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Â鶹ÊÓƵ has been named to the top 100 U.S. universities for patents. This spring, the National Academy of Inventors ranked George Â鶹ÊÓƵ No. 92 on its list for patents granted during 2025.

As a professor in Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, Paul So is a theoretical physicist who specializes in dynamical systems analysis and its application to neuroscience. Alongside colleagues and students, he studies the behaviors that emerge from large populations of neurons, or nerve cells, which carry electrical and chemical signals through the brain and body. Outside his role as a physics professor, So is an artist. An avid painter, he also supports developing artists as a co-founder of Hamiltonian Artists, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art incubator based in Washington, D.C.

In January, Â鶹ÊÓƵ senior Angela Victoria Rojas Rivera represented the university at the National Collegiate Research Conference (NCRC). Led and hosted by Harvard University, NCRC is the largest student-run research conference in the United States. Only 200 students are selected to attend. 

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

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

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

Â鶹ÊÓƵ will launch the Space Forward Frontiers Seminar Series in spring 2026, a one-credit, in-person course developed with Northrop Grumman and the College of Engineering and Computing that is open to students of all majors interested in the space industry.

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

In partnership with Children’s National Hospital, Â鶹ÊÓƵ scientists have discovered a new way to detect early signs of kidney damage in childhood patients with Sickle Cell Disease. Atwo-year $200,000 grant from the Commonwealth Health Research Board will support this work.

Wildfires are notoriously difficult to predict. One George Â鶹ÊÓƵ professor is hoping to change that.