BS Bioengineering ‘16
Luke Jameson BS Mechanical Engineering ‘19
Vineet Nair, BS Mechanical Engineering ‘20
Dhiambi Otete BS Mechanical Engineering ‘23
Honors alumni who have brought distinction to CEC and George Mason. The title is bestowed annually to individuals whose professional or personal achievements, outstanding service to the community, involvement in the life of the university, and/or recognition with awards and honors have brought pride to our college.
Virginia Cevasco BS Computer Science ‘90
Andrew Goldin, MS Information Systems ‘98
Ludovit Hintos BS Electrical Engineering ’08, MS Electrical Engineering ‘12
Scott Huber MS Operations Research/Management Science ‘00
Richard Jacik, MS Computer Science ‘97
Melissa L. Kirkendall BS Electrical Engineering ‘86
Kate Maxwell MS Systems Engineering ‘10
Jacob Vargis MS Information Systems ‘92
Recognizes non-alumni who have made exceptional contributions to academic excellence, participation in student life, and leadership within the university and/or the profession. Their efforts in service to the university and community, special honors, and recognition are key criteria for this category.
Lisa Donnan
George L. Donohue
Lloyd J. Griffiths
Paul Leslie
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