The Mason Spirit

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a research project that Mason recently signed on to, was listed by the National Academy of Sciences as one of the most important astronomical endeavors of the next decade. The telescope, which researchers hope will be built and on line by the end of the decade, will create a…

Continue Reading Top Telescope Project to Create “Movie” of the Night Sky

Mason has a new “it” couple. In January, husband and wife, Daniel Quigley, BS Decision Sciences and Management Information Systems ’99, and May (Castro) Quigley, BA Psychology ’01, were voted favorite couple in the first-ever Mason Sweetheart 16 contest. The contest, as the name suggests, featured the stories of 16 couples whose relationships were somehow…

Continue Reading Sweetheart 16 Winners Announced

As a salute to Mason’s tagline, “Where Innovation Is Tradition,” university officials recently launched a new initiative to capture the many innovative ideas conjured up by Mason faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Called the Innovation Inventory, the program asks members of the Mason community to submit the stories behind the innovative projects, programs, or ideas…

Continue Reading Mason Collecting Innovative Ideas

Move over greeting cards and say hello to the newest way to send best wishes: video. In a first at Mason, the university created a holiday video in 2010 featuring appearances by President Alan Merten, men’s basketball head coach Jim Larranaga, and a host of students echoing the theme of the video, “Peace on Earth,”…

Continue Reading Mason Produces First Holiday Video

Considered a first for an accredited university in the United States, Mason now offers a one-credit course that delves into a problem becoming increasingly pervasive in a society more apt to celebrate a foul-mouthed reality star than a help-grandma-across-the-street boy scout: bad manners. Launched in fall 2010, Professionalism and Civility is an elective course taught…

Continue Reading Students Minding Their Ps and Qs

Being a student at Mason is not only rewarding, it is exhausting. But don’t take our word for it. The Mason Spirit followed six busy undergrads using the social media application Twitter during a typical week. A week…in their own words.

Continue Reading A Week in the Life of a Patriot

How can humans best interact with and manipulate complex machinery? What are the challenges of designing computer systems that can easily be understood and used with minimal error? And can we monitor brain structure and function to find out how to train people to perform complex tasks in the workplace? These are just some of…

Continue Reading New Center Focuses on Neuroergonomic Research

Name: Kaala Evans Major: Bioengineering Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia Organizational Theory: Evans was a commuter student her first two years at Mason, so she participated in a lot of clubs to meet fellow students. “It’s a good way to network and meet people. In science, you need people around you as a support system to help…

Continue Reading Patriot Profile: Kaala Evans

Gone are the days of decorating with milk crates and posters. Mason students have style! Peek into how undergraduates are living large on campus with this take on MTV Cribs—but with a little Mason flavor. From singles to suites, here are some of the best “cribs” around.

Continue Reading Mason Cribs

Have no fear, carnivores: Mason Dining options still include plenty of cuts of meat. But, for those who would rather slice into a tofu quiche instead of a T-bone steak, your options are growing. Prodded by students, some submitting their own meatless recipes, Mason Dining officials recently began expanding the number of vegan dishes offered…

Continue Reading Pass the Soy, Please!