Engineering and... News: May 2026

Dear Engineering Colleagues, 

I hope you all are gearing up for a restful summer after a busy academic year! This past month, we celebrated our one-of-a-kind graduates at the undergraduate awards and graduation ceremonies and honored our faculty for their impressive impact-oriented contributions. I am so grateful to our incredible community—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—who 

made this all possible, and I am excited to see our community continue to grow, evolve, and innovate as our graduates transition into their next adventures. 

I will also be undergoing a transition of my own this summer, as I return to my previous role, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs. Our school’s former dean, Dr. John Lach, will return to the role in August after concluding his interim term as the university’s Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. It has been a pleasure to serve as the interim dean this year, and I look forward to continuing to support and engage with you all later this summer and next year. 

As always, you can read more about our students, faculty, alumni, department, and university news below, and stay up-to-date over the summer on our GW Engineering News & Events page.

Raise High 

Jason Zara

Interim Dean, GW Engineering

At GW Engineering, research is never just a theoretical exercise–it’s a catalyst for real-world impact. This spring, GW Engineering’s commitment to engaged scholarship took center stage as faculty collected awards at GW’s 16th annual Faculty Honors Ceremony and the Technology Commercialization Office’s (TCO) 2026 Innovation Competition.

June 1 to June 5: National Security and Naval Power Bootcamp 2026

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June 7 from 12pm to 4pm: GW Alumni MLB Day Hosted at Dodgers vs. Angels

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June 10 from 1:30pm to 3:30pm: GW Staff and Faculty Festival - FB Campus

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June 11 from 8am to 6pm: Laboratory to Launchpad: Bringing Your Energy IP to Life

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June 13 from 11am to 2pm: GW Engineering Summer Picnic

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June 26 from 12pm to 1:15pm: Intro to Lean Innovation Webinar

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Finding Results and Purpose in a Biomedical Engineering Lab

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Leading the Fight Against Viral Threats Through Environmental Engineering

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Searching Smarter: Using Computer Vision to Explore the Smithsonian Collections

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Tian Lan Honored with Fulbright Scholar Award

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Investigating EV Owners’ Willingness to Participate in Smart Charging Programs

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Marc-Andre Berthin Named GW Engineering’s 2026 Distinguished Scholar

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In the article, “Verification and validation for trustworthy scientific machine learning,” GW Engineering’s Lorena Barba proposes to start building a consensus on best practices to improve reliability, validation, and transparency of predictive scientific machine learning models. The article was published in Machine Learning: Science & Technology.

Aidan Furlong is a key member of the administrative team within the Department of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering. From coordinating events to ensuring resources are available, staff like Aidan ensure a seamless experience for everyone in the department.

Q: How long have you been working at GW, and what is your position?
A: I have been working at GW for a little over 2.5 years now! I am the operations assistant for the EMSE Department and GW TAI.

Q: What led you to this career?
A: I had a position my senior year in college where I was a student worker for the engineering school’s advising office. When I needed a job after graduating, I thought applying for a higher education job was best for me with this past experience on my resume.

Q: Why did you choose GW?
A: A lot of it was a location-based decision! I had an apartment in Rosslyn before I had a job, so I applied to a lot of different positions around the area. I also visited when I was in high school, but I didn’t end up attending, so I was very glad to get the chance to work here instead!

While the sun sets on their undergraduate studies, the journey is just beginning for GW Engineering’s Class of 2026. They came together on May 13th to celebrate their accomplishments and pledge their commitment to being responsible members of the engineering and computing professions as they begin their careers.

Amidst rapid technological shifts, evolving industries, and global uncertainty, GW Engineering’s Class of 2026 was reminded at Thursday’s Doctoral Hooding Ceremony and Friday’s Graduation Celebration how they’re uniquely prepared to navigate this complexity as engineers and computer scientists. 

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.