George Mason is building a nexus of collaboration and resources on campus, throughout the region with our vast partnerships, and across the state, called AI²Nexus.

As a model for universities, AI²Nexus is based on four key principles: Integrating AI to transform education, research, and operations; Inspiring with AI to advance higher education and learning for the future workforce; Innovating with AI to lead in responsible AI-enabled discovery and advancements across disciplines; and Impacting with AI to drive partnerships and community engagement for societal adoption and change.

George Mason University is driving rapid AI adoption and advancements across the Commonwealth.

As the largest and most diverse university in Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C., George Mason University is leading the future of inclusive artificial intelligence (AI) and developing responsible models for AI research, education, workforce development, and community engagement within a modern university.

As AI reshapes industries, George Mason combines fearless ideas that harness the technology’s boundless potential to address the world’s grand challenges, while creating guardrails based on informed, transdisciplinary research around ethical governance, regulatory oversight, and social impact.

Led by the university’s inaugural vice president and chief artificial intelligence officer (CAIO) Amarda Shehu with an AI Visioning Task Force, George Mason is reimagining operational excellence in every facet of the university.

Source: AI Webpage

A naval officer and military pilot from 1988-1999, Cummings was one of the U.S. Navy’s first female fighter pilots. She is now the director of Mason’s Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) and a professor at George Mason University. She holds faculty appointments in the Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Computer Science departments. She is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellow and recently served as the senior safety advisor to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Cummings received her BS in Mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1988, her MS in Space Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1994, and her PhD in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2004.

Source: GMU webpage

Jesse Kirkpatrick is a Research Associate Professor, Acting Director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy,  and Co-director of the Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) at George Mason University.

Jesse is also an International Security Fellow at New America and serves as a consultant for numerous organizations. His most recent consulting engagement is with Noblis Inc., a non-profit science, technology, and strategy organization that delivers technical and advisory solutions to federal government clients, where he is a member of the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Committee; AI Review Board; and Biosafety and Bioethics Committee.

Thema (pron: Tay-mah) Monroe-White is an Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Policy in the Schar School of Policy and Government and Department of Computer Science (joint) at George Mason University. Her broad interests include bias mitigation in artificial intelligence (AI), critical quantitative and computational methods, and racial equity in innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E).

As an interdisciplinary scholar, her work explores the systemic biases that affect the workforce and educational journeys of racially minoritized groups within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. She is particularly concerned with understanding the pathways to achieving social and economic empowerment for minoritized groups via I&E, AI literacy, and emancipatory data science.

Source: GMU page

Dasha Pruss is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Computer Science at George Mason University and a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.

Previously, she was a 2023-2024 fellow at the Berkman Klein Center and a postdoctoral fellow in the Embedded EthiCS program at Harvard University. In 2023 she received her PhD in history & philosophy of science from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was a National Science Foundation fellow, and she holds a BS in computer science.

Dr. Pruss draws on interdisciplinary methods from critical data studies, feminist philosophy of science, and the qualitative social sciences to examine how AI systems shape (and are shaped by) their social contexts. Her research critically interrogates the social impacts of algorithmic decision-making systems promoted by ‘evidence-based’ reforms in the US criminal legal system.

In 2024, she organized Prediction and Punishment: Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Carceral AI, which brought together scholars and activists from around the world to address technologies designed to police, incarcerate, surveil, and control human beings. Dr. Pruss is also an activist and has co-organized efforts to ban facial recognition and predictive policing in the city of Pittsburgh.

Source: Mason page

Launching in Fall 2025, Master of Science in AI

Source: Website

This minor is designed to equip students to tackle the moral complexity of AI-enabled technologies. It provides students with core competencies for thinking critically about the impact of AI in social and global contexts and allows them to apply their knowledge and skills via case studies, debates, and individual or team projects.

The minor seeks to make ethical and social considerations a forethought in the design, development, deployment, and use of AI-related technologies. Given the role of AI-enabled technologies in our increasingly digital society, the minor is of relevance to all Mason students as engaged citizens and offers vital competencies to those planning for careers in such areas as computing and technology, government, public policy, health, law, education, and the media.

The graduate certificate in Responsible AI provides students with the fundamentals of artificial intelligence (AI), how AI systems are architected, the principles of systems engineering as they relate to AI systems, theories of AI safety and risk, how to test and evaluate such systems to meet risk thresholds, and how to identify ethical, legal and regulatory issues that arise in such systems.

Students will be prepared to develop and manage complex systems with embedded AI, including identifying unique requirements for systems with embedded AI, testing and certifying these systems, and defining and maintaining safe levels of performance for deployed AI. Graduates will also be able to develop acquisition plans for complex systems with embedded AI, and develop AI maintenance programs including auditing. Areas of application include safety-critical physical systems like self-driving cars, air taxis and health applications, as well as software-based systems like financial and banking systems, and those that support education and research.

Source: GMU Catalog

The Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC) conducts research and provides unique educational opportunities to address local and global needs in autonomy, embedded artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics.

Our interdisciplinary activities take a holistic approach to growing technological demands by combining computer science, electrical and mechanical engineering, systems engineering, psychology, philosophy, and policy education and research.

Working in conjunction with our other research affiliates and technology partners has created a proven and repeatable technology development program, uniting faculty, students, government agencies, and corporate sponsors.

Source: Website

The C5I (Center of Excellence in Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyber and Intelligence) at George Mason University is the nation’s first and only civilian university-based entity offering a comprehensive academic and research program in military applications of information technology and cyber security.

Vision
To serve as a multi-disciplinary hub connecting faculty and researchers with interests in the Center’s mission and be widely recognized as a premier source of knowledge and innovation to military and civilian authorities.
Mission
The Center’s mission is to perform advanced research in defense, intelligence, and security-related applications in IT and Cyber; bridging cultural gaps and aligning requirements between government, industry, and academia.

I am Board Chair of onAir Networks. onAir Networks is a nonpartisan 501c3 social enterprise that provides technical and management support for focused networks like the Artificial Intelligence and United States network sand for other Grand Challenge networks and hubs.

I am also interim Chair of the Science Advisory Board for the Future onAir Hub and Chair of the Maryland onAir hub Advisory Board.

I am a staff software engineer at Northrop Grumman. I have a PhD in Neuroscience from George Mason University.

Dean Woodley Ball is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation (FAI).

Ball was a Research Fellow in the Artificial Intelligence & Progress Project at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, a Policy Fellow at Fathom, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation, and author of Hyperdimensional.

His work focuses on emerging technologies and the future of governance. He has written on topics including artificial intelligence, the future of manufacturing, neural technology, bioengineering, technology policy, political theory, public finance, urban infrastructure, and prisoner re-entry.

Source: Website

Matthew Mittelsteadt is a technology policy research fellow at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on the intersection of policy, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Matthew’s work concentrates on ensuring emerging tech adoption and innovation, enabling robust cybersecurity, and preserving tech market access and international trade. His work has appeared in The Hill, National Review, Noema Magazine and his Substack Digital Spirits.

Prior to joining Cato, Matthew worked as an AI policy fellow at both the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and Syracuse Law School. In the private sector, he developed his tech expertise as a healthcare IT professional. He holds a BA in economics and Russian Studies from St. Olaf College, an MPA from Syracuse University, and an MS in cybersecurity from New York University.

Shehu is an accomplished administrator, teacher, and scholar. She currently serves as George Mason’s Inaugural VP and Chief AI Officer in which capacity she also continues to provide leadership for the Institute of Digital InnovAtion (IDIA) for which she served as Associate Vice President for Research during 2022 and 2024.

Shehu also serves as an Associate Dean for AI Innovation in the College of Engineering and Computing (CEC), where she is also a tenured Professor in the Department of Computer Science.

Source: CEC webpage