Access to Excellence podcast

Emergent Ventures, which looks for big and unique ideas, has raised $60 million and funded 200 projects. Mason economist and co-founder Tyler Cowen says the program grants are “something you can win that’s not about connections.” Push ideas, he said. “Make the world tell you no.”

Host Dr. Gregory Washington speaks with Ed Maibach, director of Mason's Center for Climate Change Communication about overcoming misinformation about climate change dangers.

Host and Mason President Dr. Gregory Washington speaks with Mason epidemiologist and public health expert Saskia Popescu about what she has experienced on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

How could the U.S. have improved its response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Mason president Gregory Washington hosts CHHS epidemiologist, Amira Roess, PhD MPH, as she breaks down the many factors impacting the nation's response and recovery.

In the most recent episode of the Access to Excellence podcast, President Gregory Washington joined Wendi Manuel-Scott, a history professor in the School of Integrative Studies, and Shernita Parker, an assistant vice president for Human Resources at Mason, via Zoom to discuss the work being done by the university’s Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force.

How are anti-racism efforts building on college campuses? How will Mason affirm its core values and mission of inclusion? President Gregory Washington speaks with Wendi Manuel-Scott and Shernita Parker, co-directors of Mason's Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Task Force about the university's commitment to be a national leader in this dialogue.

In this fascinating conversation, President Gregory Washington speaks with Kevin Clark, director of original animation for preschool programming at Netflix, and retiring professor in the Learning Technologies Division in George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development, about how technology and economics are helping fuel the rich entertainment content highlighting people of color, and how that programming can be a conduit for anti-racism efforts.

“It’s a dream job because I get to create content,” Clark said. “I get to be involved in what young people and their families see, especially at the preschool level. This is some of the first media they are exposed to besides books and stories that their parents and caregivers communicate to them, so we have to get it right.”

On Jan. 22, Mason President Gregory Washington spoke with Mason scientists Lance Liotta and Virginia Espina, who head the university’s effort to push the boundaries of technologies that are keeping its three university campuses safe from COVID-19. That includes a rapid-result saliva test, and development of an antibody test that can track a body’s response to the virus and vaccine.

Fighting climate change is a global imperative, and the consequences of inaction could be dire. But Mason's Andrew Light, who helped negotiate the Paris Agreement on climate, tells Mason President Gregory Washington that for the go-getters, opportunity awaits.