PhD

George Mason University doctoral candidate Jolypich Pek is using advanced statistical modeling in collaboration with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to address complex physics problems and support the development of faster, more computationally efficient scientific simulation tools.

Thomas Wilson is a second-year PhD student in the College of Public Health at George Mason University, where he specializes in Social and Behavioral Sciences. His academic work is driven by a commitment to understanding and improving the experiences of caregivers, particularly those facing structural and social inequities.

In Fall 2025, Thomas earned first place in the university’s Research Poster Competition, presenting a project that examined how caregiver identity status interacts with adverse mental health outcomes. His research focused on depression and extended periods (14 or more days) of poor mental health, using self-reported data to explore how sexual orientation and gender identity may act as modifying factors.

Rania Zaied is a Ph.D. candidate in Communication at George Mason University and the 2025 winner of the university’s Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. Her research focuses on media representations of marginalized communities, with a particular emphasis on how Muslims are portrayed in comedic media. Her dissertation examines the impact of these representations on Muslim audiences—work she successfully distilled and presented during the 3MT competition at Mason, and at the Council of Southern Graduate Schools Regional 3MT Competition.

Tabitha King is a recent graduate from the George Mason University College of Science who obtained her PhD in Environmental Science and Public Policy in December 2025.

Rebecca Bates attributes Mason’s interdisciplinary collaboration for elevating her research on adolescents and opioids.

As a junior and senior at Annandale High School in Virginia, Emily Sample spent her summers as a docent at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. She was a teenager who had just lost a friend to police violence, she said, and joining the museum’s Young Ambassadors Program resonated with her.

“I was fascinated and continue to be fascinated by this highly illogical idea of genocide,” said Sample, a PhD candidate at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

A PhD candidate is named a “40 Under 40” Middle East scholar to watch. Jon Hoffman is 26. He can make the list for another 14 years.