Apps

Patriot parking predictions putting students in the proper spot

Nathan Kahl — Wed, 23 Sep 2026 22:30:56 +0000

Patriot parking predictions putting students in the proper spot Nathan Kahl Wed, 09/23/2026 - 18:30

College students are already under a load of stress with classes, tests, and presentations. So when something as “easy” as finding a parking spot is anything but, it can cause a bad start to an already challenging day.

With that in mind, a team of 911�� students developed an app that uses data and artificial intelligence (AI) to remove the guesswork and save students from those interminable trips to the top of a parking garage, only to find it’s completely full.

Parkeye predicts parking availability, helps users find lots that match their permits, and provides information about parking changes and closures. The app was created by computer science students Tona Otoro and Sami Saleh, with support from computer science students Shabeer Manalai, Trong-Tin Mai, and Rafsan Islam, and Aayusha Sapkota from the Costello College of Business.

The idea grew out of a familiar student experience: arriving on campus without knowing where to park. “Everyone's kind of having this similar problem,” Manalai said. The team did market research by surveying students around campus and found that many students struggled with everything from finding open spaces to understanding parking regulations.

The team then approached 911��'s Parking and Transportation office, which provided five years of parking data that became a foundation for the app.

“We frequently partner with students on class projects and what made the Parkeye team unique was that they pursued this project independently, outside of a formal class or research program,” said Josh Cantor, director of Parking and Transportation. “We applaud the students' initiative and innovative approach; their crowdsourcing model reflects the kind of creative thinking that can contribute to future parking technology solutions. We are evaluating a variety of approaches, including crowdsourcing, camera-based technologies, and space sensors to help improve the parking experience for our campus community."

The app considers about two dozen factors when predicting parking availability, including historical data, class schedules, weather, the distance between lots and buildings, and the number of classes taking place during particular time periods. As more people use the app, the team can incorporate additional data and retrain its models.

Saleh said the initial model achieved approximately 91% accuracy against the parking data provided by the university. The developers also have testers visit parking areas to compare actual availability with the app's predictions, using those results to continue refining the model.

And the app does more than predict whether a lot is crowded. Users can filter parking by space type, including electric vehicle charging spaces, and receive updates about lot closures and other changes that could affect parking.

Users appear interested. The app launched September 2 and has around 600 users as of this writing. Much of that early growth came through social media, including an Instagram video with more than 30,000 views.

The team is already looking beyond Fairfax. The app includes parking information for James Madison University and Virginia Tech, and the students are reaching out to other universities about potential partnerships.

They are also beginning to think like entrepreneurs. The students registered an LLC and are working toward becoming a Virginia vendor, which could eventually allow them to establish a formal partnership with 911��. They have also met with leadership of 911��'s MIX Incubator about joining its entrepreneurship program.

“Meeting Sami and Tona underscored the energy and determination they bring to their parking‑prediction app,” said Gisele Stolz, senior director, entrepreneurship programs. “We are thrilled to support students with this level of motivation and vision, and we hope their journey mirrors the successes achieved by other standout MIX teams.”

Stolz explained that through the MIX Innovators Launchpad, students receive mentoring, structured entrepreneurial guidance, some funding to support early discovery work, and the opportunity to compete for prize money as they advance their ideas. Paired with the NSF I‑Corps short course, the program teaches teams how to translate technical insights into market‑ready solutions with the help of seasoned mentors.

Eventually, Saleh sees applications well beyond college campuses, including hospitals, malls, stadiums and other places where drivers face the same basic question. “It's not just being able to see where parking is, it's being able to see the right parking spot for each user.”

Topics

Apps

student businesses

Parking and Transportation

computer science

entrepreneurship

Students

College of Engineering and Computing

Explore Virginia’s natural communities using the Flora of Virginia app

mbalog — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 17:03:45 +0000

Explore Virginia’s natural communities using the Flora of Virginia app mbalog Wed, 09/06/2023 - 13:03

The Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project (the Flora) has launched a new guide to the Natural Communities of Virginia with the Flora of the Virginia smart-phone app.

The Flora App helps users narrow down what plant they are looking at using classifications determined by vegetation ecologists. Photo from Google Play store.

"The Flora of Virginia app is an authoritative scientific reference you can carry in your pocket,” said Mason associate professor of biology Andrea Weeks, director of Mason’s Ted R. Bradley Herbarium. “Our newest version integrates the latest information about Virginia's naturally occurring ecological communities. I am excited by its potential to accelerate research, education, and outreach about the Commonwealth's flora. No other state in the U.S. has a more detailed comparable app."

The classification system developed by Vegetation Ecologists with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage provides a framework to describe natural communities. It gives context to the importance of protecting certain habitats and species and will guide efforts to restore landscapes to functioning ecosystems that support native flora and fauna.

The guide:

Describes in detail the 80 Natural Community groups;
Includes over 1,000 new captioned photos;
Illustrates the diverse and unique habitats where native flora grow and why certain species are always found together;
Provides range maps detailing where these groups are most likely found; and,
Includes abbreviated lists of species frequently found in each community group.

“The integration of Natural Communities into the App was the Flora’s primary objective for 2023,” says Flora of Virginia Project Foundation board president Caitie Cyrus. “We could not have completed the work without the guidance of Natural Heritage, our longtime partners and collaborators.”

Weeks worked with Joey Thompson from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Natural Heritage on the project. The Foundation of the Flora of Virginia Project is a nonprofit organization that inspires conservation of Virginia’s native flora through education, outreach, and production of the Flora of Virginia, in print and electronic formats. Learn more about the foundation here.

The app is available for purchase: Flora App for iOS and Android. Learn more about Natural Heritage’s Natural Communities classification system.

This story originally appeared on the College of Science website.

Learn more about Mason's Herbarium

Check out the app on Google Play

Check it out on the Apple App Store

Topics

Campus News

Mason Department of Biology

biology

Apps

Introducing the Innovate for Good Series

John Brandon Cantrell — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 13:52:43 +0000

Introducing the Innovate for Good Series John Brandon C… Fri, 02/04/2022 - 08:52

Innovate for Good is a new ongoing series that examines how faculty in the College of Health and Human Services are improving health outcomes using technology such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and personal apps.

Part I: Reducing Caregiver Stress & Improving Recovery Cues

By its very nature, the practice of social work involves people. After all, the definition of social work is, essentially, people helping people. But in an era of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and machine learning, technology is playing an increasingly central role in how people help people.

In 911��’s College of Health and Human Services, faculty members from the Department of Social Work are embracing technological innovation in its many forms to advance the practice of social work.

“In the field of social work, our goal has always been to figure out how to help those in our communities, whether through practice, organizational leadership, or policymaking,” said Emily S. Ihara, chair of the Department of Social Work. “What’s new is that we’re looking at fresh ways to gather more data to assess how we can best and most efficiently create social change.”

Innovate for Good begins with two ways researchers are using apps and virtual reality to improve the lives and health of those they work with.

Managing and Minimizing Caregiver Stress with a Phone

Caregiver burnout? There’s an app for that.

Funded by a Virginia Center on Aging, Alzheimer’s & Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF) grant of $45,000, Ihara and Cathy Tompkins, professor of Social Work, are working with developers Ram Balasubramanian and Atreya Chaganty to help those who provide care for people living with dementia.

They are evaluating use of an app called Zelar developed by health care company Mantrah. This app will be geared toward caregivers with the intent of helping them manage the care of both the dementia patients they help and themselves.

“Care partners are often overwhelmed,” said Ihara. “The idea is that caregivers will enter information about different aspects of the care plan and they will be given reminders and helpful tips to provide organization.”

The app will have several features, including care plan creation, the ability for collaboration with other caregivers, plus self-care plans, a journaling option, and insights that provide feedback to caregivers on their reported performance.

“We’re trying to see if we can use technology to reduce caregiver stress,” said Ihara.

The project, Managing Mental Health Through Technology: Examining the Effects of Collaborative Care Management Technology Application, is being developed with Mantrah.

“In the field of social work, our goal has always been to figure out how to help those in our communities, whether through practice, organizational leadership, or policymaking. What’s new is that we’re looking at fresh ways to gather more data to assess how we can best and most efficiently create social change.”

Emily S. Ihara, Chair of the Department of Social Work

Harnessing the Power of Recovery Cues with Virtual Reality

A multidisciplinary team of researchers, working across four colleges and centers at Mason, is using technology to develop customized, real-time recovery supports to prevent drug relapse.

The research team is made up of Holly Matto in the Department of Social Work, along with Padmanabhan Seshaiyer in Mason’s College of Science, Stephanie Carmack in Mason’s Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions, Nathalia Peixoto in Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering, Siddharth Bhattacharya in Mason’s School of Business, plus graduate students in engineering Vinicius Zanini and Bryce Dunn and in social work Cate Feldkamp, as well as Rudra Nagalia, a Mason intern and student at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, in Pilani, India.

The team hypothesizes that they can disrupt the drug trigger-craving-relapse cycle by reorienting people to what is personally rewarding in their lives and regulating the brain and body’s response to drug triggers. These are known as recovery cues.

This idea was inspired by Matto’s work in the field of addiction and from the lived experiences of people in recovery. After treatment, individuals often go back to the same environments that trigger a desire to use drugs, resulting in a need for ongoing, consistent support.

“Because craving can still be quite intense even after months of abstinence, real-time interventions to support recovery are essential to preventing relapse long-term,” said Matto. Examples of recovery cues include music, soundscapes, inspirational quotes, and more.

The Mason team and its industry partner, Brightline Interactive, are examining the effects of recovery cues using virtual reality simulations. The work is being supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Drug Abuse through a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Grant.

“Rather than focusing on drug triggers, our team believes that by focusing on the rewarding parts of their lives, their recovery cues and supports, individuals in recovery can strengthen and grow,” said Matto.

Virtual reality is unique among other technological enhancements in that it can recreate some elements of the social situations and physical environments that typically trigger relapse, allowing patients to practice skills they will need when they encounter such situations in real life.

Along with investigating recovery cues using virtual reality, the team is developing their Recovery Engaged Mind (REMind-h) app. In this app, individuals in recovery will be able to upload their customized recovery cues according to their preferred sensory modality (visual, auditory, tactile) and content category (people, places, objects), and be able to access these cues when experiencing intense craving.

Innovate for Good is an ongoing series that examines how Mason faculty in the College of Health and Human Services are harnessing technology to improve health outcomes.

Topics

Healthcare Technology

Addiction

Recovery

In the George