GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

NASA-funded wildfire digital twin could save assets and lives with pollution prediction, burn forecasting

Sarah Holland — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 19:29:20 +0000

NASA-funded wildfire digital twin could save assets and lives with pollution prediction, burn forecasting Sarah Holland Thu, 01/15/2026 - 14:29

One year ago, the Palisades and Eaton Fires ravaged the coast of Southern California. Combined, the fires killed 28 people, destroyed more than 16,000 structures, and displaced tens of thousands of residents.

Wildfires are notoriously difficult to predict due to the multitude of factors that affect their growth, spread, and speed. That uncertainty makes it difficult for response teams to know who should be evacuated to avoid both active flames and hazardous air pollution. Mass evacuations require cooperation and communication across numerous departments, and getting those systems activated can take precious time that evacuees might not have if the fire is spreading at a rate of seven and a half football fields per minute as the Palisades fire did.

Chaowei "Phil" Yang. Photo by Office of University Branding.

One researcher at George �鶹��Ƶ is working on a solution. Chaowei “Phil” Yang, professor in the Geography and Geoinformation Science Department in the College of Science, has teamed up with researchers from California State University—Los Angeles (CSU-LA), NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the City of Los Angeles to develop a wildfire digital twin to understand fire evolution and air pollution impact.

“The goal is to develop an artificial intelligence (AI)-based system that can provide real-time, high-resolution simulation and forecasting of wildfire behavior and model the resulting air pollution and air quality impacts for better informed public health responses,” Yang said.

Air pollution is a critical metric here. “Inhaling wildfire smoke can cause serious and long-lasting damage to the breathing system,” said Yang. “We need to get those people impacted to safety as well as those in direct line of the spreading flames.”

Yang, who is the director of the Center for Intelligent Spatial Computing for Water/Energy Science, has worked on several projects using his knowledge of geospatial cyberinfrastructure and spatial cloud computing to study the impacts of major global events on air quality. When the wildfires hit southern California, Yang felt that his expertise and resources could be used to help mitigate future wildfire disasters.

Yang’s work ties directly to improving human health, well-being, and preparedness, as well as building a climate-resilient society, two key solutions in George �鶹��Ƶ’s Grand Challenge Initiative, the university's research focus to enable us to live in a world of our choosing.

“Looking at the damage increasing because of climate change, to both assets and people’s life and health, that really triggered us,” Yang said. “We really felt that we needed to do something to address it.”

The digital twin will integrate a range of data from a diverse set of sources—such as satellites, UAVs, ground observations, and citizen reports—in order to forecast and simulate the progress of a wildfire and the mitigation of potential interventions. Everything from fuel sources, moisture, load, and consumption to wind speeds and temperatures to real-time sensors for the fire are pulled into the system.

George �鶹��Ƶ’s high-performance computing (HPC) cluster is used to automate the data interpretation process, while machine learning modeling calibrates the data sets to increase accuracy. As more data sets become available, the model’s accuracy will increase.

“When we eventually provide information to firefighters and local agencies, we will give them a range of possibilities and a confidence level in those possibilities, such as ‘the fire will move in this direction with about 90% confidence, or 20% confidence,’” Yang explained. “That’s important for them when they’re trying to make these quick decisions about where to put fire fighters. It makes the information actionable instead of just data sets.”

While working on a bold solution to a grand challenge, the project is also an opportunity for students of all levels—from high school through post-doctoral—to get hands-on experience in cloud computing and digital transformation to address grand challenges.

Anusha Srirenganathan, PhD Earth Systems and Geoinformation Sciences ’25, joined the project during her time at George �鶹��Ƶ. “Working closely with researchers from different disciplines helped me grow as a collaborator, and my work on the project strengthened my abilities in large-scale satellite data processing, spatial cloud computing, and AI/ML modeling for environmental applications,” she said.

“We’re using these capabilities to cultivate the next generation workforce,” said Yang. “It’s eye-opening for the students and paves a path for them to become the future leaders of the nation.”

Securing a safer future for both the current and future generations is what drives Yang in his work. And he sees this work on a wildfire digital twin as only the beginning of what’s possible with the technology.

Yang said his team is already working on a Chesapeake Bay digital twin project to develop more accurate flood forecasting, and collaborating with Daniel Rothbart at the Carter School on a conflict resolution digital twin with an alert system. “There could be possibilities for this technology to help predict other natural disasters or forecasting conflict as it evolves,” Yang said. “It’s exciting to get the chance to utilize our knowledge and tools to address the grand challenges we’re facing today to hopefully save lives and reduce asset loss.”

“This experience has shown me that research can provide real value when it matters most,” Srirenganathan said.

Topics

Research

College of Science

Department of Geography and Geoinformation Science

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Center for Intelligent Spatial Computing for Water/Energy Science

Artificial Intelligence

GCI-Climate

Learn more about the College of Science

George �鶹��Ƶ's Virginia Climate Center releases first-ever statewide climate assessment

ckearney — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 20:33:34 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ's Virginia Climate Center releases first-ever statewide climate assessment ckearney Wed, 11/19/2025 - 15:33

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

The First Virginia State Climate Assessment (VCA) synthesizes decades of research into a single, accessible resource for policymakers, businesses, educators, and the public. Developed by a multidisciplinary team across the commonwealth and the region, this report establishes a critical baseline for understanding how past, present, and future climate conditions will shape life in Virginia.

“This groundbreaking statewide assessment gives us what we've never had before: comprehensive, science-based evidence of the risks we face and the information we need to protect our communities, economy, and natural heritage for generations to come,” said Jim Kinter, VCC director and coordinating author of the assessment.

“The Virginia Climate Center brought together the commonwealth's leading scientists and experts to tackle one of the defining challenges of our time. This assessment represents unprecedented collaboration across disciplines and institutions—because a problem this complex demands our best minds working together to deliver rigorous, actionable science that serves all Virginians.”

Why Virginia Needs a State-Level Climate Assessment

While national and global climate reports provide broad trends, they cannot capture Virginia’s unique vulnerabilities. The commonwealth’s geographic diversity—from coastal plains to mountainous terrain—combined with rapid population growth and economic expansion creates region-specific risks that require localized solutions.

The VCA addresses these needs by organizing findings across six climate divisions: Tidewater, Eastern Piedmont, Western Piedmont, Southwestern Mountain, Central Mountain, and Northern Virginia. Each VCA chapter includes key messages and traceable accounts, offering clear, actionable insights backed by scientific evidence and confidence assessments.

“Global reports are essential for understanding broad climate trends, but they do not capture how those trends manifest at regional—or local—scales,” said Viviana Maggioni, chapter lead author and professor in George �鶹��Ƶ’s Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering. “Virginia’s wide variation in topography, precipitation regimes, and land-use creates highly localized climate risks. A state climate assessment accounts for such variability and provides insights needed for effective decision-making.”

Three Critical Climate Hazards for Virginia

The report identifies three primary hazards of particular concern for Virginia in the 21st century:

Extreme Heat and Rising Temperatures
Increasing temperatures and more frequent heatwaves pose significant health risks, disrupt labor productivity, and stress agricultural systems.
Extreme Precipitation and Shifting Seasons
Wetter falls and springs increase flood risks, while drier summers and winters heighten drought and wildfire danger. These changes threaten infrastructure and can lead to power grid disruptions and economic losses.
Accelerated Sea Level Rise
Virginia is experiencing faster-than-average sea level rise, compounded by land subsidence and erosion. Coastal flooding and infrastructure damage are growing concerns for Tidewater and other low-lying regions.

“Climate change is already affecting Virginia—from our coastlines to our mountains,” said Kinter. “This assessment empowers every Virginian, from local planners to business leaders to families, with the knowledge to make informed decisions. And as we continue to update and expand this work, we're building a lasting framework for protecting Virginia's future.”

Implications for Virginia’s Economy and Communities

The report underscores the urgent need for integrating climate projections into infrastructure design, land-use planning, and policy development. From transportation networks to energy systems, Virginia’s critical infrastructure must be resilient to evolving climate conditions.

“Weather patterns impact key sectors of the Virginia economy,” said Terry Clower, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George �鶹��Ƶ’s Schar School of Policy and Government. “Having data that shows changing patterns of rainfall and temperature is essential for industry leaders—from small-hold farmers to those managing billions in international commerce. This landmark achievement will hopefully spark awareness that consistent, dependable, and localized weather data will give Virginia farmers, businesses, and government entities the ability to better compete and succeed.”

The assessment is dedicated to the late Representative Gerry Connolly, whose visionary leadership made it possible. “He understood that investing in climate science isn't partisan—it's pragmatic,” Kinter said. “His commitment to evidence-based solutions and his unwavering support for the Virginia Climate Center helped make this critical work a reality, and his legacy will benefit Virginians for years to come.”

According to Michael Allen, associate professor of climatology at Towson University and contributing author, “The climate challenges outlined in this report transcend geopolitical borders and disciplinary silos. From the hollers of western Virginia to the Chesapeake Bay and Eastern Shore, the assessment meets the needs of the commonwealth—but it also fills a void for the nation, drawing attention to the science of climate change and the vast impacts it has on communities, our economy, and our well-being.”

Looking Ahead: Future Assessments and the Grand Challenge Initiative

This inaugural report is the first in a planned series of VCC-led assessments that will incorporate finer-scale geographic detail, expand coverage of climate impacts across sectors, and evaluate adaptation effectiveness over time. Future editions will integrate stakeholder input to ensure relevance and applicability.

The VCA also highlights the urgent need for a Virginia State Climate Office, a centralized resource for climate services, data collection, and expert assessment. “This role is typically filled by a state climate office that provides accessible, no-cost climate information essential to a state’s most vital sectors,” Kinter explained. “However, Virginia is one of only two states in the U.S. currently without a functioning state climate office.”

Marking an important new chapter in the history of research and scholarship at George �鶹��Ƶ, this effort is part of the university’s Grand Challenge Initiative, which aims to address the greatest threats to humanity’s ability to live a peaceful, healthy, prosperous, and just existence. Through multidisciplinary research strengths in education, public health, space exploration, climate resilience, cybersecurity and digital innovation, and peace and democracy, the initiative aligns talent, infrastructure, resources, and partnerships with new ideas to deliver real-world solutions and prepare the next generation of changemakers.

For more information or to request interviews with experts, contact VAclim@gmu.edu or tmason11@gmu.edu.

Grand Challenge Initiative

Explore George �鶹��Ƶ’s Grand Challenge Initiative addressing the greatest threats to humanity’s ability to live a peaceful, healthy, prosperous, and just existence.

Read the Virginia Climate Assessment

Topics

Campus News

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Virginia Climate Center

College of Science

Schar School of Policy and Government

GCI-Climate

ACCESS Academy freshmen to become dual-enrolled college students this spring

Katarina Benson — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 17:52:45 +0000

ACCESS Academy freshmen to become dual-enrolled college students this spring Katarina Benson Mon, 11/03/2025 - 12:52

An open house at Fuse at �鶹��Ƶ Square offered an exciting glimpse into the future for �鶹��Ƶ’s Accelerated College and Employability Skills (ACCESS) Academy, complete with robotics demonstrations and hands-on technology experiences. Behind the buzz and energy was a deeper message: Through a collaborative partnership with Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), ACCESS Academy freshmen will take their first college course this spring, an opportunity rarely available to ninth-grade students.

The inaugural cohort will enroll in an asynchronous Information Technology course through NOVA Online, making them officially dual-enrolled college students while still in their first year of high school. It’s a bold step that underscores the program’s mission to accelerate learning and expand access to higher education.

To prepare students for this milestone, NOVA staff and a dedicated online student success coach will guide them through registration and orientation, helping them understand what it means to take a college-level course in an online, asynchronous format. Students will learn about managing study time, accessing digital course materials, and communicating effectively with college faculty. Webinars and virtual office hours will also provide opportunities to connect with NOVA staff and ask questions as they adjust to this new academic experience.

Through dual enrollment, ACCESS Academy students can meet their Virginia high school graduation requirements while earning college credit in courses taught by NOVA instructors. Over time, students will be able to take dual enrollment classes in English, social studies, math, and science, earning up to 13 college credits before graduation.

“This partnership represents the best of what dual enrollment can offer: early access, equity, and opportunity,” said Kristen Carter, associate director of dual enrollment at Northern Virginia Community College. “By working together, we are opening college doors to students much earlier, providing a strong framework of support, and instilling the confidence to see themselves as future college graduates.”

The benefits of dual enrollment are well documented. Research shows that high school students who earn college credit before graduation are more likely to persist in college, earn higher GPAs, and complete degrees at higher rates. They also report greater confidence and a stronger understanding of what it takes to succeed in college.

“To be eligible to take a college-level Python programming course as ninth graders, students must maintain at least a 3.25 GPA. This standard reflects both their readiness and the rigor of this experience,” said Ingrid Guerra-López, dean of George �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Education and Human Development. “At the same time, ACCESS Academy is deeply committed to creating the conditions for every student to thrive. Our mission is to open doors to opportunities like this for all learners, preparing them to be future-ready across college, career, and life."

Topics

College of Education and Human Development

Lab School

K-12 Partnerships

Campus News

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

GCI-Education

New program reduces burnout in dementia caregivers, novel research evaluation proves

Taylor Thomas — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:41:27 +0000

New program reduces burnout in dementia caregivers, novel research evaluation proves Taylor Thomas Wed, 10/29/2025 - 08:41

In This Story

Y. Alicia Hong, PhD

As the old saying goes, you cannot pour from an empty cup. To give time and energy to others, it is vital to attend to one’s own well-being. As the U.S. population ages, there is a growing demand for tools that support the more than 19 million people who serve as caregivers of family members with Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD). Family caregivers of individuals with ADRD are vulnerable to poor mental and physical health due to long-term, strenuous caregiving and lack of support.

Kang Shen. Photo provided

A novel process (i.e., delivery and functionality) evaluation developed by Kang Shen, PhD health services research student at �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Public Health, establishes that user-friendly digital interventions are the solution. WECARE 2.0, a culturally tailored digital health program, is proof as it has enhanced caregivers’ physical and mental health.

“WECARE’s approach—combining cultural relevance with an accessible, widely used technology app—proved to be highly effective and well-accepted by users. High user satisfaction, participant retention, and significant improvements in caregiving skills and positive aspects of caregiving all point to WECARE’s promising early results,” said Shen, who is a first-generation student and also has a bachelor's and master's degrees in health informatics from George �鶹��Ƶ.

The study, Process evaluation of a digital health intervention for dementia caregivers: Integrating active and passive measurements, was published in September 2025 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the premier journal of the Alzheimer’s Association and the leading journal in the field.

Participants became more knowledgeable about ADRD, learned problem-solving strategies, improved their personal caregiving skills, reduced stress, increased social support, while being user-friendly.

“This program [WECARE] is so good, easy to understand, even for a 70-year-old. I don’t like reading text and can play the recording instead. I like your how-to videos; I can open them whenever I want and watch them multiple times,” one program participant shared.

WECARE, which was originally designed by Y. Alicia Hong, a Department of Health Administration professor and digital technologies intervention researcher and specialist, was delivered through the social media app WeChat. Through the platform, researchers provide easily accessible educational articles and videos, tips on practicing self-care, and opportunities for social connection with other caregivers.

Innovative Evaluation Methods

Shen’s process evaluation of WECARE 2.0 is the first to employ multiple—qualitative and quantitative—data collection methods. With data from surveys, interviews, self-reported reviews, and website engagement, Shen measured how often participants opened the app and its accompanying resources, how long they spent using the resources, and feedback of the program at the intervention’s conclusion.

Shen’s approach also highlights the importance of creating tools that do not simply exist but are observable to implementers for timely improvement. Unlike previous evaluative methods, her use of short surveys (active measurement) and tracking user activities on the backend (passive measurement) offers program developers comprehensive insight into what works, what doesn’t work, and why throughout the intervention process.

This innovative process evaluation method can facilitate developing more effective digital health interventions for underserved dementia caregivers. Results are being integrated into the next version of WECARE and can inspire future interventions.

“This study serves as a framework for creating and evaluating digital health tools that are culturally grounded and genuinely accessible for diverse, underserved caregiving communities. Our goal is to inspire a shift toward more inclusive and effective support systems that meet caregivers where they are, leveraging familiar technologies to overcome access barriers,” said Shen.

Her research was supported by Hong. Additional co-authors include Yixuan (Janice) Zhang from the College of William and Mary Department of Computer Science, Hae-Ra Han from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Jessica Lin from the George �鶹��Ƶ's Department of Computer Science, and Kenneth Hepburn from the Emory University School of Nursing.

Topics

PhD in Health Services Research

Digital Health

Research

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Alumni

George �鶹��Ƶ-led study highlights how XR is reshaping health care training across the country

Mary Cunningham — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 20:48:17 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ-led study highlights how XR is reshaping health care training across the country Mary Cunningham Wed, 10/22/2025 - 16:48

Extended reality (XR) can give students experiences they might otherwise miss, but its success depends on thoughtful design, accessibility, and support.

Immersive technologies like virtual and augmented reality are no longer experimental. They're redefining how future health professionals learn. A new national study led by �鶹��Ƶ's Bethany Cieslowski offers the first comprehensive look at what's working, what's not, and where the field needs to go next.

"The pace of advancement has been surprising," said Cieslowski. "XR technologies are evolving quickly, and aligning more closely with educational needs. What's most exciting is how ready educators are to embrace the tools and build the evidence to support what we're already seeing in practice."

Nursing students use virtual reality to learn hands-on skills in �鶹��Ƶ's Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation. Photo by Office of University Branding

Cieslowski, chief innovation officer for immersive technologies at the College of Public Health, co-authored the Nurse Educator paper with George �鶹��Ƶ colleagues Deb Derner, Janine Doran, Andrea Landis, and Corbin Rickerby, as well as collaborators from Johns Hopkins, the University of Central Florida, and other major institutions. The review synthesizes more than 100 studies to gauge how extended reality (XR)—an umbrella term for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality—is changing the ways health care professionals train and learn.

XR lets students step into realistic clinical scenarios: inserting IV lines, communicating with patients, observing changes in the skin, or practicing pediatric triage in a 3-D emergency room. It can also bring rare experiences, like mass-casualty training or interprofessional teamwork, into accessible virtual formats.

But the authors caution that integrating XR into the classroom is far from straightforward. Poorly designed programs can overwhelm students with sensory input, increasing cognitive load. Some learners experience motion sickness or can't comfortably use headsets. Privacy is another concern, as some XR platforms collect detailed user data. Successful use also demands trained faculty, strong technical support, and sustainable funding to keep pace with constant updates.

Beyond those logistical hurdles, the paper highlights a larger issue: the field still lacks long-term data. Early results are promising—showing strong engagement and skill transfer—but few studies have measured how immersive learning translates to real-world outcomes.

The study also maps out the next frontier. Artificial intelligence can tailor simulations on the fly, while new haptic technology lets users feel texture, weight, and resistance. And lighter, more ergonomic headsets will make immersive learning more adaptive, natural, and realistic.

"These technologies are quickly becoming fundamental to the field," said Landis, associate professor of Nursing and Certified Healthcare Simulation Educator. "When they're used with intention—not just for technology's sake—we're seeing them improve knowledge retention, skill development, and collaboration."

The full article, "Extended Reality in Health Care Simulation: Current State, Challenges, and Future Directions," appears in the October 2025 issue of Nurse Educator and is available for free online this month.

Extended Reality (XR)—an umbrella term for virtual, augmented, and mixed reality

'Not Just Entertainment—a Proven Teaching Tool': How Immersive Tech Is Changing Public Health Education

Learn more about how George �鶹��Ƶ's College of Public Health uses XR as a teaching tool.

Learn more about George �鶹��Ƶ's Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation

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Lab for Immersive Technologies and Simulation

virtual reality

Nursing Education

Research

College of Public Health

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Expanded BioE Buzz summer camp brings high schoolers to life sciences

Jennifer Pocock — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 17:56:23 +0000

Expanded BioE Buzz summer camp brings high schoolers to life sciences Jennifer Pocock Tue, 10/21/2025 - 13:56

New offerings and a healthy dose of competition left campers happily humming along.

BioE Buzz students work on a polymer testing challenge at the 2025 summer camp. Photo provided.

When the 2024 BioE Buzz camp was declared a success, the �鶹��Ƶ organizers used the momentum to level up in 2025. Its inaugural year boasted one week of experiments, tours, lectures, and activities for 16 high school juniors and seniors.

This past summer, however, introduced a new element that lit the fire for bioengineering-curious kids: competition. Expanded to two one-week sessions for 32 students, the camp’s codirectors Khadija Zaidi-Rashid and Liszt Yeltsin Madruga randomly assigned them into teams.

“We would do lab tours, meet faculty experts, and have seminars in the mornings,” said Zaidi-Rashid, an assistant professor in the Department of Bioengineering in the College of Engineering and Computing. “After lunch, we would separate them into their groups, where they would develop a certain skill and work on a team challenge.”

One day, the kids used 3D printing to model a bone that couldn’t break. The next, they mixed polymers to see which could suspend a steel ball. Another day saw them swabbing campus benches, rocks, and trashcans to find out which would result in the petri dish with the richest bacteria culture.

“They were very creative in working with our parameters,” said Yeltsin Madruga, a research assistant professor in bioengineering. “We told them they could not swab anything biological, like humans. They pushed this by swabbing a bench they saw animals climbing on, or the bottom of a person’s shoe.”

All of the projects were tested live on the final day of camp in front of the campers and parents, where the winners were announced. The prize? A one-week internship in the students’ department of choice.

According to Zaidi-Rashid, both the competition and the prize were huge hits with campers. “At the beginning of the week, we took them to the EDGE ropes course to encourage team development. They were immediately psyched about the competition, asking if they could get points for finishing the course,” she said.

The camp’s hands-on aspect was also motivating. One camper returned for a second year at the urging of his parents. “At first, he wasn’t excited," said Yeltsin Madruga. “He was afraid it would be a repeat from last year. At the end, he came up and told me, ‘I thought it would be an adult’s idea of educational…like lectures.’ He was happy to be wrong!”

And the fact that the reward could help them in their careers and get aspiring bioengineers to take a deeper look at George �鶹��Ƶ was a win for campers and the college alike. “Many of the campers arrived on the first day wearing college t-shirts and sweatshirts—and none of them were from �鶹��Ƶ,” said Zaidi-Rashid. “On the last day, they were all wearing �鶹��Ƶ apparel, and lots of them were interested in our programs because they saw what we could actually offer.”

The most rewarding, however, was helping the kids build community. “On the first day, the students were very quiet. By the end of the camp, they were all very friendly and chatty,” she said. “In high school, it’s hard to know who has your same future aspirations, so it was nice to see them find their people.”

Topics

Summer Camps

K-12 Partnerships

Bioengineering

GCI-Grand Challenge Initiative

Students

Podcast: The modern grid: the intersection of energy and the environment

Sarah Holland — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:00:33 +0000

Podcast: The modern grid: the intersection of energy and the environment Sarah Holland Mon, 10/20/2025 - 11:00

“Infrastructure” is one of those words that can mean a lot of different things to different people. At George �鶹��Ƶ, we’re focused on infrastructure in terms of sustainability – how can we help innovate new systems for the world’s infrastructure that will be resilient and flexible enough to support a changing world.

On this episode of Access to Excellence, President Gregory Washington is joined by two guests working at the intersection of innovation and sustainability to develop George �鶹��Ƶ’s capabilities as a living laboratory for students, faculty, and staff to find solutions to our grand challenges: Liling Huang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering and Computing and the Dominion Energy Faculty Fellow in Power and Energy Systems, and Leah Nichols, executive director of the Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE) in the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact.

The living lab, what I see, it's beyond the lab. It is a living community, a living society. We can have students actually have...a model startup to run this community, to run the lab, to collect the data, and then to hire students to be the operator. So I think this is even beyond lab, and it also brings in multidisciplinary collaboration between engineering, science, business and policy. – Liling Huang

We are now experiencing more intense storms, greater and longer durations of heat, shifts in seasonal patterns. However, a lot of our infrastructure was built decades, if not centuries ago...And so there's vulnerabilities, and we need to start accounting for how the changing climate and the information that we're receiving now about how the ecosystems are working and the physical systems are working into managing the infrastructure and the systems that comprise communities...Identifying opportunities to make changes to ensure that our systems are sustainable and can withstand the consequences or the more extreme weather and the different weather and climate effects that we're experiencing now is really important. – Leah Nichols

Read the transcript

Intro (00:04):
Trailblazers in research, innovators in technology, and those who simply have a good story: all make up the fabric that is �鶹��Ƶ, where taking on the grand challenges that face our students graduates in higher education is our mission and our passion. Hosted by �鶹��Ƶ President Gregory Washington, this is the Access to Excellence podcast.

President Gregory Washington (00:26):
Infrastructure is one of those words that can mean a lot of different things to different people. At George �鶹��Ƶ, we're focused on infrastructure in terms of sustainability: how we can help innovate new systems for the world's infrastructure that will be resilient and flexible enough to support a changing world. And we're not just talking theory here. My two guests today are at the intersection of innovation and sustainability to develop George �鶹��Ƶ's capabilities to be a living laboratory for students, faculty, and staff to find solutions to our pressing grand challenges. Liling Huang is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering and Computing, and she's the Dominion Energy Faculty Fellow in Power and Energy Systems. And Leah Nichols is the executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Earth, or ISE. It is in the Office of Research Innovation and Economic Impact. Leah, Liling, welcome to the show.

Leah Nichols (01:37):
Thank you.

Liling Huang (01:37):
Thank you.

President Gregory Washington (01:40):
Liling, your work focuses on securing the nation's critical energy infrastructure. Can you tell us a little more about what this means and why it's important?

Liling Huang (01:53):
Energy is a backbone of our national security, our economy, sustainability, our community trust. So without the energy we cannot have data flow, we cannot run hospitals, we cannot run data centers. So it is very, very critical infrastructure for our modern life.

President Gregory Washington (02:17):
So what kind of threats do you see that our energy and infrastructure face?

Liling Huang (02:23):
Our infrastructure is facing many challenges, uh, including the aging infrastructure. Our energy infrastructure was built more than a hundred years ago. It is aging and needs to be modernized. We also facing challenges of cyber physical attacks, we also facing challenges of the workflow shortage, the supply chain shortage, the challenge of incorporating the renewable energy into the power systems.
President Gregory Washington (02:54):
I see. Have we taken some major steps as a country or as a region to secure our energy infrastructure?

Liling Huang (03:02):
Yes. I think the public private sector are working together along with the government to secure the energy infrastructure by upgrading our infrastructure, investing in workforce development, uh, as well as bringing a more diverse energy portfolio to the system.
President Gregory Washington (03:24):
Well, that's more easily said than done, right? When you start to talk about diverse energy portfolio, that could be many other diverse energy pieces bring their own set of problems, right?

Liling Huang (03:36):
Yes, exactly.

President Gregory Washington (03:38):
So one of iscs key programs is �鶹��Ƶ as a Living Lab. And that whole entity aims to stimulate and support the development of research and scholarship that use the campuses and their physical and social ecological structures for implementation in education. And that framework seems to be working really well. Leah, can you tell us more about how this initiative came about?

Leah Nichols (04:03):
Sure. Happy to. I came to �鶹��Ƶ about five years ago to to run the Institute for a Sustainable Earth. And a core mission of the institute is to help put research into practice. So the campus itself is effectively a small city. There's over 48,000 people on the campus, a population that that utilizes the campus, some of whom live here. It embodies all of the different types of infrastructure systems that are required to support and maintain that population. So it's an ideal microcosm with which to engage, to study the socio-environmental technological ecosystems that make up this small city. And then it's also a microcosm within which we can develop solutions, test solutions, use it as a test bed, create some demonstration projects that could then be scaled into solutions in communities elsewhere and around the globe. So it was my first target to create opportunities to put research into practice.

Leah Nichols (04:54):
I reached out to Dr. Greg Farley, who's the director of sustainability, and he and I really jived on this idea. We really liked this idea and wanted to lean into it. So we looked at what all was going on already on campus and how faculty and students were utilizing the campus for research. Um, and learned that there was a lot going on. Our faculty are innovative and they wanna see their research put into practice. Um, but all of those projects were being, being done on an ad hoc basis. The wheel was being reinvented over and over again. And so Greg and I put our heads together along with Frank Strike, vice president for, uh, facilities and operations, campus operations, and Andre Marshall, vice president for research, to really develop a program that standardized protocols that effectively built a bridge between the research community and the facilities and operations communities. So this type of research activity could go on much more smoothly, be amplified. We also created a data sandbox to capture the data that was being collected about the university so that it could be shared across units with others who are interested in, in similar sorts of research projects.

President Gregory Washington (05:57):
Well, let's talk about scale and, uh, be a little more pragmatic. Can you gimme an idea of what kinds of projects have gone through this process? You know, just talk high level in terms of what they are and what they, what they're supposed to do.

Leah Nichols (06:12):
They do range and scale, and we have provided seed funding to, to support some new projects. Uh, they and those typically are on the order of, you know, tens of thousands, um, or so to support students and faculty who are getting ideas off the ground. Some of them are very large projects, not ones that we supported, but ones that we definitely amplify as the, that are international recognized arboretum, which has a massive amount of data about the trees on campus. Um, and like I said, internationally recognized, but we also supported very smaller scale projects. One of our very first ones that came through the new program is the Cherry Blossom Monitoring. And the math department has stood up a, a global competition where they're working with students who, um, to do statistical analysis to predict when the cherry blossoms are gonna bloom here in DC at �鶹��Ƶ, I think in Japan, there's a couple of other international sites.

Leah Nichols (07:04):
It's, it's, it's now taken on a life of its own, but we were able to put in place working with facilities, cameras to monitor the, the, the blooms there. We also have a small project that we just funded this year that I'm, I'm quite excited about. Dr. Changwoo Ahn is taking on analysis of a corner of the campus that used to be an intermittent wetland. It's now turning into, um, a permanent wetland. And that transformation process is something that's not well studied. Um, so it creates opportunities there, but it's also of interest to the, the campus operations. Understanding this change process will help them better manage the, the wetlands and the ecosystem that's, that's emerging in this space. So, very exciting.

President Gregory Washington (07:42):
So Liling?

Liling Huang (07:43):
Yes.

President Gregory Washington (07:44):
While your smart grid lab is independent from ISE, if I'm not mistaken, right? The project is working towards a similar goal. Right? So we got two living lab concepts. So talk to me about each one of you. What does it mean to be a living lab?

Liling Huang (08:03):
To me, a living lab, it is the platform to close many, many gaps between the industry and academia, within the academia, between the students, the faculty, the staff. It's, it is a platform can bring everybody together as a community, and especially at �鶹��Ƶ to achieve education and research.
President Gregory Washington (08:31):
Talk a little bit about how the project support experiential learning of our students.

Liling Huang (08:37):
It's bring our student, uh, career ready and build their teamwork problem solving, and it builds their confidence because they operate, they experience that they bring the theory into practice. I think it's very, very important to our students, not only to recruit, but also to retain and to advance. And I think it also will put �鶹��Ƶ as a leading position in all the aspect. It's a very, very important tool for, for �鶹��Ƶ and for our students.

Leah Nichols (09:15):
I would agree. Uh, a lot of faculty do take their students out of the classroom and utilize the ecosystems, the campus grounds to gather data. And while their students are learning about the tools and the data collection methods and the analytical methods for studying these types of systems, and, you know, with our lab. But we're hopeful we, we have some faculty who are already feeding this data that their, their students are collecting in courses into the data sandbox that starts to create a longitudinal data set of, um, similar sorts of data collection, um, over time. But the more that we can get, um, and encourage our faculty to get our students out utilizing the campus to develop their research skills, to develop their understanding of, of socio-environmental system theory, et cetera, is, is really exciting.

Liling Huang (09:56):
And to me, I think the, the living lab, what I see, it's beyond the lab. It is a living community, uh, living society. We can have student actually have a startup, a model startup to run this community, to run the lab, to collect the data, uh, and then to, to hire student, to be the operator. So I think this is, uh, even beyond lab, you know, like, and it, it also bridge, uh, brings in multidisciplinary collaboration between engineering, science, business and policy.

President Gregory Washington (10:33):
Well, the problems that we have to deal with today, especially in the energy space, are all multidisciplinary, right?

Liling Huang (10:41):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yes.

President Gregory Washington (10:41):
They have the technical aspects. Which are very clear. You have the social economic aspects, which in my opinion are very, very clear. And you got the political aspects which are not as clear <laugh>, uh, at least on some things, but are still clearly there, right? So, Leah, your role at the ISE is specifically around developing connections across communities to put George �鶹��Ƶ's research and scholarship into action in support of a sustainable world. So what does it look like to build those bridges across discipline?

Leah Nichols (11:17):
Yes.

President Gregory Washington (11:18):
And talk a little bit about the receptivity on campus to building those bridges amongst our faculty and, and our, and our researchers and the like.

Leah Nichols (11:27):
Sure. Um, I was gonna say, I'm gonna go one step further and say we're building bridges across academic disciplines, but we're also working to bring external partners, people who are interested in co-designing, co-developing solutions, um, that they're experiencing in their, in their lives with local governments, local, you know, local businesses.

President Gregory Washington (11:44):
Yeah. Sometimes they can be, for lack of a better way of putting it, easier to build relationships with than the entities right here on campus.

Leah Nichols (11:51):
That can be true.

President Gregory Washington (11:53):
A couple of nights ago I had dinner with one of the founders of Nvidia. And at that dinner, they were talking, of course, they were extolling the virtues of their AI chips and the super computers that you can build from these AI chips. And one of the things that he talked about really piqued my interest that just immediately came to mind listening to you all talk about bridging the divide. Their belief is that some solutions are hyperdimensional, right? Meaning there's so many layers of possible connection that we just may not be able to see. It may not be able to draw the connection to inner city social science issues and next generation solar. Right. But that computers, especially those equipped with, uh, uh, AI generated tools, can actually explore well beyond our realm of seeing an actual problem. And so I just wanna get your reaction to that relative to this transdisciplinary work and finding solutions that right now aren't obvious to us.

Leah Nichols (13:03):
So you really hit on something I'm also excited about. One, one of the things I was doing while I was at the National Science Foundation and was trying to fund science that would advance our understanding of these complex system interactions. And the advances in the technology have really unlocked that ability. You know, science hundreds of years ago through relatively recently, was focused on a reductionist, like, let's break it down to the smallest, smallest, smallest parts to really understand what's going on. Valuable, but at like, now, we can really look at systems and try to interrogate what's the causality? Can you explain causality within systems? So these types of tools really allow us to interrogate these complex systems in really new ways, which could very much reveal opportunities to adjust to, to where to take action, how action in some spaces will potentially propagate into action. Uh, you know, this is a new area of science. I'm not, I'm not saying that we're gonna be able to explain every complex system, but what an exciting avenue of science is, is to be interrogating the complexity instead of the smallest pieces.

Liling Huang (14:03):
Yeah. I, I think that we, a a unit, an institution, we have a very limited time to learn. Very limited view. And yes, AI does provide a potential to be able to look at everything holistically, maybe come up with a good solution. But personally, I always think that, you know, everything has, it's, it's always two folded. On one side, it has one and has a zero. So I think it, it brings opportunity, but also we want to know the challenge that AI bring in to the society. So we still need a human, human in the loop to help AI do a better job. You know, we are human being, we want to have a better life. So we don't want the whole world to become just machine, just AI. So the human in the loop is very important. Uh, and that also, like all the AI computation, again, I'm the power person. So I would like to say the challenge that the AI computation bring in is the humongous energy demand to support those AI computation, and that huge energy demand is part of the challenge to our infrastructure, the impact to the environment. So how do we solve those complex problem? It's very interesting.

President Gregory Washington (15:23):
Oh, I hear you. I hear you.

Leah Nichols (15:25):
I think AI is an exciting tool, but fully agree that you have to use it cautiously. Any type of science, any type of tool, how is it gonna get used and how is it gonna be put into practice and changing the world around us. So things to think about the,

President Gregory Washington (15:37):
The challenge is that cat might be out of the bag right now, you know? So look, you both have work experience outside the academy, right? So Leah, you spend time at National Science Foundation; Liling, you were a certified, uh, professional engineer at Taiwan Development and Trust Corporation before pursuing a PhD. And so talk about those experiences and how those experiences inspire your move into higher ed, but also how those experiences are helpful for you today.

Liling Huang (16:08):
So I think it's a very valuable experience. Uh, like I work in industry and I see the challenge in industry, which the student will be, uh, facing, you know, in their career. So I see the gap between the industry and academia. I remember when I first report to, uh, my manager, I have to learn everything, you know, start from the beginning because it's, I learn all the theory. So I kind of see the importance of hands-on, practical. Uh, and also I see that the, the importance and actually to run the infrastructure, human is also, I would say like the operator. The engineer is very important and very critical part of the infrastructure. So I see the gap and I see the importance of having a skillful engineer workforce. And that's why, uh, inspire me to build a career in academia because I think that, uh, it is a very prestigious position to train and educate a future engineer. And that experience helped me to better embed, improve my teaching, uh, education and research to be able to bring in the practical challenge and experience into the education and research.

President Gregory Washington (17:31):
Interesting.

Leah Nichols (17:31):
So while I was at the National Science Foundation, one of my primary roles was to help build and design these multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary types of funding programs to fund different types of science. Again, focusing predominantly on socioecological systems and the, the role of, of those systems and how those are changing. And then toward the latter part, while I was engaged with an advisory council, they gave us very strong advice. Like we're, we've been describing the challenges of the world for a while, quite a long time in the socio-environmental systems. What do we start doing about it? And that really helped drive me to think about like, what type of science needs to be done so that we can start taking action to address these grand challenges, these wicked challenges. And as a, a program officer, I was facilitating those sorts of dialogues across disciplines so that I bring back to the table here at �鶹��Ƶ, getting lots of people with very different worldviews in the same room to come to a, a common understanding of need and opportunity and ways that we can support, uh, science to develop solutions in these space. I was also often one of the voices in the room saying, how do we bring the spaces of research use into the, the scientific questions or the science that we're funding? How do we get use-inspired science where community partners or industry partners are, are deeply engaged in development of the science itself or the co-design of the science.

President Gregory Washington (18:50):
So one of the solutions in our grand challenge initiative is George �鶹��Ƶ at the center of building a climate resilience society. Now, you two sit in different components of that spectrum, right, of building a climate resilient society. And so as two researchers dedicated to innovation and sustainability, what does climate resiliency mean to you? Right. And what do you see as the grand challenge in your space?

Leah Nichols (19:18):
So a climate resilience society, I, I will say, you know, we are in the throes of climate change. We are now experiencing more intense storms, greater and in longer, and durations of heat, shifts in seasonal, um, patterns. However, a lot of our communities, as, as, uh, Liling was saying earlier, a lot of our infrastructure was built decades, if not centuries ago, uh, well before climate change was even underway or understood to be underway. And so there's vulnerabilities, and we need to start accounting for how the changing climate and the, the information that we're receiving, um, now about how the ecosystems are working and the physical systems are working into managing those, the infrastructure and the, the systems that comprise communities. That means understanding and like really looking at where are the risks? What types of changes in the flood patterns or the rainfall patterns or the heat indices, where are those gonna cause the most damage?

Leah Nichols (20:18):
And then how do we start, um, mitigating that type of damage? What interventions do we need to put in place so that when events happen, when significant rainfall happens and floods occur, infrastructure and people are outta the way not damaged? Or what can we do to make sure that those systems are, can sort of go down for a short while and then come right back up? They're not being destroyed. So identifying where there's risk, identifying opportunities to make changes to ensure that our, our systems are sustainable and can withstand the consequences or the, the more extreme weather and the, the different weather and climate effects that we're experiencing now is, is really important.

Liling Huang (20:58):
And to me, I think Leah meant, you know, the cause--it's very, very important, like to build a climate, uh, resilient society, we need to understand and the cause and to observe the pattern, and from the engineering perspective, from the energy infrastructure, we need to know if we are part of the cause, how do we improve that? How do we reduce that from the design operate perspective to support that? And also, when this type of extreme weather occurred, how can we continuously provide reliable energy? Because that's the backbone of everything, of our daily life. So to build a resilient climate, uh, you know, uh, society, I, I see that all our six grand challenges touch this topic. And this is actually the core to connect all the six challenges together. We need the 21st century workforce, uh, to build a climate resilience society. We need the digital, we need the AI, we need a healthcare system, we need everything. And then our grand challenges right on top of that.

President Gregory Washington (22:11):
Okay. Well, let's <laugh> let's dive into this a little bit. This whole concept of building a climate resilient society really is not about understanding climate change from the perspective of whether it's manmade or whether it's just a natural artifact of the changing cycles in the way our planet is progressing. It's really about saying whatever's causing it, we have some challenges, right? We have major challenges on both coast <laugh>. One can't get enough water and it's burning, and the other one is literally getting too much. And, you know, we've had multiple 500, uh, year biblical floods in a number of locations. This is about what happens as we deal with the aftermath of climate change, building a climate resilient society. Our climate is changing. Our society has to change in order to accommodate it. And so, yes, everything you guys highlighted, we need faculty, we need folk trained properly in order to manage this.

President Gregory Washington (23:25):
Right? But what I'm getting at here is: talk a little bit about deal with the political issues that may be dividing us on the causality aspect of this problem. How do we get away from that and focus on the fact that, look, I don't care what your belief is, you're flooding and we need a solution for that. We need a a new home type system for that, or we need a solution to help you mitigate that, or a warning system to keep you out of that. Or communications framework that helps you to understand when these things are coming so you can react. Talk about that a little bit.

Leah Nichols (24:04):
The, what you were just saying is essential. We need to address the problems of today, as you just said, coasts are being inundated, communities are being destroyed, literally, um, quite literally. Um, and in a repeated way, both from wildfires and extreme like downpours and flooding in, in places that you would not expect floods to happen. And it, it's happening outside of the floodplains that we understand from before. Severe wind and tornadoes are taking down, you know, there's a lot of damage to infrastructure and people and livelihoods all across the country. So we do need to be addressing the challenges that we're experiencing today. I think one of the things that we need to do differently is a lot of the, like I said, the, the prior infrastructure and the risk assessments are typically looking retrospectively. Like what has happened in the past that we need to plan for now.

Leah Nichols (24:52):
Like you, you mentioned 500 year floods. In the past, those types of floods did happen once every 500 years or so. Now, the science is able to, to, to provide some predictions about what the future trends are going to be in these areas. And so in order to plan and, and address infrastructure challenges of today, we should be looking at what the best available science is telling us about where things are going so that we can start accounting for that in, in the way that we build our infrastructure systems. I mean, you might say climate science, but you, you might also just say, this is best available science of how many floods are gonna happen.

President Gregory Washington (25:27):
Or, this is just community planning now, right? Look, if, if the flood plain is shifting and it's going to be here now, it's not build the homes there, let's shift them and build them a mile two miles away, where it might've been a problem previously, but maybe it's not that now you, you, you get what I'm saying?

Leah Nichols (25:47):
And it's, some of it's the floodplains that themselves are shifting, but a lot of what's happening now is this heavy, heavy, heavy downpours, you know?

President Gregory Washington (25:53):
No, I, I get it. I get it. I mean, places that were flooding previously, this is what happened with the young people in, uh, in, in Texas. Texas, right?

Leah Nichols (26:04):
Yes, that was terrible.

President Gregory Washington (26:04):
You know, look, the reality is is that the, the area always flooded. And that's why nobody really worried about it too much. But we live in a different time now. We need tools to predict that. We need tools to say, Hey, based on our predictive models, what's coming is not what you saw five years ago, 10 years ago. This is different. Get out. Right. And so that's the kind of thing that I want us to get to as we build a climate resilient society. Liling, I I know I interrupted you. Go ahead.

Liling Huang (26:36):
No, no, you're good.

President Gregory Washington (26:38):
Uh, I, I, you know, because youre, you're in the, you're, you are literally in the core space of this with energy production.

Liling Huang (26:44):
Yes. As long as they are human activities, we impact the environment, but there's no way we'll go back to live in the cage, uh, without electricity, going back to, you know, millions years back. So how do we better design and, and live in the environment to reduce the impact? And President Washington, you mentioned, like, to design a climate resilient society is not just the science, not the engineering, but it's the society. My experience, my view is a lot of community, they do not have the access to the data, to the fact people make decision based on the feeling, their perspective, a very limited perspective on maybe just economy or maybe just political or, you know, they, they all look at a smaller set of their view and, which cannot solve the problem. Uh, you, you see, like even the energy policy, you roll out the energy policy for the next five years, and all of a sudden you change, and then who knows, then next five years it change again.

Liling Huang (27:56):
I think what the, the challenge is, uh, to have a holistic view of the multidisciplinary: from the social, from the business, from the political, from engineering, from science. And again, the core is the community, is the human. So I think that's actually what I see, the, the challenge. And then I think that we have the responsibility to deliver the message, uh, to deliver the holistic fact and data to inform that, you know, this is going to happen if you don't take this action. And then I think everyone is responsible, you know, on the building the resilient society.

Leah Nichols (28:39):
I was also gonna add, 'cause I, I, I didn't talk much about mitigation of climate, the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but that is something we might wanna be very, very thoughtfully considering as we address climate resiliency. Things that keep me up at night are, um, you know, we have trajectories and the science is starting to tell us that some systems are going to start collapsing. And we're talking about like ocean systems and sea level rise, and well, what's gonna happen to our agriculture system? I mean, there's some of these existential challenges that might be on the horizon that we're still working on getting the science about when is that gonna happen? Is that gonna happen? Those sorts of things. But there is signals that we do really need to be addressing how much carbon dioxide we're putting into the atmosphere so that we hopefully keep us below some of those tipping points. We'll see.

President Gregory Washington (29:24):
As we move forward here. And, and if you were to be having conversations with our young people today, as you do in the classroom and beyond, or even with our faculty as, as we end, what are some of the ways individuals can help create climate resilient communities and ensure sustainable future?

Leah Nichols (29:43):
One of the most effective ways of, of creating resiliency within a community is, is actually reaching out to your, your neighbors and your community. Understanding where people are vulnerable, helping them address those vulnerabilities if and when possible. Recognizing that you, you might wanna go up the street and check on somebody in, in the context of a disaster so that you can help them create some resiliency. The more that we connect and create community, the stronger those communities are, regardless of the infrastructure. Though, ideally you also are engaged in the processes that will upgrade and, and increase the resiliency of the critical infrastructures of those communities.

Liling Huang (30:18):
Yeah. Uh, for me, I always encourage my student and emphasize the importance of having a critical thinking skill. They are the future, uh, generation. They're the future engineer to build the system, to operate the system. So critical thinking, skill and teamwork, it's very important. Uh, one person cannot solve a problem. You need a team. You need people from different skillset, from different perspective. Also, to be able to work with a team to drive the innovation and critical thinking. Uh, you don't always believe what you hear. Right. You have to be able to critically evaluate before you accept it. I think that's very, very important. Not just, you know, uh, receive what we were told and then execute that. I think critical thinking, very important. So you don't be influenced or misled easily.

President Gregory Washington (31:16):
Understood. Understood. Well, look, this has been fantastic. Last point. Just quickly, lightning round. What's given you hope for the future?

Liling Huang (31:27):
I think the, the hope of the future, uh, is our next generation. It is here, �鶹��Ƶ, our faculty, our student. I think that's the future. And then the infrastructure side, you know, the research, and again, our theme, like our living lab that give us hope of the future.

Leah Nichols (31:48):
What gives me hope is, is the amount of people who are working hard to solve these types of problems. You know, faculty as well as students in the next generation, despite significant headwinds in some contexts. There's, there's a lot of people in the world in the United States and, and far beyond that are really committed to, and digging into solving these sorts of challenges. And that's the only way things are gonna get done, is we just keep on working, keep on designing. I think there's, there's a lot of opportunities to innovate. I just look for the people who are doing things, good things, um, and there's a lot of them through the living labs and through the Institute for Sustainable Earth, always wanting to help and support those individuals here in the �鶹��Ƶ community and beyond.

President Gregory Washington (32:31):
Outstanding. Outstanding. Well, we're gonna have to leave it there. Liling and Leah, thank you both for joining us today.

Liling Huang (32:39):
Thank you.

Leah Nichols (32:40):
Thank you so much for having us.

Leah Nichols (32:41):
Thank you so much. I am �鶹��Ƶ President Gregory Washington. Thanks for listening. And tune in next time for more conversations that show why we are all together different.

Outro (32:56):
If you like what you heard on this podcast, go to podcast.gmu.edu for more of Gregory Washington's conversations with the thought leaders, experts, and educators who take on the grand challenges facing our students, graduates, and higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.

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PiVoT Peace Lab transforms conflict into connection

Sarah Holland — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 13:35:41 +0000

PiVoT Peace Lab transforms conflict into connection Sarah Holland Fri, 10/17/2025 - 09:35

Look at any newsfeed in the United States, and it won’t take long to find an article, op-ed, or think piece on the growing divide between Americans. Left vs right, liberal vs conservative, blue vs red: political polarization has become a hot topic in American media as both a cause and a symptom of growing tensions across the country.

But what’s missing from the conversation is the solution. How do we find common ground and bridge these growing gaps to create a more peaceful future?

In the Polarization and Violence Transformed (PiVoT) Peace Lab in the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, researchers and practitioners are developing methods for peace-oriented responses to the negative impacts of extreme polarization and conflict around the globe.

Daniel Rothbart. Photo by Creative Services/Office of University Branding

“Most protracted violent conflicts are identity-based, meaning that the militants of one identity group are in a violent engagement with the militants or civilians of another identity group,” said Daniel Rothbart, Druscilla French Chair in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and director of the PiVoT Peace Lab. “That type of destructive polarization that encourages dehumanization is often at the center of these conflicts.”

The lab hosts a number of student- and researcher-led projects diving deeply into polarization: its causes, its consequences, and its possible solutions.

“It’s created for me this exciting opportunity to not only explore these important issues, but also to work with amazing students at all levels of our program,” said Rothbart.

One of those students is PiVoT Peace Lab manager Randy Lioz. Lioz, a master’s student in conflict analysis and resolution, developed an interest in the study of polarization in 2016, when conversations with friends and family about the 2016 presidential election highlighted contrasting viewpoints.

“I thought that what we’re missing are the tools and skills to have these conversations that could bring us into better understanding with one another,” he said. Since pivoting his career from the automotive industry to peacebuilding, Lioz has worked with practitioners and academics to develop methods and strategies for engaging opposite sides in relationship building that can break the cycles of dehumanization that fuel negative polarization.

“We need to understand what forces exist and how they push people toward radicalization, extremism, and alienation,” Lioz explained, “and then we need to figure out the best interventions.”

“Our mission as peacebuilders is to not only understand violent conflicts, but to help change the relationship among antagonist groups and help them transform,” said Rothbart.

As part of the peace lab’s mission to develop methods of reducing or eliminating the negative impacts of polarization and to foster this transformation, one of Lioz’s ongoing projects is leading the Depolarization Labs and Trainers Alliance (DeLTA). DeLTA brings scholars and practitioners together to build connections and explore pathways for bridging the growing divide.

Randy Lioz. Photo provided.

“Putting nonprofit partners in the same room as academics gives folks who are working in this field a place where they can talk about their research and connect it back to practice on the ground,” Lioz said.

DeLTA’s upcoming conference on October 27, “Pathways Forward: How Can We Restore Trust and Faith in America?” will give students, scholars, and practitioners the opportunity to learn about intervention techniques from national nonprofit leaders and university professors across the greater Washington, D.C., region.

“Right now, our faith in our institutions has been shaken, and this is existential for us. We need to rebuild our social capital and our trust in each other,” said Lioz. “I want people to get inspired by the work that’s being done to bring us all back into community with one another, particularly students who might want to pursue this field as a career. I want this to motivate us to tackle this existential problem of our time.”

But still, the question posed by the media remains: Can we come back from this?

Lioz and Rothbart believe so.

“Just as the forces of polarization have increased, I see the forces of depolarization are also intensifying. I see it in the strength and resilience that all over the nation, in how people are protecting the most vulnerable populations,” said Rothbart. “We talk about polarization as if it’s an inevitability; polarization is not inevitable, nor is it irreversible. There are so many reasons to be hopeful.”

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Explore George �鶹��Ƶ’s Grand Challenge Initiative addressing the greatest threats to humanity’s ability to live a peaceful, healthy, prosperous, and just existence.

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Center for Community Mental Health partnership provides behavioral health training

Katarina Benson — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 21:33:19 +0000

Center for Community Mental Health partnership provides behavioral health training Katarina Benson Wed, 10/15/2025 - 17:33

Since 2010, the Center for Community Mental Health’s (CCMH) mission has been twofold: train �鶹��Ƶ students to become behavioral health care professionals, and provide evidence-based, accessible, and affordable mental health care to members of the Northern Virginia community.

The center’s latest partnership checks both boxes.

From left: Claude Moore Opportunities CEO Bill Hazel, George �鶹��Ƶ Center for Community Mental Health director Robyn Mehlenbeck, ConnerStrong Foundation president and founder Tom Worosz, and George �鶹��Ƶ PhD student Lucy McClellan. Photo by Jerome Boettcher/CHSS

The center, in conjunction with nonprofits Claude Moore Opportunities and the ConnerStrong Foundation, hosted a four-day training in September led by Sources of Strength, a nationally renowned, evidence-based suicide prevention program, for nearly 30 trainees, including more than 20 George �鶹��Ƶ students. The goal is for the Sources of Strength curriculum to be implemented in local schools across Virginia, to improve mental health among youth populations.

“This was an incredible opportunity to bring together impactful partners to meet both aspects of our mission,” CCMH director Robyn Mehlenbeck said, “to be an integral part of expanding the youth mental health workforce here in Virginia while also providing our George �鶹��Ƶ undergrads some really unique opportunities to both be trained and then credentialed to give them career paths.”

In addition to the Sources of Strength training, 12 Youth Mental Health Corps members through Serve Virginia, and seven Youth Mental Health AmeriCorps members—all George �鶹��Ƶ or Rappahannock Community College students—are participating in a two-semester course at George �鶹��Ƶ titled Special Topics: Supporting the Youth Mental Health Workforce. By taking the course, all 19 students will meet requirements for state certification.

George �鶹��Ƶ students receive Sources of Strength training at the Center for Community Mental Health. Photo by Jerome Boettcher/CHSS

Five of the AmeriCorps students and the 12 Youth Mental Health Corps students will seek certification as a Qualified Mental Health Professional-Trainee through George �鶹��Ƶ. Two Youth Mental Health AmeriCorps members will receive certification as a Behavioral Health Technician Assistant through Rappahannock Community College. Both certifications are through the Virginia State Board of Counseling and provide more job options for these students.

“It is an exciting opportunity through multiple lenses,” said Lucy McClellan, a George �鶹��Ƶ clinical psychology PhD candidate who is teaching the course. “There is an ongoing youth mental health crisis. Engaging these motivated and passionate students will be a step toward addressing that. It can be challenging to find mental health service experience as an undergraduate so this experience is really integral.”

Bill Hazel serves as the CEO of Claude Moore Opportunities, which, in collaboration with Danville Community College and the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, sponsored the seven AmeriCorps members. Hazel was previously the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources and senior advisor for innovation and community engagement at George �鶹��Ƶ.

Since leaving his role as the Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources in 2014, Hazel jokes he has been on his atonement tour to address all the areas he “couldn’t or didn’t fix” while in his post. He said lack of “meaningful support” through behavioral health care remains a growing issue, especially for younger generations.

“What is important about this group is they are a potential workforce to deliver the service,” Hazel said. “When you get to be a certain age, maybe you lose touch with the younger generation. These trainees are as near to peers as you can get to dealing with teens. Our hope is that this training will be personally beneficial, as they look at their own situations and their own goals in life and that it will provide them career opportunities they will enjoy.”

George �鶹��Ƶ students and AmeriCorps members before Sources of Strength training at the Center for Community Mental Health. Photo by Jerome Boettcher/CHSS

Tom Worosz, president and founder of the ConnerStrong Foundation, has sponsored Sources of Strength training and implementation in approximately 20 schools in Virginia. Worosz founded the ConnerStrong Foundation in 2017 after his son, Conner, died by suicide at 17. The foundation’s mission is to bring awareness to mental health issues and suicide prevention and to change the discussion about mental health, especially for teenagers and young adults. The foundation has partnered with the CCMH for the last five years.

With the ConnorStrong Foundation, Mehlenbeck and George �鶹��Ƶ clinical psychology students hold monthly virtual workshops for parents of school-aged children from K-12 that are available throughout the school year. The workshops address a variety of topics, including domestic violence, social media, artificial intelligence, and graduation.

“Through finding like-minded people in our community—[CCMH] director Robyn Mehlenbeck, her team, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences dean Ann Ardis, Dr. Hazel and his staff over at Claude Moore Opportunities—and others who want to change the way we address mental health, we cover all age groups, but especially getting to our kids early and often has been a blessing,” Worosz said.

Grand Challenge Initiative

Discover how George �鶹��Ƶ research is tackling the greatest obstacles facing humankind. Our Grand Challenge Initiative seeks to focus our multidisciplinary research strength to create bold solutions for a changing world. Learn more.

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$3 million National Institute on Aging grant will provide much-needed support to underserved dementia caregivers

Taylor Thomas — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 13:11:07 +0000

$3 million National Institute on Aging grant will provide much-needed support to underserved dementia caregivers Taylor Thomas Wed, 10/15/2025 - 09:11

More than 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD), supported by 12 million unpaid family caregivers whose contributions are valued at $413 billion annually. As the U.S. population continues to age, the number of people with dementia and their caregivers will nearly triple by 2050. Innovative solutions to support family caregivers are urgently needed.

Y. Alicia Hong. Photo provided.

Now, with a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), �鶹��Ƶ digital health intervention researcher Y. Alicia Hong is poised to change that. Hong led an interdisciplinary team to develop the Wellness Enhancement for Caregivers (WECARE) as a culturally tailored, digital health intervention to enhance caregiving skills and improve the well-being of dementia caregivers. The new grant will allow her team to further refine WECARE using artificial intelligence (AI) and evaluate it with a randomized controlled trial.

“WECARE is one of the first personalized digital interventions for dementia caregivers,” said Hong, a professor in the College of Public Health's Department of Health Administration and Policy. "Though it is designed for Chinese American dementia caregivers, it can be adapted for other groups and serve the growing demand for digital support for dementia caregivers in an aging society

The seven-week program will provide participants with informational ADRD multimedia content, quiz games, social networking with other caregivers, personalized feedback, and additional individualized resources. WECARE’s success will be evaluated by measuring the depressive symptoms reported by participants. The project also intends to identify barriers to and facilitators of WECARE’s adoption and long-term use.

This resource comes at a critical time as the aging population grows, and more people with ADRD require caregivers. Additionally, most family caregivers have chronic conditions due to prolonged and intensive dementia caregiving, causing an increased need for resources that sustain the health of family caregivers.

Hong’s grant titled “WECARE: A Personalized Intervention for Underserved Chinese American Dementia Caregivers” will take place from September 2025 to August 2030, for a total of $3,088,427. WECARE is directly responsive to NIA’s priority of effective interventions for ADRD-affected populations.

Hong studies the intersection of health services delivery and consumer informatics. Her work explores chronic care and self-care solutions through innovative digital technologies to improve patient-centered outcomes and enhance health care accessibility. Hong’s research focuses on implementation and dissemination science and leveraging digital technologies to enhance health services delivery.