The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is proud to be home to a number of active research centers. The centers serve to organize much of our research and scholarship around specific focal areas and help to foster collaborative research among faculty. College-chartered research centers are chartered or rechartered in accordance with university policy.
Peter Mandaville, Director (pmandavi@gmu.edu)
Huseyin Yilmaz, Research Director (hyilmaz@gmu.edu)
The Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies supports research, interdisciplinary academic programs, and community outreach. By providing educational and research opportunities for students, faculty, and visiting scholars, it is helping develop 21st century leaders with a sophisticated understanding of the complex dynamics that shape Muslim communities worldwide.
Edward Wile Maibach, Director (emaibach@gmu.edu)
The Center for Climate Change Communication aims to develop and apply social science insights to help society make informed decisions that will stabilize the earth’s life-sustaining climate, and prevent further harm from climate change.
Gary Kreps, Director (gkreps@gmu.edu)
The Center for Health and Risk Communication (CHRC) provides an important organizational framework for stimulating innovative health and risk communication research collaborations, health promotion intervention projects, and community interventions.
*As a result of the 2019-2020 research center rechartering review, this center affirmed their mission as primarily that of community engagement, educational or cultural, and are departmentally situated as of Academic Year 2020-2021. This center joins the academic tradition of departmental centers that are community engaged, public service oriented or devoted to research training and education, such as the Center for Psychological Services, the Center for Economic Education, and departmental research labs, research groups or centers.
George Oberle, Inaugural Director (goberle@gmu.edu)
*Newly chartered during the 2019-2020 research center review cycle.
The Center for Mason Legacies (CML) aims to preserve and examine the legacy of George Mason IV (1725-1792), his ancestors and heirs, and the people he enslaved.
Amy Best, Director (abest@gmu.edu)
The Center for Social Science Research (CSSR) is committed to conducting publicly engaged social research that can promote social justice and inform equitable social policy.
Daniel Houser, Director (dhouser@gmu.edu)
The Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science (ICES) at George Mason University brings together researchers and students interested in using the methods of experimental economics to answer research questions from a variety of fields.
James Witte, Director (jwitte@gmu.edu)
The Institute for Immigration Research (IIR) is a multidisciplinary research institute at George Mason University that produces valid, reliable, and objective multidisciplinary research on immigrants and immigration to the United States and to disseminate this information through peer-reviewed academic journals, as well as in print and digital formats that make this research easily accessible to policy-makers, the media, the business community, and the general public.
Andrew Light, Director (alight1@gmu.edu)
The Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, founded in 1976 by Peter Brown and Henry Shue, is one of the oldest research institutions in the United States providing expertise on the normative dimensions of public policy. In 2011, the Institute moved from the University of Maryland to George Mason University, where it continues its mission in providing policy innovations through normative analysis and critical reflection.
Young Chan Ro, Director (yro@gmu.edu)
The Korean Studies Center (KSC) provides unique services to both the George Mason community and the Korean American community in the United States by providing opportunities for collaboration and participation in scholarly research about Korean culture and society, including language, history, art, and social, political, and economic issues concerning the Korean peninsula.
*As a result of the 2019-2020 research center rechartering review, this center affirmed their mission as primarily that of community engagement, educational or cultural, and are departmentally situated as of Academic Year 2020-2021. This center joins the academic tradition of departmental centers that are community engaged, public service oriented or devoted to research training and education, such as the Center for Psychological Services, the Center for Economic Education, and departmental research labs, research groups or centers.
T. Mills Kelly, Interim Executive Director (tkelly7@gmu.edu)
The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) creates websites and open-source digital tools to preserve and present the past, transform scholarship across the humanities, advance history education and historical understanding, and encourage popular participation in the practice of history.
Debra Lattanzi Shutika, Inaugural Director (dshutika@gmu.edu)
*Newly chartered during the 2019-2020 research center review cycle.
Watershed Lit serves as the hub for program-related initiatives outside of the classroom and across the region: an incubator for research on topics ranging from the history of the book to translation arts to burgeoning publishing technologies, and a laboratory for experiential learning for generations of Mason students to come.
CHSS researchers are also actively involved in transdisciplinary university institutes and centers for advanced study, including:
CASBBI is led by Drs. Siddhartha Sikdar (ssikdar@gmu.edu), Jim Thompson (jthompsz@gmu.edu), and Lynn Gerber (ngerber1@gmu.edu).
The Center for Adaptive Systems of Brain-Body Interactions (CASBBI) recognizes that improving the quality of life of individuals with disabilities requires an in-depth understanding of the interactions between the individual, their environment, and society.
CAHMP is led by Amarda Shehu (amarda@gmu.edu), David Lattanzi (dlattanz@gmu.edu), and Brenda Bannan (bbannan@gmu.edu).
CAHMP is a catalyst of convergent, interdisciplinary, and fundamental research on human-machine partnership dynamics, focusing on: (1) Intuitive communication (2) Adaptive interactivity (3) Ethical partnership (4) Cross-cutting societal impacts. he mission of CAHMP is to transform social anxiety into social resonance by pursuing convergent research on how to restructure and optimize reciprocal relationships between humans and assistive computing systems.
*New in 2020-2021!
Led by Alison Landsberg (alandsb1@gmu.edu)
The University Center for Humanities Research (CHR) aims to demonstrate and promote the value of the humanities as a public good. Humanities research grapples with complex issues, encourages informed critical dialogue, facilitates cross-cultural and inter-generational understanding, promotes engaged citizenship and inclusive public discourse, and feeds the public imagination.
Led by Jim Jones (jjonesu@gmu.edu)
The Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis (CINA) Center is part of the prestigious network of DHS Centers of Excellence and is funded by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s Office of University Programs to bring together leading experts and researchers to pursue multidisciplinary approaches to address the disruption of criminal activities across the physical and cyber spaces.
Led by Drs. Leah Nichols (lnicho5@gmu.edu) and Thomas Lovejoy (tlovejoy@gmu.edu)
George Mason University Institute for a Sustainable Earth aims to connect members of the Mason community with others across the Mason community–and with other communities, policy-makers, businesses and organizations–so that, together, we can more effectively address the world’s pressing sustainability and resilience challenges.
Led by Dr. Kamaljeet Sanghera (ksangher@gmu.edu)
Researchers, innovators, and scholars in Mason’s Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA) engage in cutting edge work to shape the future of our digital society, promoting equality, wellbeing, security and prosperity.
Led by Amy Adams (avanmete@gmu.edu)
The Institute for Biohealth Innovation (IBI) connects Mason researchers with potential collaborators, both within the university and externally, to take on some of biohealth’s biggest challenges.