Category: News

George Mason and Virginia Tech 4-VA Team Studies Wastewater Treatment Systems

One of the most pressing issues in human and ecological health is the abundance of poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and phthalate esters (PAEs) in our ecosystem — two classes of synthetic chemicals known as ‘forever chemicals.’ In addition to their destructive nature affecting wildlife, soil, and agriculture, they are also responsible for causing human health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, fertility issues, and cancer.

Furst

While scientists worldwide are racing to learn more about how to combat PFAS and PAEs in a variety of settings, Kirin Emlet Furst*, who was previously an Assistant Professor in George Mason’s Civil, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Department, was focused on PFAS AND PAEs in water treatment and wastewater reuse. (Furst has since moved on to join the faculty at 4-VA partner school Virginia Tech.)

Furst reasoned that wastewater treatment facilities are a major avenue through which PFAS and PAEs can contaminate drinking water and air, as many of these compounds are insufficiently removed by common treatment processes. Furst specifically wanted to explore the air-water interface. PFAS have a high surface activity which results in their attraction to the air-water interface. And while PAEs have a lower surface activity, they might be attracted to other materials that accumulate at the air-water interface. Research in full-scale treatment systems was needed to understand these interactions.

The 4-VA@George Mason Advisory Board recognized the importance of this research and awarded Furst’s 4-VA proposal, “The role of the air-water interface in breakthrough of PFAS and phthalate esters during wastewater treatment.”

Joining Furst in the research was 4-VA partner Zhiwu (Drew) Wang, a specialist in wastewater treatment and biological processes at Virginia Tech. Furst also tapped Mason graduate student Meghana Kuppa who was already developing analytical methods to measure PFAS and PAEs. Ethan Gasper, an undergraduate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, assisted Kuppa with much of the bench work on the project.

Kuppa collected water samples and scum, which is the material that accumulates at the air-water interface, from process unit tanks at a wastewater treatment plant to measure the target contaminants and water quality parameters known to impact partitioning behavior. Their goal? Quantify the role of the air-water interface in enabling breakthrough of PFAS and PAEs in wastewater treatment facilities and identify potential engineering solutions.

Kuppa Selects Samples from Wastewater Treatment Facility

Although developing the complex methodologies for the project was a challenge, several important outcomes were realized. First, high levels of multiple PFAS were found in the scum from both the primary and secondary treatment processes. The team concluded that the PFAS levels in the primary scum samples, especially, were much higher than they could accurately measure due to interference from particulates and oily substances in the method. However, analysis of the secondary determined any PFAS present during secondary treatment is more likely to be found in the treated water and may also contaminate the facility air due to aeration in these tanks.

While fewer PAEs were found in the scum samples, Kuppa’s experiments show that phthalates can sorb to organic material in the scum. This sorption may contribute to the difficulty in removing phthalates during wastewater treatment.

Furst reflects on the research and the 4-VA funding noting, “The 4-VA award empowered my group to pursue this new line of research and helped to support Kuppa’s innovative thesis projects. Plus, now we have preliminary data to pursue NSF and other high-impact external funding.”

George Mason University’s Younsung Kim to Lead State 4-VA Cross-Institutional Course Redesign and Experiential Learning Project

Younsung Kim

In a first-of-its-kind statewide program, the 4-VA partnership of ten higher education institutions in Virginia has awarded George Mason University Professor Younsung Kim a grant to conduct collaborative multidisciplinary research with colleagues at partner 4-VA schools. The results will then be implemented as learning modules into undergraduate courses.

Although 4-VA has awarded Collaborative Research Grants for more than ten years, the grants have been funded separately by each institution. This new 4-VA effort is the first to be supported collectively by the statewide partnership and has added a course redesign and experiential learning element. The project will include faculty members from George Mason, Virginia Tech, and the University of Virginia with a focus to grow 4-VA’s collaborative research success.

Specifically, Kim’s proposal, “Designing Experiential Learning Modules for Stormwater Management and Climate Adaptation via Spatial Analysis Tools,” plans to use spatial mapping tools to incorporate appropriate green infrastructure to best reduce the effects of stormwater runoff. From there, the team will migrate the information into environmental policy coursework at their respective institutions, and plans to ultimately make the content available statewide.

Kim, a member of George Mason’s Department of Environmental Science and Policy for 15 years, will collaborate with UVA’s B. Brian Park, professor in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Systems & Information Engineering, and Mintai Kim in VT’s College of Architecture, Arts, and Design. Also joining the team is George Mason PhD student Colin Chadduck.

In reviewing the proposal, 4-VA evaluators noted Kim’s proposition as a standout, citing a number of key factors, including ‘addresses an important topic affecting the state and beyond,’ ‘inherent interdisciplinary approach incorporating science policy, data science techniques, and architecture,’ and ‘lends itself to creative cross-school collaborations — and the experiential module will be incredibly useful.’

“I am delighted and honored to accept this award as we work together across the commonwealth to raise the bar for our faculty and students studying this important work,” says Kim. “As climate change is increasing faster than climate prediction models have suggested, it is critical that we place more emphasis on integrating green infrastructure in climate vulnerable regions. Together, we can tackle this critical challenge.”

In addition to George Mason, other schools in the 4-VA collective include Christopher Newport University, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, Radford University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech, and the College of William and Mary. 4-VA was established in 2010 upon the recommendation of the Governor’s Higher Education Commission and the Governor’s Commission on Economic Development and Job Creation to encourage collaboration in both education and research, leverage the strengths of each institution, and reduce working in silos.

State Working Group Chair Matt Banfield of UVA explains, “4-VA has a long track record of success with the Collaborative Research Grants program and we are excited to expand this model to support course redesign initiatives. 4-VA collaborative projects have built bridges between our institutions, nurtured hundreds of faculty and student relationships, provided valuable opportunities for experiential learning and hands-on research, and jumpstarted novel research projects that have gone on to receive national and international attention. We are looking forward to supporting this project proposed by Professor Kim and her team.”

Kim’s Research Team Joins State 4-VA Meeting

Examining the Consequences of Land Ownership in Rural Virginia

Van Sant

Assistant Professor Levi Van Sant’s work in George Mason’s School of Integrative Studies focuses on environmental (in)justice surrounding food, agriculture, and land use. Previously, Van Sant has analyzed how land ownership affects the ways that racial and class dynamics of the past are reproduced in the present, focusing on the coastal United States South. More recently, however, he was interested in the ramifications of land ownership closer to home — in “the backyard” of two 4-VA partner universities, George Mason and James Madison.

Van Sant wanted to apply an existing model which suggests that higher rates of absentee and corporate-owned timberland in rural Alabama are associated with lower quality-of-life indicators such as income and education. It has also been observed that large landowners hold disproportionate political and economic power in rural communities.

Van Sant wanted to examine land use and ownership in the Shenandoah Valley and Middlesex County in Virginia. He also saw an opportunity to provide students at both schools a chance to hone their analytical skills — as a first reading of land use and ownership records often only tell part of the story. He wanted the students to research the differences in data management between municipalities, recognize the difficulties in accessing information in rural counties, and understand how land ownership has repercussions for low-income and minoritized communities.

Van Sant applied for and received a 4-VA@Mason grant for this research and set his team to work. Jeremy Campbell, the Associate Director for Strategic Engagement at George Mason’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth; and Case Watkins, Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice Studies at James Madison agreed to volunteer their time to help coordinate the project.

The project centered on two partnerships with communities for whom patterns of land use and ownership are crucially important: small farmers in the Shenandoah Valley, which was overseen by Watkins, and the Indigenous Tribal Nations of the Middle Peninsula Region, which was facilitated by Campbell.

“We produced a large database of land ownership records for the two study regions in rural Virginia. From this database we created a series of maps that represent trends in land ownership across both study regions. We also compiled a set of maps to contextualize and present this work. The datasets and maps are significant resources for further analysis,” noted Van Sant. “This grant provided invaluable support for further developing our research methods; creating a solid dataset for on-going research; and, most importantly, building analysis and tools for future community engagement.”

Several students were involved with the project. George Mason graduate student Tyler Grant received funding for his work handling Geographic Information System analysis and data organization. Undergraduate students Yonna Angeles, Erin MacMonigle, and Jacquelyn Batchelor received funding as mapping assistants, as well as Tamar Gorgadze, who acted as a research assistant.

At JMU, three students also worked on the project — Gina Bigo analyzed land ownership trends, Madelynn Warren looked at county land use, and Ally Windham considered the historical overview and analysis.

George Mason and Virginia Tech Team Up to Improve Online Searches

Although algorithms can make online searches faster and easier, they can also be fraught with dangerous biases. Research has shown that image search engines can exhibit discrimination against females or people of color, and bias is also found in online searches in employment recruiting and the healthcare field.

While efforts have been made to unveil and tackle fairness and bias glitches in search and recommendation systems, two key issues have been largely overlooked: Existing research treats different types of bias in isolation, resulting in specialized methods that are difficult to generalize; and, they focus on bias in the static environment leaving the dynamic nature of the search and recommendation process unexplored.

Zhu

Ziwei Zhu, Assistant Professor in George Mason University’s College of Engineering and Computing, wanted to demystify the underlying correlation of different types of bias and develop new multi-task and graph learning algorithms to support fair and unbiased searches and recommendations. Using this information, he wanted to create and release open-source software on this subject for the research community, significantly advancing trustworthiness of AI techniques. Finally, Zhu was intent on ensuring the debias system would be sustained long term.

Zhu enlisted the help of 4-VA partner Dawei Zhou in Virginia Tech’s Department of Computer Science. Together, they responded to the 4-VA call for proposals, and, “Towards Consolidated and Dynamic Debiasing for Online Search and Recommendation” was approved for funding.

Joining the effort at George Mason was graduate student Jinhao Pan, who handled algorithm implementation and paper writing. Pan was supported by a team of Zhu’s student researchers (pictured below).The group began by developing an end-to-end adaptive local learning framework to provide recommendations to both mainstream and niche users.

Zhu sees the audience as other researchers focusing on fair and unbiased recommendations and searches, or practitioners — software developers and AI engineers — in the industry who want to improve the fairness and trust of their systems. To that end, Zhu’s group created a boosting-based framework designed to decrease a broad spectrum of biases. This framework employs a series of sub-models, each tailored for different users and item subgroups.

The results were impressive, with experiments demonstrating superior debiasing capabilities against state-of-the-art methods across four model bias types.

However, Zhu knew that their new framework for recognizing and removing biases would only be effective if implemented. To that end, the group made the algorithm implementation open source through various options — https://github.com/JP-25/end-To-end-Adaptive-Local-Leanring-TALL- and https://github.com/JP-25/CFBoost.

They also presented and published Combating Heterogeneous Model Biases in Recommendations via Boosting at the Association for Computing Machinery International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining. End-to-End Adaptive Local Learning for Alleviating Mainstream Bias in Collaborative Filtering was also presented and published at the European Conference on Information Retrieval.

In addition to the framework developed, the project increased collaboration between George Mason and Virginia Tech through coursework. The new algorithms have been integrated into materials of Mason’s undergraduate and graduate level Data Mining courses CS584 and CS484.

Zhu has used the outcome of this project as the foundation for a proposal submitted to the National Science Foundation Computer and Information Science and Engineering Core program.

Concludes Zhu, “This 4-VA grant helped me set up some computational resources so that I can conduct further research and supported travel to academic conferences to disseminate our research and learn from others. We believe this provided the groundwork for some very important first steps in this field.”

Course Redesign Using Game Playing Promotes Understanding of Data Base Management

Undergraduate computer science majors in the database management course at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) are now having fun learning Structured Query Language (SQL), through a unique game playing approach — bypassing the traditional educational methods of memorization and passive participation.

Although mastery of SQL is recognized as a necessary skill to manage a variety of data-intensive domains, it is acknowledged that the instructional methods have not evolved to address the learning challenges found in the course materials. Thanks to George Mason’s Jacob Enfield, in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Virginia Serious Game Institute, and Sherif Abdelhamid at VMI — along with a 4-VA grant — students at VMI are approaching SQL education in an entirely different way, and the results are impressive.

To add in the fun factor, Enfield and Abdelhamid created a ‘murder mystery’ game. As players advance through the game, they encounter a series of questions designed to test their SQL skills. Each correctly answered question brings the player closer to solving the mystery and reinforces concepts in a practical approach. The game provides a simulated real-world context in which learners apply their skills to solve an authentic problem within the simulated context of the game world. Additionally, the game incorporates common components that enhance engagement, such as story, goals, points, and increasing levels of challenge. The scoring system introduces a competitive element among players, as players answer more questions correctly their scores increase and they can advance to the next level. “With this approach, we were able to target today’s digital-native students, accommodating their preference for interactive, feedback-rich learning environments,” explains Enfield.

Supporting Enfield and Abdelhamid in the development of the system were Mason students Swetha Annapoorna and Ajay Addike, who built the web apps.

Student evaluations show that the new learning approach is working. Students liked the system’s engaging nature, competitive elements, visual simplicity, and interactive features. In addition, students rated the game highly for reinforcing SQL concepts learned in class. All students reported interest in understanding more about SQL due to the game. Says Abdelhamid, “A large majority of the students felt that this approach taught them to manage SQL problems strategically, which is essential for learning any programming language.”

With the successful course redesign under their belt, Enfield and Abdelhamid are now in the dissemination process. The course was featured at George Mason’s Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference and presented at the Frontiers In Education Conference.

In another result of the collaboration, the Enfield and Abdelhamid relationship has proved fruitful, as the two have already received outside funding for a different project. “This 4-VA opportunity has helped me reach out to other universities and make connections I normally would not have made,” concludes Enfield. “And we were able to deliver a great new way to teach an important skill.”

Seventeen George Mason Faculty Awarded 4-VA Grants

Through 4-VA@Mason, faculty from schools across George Mason University have embarked on new pilot research projects in collaboration with higher education institutions throughout Virginia. The 4-VA Collaborative Research Grants, first launched in the 2013-2014 academic year, are designed to forge relationships in Virginia higher education to leverage the strengths of each school, decrease working in silos, and launch novel research projects that can provide a springboard for future external funding. Other schools in the 4-VA system are the College of William and Mary, James Madison University, Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia Tech. Christopher Newport University is also participating in Collaborative Research Grants.

During the 2024-25 year, nine of the Collaborative Research Grants are being led at George Mason and 11 faculty members will serve as co-PIs for research spearheaded at partner institutions. Janette Kenner Muir, Vice Provost, Academic Affairs and Campus Coordinator of 4-VA@Mason, notes that the 24-25 proposals were especially strong, “Each year, we are more and more impressed with the breadth and depth of the proposals providing our faculty this unique opportunity.”

The 4-VA@Mason 2024-25 Collaborative Research Grant awardees, proposal title and partner schools (in parentheses) are:

Christova, Rosalina; College of Science, Department of Environmental Science and Policy and Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center – Integrative Characterization of the Anatoxin-a-Producing Benthic Cyanobacterial Genus Microcoleus in the Shenandoah River (UVA/Wise)

Croitoru, Arie; College of Science, Department of Computational and Data Sciences & Center for Social Complexity – Quantum-Inspired Modeling for Understanding Social Complexity (ODU)

Kabbani, Nadine; College of Science, School of Systems Biology – Proteomic profiling of molecular changes associated with chemotherapy induced neuropathy (VCU)
Lee, Myeong; College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Information Sciences and Technology – Understanding Multidimensional Measures of Social Capital: Impacts of Ethnic Heterogeneity, Social Classes, and Historical Legacies of Urban Policy (VCU)
Luke, Rayanne; College of Science, Department of Mathematical Sciences – Data-Driven Modeling of the Time-Dependent Immune Response to Infection and Vaccination (UVA)
Madden, Amanda; College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of History – Historical Mapathons: Team-Based GIS Training and Transformation of Seventeenth Century Maps (VT)
Nam, Sang; College of Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Game Design Program – Developing A Multimodal LLM AI Agent for the XR, Extended Reality Platform for Personalized and Highly Immersive Trauma Training (UVA)
Zhang, Xiaokuan; College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Computer Science – Uncovering Secrets from Virtual Reality Headsets via Electromagnetic Side Channels (VT)
Zhang, Xijin (Emma); College of Engineering and Computing, Department of Civil, Environmental and Structural Engineering – Multifunctional Fungi-Based Biosurfactants for Durable Concrete Structures (UVA)

The following Mason faculty received funding as Co-PIs for the 24-25 academic year collaborating with other 4-VA institutions (in parentheses):

Bagheri, Shaghayegh; Mechanical Engineering – MOMENTUM: Assessing the Merits of Personalized Feedback with Generative AI for Foundational Engineering Mechanics Courses (VT)
Bloom, Michael S.; Global and Community Health – A new green space exposure index utilizing AI methods and an eye-tracking device (VT)
Bray, Harrison and Lukyanenko, Anton; Mathematical Sciences – Collaborative workshops in topology (UVA)
Dong, Pei; Mechanical Engineering – Printing of Ultrathin Conductive Films on Liquid for 3D Wearable Electronic (UVA)
Otis, Jessica; History and Lawrence, Heidi; English/Medical Rhetoric – Human Dimensions of Infectious Diseases (VT)
Yang, Jingyuan; Costello College of Business – Building Machine Learning Resilience During Disasters (UVA)

NEH Award Expands 4-VA Piloted Project

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently awarded $220,000 to a project originally funded by 4VA@Mason to focus on a deeper approach to teaching the history of higher education in the United States. Thanks to 4-VA’s seed funding, this research developed at the state level will now be propelled onto a national platform.

“Reimagining the History of Higher Education in the Digital Age,” was awarded a 4-VA@Mason Collaborative Research Grant in 2020, proposed by professor of higher education Kelly Schrum. Virginia Tech assistant professor Chase Catalano also received a 4-VA Complementary Grant at that time to launch the project in Blacksburg.

Once off the ground in 2021, colleagues at William and Mary, James Madison, and Old Dominion were interested in joining the endeavor, with Ben Boone, Art Dean, and Kim Bullington and Bill Nuckols, respectively, at the helm. WM, JMU, and ODU faculty also received 4-VA support for their contribution to the research.

Collaborating with Schrum at Mason is Nate Sleeter, Director of Educational Projects at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media.

Since the outset of the project, participating faculty, students, and student researchers have curated more than 100 primary sources, created asynchronous learning activities for the course, collected input from history of higher education instructors, and developed an extremely well-received database of resources for the project website, the History of Higher Education: An Open Educational Resource — higheredhistory.gmu.edu.

In addition to primary and secondary sources, the website contains an invaluable database of institutional archives with digitized historical content, including yearbooks. Seven hundred institutional archives are cataloged on the site, including 48 Hispanic-Serving Institutions, 24 Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and 15 women’s colleges. Additionally, the list includes 63 community colleges — especially important given the historic lack of attention to these institutions.

Recognizing the value of this new approach to more fully understand the history of higher education, the NEH grant will allow the 4-VA collaborators to expand the project https://unpacking.chss.gmu.edu/ and to conduct a Summer 2024 four-week institute, “Unpacking the History of Higher Education in the United States,” designed to improve the history of higher education courses nationally and to deepen humanities engagement among future higher education leaders.

“This project has been a wonderful exercise in collaboration and research,” concludes Schrum. “Working together and leveraging the resources at each university through 4-VA made this effort a success.”

4-VA@Mason Funding Smartphone App to Support Transfer Students

Over the past 10 years, 4-VA@Mason has bolstered efforts to smooth the transition for first-generation transfer students from NOVA to Mason via roles in ADVANCE, developing the Bachelor of Applied Science program, and aligning course subject content and objectives between NOVA and Mason. It was natural, then, for 4-VA@Mason to step in to fund a proposal for a novel smartphone-based augmented reality campus tour of Mason to help traditionally underserved transfer students.

The concept is being led by Kelly Schrum, a professor in Mason’s Higher Education Program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Schrum has brought together a group of faculty members, undergraduate, and graduate students to put the plan into action. In addition, representatives from ADVANCE, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, and the First-Gen+ Center will also play a role in the project.

After reviewing the considerable research on common challenges facing transfer students, including the need to feel connected and find community, the group is developing a prototype of the app for prospective students to download. “After much research, we believe that an app of this type can go a long way to help make our transfer students more comfortable in the new Mason environment,” explains Schrum. “We are so pleased with the initial enthusiastic reception from students as well as our partners in this effort.”

Through the app, students will ‘meet’ a virtual character — wearing a First Gen Mason T-shirt — who welcomes them to Mason. Students will see a virtual panel where they will find questions and answers from current students and be invited to add their voice to the conversation. Encouraging words from the First Gen+ Center will appear on the screen, such as “You are the first, but you won’t be the last.”

The virtual character will encourage the student to walk toward the Johnson Center where a simulated First Gen+ table is set up for an ice cream social. The student will create a sundae — with Mason colors — while interacting with the character who will share fun facts about Mason regarding first gen transfer students and provide an overview of events and activities hosted by the First Gen+ Center. The student can ask questions, powered by a chatbot, and can also submit more personalized or in-depth questions that will be directed to the right department, such as Admissions or Success Coaching, all designed to make the students more comfortable with campus and their fellow students.

The prototype is being tested this winter with prospective students in coordination with ADVANCE. The Admissions office will distribute flyers about the app, place them in bags for transfer students, and highlight the app on transfer student tours.

“This is a great opportunity to help our new transfer students feel more comfortable with their transition to Mason, and get them off to the right start,” says Janette Muir, Vice Provost, Academic Affairs and 4-VA@Mason Campus Coordinator.

Following the beta testing, Schrum’s team will collect and analyze data with the goal of improving and expanding the prototype, contributing to scholarly research on using technology to improve student success, and applying for external funding.

4-VA@Mason Awards Funding for 12 Promising Investigations Led by Mason Faculty plus Eight Additional Collaborations for Mason Co-PIs

4-VA@Mason, announces the Collaborative Research Awards for the 23-24 academic year — with 12 projects spearheaded by Mason faculty, and eight for Mason faculty acting as Co-PIs. “These 4-VA@Mason Collaborative Research Grants are the core of what our state program is all about — providing seed funding to encourage faculty from our eight partner schools to launch novel research efforts and build critical relationships among the institutions,” said Janette Kenner Muir, Vice Provost, Academic Affairs and Campus Coordinator of 4-VA@Mason.

Approved proposals were from a range of colleges at Mason including the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Game Design/Virginia Serious Game Institute; the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; the College of Engineering and Computing; and the College of Science.

One proposal funded this year is Dr. Chris Jones’ work, Using Taxonomic, Pigment, and Molecular Analysis to Characterize Algal Blooms in the Shenandoah River. Professor Jones, a member of the Environmental Science & Policy Department and Director of the Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center, has already seen the benefit of 4-VA support with growing research projects focused on harmful algal blooms that threaten Virginia’s Shenandoah River and also plague waters throughout the world. In the Shenandoah, these blooms originally consisted of green algae, which while troublesome for recreational activities, did not present a danger to humans and wildlife. In the past two years, however, the blooms have included cyanobacteria that contain toxins. Environmental engineers recognize that it is critical to identify the toxic bacteria quickly and definitively, but current methodologies are inadequate. Jones’ team of Mason faculty and students, together with their partners at Old Dominion University, will tackle this important challenge.

The following are the 4-VA@Mason 2023-24 Collaborative Research Grant winners, with partner schools in parentheses.

Akerlof, Karen Bridging Science and Policy in the States: A Study of Emerging Mechanisms to Train Scientists and Engineers (VT)
Enfield, Jacob MySQL Murder Mystery (VMI)
Furst, Kirin Emlet The role of the air-water interface in breakthrough of PFAS and phthalate esters during wastewater treatment (VT)
Jones, R Christian Using Taxonomic, Pigment and Molecular Analysis to Characterize Algal Blooms in the Shenandoah River (ODU)
Kang, Pilgyu Machine learning assisted laser manufacturing of alloy nanoparticle graphene hybrid materials for high performance hydrogen sensing (UVA)
LaFrance, Michelle The Virginia Community and Public Writing Collaborative (JMU, VCU, VT, UVA)
Lawrence, Heidi A Rhetorical Approach to Challenges in Blood Donation (VT)
Raffegeau, Tiphanie Using Virtual Reality to Study Cognitive and Affective Risk Factors for Falls in Older Adults (ODU)
Straus, David The Role of Diabatic Heating in Determining Atlantic Storm Paths (UVA)
Van Aken, Benoit Protection of RNA by Association with Macromolecules Implications for Wastewater Based Epidemiology (VT)
Yu, Yun Nanoscale Visualization of Electrocatalytic Carbon Dioxide Reduction Activity at Cu Nanocatalysts (UVA)
Zhu, Ziwei Towards Consolidated and Dynamic Debiasing for Online Search and Recommendation (VT)

The following Mason faculty received funding as Co-PIs collaborating with other 4-VA institutions in parentheses:

Chowdhury, Ahsan The Commonwealth Proofs Project Collaborative: Promoting Students’ Understanding of Logical Implications and their Transformations (VT)
Dromgold-Sermen, Michelle New American Resources: Partnerships and Initiatives at Virginia Higher Education Institutions to Strengthen Virginia’s Migration Support (VT)
Jing, Hao Acoustics-enabled Noncontact Manipulation, Patterning, and Assembly of Complex-shaped Micro/nanoparticles for Advance Manufacturing (VT)
LaToza, Thomas Visualizing Code Changes to Understand Students’ Mental Models in Programming Education at Scale (VT)
Stone, Victoria Increasing Mental Health Services in K-12 Settings by Helping Provisionally Licensed School Counselors Meet the Requirements for Full Licensure as Professional School Counselors in Virginia (JMU)
Stone, Victoria Supporting K-12 Students after Psychiatric Hospitalizations: Piloting Mixed Reality Simulation Training for School Mental Health Professionals (UVA)
Van Aken, Benoit Hyperspectral imaging for the real-time detection of microplastic particles in seafoods (VT)
Zhu, Ziwei Break the Dilemmas between Model Performance and Fairness: A Holistic Solution for Fairness Learning on Graphs (VT)

“We are looking forward to the new discoveries we will find with these 4-VA collaborative projects,” comments Vice Provost Muir, “Our faculty, students, and the Commonwealth of Virginia will benefit from these partnerships as the schools approach the work from their own perspectives and strengths, building solid partnerships for future initiatives.”

Best Practices for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Identified and Shared Statewide

Effective teaching is a cornerstone of Virginia higher education. To attain that critical bar, it is essential that successful teaching strategies are created and maintained, and that they meet students’ needs. This necessitates classroom-based research — known as the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Faculty-focused SoTL research achieves multiple objectives including identifying best practices in educational strategies for a specific field and promoting a university’s overall teaching excellence.

While SoTL is crucial to gain a greater understanding of what works and what doesn’t work in the classroom, very few faculty are prepared to conduct such research independently. Thus, support for SoTL frequently falls to campus Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs). CTLs are generally small and tasked with a wide range of faculty assistance, so identifying appropriate SoTL strategies presents a time and resource challenge.

This dilemma faced the Stearns Center at Mason as well as three other 4-VA schools — Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, and the University of Virginia. Each wanted to address the SoTL gap. The solution was recognized via a 4-VA Collaborative Research Grant, allowing the schools to work together to create sustainable SoTL programming. The goal was to create or refine plans for engaging and supporting faculty in SoTL at their specific institutions, to develop and investigate the impact of cross-institutional support programming for faculty developers, and ultimately improve the research competitiveness of faculty at each institution. Although not part of the 4-VA partnership, the prospect of such work also attracted the attention of faculty at Mary Washington University who were interested in joining the effort.

Led by the Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning Director, Shelley Reid, with key support from Mason graduate assistant Sophia Abbot, the team represented a state-wide effort, including Ed Brantmeier, Interim Executive Director/Assistant Director of the Center for Faculty Innovation (JMU); Dayna Henry Assistant Director of the Scholarship Area at the Center for Faculty Innovation (JMU); Kim Case, Director of Faculty Success (VCU); Kim Filer, Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development/Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (VT); Lindsay Wheeler, Assistant Director of STEM Education Initiatives at the Center for Teaching Excellence and Jessica Taggart, Postdoctoral Research Associate (UVA); and Melissa Wells, Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow of the Center for Teaching (Mary Washington). “Through our 4-VA@Mason grant, as well as the Complementary Grants at our 4-VA partner schools, we saw an opportunity to help CTLs avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’ in a key area of faculty support,” explained Reid. “SoTL is a growth area for CTLs, and this grant provided an opportunity to design that growth intentionally and collaboratively—and then to share the model with other CTLs nationally.”

Together, the group researched and built effective support structures for SoTL training. As a “community of practice,” the group met regularly to exchange strategies already in use and constructed additional strategies and resources for both CTL leaders and faculty. Next, they developed and presented workshops for national and local audiences to guide other CTL leaders in building collaborative structures. At these workshops, attendees learned about evidence-based models, common SoTL support programming across institution types, and received peer feedback on their plans. Presentations were made at the Professional & Organizational Development in Higher Education Network Conference, the International Consortium for Educational Development, the Innovations in Teaching and Learning Conference (Mason), the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy (VT), and an online workshop for SCHEV (VCU).

Next, the team created online resources, an open access trove of tools for SoTL developers, including a Taxonomy of common language and organizational structure for understanding a variety of SoTL program models — organized by program type with a detailed description of each model. It also includes examples to further support readers’ envisioning of program possibilities. Further, visitors can access a strategic plan worksheet, which guides SoTL developers through the details of their aspirational and future plans in the context of their institution and provides a venue to receive peer feedback on specific aspects of their plan.

The group continues to spread the word about effective SoTL practices through the following publications:

International Journal of Academic Development Impact of a Regional Community of Practice for Academic Developers Engaged in Institution-Level Support for SoTL (Lukes, Abbot, Henry, Wells, Baum, Case, Brantmeier, & Wheeler)
To Improve the Academy Strategic Planning Tools for Educational Developers Supporting SoTL Cultures and Programs at their Institutions (Lukes, Abbot, Wheeler, Henry, Case, Wells, Brantmeier)
New Directions for Teaching and Learning Examining a Regional Educational Developer Community of Practice for Advancing Institutional Cultures of SoTL Engagement (Abbot, Lukes, Baum, Case, Henry, Brantmeier, Wheeler)

“Our team members have been particularly excited about the positive reception of the collaborative model through the well-attended national workshops. We’re looking forward to the conversations that are made possible through the multiple publications that will increase our audience and enable other CTLs to build their own collaborations.” concludes Reid.