Paola Duran

George Mason University has launched its Grand Challenge Initiative (GCI), a comprehensive research framework backed by an initial five-year, $15 million investment. The initiative will align university resources, faculty expertise, and educational programs around six interconnected solution areas addressing what George Mason President Gregory Washington describes as “humanity’s ultimate grand challenge”—securing a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous future.

George Mason University has launched Mason Career Academy, a new online learning resource that is free for current students, faculty, and staff to develop new skills, and is available to displaced workers, including federal workers and contractors in the region, for a small registration fee. Mason Career Academy offers access to more than 90 online micro-credential courses and industry-recognized certifications in fields.

In February, George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy (CEBCP) within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted its 12th congressional briefing at the U.S. Capitol, focused on “Preventing Gun Violence.”

George Mason University ranked among the top 5 in Virginia across all 25 categories in the engineering, law, nursing, and policy programs in which it was included in the latest U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Program rankings.

The intersection of art and technology has long been a space for innovation, creativity, and exploration. At George Mason’s Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) located within the College of Engineering and Computing, this connection has taken center stage with the Integrating Art and Tech Project.

Emergency management training doesn’t usually involve game controllers or artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, but at George Mason University, faculty and students are redefining what it means to prepare for crises. Through cutting-edge, AI-augmented games, they’re transforming complex challenges into interactive learning experiences that build skills and resilience.

A team from Southern University at New Orleans came to Northern Virginia this past summer for a program that paired aspiring scientists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving institutions with George Mason experts in Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis (CINA) Center.

George Mason University is Virginia's leading university for value, upward mobility and internships, and ranked in the top 25 nationally for innovation according to U.S. News & World Report's Best Colleges 2025 released today.