Research Highlights

The Mason Arts Research Center does not have a physical structure at George Mason University. But its co-directors want to make it a highly visible hub of research into how arts participation affects child development. It will do so with a two-year, $150,000 renewable grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the vision of co-directors Thalia Goldstein, assistant professor of applied developmental psychology; Adam Winsler, professor of applied developmental psychology; and Kim Sheridan, associate professor of educational psychology. Read more...

Fred Bemak, a professor and academic program coordinator of George Mason University’s College of Education and Human Development counseling and development program, is a recipient of a 2018 Oustanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Bemak, in the College of Education and Human Development, is one of 12 recipients selected from 83 nominees, and the 21st George Mason recipient since the award’s inception in 1987. Read more...

If you’re an enormous social media company looking to adapt some of your technology for younger children, you want to make sure you’re creating a fun user experience—but also a safe one. That’s what Facebook was recently looking to do. While preparing to put together what eventually became Messenger Kids, which launched in late 2017, the company consulted with experts on children and media. One of those experts was Kevin Clark, CEHD professor and director of the Center for Digital Media Innovation and Diversity. Read more...

As the scope of potential short- and long-term damage from brain injuries in football becomes clearer every day, the mad scramble is on to try to address the crisis, which threatens the very existence of the sport. And while the leading chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, research at Boston University has made the most headlines, two scientists at George Mason University have been working on a potentially groundbreaking diagnostic tool that could change the way we test for and treat brain injury across the sports world and beyond. Read more...

Panel discussion highlights new minor in Sport and Conflict Resolution and addresses the question of athletes as activists. The role that athletes play in conflict resolution was addressed during a two-hour forum earlier this month at Merten Hall on the Fairfax Campus. Read more...

When Seth Parsons arrived at Mason in 2008, he was curious about something. Teaching can obviously be a tough job. So what makes a teacher stick it out? “There has to be something that sustains excellent teachers who remain in the field,” says Parsons, an associate professor at CEHD. Read more...

How can research practices be more socially and culturally inclusive? Are the values of our participants being recognized and honored? Does our research perpetuate systems of inequality or oppression? These were just a few of the challenging questions that over 200 researchers, professors, leaders, and graduate students wrestled with at the second annual Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) symposium hosted by George Mason University at the Arlington Campus last month Read more...

The conference, Innovation and Internationalization in Pakistani Higher Education, marked the culmination of a partnership between Mason and the University of Management and Technology (UMT) in Lahore. As Fox began her concluding remarks, it became clear that even as the formal project was winding down, the work was just beginning. Read more...

There are only nine other people in the country like Jessica Guzzo. Guzzo has completed all three research administrator certifications, a professional achievement she accomplished just before school started this fall. "It hasn’t really set in yet that I actually passed it,” says Guzzo, Director of Research Administration at CEHD’s Office of Research Development, about the final test she passed in August. Read more...

Christina Cherry, a senior human development and family science major, and Jasmine Felder, a master's student concentrating in counseling and development, say their research helps give a voice to families facing displacement through gentrification. Read more...