Building a Climate-Resilient Society
George Mason University is applying science, policy, and innovation to safeguard communities and ecosystems through sustainable practices and infrastructure, real-time weather-related information, and community planning and preparedness training. From a solar-powered greenhouse that explores resilient food production and sustainable systems that allows for food security to advanced predictive modeling and engineering nature-based infrastructures that identify or advanced predictive modeling that identifies weather-related or other natural disasters, the university is developing the leadership and talent to produce solutions alongside partners on a global scale.
Grand Challenge Initiative
George Mason’s Grand Challenge Initiative is a university-wide collaboration addressing humanity’s most pressing challenges through six interlocking strategies, supported by a $15 million investment over five years.
THE GEORGE MASON ADVANTAGE
In 2023, George Mason was selected to host the Virginia Climate Center and lead research on tackling climate-related challenges, such as energy, vector-borne illnesses, and extreme weather and flooding in Northern Virginia and throughout the commonwealth. Funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and sponsored by the late U.S. Representative Gerry Connolly, this congressionally directed community project seeks to increase Virginia’s resiliency to the impacts of climate changes.
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RESEARCH IN ACTION
Research professor Benjamin Cash is working on extreme weather predictions.
$1 million NOAA project aims to improve forecasts of extreme weather
When it comes to predicting extreme weather events, most people think of short-term forecasts such as flash floods or sudden storms. For farmers, water managers, and policymakers, however, the greater challenge often lies in anticipating seasonal extremes, including prolonged droughts or flooding. These events can have devastating economic and environmental impacts, particularly in states like Virginia, where drought ranks as the second costliest natural disaster after tropical cyclones.
Research Professor Benjamin Cash is leading the $1 million project funded by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve seasonal precipitation forecasts in Virginia through the Unified Forecast System (UFS), a single, open-source code base accessible to the research community.
Professor Cindy Smith, PhD, K-12 Outreach Director, Potomac Environmental Research & Education Center (PEREC), teaching Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) students
Outdoor learning at Burke Lake shows students science career pathways
Down at the shores of Burke Lake, seventh-grade students squeal in delight and disgust. They've found a collection of invertebrates under a rock. Their field interpreter—a George Mason University student—gathers them around to take a closer look and identify what they see. Nearby, another group of students takes water samples. Another group measures the soil compaction around the mossy roots of a tree.
Professor Cindy Smith and her team of George Mason students are helping seventh graders in Fairfax County Public Schools get hands-on experiences in environmental science through the Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences program.
Learn more about this collaboration.
STUDENT RESOURCES
Patriot Green Fund
George Mason’s Mason Facilities sets aside $100,000 a year for the Patriot Green Fund, which supports infrastructure improvements and student research projects to make George Mason’s campuses more sustainable. Projects have included smart hives, rain gardens, and the Foragers Forest on the Fairfax Campus.
Green Leaf Programs and Courses
George Mason has more than 125 Green Leaf courses across 25 academic programs, covering topics from EcoArt to sustainable tourism, all designed to help raise environmental awareness while providing students with a comprehensive knowledge of their local and global environment.
Climate Resilience and Adaptation Minor
The Climate Resilience and Adaptation (CRA) minor is designed to complement students' primary areas of study with specialized knowledge in climate science and policy, local and regional climate adaptation strategies and solutions, and how to translate research into practice and action.
FACULTY SPOTLIGHTS
Jennifer Salerno, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, is helping redefine how we monitor and protect coral reef ecosystems. In collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Salerno is working on a technique to assess coral reef health by analyzing microorganisms in reef water.
College of Science researcher Alireza Ermagun is working in collaboration with Villanova University and the University of South Carolina on a $1.8 million NSF grant studying how frequent, low-level flooding disrupts daily transportation systems and finding solutions.
Jenna R. Krall of the College of Public Health is a biostatistician with research interests in air pollution and environmental epidemiology. Her work has been focused on developing methods for estimating sources of air pollution and their associations with health.
Daniel Tong of George Mason’s Center for Spatial Science and Systems is part of the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team working on improvements to the National Air Quality Forecast Capability.
PARTNERSHIPS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC)
In a unique partnership, George Mason and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute established the Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation (SMSC), offering hands-on, interdisciplinary programs in conservation where students can work alongside Smithsonian scientists and conservation experts from around the world.
Centro de Apoyo Familiar and the Lamb Center
George Mason researchers are partnering with two nonprofit organizations, Centro de Apoyo Familiar and the Lamb Center, to understand how environmental hazards affect those experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness. The multidisciplinary project will utilize national-level housing, air quality, heat, demographic, and vulnerability data to identify U.S. counties that are at the greatest risk of impacts to housing insecure and unhoused populations.
FUTURE-READY INFRASTRUCTURE
Living Lab
From the canopies of the trees in the accredited Level II Arboretum to the stormwater running into Mason Pond, George Mason’s nearly 1,000 acres of land, waterways, forests, and buildings is being used as a dynamic Living Lab for hands-on environmental research that may one day have an impact globally.
The Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE)
The Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE) faculty, staff, and students engage with communities of practice on George Mason’s campuses, in the region, nationally and globally, to ensure a deep understanding of the challenges that enable or constrain the development and adoption of sustainable solutions. ISE focuses not only on natural and engineered systems but also the socio-economic-legal systems that impact community sustainability and resilience and enable the development of holistic solutions.
Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center (PEREC)
The Potomac Environmental Research and Education Center (PEREC) is a key component of George Mason’s Potomac Science Center in Belmont Bay, focusing on Potomac River restoration and local sustainability practices, so that the local ecosystem will be healthy for years to come. Research is translated into award-winning field programs for K-12 students and the larger community.
Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies
The Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies is a research center dedicated to understanding climate fluctuations on seasonal, interannual, and decadal scales, with special emphasis on the interactions between Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces.
The Center for Climate Change Communication
Since 2007, the Center for Climate Change Communications in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences has helped change the way local media, communities, and organizations talk about climate change. They study audiences and conduct original research on climate communication.
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