Mason students presented the results of the Summer Impact research projects at the MIX in August 2019. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services.
The Undergraduate Education Office of George Mason University recently announced the 2020 winners of the Provost’s Summer Team Impact Projects. These faculty-led projects highlight innovative curricular ideas that enhance cross-unit, multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate curriculum development activities, or are tied directly to a Mason Impact signature program: research and creative activities, civic engagement, global education, or entrepreneurship.
The Faculty and Curricular Activities Committee, in collaboration with a team of peer reviewers, evaluated 19 submissions and selected eight projects to fund. These projects represent an impressive array of collaborations across colleges and schools aiming to create meaningful, experiential learning opportunities. Projects are led by at least two faculty members with support from additional faculty members and/or doctoral students. The faculty team, with support from the Office of Student Scholarship, Creative Activities, and Research (OSCAR), will hire six to ten undergraduate students to actively engage with the project throughout the summer.
The projects include:
- Building a Virginia Legislative Policy Database: Robert McGrath (Schar School of Policy and Government), Mahdi Hashemi (Volgenau School of Engineering), and Lucas Núñez (Schar School of Policy and Government).
- Building an Acoustic and Articulatory Corpus of French as an Additional Language: Vincent Chanethom (College of Humanities and Social Sciences) and Harim Kwon (College of Humanities and Social Sciences).
- Development and Evaluation of Electronic Cigarette Counter-Marketing: Matthew Rossheim (College of Health and Human Services) and Xiaoquan Zhao (College of Humanities and Social Sciences).
- Dying Alone: Social Isolation among Older People in the United States and Japan: Megumi Inoue (College of Health and Human Services), Naoru Koizumi (Schar School of Policy and Government), Emily Ihara (College of Health and Human Services), and Cortney Hughes Rinker (College of Humanities and Social Sciences).
- Ecotoxicology of Microplastics in the Potomac River Watershed: Effects on Aquatic Organisms, Mechanisms of Fragmentation, and Vectors of Micropollutants and Microbial Pathogens: Amy Fowler (College of Science), Benoit van Aken (College of Science), Scott Glaberman (College of Science), Jennifer Salerno (College of Science), and Gregory Foster (College of Science).
- FEWS: Food-Energy-Water Solutions for Rural, Low Income Communities: Jennifer Sklarew (College of Science), Viviana Maggioni (Volgenau School of Engineering), and Constance Gewa (College of Health and Human Services).
- The Mason Student-Run Venture (SRV) Project: Karen Livingston (Office of Entrepreneurship and innovation) and Heidi Lawrence (College of Humanities and Social Sciences).
- The Well-being of Social Justice and Human Rights College Student Activists at the Washington Metropolitan Area: Cher Chen (College of Humanities and Social Sciences), Xiaomei Cai (College of Humanities and Social Sciences), and Graziella McCarron (College of Humanities and Social Sciences).
To see the outcome from 2019 Summer Team Impact Projects, visit the Mason Impact YouTube site. Proposals for 2021 Summer Team Impact Projects are due Nov. 20, 2020. Details can be found on the Mason Impact website.