competitions / en Forged in passion, not just fire: This alum is on a hot streak  /news/2025-10/forged-passion-not-just-fire-alum-hot-streak <span>Forged in passion, not just fire: This alum is on a hot streak </span> <span><span>Shayla Brown</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-10-27T14:20:46-04:00" title="Monday, October 27, 2025 - 14:20">Mon, 10/27/2025 - 14:20</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">Keeping his nose to the grindstone is not just how Andrew Hutsell approaches his academic career in engineering—it's how he cut a small slice of fame.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0 intro-text">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">The alumnus recently put his engineering skills to the test on national television, competing in an episode of the History Channel’s </span><em><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">Forged in Fire, </span></em><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">a competition show that challenges bladesmiths to create weapons under tight deadlines. </span><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-10/hutsell_and_judges_0.jpeg?itok=haSTt_KD" width="461" height="365" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Hutsell (second from right) and the <em>Forged in Fire </em>judges. Photo provided.</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Hutsell, BS </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW214316937 BCX0" href="https://mechanical.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Mechanical Engineering</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> ’23, appeared on the episode “Junkyard Meltdown” on September 17 (S10E27).  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> Hutsell’s journey began when one of the show’s judges posted a casting call on Instagram.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“I was still a student at the time, so they asked what I do at George Mason, what I do in my free time, and to provide examples of the knives I’ve made,” said Hutsell, who also was president of George Mason’s </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW214316937 BCX0" href="https://recreation.gmu.edu/mens-club-sports/baseball/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">club baseball</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">. </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Hutsell has been a fan of the show since 2016 and started </span><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">bladesmithing</span><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> in 2019.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“Ever since I started making knives, I have only had one goal with each knife I make: learn at least one new skill or method [for the trade]. With this mindset, it is easy to see how my skills have improved over time,” said Hutsell. </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">After multiple rounds of interviews, he got the call to appear during a midterm exam.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Filming took place in March and April 2023. Hutsell described the show’s format as similar to </span><em><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Chopped</span></em><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, but instead of cooking, contestants forge knives through three rounds of competition.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-10/ahutsellknife.jpeg?itok=XHUELJIC" width="560" height="384" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>One of Andrew Hutsell's knives. Photo provided.</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">For the last round, judges pick a historical weapon, such as a broad sword or katana, and then contestants go back to their hometown to forge it with their own equipment.   </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">"I traveled back home to Newport News. When I came back, they tested it to determine the winner,” said Hutsell.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“They tested the knives by chopping through bone for strength, then slicing sugar cane to see how well the edge held up. It was surreal to compete on a show I’d watched for years,” said Hutsell, who came in second place.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Hutsell is currently a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University working on similar topics such as fluids research.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“The research that I’m doing is for thermal hydraulics—the cooling system—of molten salt [nuclear] reactors, researching the gas sparring of fission products of molten salts for molten salt reactors,” said Hutsell.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Hutsell was influenced by </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW214316937 BCX0" href="https://volgenau.gmu.edu/profiles/jmoran23" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Jeffrey Moran</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who Hutsell describes as a “a big influence on my work with heat and mass transfer,” as well as </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW214316937 BCX0" href="https://science.gmu.edu/directory/juan-cebral" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Juan Cebral</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, an associate professor in the </span><a class="Hyperlink SCXW214316937 BCX0" href="https://bioengineering.gmu.edu/" target="_blank"><span class="TextRun Underlined SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Department of Bioengineering</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">.  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW214316937 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“It is always very rewarding when a student demonstrates this passion for learning and dedicates substantial time and effort to master the material to reach high levels of achievement,” said </span><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Cebral</span><span class="TextRun SCXW214316937 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">. “Andrew was one of those students who is dedicated to solving complex problems. His perseverance and motivation will certainly help him make important contributions in his field.”  </span><span class="EOP SCXW214316937 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="65bdb47a-c42c-47fc-96d5-7679aecc746f"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://alumni.gmu.edu"> <p class="cta__title">Connect with the Alumni Association <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </p> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:text" data-inline-block-uuid="ebbe318f-6ace-4c41-a512-8a17e6d08bd8" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocktext"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/jcebral" hreflang="und">Juan Cebral</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/jmoran23" hreflang="und">Jeffrey Moran</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="7b2e3f3a-c64c-4571-a004-9b5d1c3653bf" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-d6277d11de0349e7462c25ddfb26bca834d36821285c8fe0485c77f56e072540"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/new-program-reduces-burnout-dementia-caregivers-novel-research-evaluation-proves" hreflang="en">New program reduces burnout in dementia caregivers, novel research evaluation proves</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 29, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/forged-passion-not-just-fire-alum-hot-streak" hreflang="en">Forged in passion, not just fire: This alum is on a hot streak </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 27, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/george-masons-debate-team-receives-generous-gift-alumnus-burton-c-gray-jr" hreflang="en">George Mason’s Debate Team receives generous gift from alumnus Burton C. Gray Jr. </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 27, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/manouchehri-years-winter-commencement-speaker" hreflang="en">Manouchehri is this year’s Winter Commencement speaker </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 17, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/m-vets-advocates-george-mason-alum-board-veterans-hearing" hreflang="en">M-VETS advocates for George Mason alum at Board of Veterans’ hearing</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 13, 2025</div></div></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/536" hreflang="en">Alumni</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4706" hreflang="en">mechanical engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3391" hreflang="en">Bioengineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Mon, 27 Oct 2025 18:20:46 +0000 Shayla Brown 344101 at A one-woman team puts many eyes in the skies /news/2025-10/one-woman-team-puts-many-eyes-skies <span>A one-woman team puts many eyes in the skies </span> <span><span>Nathan Kahl</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-10-01T15:37:27-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 1, 2025 - 15:37">Wed, 10/01/2025 - 15:37</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">Fatima Majid, a senior majoring in cyber security engineering, was not just the only one-person team in the top 10 award winners at a recent </span><a href="https://www.ndia.org" title="NDIA"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA)</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US"> cyber competition, she was the only student team. Majid placed ninth out of 51 teams, most of them comprising industry experts.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4 intro-text">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“I went in, and they were all professional teams, like from Lockheed Martin. I thought, ‘I want to go home,’” said Majid with a laugh, describing her initial cold feet. “But I told myself I could do it. It helped that it was hosted at George Mason, and I had professors there giving me support.”&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Her project focused on how the </span><a href="https://www.war.gov" title="DoD"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Department of Defense (DoD)</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> can protect critical U.S. infrastructure against low-cost drone attacks at scale, informed by Ukraine’s “Operation Spiderweb,” which used 117 drones to attack Russian air bases in June 2025.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-10/fatima_in_richmond.jpg?itok=izI2Ftwp" width="350" height="238" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Majid spent the summer in Richmond during a public policy internship. Photo provided</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Majid’s lightbulb moment came with a flash as bright as a Virginia speed camera catching a lead-footed driver. Considering the significant network of traffic cameras in the commonwealth, she conceived </span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">SkyEyes</span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">. This applies an artificial intelligence (AI) model to the live feed of the Virginia 511 camera network, which provides real-time traffic information to citizens and transportation officials. </span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">SkyEyes </span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">demonstrated how a low-cost, AI-enabled surveillance layer could differentiate threats from non-threats, employing geofencing logic to define safe versus threat zones around sensitive sites.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“I understand how drones work because of what I’ve done at George Mason’s MIX lab—and since I know how to build it, I also know how to jam it. I trained the AI model on a data set provided from a contest sponsor, and that data set had drone imaging and drone prototyping,” she said. “The camera feeds can find objects flying, but what if it’s an Amazon drone, for example? Then I added geofencing and threat analysis to observe the behavior of the drone—if it's a drone at 2 a.m., for example, maybe that's sketchy. So, the model gets smarter.”&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Majid said that to access the cameras, all she had to do was make a phone call to the right person and explain her project. She cited time spent this summer at the </span><a href="https://vasem.org" title="VASEM"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> in the </span><a href="https://vasem.org/undergraduate-policy-program/" title="UPP"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Undergraduate Policy Program</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> (VASEM UPP) in Richmond as giving her confidence and exposure to how government works.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><a href="https://science.gmu.edu/directory/k-l-akerlof" title="Akerlof"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">K. L. Akerlof</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, an associate professor in the </span><a href="https://science.gmu.edu/academics/departments-units/environmental-science-policy" title="ESP"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Department of Environmental Science and Policy</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> at George Mason, said, “The VASEM UPP is a unique opportunity for undergraduates to learn about opportunities in science policy at the state level. The immersive experience of spending a week in Richmond visiting the General Assembly and state agencies, while getting a crash course in how research evidence relates to public policy, can open new doors and career pathways.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Majid said the strong showing gave her tremendous exposure to influential professional contacts. She fielded several questions about her simulation and future professional plans from a man she only later realized was Retired Brigadier General and NDIA Executive Vice President&nbsp;Guy Walsh.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“Because he showed interest, after he walked away, a crowd of people gathered around to ask me questions. It was very validating.”&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">She also had a long conversation about her project with Harley Stout, acting chief digital and AI officer at the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4" lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Majid is still pleasantly shocked by her </span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">top-10</span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> finish. She is working with </span><a href="https://volgenau.gmu.edu/profiles/mgebril" title="Gebril"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Mohamed Gebril</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, an associate professor in </span><a href="https://cybersecurity.gmu.edu" title="CYSE"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Cyber Security Engineering</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, on expanding the research. She is confident that such a cost-efficient solution for critical infrastructure protection against drone </span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun ContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">attacks will</span><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> attract more funding opportunities.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW157266471 BCX4" lang="EN-US"><span class="TextRun SCXW157266471 BCX4 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">She credited the supportive culture at Mason—and her family—for keeping her grounded and encouraging her throughout, saying their support made the accomplishment even more meaningful.</span><span class="EOP SCXW157266471 BCX4">&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/mgebril" hreflang="und">Mohamed Gebril</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="fc6b1ff0-3c83-44c9-9a19-872e3b7cc3d8" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-3be33c70f61351d6e8d5118e7fd4280df5da6089080a19641998f02dfc4b7190"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/taiwan-security-monitor-research-project-turns-vital-communication-platform-threatened" hreflang="en">Taiwan Security Monitor: Research Project Turns into a Vital Communication Platform for a Threatened Part of the World</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 27, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/george-mason-and-kings-college-london-win-google-award-fight-ai-driven-romance-scams" hreflang="en">George Mason and King’s College London win Google Award to fight AI-driven romance scams targeting older adults </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 26, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/3-million-national-institute-aging-grant-will-provide-much-needed-support-underserved" hreflang="en">$3 million National Institute on Aging grant will provide much-needed support to underserved dementia caregivers</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 15, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/resilient-robots-rough-terrain" hreflang="en">Resilient robots in rough terrain </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 14, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/ist-professors-unveil-human-ai-collaboration-tool-automate-cartoon-colorization" hreflang="en">IST professors unveil human-AI collaboration tool to automate cartoon colorization</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 10, 2025</div></div></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3051" hreflang="en">Cyber Security Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6886" hreflang="en">Department of Cyber Security Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/16751" hreflang="en">Drones</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4656" hreflang="en">Artificial Intelligence</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3426" hreflang="en">The MIX</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/20206" hreflang="en">Defense and Security</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/21256" hreflang="en">CEC students</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Wed, 01 Oct 2025 19:37:27 +0000 Nathan Kahl 343546 at Five George Mason cybersecurity students hack their way to Boston /news/2025-07/five-george-mason-cybersecurity-students-hack-their-way-boston <span>Five George Mason cybersecurity students hack their way to Boston </span> <span><span>Jennifer Pocock</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-31T10:38:39-04:00" title="Thursday, July 31, 2025 - 10:38">Thu, 07/31/2025 - 10:38</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p><span class="TextRun SCXW254463957 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">The Country to Country (C2C) Capture the Flag (CTF) contest is an international competition that issues challenges to code, decrypt, search, hack, and reverse engineer their way through as many challenges as possible.</span><span class="EOP SCXW254463957 BCX0 intro-text">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/medium/public/2025-07/1751924384845.png?itok=uFP2TDau" width="560" height="297" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>(C2C) CTF contestants gathered from across the globe to solve pernicious problems. Photo provided.</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">About 500 students from nearly 100 countries, ranging from inexperienced freshmen to PhD candidates in cybersecurity</span><span class="TrackChangeTextInsertion TrackedChange SCXW266550933 BCX0 TextRun NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">,</span><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> competed individually in the qualifying rounds. Only the top 100—including five from —were accepted into the finals. Four went to Boston for the competition, held this year at Northeastern University.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">The </span><a href="https://cec.gmu.edu/"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">College of Engineering and Computing</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> students Gael Abboud, Sanjay Kumar Samala, Nhat Le, and Jonah Wilbur represented the green and gold, but were all placed on different teams. (Amaan Abbas also made the cut but could not attend.)</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“The organizers were amazing,” said Abboud, who is a graduate student pursuing her master's in systems engineering through the </span><a href="/admissions-aid/accelerated-masters"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Accelerated Master's Program</span></a><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">. She explained that they try to make it a truly international and cooperative competition. Ideally, each team would contain people from different countries.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“Somehow, I ended up on a team with two other people from Virginia,” Abboud said with a laugh. “They came from Virginia Commonwealth University and William and Mary.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Her Virginia-strong team did the state proud. Over a day of competition, they sometimes worked together and sometimes apart to solve as many problems as possible from across various skill sets.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">It’s not just coding. Abboud described one of the challenges. “It was open-source intelligence, which is </span><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun AdvancedProofingIssueV2Themed" lang="EN-US">really just</span><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> fancy Googling. They set a scene where we had to find a very certain scooter repair shop in Boston. They told us that it was near a metro stop and in sight of an Indian restaurant. Seems like it should be easy, but it wasn’t!”&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">They also had to track down things like the price of the building and the vice president of the company that sold it more than 60 years ago. “No one solved that one.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">In the end, Abboud’s team landed in fourth place: an admirable showing when the contestants represent some of the best from around the globe. “I was so disappointed,” she sighed. “There was less than one point separating us from the third-place team.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Abboud said that she loved every minute and would tell anyone curious about hack-a-thons to try qualifying for this Capture the Flag event.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW266550933 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“It may seem intimidating, but there are challenges for any skill level,” she said. “You don’t know what it will be like if you don’t try. &nbsp;Don’t stress if you don’t know something. People are happy to walk you through how they solved it.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW266550933 BCX0">&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="df4163a0-5e9e-4ea9-8a46-a6b51307cecf"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://cec.gmu.edu/"> <p class="cta__title">Learn more about the College of Engineering and Computing <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </p> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:text" data-inline-block-uuid="cfe360fc-a6bc-493f-b473-66d882279911" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocktext"> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="b1fe0cb9-6461-40fd-8a76-aa2a9b266111" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related Stories</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-657363de081f204fc684b302f47bd06a4251cf9f422558ddb8ceb0e0c828a927"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/george-mason-and-kings-college-london-win-google-award-fight-ai-driven-romance-scams" hreflang="en">George Mason and King’s College London win Google Award to fight AI-driven romance scams targeting older adults </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 26, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/anonymitys-arx-nemesis" hreflang="en">Anonymity’s ARX nemesis</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 20, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-08/bluetooth-blues-george-mason-turns-bug-big-win" hreflang="en">Bluetooth blues? George Mason turns a bug into a big win </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">August 20, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-08/one-tiny-flip-opens-backdoor-ai" hreflang="en">One tiny flip that opens a backdoor in AI</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">August 12, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-07/five-george-mason-cybersecurity-students-hack-their-way-boston" hreflang="en">Five George Mason cybersecurity students hack their way to Boston </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">July 31, 2025</div></div></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3056" hreflang="en">Cybersecurity</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/8986" hreflang="en">Hackathon</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:38:39 +0000 Jennifer Pocock 251101 at Drones and rovers save the day at Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition 2025 /news/2025-05/drones-and-rovers-save-day-raytheon-autonomous-vehicle-competition-2025 <span>Drones and rovers save the day at Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition 2025 </span> <span><span>Jennifer Pocock</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-05-01T14:18:35-04:00" title="Thursday, May 1, 2025 - 14:18">Thu, 05/01/2025 - 14:18</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p><span class="TextRun SCXW210754311 BCX0 NormalTextRun intro-text" lang="EN-US">As the saying goes, if you love something, set it free. If it maps an area, finds a target, delivers a package, and comes back, the trophy is yours forever. Or something like that.</span><span class="EOP SCXW210754311 BCX0 intro-text">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-05/touse6_0.jpg?itok=RVezdtDj" width="350" height="350" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>The Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition Team poses with their ground and air robots. Photo by Jenn Pocock</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">The black quadcopter drone surveyed the field in two quick swoops against a cloud-heavy sky. In just a matter of seconds, it picked up a signal and flew to the sidelines where it landed itself. A small ground rover took off, bumping over the grass to drop a first aid kit a few feet from the goal. Team members on the side of the field exploded with cheers and high fives.</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">The entire search and rescue took less than two minutes.</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Senior electrical engineering student Qeon Edwards jumped with joy at just how well and how quickly their vehicles performed. “What, you doubted us?” he laughed, obviously </span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun CommentStart" lang="EN-US">relieved</span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">It was late in April when five teams gathered at the </span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Xelevate</span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> drone ecosystem field in Leesburg, Virginia, to test their autonomous programming mettle via ground and air vehicles. This was ’s second year in the competition, which they won last year. The team consisted of 16 students ranging from sophomores to PhDs in computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering. As the reigning champs, they had a lot to prove.</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-05/touse3_1.jpg?itok=VcxgTM1O" width="350" height="350" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>A quadcopter takes off from the starting line to search for its target, as the rover and judges stand by. Photo by Jenn Pocock</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">The challenge rules change every year, so the team can’t just copy their predecessors’ codes. “Last year was basically a game of tag,” said </span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Xuesu</span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> Xiao, assistant professor of computer science and the team’s faculty lead. They had to fly a drone around to squirt water on their opponents’ ground vehicles while avoiding their own.</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">This year, instead of trying to shoot others down, they had to perform a rescue mission: Find a randomly assigned “survivor” in a field of battle and send first aid. The faster the find and the closer the kit, the higher the score.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“Our strategy was for a drone to scout the area first, find the target, and then drive another ground vehicle robot to deliver the first-aid kit,” said Xiao.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">The team programmed six flying drones and a ground robot that communicated with one another—and nothing else. That means that the programmers had no </span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun CommentStart" lang="EN-US">immediate </span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">control over the vehicles; they set their autonomous creations free and hoped that they did a good job coding them.</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-05/touse5_1.jpg?itok=YVBFcw-b" width="350" height="350" alt="Judges measure the distance from the target to the rover-delivered first aid kit." loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Judges measure the distance from the target to the rover-delivered first aid kit. Photo by Jenn Pocock</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Overall, their robots performed exceptionally, managing to cut their delivery time and distance to less than a minute and 57 inches, respectively. They were just nudged out, however, by </span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun CommentStart" lang="EN-US">first-place University of Southern Florida</span><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> and second-place Virginia Tech.&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“It was definitely very tight between the top three!” said Cameron Nowzari, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering. “There was only a two-point difference between first and second, and one point between second and third.”&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW28235375 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW28235375 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Still, the team wasn’t disappointed with how they performed. Their robots were a labor of love, and they met the challenge in a big way<strong>.</strong></span><span class="EOP SCXW28235375 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/xiao" hreflang="en">Xuesu Xiao</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/cnowzari" hreflang="und">Cameron Nowzari</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="c02e0f90-ab24-4911-a9f8-a147e8322f0f" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related Stories</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-f1ca51fb59fe9ad948849baa056bfa3cfc4409053bda93bfe63fcd1b30968861"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-08/calibration-campus-cosmos" hreflang="en">A calibration from campus to the cosmos  </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">August 15, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-08/one-tiny-flip-opens-backdoor-ai" hreflang="en">One tiny flip that opens a backdoor in AI</a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">August 12, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-07/engineering-better-vision-george-mason-professors-lead-117m-nih-project" hreflang="en">Engineering better vision: George Mason professors lead $1.17M NIH project </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">July 30, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-05/drones-and-rovers-save-day-raytheon-autonomous-vehicle-competition-2025" hreflang="en">Drones and rovers save the day at Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition 2025 </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">May 1, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/sea-life-defended-republic" hreflang="en">Sea life defended the republic </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 29, 2025</div></div></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:text" data-inline-block-uuid="66ecaca6-6d77-4557-877c-04961b67b8ef" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocktext"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><hr> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em>A version of this content appears in the Fall 2025 print edition of the </em><a href="/spirit-magazine" target="_blank" title="Mason Spirit Magazine"><strong>Mason Spirit Magazine</strong></a>.</p> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="54ab5878-0168-4244-8ad8-e68a3cbbca90"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="/spirit-magazine"> <p class="cta__title">More from Mason Spirit Magazine <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </p> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> </div> </div> Thu, 01 May 2025 18:18:35 +0000 Jennifer Pocock 117071 at Sea life defended the republic /news/2025-04/sea-life-defended-republic <span>Sea life defended the republic </span> <span><span>Jennifer Pocock</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-04-29T11:34:12-04:00" title="Tuesday, April 29, 2025 - 11:34">Tue, 04/29/2025 - 11:34</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--70-30"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p><span class="NormalTextRun SCXW27279796 BCX0 intro-text">The bioinspired blimps performed swimmingly.</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/img_0811_0.jpeg?itok=fcJNqRRh" width="350" height="350" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Blimp Squad members Elijah Pointer and Kareem Zaharan (seniors in mechanical engineering) reach for a balloon captured in Narly's net as Faculty Adviser Daigo Shishika looks on. Photo by Jenn Pocock</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Narly</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> glided toward the ceiling of 's Life Science and Engineering Building aviary like a shiny beluga whale with undulating manta-ray wings and a rudder tail. Thomas </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Girois</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, a senior in mechanical engineering and </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Narly’s</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> team lead, flipped on the blimp’s autonomous goal-seeking program to show off its ability to target airborne objects. He hopes it will head toward the balloon that he wants to capture. But it made an unexpected turn and instead nosed the high bay windows, where it wouldn’t move despite its programmed back-up function.</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">After a moment of confusion, </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Girois</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> laughed. “It’s outsmarted us again!”&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Narly’s</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> microcontroller and camera was coded to recognize and hunt down green and purple airborne objects—which is exactly what it did when it registered the glowing green Exit sign on the ceiling outside the window. Still, the test boded well for the upcoming competition.</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Narly</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> was one of three sea life–inspired Lighter Than Air&nbsp;(LTA) vehicles to compete on George Mason’s Blimp Squad in the Defend the Republic (DTR) contest from April 21 – 25, 2025.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/img_0826.jpeg?itok=7RVirDmd" width="350" height="350" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>The Blimp Squad lines up with their devices, ready to go on the offense. Photo by Jenn Pocock</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">Flappy, another manta ray blimp, has a larger rudder tail that allows it to make pinpoint midair turns, and </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Knifey</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, inspired by the knifefish, has a long, undulating frill along its belly—and a fierce expression. These designs differ from their competitors’, which rely on propellers for propulsion and steering.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span>&nbsp;</p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“Using propellers is eas</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">ier,”</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> said Daigo </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Shishika</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and one of the Blimp Squad’s faculty advisers. “But the big surface areas of our flapping wings are more efficient. Propeller-driven blimps need to carry more batteries, which are heavy and drain fast.” &nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Shishika</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> noted that contestants lose points if they hurt another team’s blimp, which is always a risk with propellers.&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-right"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/img_0799.jpeg?itok=Kw2ZGwSy" width="350" height="350" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Alexia De Costa (sophomore, computer science) follows under the fearsome Knifey, whose underbelly frill was inspired by the knifefish. Photo by Jenn Pocock</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">“We’re hoping to get more agility and a safer blimp,” he said.</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Ningshi</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> Yao, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the squad’s other faculty adviser, also pointed out the blimps’ winning personalities. “Our </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">flappies</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> are pretty attractive robots,” she said. “Human-robot interaction is important. You want humans to like being around it!”&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">One DTR spectator, upon seeing Flappy fly for the first time, confirmed this theory. “It’s so cute!” she gasped. “I would die for Flappy.”</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">After hundreds of hours of testing, </span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun CommentStart SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Narly</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">, Flappy, and Knifey joined their two defense blimps—a zippy acrobatic wonder called Space Fish, and a high-scoring high-flier called Backbone Junior—to play a midair game of capturing balloons and releasing them through hoops to score goals.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <figure role="group" class="align-left"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/styles/small_content_image/public/2025-04/img_0791.jpeg?itok=V3xGiO6-" width="350" height="350" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Knifey's fierce expression intimidates the competition. Photo by:Jenn Pocock.</figcaption> </figure> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">The team took third place out of six and scored the second-most points of all the teams.&nbsp;</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">“One </span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">highlight for me personally was that the flapping wing blimp achieved fully autonomous scoring for the first time since its first debut in the spring o</span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">f 2023</span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">,” said </span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Shishika</span><span class="TextRun Highlight SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">. “It started as an exploratory agent that was primarily for research, but after two years and four competitions, Flappy finally contributed to the team by scoring 70 points.”</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun SpellingErrorV2Themed" lang="EN-US">Narly</span><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US"> also scored its first autonomous points.</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span class="TextRun SCXW89012822 BCX0 NormalTextRun" lang="EN-US">While the team may not have taken first place, their sea-inspired research won the week.</span><span class="EOP SCXW89012822 BCX0">&nbsp;</span></p> <p class="Paragraph SCXW89012822 BCX0"><span>Check out </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_RwbZh0nLaI"><span>these shorts</span></a><span> on our </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HZ6SF9q7yt4"><span>Youtube channel</span></a><span> to see the vehicles and their designers in action.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/dshishik" hreflang="und">Daigo Shishika</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/nyao4" hreflang="en">Ningshi Yao</a></div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:call_to_action" data-inline-block-uuid="dfb10f60-dbd8-4305-989f-7b4a6101a5a9"> <div class="cta"> <a class="cta__link" href="https://ece.gmu.edu/"> <p class="cta__title">Electrical and Computer Engineering at George Mason <i class="fas fa-arrow-circle-right"></i> </p> <span class="cta__icon"></span> </a> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="inline_block:news_list" data-inline-block-uuid="4cddfd34-f3ed-48ee-a569-2a3c8f53ad45" class="block block-layout-builder block-inline-blocknews-list"> <h2>Related News</h2> <div class="views-element-container"><div class="view view-news view-id-news view-display-id-block_1 js-view-dom-id-e3fdc0b621166d81040c165a7499903bebaaa6c4282294403ba1f0ab0f9b328d"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="news-list-wrapper"> <ul class="news-list"> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-10/forged-passion-not-just-fire-alum-hot-streak" hreflang="en">Forged in passion, not just fire: This alum is on a hot streak </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">October 27, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-08/calibration-campus-cosmos" hreflang="en">A calibration from campus to the cosmos  </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">August 15, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-07/engineering-better-vision-george-mason-professors-lead-117m-nih-project" hreflang="en">Engineering better vision: George Mason professors lead $1.17M NIH project </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">July 30, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-05/drones-and-rovers-save-day-raytheon-autonomous-vehicle-competition-2025" hreflang="en">Drones and rovers save the day at Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition 2025 </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">May 1, 2025</div></div></li> <li class="news-item"><div class="views-field views-field-title"><span class="field-content"><a href="/news/2025-04/sea-life-defended-republic" hreflang="en">Sea life defended the republic </a></span></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-publish-date"><div class="field-content">April 29, 2025</div></div></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17926" hreflang="en">lighter-than-air robotics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7831" hreflang="en">robotics and autonomous systems</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4706" hreflang="en">mechanical engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/20811" hreflang="en">Applied computer science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4541" hreflang="en">Electrical and Computer Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Tue, 29 Apr 2025 15:34:12 +0000 Jennifer Pocock 117101 at Mason ASCE teams hosted, competed in 2023 /news/2024-01/mason-asce-teams-hosted-competed-2023 <span>Mason ASCE teams hosted, competed in 2023 </span> <span><span>Teresa Donnellan</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-01-08T12:00:16-05:00" title="Monday, January 8, 2024 - 12:00">Mon, 01/08/2024 - 12:00</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/dbondok" hreflang="und">Doaa Bondok</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p lang="EN-US"><span class="intro-text">Every year, the <a href="https://studentsymposium.asce.org/mid-atlantic-west/competitions/" target="_blank">American Society of Civil Engineers</a> (ASCE) allows its college chapters to participate in competitions that showcase the engineering knowledge and finesse of civil engineering students across the country.&nbsp;</span></p> <p lang="EN-US">Two of 's ASCE teams—Team Surveying and Team Sustainable Solutions—participated and won in the annual competition, which was held in early spring of 2023. Led by Doaa Bondok, assistant professor of structural engineering and Mason ASCE faculty advisor, the Mason teams <a href="https://studentsymposium.asce.org/mid-atlantic-west/competitions/" target="_blank">competed in challenges</a> like the Steel Bridge Competition, Surveying Competition, and Sustainable Solutions.&nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">“These competitions present fun challenges where students extend their engineering knowledge, think through concepts, create innovative solutions, and consider sustainability practices in their final designs,” said Bondok.&nbsp;</p> <figure role="group"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/2024-01/1903300825.jpg" width="1080" height="566" alt="'s student team competes in the Steel Bridge Competition at the annual ASCE Virginias' Conference, hosted by the student chapter of ’s American Society of Civil Engineers. Photo by Bethany Camp/Creative Services/" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Mason's student team competes in the Steel Bridge Competition at the annual ASCE Virginias' Conference, hosted by the student chapter of Mason’s American Society of Civil Engineers. Photo by Bethany Camp/Office of University Branding</figcaption> </figure> <p lang="EN-US">Several Mason civil engineering students also won ASCE National Capital Section scholarships: Amber Brown, previous ASCE student vice president, received $2,500;&nbsp;Phillip Hunt, current ASCE student vice president, received $1500; and&nbsp;Kyler Resnick,&nbsp;ASCE&nbsp;recruiting and membership officer and the captain of the Steel Bridge Competition, received $1,500.&nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">“My role as faculty advisor is to support the teams to achieve their goals,” said Bondok. “Personally, I see the most significant aspect of my role is to encourage and motivate them to overcome challenges along the way, help them grow professionally, uplift their spirit, and just being there for them.”&nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">According to Bondok, being an ASCE student member is a rewarding experience that offers the chance to participate in and work on projects that may not be taught within a classroom and work closely with professional mentors in the industry.&nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">Nicholo Gadiana, a Mason ASCE alum, was the project lead of the Sustainable Solutions Competition in 2022. &nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">“One thing I would advise to anyone interested is don't be afraid to let your ideas be heard,” said Gadiana, who underscored&nbsp;the value of being a member of Mason's ASCE chapter. “Students should start having the mentality of networking and interacting with students, professors, and industry professionals when joining ASCE. After graduation, this attribute significantly improved how I approach other professionals in the industry.”&nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">“Students have the ability to significantly improve their critical thinking abilities, gain management skills, and have a strong role on their resume that helps them be well-rounded and competitive as job candidates,” said Bondok.&nbsp;</p> <p lang="EN-US">The Mason ASCE chapter also received an honorable mention for their outstanding activities in 2022.&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4396" hreflang="en">Civil Engineering</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/6836" hreflang="en">student organizations</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/3071" hreflang="en">College of Engineering and Computing</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Mon, 08 Jan 2024 17:00:16 +0000 Teresa Donnellan 110301 at wins Defend the Republic /news/2023-05/george-mason-university-wins-defend-republic <span> wins Defend the Republic</span> <span><span>Rena Malai</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-05-22T15:07:41-04:00" title="Monday, May 22, 2023 - 15:07">Mon, 05/22/2023 - 15:07</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/cnowzari" hreflang="und">Cameron Nowzari</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/nyao4" hreflang="en">Ningshi Yao</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/dshishik" hreflang="und">Daigo Shishika</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><figure role="group"> <div> <div class="field field--name-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/g/files/yyqcgq291/files/2023-05/230419521.jpg" width="1000" height="667" alt="Patriot Pilots pose with their blimps" loading="lazy"> </div> </div> <figcaption>Patriot Pilots pose with their Lighter Than Air (LTA) creations. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding</figcaption> </figure> <p><span class="intro-text">Twice a year, university teams compete in the Lighter Than Air (LTA) Defend the Republic competition. In April, hosted the competition in EagleBank Arena and won. The winning Mason team, Patriot Pilots, led by principal investigators Cameron Nowzari, Ningshi Yao, and Daigo Shishika, all from the College of Engineering and Computing, competed against six universities and about 50 LTA robotic agents, aka blimps. </span></p> <p>“Even after three years, I’m still in awe of what happens at this competition,” said Nowzari, who has led the competition for the past three years, will be moving on from the annual competition and leaving things in the hands of Yao and Shishika. “My hope is that this competition will continue, and more schools will get involved.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The competition is a mix of technology and creativity, and something students seem to have a lot of fun with, according to Yao.&nbsp;</p> <p>“The strength of our winning team was in the ability to think creatively through building and design,” said Yao.&nbsp;</p> <p>Without the severity that can sometimes accompany other types of flying agents, blimps are a lighter, gentler kind of airborne machine that appeals to many people.&nbsp;</p> <p>“Their soft body and low operational speed make them more tangible and accessible than drones or planes,” said Shishika. “At the same time, they bring unique and exciting research challenges that our students with diverse background tackle together.”&nbsp;</p> <p>The team will schedule a kickoff meeting during the summer, to plan for the next competition in November. The team welcomes students from all majors.</p> <p>“We’re always actively recruiting for the team,” Nowzari said. “All that you need to bring is your passion and creativity.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>For information on how to join, email <a href="mailto:dshishik@gmu.edu" target="_blank">dshishik@gmu.edu</a> or <a href="mailto:nyao4@gmu.edu" target="_blank">nyao4@gmu.edu</a>. People can also visit <a href="https://blimp-robotics.org/" target="_blank">blimp-robotics.org</a> to learn how to build their own LTA blimp and encourage younger students to do the same.&nbsp;</p> <div class="align-center" style="min-width: 50%;"> <div class="field field--name-field-media-video-embed-field field--type-video-embed-field field--label-hidden field__item"><div class="video-embed-field-provider-youtube video-embed-field-responsive-video"><iframe width="854" height="480" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8Bwf-izAjlc?autoplay=0&amp;start=0&amp;rel=0"></iframe> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/5136" hreflang="en">EagleBank Arena</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/336" hreflang="en">Students</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/7831" hreflang="en">robotics and autonomous systems</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17356" hreflang="en">Strategic Direction</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/18121" hreflang="en">Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Mon, 22 May 2023 19:07:41 +0000 Rena Malai 105591 at Early spring toys with second annual Cherry Blossom Prediction  Competition   /news/2023-03/early-spring-toys-second-annual-cherry-blossom-prediction-competition <span>Early spring toys with second annual Cherry Blossom Prediction  Competition  </span> <span><span>Rena Malai</span></span> <span><time datetime="2023-03-09T10:54:53-05:00" title="Thursday, March 9, 2023 - 10:54">Thu, 03/09/2023 - 10:54</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/dkepplin" hreflang="und">David Kepplinger</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p><span class="intro-text">Unseasonably warm temperatures in the Northern Virginia area this spring have turned blooming dates upside down, and the beloved cherry blossoms are no exception. &nbsp;</span></p> <p><a href="/news/2022-03/mason-cherry-blossom-predictions-play-statistics" target="_blank">Last year,</a> students at joined contestants from around the world to predict the peak bloom date of cherry trees at four global locations—Washington, D.C.; Kyoto, Japan; Liestal-Weideli, Switzerland; and Vancouver, BC, Canada. The international <a href="https://competition.statistics.gmu.edu/competition/" target="_blank">Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition</a> was a huge success and is gaining traction during its second annual run. &nbsp;</p> <p>The competition is organized by Mason statistics professors Jonathan Auerbach and David Kepplinger, and Elizabeth Wolkovich from the <a href="https://fcs.forestry.ubc.ca/" target="_blank">Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences</a> at the University of British Columbia.  &nbsp;</p> <p>“We’re interested to see how the competition plays out this year,” Kepplinger says. “It’s a great way for our students to get involved in something that’s so interesting to many people. Who doesn’t love the cherry blossoms?” &nbsp;</p> <p>Because of the warm temperatures this year, contestants predict the Washington cherry trees will reach <a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/bloom-watch.htm" target="_blank">peak bloom on March 28</a>&nbsp;on average,&nbsp;a week earlier than the historic average.&nbsp;</p> <p>“If you have warm temperatures followed by a cold blast, it can really affect the bloom date,” Auerbach says. “Usually in the D.C. area, peak bloom occurs in early April. But some trees in the Tidal Basin and here at Mason Pond already show signs that flowering is imminent so we’ll have to see.” &nbsp;</p> <p>Mason statistics students Sara Alhassani and D.J. Grant provided the closest predictions last year, and Auerbach sees many competitive entries from Mason students again this year. Contestants use a variety of measures like examining weather patterns, soil moisture, past bloom rates, and area rainfall to get the best estimate of peak bloom dates. &nbsp; &nbsp;</p> <p>The 2022 peak bloom date in Washington was March 21, and the earliest peak bloom date on record is March 15, 1990.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Competition winners will be announced in May and are eligible for up to $5,000 in cash and prizes.&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/4891" hreflang="en">Statistics</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/116" hreflang="en"> News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17696" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/17721" hreflang="en">cherry blossoms</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Thu, 09 Mar 2023 15:54:53 +0000 Rena Malai 104646 at A Series of Firsts for Mason's ASCE Teams /news/2022-05/series-firsts-masons-asce-teams <span>A Series of Firsts for Mason's ASCE Teams</span> <span><span>Tama Moni</span></span> <span><time datetime="2022-05-11T13:57:33-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 13:57">Wed, 05/11/2022 - 13:57</time> </span> <div class="layout layout--gmu layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--30-70"> <div class="layout__region region-first"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_associated_people" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-associated-people"> <h2>In This Story</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-associated-people field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">People Mentioned in This Story</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/profiles/dbondok" hreflang="und">Doaa Bondok</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="layout__region region-second"> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:body" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasebody"> <div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Body</div> <div class="field__item"><p>At Mason’s <a href="https://cec.gmu.edu" title="College of Engineering and Computing">College of Engineering and Computing,</a> you can expect students who are passionate about their field, hardworking, and goal-oriented in achieving their tasks. That kind of work ethic and enthusiasm exists within the students of the <a href="https://asce.org" title="American Society of Civil Engineers">American Society of Civil Engineers</a> (ASCE) – Mason chapter. This year, two Mason ASCE teams won first place in the Region 2 Mid-Atlantic West Symposium competitions, for their steel bridge and sustainable solutions projects for the first time.&nbsp;</p> <p>Seif Ali, team leader of the steel bridge team, said his goal, from day one, was for his team to win nationals. “I just wanted to make sure that everyone understands that we’re not just here to compete, but to learn,” Ali says. He joined the Mason chapter of ASCE last fall and immediately signed up for the open leadership spot on the steel bridge team – becoming the leader last October. He said that there were few opportunities to join student organizations during the pandemic and that joining this organization was an opportunity to try something different. &nbsp;</p> <p>Ali said his team built a bridge with plates and members and used the fabrication method to weld and join the metal parts together to create the bridge. A local engineering firm, <a href="https://nasir-associates.com/" title="Nasir and Associates, LLC">Nasir and Associates</a>, helped the team by not only providing supplies, but also giving them valuable experience-based recommendations.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The cancellation of his former team landed Nicholo Gadiana, in the leadership role of the sustainable solutions team. “I built the team three months before the competition,” Nicholo says. Faced with the challenge of time constraints and deadlines, Gadiana made sure his team followed the rules in building their project. He said the hardest part of leading his team was maintaining communication between members and finding locations to meet.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The theme for the sustainable solutions competition this year was “The Tiny Home challenge.” Gadiana said his team had to create a model of 10 sustainable tiny homes, that could contain a loft bed, bathroom, kitchen, and living and dining area. The competition rules required that the house must be around 400 square feet and sit on 1.07 acres of land. This team used 3D modeling software to sketch the layout of the houses and design it. For their sustainable part of the project, Gadiana said they came up with using a rainwater soil system, which absorbs the water and lessens the need for concrete in depositing overflowing water. &nbsp;</p> <p>“In summary, I think it’s the practical side. We provide students with the resources and support to develop them professionally, help them progress well towards their career, gain skills to be able to find a job, to speak about themselves, build on their soft skills,” says Doaa Bondok, faculty advisor for ASCE and Assistant Professor in the Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Department.&nbsp;</p> <p>Another win from the ASCE Region 2 Mid – Atlantic West Symposium, was Mason’s surveying competition team who won second place in their competition. Team members include: Nikolas Hawley, (Survey Party Chief), Christian Harar, (Assistant Survey Party Chief), Kai Barner, Survey Technician (Instrument Man), Margaret Freeman, Survey Technician (Chain Man), Siddarth Achar, Survey Technician (Rod Man).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> </div> </div> <div data-block-plugin-id="field_block:node:news_release:field_content_topics" class="block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenews-releasefield-content-topics"> <h2>Topics</h2> <div class="field field--name-field-content-topics field--type-entity-reference field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Topics</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15811" hreflang="en">American Society of Civil Engineers</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15806" hreflang="en">competitions</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/15801" hreflang="en">student leadership</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/911" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Wed, 11 May 2022 17:57:33 +0000 Tama Moni 69966 at