Building a More Resilient Future
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 allow for food security to advanced predictive modeling and engineering nature-based infrastructures that identify or advance 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
George Mason University is authorized to host the Virginia State Climate Office, thanks to a provision in the new state budget effective July 1, 2026. The office is charged with developing and delivering data, analyses, assessments, and expertise about Virginia’s weather- and climate-related impacts, risks, and risk management options to state and local government agencies, businesses, and communities across the commonwealth. The new office will be anchored in the university’s Virginia Climate Center (VCC), based in the College of Science and directed by James Kinter, professor of climate dynamics, who also leads the university's Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies.
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Solving Climate Challenges through research
James Kinter.
George Mason University authorized to host State Climate Office
George Mason is authorized to host the Virginia State Climate Office, thanks to a provision in the new state budget effective July 1, 2026. The office will deliver expertise on Virginia’s weather- and climate-related impacts as well as strengthen federal partnerships and interstate collaboration on real-time weather and environmental challenges.
Professor Luis Ortiz with his Micrometeorological Modeling class.
This course turns climate science into real-world impact for Virginia communities
George Mason graduate students in Luis Ortiz's Micrometeorological Modeling course are partnering with Virginia communities to model real solutions to extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution—taking climate science straight into the neighborhoods that need it.
Industry-University Working Group on Climate Change and Physical Risks
This project brings together industry leaders and university researchers to advance understanding of shifting climate hazards and develop practical tools that strengthen physical‑risk assessment and decision-making in the insurance, reinsurance, and finance sectors of the economy. By identifying urgent research needs and developing practical tools for insurers and financial institutions, the project will improve how physical risks are assessed and managed, strengthen climate‑risk science, support decision‑making, and help communities and industries adapt.
A GCI Catalyst Project. Learn more about this project, the colleges involved, and the cross-disciplinary leadership team.
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Preparing the next climate leaders
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.
experts advancing climate resilience
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.
James Kinter, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, directs both the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies (COLA) and the Virginia Climate Center. His research focuses on climate variability and predictability — including monsoons, El Niño, and extreme weather — and through the VCC he works to strengthen the resilience of Virginia's communities to a changing climate.
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.
Luis Ortiz, an assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, studies how cities interact with the atmosphere in a changing climate and what that means for people and infrastructure. He co-leads the Virginia Climate Center and serves on the New York City Panel on Climate Change, translating high-resolution climate modeling into adaptation strategies for decision-makers.
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.
Partnering for Real World Impact
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.
The Virginia Climate Assessment
George Mason's Virginia Climate Center produced the commonwealth's first comprehensive, science-based climate assessment—a peer-reviewed synthesis of decades of Virginia-specific research, developed with experts from across the state and beyond. It gives communities and decision-makers a shared, evidence-based baseline for understanding and preparing for a changing climate.
Center for Resilient, Adaptable, and Safe Communities (C-RASC)
Established in 2019, C-RASC is a joint research center of the College of Science and the College of Engineering and Computing. It coordinates transdisciplinary teams—working with industry and government partners—to help communities co-develop resilience strategies that are locally led, scalable, and impact-driven. Recent work includes partnering with Fairfax County to build an AI-powered training system for 9-1-1 operators.
Building the Infrastructure for Climate Solutions
Virginia Climate Center
Established at George Mason in 2023 with funding through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Virginia Climate Center (VCC) works with communities across the commonwealth to strengthen resilience to extreme heat, flooding, and the growing risk of vector-borne disease. In 2025, the center released the first Virginia Climate Assessment—the state's first comprehensive, science-based evaluation of how a changing climate affects Virginia and its people.
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.
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.
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