innovative classes

In spring 2025, students in EVPP 480 Sustainability in Action gave a crucial boost to Chesapeake Bay oysters by constructing oyster reef balls where the bivalves can attach, grow, and develop into natural reef structures.

Christopher Kardambikis never set out to create work that would sit behind glass or live in private collections. Instead, he found his voice and purpose through publishing zines, artist books, and prints—things people could hold, trade, collect, and care about without needing a trust fund.

Four George Mason students in the aviation flight training and management minor took to the skies recently for a solo flight, the final step in completing requirements for the program.

Historical dramas may be nothing new to the theater, but an original opera based on a landmark Supreme Court Civil Rights case? Rick Davis knew this was something different. After learning that Virginia Opera was planning to stage their new opera, Loving v. Virgina—based on the historic Supreme Court case striking down a Virginia law that banned interracial marriage—Davis seized the unique opportunity for his students. 

George Mason professor Celso Ferreira recently redesigned his Flood Hazard Engineering and Adaptation course to work with community partners to deliver real projects as part of the Institute for a Sustainable Earth’s (ISE’s) NSF Accelerating Research Translation (ART) Seed Translational Research Project (STRP) Program.

Led by Associate Professor Jinwei Ye, George Mason University’s Imaging and Vision Lab pioneers breakthroughs in computer vision, computational photography, digital content creation, and immersive technologies—offering students hands-on experience with state-of-the-art imaging systems such as a new Light Stage and Pixel Cube.

The new College of Visual and Performing Arts special topics course AVT 496 focuses on furniture design and is offered through the university’s School of Art. As a part of the course, the students will tour the National Gallery of Art and put what they’ve learned to practice by identifying and recommending ways to create a more welcoming environment for people to experience the art.

Assistant Professor Tanvir Arafin's course on transportation security led George Mason students to excel in the National Transportation Cybersecurity Competition, showcasing the effectiveness of integrating real-world challenges into academic curricula.

For the past few weeks, these George Mason students developed policy memos based on various socioeconomic and environmental issues facing Northern Virginia and together worked in groups to develop recommendations for addressing them. But now their audience is far more formidable: Virginia State Senator Stella Pekarsky.

In February, George Mason students in a publication design course had the opportunity to design book covers for a novel that is being published by the university’s Stillhouse Press, an independent small publisher affiliated with the English Department.