George Mason University is driving rapid AI adoption and advancements across the commonwealth
As the largest and most diverse university in Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., George Mason University is leading the future of inclusive artificial intelligence (AI) and developing responsible models for AI research, education, workforce development, and community engagement within a modern university.
As AI reshapes industries, George Mason combines fearless ideas that harness the technology’s boundless potential to address the world’s grand challenges, while creating guardrails based on informed, transdisciplinary research around ethical governance, regulatory oversight, and social impact.
Led by the university’s inaugural vice president and chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) Amarda Shehu with an AI Visioning Task Force, George Mason is reimagining operational excellence in every facet of the university.
George Mason is building a nexus of collaboration and resources on campus, throughout the region with our vast partnerships, and across the state, called AI2Nexus.
As a model for universities, AI2Nexus is based on four key principles: Integrating AI to transform education, research, and operations; Inspiring with AI to advance higher education and learning for the future workforce; Innovating with AI to lead in responsible AI-enabled discovery and advancements across disciplines; and Impacting with AI to drive partnerships and community engagement for societal adoption and change.
AI infrastructures are a national security and human safety issue, Mason professor says
Through his Minerva Project, J.P. Singh, Schar School of Policy and Government, wants to understand “how preferences or interests from society, business, or other government actors shape policy in terms of what countries are doing with their national AI infrastructures.”
Integrate AI: Advancing Operations with PatriotAI
George Mason is reimagining operational excellence, equipping all students, faculty, and staff with access to hundreds of cutting-edge Gen AI models through the revolutionary PatriotAI platform.
Through a suite of six specialized AI tools, called agents, PatriotAI offers secure, university-managed access to large language models that aid academic work, studies and student life. Each agent was co-developed with members of our community, including the AI Visioning Taskforce, and they represent our first lineup of AI tools designed to enhance learning, instruction, research, and administration across campus.
Inspire AI: Designing Curriculum for the Future Workforce
George Mason is equipping students with AI skills as a leader in developing AI-ready talent ready to compete and new ideas for critical sectors like cybersecurity, public health, and government. In the classroom, the university is developing courses and curriculums to better prepare our students for a rapidly changing world.
In Spring of 2025, the university launched a cross-disciplinary graduate course, AI: Ethics, Policy, and Society. In Fall 2025, the university is debuting a new undergraduate course open to all students, AI4All: Understanding and Building Artificial Intelligence. A master's in computer science and machine learning, a master of science in AI (fall 2025), an Ethics and AI minor for undergraduates of all majors, and a Responsible AI Graduate Certificate are more examples of Mason’s mission to innovate AI education. New academies are also in development.
READ: George Mason launches Virginia’s first public master’s degree in AI
Research using AI to track Amazon rainforest species produces landmark results
George Mason students receive real-world, hands-on experience with AI. An example is the team of undergraduate researchers that worked under researcher David Luther to analyze acoustic recordings from the tropics to identify animals. Hear more about Luther's tracking research.
Fuse at Mason Square fosters collaboration and innovation by creating spaces for students and researchers to work side-by-side with industry leaders. View the space.
Innovate with AI: Building a Responsible Ecosystem
George Mason’s ecosystem of AI teaching, cutting-edge research, and incubators for entrepreneurs foster interdisciplinary collaborations and substantiate a virtuous cycle between foundational and user-inspired AI research within ethical frameworks.
The university hosts workshops, conferences, and public forums to shape the discourse on AI ethics and governance while forging deep and meaningful partnerships with industry, government, and community organizations to co-develop impactful AI technologies for a richly diverse global society.
George Mason partners with tech leaders like Google and Amazon Web Services to offer certifications in data analytics, cybersecurity, and cloud computing, enhancing student expertise.
LISTEN to Access to Excellence Podcast - EP 46: Missy Cummings: Artificial intelligence is artificial and not intelligent
Impact AI: Driving Community Engagement and Adoption
George Mason is tackling the world’s most urgent challenges with a purpose and vision for societal change. The university’s AI-in-Government Council is a partnership between academia, public-sector tech providers, and government. It is a trusted resource for advancing AI approaches, governance frameworks, and robust guardrails to guide the development and deployment of responsible AI in government. Leading experts and faculty also participate in statewide efforts.
George Mason collaborates with other universities across the country to bring together experts and students to advance research. Gentopia, with North Carolina State University, George Mason University, and Carnegie Mellon University, aims to push the boundaries of natural language processing. Gentopia lets researchers develop and share tool-augmented natural language models and discover new ways of using them for various tasks and domains.
Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin has appointed Jamil N. Jaffer, the founder and executive director of the National Security Institute (NSI) at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School, to his new AI Task Force, which will work with legislators to regulate rapidly advancing AI technology. Learn about Jaffer's appointment to the AI Task Force.
LISTEN to Access to Excellence Podcast — EP 59: Jamil Jaffer: Cybersecurity and the global threats of tomorrow
News and Spotlights
Photos From the AI in Education for Virginia Summit
George Mason University recently held its inaugural AI in Education for Virginia Summit. The event was the first of its kind, focused on integrating artificial intelligence in education to improve educational outcomes, enhance learning experiences, and shape the future of education in Virginia.
The in-person event featured presentations from industry experts and statewide leaders on the transformative potential of AI in education. Attendees learned from their peers in dynamic and engaging presentations from educators, researchers, and students showcasing innovative uses of AI in the classroom and beyond.
Photos by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding
Faculty leading in classroom experiences and research on campus
Missy Cummings
Professor, College of Engineering and Computing
Co-Director, Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC)
First American Bank Chair
One of the U.S. Navy's first female fighter pilots, Cumming is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellow and recently served as the senior safety advisor to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
J.P. Singh
Professor of Global Commerce and Policy, Schar School of Policy and Government Co-Director, Center for Advancing Human-Machine Partnership
Singh was awarded a three-year, $1.39 million grant from the Department of Defense’s esteemed Minerva Research Initiative to study the economic and cultural determinants for global AI infrastructures—and describe their implications for national and international security.
Jesse Kirkpatrick
Research Assistant Professor, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Acting Director, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy
Co-Director, Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC)
Kirkpatrick is an International Security Fellow at New America and serves as a consultant for numerous organizations. His research focuses on the ethics of peace and security, emphasizing the ethical, social, and policy implications of emerging technologies.
Janusz Wojtusiak
Professor, College of Public Health
Director, Machine Learning and Inference Laboratory
Wojtusiak’s expertise spans machine learning, health informatics, and the use of artificial intelligence in clinical decision support and knowledge discovery in medical data. He is interested in developing algorithms that derive usable models from complex health data to predict patient and population outcomes.
Thema Monroe-White
Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Policy, Schar School of Policy and Government and College of Engineering and Computing
As an interdisciplinary scholar, Monroe-White’s work explores the systemic biases that affect the workforce and educational journeys of racially minoritized groups within the STEM fields. She is a fellow of the Institute in Critical Quantitative and Mixed Methodologies and served a three-year term as a special government employee data scientist on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Technical Advisory Committee.
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PatriotAI
The PatriotAI platform represents the first major outcome of our strategic partnership with Microsoft and Cloudforce, established earlier this year to begin a meaningful and thoughtful integration of artificial intelligence capabilities into university operations, starting with targeted academic and student services.
- PatriotChat, a general-purpose conversational assistant for everyone at George Mason. Ask PatriotChat just about anything and get reliable and insightful answers while ensuring your privacy and security.
- DocuMate, a scholarly document analysis assistant for everyone at George Mason, is designed to summarize documents, extract their key concepts, help formulate research questions, and conduct cross-document analyses.
- PatriotPal, a virtual assistant for students, providing accurate and helpful information about administrative procedures, academic policies, and student services at George Mason.
- NourishNet, a resource connector for student food insecurity that offers compassionate guidance on food access programs, whether on campus or in the community, all while maintaining a stigma-free experience.
- CourseMate, a student learning assistant that helps students understand lecture content, analyze research articles, interpret textbook materials, and prepare for exams.
- SyllaBright, a course design assistant that helps faculty develop and refine educational materials including syllabi, learning objectives, planning assessments, and adapting content for multilingual contexts.
As we expand AI access across our community, we have established guiding principles for the safe use of these technologies, with specific guidance for instructors, researchers, students, and staff currently in development. We are committed to providing these tools in a manner that ensures data privacy and security while supporting our diverse community.
The PatriotAI platform is intentionally designed as an experimental platform with four primary goals:
- Democratize access to AI tools across our diverse campus
- Promote digital literacy in an AI-driven world
- Foster innovation in teaching, learning, and research
- Enhance productivity in academic and administrative functions
AI at George Mason: In the Media
GMU to launch Virginia’s first public master’s program in AI (Northern VA Magazine)
Analyzing Status of Global AI Infrastructure (Video: The Brand Called You)
George Mason opens $254M hub as Virginia aims to draw in more tech (Washington Post)
Rep. Don Beyer wanted to understand AI, so he enrolled at George Mason (Virginia Public Media)
Missy Cummings Takes AI to New Heights at George Mason University (Northern Virginia Magazine)
Virginia Activates its Artificial Intelligence Task Force (Government Technology)
George Mason opens $254M hub as Virginia aims to draw in more tech (Washington Post)
