Summer Team Impact Projects

The Office of the Provost is excited to offer grants for Summer Team Impact Projects (STIP) for Summer 2023. The Offices of Undergraduate Education, OSCAR, and CECiL will fund multidisciplinary summer projects for undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty members. These projects will explore a central theme, a research question, or a community-identified problem. Proposals focusing on the UN Global Goals or Anti-Racist Community Engagement are encouraged. 

The projects can be completed on any Mason campus or 100% online. 

The proposal deadline for Summer 2024 will be announced in the Fall of 2024.

Submit a Summer Team Impact Proposal

Follow these three steps to submit your proposal. 

Step 1: Add Contact Information, Project Summary, and upload Narrative (see below) 

Step 2: Acknowledge that you have read and agree to the important additional considerations (found on step 2) 

Step 3: Enter Budget 

• Mentor Stipends - $9,000 total with no more than $3,000 per mentor. (Please include each mentor who will be paid) 

• Graduate Students - $6,000 for a single graduate student 

• Undergraduate Students: $5,000 each for participating undergraduate students (6-10 per grant). Please provide the number of expected students in the comment section and the total funds required to fund those students in the amount field. 

• Supplies: up to $4,000. Please list items and approximate costs. 

Narrative of no more than four pages that address all the following in a single PDF file: 

• Overview of the central question and project 

• Timeline for the 10-week program.   

  • This should include a first-week student boot camp and enrichment activities for the participating students. 

• The uniqueness of Project 

  • If you have received funding for a previous Summer Team Impact Project, please tell us how this project differs. 

• Involvement of Campus Partners 

  • Tell us how you are connecting with campus partners such as the library and research centers 

• Student Recruitment Plan  

  • How are you going to find and recruit the student participants? 

  • A Position Description for the undergraduate student researchers, which will be posted on Handshake 

Jeremy Campbell, Tom Wood, Shima Mohebbi (Institute for a Sustainable Earth, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Engineering and Computing)

After centuries of marginalization, Indigenous nations in the Commonwealth of Virginia have successfully mobilized for recognition and self-determination in recent decades. However, environmental stressors pose considerable threats to these communities as they work to restore stewardship over tribal lands and waters. Based in a partnership between the Chickahominy Indian Tribe and George Mason researchers, this project aims to collect, organize, and analyze socio-environmental data to support Tribal sovereignty in the realm of environmental decision-making. Our research focuses in two specific areas. First, we follow the principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty to collect, organize, and archive environmental data pertaining to recently reacquired tribal lands (e.g., wildlife assessments, air and water quality data, GIS and remote sensing data modeling applications). Second, we will work with Chickahominy community members to build capacity for food sovereignty and community health initiatives. The data collection and management goals of this project directly inform our applied research efforts, and together these tasks support the broader aim of Indigenous-led landscape restoration. An additional goal of this project is to continue perfecting the engaged research methodologies through which sustained, equitable, and justice-affirming partnerships with Indigenous communities can produce mutually-beneficial outcomes for all. 

Claude Van Sant, Laura Sauls (College of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Building on previous research, this project examines how changes in land ownership and land use in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia explain trends in regional economic inequality and development. Through a mixed-method and multidisciplinary collaboration, we will address UN Global Goals 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and 10 (Reduced Inequality) by developing a model of the causes and consequences of rural land transitions. In doing so, the project will contribute to better understanding of the challenges and prospects for well-being in a rapidly changing economic and social context.  

Michael von Fricken, Nora Cleary, James Hassell (College of Public Health, Smithsonian Institute)

This project aims to provide an international research experience focusing on vector-borne disease (VBD) ecology, surveillance, and epidemiology. Through collaborations with partners at the Mpala Research Centre, Smithsonian Institution, and Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit, we plan to provide hands-on training for students to participate in ongoing funded efforts supported by the Department of Defense. A drawback to funding from this mechanism is the limited ability to earmark funds for student engagement. Thus, STIP will allow me to include students in exciting field research, where they will receive hands-on lab and field training using cutting edge surveillance technologies. This opportunity will provide students with an immersive experiential learning, a richer understanding of East African culture, and a range of research skills that can be used across disciplines. In addition to mosquito and tick collections, students will have the opportunity to receive training on research methods, vector identification, processing protocols and laboratory procedures. Once the study period is over, students will present their projects to the cohort in a symposium setting, open to the greater Mason community. Members can work together to combine various aspects of data analysis and present their findings using R, GIS mapping and statistical analysis. 

Denise Hines, Michelle Hand, Jeanne Booth (College of Public Health)

Domestic violence (DV) and sexual violence (SV) have been identified as pressing public health issues, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, that are experienced by over a third of women and more than a quarter of men in the US, with lasting impacts across individual, relational, organizational, and societal levels. Research has consistently demonstrated needs for a more tailored approach to DV and SV service outreach and delivery for at-risk communities whose needs are not adequately met to increase access, cultural relevance, and quality of services. Based on the self-identified needs of a local DV and SV agency, Fairfax County Domestic and Sexual Violence Services (DSVS), this project will begin with a needs assessment of at-risk communities with unmet needs in Fairfax County. Specifically, we will conduct semi-structured interviews with community leaders.  This 10-week research project will be guided by faculty mentors who specialize in DV, SV, and trauma research, practice, and education.  The results will yield timely recommendations for Fairfax County DSVS, and will guide our next steps in assessing and attending to the needs of local at-risk communities, through a data-driven community-engaged initiative to reduce inequalities in DV/SV service outreach and access. 

Charles Chavis, Linda Mann, Alex Jones,  Isaac Jasper, Ayondela McDole (Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, College of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Project Description: The John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race, Summer Team Impact Project (STIP) for Summer 2023 will provide undergraduate students the opportunity to engage in research and anti-racist community engagement to document silenced histories. This work will transform both students and descendant communities as they work collaboratively to understand the legacies of historic racial harms and the significance of racial repair.