Interdisciplinary Computing Research Symposium

The School of Computing (SoC) and the Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA) at George Mason University will bring together faculty from across the university to participate in the Interdisciplinary Computing Research Symposium on October 8th. 

The symposium, which takes place from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, aims to facilitate connections and dialogue between faculty, who will be able to share their research. The IDIA-affiliated faculty conduct research on a wide variety of topics.  “There are faculty with expertise in digital technologies and faculty focused on developing computational approaches and deploying computing systems to address problems in their fields, as well as faculty focused on studying the societal impact of digital technology and digital systems,” Sanjeev Setia, the Interim Divisional Dean of the SoC, says. 

Each faculty member has their individualized research and creating connections between these various fields will encourage further important research. Kammy Sanghera, Executive Director of IDIA, envisions “this conference to break down the silos and stitch the internal IDIA faculty affiliates together to create new opportunities to solve significant national and global problems.” 

Andre Marshall, Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact stresses the importance of creating these opportunities for collaboration and “looks forward to this important event focused on making connections for transdisciplinary collaboration. We absolutely need these connections across disciplines to nucleate teams and strategies capable of matching the complexity of contemporary global challenges.  This initial meeting is an important first step and these nascent connections will require cultivation to develop into impactful research activities in the future.” 

The symposium is structured around the four areas identified in President Gregory Washington’s Report. As per the report, these areas are: 

Healthy Planet: GMU aims to be “at the forefront in environmental research and sustainability” 

Healthy People: GMU’s innovative research aims to “[find] ways to sustain health in a changing environment in both the short and long term” 

Healthy Economy: The economic effects of the pandemic were extensive and GMU “needs to take a critical role to ensure the revitalization of the region’s economy”  

Healthy Society: GMU is a leader in diversity and “strive[s] for a standard of inclusion”  

The connections between faculty and their varied research are very important and will be crucial to addressing all of these important topics.  “Tackling the grand challenges facing the world today (e.g., climate change) requires multi-disciplinary approaches with contributions from research experts in different fields,” Setia said.   

The symposium features different opportunities for the sharing of research and networking: 

    • Lightning Talk sessions related to the aforementioned four themes provide a chance for faculty members to give introductions to their research with one slide, three-minute presentation 
    • Poster and Networking sessions with the speakers from the Lightning Talk sessions  
    • Birds-of-a-Feather sessions for faculty with similar interests; topics are proposed by the attendees during registration or during the event 

More information on the symposium, as well as the event schedule, can be viewed here 

If you are interested in attending and/or presenting, click here to register for the symposium by Monday, September 20th. 

The Steering Committee for the Interdisciplinary Computing Research Symposium is:  – Kammy Sanghera (IDIA), Sanjeev Setia (School of Computing), Massimiliano Albanese (IST, Brenda Bannon (CEHD), James Casey (CVPA), Pat Gillevet (CoS), Mills Kelly (CHSS), Naoru Koizumi (Schar), Jana Kosecka  (CS), David Lattanzi (VSE), Jaime Lester (CHSS), Dieter Pfoser (CoS), William Rosenberger (Statistics), Janusz Wojtusiak (CHHS), and Jie Xu (VSE). 

For more information or with any questions, please contact Kammy Sanghera (ksangher@gmu.edu) and/or Sanjeev Setia (setia@gmu.edu).

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