College of Education and Human Development

Honors College

George Mason professor teaches Pre-K-12 teachers how to make their lessons more accessible

Sarah Holland — Thu, 29 May 2025 17:18:12 +0000

George Mason professor teaches Pre-K-12 teachers how to make their lessons more accessible Sarah Holland Thu, 05/29/2025 - 13:18

Ten years ago, navigating the intersection of Roanoke River Road and Braddock Road by ��’s Fairfax �� was a challenge. The busy intersection, with five lanes of traffic, was difficult to cross even during off hours. Now, accessible, audio, and haptic cues make crossing much safer for everyone.

We have Kimberly Avila, associate professor of special education: blindness and visual impairments, to thank for that.

Not only is Avila working to create a more accessible campus—working with the Virginia Department of Transportation to upgrade and improve intersections and promoting dismount zones for pedestrian safety—Avila has been a service provider and teacher of the visually impaired, as well as an advocate for accessibility, for more than 25 years.

“It’s a fascinating field,” she said. “We have so much going on: the technology, the innovation. Things have progressed so rapidly.”

But the field is facing one critical shortage: teachers for elementary and secondary schools.

Students in the consortium program visit Fairfax �� for the weekend workshop in June. Photo provided.

The Virginia Consortium for Teacher Preparation in Blindness and Vision Impairment is a long-running, state-funded program to recruit, train, and retain teachers for students who are blind and visually impaired. At George Mason, the lead university on the grant, that training comes in multiple levels and forms: an undergraduate major and minor, master’s concentration, and graduate certificate. Old Dominion University and Radford University serve as co-collaborators.

Avila serves as the lead coordinator, and she teaches most of the classes that are blindness specific. Courses are mostly synchronous online, so students throughout Virginia can participate while maintaining teaching positions.

Vision impairment can be either ocular or neurological: stemming from either the eyes themselves or from how the brain processes what is seen. Because of this, it’s not always obvious when a student has a vision impairment. Avila notes that about 90% of the students with low vision show symptoms that are only obvious to those with training.

And without the ability to see or perceive visual content, access to education in the classroom is impacted. Being unable to see or read what’s written on a presentation, smart board, or chalkboard, missing important demonstrations, and being unable to understand instructions on worksheets or homework all can cause students to rapidly fall behind.

“It is extremely important that general education and special education administrators are aware of the cues that could signify learning is being impacted by a student’s eyesight,” explained Avila, “and to know how to adapt the classroom environment to support that student’s learning ability.”

Photo provided

Throughout the various degree paths, students learn foundational knowledge on how to spot signs of possible vision impairment, how to develop and implement accessible classroom designs and lesson plans, and how to read braille. And, as with most degrees in education, they are required to complete field experience hours. In this case, their experiences are often teaching braille to a child with vision impairment, or working with mentors and teachers to design solutions to support a child’s success in their classroom through various adaptive and assistive technologies. They even spend a weekend on the Fairfax �� during the summer to be trained in using a white cane and learning guiding techniques, so they can better understand the nuances of safely and effectively guiding someone who may need assistance.

“When George Mason first took over the program in 2007, it had the ingenuity and innovation to redevelop the program through incorporating the available technologies,” said Avila. “And George Mason continues to show that it’s committed to supporting our program because it serves a critical need.”

Learn more about the College of Education and Human Development

Topics

College of Education and Human Development Division of Special Education and disAbility Research

George Mason dean shares bold vision for K-12 education at Innovation Africa conference

Katarina Benson — Wed, 28 May 2025 15:02:01 +0000

George Mason dean shares bold vision for K-12 education at Innovation Africa conference Katarina Benson Wed, 05/28/2025 - 11:02

Before an audience of ministers, ambassadors, educators, and global innovation leaders, Ingrid Guerra-López, dean of ��’s College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), delivered a keynote address that called for a bold, system-wide transformation of K–12 education to secure Africa’s workforce future—and the world’s.

“Africa’s future is already in motion,” she said. “It’s sitting in today’s classrooms. The one billion young people who will shape the continent’s future are learning—or trying to learn—right now. And what happens in those classrooms will determine the future of economies, democracies, and entire regions.”

Guerra-López speaking at the summit. Photo provided

The “Innovation Africa 2025” summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, convened senior policymakers and international partners to tackle the most pressing challenges in education and skills development across the continent. Guerra-López emphasized that education is not simply one among many priorities in development—it is the foundation upon which all others rest.

With this sense of urgency and opportunity, Guerra-López proposed a six-pillar framework to guide education system transformation. She emphasized that meaningful and sustainable change requires a coherent, integrated response—one that bridges workforce development, teacher preparation, digital learning, access for all learners, and alignment with long-term economic opportunity.

“Too often we treat education reform as a series of disconnected efforts—fixing curriculum here, training teachers there, or piloting tech solutions in isolation. But the truth is, systems only improve when the elements are aligned and mutually reinforced,” Guerra-López said. “Strengthening teacher pipelines without modernizing curriculum, for example, won’t yield lasting gains. True transformation requires intervention at the system level.”

Her framework calls for action in six interconnected areas:

strengthening the education workforce,
transforming learning through technology and innovation,
expanding access and opportunity to all learners,
aligning education with economic opportunity,
equipping learners with future-ready skills, and
building global and regional partnerships to scale what works.

Each pillar supports the others, offering a roadmap for national leaders and development partners seeking to improve education outcomes in both the short and long term.

In discussing workforce development, Guerra-López acknowledged UNESCO estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa will need more than 17 million additional teachers by 2030 just to meet basic education goals. This, she said, presents both a challenge and a powerful opportunity—to professionalize teaching and create lifelong pathways of growth for educators. Similarly, she cautioned against overreliance on devices alone, arguing that educational technology must be embedded in broader digital ecosystems that include training, localized content, and robust infrastructure, in alignment with a clear national educational technology strategy.

One of the most resonant themes of her talk was the role of education in building more just, prosperous, and resilient societies, emphasizing that education systems must intentionally prepare learners for an uncertain future shaped by automation, climate change, and shifting labor markets.

“Future-ready skills aren’t just a buzzword—they are a necessity,” Guerra-López said. “The World Economic Forum and countless global studies make clear that skills such as critical thinking, creativity, digital fluency, and environmental stewardship are the currency of tomorrow’s workforce. These must be embedded early, across all learning pathways—not just as add-ons or electives.”

Innovation Africa summit. Photo provided

Equally critical is ensuring that education is accessible and effective for all learners. She called attention to the persistent disparities in access and outcomes between rural and urban learners, boys and girls, and students with and without disabilities.

“Education for all is about more than enrollment,” she said. “It’s about removing both visible and invisible barriers—so every learner, everywhere, has a genuine opportunity to thrive and contribute meaningfully to their communities and economies.”

Dean Guerra-López’s systems-based approach resonated deeply with the summit’s focus on scalable and sustainable solutions. She stressed that while innovation and investment are essential, national leadership and community ownership must drive change.

It is in this spirit that CEHD engages with partners across government agencies, universities, and the private sector—co-creating education strategies that reflect local priorities while drawing on global expertise.

“Transformation doesn’t come from outside. It comes from within—when local leaders, educators, and communities shape solutions that reflect their vision and context. Our role, as education and research partners, is to listen, align, and bring evidenced-based tools and support that enable sustainable progress,” she said.

Guerra-López positioned CEHD and �� as not only a hub for innovation, but as a platform for consequential research that drives measurable progress and meaningful societal impact. She echoed George Mason’s Grand Challenge Initiative, especially the university’s commitment to “advancing 21st-century education for all,” framing this work as both a critical component of sustainable development and a strategic investment in global stability and shared prosperity.

Guerra-López’s address made clear that global transformation begins with local action—and that George Mason is committed to walking alongside the leaders shaping that future.

“Africa holds extraordinary promise—not just for the continent, but for the world. If we act boldly and collaboratively, we can unlock that potential—starting in the classroom, where the seeds of every future workforce are planted.”

Topics

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

K-12 Partnerships

Trial by virtual fire: Augmented reality project tailors training for firefighters

Sarah Holland — Thu, 22 May 2025 17:18:32 +0000

Trial by virtual fire: Augmented reality project tailors training for firefighters Sarah Holland Thu, 05/22/2025 - 13:18

For firefighters, even training is a risk. According to the United States Fire Administration, 16.6% of all firefighter fatalities in 2024 took place during training exercises. �� researcher Craig Yu is hoping to change that statistic.

Yu, associate professor of computer science, has been developing augmented and virtual reality training for most of his career, and he has a particular interest in exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies could help research on human development and sports science. Through National Science Foundation’s EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program, Yu and Joel Martin, associate professor of kinesiology, are developing just that: an augmented reality program that could help train firefighters while minimizing risk.

“Firefighters have high rates of injuries and many injuries happen during training. There is a need for training technology that can replicate aspects of emergencies while minimizing the injury risk and physical burn,” said Martin. Martin has spent the past few years working with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue to determine how they can reduce physical strain to firefighters during training exercises. “I think that technology such as immersive reality training can help to meet training needs while minimizing the physical risks of performing certain drills."

A prototype of the virtual training space from their proposal. Image provided.

Augmented—or mixed—reality uses devices such as phones or a headset to overlay 3D computer-generated content onto the real world. An increasingly accessible tool, you can find augmented reality in applications like Ikea furniture previews in your house, dinosaur encounters in the Smithsonian, and catching Pokémon in your neighborhood.

As described in their project proposal, “Adapting Mixed Reality Training Programs to Real-World Scenes to Enhance Human-AI Teaming in Emergency Responses,” the new training would utilize augmented reality to create realistic training scenarios for firefighters.

Based on a 3D digital twin of the room, the program will use AI to analyze what's in the room and create a realistic outbreak of fire: where it is most likely to start and spread, and where civilians are most likely to be.

“The program understands the environment, and it will be refined with additional input from professional firefighters,” said Yu.

Yu also notes that the scenario can be adapted for different experience levels. Simpler scenarios can be developed for new firefighters, which can then be adjusted for increasing sophistication and complexity as the trainees learn and improve. It also allows them to practice scenarios that would be difficult or impossible to replicate in a live burn, such as how to best evacuate and rescue civilians.

Most importantly, it prevents firefighters from being exposed to hazardous conditions while in training.

“I don’t ever see us replacing real fire training,” said Yu, “but this is a means to augment the training to improve the health and safety of the firefighters, as well as make training easier to deploy in a variety of buildings and circumstances. AI allows us to rapidly analyze human performance and then adaptively synthesize training programs to address weakness we observe.”

Martin and Yu are in the early phases of development but hope to deploy their initial training designs with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue soon. They both have hopes for further incorporation of AI and augmented reality technology in firefighting tools, such as headsets that can scan the environment and offer real-time feedback about potential dangers, exit strategies, and health metrics as firefighters enter hazardous zones.

“More and more virtual and immersive reality training is being used [in kinesiology],” said Martin. “I think this project demonstrates the importance of collaboration and interdisciplinary teams to solve challenges in the field.”

Discover how George Mason is driving AI

In This Story

Craig Yu

Topics

Research

College of Engineering and Computing

National Science Foundation

Artificial Intelligence

Community Impact

Student athlete brings passion for teaching to the mat

Sarah Holland — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 14:23:10 +0000

Student athlete brings passion for teaching to the mat Sarah Holland Mon, 04/28/2025 - 10:23

Red-shirting—when an athlete is withdrawn from college sporting events for a year to develop their skills and extend their period of eligibility by an additional year—is particularly common for student athletes from the early 2020s. With many of their careers put on pause due to COVID-19, most student athletes have the chance to keep competing while pursuing graduate degrees.

Photo by Rafael Suanes/Athletics

For Tyler Kocak, BA Integrative Studies ’24, that extra year of eligibility gave him the chance to pursue a second degree: an MEd in secondary education.

Kocak, who received the John R. Linn Memorial Award for Outstanding Student Athlete from the College of Education and Human Development, plans to cross the stage at the Spring 2025 Commencement Ceremony.

What inspired you to go into teaching?

My brother got me into it initially. He’s a teacher, and he said he liked it, so I thought I might like it, too. I have a passion for changing the future and impacting kids. In secondary education, I can build relationships with the students and support them along their journey to shape their futures. And I chose history and social science as my focus because I’m a big history junkie.

What brought you to George Mason?

I’m from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and I was recruited for wrestling at George Mason. That was a big factor, but I also liked the area a lot, and I liked the academics.

What’s something you learned from wrestling that translated to your teaching?

Working hard is number one. If you don’t work hard, you’re not going to get where you want to be. You have to roll with the punches: If something doesn't go well or doesn’t go your way, you have to keep going forward, keep moving. Wrestling is a lot about mindset and mentality. I’m a pretty optimistic person, so I always try to look on the bright side of things and work toward improving myself, improving my teaching, and improving my wrestling. Improvement is all about consistency, too, so I learned to take those little steps forward each time to get better and reach my goals.

Photo by Rafael Suanes/Athletics

What is your greatest accomplishment from your time at George Mason?

I’ve competed nationally a lot. I placed 6th at the Mid-American Conference (MAC); I won a tournament; I made it to round 12 at Midlands Championship, which is a big tournament; and others. And I was on the MAC Honor Roll and was a National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Scholar All-American.

What advice would you give to a first-year student at George Mason?

Never give up. Work hard and manage your time well. Stay ahead of the course, and plan ahead instead of falling behind. If you do fall behind, contact your professors. And if you’re an athlete coming in, try to build a good relationship with your coaches and teammates.

What are your current plans for post-graduation?

I want to teach history and social science somewhere in Fairfax County. Maybe I’ll end up doing special education. And I want to coach high school wrestling.

2025 Spring Commencement

Topics

Graduation

College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Athletics

Wrestling

George Mason bioengineering team’s start-up is the next wave of athletic rehabilitation and performance

Shayla Brown — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:09:36 +0000

George Mason bioengineering team’s start-up is the next wave of athletic rehabilitation and performance Shayla Brown Tue, 04/22/2025 - 17:09

Based on their years of research studying how student-athletes move, �� bioengineering professors Parag Chitnis and Siddhartha Sikdar have created a start-up called Myokinetics LLC with the goal of providing personalized rehabilitation programs for injured athletes that can help them recover faster and prevent them from getting injured in the future.

Erica King (left) and researcher testing the Myokinetics device. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

This effort builds on more than $5 million in funding from the Department of Defense for developing wearable ultrasound technologies that help rehabilitate musculoskeletal injuries through a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs grant, and two Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium awards, which is a funding mechanism that supports fast translation and development of new technologies relevant for military health.

For the past 10 years, Chitnis and Sikdar have been developing the Myokinetics device “to understand not only when musculoskeletal injuries occur, but to help track the recovery process from the injury as well as prevent re-injury,” said Chitnis, who along with Sikdar, co-directs George Mason’s Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI), formerly the Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions.

Their device personalizes the treatments and rehabilitation that's provided so that users can recover in the most optimal manner. Chitnis and Sikdar are also working with multiple collaborators including George Mason PhD students, George Mason Athletics, and the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD).

Margaret T. Jones is the director of the Patriot Performance Lab within CEHD’s Center for Sport Management. The lab conducts research and provides services that focus on athlete health and performance.

Margaret T. Jones (center right) with student athletes. Photo provided.

“The wearable ultrasound allows you to look at what the muscles are doing underneath the skin when they contract and what the contraction looks like,” said Jones, who has been working with the George Mason men’s and women’s volleyball teams since August 2024.

“The research methods vary based on the sport, but [the volleyball players] wear the ultrasound device and we go to their practice facility once a week. Since the sport involves a lot of jumping, we have them jump on what's called a force plate, which is sort of a fancy scale, and collect data to share with the bioengineering team that way,” she said.

In addition, Jones and the team monitor the athletes during their practices and games via the wearable microsensor, which assist in the interpretation of their findings from the weekly jumps and ultrasound tests.

As the team’s research scientist, fourth-year PhD bioengineering student Erica King, BS Bioengineering ’21, works closely with Jones and the Patriot Performance Lab.

“I’m using the device for specific applications and testing and validating against other gold standards that are currently in the market,” said King, who spent all four years of her undergrad on George Mason’s women’s swim and dive team.

“I've seen my fair share of injuries as an athlete, either my own or my friends, and it’s a continuous cycle. You'll rehabilitate the injury, feel better, and then when you go back to your sport or activity, you'll get injured again,” said King, who was in the Honors College.

“Being able to have a device to help understand what's going on at the muscle level during your rehabilitation to ensure that you're doing the exercises correctly to get the desired results and perform your sport while mitigating the risk of reinjury is so beneficial,” she said.

Partner collaborators include North Carolina State University, Cephasonics Ultrasound, and Infinite Biomedical Technologies (IBT). IBT CEO Rahul Kaliki is also a co-founder of Myokinetics LLC.

A close up of the device. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

“At CASSBI, different people and resources are pulled in to work on multidisciplinary projects like this one. This collaboration enables a lot of iterative prototyping efforts, which would not have been possible without the center,” said Abhishek Aher, MS Bioengineering ’24.

“I would like to see the Myokinetics device being used nationwide on the fields of major sports leagues. This should enable more metrics for the players,” said Aher, who is the Myokinetics team’s research engineer.

“For example, metrics such as how many points a player scored or how many minutes they ran are discussed pregame or postgame, but with our device, Myokinetic metrics can become an essential conversation point. That’s where I would like to see this go in the next five years,” he said.

King hopes to continue researching human performance after injury and focus on the most safe and effective ways that athletes can get back to their optimal performance.

“I hope to stick with Myokinetics and implement the devices and the metrics that we're currently developing into the rehabilitation setting. This is for the general population, but athletes will always have a special place in my heart,” said King.

In This Story

Siddhartha Sikdar

Parag Chitnis

Learn the origins of Myokinetics LLC

Topics

entrepreneurship

College of Engineering and Computing

Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions

Mason Athletics

Honors College

Research

CEHD alumnus finds success on the waves

Colleen Rich — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 20:14:28 +0000

CEHD alumnus finds success on the waves Colleen Rich Mon, 04/14/2025 - 16:14

Since he first stepped onto campus more than 35 years ago, David Horna believes �� helped put him on a path to success.

Dave Horna. Photo provided

Or, more appropriately, a wave of success.

A 1994 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in health sciences from the College of Education and Human Development, Horna can be found these days in sunny Cocoa Beach, Florida, teaching surfing lessons. Big Wave Dave, as he is known to patrons and students at Ron Jon’s Surf Shop, credits his current occupation to his experience at George Mason.

“Being a surf instructor is one of the best gigs you can get in surfing,” Horna said in a phone interview between surf lessons. “What put me at the top of the list was having a George Mason BSEd. You can see the thread of George Mason in not just the education I got, but how it opened doors [for me].”

Horna grew up in nearby Clifton, Virginia, and spent many of his summers competing in boogie board contests in Virginia Beach and Ocean City, Maryland. So, finding him in the ocean these days is not surprising.

Inspired by his mother, who was a third-grade teacher at several schools in Fairfax and Prince William counties, Horna attended George Mason as a commuter student and fondly recalls building friendships while working out at the fitness center on campus. His curriculum and professors at George Mason also left a lasting impression on him.

While still a student, he served as a guest expert at WJFK Radio (106.7 FM) in Washington, D.C., where he was on a modern exercise panel with an Air Force colonel and a George Washington University professor who chaired a research center. This segment sparked Horna to pitch to his health sciences professors on the idea of fulfilling his internship requirement at the radio station, where he worked on former FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy’s show.

“George Mason was creative enough and open minded enough to give me an opportunity,” he said. “They said, ‘Why don’t you pitch us? Tell us why and how this fits in with health sciences.’ I said, ‘I’m going to create a health segment for the show.’”

His dip into media led him to his first job with then-start-up E&E (Environment and Energy) News. The publication, which covered policy, government, environment and energy, and business development, began with just six reporters before reaching a newsroom of 65 across the world when it was acquired by Politico in 2020.

Horna started as an account executive, and by 2009, he had become a partner in the firm and was at a crossroads in his career. He was proud of the company he had helped build but was ready for a new challenge.

Dave Horna catching a wave. Photo provided

“I wanted to do something for me, for my soul,” he said. “I wanted to surf big waves.”

Horna moved to Puerto Rico and spent the next six years surfing, training, and practicing yoga while also working as a sales consultant and freelance writer for several publications. During that time, he spent six months in Hawaii, surfing the legendary North Shore in Oahu. He also made surfing excursions to Ireland, France, and California.

For nearly a decade, Horna has lived in Cocoa Beach, just five miles south of Cape Canaveral Space Station. Through his consultant work with SOFX, a media and networking company focused on the special operations community, he met CEO Sam Havelock Jr., a retired Navy SEAL. Havelock, who was also a surf instructor, suggested to Horna that he look into teaching.

Since 2022, Horna has taught private lessons five days a week, in addition to helping at surf camps and working in Ron Jon’s Surf Shop on the weekends. He has had students as young as 5 and as old as 70.

One of his proudest moments was helping a 16-year-old who had just one arm due to a birth defect. By the end of the two-hour lesson, the teenager was up on the board and riding waves. “He was so stoked. I was so stoked. You can’t write me a paycheck big enough to see that guy’s smile,” Horna said. “Surfing makes people’s lives better. It’s healthy, it’s therapeutic. I get to be the person who helps somebody find that.”

Horna believes George Mason opened the door to his surf instructing job, too. When he interviewed for the position, his supervisor was intrigued by his degree in health sciences. Through his education Horna knows, for example, the role that dorsiflexion—the backward bending and contracting of the foot or hand—plays in the placement of the toes in the “ready position” on the surfboard.

“It is one of the most crucial things because when they are in that position, they’ll glide into the waves,” Horna said. “You want to have everybody ready because everything happens so fast out there. It’s my job to get them ready.”

And he proudly displays his alma mater when in the water, often wearing a gray George Mason shirt during lessons. “I want people to know that they’re getting instruction from a �� graduate,” he said. “I take a lot of pride in that. The school did a lot for me.”

Start your journey at the College of Education and Human Development

Topics

Alumni

presidential awards for faculty excellence

Announcing the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence

Lauren Reuscher — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 14:49:41 +0000

Announcing the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence Lauren Reuscher Mon, 04/14/2025 - 10:49

�� President Gregory Washington has announced the recipients of the 2025 Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence, honoring 12 George Mason faculty members for their work on behalf of the university, students, and the broader community.

The awards honor faculty with up to six years of service, six to 12 years of service, and more than 12 years of service.

This is the ninth year for the Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence. Recipients are selected by a review committee that includes prior award recipients and senior leaders from relevant areas. They will be honored at a reception May 13.

“Faculty excellence is an undeniable reason why George Mason is consistently ranked as one the country’s top 50 public universities,” President Gregory Washington said. “We honor these faculty members’ scholarship and dedication to help students achieve their highest potential with the university’s highest faculty recognition.”

The John Toups Presidential Medal for Excellence in Teaching is presented to a faculty member whose teaching inspires and stimulates students in the finest tradition of higher education.

The Beck Family Presidential Medal for Excellence in Research recognizes extraordinary contributions by members of the Mason faculty to consequential research of high impact. The award is presented annually to a George Mason faculty member whose research represents groundbreaking advances in their field.

The United Bank Presidential Medal for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion recognizes extraordinary contributions in teaching, research, scholarship, creative works, or service that directly advances diversity and inclusion inside and outside the George Mason community.

The Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Excellence in Social Impact is presented to a faculty member in any discipline who makes extraordinary efforts to use their scholarship to solve real-world problems.

The complete list of 2025 honorees is below. See prior recipients for 2017 to 2024.

Bethany Cieslowski

Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award Recipient

Bethany Cieslowski

Chief Innovation Officer for Immersive Technologies and Instructional Associate Professor, School of Nursing

Bethany Cieslowski joined the faculty of the School of Nursing as an instructional faculty member in 2021. She serves as the chief innovation officer for immersive technologies and the bachelor of science in nursing director in the College of Public Health. Since 2017, when she received the Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator (CHSE) certification, she has devoted herself to educating the nursing workforce of the future using simulation and technology. Cieslowski has been a pioneer at George Mason in the use of virtual reality (VR) simulations that immerse students in clinical nursing scenarios. To aid this effort she established the College of Public Health’s VR SIM lab, which is the first lab in the country to receive accreditation from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare for the use of immersive technologies in medical scenarios.

Angela Miller

John Toups Presidential Medal for Excellence in Teaching Recipient

Angela Miller

Associate Professor, College of Education and Human Development

Angela Miller is an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development. Her primary teaching focus is on quantitative research methods. She has taught 13 different courses in her time at George Mason, and she took the lead in redesigning the research methods curriculum for PhD students and developed three new courses to that end. While her own teaching has been focused on the graduate level, she took a lead role in developing, teaching, and now mentoring graduate students and other faculty in an undergraduate statistics course that is part of the Mason Core for Quantitative Reasoning. Miller makes deliberate efforts to tailor her instruction to the unique needs of her students and she consistently receives outstanding evaluations. She has made significant contributions to graduate mentoring, having chaired six dissertation committees, served as the methodologist on an additional 18 dissertation committees, and chaired six MA thesis committees, as well as an additional 16 MA capstone projects. She was also a recipient of the 2017 �� Teaching Excellence Award.

Weiwen Jiang

Faculty Excellence in Research Award Recipient

Weiwen Jiang

Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department

Weiwen Jiang, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering and Computing, received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019 and spent two years at the University of Notre Dame as a postdoctoral researcher. Jiang’s research is in the relatively new field of quantum computing, which uses quantum mechanics to enable computers to solve more complicated problems. Jiang’s research has important applications. For example, one of his recent papers combines quantum computational techniques with machine learning to solve problems relating to the discovery of new medicines. Jiang has an impressive research record of top-tier conference presentations and publications, some of which are in the most selective journals in his field (Nature Communications, Nature Electronics, Scientific Reports).

Xuesu Xiao

Faculty Excellence in Research Award Recipient

Xuesu Xiao

Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department

Xuesu Xiao received his PhD in Computer Science in 2019 from Texas A&M University, and after three years in industry as a roboticist with Everyday Robots, an Alphabet/Google company, he joined the Computer Science Department in the College of Engineering and Computing. His research aims to develop intelligent mobile robots that can navigate in challenging terrain with minimal human oversight. His cutting-edge work in the field of social robot navigation seeks to develop robots that can navigate human-occupied public spaces safely while respecting social norms. At George Mason, he established the RobotiXX Lab, in which he works with postdocs, graduate students, and high school students to develop deployable robots. An outstanding researcher, he was awarded the New Generation Star recognition at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

Aarthi Narayanan

Faculty Excellence in Research Award Recipient

Aarthi Narayanan

Professor, Biology Department

Aarthi Narayanan joined the George Mason faculty as a tenure-line faculty in 2013 after spending six years at the National Centre for Biosecurity and Infectious Disease. She is currently a professor in the Biology Department in the College of Science. Her research focuses on the impact of viruses–including SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Dengue, and HIV–on disease progression at the tissue and cell level. Her work has led to important discoveries in vaccine development, drug discovery, and biomarker identification for infectious diseases. Narayanan has an exceptional record of publications and external funding for her research. Moreover, she has been an exemplary citizen of the university and her profession. She has been a dedicated mentor to emerging scientists in academic and industry settings; a leader in mentoring junior faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and students; a vital contributor to curriculum development for undergraduate and graduate programs; and dedicated to outreach to the local community, participating in STEM programs for girls.

Allison Redlich

The Beck Family Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Research Recipient

Allison Redlich

Professor, Criminology, Law and Society Department

Founder and Director, Modeling Decision-Making in the Legal System (MoDiLS) Lab

Allison Redlich is a professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and is the founder and director of George Mason’s Modeling Decision-Making in the Legal System (MoDiLS) Lab. Her research is deeply interdisciplinary. Trained in psychology, she brings insights from that field to address critical issues facing the legal system. For example, she has published influential research about interrogations and confessions in police and military contexts. This scholarship has been widely cited in amicus briefs to states and the Supreme Court, and Redlich herself has provided expert testimony in important cases involving contested confessions. She has produced similarly influential research on topics such as guilty pleas and mental health courts. Her work is credited with transforming scholarly thinking on these topics, and by all accounts is having a significant impact on current practices within the legal system. A prolific scholar and researcher, she has been elected a Fellow to the three most influential organizations in her academic fields: the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Academy of Experimental Criminology. Redlich has also distinguished herself as a mentor and has received mentoring awards from George Mason and from the American Society of Criminology and the American Psychology-Law Society.

Daphne King

Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award Recipient

Daphne King

Assistant Professor, Social Work Department

Daphne King joined the faculty at George Mason’s Department of Social Work in the College of Public Health in 2020 as an assistant professor and also serves as the MSW Online Program director. Prior to arriving at George Mason, she had an impactful career as a social worker working with individuals experiencing mental health challenges, with homeless and incarcerated populations, and in school social work settings. King’s scholarship and national contributions focus on the intersection of social work practice, clinician identity, and pedagogical strategies. Within the Social Work Department at George Mason, she has been proactive in providing leadership in course development, course refresh processes, and faculty training, particularly around online teaching to ensure that there is adequate support for diverse learners in digital and hybrid learning environments.

Janani Umamaheswar

Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award Recipient

Janani Umamaheswar

Associate Professor, Criminology, Law and Society

Janani Umamaheswar joined the Department of Criminology, Law and Society in 2021 as an assistant professor in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. She is also an affiliate faculty member in the Women and Gender Studies Program. She is an accomplished scholar whose research addresses issues relating to social inequality, punishment and incarceration, and qualitative research methods. In her teaching she makes a point to include a broad range of perspectives on whatever subject matter she is teaching, and in her course design she creates assessment methods that give students of diverse backgrounds and viewpoints the opportunity to share their learning in different modalities. She has also created experiential co-curricular activities designed to help students grasp issues relating to inequality. For example, she worked with the Douglass Project, the country’s foremost prison visitation program, to take George Mason graduate students for a guided dialogue session in the Washington, D.C., jail. She has been an active member of the mentoring programs run by multiple divisions of the American Society of Criminology.

Jacqueline McDowell

United Bank Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Recipient

Jacqueline McDowell

Associate Professor, School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management

Assistant Dean for Faculty Success

Jacqueline McDowell is assistant dean for faculty success and associate professor in the School of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism Management in the College of Education and Human Development. A well-respected scholar, her work focuses primarily on diversity and inclusion in organized sports and recreation organizations. She has published widely in this field, particularly on the experiences of women and sport, such as athletic administrators and coaches. One of her articles was awarded the 2017 President’s Award for Article of Distinction at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association. In McDowell’s teaching, issues of inclusion are central. She has also been active in advancing inclusion in her professional service, both here at George Mason and in external professional organizations. For example, she serves on the American Kinesiology Association’s Membership Committee, where she has led efforts to bring more Historically Black Colleges and Universities into the field by developing outreach strategies. Due to the effectiveness of these efforts, she was asked to chair this committee for the American Kinesiology Association.

Margarita Tadevosyan

Faculty Excellence in Social Impact Award Recipient

Margarita Tadevosyan

Research Assistant Professor and Executive Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Margarita Tadevosyan received her PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from �� in 2019 and is a research assistant professor and executive director of the Center for Peacemaking Practice at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. She is a scholar-practitioner of conflict resolution and local peacebuilding, with a focus on South Caucasus and other post-Soviet areas. Specifically, she focuses on long-term peacebuilding, local conceptions of peace, local practices to build peace, and ways that international and local peacebuilders can work together respectfully. Tadevosyan’s social impact involves fostering dialogue and cooperation between communities that have experienced long-standing conflicts. She has also brought Carter School students into her work as co-planners, co-facilitators, and co-evaluators of conflict resolution and media literacy programs.

Susan Howard

Faculty Excellence in Social Impact Award Recipient

Susan Howard

Instructional Associate Professor, School of Integrative Studies

Susan Howard joined George Mason as a full-time faculty member in the School of Integrative Studies in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in 2016. Howard is an educator, behavioral scientist, and entrepreneur-innovator who leverages and humanizes technology for social impact. Her teaching, research, and entrepreneurial focus is broad, ranging from global health to environmental science and design thinking. Her impact beyond the university has come primarily through the free digital gaming platform that her company has produced for an audience of marginalized youth in India and Nepal. The games, which are free to play, are designed to educate youth about the social and public health decisions they face in their own lives. To extend the impact of her work, Howard has formed partnerships with stakeholders in the adolescent health sector, including NGOs, women entrepreneurs, and nonprofits. Howard’s gaming platform, “Games of Choice, Not of Chance,” has received multiple accolades for its work, including the 2024 Innovation Award at the Global Digital Health Summit.

Rebecca Goldin

Earle C. Williams Presidential Medal for Faculty Excellence in Social Impact

Rebecca Goldin

Professor, Mathematical Sciences

Rebecca Goldin is Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences in the College of Science. For many years she has served as a driving force behind a global effort aimed at promoting statistical literacy among journalists and connecting the scientific community to the media. In that capacity she has written more than 100 articles, appeared in dozens of high-profile news shows and podcasts (CNN, NPR, ABC News, and PBS), and given a great number of public talks and interviews to audiences at major conferences and mathematics festivals. In addition to her far-reaching communication and outreach efforts, Goldin has done extensive volunteer work locally. Her efforts have been widely recognized by professional organizations in her field. In 2013, she was given the Association for Women in Mathematics Service Award for her contributions to the cause of educating women and girls in mathematics. In 2019, she was named a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, an extraordinary honor that goes to only a few mathematics scholars per year, for both her scholarly contributions to the field of differential geometry and for her efforts to promote mathematical and statistical thinking to a wide audience.

About the Presidential Awards for Faculty Excellence

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Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

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Empowering wellness: Graduate student brings health education to Zimbabwe community

Katarina Benson — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 17:45:40 +0000

Empowering wellness: Graduate student brings health education to Zimbabwe community Katarina Benson Mon, 04/07/2025 - 13:45

Shannon Smith, a graduate student in ��’s Kinesiology Program, is pioneering a transformative health and wellness education initiative in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Smith’s six-month community wellness program consists of health and wellness education for a cohort of 20 women. Participants receive education on diet, exercise, and mental health to ultimately become “wellness ambassadors” for their sub-communities.

Shannon Smith. Photo provided

The idea for this program came after Smith visited friends in Victoria Falls, where she saw a banner for Pathways–Africa, a nonprofit organization with a mission “to empower and assist the people of Africa through the mutual development of sustainable resources for community planning, education and health services.” Smith connected with the organization director via email, and together they identified the community’s health education gap. “I offered to [host] a couple of workshops, and it turned into this pilot program we’re trying to build,” Smith said.

The pilot program began earlier this year, when Smith facilitated an in-person workshop as the foundation for the content in the program. The cohort meets once a month for five months to discuss how they’re using the information, making changes, and sharing what they’ve learned. “At the end of the program, they’ll be more informed, have healthier lives, and be seen as leaders in their communities when it comes to wellness.”

Smith’s experience in Victoria Falls has strong connections to her current studies in the Kinesiology Program in the College of Education and Human Development. Her programming directly ties to health promotion, the concept of exercise as medicine, and to previous collaborations with George Mason kinesiology professor Debra Stroiney.

Smith and members of the program. Photo provided

“I helped Dr. Stroiney with some ‘Exercise Is Medicine' activities last semester and am really looking forward to continuing to work in this space of exercise and food as medicine, whether it’s for an athletic or general population.”

Smith has advice for anyone who wants to serve in their community. “Do it! Locally, it may be easier to find an organization or resources to start a small project. You’ll be able to see a direct impact close to home, which is always nice.”

For those who are interested in serving abroad, she advised, “globally, there are more factors at play, but the reward can be much bigger if the country doesn’t have the same resources.” She said that flexibility is the key to overcoming cultural, language or resource barriers.

Overall, Smith encourages anyone interested in service to get involved: “There’s always something to learn, you’ll make good connections, impact lives, and you’ll have fun, too.”

Learn more about George Mason's Kinesiology Program

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health-based outreach

wellness

Get tickets to the 2025 George Mason Empty Bowls event.

George Mason is fighting food insecurity, one Empty Bowl at a time

Sarah Holland — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 16:37:51 +0000

George Mason is fighting food insecurity, one Empty Bowl at a time Sarah Holland Mon, 04/07/2025 - 12:37

If you’re taking a bowl home from a party, most people leave with leftovers in hand. But at ��’s annual Empty Bowls event, the guests leave with just that: a handmade, and very empty, ceramic bowl.

Bowl selection at the inaugural Mason empty Bowls in 2024. Photo provided

Empty Bowls is a global grassroots movement to support food-related charities and educate people on issues of poverty and hunger in their local communities. At Empty Bowls events, guests give a donation in exchange for a handmade ceramic bowl and a simple soup meal, leaving the event with an empty bowl as a reminder of how many people go without food in the local community.

The idea of Empty Bowls at George Mason started in the least surprising of places: a pottery studio.

Maggie Daniels, professor of tourism and events management in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), and Lauren Long, executive director of Student Involvement, share a love for pottery. Both of them are long-time potters at Manassas Clay. Together, Daniels and Long decided to bring Empty Bowls to George Mason, in support of the Food and Housing Insecurity Fund through the Student Support and Advocacy Center (SSAC).

In order for students to succeed, their basic needs must be met, including stable housing, physical safety, and access to food. The SSAC was started to help connect students with resources as they face life challenges, including ensuring their basic needs are fulfilled. The Food and Housing Insecurity Fund, a donor-generated fund, supports this work.

“About one-third of all college students have experienced some type of food insecurity in the past year,” explained Margaret Olszewska, director of the SSAC. “Food insecurity covers a wide spectrum of situations in which a person lacks consistent access to nutritionally adequate and safe food. It ranges from not eating healthy food due to lack of resources, to missing entire meals.”

The fund supports students at all levels of food insecurity through various programs and resources. In 2024 in collaboration with Sodexo, SSAC distributed 2,400 meal swipes for George Mason on-campus dining halls and had 818 unique users of the Patriot Pantry. Starting in fall semester, a new partnership with Capital Area Food Bank offered students a digital purchasing card so they could buy perishable foods at their local grocery stores. The fund also contributes to helping students find temporary housing on campus in the event of a sudden loss of shelter or safe living situation.

Long and Daniels were determined to make a no-cost event so 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction could go to the fund. Hosted in the Center for the Arts, guests enjoy a soup meal and dessert, music by Green and Gold Soul, and a silent auction with items from local vendors. Everything is donated, so every cent can go directly to the fund.

"The Center for the Arts and Student Involvement are great partners throughout the year, and this is one of our favorite collaborations,” said Julie Thompson, executive director for the Center for the Arts.

Mason Dining contractor Sodexo, the caterer for the event, created a soup menu to reflect warmth, comfort, and inclusivity with locally sourced ingredients and a range of options for different dietary concerns. “Empty Bowls aligns perfectly with Sodexo’s mission to fight food insecurity and support sustainable food initiatives,” said Jenita Thurston, district manager for Sodexo.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the evening is the bowl selection. Each guest gets to take home a handmade ceramic bowl, crafted and donated by potters at Manassas Clay and other studios around Northern Virginia. From small teacups to large serving dishes in a rainbow of different glazes and finishes, there’s a bowl for everyone, and all of them are microwave, dishwasher, and oven safe.

“What’s really special about Empty Bowls is that this grassroots event was born out of the care and concern of our own George Mason community members,” said Olszewska. “It’s one of many examples of how our faculty and staff care about the students we serve beyond just our jobs.”

“For a CEHD faculty member and a University Life director to come together, to be innovative and creative in order to meet the needs of our students, is really at the core of what makes George Mason such an incredible place,” said Long.

Daniels agreed. “It showcases the best of who we are at George Mason.”

Mason Empty Bowls 2025

Learn more about the Student Support and Advocacy Center

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