Engineering and... News: September 2025

Dear Engineering Colleagues, 

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the Fall 2025 semester! As you may know, I accepted my appointment as interim dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science in July. I have been honored to serve in this capacity thus far, and am excited about the opportunity to lead our school as we navigate a new semester filled with new opportunities.

It was an eventful summer for our school, with the GW Baja Team excelling at the 2025 Baja SAE Maryland competition, GW’s recent reaffirmation as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (NSA CAE-R), Computer Science PhD student Collins Munyendo winning the prestigious John Karat Student Research Award, and many more exciting accomplishments. 

You can read more about our student, faculty, alumni, department, and university news below, and stay up-to-date on our GW Engineering News & Events page.

I encourage you all to engage with the school and with one another, whether in the classroom, in the lab, on social media, or at one of our events. I look forward to seeing all that our incredible students, faculty, staff, and alumni continue to accomplish this fall!

Raise High, 

Jason Zara

Interim Dean, GW Engineering

In 2022, Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act to revitalize the domestic semiconductor industry and address barriers to continued progress. As part of this nationwide effort, GW Engineering is making a significant impact through assistant professor Weidong Cao’s collaboration on a transformative project: “GENIE-RFIC: Generative Engine for Intelligent and Expedited RFIC Design.”

October 1 from 12pm-1pm: Clearance Preparedness Program 2025

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October 1, 8, & 15 from 12:25pm-1pm: Hispanic Heritage Month Booth

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October 1 from 3pm-5pm: SEAS Together Brewednesday

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October 2 from 2pm-3pm: SEAS Staff and Faculty: AI Tools at GW Training

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October 6 from 9am-10am: Viveverse Hackathon Onboarding Sessions

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October 24-26: Alumni and Families Weekend

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Global Perspectives on Patient Care

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Site Visit Gives Civil Engineering Students Real-World Insight into Concrete Design

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GW Engineering Celebrates Women in Computing at CAPWIC 2025

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Power and Energy Student Organization Earns International Recognition

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Professors Grady and Helveston Highlight Urgency in U.S. Clean Energy Investments

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GW-NASA System-Wide Safety Collaboration Advances GW Aviation Safety Research

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Every year, the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) convenes members of government, academia, and industry from across the globe at its AI+EXPO event to share critical insights on artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies, with a special focus on national security. From macroscopic systems like resilient power grids to microscopic brain-inspired computer chips, GW Engineering’s AI-focused research was on display from June 2 to 4 at the 2025 SCSP AI + EXPO in Washington, D.C.

The University Advancement Team at GW Engineering engages with alumni to keep them up-to-date on happenings in the school, help them find faculty or access alumni benefits, guide them to recruiting and/or career information, and help them stay or get connected with GW Engineering. Director of Constituent Engagement and Annual Giving, Hollie Schultz, is a key part of this process.

Q: How long have you been working at GW, and what is your position?
A: I have been at GW for a little over one year. I support University Advancement as the Director of Constituent Engagement and Annual Giving within GW Engineering.

Q: What led you to this career?
A: I’ve held roles in political organizations, journalism support groups, and healthcare nonprofits, which might at first glance seem eclectic. The throughline in all of my professional experiences, though, has been helping others and providing empowerment through access to information and education. Whether I was creating mentoring programs, developing content for conferences and events, securing grants, or curating resources for industry networks, I knew my work was impactful and making a real difference in the lives of others. This is my passion.

Q: Why did you choose GW?
A: Working at GW has been on my radar since I moved to D.C. in 2012. I love that it’s an urban campus and offers students a truly unique experience that you can’t find anywhere else.

 GW Today highlighted this year's Welcome Day of Service, which brought 2,200 GW community members to 62 volunteer sites across the D.C. area. Among them were GW Engineering students Jocelyn Carillo, a mechanical engineering major and Imaan Nasir, a biomedical engineering major. 

As members of the George Washington University’s Class of 2029 begin their journey at a place where they will follow their curiosity to create new knowledge and advance ideas to change society, President Ellen M. Granberg reminded them that it will be hard—but that is precisely the reason to do it.

The GWU-PREP is a collaboration with GWU in Washington, DC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) campus in Gaithersburg, Maryland. GWU-PREP provides research opportunities at NIST to students, faculty, research staff, and postdoctoral researchers at GW as well as researchers at SURA-affiliated universities.

We support your ambitions by offering financial support to eligible GW community members, including a monthly stipend, hourly wage, or full tuition reimbursement for qualifying undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and staff.