GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Researchers led by a team from the Schar School analyzed decades’ worth of data to draw a map of the world’s biggest buyers and sellers of illicit kidneys. See what nations perpetrate this international crime.

The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at George Mason University is kicking off Future Ready Teachers, a new initiative designed to strengthen Virginia’s educator workforce by removing financial barriers, innovating and elevating teacher preparation, and supporting teachers from entry through their early years in the classroom.

Benjamin Cash, research professor in George Mason University’s Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences, is leading a $1 million project funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve seasonal precipitation forecasts in Virginia.

Jessye Gassel has always been fascinated with spinning bodies. Gassel found herself looking forward to her high school physics class every day and knew, by junior year, that she would pursue it in college. A senior-year astronomy class honed that direction toward astrophysics.

Connected DMV has announced that George Mason University, one of the nation’s most innovative and fastest-growing public research universities, will serve as the Lead Academic Partner for spaceNEXT, the inaugural global convening focused on the commercialization of space and a flagship program of Connected DMV’s Potomac Center for the New Space Economy. 

Through the Educational Research Alliance of Northern Virginia, a research and practice partnership that connects George Mason faculty with K–12 and state leaders, the College of Education and Human Development is convening some of the region’s most forward-thinking voices to define what readiness for AI in education truly means.

Environmental science and policy professor Cynthia Smith organizes outdoor education programs for seventh graders across the county, diving into the importance of hands-on research and environmental conservation.

Wildfires are notoriously difficult to predict. One George Mason professor is hoping to change that.

Researchers are attempting to 3D print inexpensive prosthetic lower limbs for children, allowing them to run and play with their friends.

George Mason University will establish Virginia’s first grid-interactive AI data center research lab, addressing emerging challenges at the intersection of data centers and the power grid. The lab will advance clean energy integration, grid resilience, and sustainable data center operations while preparing the next generation of digital infrastructure professionals.