Access to Excellence Podcast

Jeremy Campbell, associate director for strategic engagement in George Mason University’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth, says that at its current pace the vast Amazon rainforest, in five to 10 years, could pass a tipping point in which it could transform into grasslands. That process, fueled by deforestation and climate change, is a threat to the biodiversity and socio-cultural aspects that define the region, and has global implications as well. In this fascinating conversation, Campbell explains to Mason President Gregory Washington the magnitude of what the loss of the Amazon rainforest would really mean.

Catherine Read is the first woman and first George Mason University alum to be mayor of Fairfax City, Va., the university’s hometown, and she isn’t shy about touting an institution she says helped teach her how to think critically. Want to know why it’s good to “disrupt the system,” why it’s important to get more women into policy-making decisions, and why our educational system doesn’t reward bold ideas? Read tells you in this conversation with Mason President Gregory Washington. She also is adamant that “if we can’t maintain democracy, if we can’t preserve our country’s rule of law, then all of these other things make zero difference.”

With oratory flair, Rev. Jeffery Johnson, pastor at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Fairfax, Virginia, and Dr. Vernon Walton, pastor at First Baptist Church in Vienna, Virginia, guide us through some of the history and aspirations of the Black community using the lens of Black and African American History Month, Dr. King’s “I have a dream” speech, the dissolution of Black-only communities, and their perspectives as leaders of their parishes, which were founded by formerly enslaved people. George Mason University President Gregory Washington and the pastors also examine the unique, but intertwined, roles the university and churches can play to confront issues such as affordable housing, food insecurity, and healthcare.

Forensic research on human donors is not for the faint of heart, Mary Ellen O’Toole, director of the Forensic Science Program in George Mason University’s College of Science, admitted to Mason President Gregory Washington. But the university’s new outdoor research and training laboratory—or “body farm,” as O’Toole, a former FBI profiler, calls it—is a valuable addition to the study of human decomposition in various environmental conditions for the purpose of solving crimes. It also positions O’Toole’s program as a national leader in forensic science and forensic anthropology.

Peter Becker, a professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department in George Mason University’s College of Science, talks with Mason President Gregory Washington about how a predicted major increase in solar storm activity could be a prelude to an “internet apocalypse.” Can we prepare? What could be the consequences? What are the economic implications? A $14 million federal study Becker is leading with the Navy could provide better predictive capabilities and help us better understand exactly what’s at stake.

Melissa Perry, dean of George Mason University’s College of Public Health, is an ardent proponent of virtual reality and AI as tools to help solve the nation’s health challenges. But, as she tells Mason President Gregory Washington, a technology overload has also helped create an “epidemic of loneliness” that has heightened the importance of a shared humanity and “being present for each other.” Perry also discusses her suicide attempt as a teenager that ultimately inspired her career in public health.

Karina Korostelina, a professor of conflict analysis and resolution in George Mason University's Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, conducts research with global implications that not only applies to countries and groups in conflict but societies as well. She tells Mason President Gregory Washington that Ukraine’s war with Russia, at its end, will present enormous problems with the reconciliation of people and territories. A look behind the scenes at Korostelina’s remarkable research and what it tells us about human nature and how we can find peace after conflict.

Nikyatu Jusu, an assistant professor of directing and screenwriting in George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, talks to Mason President Gregory Washington about her movie “Nanny,” which won the grand prize at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and why the horror genre is not all “jump scares.” Just as often, she says, the monster is a commentary on human nature and the way we treat each other and ourselves. A fascinating conversation with this gritty street filmmaker who went from studying biomedical engineering to putting non-traditional protagonists into fantastical worlds.     Discover more: https://www.gmu.edu Connect with George Mason University on social media: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/georgemason Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/georgemasonu Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/georgemasonu LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/school/georg... ----more---- Connect with President Gregory Washington on social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GMUPres Twitter: https://twitter.com/GMUPres Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/presidentgr... LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregorywa... #MasonNation #GMU #GeorgeMasonUniversity #Fusion #FusionEnergy #LearnFromLeaders #MasonScience #HonorsMason

Andrew McCabe, the former deputy and acting director of the FBI, and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason University, gives a masterclass on the indictment of Donald Trump under the Espionage Act, and goes deep with Mason President Gregory Washington into some of his career's most controversial and important moments. That includes his assessment of the investigation by Special Counsel John Durham into whether the FBI should have examined whether Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign coordinated with Russia. McCabe called Durham’s report “flawed and politically motivated from the beginning.”  

What exactly is the metaverse? Some say it is the future of the internet — a broad shift in how we interact with technology, including new and more ways to collaborate in virtual worlds. Others say it creates even more infringements on privacy and creates chances for identity theft. Foteini Baldimtsi, an assistant professor in George Mason University’s Department of Computer Science, and James Casey, an associate professor in Mason’s Computer Game Design program talk to Mason President Gregory Washington about what the metaverse is, and could be, and how the volatile world of cryptocurrency fits in.

Business is at the heart of everything. So says Ajay Vinzé, dean of Mason’s School of Business. In a conversation with George Mason University President Gregory Washington, Vinzé joined Paula Sorrell, associate VP for innovation and economic development at Mason, to celebrate National Small Business Week, and discuss how Mason Enterprise is an economic engine for Northern Virginia, and how the School of Business is changing the way business is taught.

Lawrence Jackson says colonialism brought an end to authentic African dance. But the associate professor of dance at George Mason University, who in 2011 co-authored and edited a special edition on Black dance in the Journal of Pan African Studies, explains to Mason President Gregory Washington how Black dance keeps those African cultural traditions alive and is an affirmation of identity and independence. And did you know that tap, jazz, and ballroom dancing have African roots? Jackson explains.

Missy Cummings, one of the country’s first female fighter pilots and director of George Mason University's Autonomy and Robotics Center, calls herself a tech futurist, charged with making tech work better and safer. In a conversation with Mason President Gregory Washington, Cummings is unflinching in her critique of AI’s strengths, weaknesses and shortcomings, as well as that of humans. There is a lot to like about AI, Cummings says, but she calls out bad tech where she sees it, including in the vision systems of self-driving cars and Tesla’s Autopilot. There's also a lot to like, Cummings says, about Mason's new Fuse building on its Mason Square Campus. When open in 2025, the building will will house R&D labs, corporate innovation centers, incubators, accelerators which will help advance the digital innovation goals of university, industry and community innovators.

Helon Habila, a professor of creative writing at George Mason University, and an acclaimed international author, has never shied away from important issues. In a fascinating discussion, Habila, the author of four novels, tells Mason President Gregory Washington about his process of combining compelling narratives and characters with current examples of oppression and exploitation, and how his factual account of the 2014 kidnapping in Nigeria of 276 young girls by the terrorist group Boko Haram forced him to confront his homeland as he had never seen it.

When Gail Christopher, executive director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity and a senior scholar in George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being, talks about “ensuring a future,” she’s really talking about creating a system of equity that produces opportunities for everyone. In her second podcast with Mason President Gregory Washington, Christopher expands on the idea that academic institutions are essential for shifting the cultural ethos to one that is not racist, and discusses the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence Conference recently held at Mason.

Are the midterm elections the most important in our time? Maybe, maybe not. Jennifer Victor, associate professor of political science in George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government, and Mason president Gregory Washington wrestle with that, and you might be surprised at the answer. Want more surprises? Then hear why high voter turnout could be a double-edged sword for our democracy and how the parties misread the electorate. And just what is “thermostatic politics?”

Dr. Michael Nickens, an associate professor of music in George Mason University’s Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music, tells Mason President Gregory Washington how he transforms from his mild-mannered persona into Doc Nix, the flamboyant leader of the Green Machine, the nation’s No. 1 pep band. The band isn’t a mechanical process, Nix says. There are times its members are collectively “exploring the universe in that moment. And those are the moments that feel like we have really accomplished something.” Actor Bill Murray is a fan of the band, and Nix is pretty good on the tuba.

Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, talks to Mason President Gregory Washington about the keys to effective peacebuilding, whether it concerns the war in Ukraine, gun violence or local issues. And don’t miss the discussions about how the Carter School helped broker a peace accord in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and how an alien invasion could help heal the rift between Russia and the West.

Rep. Cori Bush, Missouri's first Black congresswoman, talks to George Mason University President Gregory Washington about the importance of the class she is teaching this summer at Mason. A pastor, teacher, nurse, and a Black Lives Matter activist in Ferguson, Mo., Bush explains her unusual path to Congress, and doesn’t flinch when discussing issues surrounding race and policing.

Louise Shelley, a University Professor and director of Mason’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center explains to Mason President Gregory Washington the connections between the war in Ukraine and Russian corruption and organized crime, and how criminals and terrorists take advantage in diverse ways of the globalized world in which we live. Shelley’s center exposes that criminality and recently helped take 55 million counterfeit and sub-standard medical masks out of circulation worldwide with the takedown of more than 50,000 online marketplaces and social media posts.