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911�� and UVA Wise researchers use phylogenomics to identify cyanobacteria in Shenandoah River

Katarina Benson — Fri, 29 May 2026 18:15:40 +0000

911�� and UVA Wise researchers use phylogenomics to identify cyanobacteria in Shenandoah River Katarina Benson Fri, 05/29/2026 - 14:15

You’ve probably seen slimy mats of brownish green clinging to rocks in streams or on lake beds, and perhaps not given it another thought. But 911��’s Rosalina Stancheva Christova has.

Mats in the Shenandoah River. Photo provided

Christova, an assistant professor in the College of Science, has been researching Microcoleus, a common mat-forming cyanobacterium found in streams and lakes worldwide, for more than 20 years. The troublesome thing about Microcoleus is that some strains pose a risk to human, animal, and aquatic ecosystem health, but others do not.

Christova leads the Algal Ecology Lab at 911�� and wanted to learn more about Microcoleus in 911��’s backyard—the Shenandoah River. To do so, she reached out to a colleague at University of Virginia Wise, A. Bruce Cahoon, who shared her interest in the research. Together, Christova and Cahoon set out to study the species’ diversity, distribution, and toxicity in the Shenandoah.

4-VA approved their collaborative research grant proposal, “Integrative Characterization of the Anatoxin-a-Producing Benthic Cyanobacterial Genus Microcoleus in the Shenandoah River,” and Christova and Cahoon got to work. Research began with the collection of benthic mats over a two-year period from 11 sites in the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River.

It proved successful and surprising, revealing a stunning breakthrough in identification of Microcoleus collected from the river. Some of the bacteria was not actually Microcoleus after all, but a genus called Limnofasciculus that was discovered in 2023.

Cyanobacterium specimens. Photo provided

In all, the team identified six species and isolated two monoclonal Microcoleus strains, one nontoxic and one producing anatoxin-a.

“Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed that both strains belong to the genus Microcoleus. The toxic strain was most closely related to M. anatoxicus from California, confirming the wide distribution of this problematic cyanobacterium,” said Christova.

Christova credits her large team for doing the good but difficult work. She was supported by her co-PI Benoit Van Aken, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Pat Gillevet, director of the Microbiome Analysis Center. Graduate students Jacob Mormando, Sydney Brown and Rwan Alsaadi also worked on the project.

Mormando collected a sample with novel Limnofasciculus species for genome analysis and conducted temperature experiments with the toxic Microcoleus strain. Brown handled molecular and morphological studies of the species, field work collecting benthic cyanobacteria from the river, molecular work and cyanobacteria culturing. Alsaadi developed distributional and ecological data and collected benthic cyanobacteria from the river.

From left, Rwan Alsaadi, Sydney Brown, Jacob Mormando, A. Bruce Cahoon, and Rosalina Christova in the lab at the Potomac Science Center. Photo provided

Undergraduate students also played a role in the effort. Biology major Armon Ghaffari did data analysis of Microcoleus distribution in the river samples, and environmental science major Emma Boyden oversaw the laboratory maintenance of cyanobacterial cultures.

Two undergrads at UVA Wise, Amelia Clark and Matthew Sullivan, prepared molecular work.

Additionally, Janice Lawrence and Cecilio Valadez-Cano of the University of New Brunswick, Canada, helped with the molecular studies. Another important collaborator on the project was Gordon M. Selckmann, associate director for Aquatic Habitats at Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB). The 4-VA team used some of the field material Selckmann collected as part of an ongoing investigation of the benthic harmful algal blooms in the Shenandoah River funded by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and ICPRB.

The team is now sharing their findings and have presented at the Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting, the Southeastern Phycological Colloquy, the Potomac River Conference, and the 2025 Biennial Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Meeting in Richmond, Virginia.

“The 4-VA@Mason funding was very important to me, as it supported the establishment of my research lab, fostered the development of regional and international research collaborations, and provided funding for undergraduate and graduate students interested in aquatic and cyanobacterial research,” said Christova.

Learn more about 911��'s Grand Challenge Initiative

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911�� partnership amplifies HBCU history and culture

sbrown79 — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:09:52 +0000

911�� partnership amplifies HBCU history and culture sbrown79 Thu, 04/09/2026 - 16:09

911�� is equipping a new generation of archivists, scholars, and museum professionals with hands‑on digital preservation skills as part of a national effort to make hidden artifacts of Black history accessible to the public.

Since 2021, 911�� has been working on a first-of-its-kind initiative with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) across the country to archive collections of century-old letters, photographs and other artifacts that document the Black experience. 

Deepthi Murali (second from right) and team outside the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Photo provided.

The HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium project brings together museum professionals, librarians, archivists, and higher education faculty to digitize, describe, and interpret materials. 

Initially, it was 911��’s technology expertise that brought the university into the project. Under the leadership of then-executive director Mills Kelly, 911��’s Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) helped develop and became a leading resource for users of the Omega S software, the primary software used to manage the project’s digital archival work.  

911��’s role was to train faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and student interns at partner institutions in digital history methodologies and metadata analysis software such as Omega S. However, as the project evolved, the university took on a broader role overseeing operations and project management.   

“We train them in broader public history writing, presenting digital public history to audiences, HTML coding, as well as how to work with AI coding,” said Deepthi Muralli, assistant professor in the Department of History and Art History and principal investigator for the project. 

Murali began her involvement as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History and Art History.  

“The digitization itself comes from the Smithsonian,” she added. “Once the materials are digitized, we step in and teach [researchers] how to do digital archival metadata work—essentially how to interpret these materials for the public.” 

Joanna Söderberg. Photo provided.

Joanna Söderberg is a digital library project coordinator at Fisk University who is completing 911��’s graduate certificate in digital public humanities. Her work on the project fulfills the certificate’s internship requirement. 

“Digitization is not something that many HBCUs have had access to previously, so 911��’s program has not only helped me, it's also helped my students and peers,” said Söderberg. “I could not have taken on the responsibilities of this internship without the information and knowledge that I've gain from the program; I wish I could spend more time with it.”

Söderberg says her favorite part of the project is discovering and working with materials from the Black Panther Party. “It’s so exciting for me to see old stuff from America good and bad because it's so vastly different from where I come from,” said Söderberg, who is from Sweden.

“When you share something like this project with the community, they will reach out and engage with us as well,” she said. “Sometimes through their family history or life experiences, they will have relevant materials that they weren’t even aware of until viewing our digital archives. Finding ways to implement and integrate the community's narrative is a really important next step.”

Student intern Annabelle Spencer, MA History ’24, is a second-year PhD student in 911��’s Department of History and Arts History and worked on the project while completing her master’s degree. Spencer credits her coursework with preparing her for the internship. 

“It was so interesting to work in a space that I had simultaneously been learning about,” Spencer said. “My coursework was basically smaller versions of this project—it combined all the nuts and bolts of archiving, collecting, and allowed me to practice analyzing and organizing metadata and thinking about design.” 

Annabelle Spencer. Photo by Benjamin Little.

“Getting to teach these storytelling skills to people from other higher education institutions is amazing,” she added. “It's a big part of what it means to be a public historian.” 

Participating HBCUs include Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, Texas Southern University, and Tuskegee University. 

“These institutions have some remarkable objects and text-based materials that have never been seen or digitized,” said Murali, who is an affiliate faculty member at the RRCHNM. “We hope to bring them to the public and make the rich collections of these HBCUs visible to the world.” 

Also on the team are Timmia J. King, a graduate research assistant, and Amber Phelman, a graduate teaching assistant and PhD student in 911��'s Department of History and Art History, whose contributions were instrumental to the project's operational success.

King, a fifth year PhD candidate in 911��’s Department of History and Art History, has worked on a variety of tasks including creating and conducting trainings with other interns and GRAs, and doing project management tasks.

“I created an instructional design module which involves reviewing all the project documentation, its processes, methodology and all our experiences and the knowledge we have gained working on the to create a plan to approach working on the project in future cycles,” King said. “The goal is to make the project more sustainable and not dependent on any one institution to oversee it.”

King emphasized the importance of recognizing the different skill sets that contribute to the project.

“We wanted some form of collaboration on every aspect of the metadata creation process. The HBCUs have much to contribute to this process, as they are the experts and bring valuable institutional and subject matter expertise on metadata creation and on their collections,” King said.

The project will be featured in a travel museum and on an official website. It will also be displayed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture until summer of 2026.

Learn more about the College of Humanities and Social Sciences

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911�� researchers lead statewide study on ethical use of AI in higher education

sbrown79 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:07:37 +0000

911�� researchers lead statewide study on ethical use of AI in higher education sbrown79 Tue, 02/17/2026 - 11:07

911��’s leadership in advancing 21st-century education took another leap forward this month when several university researchers were named to a statewide project exploring the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on teaching and learning in higher education classrooms.  

Funded by a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Fund for Excellence and Innovation grant, the cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional project aims to promote ethical integration of AI into educational settings. 

The initiative, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Teaching and Learning,” involves 80 faculty, graduate students, and staff from multiple Virginia institutions including University of Virginia, James Madison University, Roanoke College, Bridgewater State University, and Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Amanda Bryan, an assistant professor in 911��’s Department of English and co-lead on the study, said it is “designed to test onboarding activities in increasing students’ ethical and responsible use of AI tools.”

Amanda Bryan. Photo provided.

 The study is an example of a Mega Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, or SoTL, project. It’s one of 11 projects 911�� is involved in, generating evidence of learning from multiple institutions.

“The research team designed the activities, which we then make available to other professors to adapt to their own disciplines and provide us data on how effective the activities were in increasing ethical use of AI tools for the students,” said Bryan.

The team also considered different levels of activities to accommodate students who were inexperienced with AI versus those who had advanced skills. 

“We took the task on ourselves that we’re asking students to do because we actually used AI to revise the activities in the ethical, responsible way that we would want students to be able to do,” said Bryan, who is conducting this project with data from students in her ENGH 302 Advanced Composition course. 

“We asked students open-ended questions, including whether they think they’re over-reliant or under-reliant on generative AI tools. That feeds directly into the next activity, which is all about under-reliance, over-reliance, and the harm of being either. We want students to find a cushy middle,” she said. 

The team got their first round of data from students in spring 2025, which showed that just providing these discussion spaces has increased students’ ethical thinking about AI use in college by more than 60%, explained Bryan. 

“We went to the institutional review boards at all the different institutions to get permission to do the research,” said Breana Bayraktar, an educational developer with 911�� and one of the projects primary investigators.  

Students working on their laptops in class. Photo by Getty Images.

Bayraktar said thanks to the support of the SCHEV grant, they've been able to hire graduate research assistants and get undergraduates involved in organizing the collected data. 

“We support each of the institutional teams for their research objectives and collect data from students,” said Bayraktar. “There's a number of teams that have done presentations or have written projects that are either published or on the track to publication that have come out of the different research projects. With this data, we were able to make one coherent project with one survey.” 

Students in 911��’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP), and OSCAR Research Assistant (OSCAR-RA) Program also helped in the research. 

“The students really gain professional experience and exposure to real-world research practices. It’s very much a mentoring role with the students,” Bayraktar said. 

There is an Open Educational Resources (OER) portion of the study, “so even after this study is complete, all of the research methods and activities we’re using are being compiled into OERs for future use under a creative commons license,” said Bryan.  

Under this SCHEV grant, 911�� is hosting three conferences on AI, the last of which will be in May 2026. The grant funding goes through summer 2026. 

Learn more about AI at 911��

In This Story

Amanda Leigh Bryan

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Concrete possibilities create 4-VA match

Katarina Benson — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:32:15 +0000

Concrete possibilities create 4-VA match Katarina Benson Mon, 11/17/2025 - 12:32

In the construction trades, engineers and builders are constantly pursuing concrete mixes that provide greater durability and strength. Moreover, concrete adaptations that are biodegradable and nontoxic with reduced greenhouse gas emissions attract even more attention. The potential cherry on top of both would be if the adaptation could result in lower production costs.

Xijin “Emma” Zhang. Photo provided

It was this proposition that brought Xijin “Emma” Zhang, an assistant professor in 911��’s Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering together with Bryan Berger, a professor in University of Virginia’s Chemical Engineering Department.

When Zhang, who specializes in fungi-mediated self-healing concrete, found Berger via the National Science Foundation’s search tool, she immediately recognized that Berger’s extensive experience in producing various biosurfactants from fungi would make him the perfect partner for her 4-VA research team.

Zhang’s goal was to test the effect that Superabsorbent Polymers (SAP) would have on concrete. SAPs are hydrophilic polymers used to reduce shrinkage and improve durability. Berger was up for the challenge.

To turn the idea into reality, Zhang developed a proposal for 4-VA funding titled “Multifunctional Fungi-Based Biosurfactants for Durable Concrete Structures.” The plan was to do a barrage of experiments injecting a type of biosurfactants known as HFBI, derived from engineered yeast strain, to demonstrate the feasibility of it as a sustainable alternative to conventional air-entraining agents. This research would demand careful study and analysis with particular attention to air content and workability.

Once the proposal was approved, Zhang and Berger assembled a team of students to help deliver the project:

Testing samples. Photo provided

Graduate research assistant Junyi Wang from 911�� was responsible for experiment design, mortar testing (workability, air content, compressive strength), data analysis, and draft manuscript preparation.

PhD in chemical engineering Mack A. Kinkeade from Berger’s lab at UVA supported biosurfactant extraction and purification.

PhD student Lixin Wang, also from 911��, assisted with sample testing.

Two civil engineering undergraduates, Phillip Christovaladi Vasilakopoulos and Rafferty Houghton, volunteered their time on the project, gaining critical research experience. Both graduated in May.

“This 4-VA project provided valuable research opportunities for students at multiple levels. Their involvement not only enriched their academic experiences but also helped build a strong pipeline of future researchers,” said Zhang.

Following a year of lab work, the team did prove their hypothesis—HFBI is a sustainable alternative to established air-entraining agents in concrete.

Zhang was then able to share their results with a variety of interested organizations including the American Concrete Institute, Brookhaven National Lab, and the Federal Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center.

Surface morphology and height cloud map of the three groups of samples under a microscope. The blue-purple coloring on the surface indicates pores. Photo provided

“These presentations at conferences and national labs helped us connect with industry partners and broadened the impact of our work,” she said.

Zhang sees the 4-VA experience as a success on many levels, including relationship building.

“The 4-VA@Mason funding was instrumental in launching a meaningful and sustained collaboration with Dr. Berger at UVA,” Zhang said. “Since the start of this project, we have co-developed and submitted 3-4 research proposals to National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and USDA over the past year, some of which were directly inspired by the findings of this 4-VA initiative.”

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Teaming up: College of Public Health and Athletics partner to support athletes holistically

Taylor Thomas — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 12:57:51 +0000

Teaming up: College of Public Health and Athletics partner to support athletes holistically Taylor Thomas Mon, 10/27/2025 - 08:57

A new partnership between the College of Public Health (CPH) and the Athletics Department is taking shape at 911��, starting with a shared commitment to boost nutrition support for student-athletes.

Photo by Rafael Suanes/911�� Athletics

“From the start, we saw an opportunity to merge two strengths at 911��: our expertise in public health and Athletics’ commitment to student well-being,” said Dean Melissa Perry of the College of Public Health. “This collaboration was part of the vision when we recruited Dr. Martin Binks, knowing his leadership could help connect nutrition science directly to the needs of our student-athletes.”

“At 911��, we believe in developing champions in every aspect of life, which means investing in the holistic well-being of our student-athletes,” said Marvin Lewis, assistant vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “This partnership with the College of Public Health reinforces that commitment by bringing expert support in nutrition, wellness, and education—helping our Patriots thrive in competition and beyond. We’re proud to build this model of collaboration and grateful to the College of Public Health leadership for their shared vision and partnership.”

Currently, the nutrition department is assisting Athletics as they hire a full-time registered dietitian, who will serve as both a direct resource for student-athletes as well as a preceptor for dietetics students completing supervised practice hours in the Graduate Program in Nutrition and Dietetics.

The department is also designing a new athlete-focused section of one of its most popular courses, NUTR 295: Fundamentals of Nutrition. The class will keep its general nutrition framework while folding in case studies and other content tailored to athletic performance, designed in consultation with coaches and trainers.

“Athletics is proactively supporting the whole student, not just their athletic performance. Our department shares that philosophy and is ready to support it,” said Martin Binks, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies (NFS) at CPH.

On the CPH side, for students enrolled in the MS in Nutrition’s Nutrition and Performance concentration, the partnership opens more doors for applied learning and collaboration. Internships and practicums with Athletics will place them alongside the university’s strength and conditioning staff, trainers, and teams.

Binks has joined the 911�� Athletics Medical Review Team, a strategically assembled advisory group tasked with evaluating and improving the standard of sports medicine care available to student-athletes. “It’s the first time the College of Public Health has had representation in that process,” Binks noted.

These initial steps lay the groundwork for broader connections between CPH and Athletics in the future. During a September CPH kickoff meeting, faculty and athletics leaders also discussed opportunities in social work and mental-health support, as well as immersive learning using virtual reality and augmented reality to enhance anatomy and physiology education. Additional plans include workshops and seminars on a range of wellness topics related to self-care, sleep, and stress management, as well as topics centered on leadership and life after student athletics.

Thumbnail photo by Ayman Rashid/Creative Services/911��.

In This Story

Martin Binks PhD, MBA

Melissa J. Perry, Sc.D., MHS, MBA

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Powerful community partnerships help combat public health challenges

Taylor Thomas — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 17:06:05 +0000

Powerful community partnerships help combat public health challenges Taylor Thomas Fri, 10/10/2025 - 13:06

The Mason and Partners (MAP) Clinics’ Empowered Communities program’s success is driven by dynamic partnerships between 911�� and community organizations that are transforming public health outcomes in underserved communities.

Initiatives convene networks of nurses, peer specialists, community health workers, and students to bring acute and chronic health care services, immunizations, school health exams, substance misuse treatment, mental health services, and more to low-income, uninsured, or refugee populations. For example, the Empowered Communities Opioid Project helps people involved with the justice system who struggle with opioid use disorders connect with health care providers and community resources.

Photo by Emily Roscher.

Empowered Communities programs exemplify how college-community alliances can directly improve highly targeted public health issues. These collaborations are foundational to delivering sustainable, person-centered care where it’s needed most. By combining academic expertise with on-the-ground community insight, these partnerships are creating scalable models for building healthier communities.

Prince William County and MAP Clinics partner on several initiatives, including the Jail Medication-Assisted Treatment Program, the Peer Internship Project, and Community MAT efforts. The collaboration is rooted in shared goals of expanding access to treatment, strengthening peer support services, and promoting recovery within justice-involved populations. Their remarkable collaboration was recognized with the Jack Wood Award for Town-Gown Relations in the category of Partnership Initiative.

“Partnerships like these are essential for building coordinated, comprehensive responses to the opioid epidemic, substance use, and behavioral health challenges in Prince William County, City of Manassas, and Manassas Park. By working together, we can leverage collective expertise, align resources, and deliver consistent, person-centered care across systems,” said Sara Wheeler, division manager of the Adult Behavioral Health and Recovery Services in the Prince William County Government.

Harnessing Tech Partners to Improve Health

Sri Vasireddy, co-founder and CEO of REAN Foundation, leads an organization dedicated to using technology to improve access, affordability, and efficiency in health care. Together, REAN and the MAP Clinics created Mason HealthLink, an AI companion that allows patients to self-manage their own care by connecting them with resources, practitioners, and updated care plans. Their partnership exemplifies the intersection of technology and health care.

“There is tremendous need for what we do and there's a lot that we need to put together. I am a technology entrepreneur, and I have little direct knowledge in health care,” said Vasireddy. "What I know comes from working with organizations and partnerships, meeting people, and learning about their communities’ needs. On the technology side, the technology people process aspects of building a platform. But we need nursing staff and community workers and volunteers to help answer is this contextualized, is this personalized? It’s not just one discipline. We need psychology, we need science, we need technology, we need business in terms of the operations."

These partnerships—between academic institutions, local governments, and technology innovators—are the foundation of Empowered Communities’ success. They demonstrate how collaboration across sectors can drive sustainable public health solutions and improve outcomes for underserved populations.

Over the past two years, the Empowered Communities has hosted a conference that served as a platform for these partners to showcase milestones and reaffirm their shared commitment to providing resources to those most in need.

“Gatherings like the Empowered Communities Conference foster connection, knowledge sharing, and inspiration across sectors. They provide a platform to highlight innovative practices, celebrate progress, and strengthen the collective commitment to recovery, equity, and community resilience,” said Wheeler.

Photo by Emily Roscher.

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911�� and Virginia Tech collaborate to build science policy connections

Katarina Benson — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:50:00 +0000

911�� and Virginia Tech collaborate to build science policy connections Katarina Benson Mon, 01/13/2025 - 13:50

Today, Virginia is one step closer to bridging the gap between science and policy—a critical relationship necessary to navigate a range of socio-technical issues including climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemics, and poverty. This connection was the result of a yearlong research project to identify U.S. and Virginia-based science policy programs that engage STEM-H scientists and engineers in science policy, with the goal of helping both elected officials and others access technical information to assist in decision making.

Adriana Bankston and K.L. Akerlof. Photo provided

This work was completed thanks to a coalition of faculty and students supported though a 4-VA@Mason grant. The team was led by K.L. Akerlof in 911��’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy and Todd Schenk, chair and associate professor in the Urban Affairs and Planning Program of the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech and director of the Science, Technology and Engineering in Policy Program.

“This funding supported our cross-institutional collaboration and ability to conduct baseline research and networking that have been fundamental to understanding how the landscape of science policy training programs is evolving across the United States,” Akerlof said.

The team created a database of U.S. science policy programs and conducted a case study of those in Virginia through surveys and interviews with their leaders, with the goal of advancing best practices for professional mentorship of early career researchers and building capacity for training researchers to engage in public policy. Akerlof and Schenk were assisted in the study by science policy expert Adriana Bankston; 911�� students Kelsey Mitchell, Kate Saylor and Aniyah Syl; and Kenneth Dewberry at Virginia Tech.

Following the yearlong collaboration, the results of their research have been developed and are featured on a new website—along with program blogs and a listserv—created to support this emerging network of science policy programs.

The results showed that the majority—57%—of U.S. science policy programs are state based. These programs include student organizations, government placements and fellowships, academic certificates, degrees, and other training. However, it was recognized that there is a limited ability to implement evidence-based approaches within these programs.

The team compared program outcomes from Virginia’s science policy programs with those described in academic literature. Academic and professional scholarship in science communication and public affairs suggests that curricula for engaging scientists and engineers should broadly cover communication and policy processes, which could be improved.

In addition, they found that training programs would benefit from evaluation models and measures, although the lack of consistent theoretical foundations across this highly multidisciplinary scholarship reduces their utility. It was concluded that a common framework, which includes shared terms and relationships, is needed to promote the growth of the field.

With the results of their analysis in hand, the team, including 911�� undergraduate student Aniyah Syl and PhD student Kelsey Mitchell, helped lead a state webinar on science policy programs featuring Virginia program leaders. Syl co-presented on the project at a Virginia Sea Grant Symposium which was also the topic of an American Geophysical Union e-lightning talk.

Master’s student Kate Saylor successfully defended her thesis on the Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering and Science (COVES) Policy Fellowship and subsequently presented her results to James Aylor, president of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

The first of two research articles based on the project has just been accepted by the journal Evidence & Policy. A second article has also been submitted for publication. Syl and Mitchell participated as co-authors on the publications.

The team is also in conversation with the leadership of the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine about the development of a new weeklong science policy program for undergraduate students from across the commonwealth’s public universities.

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Mechanical engineering students build motorized Vitruvian man for a School of Music performance

sbrown79 — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:23:35 +0000

Mechanical engineering students build motorized Vitruvian man for a School of Music performance sbrown79 Mon, 04/08/2024 - 16:23

In This Story

Dr. Lisa Billingham

Nathan Kathir

A group of 911�� mechanical engineering students are building a motorized Vitruvian man for a Center for the Arts (CFA) performance of "Flying to the Stars," a choral concert dedicated to the beginnings of flight from the time of Leonardo da Vinci to the exploration of space.

Team members Kevin Kuck (left) and David Gosselin working on their project in the Machine Shop. Photo provided.

Lisa Billingham, director of choral activities at the Dewberry Family School of Music, said she wanted the concert to be an immersive experience for the audience, and reached out to the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC) for help. There she connected with Nathan Kathir, a mechanical engineering professor, who shared the project idea with his students.

“This project is exciting because we are partnering with another unit at Mason outside of CEC,” said Kathir, who is the director of senior capstone projects for mechanical engineering students.

“There is already a lot of art involved in engineering, and this collaboration between music and our department will be very inspiring for future students,” said Kathir.

The four students assigned to the project are working in the Machine Shop on the SciTech Campus and call themselves The Polymaths.

“We were thinking about the show’s theme of Leonardo da Vinci and we knew that the Vitruvian man is kind of his staple,” said Mellany Ayala, a senior mechanical engineering student. “I drew a very rough sketch of the Vitruvian man inside a gyroscopic figure, and it ended up being what our team decided to build.”

The device, which will hang from center stage throughout the show, has two spotlights as well as projections that will shine down on the students as they perform.

“We’re aiming for something similar to the immersive Van Gogh experience in D.C.,” said Kevin Kuck, a senior mechanical engineering student and the team leader.

The Polymaths met once a week with Billingham and her student research assistant and choir member, Ross Calvin, to discuss the project and work on a proposal for funding. They applied for and received a grant from Mason’s University Life.

Billingham also created a QR code fundraiser on Facebook and received anonymous donations, she said.

“Hopefully these cool project collaborations keep happening in the future. It was really refreshing to work with people from CVPA; they were so easygoing and in such happy spirits,” said Ayala.

The Polymaths worked with the CFA’s electrician and did a run-through a week before the performance. They will also give a presentation about the project on Capstone Day to showcase the final product.

“This project has been one of the more hands-on experiences I’ve had at Mason so far,” said Kuck. “Being able to build something with my own hands was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed seeing it go from an idea on a page to something real. I think that's been the most satisfying part for me.”

During the concert, students will perform Jocelyn Hagen's “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci” and “Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine” by Eric Whitacre. A piece by alum Peter Kadeli will also be performed.

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Strengthening global partnerships: Professor Amira Roess collaborates with international researchers to strengthen pathogen discovery

Mary Cunningham — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 22:06:19 +0000

Strengthening global partnerships: Professor Amira Roess collaborates with international researchers to strengthen pathogen discovery Mary Cunningham Fri, 01/26/2024 - 17:06

In This Story

Amira Roess, PhD, MPH

Since the first trade routes were established thousands of years ago, pathogens traveled along them spreading infectious diseases from once-isolated parts of the world. Today, global interconnectedness continues to rapidly spread infectious diseases across the world, transcending state, national, and continental boundaries. Consequently, the importance of understanding and preventing the transmission of pathogens relies on global cooperation and necessitates collaborative efforts among researchers.

Amira Roess, 911�� professor of public health, has been collaborating with colleagues in Bangladesh since 2002 on topics such as the impact of antibiotic use in animals on human health and the burden of pneumococcus, once a leading cause of neonatal infectious disease deaths in low-and-middle-income countries and once a leading cause of pneumonia in the United States. Pneumococcus infections have significantly decreased due to the introduction of vaccines globally.

Drs. Nicol Janecko, Senjuti Saha, and Amira Roess

In 2018, colleagues from the United Kingdom joined the U.S.-Bangladesh collaboration when the team, led by Roess, received a $1.2 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. With the grant, the team studied campylobacter, the leading bacterial cause of diarrheal diseases in the U.S. and Europe, which causes an estimated 400 million infections per year globally.

“Collaboration across countries is critical to learn about and reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Universities play a crucial role in maintaining long-term global collaborations that withstand the constant changes in political alliances between nations,” said Roess. “Studying rapidly emerging infectious diseases requires that scientists from across the world work together and share data and technology. By uniting our efforts, we can protect each other against the spread of diseases, creating a global shield that transcends borders and protects the health and well-being of all."

In 2023, Nicol Janecko from the Quadram Institute in the United Kingdom and Roess received a £50,000 Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council United States Partnering Award to expand existing collaboration between researchers in the UK and the U.S. In January 2024, Janecko and Senjuti Saha visited Mason’s SciTech campus to share their knowledge and learn from other Mason researchers focused on discovering more about the transmission of infectious diseases.

Saha and Janecko spoke with Mason faculty and student researchers about “Applying metagenomics to understanding complex transmission dynamics of zoonotic pathogens.” Saha spoke about the Child Health Research Foundation’s research and outreach on meningitis in Bangladesh and Janecko shared research about campylobacter.

Saha and Janecko also met with Mason students and faculty who have common research interests, including Professor Ginny Espina, Professor Iosif Vaisman, Mason’s Institute for Biohealth innovation Executive Director Amy Adams, Professor Patrick Gillevet, and Associate Professor Aarthi Narayanan. The visiting researchers also toured Mason’s Biomedical Research Laboratory, Mason’s MicroBiome Analysis Center, Mason's Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, and Mason’s other public health laboratory facilities.

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A Contemporary Composer Fuels a New Mason Collaboration

Emily Schneider — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 19:19:10 +0000

A Contemporary Composer Fuels a New Mason Collaboration Emily Schneider Tue, 03/07/2023 - 14:19

In This Story

Lawrence M. Jackson

Dr. William Lake, Jr.

Growing up in the Black church, Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Concert Bands, Dr. William Lake, Jr., deeply understands the power of music and movement.

After hearing Come Sunday by composer Omar Thomas, Lake dreamed of bringing this work to life with movement, bringing together the 911�� Bands and the School of Dance. Working on such a project would not only expand his students' musical vocabulary but also create an authentic and expansive cultural experience for the Mason community. Associate Professor of Dance, Lawrence M. Jackson, had similar experiences, growing up in “the southern Black church, a very charismatic church” and reflected on his own upbringing and research into African diasporic dance forms. This collaboration came to life onstage in the Center for the Arts on Mason’s Fairfax Campus on February 28.

Students from Mason's School of Dance performing with the Mason Wind Symphony to Omar Thomas's Come Sunday on February 28. Photo by Will Martinez.

As a composer, arranger, and educator, Omar Thomas works with some of the most respected names in composition and education, including multiple GRAMMY-winning composer and bandleader Maria Schneider, Ken Schaphorst, and Frank Carlberg. Born to Guyanese parents in Brooklyn, New York, Thomas pursued music diligently, completing his Master of Music at Berklee College of Music and becoming the first Black composer to ever receive the National Bandmasters Association/Revelli Award for Come Sunday. His compositions are described as “thought-provoking, multi-layered masterpiece[s],” which made embarking on a partnership around this piece even more exciting for Jackson and Lake.

“I really hold dear my experiences as a musician in the Black church (I started playing the piano for my children’s choir around age 6) to my musical upbringing. Since I know gospel and other sacred music intimately, I can infuse the music with the extra nuances that can’t be described using notation but are true to the style. This piece has been performed by many great ensembles across the country… however, there hasn’t been a performance that centers movement and these great sounds.” said Lake.

Professor Jackson’s career often includes collaborations, a hallmark of his practice at other universities before coming to Mason in the fall of 2022. While the invitation to work with Dr. Lake at the end of the fall semester was a surprise, it also felt reassuring to find this partnership so early on and to begin exploring what this experience would mean for Mason students from both the School of Dance and the Dewberry School of Music.

A student from the School of Dance smiles at the audience during the performance of "Come Sunday" by Omar Thomas, performed by the Mason Wind Symphony. Photo by Will Martinez.

Building a vocabulary for the dancers was an opportunity for Jackson’s students to explore the storied culture of the Black church's sacred space and develop an understanding of the types of movement vocabulary that would reflect the energy and history of these spaces and traditions. From watching Alvin Ailey’s Revelations and clips of a particular scene from the movie Blues Brothers, Jackson offered context to his creative process, “blending contemporary dance forms, African diasporic dance forms, and pedestrian movement that is derived from the Black church, all merged into an amalgamation of movement vocabulary uniquely designed for this work.”

“The Mason School of Dance students are excited to work with the musicians,” said Jackson. “These dancers, most of them, if not all of them, have never had the experience of working alongside a symphony or a band. I’m excited for them to experience the unique energy of the symphony and adapt in the moment.” All of the dancers performing in this piece are seniors in their final semester with the School of Dance, which made Jackson that much more eager to share this experience with them before they embark on the next stage of their careers.

The dancers are not the only ones expanding their understanding and skills with this performance. “The jazz and gospel musical vocabulary is foreign to my students,” said Dr. Lake.

“It’s inspiring to see how invested our students are in something that they realize is new and different. My hope is that through music and collaborations, my students have a gateway to appreciate cultures different than their own,” Lake adds.

Dancers from Mason's School of Dance perform Professor Lawrence M. Jackson's original choreography to Come Sunday by Omar Thomas, performed by the Mason Wind Symphony on February 28. Photo by Will Martinez.

Unlike most concerts, the Wind Symphony will be moved further upstage than normal and without the acoustic shell to allow for the choreography to be presented downstage. This has resulted in the assistance of the Center for the Arts Artistic Staff to add audio, lighting, and stage-managing support. This unique concert has been chosen as one of the Mason Arts at Home features that will be captured via six cameras in the hall and even GoPros! Dr. Lake shared, “I’m jealous of the audience, I won’t get to experience the concert from their vantage point – I’m thankful that the School of Music and the College of Visual and Performing Arts have agreed to record, edit, and professionally mix our hard work”.

The duo is optimistic that this is just the beginning of collaborations between the Mason School of Dance and the Dewberry School of Music.

You can watch an in-depth interview with Jackson and Lake on the College of Visual and Performing Arts YouTube channel, including behind-the-scenes footage of rehearsals leading up to the performance.

The Wind Symphony’s performance from February 28, 2023, including Come Sunday featuring the School of Dance, will be available to watch from March 28 through April 28, 2023 exclusively through Mason Arts at Home.