GCI-Climate

As the university’s Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI) enters its second year, George Mason University today announced funding for seven catalyst research projects and the launch of the Grand Challenge Research Exchange—quarterly convenings for all GCI-related research to accelerate solutions to the grand challenge of our time.

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.

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.

George Mason’s Virginia Climate Center (VCC) has unveiled the commonwealth’s first comprehensive, peer-reviewed climate assessment—a landmark report that provides science-based insights into Virginia’s changing climate and its impacts on communities, infrastructure, and the economy.

In spring 2025, students in EVPP 480 Sustainability in Action gave a crucial boost to Chesapeake Bay oysters by constructing oyster reef balls where the bivalves can attach, grow, and develop into natural reef structures.