Group: Faculty

Research Focus

Developing design and construction methodologies to minimize the use of aggregates produced from natural resources in infrastructures such as but not limited to roads, earth retaining structures, foundations, bridge abutments, embankments, waste containment systems, and underground drainage features. Protecting natural resources and use of recycled materials minimize the impact to the environment and contribute to sustainability. In some instances, use of recycled materials and/or geosynthetics also help resiliency as the infrastructures with such materials become more durable than the ones constructed with natural materials. Such cases also contribute to economic advantages.

Current Projects

■ Use of recycled concrete aggregate for road construction
■ Use of recycled concrete aggregate for MSE wall construction
■ Use of reclaimed asphalt pavement to create aggregate for road construction
■ Evaluation of longevity of liner systems in salt ponds
■ Stabilization with geosynthetics of foundation soils in roadway systems
■ Evaluating the contribution of geotextile to the performance of the roadways

Select Publications

■ Gebremariam, F., et al. (2020). Evaluation of vertical stress distribution in field monitored GRS-IBS structure. Geosynthetics International 27(4), 414-431.

■ Ullah, S. and Tanyu, B. F. (2019). Methodology to develop design guidelines to construct unbound base course with reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). Construction and Building Materials 223, 463-476.

■ Abbaspour, A., and Tanyu, B. F. (2018). Tufa precipitation from Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) over geotextile: mechanism, composition, and affecting parameters. Construction and Building Materials 196, 317–329.

Research Focus

Interoperability in networked systems of systems: the issue here is how to achieve semantic consistency among systems that were not designed to interoperate and do so quickly and efficiently. The specific software systems I have been funded to study are military command and control and simulation systems. The Mason C4I Center team that I lead has developed middleware software that enables interoperation of systems developed by various nations participating in the NATO Modeling and Simulation Group. An instance of six command and control systems from different nations interoperating with five simulation systems from different nations has been demonstrated, and the work continues to move forward. This inherently involves international collaboration and also has been the basis of industry support from Saab, MAK, and ESRI Networked multimedia for distributed education and collaboration: the hard problem here is how to build systems that are most effective within the framework of group psychology for collaboration and learning and also work well over the evolving Internet.

Current Projects

■ C2SIM Reference Implementation Server: concrete instance of command and control-simulation interoperation; also used for NATO CWIX 2019 evaluation of C2SIM.

■ C2SIM Sandbox: open source distributed system node enables incremental testing of C2SIM interfaces in command and control and simulation systems.

■ Enhancing C2-Simulation interoperability with geospatial capability.

■ Validation and testing of standardized C2-Simulation interoperability.

Select Publications

■ Pullen J. M., and Mevassvik O. M. (2016). Coalition command and control – simulation interoperation as a system of systems. The Networking and Simulation Laboratory.

■ Pullen J. M., and Ruth J. (2018). Training operational military organizations in a cyber-active environment using C2-simulation interoperation. The Networking and Simulation Laboratory.

■ Pullen J. M., et al. (2015). Linking C2-Simulation Interoperation Servers to Form Distributed Server Systems.

■ Pullen J. M. (2012). Pros and cons for teaching courses in the classroom and online simultaneously. The Networking and Simulation Laboratory.

Research Focus

Defining content of images seems easy because humans do it so easily. Computationally, the task is complex. Analysis of medical images leads to better understanding of the progression of diseases. Military organizations rely on the knowledge from images to better understand their theater of operation. My research defines algorithms in both the image and frequency spaces to extract pertinent information from visual information.

Current Projects

■ Developing a unified mathematical language for image operators and processing.

■ Defining learning algorithms with superior recall properties.

Select Publications

■ Kinser, J. M. (2018). Image Operators: Image Processing in Python. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

■ Kinser, J. M. (2017). Computational Methods for Bioinformatics: Python 3.4.

■ Kinser, J. M. (2015). Kinematic Labs with Mobile Devices. San Rafael, CA: Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

■ Kinser, J. M. (2009). Python for Bioinformatics. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Research Focus

I am an assistant professor of geotechnical engineering and I joined the Department of Civil,
Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering in the Volgenau School at George Mason University in 2017. My research in geo-environmental engineering fits into two classes: design and evaluate environmental containment systems for municipal, hazardous, and radioactive wastes; and create and investigate innovative geomaterials for sustainable construction applications. My research includes fundamental laboratory studies, practical field experiments, and development of computer models.

Current Projects

■ Service Life Predication of Co-extruded Geomembranes with an Ethylene Vinyl-Alcohol (EVOH) Layer. Sponsor, Kuraray Inc.

■ Investigation of Chemical Compatibility of New Bentonite-Polymer Composite Geosynthetic Clay Liner for Aggressive Coal Combustion Product Leachates. Sponsor, Bentonite Performance LLC.

■ Existing Condition Assessment, Remaining Service Life Prediction, and Evaluation of Repair Methods for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) Saltwater Detention Ponds. Sponsor, Virginia Transportation Research Council.

■ Liner Systems for Aggressive Leachates from Coal-Fired Power Plant Wastes. Sponsor, Environmental Research & Education Foundation.

■ Water Retention Behavior of Polymer-Modified GCLs. Sponsor, National Science Foundation (NSF).

Research Focus

My research focuses on links between policy, technology, socio-economics and decision-making, especially in community resilience, disaster mitigation and response, and cybersecurity. This builds on extensive civilian government leadership experience in national security affairs, including service as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and Department of Defense Chief Information Officer. Other research relates to Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C3I) and civil-military relations. It also draws on experience leading the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, a research center at the U.S. National Defense University, where I taught courses on complex decision- making and emphasized multi-disciplinary approaches such as the STAR-TIDES network on sharing sustainable solutions. I am Executive Advisor to Mason’s Community Resilience Laboratory and chair the Advisory Group of the C4I and Cyber Center in VSE. The Lab has been working with the People-Centered Internet on ways to output humanity at the center of the Internet.

Current Projects

■ Standing up the Center for Resilient and Sustainable Communities (C-RASC), based on the Community Resilience Lab.

■ Understanding national security implications of the 4th Industrial Revolution, especially as it relates to C4I and Cyber .

■ Improving cyber resilience in Japan, and information sharing between the U.S. and Japan.

■ Countering misinformation in cognitive-emotional conflict.

Select Publications

■ Kadtke, J. and Wells, L. (2014). Policy challenges of accelerating technological change: security policy and strategy implications of parallel scientific revolutions. National Defense University, Center for Technology and National Security Policy, Defense and Technology Paper 106.

■ Wells, L. (2019). “National Security Implications of the 4th Industrial Revolution,” chapter in Itamara V. Lochard, ed., Senior Leadership Roundtable on Military and Defence Aspects of Border Security in South East Europe, IOS Press.

Research Focus

My interests are in medical anthropology, Islam, aging and end-of-life care, public policy, pain, reproduction, Middle East Studies, science and technology, and applied anthropology.

Current Projects

■ My second book Actively Dying: The Creation of Muslim Identities through End-of-Life Care in the United States (Routledge, 2021) examines the diverse experiences of Muslim patients and families in the Washington, D.C. area as they interact with the health care system during serious illness and end-of-life care. I analyze faith and religious beliefs within the broader context of health economics, politics, social forces, and health care policy. In the book, I use “actively dying” as a theoretical concept to frame the dying body as a main site through which religiosity and religious identities are formed, changed, or contested. Instead of starting from the premise that identities and beliefs are created when living I use the deteriorating and even dead body as the basis to explore religious beliefs and identities.

■ My next long-term ethnographic project focuses on palliative care and pain management during serious illness and end-of-life care in Morocco. Through ethnographic research I explore how physical pain and suffering intersect with beliefs about mortality and sin as well as a sense of self and personhood. A core component of the research is analyzing the use of pain medication (particularly opioids) within the political and economic contexts of Morocco and investigating the politicization of palliative care in the country. I examine how the state and bureaucracy impact the ways people suffer an experience illness and death.

Select Publications

■ Hughes Rinker, C., et al. (2019). Islam, Medicine, and Practice: The Manifestation of Islamic Moral Values in Everyday Aspects of the U.S. Health Care System. Treating the Body in Medicine and Religion: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Perspectives eds. Fitzgerald J. and Moyse, A. New York: Routledge.

■ Hughes Rinker, C. (2018). Anthropology and Cultural Competence: Delivering Religiously Appropriate Care at the End-of-Life for Muslim Patients, The Unbearable Humanities. Proceedings of the 2017 Virginia Humanities Conference 96-113.

■ Hughes Rinker, C. (2015). Creating neoliberal citizens in Morocco: reproductive health, development policy, and popular islamic beliefs. Medical Anthropology, 34(3): 226-242.

Research Focus

My research focus is the interdisciplinary aspects of energy security as they impact on Virginia’s energy grids. This is the result of lessons-learned from my time as Co-Director of the Mason Center for Energy Science and Policy (CESP). As the world of energy production and transmission intersects with the rapidly changing technology, it is critical to understand the vulnerabilities this intersection produces. In particular, what do policy makers and regulators need to understand and how can closer connections between the private and public sectors strengthen the resilience of energy grids.

Current Projects

■ Restructuring the Center for Energy Science and Policy (CESP) to address issues related to Mason’s Institute for a Sustainable Earth (ISE).

■ Help develop an initiative relating to Virginia grid security based on proven experience at the University of Connecticut.

■ Enhance the transdisciplinary aspects of Mason’s academic programs relating to energy and resilience.

Select Publications

■ Kauzlarich, R. (2017). US policy toward the South Caucuses: Reform, prosperity, democracy in The New Geopolitics of the South Caucasus: Prospects for Regional Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, ed. Hunter, S.T.  Lanham: Lexington Books, pp. 101-216.

■ Oliker, O., et al. (2004). Aid during conflict: Interaction between military and civilian assistance providers in Afghanistan, September 2001-June 2002. RAND Corporation.

■ Shelley, L. and Kauzlarich, R. (2012). Afrique : les options stratégiques pour la France. La Nouvelle Revue Geopolitique, 4, 32-36e.

Research Focus

My research interests include financial institutions and markets performance, public policy regarding these institutions and the structure of their markets, economic stabilization and monetary policy as they influence financial institutions and markets performance, and economies of scale and scope and mergers in the financial service industries. I teach courses in corporate finance, applied global macroeconomics, financial institutions, and financial markets at the undergraduate and MBA levels.

Current Projects

■ Financial institutions and markets performance.

■ Financial markets and their relation to public policy.

■ Economic stabilization and monetary policy.

■ Economies of scale and scope and mergers in the financial service industries.

Select Publications

■ Hanweck, G. A. (2016). Identifying house price booms and bubbles: A disequilibrium analysis from chaos theory. Paper presented at the International Atlantic Economic Conference, Washington, D.C.

■ Hanweck, G. A., and Fissel, G. (2012). Roots of the subprime mortgage crisis: Consequences of extreme loan-to-value ratios. Paper presented at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Washington, D.C.

■ Hanweck, G. A. (2010). Subprime mortgage delinquency and default rates by metropolitan area. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the European Finance Association, Aahrus, Denmark.

Research Focus

My work centers on leveraging emerging technologies, learning science, user experience design, and human-machine partnership interactions to inform both the human system and the smart technology system. This reciprocal learning cycle positions the technology system to become an intelligent observer with insights to inform the human system which then adapts and takes action to promote learning across both systems. Working on these efforts across multiple workforce learning contexts, I co-lead the Center for Advancing Human-Machine Partnerships (CAHMP) that supports transdisciplinary research related to complex human-machine partnerships with automated, artificial intelligence integrated with human systems in the most appropriate, ethical, and trusted ways. My current research has been applied to first responder team-based live simulation training with intelligent sensor-based, instructional support systems leveraging mobile behavioral analytics, and machine learning.

Current Projects

■ The Smart Technology to Enhance Emergency Response project is a collaborative effort with the Center for Innovative Technology and the Department of Homeland Security to conduct research on the application of smart technology solutions in first responder live simulation training exercises.

■ The Center for Advancing Human-Machine Partnerships is a transdisciplinary research center with the goal of optimizing the reciprocal relationships between humans and assistive computing systems.

■ The Public Safety SuperCluster (PSSC) of the NIST Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) project is a worldwide collaboration forum for developing and deploying replicable, interoperable, and scalable cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in cities and communities related to public safety.

Select Publications

■ Bannan, B. et al. (2019). Toward wearable devices for multiteam systems learning. In I. Buchem, R. Klamma, & F. Wild (Eds.), Perspectives on Wearable Enhanced Learning (WELL): Current Trends, Research, and Practice. Springer International Publishing 79–95.

■ Bannan, B. & J. Burbridge. (2019). Smart city learning solutions, wearable learning, and user experience design. In I. Buchem, R. Klamma, & F. Wild (Eds.), Perspectives on Wearable Enhanced Learning (WELL): Current Trends, Research, and Practice. Springer International Publishing 253–271.