career-ready graduates

Novus Security Inc. cofounders win $50,000 for web3 cybersecurity app

Teresa Donnellan — Mon, 28 Nov 2022 20:16:21 +0000

Novus Security Inc. cofounders win $50,000 for web3 cybersecurity app Teresa Donnellan Mon, 11/28/2022 - 15:16

Early in 2022, Dominique Calder’s relative lost almost $20,000 to a cryptocurrency scam.

“[W]hen I was helping the family member go through stuff,” the PhD candidate in Computer Science at George Mason University explains, “I was able to pretty much pinpoint back to the server where this origination happened.”

Emanuel Perez (left) and Dominique Calder. Photo by Storm Calder of 13News Now (WVEC)

A few months later, when Calder's mentee and friend Emanuel Perez described an idea for a business to make the web3 space—where much cryptocurrency dealing takes place—more secure, Calder was eager to help. Perez came up with the idea for the business when he noticed a phishing scam in a group chat for investors interested in cryptocurrency.

“This is happening all across the community—even to people who know stuff about crypto. They are still getting scammed, because scammers are just that good.” Calder said.

By early November, as finalists in the Black Ambition Prize contest, Calder and Perez won $50,000 to develop Novus Security, Inc.

Novus Security Inc.

Calder and Perez started the business in March 2022 and applied for Black Ambition at the end of June, primarily to gain some exposure, says Calder.

“It's really gotten some great attention,” Calder says. Perez, an entrepreneur at heart, notes that his ambition to create Novus Security Inc., is unlike past endeavors—he left a full-time job at Microsoft to work on his startup full-time.

Since the contest, Novus has been making quick progress. The company is incorporated and the co-founders are planning to grow their team in the upcoming year. Ultimately, Calder and Perez plan to develop an app to detect potential phishing scams in Web3 and to foster a Web3 cybersecurity community.

“We also wanted to be a community for passionate Web3 users, [such as] people who are into crypto and into buying NFTs and things like that,” explains Calder. “We want a community to be built where we can detect scams [and] let people know ... ‘Hey, this is the new way that scammers are making an approach.’ So we want an educational aspect around [Novus] as well.”

Web3 is a decentralized version of the internet based on public blockchain. While the burgeoning space and its premise of decentralization entice users, the risks in engaging with an inherently unregulated space are all too apparent. Perez explains that the same risks to internet surfing in Web2, the version of the internet most people use, are elevated in Web3. For example, when assets are traded in Web3, Perez says, the user, rather than a third party such as a bank, must assume significant risk; the user is in charge of protecting these assets.

Moreover, scammers are adapting quickly in Web3. Perez recalls a joke about Web3 developing at ten times the speed of other industries and notes that the rapidity of developing threats poses a challenge to traditional cybersecurity systems. Calder says there are many free, public sites, such as VirusTotal, working to combat phishing in Web2. She explains, “You can go there and put in a site ... and they'll give you a certain confidence level like, ‘This site is likely suspicious based off of these factors.’ We want that for the Web3 space, because there's nothing that exists like that at the moment.”

A Balanced Partnership

Both alumni of Norfolk State University, Calder and Perez met when Calder returned to the school in 2017 as a recent grad to speak to computer science students.

“I gave a short spiel about my journey and how difficult things were for me,” Calder recalls. “He [Perez] was so moved, he came up to me and asked me to mentor him, because he was considering dropping out of school. I was very blown away that that he even came up to me and asked me, you know, to mentor him, let alone...that he was in a position that I was once in myself.”

“We formed a great friendship,” she adds, “He graduated just last year [2021] … and he got a job at Microsoft coming straight out of college. That's any student's dream, right?”

The co-founders have complementary skillsets. While Calder studied computer science with a concentration in information assurance for both her bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, Perez chose to study business management information systems. Calder notes that combining their different perspectives has been “useful,” adding that their contrasting skills help sharpen each other.

“I have a heavy tech background myself,” Calder explains. While a graduate student at George Mason she has also been working for TikTok, where she was a founding member of their digital forensics team. She adds, “Having somebody like Emanuel, who's had a heavy entrepreneurial background, has been great … We're having to figure out a lot of things on our own … but we have a great rapport. We trust each other. We have a brother/sister type of relationship more than just business partners.”

Hometown Pride

As both Calder and Perez are natives of Virginia Beach, Virginia, it was all the more meaningful to receive the prize money as the culmination of a massive, positive event in their hometown. Founded by Pharrell Williams and led by Felecia Hatcher, the Black Ambition Prize contest awarded over two million dollars to finalists representing innovative businesses across various industries. The contest took place as part of the Mighty Dream Forum, a three-day conference on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Williams is also from Virginia Beach.

“It was really cool to see that level of creativity [and] that level of business being brought to our area,” Calder says. “It did something for the community. It reignited something that we were missing”

Calder notes that the area has lost business recently due to violence in the area.

“We're losing a lot of areas for people to hang out and do stuff and have fun and be safe,” she says. “So to see a hometown hero...make it rain $2.5 million to a bunch of people that really, really needed it was great.”

Of the win, Calder says, “We didn't even really envision this for ourselves at one point, but there was a time in life where we were able to see this for ourselves, and so to see all of that manifest that day on stage [when] we were standing there with the check—it's like, ‘Wow, things can really happen with some good work and good effort.’” Being part of this great event in their hometown “put the icing on the cake” to their winning $50,000, says Calder.

As finalists, the Novus co-founders now have access to a network of expert advisors as well as fellow budding entrepreneurs. Calder has relished meeting so many interesting people. “I love every moment,” she says.

Next for Novus

For now, the cofounders are focused on getting their app in the Chrome web store.

"The development is still underway, but the next thing is to definitely get the app out there to be used,” says Calder. “Every day people are getting hit by scams.”

Perez says he and Calder plan to keep their team small. Nevertheless, they hope to bring on new people in the upcoming year, specifically a full-stack software engineer and a security engineer, respectively.

Topics

career-ready graduates

Cybersecurity

Students

College of Engineering and Computing

diversity

Students network at annual Communication Career Forum

Colleen Rich — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 14:31:23 +0000

Students network at annual Communication Career Forum Colleen Rich Wed, 11/02/2022 - 10:31

Students attend small group mentoring sessions to gain career advice and network with some of the nation's leading communication professionals during the Communication Career Forum. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communication

As they scribbled notes and asked questions, George Mason University students were an eager audience as they listened to some of the nation's leading communication professionals discuss their career successes, setbacks, and lessons learned.

The Fall 2022 Communication Career Forum, on October 25 at Mason’s Fairfax Campus, focused on helping students break into the industry, and inspiring them to find purpose in their work, said Beth Jannery, journalism director in Mason’s Department of Communication.

“It has definitely diversified how I see communications as a field and what I’m interested in pursuing,” said David Kendrick, a senior communication major who explained that his interest in media production sprang from conversations with mentors from Discovery Communications and the Eaton Creative Group.

Between adjunct professors at Mason who currently work in the industry and events, such as the annual forum, to have that opportunity to meet them, pick their brains, and get connected,” Kendrick said, “there’s a plethora of professionals that are involved at the university, so it’s always great to have that opportunity to meet them, pick their brains, and get connected.”

More than 110 students attended the Communication Department event. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

There were 115 students and 17 mentors at the forum, hosted by Mason’s Department of Communication and its external advisory board, the Insight Committee.

“This forum augments the wisdom that professors provide in their classes with some real-world points of view from these mentors that I think will give Mason students a leg up as they think about what they want to do for their careers,” said Clay McConnell, a Mason adjunct professor who is also senior vice president of corporate communications and marketing at Intelsat and chair of the Insight Committee.

The Insight Committee works each year to invite mentors with a range of skills, strengths, and job experiences, said Julie Murphy, president of Sage Communications and part of the Insight subcommittee that planned the event.

Access to these leading professionals in media relations, journalism, public relations, health/interpersonal communications, and political communications is a benefit of Mason’s location right outside of Washington, D.C., Murphy said.

Mason’s proximity to the nation’s capital was why Savannah Behrmann, BA Communication ’18, a mentor and the Senate correspondent for the National Journal, attended Mason.

“Being able to come back to Mason and pay it forward is so important because if I didn’t have those kinds of people in my life willing to do that for me, I don’t think I would have been able to break into the industry,” Behrmann said. “It was through Mason alumni that I got my first two internships.”

Saana Heikkala, a junior exchange student from the University of Helsinki majoring in cultural studies and minoring in communication, said she was inspired by the two of the mentoring sessions she attended.

The forum, Heikkala said, motivated her to grow her network, work on her LinkedIn presence, and ultimately build opportunities in communication.

The Department of Communication also held a brief scholarship ceremony for senior communication majors Sarah Swift and Katyayani Sharma, and sophomore business major Mathilda Tataw. These students received certificates and met with the faculty and Insight Committee members who helped support the scholarships.

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Students

career-ready graduates

Department of Communication

Alumni

Fall Career Fair helps students get their ‘foot in the door’

Colleen Rich — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 14:28:48 +0000

Fall Career Fair helps students get their ‘foot in the door’ Colleen Rich Wed, 10/05/2022 - 10:28

More than 240 employers came to Mason's Fall Career Fair to recruit for internships, part-time jobs, and full-time positions, with start dates ranging from now through next summer. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

Thousands of George Mason University students and alumni weaved through numerous employer tables lined up around the lower level of the Johnson Center eager to find job opportunities at the Fall Career Fair.

“I’m definitely looking to get my foot in the door with an internship starting this year,” said Lindsay Dombroff, a junior majoring in criminology, law, and society who was able to talk with recruiters from the National Security Agency.

The Fall Career Fair, on September 28 and 29, included more than 240 employers promoting internships, part-time jobs, and full-time positions, with start dates ranging from now through next summer.

“My career field is so broad, and there’s so many things I could do,” Dombroff said.

The Fall Career Fair brought in 3,000+ students across both days. Photo by Cristian Torres/Strategic Communications

The career fair, she said, “definitely helps narrow down my choices and puts me in a specific direction of where I want to go.”

The annual event brought in 3,178 students across both days, said Saskia Campbell, executive director of University Career Services.

“A lot of employers are starting their recruiting and hiring earlier and earlier,” Campbell said. “We want students to start early in doing their research and learning about the career opportunities and options that are out there.”

Abhijeet Ghadge, who’s pursuing a master’s degree in computer science, went specifically to talk with Amazon Web Services and Yahoo about full-time software development positions, for which, he said, he will now apply.

It was helpful for Ghadge to talk one-on-one with recruiters and learn what preparations he needs to make to get the job he wants, he said.

Many of the employers had Mason alumni representing their company, including Capital One, Baker Concrete Construction, and Allan Myers.

Jennifer LoGiurato-Rider, campus recruiter for Allan Myers, attended the fair with Mason alum and Allan Myers Project Engineer Kassi Zeigler, BS Management ’20, and said they had already invited a few students to the next step in their application process.

Other employers had current Mason students helping with recruitment.

Asia Thomas, a senior business major, said she has held several internships with the U.S. Government Accountability Office and will start another with the agency in a few weeks. She stood behind the employer table, meeting with fellow students and telling them about interning at the government office.

“We want Mason students because we’re in the area in D.C., so we want to stay local,” Thomas said, highlighting one of the benefits of Mason being in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region.

Some employers that are part of Mason’s on-campus interview program are looking to fill interviews scheduled for later this semester, Campbell said. Students can find positions and interview schedules in Handshake, a portal that connects students and employers.

That way, Campbell said, “You don’t have to wonder how serious they are, when they are going to hire, or how long it is going to take. These employers are ready to act and expedite moving students to the interview phase.”

For many, the Fall Career Fair has been a key step in planning for the future.

Topics

Campus News

University Career Services

career-ready graduates

Alumni

University Life

Stu Shea, Peraton CEO and Mason's Commencement Speaker Q&A

Kristin Heydt — Thu, 05 May 2022 18:05:30 +0000

Stu Shea, Peraton CEO and Mason's Commencement Speaker Q&A Kristin Heydt Thu, 05/05/2022 - 14:05

Peraton CEO Stu Shea, who will speak at Mason's Commencement May 20, discusses success, life, careers, and how Mason prepares graduates for the world ahead in this Q&A.

Q: Your career as a leader in the security, intelligence, business and technology industries incorporates some of Mason’s many programmatic strengths. How does one carve out a distinguished career that encompasses all of those areas?

A: I believe careers are really built from a combination of hard work, luck, and serendipity. At the beginning of my own career, I sought out opportunities to pursue my passions. There is far less value in living someone else’s dream than in living your own. As a young person just starting my career, I felt that life was too short to follow predetermined paths. The confluence of security, intelligence, business, and technology was both a passion and a way of life for me. I was curious about the world and convinced that technology was foundational to having a global perspective and a competitive advantage, so I dove in headfirst believing that one day my family, community, nation, and our very way of life would depend on the results of the work I was undertaking. I took that responsibility seriously, knowing there were real lives and missions of consequence that depended on me doing my job well.
Looking back on the dots connecting my past to my present, I have been very fortunate to support our national security for the past 40 years. However, describing what I have done as a “distinguished” career is a moniker others place on what I have been honored to do. In fact, I would characterize my career as “blessed”; I got to do what I loved and was entrusted, through my work and service, to protect the freedoms of so many people.

Stu Shea

"We look for people who have grit and aren’t afraid of the impossible, who push the envelope to achieve innovation that benefits the greater good. Graduates who bring these qualities … have everything we’re looking for."

Q: Peraton has hired more than 450 Mason alumni among its 6,000 employees in the region, so you must be pleased with the talent that Mason produces. What qualities do you and your team look for in the people you hire and promote, and how do Mason grads exhibit these qualities?

A: We always look for the smartest people, the most motivated, and the most diverse, but all those qualities pale in comparison to finding the person who best exemplifies our corporate values. Anyone who truly internalizes and exhibits our core values—to honor those we serve; maintain selflessness for the team; operate with integrity and trust; treat others with respect; constantly innovate; deliver excellence in value and capability—has the potential to be a valued contributor and high performer for Peraton.

Education can be taught. Experience can be gained. But honor, integrity, and respect must be embodied in the soul of a person. We look for people who have grit and aren’t afraid of the impossible, who push the envelope to achieve innovation that benefits the greater good. Graduates who bring these qualities, along with a desire to impact the world, have everything we’re looking for. I look forward to hiring hundreds more of your alumni.

Q: One of Mason’s defining pillars is diversity in its many forms—diversity of origin, identity, circumstance, thought, and so on. How important is diversity to innovation and performance and how might students coming out of Mason, Virginia’s most diverse public university, have a leg up on the competition?

A: There is incredible value in the diversity of thought, experience, culture, education, etc. that is personified by George Mason University. The work Dr. Washington has done to lead a university that extends diversity beyond race and ethnicity, and invites people, of all backgrounds and cultures, to become such an impactful force is both palpable in its focus and impressive in its outcomes.

Diversity fuels the determination and courage of both Mason and Peraton to accomplish the impossible. It is noteworthy that about a quarter of Mason graduates are the first in their family to go to college. These students overcame bias and barriers to chart an unmarked course in pursuit of a better future than the one they were born into.

Diversity is the summation of our strengths and allows an individual to see a door where others see a wall. As graduates of Virginia’s most diverse public university, armed with incredible academic offerings like the nation’s first cybersecurity engineering program, the sky’s the limit for what Mason graduates can and will achieve in the future.

Q: Fifty-eight percent of Mason undergrads say they completed an internship while at Mason, so there is a lot of room for growth in that area. Internships help students clarify their career goals, build relevant skills, develop contacts, and land jobs. Should area employers invest more resources in internships and apprenticeships to reap the benefits later on?

A: Absolutely. Investments in internships should be a critical element in a company’s talent acquisition strategy. It certainly is at Peraton. Our University Recruiting and Relations (UR&R) program is growing and expanding in line with our overall company growth. We are excited to provide internships and full-time opportunities to students and graduates from Mason, as well as other leading universities around the country. 

Peraton engages with students and faculty throughout the year, partnering with universities to work with students on capstone projects, research symposia, poster sessions, hack-a-thons, and other events. We recruit a large pool of college students each year for experiential learning opportunities through our Cooperative Education and Internship Program (CEIP) and our formal summer internship program. Both allow students to learn valuable engineering and analytical skills, apply them to real world problems, and better prepare them to start their career at Peraton. 

Diversity … allows an individual to see a door where others see a wall. As graduates of Virginia’s most diverse public university … the sky’s the limit for what Mason graduates can and will achieve in the future.

Q: Mason is the educational, economic, and cultural hub of Northern Virginia. You’ve served on Mason’s College of Science Advisory Board and have many other connections to the university. How would you characterize Mason’s role in regard to innovation and the economic health and future of Northern Virginia?

A: As one of the nation’s top research universities, Mason is influencing change in our world. Having overcome funding hardships and its fair share of naysayers, Mason was built on the backbone of people who wouldn’t accept no for an answer. Mason graduates are impatient to tackle the greatest challenges this world has to offer and, thus, don’t wait for permission to act.

The technological legacy of this institution has fueled progress at a highly accelerated rate; innovations originating from Mason have the capacity to change the world. As the world struggles to recover from the past two years, Mason is paving a better path forward for our economy, our communities, and our nation through its Mason Virginia Promise program.

Having only been established in the last 50 years, the Mason legacy was built by doers who persevered to bring about change and become America’s top university. Mason’s culture of curiosity allowed it to become the youngest university to receive R1 research status in the country, bolstering its case as Virginia’s most innovative institution. Changing the world doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with a refusal to accept the status quo and progresses through small steps fueled by steadfast work.

Q: Many Mason students have overcome obstacles to attend college and more than 1 in 4 are the first in their family to do so. What should Mason students—regardless of their major or area of interest—be doing now to prepare for successful careers?

A: My framework for achieving career success is the following: Think it. Believe it. Live it. Achieve it. Always follow your gut instinct, create, and believe in the vision of what the world could be in the future. You must reverse engineer that end goal and live it every day, in every way through words and actions to, ultimately, be successful at it.

The education you are receiving at Mason is world-class. Dr. Washington and the faculty have prepared you to repair the world you’re about to enter while simultaneously empowering you with the tools to build the world of tomorrow. The only thing left to do is to act. Dive headfirst into the things in life that set your soul ablaze and get your neurons firing into the realm of possibility. That’s a fair indicator you’re on the right path.

Qualifications and competency can be taught but the future needs more people who embody honor, integrity, and respect and believe they have the power to affect change. At Peraton, we challenge our employees to “do the can’t be done,” which is a mindset that turns obstacles into opportunities. We encourage employees to think differently and look at all problems with fresh eyes. We look past the obvious to bring the best talent, tech, and ideas together to completely transform how things are done.

Q: Mason graduates would like to know: What is the best piece of advice you ever received, personally or professionally, and how has that advice helped shape your life and career?

A: One of my most valued mentors was Walt Havenstein, the former CEO of SAIC, who taught me an invaluable lesson in what I considered to be a rich learning experience. One day at work, I became quite emotional telling Walt how he was “missing the point” on an important topic, and the choices I was comparing for him “were clearly different.” In fact, I was so focused on convincing him how different they were that I got up and drew a picture of the differences on a whiteboard. Walt calmly asked me to follow him, and led me 100 feet down the hallway, where he asked me to turn around and look at the whiteboard. He told me, “Now look at them. Are they really all that different now?” As I squinted down at the 100-foot hallway, all I saw was a single black blob on whiteboard. At that distance, my original two items were indistinguishable. “It all depends on your perspective,” said Walt. “Always keep things in perspective.”

While that sticks with me the most, I also recall advice from my thesis advisor, Dr. George Jenks, who gave me an article to read. He told me that it was relevant to my master's thesis—but as I read it, and I reread it, these two pages, probably for a month and a half—I couldn't begin to understand how it was relevant. It had nothing to do with my thesis! I was practically ready to hold it up to a blacklight to search for clues or hidden meanings. I was so frustrated.

And Dr. Jenks said, “Have you read every word on it?” In the article there was a picture. There was a little circle and a big circle. The little circle said: what one knows. The big circle said: “what one does not know”. Then it had the following expression: “the value of what one knows is doubled if one confesses to not knowing what one does not know.”

What he was saying was that as soon as you realize how much you still have to learn, you're a whole lot smarter. For me, this lesson drove my thirst for knowledge. I became a voracious reader, reading widely across all types of subjects. Have a desire to learn. Your curiosity will be rewarded.

Collectively, guidance like this has led me toward a life of learning and self-awareness, and a willingness to try new things every day. It also gave rise to my own advice to others, which is to “be unafraid of the impossible.”

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A: There was one point from Dr. Washington’s 50th anniversary celebration speech in April that really stood out to me. He said, “you don’t come this far this fast by being like the others. You actually have to be just a little different.”
Peraton, like Mason, is a young organization. You are 50 years old, we are five years old. Like Mason, Peraton was created to respond to a changing world. Our people are hungry for innovation and walking the tightrope between the impossible and the capacity of human potential in every major industry.
As two Northern Virginia-based organizations, George Mason is in Peraton’s backyard, and we are in Mason’s backyard. Mason’s tenets – research, innovation, diversity – closely align with Peraton. For a Mason graduate, we consider it a natural progression to work with a company like Peraton. We create the jobs that you study and train for, and serve missions that support our national security. But there are many organizations that could benefit from your talents and reward your efforts. Ultimately, I hope you have the opportunity to drive change, to be yourself, and to become what makes you happy. If you keep this guidance in mind, the rest of the pieces will fall into place along the way.

Changing the world doesn’t happen overnight. It starts with a refusal to accept the status quo and progresses through small steps fueled by steadfast work.

Topics

Commencement

Campus News

Mason Virginia Promise

Cybersecurity

College of Science

Tech Talent Investment Pipeline (TTIP)

career-ready graduates

Statistics alum finds rewarding career opportunities

Martha Bushong — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 20:14:21 +0000

Statistics alum finds rewarding career opportunities Martha Bushong Tue, 10/19/2021 - 16:14

In This Story

Kenneth Strazzeri

Tae Song, MS STAT '21. Courtesy photo

For students who are good at math and want a rewarding, interesting profession, statistics offers a great deal of certainty.

“Statistics is about trying to find certainty in uncertain situations,” says Tae Song (MS Statistics, ’21). Song now works as a statistician for the Washington National Tax Office at Grant Thornton, a public accounting and consulting firm. He says, “Many of our clients want us to give them answers, but that’s not really what we do as statisticians. We’re more about interpreting data and saying, ‘Here’s what the data suggests, but you have to make the decision.’”

Several years after finishing his BS in accounting and finance and working as a data analyst in a Washington, D.C. law firm, Tae Song realized that if he wanted to be a statistician, he needed more education. He looked at a variety of different schools and found the best fit at Mason.

“I was an international student at the time, so I wasn't expecting any kind of financial assistance, but the department’s generous offer really surprised me, and I was very, very thankful,” he says. Beyond the financial support, the atmosphere of teamwork was also a big benefit.

As a teaching assistant in the department, Song appreciated the interaction with students and sharing his excitement about the field with them.

“Before the COVID lockdown, I really enjoyed engaging with the students helping them out, especially right before exams,” he says. “They would kind of swarm that room, and we would have four or five TAs helping 20-30 students. I miss that environment, it was very cooperative with a lot of energy. It was rewarding and respectful.”

“Tae was one of the best graduate teaching assistants in my nearly 10 years here at Mason,” says Kenneth Strazzeri, associate professor in the department. “He has the patience and ability to explain difficult concepts in a way that people can understand and use.” Song now uses this same skill set with clients at Grant Thornton.

Song says statistics is a practical and versatile field that he became interested in while pursuing an undergraduate degree at New York University Stern School of Business. As part of a student internship, Song and some other students worked for a local advocacy group, Scenic Hudson. One of their professors, who was also a consultant, had engaged in pro bono work for the group, and he asked some students to do some research.

“It was a great opportunity to do some good work,” says Song. “Scenic Hudson’s mission is to keep the Hudson River and its shorelines as beautiful and pristine as possible. They were concerned about railway tank cars that traveled along the riverside and potential spills. They wanted models about what would happen if there was a spill or leak. We didn’t actually build the models, but the research really opened my eyes to what is possible with statistics.”

Song believes that his degree in statistics has set him up for a great career. “With a degree in statistics, you are extremely marketable. It can be super academic if you want it to be, or super commercial. It’s used in government, finance, healthcare, economics, so many places.”

Topics

Department of Statistics

Graduate Education

career-ready graduates

Student health care leaders host spring symposium

Colleen Rich — Tue, 04 May 2021 13:09:53 +0000

Student health care leaders host spring symposium Colleen Rich Tue, 05/04/2021 - 09:09

More than four months of planning by George Mason University College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) students and external partners led to a successful spring symposium on April 9.

Rehan Saeed

Leading the way were Mason’s Rising Healthcare Leaders (MRHL), the student group that co-sponsored the event with the National Capital Healthcare Executives and the local American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE) chapter.

“Without [MRHL], this never would have happened,” said Brenda Helen Sheingold, director of master’s in health system management program at Mason. “They have completed all of the training to establish this new registered student organization at Mason.”

The CHHS graduate students started the planning process back in December and planned sessions on technology innovation and mapping early career development.

The 2021 symposium provided an opportunity for students not merely engage with industry professionals and leaders in the field of health care administration, but to start a conversation about the future of the field, said MRHL President Rehan Saeed, who is working on a master’s degree in health administration (MHA).

Priya Mallya

“This is the Department of Health Administration and Policy students' signature annual event and they have been working on it for months,” Sheingold added.

“The majority of the event planning, logistics and execution was carried out by students,” Saeed said. “This event was monumental for us, in that it served as a useful reminder of a very important lesson taught to us early on in the course of our program: There is no working without networking.”

“I feel honored to have shared my professional career journey during the MRHL-NCHE symposium,” said Tiyi Moori, associate director of health operations at the Community of Hope in Washington, D.C. “It was mutually beneficial to feel like I contributed to helping someone else understand and plan their career goals. In turn, it gave me a window into how I can professionally develop myself in a mentoring way.”

Key takeaways from Moori’s early career development panel were that no two career paths are the same and networking is an essential tool in one’s job search. “All panelists spoke about the value in mentors,” Moori added.

Saad Ahmad

The event also honored Mason alumnus Anton Arbatov, vice president of revenue cycle management and compliance at SOC TeleMed. Arbatov, who graduated from Mason with a master of health administration in 2015, was the first president of a MHA student organization at Mason and served as moderator for this year’s technology innovation panel.

“The GMU-NCHE team pulled together a terrific event,” said Arbatov. “The symposium was able to bring together a panel of innovators with varying backgrounds for an insightful discussion about the growing role of technology in health care. It was my distinct pleasure to exchange thoughts with leading industry experts.”

MRHL named an award in Arbatov’s honor and will recognize a deserving individual with it annually.

Renee Ordoobadi

“The current student population has endeavored to carry Mr. Anton Arbatov's legacy forward by reestablishing a student association that is inclusive of all graduates from the Department of Health Administration and Policy and that embraces his values of fostering innovation, meeting public expectations, accountability and a commitment to caring about people.”

Saeed, Vice President Priya Mallya, Treasurer Saad Ahmad and Event Planner Renee Ordobadi said they appreciated the feedback they received during and following each panel discussion, from both the speakers and attendees.

“We are very much looking forward to next year’s symposium,” said Saeed. “It’s sure to be even bigger, even better.”

Topics

Students

career-ready graduates

College of Health and Human Services

student organizations

Student Spotlight

CHHS News

Mason honors 2020 graduates with virtual Commencement ceremony

Colleen Rich — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 21:26:56 +0000

Mason honors 2020 graduates with virtual Commencement ceremony Colleen Rich Mon, 12/14/2020 - 16:26

The campus community is preparing for the virtual Commencement on Dec. 17, including The Patriot. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

George Mason University will honor more than 4,600 summer and fall graduates this week at its 53rd Commencement, a virtual ceremony that also will commemorate the 9,700 graduates from Spring 2020.

Commencement will take place at 2 p.m. Dec. 17 on GMU-TV. The university first recognized the spring graduates in May with a virtual Celebration of the Class of 2020, also livestreamed on GMU-TV.

Charniele L. Herring, BA Economics ’93, is the featured speaker for Commencement. Herring is the first African American woman from Northern Virginia to be elected to the state legislature and the first woman and first African American to be named majority leader of the House of Delegates.

Commencement also will include congratulatory messages from Mason President Gregory Washington and others, musical performances, and degree conferrals. School and college degree celebration pages will feature personalized slides on their graduates.

Colleges and schools with doctoral candidates will hold live ceremonies following Commencement.

The 5,075 degree and certificate earners who graduated during the summer or have filed an intent to graduate in December are a typically diverse group. They hail from 63 countries, 41 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and foreign military installations. About one-third of bachelor’s degree earners report they are first-generation college graduates.

The winter graduating class also reflects Mason’s standing as a leading producer of tech talent in Virginia—35% of the undergraduates, and 25% of graduate students, are earning degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

The top five undergraduate majors are information systems and operations management, psychology, computer science, management, and criminology, law and society.

In addition to the 3,068 students earning bachelor’s degrees in December, the winter class includes 1,389 students earning master’s degrees, 163 doctorates, and 17 law school graduates.

The top five master’s majors are curriculum and instruction, special education, data analytics engineering, education leadership, and accounting.

The top doctorate majors are education, psychology, economics, bioinformatics and computational biology, conflict analysis and resolution, and public policy.