College of Science

Getting to Know College of Science Dean Cody W. Edwards

Colleen Rich — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 20:10:13 +0000

Getting to Know College of Science Dean Cody W. Edwards Colleen Rich Mon, 09/15/2025 - 16:10

Before his appointment as the dean of the College of Science, Cody W. Edwards served as interim dean for the college since July 2024. During his time at �鶹��Ƶ, Edwards has held numerous leadership positions, including executive director of the Smithsonian-�鶹��Ƶ School of Conservation and senior associate dean of academic and faculty affairs in the College of Science. Edwards also serves as associate provost for George �鶹��Ƶ’s Institute for Sustainable Earth and is a faculty member in the Department of Biology.

Cody Edwards. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Tell us about yourself and what brought you to George �鶹��Ƶ?

I’m a first-generation college student who grew up in a rural part of West Texas. My path to science wasn’t linear, but it was fueled by curiosity and encouragement from key mentors. Eventually, I earned my PhD, became a professor, and later joined �鶹��Ƶ in 2004 as a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. I’ve worked in various administrative roles for both the College of Science and across the university in the Provost’s Office, including leading the unique learning opportunities at the Smithsonian-�鶹��Ƶ School of Conservation for the past eight years. I’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best minds in science here, and now, as dean, I’m focused on creating opportunities for students including those with similar nontraditional paths.

What are your top priorities for the College of Science over the next few years?

Science is more vital now than ever. One priority is aligning our programs with emerging fields like artificial and geo intelligence, machine learning, quantum and data sciences while continuing to offer well-established pathways in pre-medical and foundational sciences. Another priority is enhancing student outcomes with innovative approaches to learning and research—ensuring our graduates are not just academically prepared but also ready to solve real-world challenges. We are doubling down on access and educational excellence, welcoming students from all backgrounds and ensuring every student has the tools and support to succeed.

How does the college stand out in terms of research and innovation?

We have nationally and internationally recognized research in areas like space exploration, biohealth and biotechnology, mathematics, and climate resilience. Our students and faculty are involved in everything from satellite missions to Mars to drug development and climate modeling with community impact. We’re also leading in digital twin technology and forensic science—our programs offer unmatched hands-on learning environments.

What role does mentorship and student engagement play in your vision?

It’s everything. My scientific trajectory was shaped by mentors who believed in me, and I want our students to have that same experience. Our faculty are deeply committed to student success—both in the lab and in the classrooms, through experiential learning and meaningful undergraduate and graduate research opportunities. Our mentorship can start as early as elementary and middle school for mathematics, quantum science, space exploration, and STEM exploration, and high school in programs like our dual enrollment partnerships and signature Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program. Meaningful mentorship is also received within and offered by those in our master’s and doctoral programs and postdoc experiences.

What do you want students to know about the College of Science?

We don’t pride ourselves on how many students we reject; we pride ourselves on how many we lift up. This college is a family—diverse, driven, and passionate about using science to shape a better world. And we’re here to help every student thrive. If this resonates with you, you belong here.

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NSF grant supports nanofabrication workforce training

Nathan Kahl — Sat, 13 Sep 2025 22:43:45 +0000

NSF grant supports nanofabrication workforce training Nathan Kahl Sat, 09/13/2025 - 18:43

�鶹��Ƶ faculty members received nearly $1 million in a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a program providing hands-on nanofabrication training and education to people seeking a career change.

The funding comes under NSF’s ExLENT Pivots track and will serve the national interest by expanding experiential learning pathways in emerging hardware technologies driven by nanofabrication. It focuses on increasing workforce opportunities in Northern Virginia, a region positioned for growth in emerging technology sectors, such as artificial intelligence hardware, quantum information science, data center engineering, and sustainable manufacturing.

Ahn's research focus is nanofabrication. Photo by Office of University Branding

“The most important term is ‘experiential,' and it’s rare for NSF to provide this kind of funding," said Ethan Ahn, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a founding director of �鶹��Ƶ Nanoelectronics Laboratory, who is the lead principal investigator (PI) on the project. "The idea here is to produce this workforce for very high tech-focused areas by applying the learning-by-doing model.”

George �鶹��Ƶ is already known as one of the commonwealth's largest producers of tech talent.

The program provides an opportunity for working professionals who are looking to change careers; even those with no STEM background are encouraged to apply, as suggested by the “pivot” track from NSF.

“We’ll take people regardless of their background, education, or readiness," said Ahn. "We’ll provide everything they need to be job-ready by training participants with both lab and soft skills, providing connections with industry, and, if hired, paying them during their summer employment."

Co-PI Jessica Rosenberg, professor of physics and director of education at George �鶹��Ƶ’s Quantum Science and Engineering Center, said, “Nanofabrication is important for a range of high-tech industries, including semiconductors, biomedical, and energy. We’re creating a program to provide the support, education, and training needed for individuals to get a job in this growing sector. It will help them meet their goals while also supporting a regional talent pipeline.”

The program will run for three years, with approximately 20 participants every year. A key component of the initial phase of the program is access to a mobile app used for virtual training. The team is developing the app because they recognize that participants may have existing responsibilities that make coming to campus a challenge. After participants complete this first phase on their own schedule, they will then go to campus to participate in a research lab for the hands-on portions of the program.

Jessica Rosenberg is director of education at George �鶹��Ƶ's Quantum Science and Engineering Center. Photo by Office of University Branding

Ahn said a particularly interesting element of the program is a guaranteed interview in the industry. They are already working with BAE Systems, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman and expect this number of companies participating to grow through a collaboration with theVirginia Economic Development Partnership. "The hope is that the participants will be able to turn the opportunity into a full-time position,” he said.

George �鶹��Ƶ will give program participants microcredentials, competency-based qualifications indicating a mastery of a subject, as they complete each phase of the program. This opportunity’s timing is ideal for Virginians looking to make a career change and supports the university’s efforts in building Virginia’s high-tech workforce.

Ahn was inspired to apply for the funding in part by the fact that the new Innovation District, a 3,800-acre area of Prince William County anchored by George �鶹��Ƶ’s Science and Technology Campus, co-locates the university with industry and government to create a dynamic collaboration model.

“Relationships between university and industry are common, but this also includes government,” said Ahn. “We already have this established network via the Innovation District and in my proposal I said we are going to focus on nanofabrication, which is my area of expertise. I think those things made it appealing to NSF.”

The program will welcome its first cohort in spring 2026.

In This Story

Ethan Ahn

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New lab school brings work-based learning to Shenandoah Valley students

Colleen Rich — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 17:21:54 +0000

New lab school brings work-based learning to Shenandoah Valley students Colleen Rich Thu, 09/04/2025 - 13:21

Commonwealth, public school and higher education leaders joined community members, parents and students Wednesday for the opening of the Shenandoah Valley Rural Regional College Partnership Laboratory School for Data Science, Computing, and Applications (DSCA Lab School).

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears helped kick off the academic year for the new Shenandoah Valley Rural Regional College Partnership Laboratory School. Photo by Liz Roll Photography

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Rogstad Guidera, Virginia Commissioner of Virginia Works Nicole Overley and Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears joined George �鶹��Ƶ College of Science Dean Cody W. Edwards and school leadership at the Dowell J. Howard Center in Winchester, Virginia, to kick off the school year.

The DSCA Lab School is collaborative partnership between �鶹��Ƶ and Frederick County Public Schools, as well as six rural and rural-fringe school districts in the Shenandoah Valley including Clarke County, Fauquier County, Page County, Shenandoah County, Warren County, and Winchester Public Schools, along with Mountain Vista Governor’s School and Laurel Ridge Community College. The Governing Board of the DSCA Lab School is co-chaired by Edwards and George Hummer, superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools and includes College of Science Chief Business Officer Meghan St. George.

One of 16 Virginia lab schools created by Youngkin and the second for George �鶹��Ƶ, this DSCA Lab School will support 10th- through 12th-grade students through academic programming that fosters data literacy and showcases the latest innovations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Academic pathways will focus on data science and computing through research opportunities, apprenticeships and internships, experiential and project-based learning, certifications and microcredentials in data analytics, offering opportunities to earn an associate’s degree and college credits, as well as work-based learning.

The George �鶹��Ƶ team with DSCA students. Photo by Liz Roll Photography

In the era of expanding demand for skilled data science professionals, Edwards explained in his remarks that the DSCA Lab School’s innovative data science curriculum offers a real-world, problem-based learning environment with focused educational experiences shaped directly by workforce needs and student interests.

Students will work on specific, student-led research projects with peers, faculty, and other researchers. Mentorship is offered to students throughout the program by Big Data business and industry partners through a choice of work-based experiences to equal a minimum of one high school credit per year. Global and multicultural experiences are integral to the program as well, and students will interact with peers from U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, and developing countries.

The lab schools are part of George �鶹��Ƶ’s Grand Challenge Initiative, showcasing how the university is advancing 21st century education for all, as well as the university’s commitment to workforce readiness.

“With the launch of today’s lab school, even more Virginia high school students in the Shenandoah Valley will be able to seize and benefit from a great educational opportunity catered to their interests.” said Youngkin. “By creating personalized pathways where students can pursue their interests and chase their dreams, we are empowering the next generation with the data-literacy skills they need to succeed in an increasingly data-driven workforce.”

“Data science is the fastest-growing industry in Virginia, projected to grow 18.2% in the next five years,” said Secretary Guidera, noting that the lab school will provide critical “exposure, experience and expertise” to Virginia students.

“This school’s distinctive learning approach connecting learning to real-world challenges can drastically enhance students’ educational trajectories,“ Edwards said. “Instead of beginning with theories, students are using data to find answers.” For instance, to determine the safest places in the Shenandoah River for swimming, students could collect and test water samples, analyze the results and interpret their findings.

“In addition to developing students’ data literacy, this learning approach also strengthens competencies of communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, the very competencies future employees need to successfully lead,” he added.

DSCA Lab School lead Padhu Seshaiyer, a George �鶹��Ƶ professor of mathematical sciences, explained, “Students from rural and rural-fringe school divisions will gain the expertise needed to make informed decisions, contribute to their communities, and thrive in a data-driven world—empowering a data-literate next-generation workforce prepared for the demands of the modern economy and essential for workforce readiness.”

Learn about George �鶹��Ƶ's Grand Challenge Initiative

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Field of career dreams: Grad student spends summer identifying and protecting native plants

Colleen Rich — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 17:48:10 +0000

Field of career dreams: Grad student spends summer identifying and protecting native plants Colleen Rich Tue, 09/02/2025 - 13:48

Growing up in Winchester, Virginia, Jordan Edlich would often visit Blandy Experimental Farm on field trips as a child. Now a graduate student in environmental science and policy at �鶹��Ƶ, Edlich just spent a summer interning at the farm, which is also the State Arboretum of Virginia, cataloging native plants. One of Edlich’s main goals for their master's research is to create a local floristic survey to help the rehabilitation and revitalization of native plants in Northern Virginia.

Why did you choose George �鶹��Ƶ and how did you decide your major?

Graduate student Jordan Edlich surveyed the arboretum’s native meadow by sections, documenting populations and locations of plant species. Photo provided

I chose this program because it provides students with both the background of environmental science and the political and social tools to address environmental problems. I also grew up in the area and have always been passionate about conserving our local biodiversity. I am looking forward to helping preserve and strengthen regional biodiversity.

What projects have you been assigned during your internship?

My main project at the State Arboretum of Virginia, also called Blandy Experimental Farm, is closely related to my master's research. Using old maps and a GPS device, I surveyed the arboretum’s native meadow by sections, documenting populations and locations of plant species in each section. I was also able to rediscover a rare plant species that the arboretum curators can now conserve and collect seeds from. These include the Green Fringed Orchid (Platanthera lacera) and the Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora), native plants not originally planted at Blandy. After I conducted the plant survey, I also wrote up a management plan of how best to conserve native plant communities in the meadow and tactics for establishing more of these communities in the future.

How have your courses at George �鶹��Ƶ helped prepare you for the internship?

My courses at George �鶹��Ƶ have allowed me to think about my work at Blandy from various points of view. While I was studying plants from a scientific botanical lens, I was also helping in restoration projects that related to my studies of the logistics of solving conservation-related problems. Practicing ecology from different scientific, political, social, and economic views has helped me understand more about how Blandy is able to successfully work as an arboretum and a conservation entity.

George �鶹��Ƶ graduate student Jordan Edlich (left) working at the Blandy Experimental Farm. Photo provided

How does this internship tie into your career goals?

My career goals include working in natural resource management and biodiversity conservation. This internship directly helped me better understand how to survey and maintain native biodiversity. I could even see myself returning to Blandy in the future, continuing to work in curating and conserving the arboretum's native habitats. This internship gave me both the hands-on skills in how conservation and restoration projects are done, and the resources for understanding the logistics behind these projects. I hope to use these skills to conduct similar projects of my own in the future.

What advice would you give to students starting an internship?

Don't be afraid to explore a field or a type of career that you know little or nothing about. Not only did this experience allow me to become more of an expert in native plants, but it also helped me realize that this was a field I wanted to pursue and continue working in. I would not have been able to know how much I enjoy this field of work and research without trying it first as a beginner. Just the ability to be adaptable and willing to learn new things is a strong ability to have in your career.

You mentioned you’ve had a long relationship with Blandy. What have you done with them over the years?

On summer breaks during my bachelor's, I volunteered at Blandy Farms and assisted with maintaining their native plant trails. Volunteering in projects to remove invasive species and protect native habitats gave me a way to make a direct beneficial impact on my local environment. It was nice getting to know the local arboretum curators and other volunteers who had the same passion for protecting our regional biodiversity. This would ultimately help guide me further toward a career in conservation work. When I applied for the internship, those same curators remembered me and were excited to have me back as a summer intern. Everyone at Blandy was passionate about their work and always willing to teach me something new. I am grateful for how much Blandy has taught me over the years and how it has inspired my academic and career path.

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Podcast: Best of Access to Excellence

Sarah Holland — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 18:21:20 +0000

Podcast: Best of Access to Excellence Sarah Holland Wed, 08/27/2025 - 14:21

Photo by Cristian Torres/Office of University Branding

For this special "Best Of" episode, we've compiled some of our most thought-provoking and compelling conversations between President Washington and our accomplished faculty.

We'll revisit discussions that are more relevant than ever—from the vast mysteries of the cosmos to the hidden power of coffee grounds—to see how George �鶹��Ƶ is blazing a path of innovation to develop bold solutions for our world's grand challenges.

Read the transcript

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, inand higher education is our mission and our passion. Hosted by �鶹��Ƶ President Gregory Washington, this is the Access to Excellence podcast.

Narrator (00:28):
Welcome to a special edition of the Access to Excellence podcast. For this special Best-Of episode, we've compiled some of our most thought-provoking and compelling conversations with President Washington. We'll revisit discussions that are more relevant than ever, from the complexities of artificial intelligence and the science of space, to the incredible capacity of humans for both evil and good. But to begin, we should zoom out. As an R-1 research institution and Virginia's largest public university, George �鶹��Ƶ is organizing its vast research capabilities around what President Washington calls the Grand Challenge Initiative. He sat down with Andre Marshall, the vice president for research, innovation, and economic impact at George �鶹��Ƶ to explain what that means for our community.

President Washington (01:20):
Well, look, I talked about the grand challenge issue, but you know, we often get the question, what is a grand challenge? So, given that this is a big part of your portfolio going forward, I'm asking you: what's a grand challenge?

Andre Marshall (01:34):
Alright, well, we spent really a lot of time thinking about this and for �鶹��Ƶ, from our perspective, the Grand Challenge initiative, it's all about the future. And specifically as we thought about kind of what that means to operationalize this, we developed four criteria for what a grand challenge is. So, a grand challenge is large and enduring. And what we mean by that is we are not trying to solve the little problems. As you say, we are focused on the big rocks and we're not looking for quick fixes. Alright? We want to have a solution that lasts,

President Washington (02:16):
Give me an example. Not in one of our solutions, but give me an specific example of a grand challenge.

Andre Marshall (02:22):
A grand challenge that comes to mind would be a cure for sickle cell, for example. You know, that challenge impacts people globally. There's a lot of suffering associated with that. It, it changes people's lives. And so if you can address those kinds of issues, you can really make a difference. And guess what: It's big, and if you solve it, you've solved it. And that's what I mean by, you know, doing something that is big and enduring. You know, also a grand challenge is complex and it requires people from not just across the, the university, but it requires external partners. So what we mean by, you know, this kind of complex, interdisciplinary and external partner criterion, is that you can't do it alone, right? You need people, the problem is bigger than just you. Alright, so we got grand challenges that are big and they endure and they require multiple partners.

Andre Marshall (03:36):
Um, and now let's talk about this third criterion. And this is focused on �鶹��Ƶ. Look, we need to focus on challenges that we can really do something about. And that aligns with our strengths, our assets, and our core values. So we want things that mean something to �鶹��Ƶ in terms of our values and our expertise and strengths. And then finally, this fourth criterion is that we want to move the needle and to make a difference. So we don't want our, our, our activities to just be a drop in the bucket. The things that we work on, they're going to really make a change. They're not just gonna be additive. And so we have to be careful about the problems that we choose and the challenges that we choose so that they're aligned with our strengths and that we can really do something.

President Washington (04:35):
So we have world-class faculty focused on a whole host of issues, right? From poverty to health, to engineering and science. How would you recommend we focus our effort? I know you, you had a committee. This committee has met for a significant period of time, some of our best and brightest faculty, and you all tackled this issue. So talk a little bit about deploying our resources and focus.

Andre Marshall (05:02):
I appreciate that question and I appreciate the intentionality of this question. We really need to deploy our resources. We need to deploy our entire research enterprise for action and for impact, especially considering all the headwinds that we have right now. We've got, uh, resource limitations in terms of research. We have increased competition for talent and resources, and we have changing priorities in the research landscape to, to be frank. And so we have to be intentional about how we're gonna deploy our resources and our research enterprise. Well, our faculty, they're committed to making a difference. So we, we need to honor that they are committed to having an impact and changing the world. So, you know, that's our foundation. That we want to do something right, that the faculty care about, that they're good at that is really gonna make a difference. So we put together, uh, as you mentioned this committee, we talked about so many different possibilities of what we could do. There were 84 different ideas that came up.

President Washington (06:21):
So there, so there was a big focusing effort that happened to get it down to six. One, advancing 21st century education for all two, building a climate resilient society. Three, driving responsible digital innovation and sustainable infrastructure. Four, improving human health, wellbeing and preparedness. Five, preparing for space exploration, research and collaboration. And six, strengthening peace, trust and engagement in democracy.

Narrator (07:04):
And it's in the spirit of that last grand challenge--strengthening peace and trust--that we turn to Rick Davis, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. He shared his vision for the future of the arts at George �鶹��Ƶ and the power of art in creating community.

President Washington (07:20):
So last year, uh, you gave a presentation to the Board of Visitors and you began that presentation with your mantra: the arts create community. Talk to us about the tagline, what inspired it and what does it actually mean?

Rick Davis (07:38):
Oh, thank you. I call it my forward elevator speech because it encapsulates basically everything I believe about the value of the arts. And I'm going back historically, you know, to to ancient civilizations that that created, you know, theater and dance and music and, and cave paintings and, and sculptures and everything that, that the way the arts have always expressed themselves. Why were they born and why do they exist? Because people need occasions to come together. And for a lot of people, religion forms that function and religion in the arts have a, a strong connection, sometimes very tense connection, but, but a very strong connection in terms of ritual and in terms of, of symbolism. For some people, sports frankly create that opportunity. For me as well. uh, I know for you, you know, we love to go to a, a sporting event because it's a ritual, right?

Rick Davis (08:27):
It's a it's a collective experience. We all see the same thing and react, maybe not in the same way, but if everybody reacts right, you can be booing and cheering, uh, at the same play depending on your team. But you're reacting and you're reacting as part of a community. Same thing happens in a, in a play or an opera. The same thing happens quietly in an art museum because people are walking by a, a painting or, or standing in, in front of a sculpture and it catches them and it stops them. It interrupts their day a little bit. And great paintings, one person stops and then another person stops, and then another person stops. And suddenly you get a little audience <laugh> right in front. And it's amazing what happens there because everybody's concentrating on the same thing for a little while. You know, in the case of a play, it might be two hours or three hours, or god knows, four hours, uh, <laugh>.

Rick Davis (09:14):
But the value of bringing people together in, in common contemplation or having a common experience, I think is really vital to civilization. And I'm not being hyperbolic here. I think civilization requires opportunities for people to come together and witness things collectively, and then form their own conclusions. But when you go to a play that's working, whether it's a comedy or a tragedy or anything in between, and you feel that unanimity or that variety, but also people breathing together, laughing together, crying together, you are part of a temporary community that actually reminds us all of our common humanity.

President Washington (09:53):
Well, you can't talk about community without talking about the two pillars of bringing folk together in that community. And so I want to talk about 'em separately here, but what makes the center of the arts a critical part of the arts community for both George �鶹��Ƶ and for the region?

Rick Davis (10:12):
So the Center for the Arts in Fairfax is, of course, our signature facility here on the, on the Fairfax campus, where we do the vast majority of our, of our instruction. The Center for the Arts was created out of the mind of President George Johnson, quite literally, uh, and his wife, Joanne, to say, let, let's put George �鶹��Ƶ on the map as a place where the arts are happening, and how are we gonna do that? 'cause we don't really have big arts programs yet. So we have to bring in, we have to bring the world to Fairfax. We have to bring Yo-Yo Ma to Fairfax. We have to bring Michael Feinstein to Fairfax. We have to bring these incredible artists. We, uh, you know, Roberta Peters, Denise Graves--great top level artists, right? Who came to and are still coming every year to Fairfax. And that was something that changed the campus culture.

Rick Davis (10:58):
If you talk to Visitor Horace Blackman, former rector of our board, who was a student here during the opening. He, he started in the late eighties, graduated in the early nineties. He will tell you, he's told me that the opening of the Center for the Arts changed George �鶹��Ƶ completely. Because all of a sudden the world was coming to �鶹��Ƶ. You had a place to go on the weekends. You had meaningful things to do. You had the opportunity to be part of the world conversation about music and dance and theater. And that gave everybody, not only on campus, but in the whole sort of Northern Virginia region, a rallying point. It literally created a community. And from that, we have built the academic programs because the presence of all these wonderful artists that come in over the course of a season has also benefited our students tremendously.

President Washington (11:48):
So talk to us a little bit about the other core facility we have for bringing the community together: the Hylton Performing Arts Center. And that's on our science and technology campus in Manassas.

Rick Davis (12:01):
Oh, I'd love to. We built the Hylton Center. And by the way, for everybody listening on the podcast, that's H-Y-L-T-O-N, right? It's, it's not the, not the hotel chain, it's the Hylton Foundation. And a man named Conrad Hylton, uh, who was a major developer in, in the Prince William County area. Uh, they gave the naming gift for that back in the mid two thousands. The facility opened in 2010. And we built that essentially as an expression of George �鶹��Ƶ's commitment to community partnerships, because Prince William County and the city of Manassas essentially asked us if we would partner with them to create a distinctive representative inspiring cultural facility that would help their city and county, and that region, take the next step into the community that they wanted to become. So we, we bill ourselves...I, this is a term I use a lot...we bill ourselves as a symbol of change and as an agent of change, we're doing both of those things in Sci, at SciTech.

Rick Davis (13:02):
This is one of the most beautiful theaters anywhere on the East Coast. The architecture is distinctive from the moment you walk into the lobby. Every space is designed with architectural distinction in mind. The acoustics in the main hall are praised by every single artist who comes in, whether they're a classical conductor or a pianist, or a jazz player, or a bluegrass musician. Everybody loves playing in that hall. And perhaps most importantly, it has uplifted the local and regional arts community to a very high degree, the Manassas Ballet, the Manassas Chorale, the Manassas Symphony, Prince William Little Theater, a youth orchestra that's going by the name of the Onyx Project now CAPAC--the Creative and Performing Arts Center from, from Woodbridge--these entities, which all preexisted the Hylton, but were doing their work in middle school auditoriums and, you know, church basements and everything. Now they have, truly, a world-class facility to play in. And over these 15 years that we've been operating, their work has gotten bigger and better and more popular, and they've attracted more people in the audience. But just as importantly for them, they've attracted more people on stage, more people to participate in these community-based artistic expressions. So it's been a, it's been a huge success for the community and for George �鶹��Ƶ as well, because people see us as the purveyor and the partner that without us, this, this thing wouldn't have happened.

President Washington (14:25):
And I'll, and I'll be honest with you, this, the acoustics, the layout, first of all, it looks like a classical theater.

Rick Davis (14:32):
Yeah.

President Washington (14:33):
It has that, uh, classical theater look and feel. But the acoustics there just seem to be outstanding. I mean, there's no echo. It's great sound wherever you are in the facility. People sound so clear.

Rick Davis (14:49):
And if you're on stage in that theater and you, you're a singer, whatever player, you get just the right amount of sound coming back to you so you know that it's, you know that the hall is embracing you and that people just love playing there. And, and that, that means a lot because they play better.

President Washington (15:06):
Well, every, every single performance that I've seen there has been spectacular. It is, it's a gem.

Narrator (15:14):
To tackle a grand challenge, you might think you need a grand solution. But assistant professor of mechanical engineering Jeffrey Moran is proving that sometimes the answers are found in small, simple things like used coffee grounds.

President Washington (15:28):
Earlier this year, members of your lab made the news with the invention of what's being called the coffee bot. And this is spent coffee grounds coated in iron oxide that can absorb pollutants and water. So tell me about how it works.

Jeffrey Moran (15:48):
Sure. So the, the listeners can't see this, but I'm holding a vial of what are just ordinary coffee grounds, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And these are coffee grounds I literally brought from home and

President Washington (15:59):
Now spent coffee grounds, which means--

Jeffrey Moran (16:01):
Spent coffee grounds

President Washington (16:02):
They've--

Jeffrey Moran (16:02):
Been used. That's correct.

President Washington (16:03):
That's even better.

Jeffrey Moran (16:04):
That's correct. Okay. Yeah. And by one estimate, we throw away about 23 million tons of spent coffee waste per year. Much of that is being sent to landfills. Although increasingly I'm heartened to see that places like Starbucks are making just bags of the stuff available for folks to use for compost. Okay. So I've got a vial of spent coffee grounds here, and in my other hand I have a magnet. Now if I hold the magnet up to the vial, nothing interesting happens. Coffee is not magnetic. However, if I have another vial here, these also look like spent coffee grounds. They are. But they've been coated in, as you said, iron oxide, which is the main chemical constituent of rust. So we sometimes call these rusty coffee grounds because in a real sense they are rusty. And if I hold the magnet up, I don't know if you can see, uh, and for the listeners, the coffee grounds, once they've been coated in the iron oxide particles, they will actually follow the magnet.

Jeffrey Moran (17:06):
So I can make them go wherever I want to by holding up a magnet to it. So the essence of what we did was develop a safe and eco-friendly approach to coating the coffee grounds with these little tiny bits of rust. So what does that do for us? Well, it does two important things. First, it allows us to use a magnetic fields--you asked how they move--it allows us to use a magnetic field to drive them through the water. So for now we're just propelling them with the external magnetic field. We can come back to that in a second. We're looking at ways to improve upon that. And one of the things we demonstrated was that moving coffee grounds will actually remove pollutants from water more efficiently than stationary ones do. Hmm. And this makes intuitive sense because in a sense, the moving coffee grounds encounter more pollutants per unit time than stationary ones do. So we demonstrated three different pollutant types. Methylene blue, which is kind of a stand in for a chemical pollutant. But methylene blue itself is a textile dye that has some negative health effects that is itself a pollutant of concern in some areas of the world, particularly where textile production is common. Oil spills and microplastics, those are additionally pollutants of concern.

President Washington (18:27):
So both of those are problematic today.

Jeffrey Moran (18:30):
Absolutely. Absolutely.

President Washington (18:31):
Oil spills and microplastics, so much so that fish today have an incredibly large amount of digested microplastics in their, in their, in their systems.

Jeffrey Moran (18:43):
And potentially we do too, potentially. And because there are so many consumer products that contain plastic, they make their ways into waterways, right? And eventually in some areas, uh, it probably varies significantly. I haven't seen the statistics, but definitely lots of different forms of life are consuming these microplastics. And I wanna say this is not my area, but I think we're still as a community figuring out exactly what the health effects are. But they're definitely something to be concerned about for sure. So we demonstrated that we can remove each of those three types.

President Washington (19:16):
So microplastics--

Jeffrey Moran (19:18):
Oil and methylene blue as a model for a do methylene blue is, is a textile dye. And it's blue as the name suggests. Right. And that was convenient because then it's very straightforward to monitor how much of the methylene blue we've removed at any given time. Because you can use an instrument that essentially looks at how much blue light is being absorbed. You can use essentially the intensity at a certain wavelength to determine how much of the dyes left. So it was, it was, it was partially out of convenience that we chose that.

President Washington (19:53):
Hmm. So reuse of these coffee grounds was mentioned.

Jeffrey Moran (19:59):
Yeah. Yeah.

President Washington (20:00):
So you, and so how often can you use them?

Jeffrey Moran (20:02):
Yeah. So that brings me to the second major thing that the magnetism enables. So just to recap, the first thing the magnetism does is it allows us to drive them through the water. And that speeds up the pollutant removal process. The second thing it does is it allows us to take the magnet and pluck the coffee grounds out of the water after the treatment is complete., What we do next is rinse it off. We can rinse the pollutants off and we do still have to dispose of the pollutants elsewhere. That is a separate issue that is for now, tangential to the work that we're doing. We're mainly focusing on removing them from the water. But that is something that you do still have to do something with the oil or with the microplastics. And that's something that other researchers are working on. So then after you rinse them, we typically rinse them with an organic solvent like acetone. Acetone works pretty well. And then you can actually drop them back into the water. And we showed in the journal paper we published on this that you can reuse them at least four times with a minimal reduction in pollutant removal efficiency. So we haven't gone beyond that. But based on how well the first five trials went, and this is true by the way, with each pollutant class, with dyes, oils, and microplastics, we have reason to believe that you could go further.

President Washington (21:20):
So let me get this straight. 'cause I want to make sure that the folk out there see the depth and the profoundness of what you are stating.

Jeffrey Moran (21:32):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

President Washington (21:34):
Spent coffee grounds coated in iron oxide can be dropped into, say, an oil spill.

Jeffrey Moran (21:42):
Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Absolutely.

President Washington (21:43):
And the coffee grounds will attach themselves to the oil.

Jeffrey Moran (21:46):
That's right.

President Washington (21:47):
You have a process for then pulling those grounds, separating those grounds with the oil on them from the water. The oil is rinsed off where it can be disposed. You throw the grounds back out to repeat the process. And you can do it up to four times.

Jeffrey Moran (22:04):
Five times total. Right. So four reuses...

President Washington (22:07):
Four reuses...

Jeffrey Moran (22:08):
So five total uses. That's amazing. You nailed it. That's exactly right.

Narrator (22:13):
From the smallest coffee grounds to the vast expanse of space, George �鶹��Ƶ faculty are stretching our imaginations of what lies within the cosmos. Anamaria Berea, an associate professor of computational and data sciences, studies the intersection of data sciences, economics, and astrobiology. And it's that last field that led President Washington to ask the question we've all wondered about at some poin: what are the chances of intelligent life beyond earth?

President Washington (22:41):
So let's start with your work at NASA. You were selected to participate in an independent study on UAPs or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon. Our listeners are probably more familiar with the term that I grew up with, which is UFOs, <laugh>: Unidentified Flying Objects. So can you explain the difference between these terms and what is the rationale behind the change in terminology?

Anamaria Berea (23:11):
Sure. So UFOs comes from Unidentified Flying Objects, which was the original term that the community and the public used for several decades after the 40s when we had allegedly the first observation of what more popular was called the flying saucer, right. But to get things more serious and into the scientific realm, scientists decided to change the name into unidentified anomalous phenomena, which is not necessarily about flying phenomena. Right? So this can be any type of unidentified phenomena, maybe coming from the sea or sub-sea. Most of them might have been observed in our atmosphere. So the rationale for the change in the name has been to basically cast this serious scientific lens to the phenomenon so that we can actually study it. The idea here is to actually emphasize the word unidentified, and the other word is phenomenon. Right. So, I'm a scientist at the course. So for us in, in science, whenever we see something that we cannot explain or understand, we want to cast the, um, scientific method and to try to understand this phenomenon. So it's science that draws that unidentified to identify it, right? So what we have in the middle, whether it's anomalous, whether it's flying, whether it's terrestrial, whether it's under the sea, that is a different story. So that speaks to where that observation has been made.

President Washington (24:52):
Understood, understood. So you are also affiliated with the SETI or S-E-T-I institute, commonly known as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Can you tell us a little bit more about that institute and a little bit more about your work?

Anamaria Berea (25:13):
Yeah, sure. So I've been affiliated with the SETI Institute for a few years now, since before I was in, uh, the, uh, independent study panel with NASA because the institute is looking at all aspects of alien life. So we are not talking about little green man. What we are talking about is microbial life that can potentially be on other planets or moons within our solar system or outside of our solar system. And also potential intelligent life, which can also be potentially within our galaxy. So the SETI Institute actually has two different axis of study. One is with respect to biosignatures, as I was mentioning, microbial life, whether it's current or past on, uh, planets like Mars or on the moon, like, uh, Europa--in this October, we have Europa clipper that is going to launch to study that further--or Titan, right, which is the moon of, of Saturn, or, and the other axis is on technosignatures. So technosignatures mean finding signals or signs of technology anywhere in the universe, and particularly on exoplanets. So, so exoplanets being planets that orbit other suns than our own.

President Washington (26:33):
Right. Well, you mentioned Europa. What is Europa and why is it important?

Anamaria Berea (26:39):
Right. So Europa, it's what's called an icy moon. So that means that with some past missions that were just doing flybys, so flybys Jupiter and the moons of Jupiter, they observe that Europa is enveloped in an ice crust. But underneath this ice crust, there is a very vast ocean. And wherever you have water, there is a high probability of life. Now, the only way we can accurately determine whether there is life underneath the icy crust of Europa is by sending a probe, right. Sending a mission there to basically sample in two and analyze the composition of the ocean on, uh, Europa. So Europa is one of the high probability candidates when it comes to finding these biosignatures within our solar system. So Europa is one, Io is another one, which is another moon of Jupiter, and Titan is another one. And there will be another mission called Dragonfly that will launch probably late in the 2030s and look for signals of life on, um, Titan, which, uh, has, uh, oceans of methane.

President Washington (27:51):
Outstanding. So any plans or analyses or studies in the work, works to look at planets outside of our solar system.

Anamaria Berea (28:02):
Yes. So that is the main purpose of the James Webb telescope. So the James Webb telescope is sampling through spectrometry, the exoplanetary atmospheres on these exoplanets that orbit, uh, suns that are not our own sun. Right. Okay. And through the composition of these atmospheres, scientists try to determine whether some of those chemicals or combinations of chemicals can be produced by biological processes. Right. So you can infer from the composition of the atmosphere if there can be life on that planet. So going back to your question about my affiliation with the SETI Institute, it's actually then when my affiliation with the institute came about when I was part of this project with Frontier Development Lab, where we simulated the exoplanetary atmospheres based on metabolic networks. Okay. So finding metabolic networks on the, uh, surface of a planet. How will that processes, how will they change the composition of an, uh, atmosphere on that exoplanet? Right? And we create lots of simulations and try to understand what kind of combinations we can have at the micro scale on the surface of the planet in these metabolic networks. And the macro scale with respect to the planetary atmosphere.

President Washington (29:21):
Okay. So let me take that question to the next step. Give me an idea, give me your thoughts on intelligent life on other planets.

Anamaria Berea (29:31):
With respect the intelligent life and, and actually even the other life. Are we talking about simultaneous life that exists right now living versus past versus future?

President Washington (29:44):
I'm talking about right now.

Anamaria Berea (29:45):
Right now. Simultaneous with us

President Washington (29:47):
Right now.

Anamaria Berea (29:49):
So for that, I actually have a low probability for that. We have the Drake equation, uh, which actually is good heuristic or indicator for us in how we can calculate these probabilities. And with the Drake equation, while we might have lots of planets within, or exoplanets, within the habitable zone, uh, where life can develop and emerge, there is a, an entirely different question with respect to whether that life can evolve into intelligent life. That's one step. The next step with the, can that intelligent life evolve into a life that can create technology. Right. Because may, maybe they won't. Right, right. But just with respect to intelligent life, we actually don't know that because we only have a sample of one. Right.

President Washington (30:40):
I I know, I know. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But, but let me throw out some numbers and you tell me where I'm off. Alright. We know that there is an estimated about a hundred billion galaxies.

Anamaria Berea (30:53):
That's right. Yeah. Okay. <affirmative>.

President Washington (30:54):
Each galaxy, each single galaxy has billions of stars, as does ours. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. And each of those stars has in many sense, lots of planets on those individual stars. Right. A hundred billion galaxies, billions of stars each with most likely multiple planets. And so if you use the Kepler data alone It estimates 300 million habitable

Anamaria Berea (31:29):
In habitable zones, yes.

President Washington (31:29):
With environments not too different from Earth.

Anamaria Berea (31:33):
That's right.

President Washington (31:34):
Yeah. 300 million. And out of those 300 million planets, your estimate is very low

Anamaria Berea (31:42):
For intelligent life.

President Washington (31:43):
For intelligent life.

Anamaria Berea (31:44):
Yeah. So my estimate is <laughs>

President Washington (31:44):
So help me, so help me to understand why that, 'cause the numbers tell me that by golly, there's gotta be intelligent life.

Anamaria Berea (31:52):
So, uh, your numbers are correct in saying that the probability for life is high in generic. But now

President Washington (32:01):
Again, I'm not talking about amoebas and protozoans, I'm talking about

Anamaria Berea (32:04):
�鶹��Ƶ humanlike. Right? Yes. Intelligence. Right. But again, evolutionary processes require, um, millions and millions of years. Right.

President Washington (32:16):
But we're, but we're a young galaxy.

Anamaria Berea (32:18):
The question, yes. But the question is more about are we early in the evolution of emergence of intelligent life versus are we late on that? Right. If we are talking about galaxy times. So the question is whether they're simultaneous with us, right. And at the same level or similar level of intelligence with us. So that is actually a lower probability.

President Washington (32:48):
<laugh>. Yeah, I hear you. We think we're smarter than what we are. I'm telling you right now, my estimate is that it is a high probability of intelligent life.

Narrator (33:01):
Last, but certainly not least, let's revisit an old fashioned crime story. Mary Ellen O'Toole is a professor and director of the Forensic Science Program. And as a former criminal profiler, she's helped capture, interview and understand some of the world's most infamous people, including Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, and Ted Kozinski, the Unabomber.

President Washington (33:23):
Not often do we get to talk to someone who engaged the Green River Killer and the Unabomber. So how do you profile somebody and did you find anything interesting with these individuals?

Mary Ellen O'Toole (33:34):
When we profile somebody, it means that we study their behavior from a crime scene. So for example, in the Green River Killer, he killed for a long time before he was identified. He killed in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s. That's a lot of murders.

President Washington (33:53):
Yes.

Mary Ellen O'Toole (33:54):
That's a lot of murders. And it's a lot of time to fly under the radar screen. So that task force was looking for him for all of those years. And it became important to understand how did he get away with it? Because there were other cases where they get apprehended pretty quickly. Recently, there was a serial killer in LA who killed three people. Over the course of a couple days. He got arrested quite quickly, Green River, however, decades. And one of the reason that he did is because he lived a normal lifestyle. He was married, he had a child, he went to church, he had a regular job for some 30 years.

Mary Ellen O'Toole (34:27):
So people thought when he was arrested, they were, it couldn't be this guy 'cause he's my neighbor and he's very normal. But what we do, we looked at all of Gary Ridgway, who's the Green River Killer, we looked at all of his murders and he left his victims outside at outdoor crime scenes. And in fact, some of the remains of the victims were not found for decades because he was very efficient at being able to hide the bodies or dump the bodies in a way that prevented them from being found. And of course, over the sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties, we simply did not have the technology from a forensic perspective to be able to do a lot with those crime scenes. Now, times have changed and we can do a lot more. But when I first met him--I became part of the task force out in Seattle--when I first met Gary Ridgway, I was really surprised by how normal and engaging that he was. And to look at him, there is no way that you would know what he did. I mean, you'd sit next to him on Metro and you would never know that he was the most prolific serial sexual killer in US history.

President Washington (35:37):
But somehow you profiled him. So you knew. If you sat by him on that train, would you know, could you have said something to him or asked him a question that would say to you, okay, I'm starting to get some eerie feelings from this guy.

Mary Ellen O'Toole (35:52):
What I'm gonna tell you may not click for a lot of people, but the one thing that is present in most of the serial sexual killers, and I say that specifically because a serial sexual killer, that's their motivation for murder. It's for sexual purposes. They meet the criteria of the psychopathic personality disorder. The old term is sociopath, the new term is psychopath. And part of the psychopathic structure is that these individuals have the ability to show you what we call snake eyes, which means their eyes are very normal a lot of the time, but when you're interviewing them or they're angry at you during an interview, or they don't like something that you've said, their eyes transform into what we call snake eyes. Their eyes lose their color, they go at half mask. And when you see it, it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

Mary Ellen O'Toole (36:45):
And if I saw someone in public, and I have a couple times, that makes it transformation to snake eyes, then I know stay away. And I saw that with Gary Ridgway a lot. If I said something to him that he didn't like, he would lose the eye color from his eyes and his eyes would become coal black and they would be at half mask. And I know those were the eyes that his victims saw right before they murdered him. And we know it's a neurological issue. We don't have a lot of information on why. We just know that it's present in psychopathic individuals.

President Washington (37:18):
So do you help train students now to profile?

Mary Ellen O'Toole (37:24):
Actually, I do. And we're starting some pretty neat new initiatives that will allow us to do even more of that. Because I do have a group of students that want to go take their expertise more into the behavioral area and they see the value of it. So I have a class right now, where students are learning how to study crime scenes from a behavioral perspective and then analyze the behavior. And then from that behavior, what they do is they explain who's the offender, what kind of an offender would've committed a crime like this. And in fact, in the small semester this time, I gave them three cases to analyze. And one of them was D.B. Cooper: never solved, jumped out of an airplane with $200,000. We never found him.

President Washington (38:11):
They're still looking for him. Right. This is the

Mary Ellen O'Toole (38:13):
Still looking for him. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Never found him. So some of the students get that case. Another group, they get the Marilyn Monroe case. Marilyn Monroe was determined to have died as a result of suicide. Not so sure about that. And then the third case that my students work on just for their midterms is the Black Dahlia case. And Black Dahlia is a unsolved case out of Los Angeles where this beautiful young woman that had moved to LA to become a movie star. And she ended up meeting up with the wrong person who kidnapped her and kept her for a number of days, and then placed her dismembered body in a neighborhood in Los Angeles, and she's referred to as the Black Dahlia. So my students study those cases for the first half of the year, and they look at the behavior and from the behavior they draw behavioral traits of the offender and what the offender is like, what kind of a job the offender has, what kind of relationship the offenders have with other people. So they learn how to take the behavior and extrapolate that into who the offender is.

President Washington (39:15):
What type of student goes into forensic science?

Mary Ellen O'Toole (39:18):
I think there is a type, and I've thought about this for a long time, students who are very curious, very empathic, very motivated students that have a lot of internal fortitude because they know they're gonna go out there, for example, at least a lot of them to the body farm. And they're gonna see some things that are pretty upsetting with the decomposition of a human donor. So these are students that have really thought this through very well, and students that are critical thinkers. That's the course I teach here is critical thinking. You're not born with it. It's not a gift. You need to develop it. I am amazed by how quickly students learn to be very adept critical thinkers in a way that allows them to cut through complex cases, tear them apart, and look at sections, put the sections back together, and then make analysis about who the offender is.

Mary Ellen O'Toole (40:20):
So I see that in so many of my students, and they don't jump to conclusions. And they understand that opinions are just that. They're just opinions. They're not the result of critical thinking. So I'm impressed by how well my students bring those traits together and apply it into these cases. So it's really an eclectic combination of traits that students really develop, knowing that all of that is gonna be necessary if they want to be really well-rounded in the job. And I love the term audacity because being audacious is not the same as being arrogant. Being audacious is to stand up and say, we've got thousands of unidentified remains in medical examiner's offices throughout the United States. What can we do to reunite those individuals with their family members? We know that we've got unsolved cases out there of marginalized victims throughout the United States. Audacious means what can we do to solve those crimes? And so if my students can be as audacious as is humanly possible, they're gonna be magnificent forensic scientists.

Narrator (41:37):
This is only a preview of the incredible talent and innovation here at �鶹��Ƶ. There's so much more to explore and we hope you stick around to see more ways that George �鶹��Ƶ is hard at work, developing bold solutions to the grand challenges of our time. On behalf of President Gregory Washington, thanks for listening. And tune in next time for more conversations that show why we are all together different.

Outro (42:03):
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 in higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.

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George �鶹��Ƶ interns make a difference at biotech start-ups

Katarina Benson — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 16:54:21 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ interns make a difference at biotech start-ups Katarina Benson Tue, 08/19/2025 - 12:54

This summer, �鶹��Ƶ graduate students rolled up their sleeves in busy labs, learned their way around unfamiliar equipment, and even played a part in moving clinical trials forward, working with start-ups and biotech companies in the recently established Innovation District anchored by the university’s Science and Technology Campus.

Biosciences PhD candidate Ahana Byne worked at Ceres Nanosciences for a second summer. Photo provided

It is part of a program George �鶹��Ƶ’s Graduate Division rolled out two years ago that puts students right in the thick of active research. They work side by side with scientists and get a firsthand look at how research projects come together. Each participating George �鶹��Ƶ research institute accepts around 10 applications. The Institute for Biohealth Innovation leveraged this opportunity to connect five PhD students with life science industry mentors.

Biosciences PhD candidate Ahana Byne returned to Ceres Nanosciences for her second summer, drawn back by the promise of its Nanotrap® technology to catch illnesses before symptoms appear. Ceres Nanosciences is a Manassas, Virginia-based company that’s licensed the university’s proprietary Nanotrap® particle technology and incorporated it into a range of diagnostic and research use products and workflows.

In the lab, Byne moved quickly from planning experiments to reviewing results and fixing problems, a pace far beyond what she was used to in academic research. “In academic settings, you’re usually focused on concocting new ideas and exploring them in depth,” said Byne. “In industry, it’s about clear processes and concrete results. Experiencing both has helped me see more clearly where I want to go next.”

Ben Lepene, Ceres Nanosciences director of research and development, served as Byne’s mentor. Lepene said Byne’s know-how and clear thinking helped the team gather data they rely on to support customers and answer questions about product performance. When asked for his best advice to Byne, Lepene said, “Keep good records and make sure results can be repeated, because in a commercial setting, consistency is everything.”

Ben Lepene, Ceres Nanosciences director of research and development, (left) served as PhD candidate Ahana Byne's mentor. Photo provided

At another Innovation District partner company, Virongy Biosciences, which develops virus-based research tools and diagnostics, bioscience doctoral student Lorreta Opoku spent her internship assembling and cloning alpha pseudoviruses for virology research. Progress came through careful and steady work, with small changes that moved the experiments ahead until the results fell into place.

“Successfully generating and validating my first batch of pseudoviruses was extremely satisfying,” said Opoku. Outside the lab, she spoke with clients, packed orders, and got them ready to send, which helped her learn the practical side of a research company.

At Tracked Biotechnologies LLC, kinesiology PhD student Ahmadreza Souri worked alongside mentor Michael Petr, the company’s CEO and chief scientist. They split their summer days between pilot clinical trials, grant proposals, and Institutional Review Board paperwork. That same brisk rhythm drives the company as it develops AI tools that let scientists, clinicians, and consumers explore human and animal behavior with speed and accuracy.

“Mentorship creates a strong foundation for aspiring professionals,” said Petr. “I make it a priority to teach mentees to the best of my ability and share how we approach commercialization in the context of research.”

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Bioinformatician maps her own path to NIH fellowship

Katarina Benson — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 16:25:44 +0000

Bioinformatician maps her own path to NIH fellowship Katarina Benson Tue, 08/05/2025 - 12:25

“It's funny, you know, the connection between the events,” said Soukaina Amniouel, MS Bioinformatics and Computational Biology ’20, PhD ’24. Amniouel is referring to how she completed her very first genome assembly at �鶹��Ƶ for a research project, and now she does this same task nearly every day as part of her postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It’s clear, however, these connections aren’t coincidence—Amniouel overcame numerous obstacles to make them happen.

Amniouel credits her mother with the push to apply to George �鶹��Ƶ to pursue her interest in bioinformatics, since there were no strong programs in her native Morocco. Despite the worries about diving into something so new, she saw that international students were happy at George �鶹��Ƶ and decided to take a chance on a university that rewards determination like hers.

“I am grateful that I did not give up…because I learned so much and I found that it is exactly what I want to study,” she said.

Amniouel’s doctoral research focused on using biomarkers and machine learning—which is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI)—to improve the rate of efficacy for chemotherapy. While many areas of health care involve targeted therapies, that’s often not the first option for cancer patients.

Amniouel at the NIH. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Amniouel worked alongside Professor M. Saleet Jafri, director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience, to develop a patented machine learning model that they hope will one day allow doctors to match a patient’s genetic profile to the most effective chemotherapy. This would reduce both the patient’s physical burden and overall cost of treatment.

While bioinformatics research involving AI was rare when Amniouel started her PhD, her decision to pursue it anyway meant that she was exactly the kind of forward-thinking candidate the NIH wanted.

For a self-described quiet person, her excitement is palpable when she talks about her research. This enthusiasm for bioinformatics helped her step outside her comfort zone and serve as a graduate teaching assistant, which she said allowed her to hone her communication and presentation skills.

“Today I really love teaching,” she said. “And this just shows how putting yourself in awkward positions can sometimes really make you grow.”

Amniouel still teaches a class on George �鶹��Ƶ’s Science and Technology Campus.

Amniouel’s current NIH research supports the discovery or improvement of drug therapies for both cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s. She meets with scientists every day to discuss their projects and what her data analyses mean for their work. These conversations are one reason she finds the position so fulfilling.

“You remind yourself, we're doing this for people, for patients,” she said. “And that connection—those meetings—are very useful because honestly it just makes me love my field more. Because even if it's a small task, it's helpful to someone.”

Start your George �鶹��Ƶ journey

George �鶹��Ƶ’s summer camps introduce K-12 students to STEM fields and life on a college campus

Shayla Brown — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 19:49:58 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ’s summer camps introduce K-12 students to STEM fields and life on a college campus  Shayla Brown Mon, 08/04/2025 - 15:49

�鶹��Ƶ’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) summer camps, programs, and workshops are dedicated to inspiring the next generation of scientists and researchers with STEM-focused curriculum and hands-on learning experiences. 

 The camps, offered to K-12 students, are run by George �鶹��Ƶ faculty, staff, and students from the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) and the College of Science (COS).  

In addition to hands-on experience and mentorship, attendees experience life on a college campus, preparing them to enter the higher education environment. 

 Aspiring Scientists 

The College of Science’s Aspiring Scientist Summer Internship Program (ASSIP) is one of the longest running summer STEM programs at George �鶹��Ƶ. Nearly 400 students are participating in ASSIP this year both in person and remotely.

“ASSIP is an amazing eight-week program designed to give students more experience in the advanced labs. It runs every summer with different mentors from all over George �鶹��Ƶ,” said Isela Gallagher, PhD Biosciences ’19, senior research scientist, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM) affiliate.  

Isela Gallagher (right) working with ASSIP students. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

Gallagher is an ASSIP faculty mentor working with local high school students Alex Simmonds and Yelyzaveta "Liza" Kalchenko.  

The rising seniors attended the Governor’s School at Innovation Park, which allows high school juniors and seniors to spend part of each school day experiencing life as George �鶹��Ƶ students, where they heard about this opportunity to work alongside faculty mentors on a research topic of their choosing. 

“We're learning different lab techniques and working with laser capture microdissection, or LCM, and reverse phase protein arrays, or RPBA. We're doing this work to isolate cancer cells from breast tissue samples to better research them,” explained Simmonds, who attends Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Virginia. 

Simmonds and Kalchenko are working out of the Advanced Biomedical Research Building at the Science and Technology Campus (SciTech Campus). The students will share their findings at the end of summer presentation for the program on August 7.  

FOCUS  

The FOCUS camp is a five-day residential camp geared toward helping middle and high school students better understand career options. It also utilizes alumni and community partners. 

FOCUS was started in 2014 with four cofounders, including mathematics professor Padmanabhan Seshaiyer, forensic science professor Kelly Knight, former biology professor Claudette Davis, and George �鶹��Ƶ alumna Danielle Craddock, MA Integrative Studies ’11, founder of Girls Inspired and Ready to Lead Inc.  

This summer, FOCUS took place from July 14-18 with Craddock serving as the FOCUS program manager, while Knight serves as director of the program.  

FOCUS provides positive role models and experiences with STEM that will increase students’ confidence level in their knowledge, skills, and competencies in the respective fields. 

Each weekday of the camp focused on a different letter of STEM: Monday is science, Tuesday is tech, Wednesday is engineering, and Thursday is math, and on Friday, STEM professionals speak to the students through an interactive panel as well as do a poster presentation. 

ASSIP students working in the lab. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

“The students do all types of workshops from coding robotic arms to crime scene investigation, to building rollercoasters,” Knight said. “They also engage in team sessions where we focus on team and community building as well as reviewing content covered that day or content to be covered the next day.”  

“The high school students have an additional workshop before that focuses on college prep, confidence building, or specialized skills such as entrepreneurship,” she added. 

The camp builds students’ relationships with George �鶹��Ƶ by prioritizing returning students in the registration process and as a result, the high school program is almost always sold out by alumni of the program within minutes, explained Kelly. The middle school program also has a significant number of alumni and also sells out within minutes.  

In addition to staying in the residence halls to get taste of campus life, camp participants learn more about the college experience from George �鶹��Ƶ Admissions representatives and tour the campus. 

“This year we are also doing a workshop on college scholarships and introducing students to skills they will need to be successful in higher education,” said Knight. 

Space Exploration 

Camps such as the NASA-funded program �鶹��Ƶ Space Exploration Center (MSEC) are spread across George �鶹��Ƶ campuses and provide students with access to some of the university’s most notable facilities such as the Observatory. During its three years, the camp has expanded its offerings to meet demand.  

Ian Helm, MSEC outreach coordinator, with a student. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

“MSEC started as a summer camp but has now also expanded into many different outreach activities and family events, such as Space Day, that cater to fourth through ninth grade students,” said Rob Parks, COS assistant director of MSEC. 

 “We're hoping to be able to stay involved with these families as these kids age, so that hopefully we can encourage them to consider George �鶹��Ƶ [when thinking about colleges],” said Parks. 

Rising high school seniors Gwen Chaves and Gabby Whitefield and Rob Parks are Observatory tour guides. Chavs led the advanced camp on the Science and Technology Campus. Whitefield was the lead flight director, facilitating daily Astronomy and STEM-related lectures, activities, crafts, and demonstrations. 

“A lot of the kids in the advanced camp are asking me about my experience in George �鶹��Ƶ STEM and what it's like to live on campus,” said Chaves. “They’re really curious about what kind of labs and facilities we have, which are cool questions to be able to answer. It’s exciting to teach them about what George �鶹��Ƶ has to offer them later on in their academic careers.” 

Engineering Is a Growing Field

Camps on engineering and related topics are always popular at George �鶹��Ƶ, and there are a variety of programs on all three of the university’s Northern Virginia campuses for students looking to be inspired. 

The CEC Office of Outreach, Student Success, and Engagement (OSSE) offers outreach activities that encourage creativity and nurture a passion for STEM from an early age. Outreach activities include the Fall STEAM Fest, the Spring into STEM Event, the STEM Summer Showcase, and the Engineering 4 Us All Program. 

George �鶹��Ƶ’s Exploring Renewable Energy Engineering Summer Camp, held at �鶹��Ƶ Square is sponsored by Amazon Web Services. This camp, led by CEC professor Liling Huang, offered high school students a range of interactive science and engineering activities, including building a model town powered entirely by clean renewable energy.  

Huang’s E2 Center for Energy Exploration will host an upcoming summer camp for high school students as well. 

MSEC students. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding.

BioE-Buzz 

Carolyn Wilson, internship coordinator for the Bioengineering Department, worked with the department’s external advisory board, called the Alliance, to increase the pipeline of students coming into the department.  

Through this initiative, Wilson created BioE-Buzz, a CEC summer camp for rising high school juniors and seniors.  

“We have a number of campers who are interested in majoring in bioengineering based on what they learned and were exposed to during the camp, so that really encouraged us to expand our sessions this year from one to two weeks. We’ve also doubled the number of campers from our first year,” said Wilson. 

The camp takes place on the Fairfax and SciTech campuses. The camp’s counselors, coordinators, and volunteers are George �鶹��Ƶ students. 

“This is our second year of BioE-Buzz, and we have the campus structured so that students spend their time getting to know what �鶹��Ƶ has to offer. They have access to our Nanofabrication and EDGE facilities as well as the MIX,” said BioE Buzz camp director Khadija Zaidi-Rashid, PhD Bioengineering ’23. 

Students will give presentations on what they learned and experienced at George �鶹��Ƶ’s summer camps with a STEM End of Summer Showcase in August. 

Visit George �鶹��Ƶ's SciTech Campus

Fulbright awards expand George �鶹��Ƶ faculty and staff perspectives

Katarina Benson — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 14:50:52 +0000

Fulbright awards expand George �鶹��Ƶ faculty and staff perspectives Katarina Benson Mon, 08/04/2025 - 10:50

Each year, academic professionals teach and conduct research abroad through the highly competitive Fulbright Scholar Program. �鶹��Ƶ has a rich history of sending and hosting faculty and staff through the program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of State. This year, Frank Krueger of the College of Science, Nathalia Peixoto of the College of Engineering and Computing, and Yali Pan of the Office of International Programs and Services, received Fulbright awards.

Krueger is working with Tamagawa University.

Krueger, who is a professor of systems social neuroscience, received a Fulbright Scholars award to conduct social neuroscience research in Japan. Based at Tamagawa University in Tokyo, he will also be working on a project about cross-cultural relations to explore people’s perception of trust between the United States and Japan using epigenetic research.

“The interdisciplinary and cross-cultural nature of this Fulbright experience perfectly complements my research philosophy and will significantly advance my work,” said Krueger, who has previously collaborated with Tamagawa University.

“The George �鶹��Ƶ students participating in this research effort will develop a neurologically-based understanding of how individuals across cultures reflect the trust they do or don’t feel,” Krueger further explained.

Peixoto collaborated with Ugandan entrepreneurs. Photo provided

For Peixoto, spending a month in Uganda fulfilled a lifelong dream to go to Africa and has been incredibly rewarding. “I had never been to this continent, despite feeling like I belong here,” she said. “I am originally Brazilian, and I have always heard that Brazil has the largest population of people of African ancestry who live outside of Africa. Many Brazilians consider Africans our cousins, but I don’t know any Brazilians who have ever visited Africa. Now it is clear to me that I really needed to come.”

During her time in Africa, Peixoto, who holds a joint appointment in neuroscience with George �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Science, has also connected with the Ugandan business community, consulting on critical health and community projects.

Pan in a Korean hanbok during the program. Photo provided

In Pan’s role as assistant director of engagement and assessment in the Office of International Programs and Services, she provides programs and initiatives to help international students adjust and feel connected to the �鶹��Ƶ community. Pan was awarded an International Educator's Award to attend a two-week higher education administration seminar in South Korea.

“I saw this as a valuable opportunity to learn more about South Korea—a country that consistently ranks among the top five senders of international students to George �鶹��Ƶ,” said Pan. “I also have a deep appreciation for Korean culture and cuisine, and I was eager to experience it firsthand.”

Pan said she was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Fulbright International Education Administrator program and believes it was valuable to her work at George �鶹��Ƶ. “Opportunities like this—designed specifically for higher education administrators to gain a systematic understanding of international education—are rare, and this experience was truly transformative.”

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George �鶹��Ƶ PhD champions coral reef conservation through research and mentorship

Katarina Benson — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:36:41 +0000

George �鶹��Ƶ PhD champions coral reef conservation through research and mentorship Katarina Benson Thu, 07/24/2025 - 14:36

As a doctoral student at �鶹��Ƶ, Jordan Sims has spent the past several years immersed, literally and figuratively, in the underwater ecosystems of Honduras, where her research is helping solve real-world challenges in coral reef conservation.

Jordan Sims working with coral samples in the lab. Photo provided

As a marine microbial ecologist, Sims studied the invisible world of microbes living in and around coral reefs, exploring how these tiny organisms influence the health of one of the most vulnerable ecosystems on Earth. Much of Sims’s dissertation work involved coral settlement to help conservationists improve restoration techniques. She also investigated genotyping corals in restoration programs to ensure their genetic diversity supports long-term survival.

“It’s good science, and it’s important science,” said Sims, who graduated with a PhD in Environmental Science and Public Policy in May. “But it’s also applicable science. That was really fulfilling to me in my dissertation.”

Sims’s connection to Honduras came about through George �鶹��Ƶ’s SCUBA Club. The club had taken students to Honduras for years, building strong relationships with local researchers and conservationists. When Sims joined the club as a PhD student, a single trip turned into an ongoing collaboration.

“I got to go on a trip and build those relationships, and then I continued working with them independently,” she said.

With her advisor, Environmental Science and Policy professor Jennifer Salerno, Sims nurtured those partnerships beyond the initial group trips, returning to Honduras on her own to work with the Roatán Institute for Marine Sciences, where she mentored undergraduate interns involved in reef research.

Collecting reef samples in Honduras. Photo provided

Sims shared that one of her most memorable experiences at George �鶹��Ƶ was mentoring a student through the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program, offered by the university’s Office of Student Creative Activities and Research (OSCAR). The student developed a passion for reef work during a field trip to Honduras, later joined Sims on a research project, and ultimately returned to George �鶹��Ƶ to pursue a master’s degree. “Watching that journey unfold was incredibly meaningful,” Sims said. “Being part of someone discovering their path was deeply rewarding.”

Sims earned her bachelor’s degree at Rice University, where she first developed an interest in marine biology and coral reefs. When considering graduate programs, she knew she wanted a PhD that combined science with policy. “In coral reef science, applied work is so important,” she explained. “Corals are dying, and we have such limited resources, so everything we do should contribute to the bigger picture.”

In 2022, Sims was awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which she credits as a turning point in her academic career. After spending two years as a teaching assistant, the NSF support allowed her to shift to a research assistantship. “I was able to focus fully on my research, and I like to think I helped the reefs more because of that.”

Now, Sims is preparing to take the next step in her career: a postdoctoral position at the University of California, Berkeley. “I love doing research. I love mentoring students,” she said. “So, I’m looking for a place where I can be very hands-on with the reef but also help bring up the next generation of scientists.”

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