Opening Remarks

President Gregory Washington

According to George Mason University President Gregory Washington, AI is not on the horizon—it’s already here, and the institutions that move decisively will define the future. Drawing parallels to the arrival of the internet and post-WWII research expansion, President Washington challenges universities to treat artificial intelligence not as a tool, but as a transformational force reshaping classrooms, research, operations, workforce preparation, and more.

Welcome Remarks

Amarda Shehu — VP and Chief AI Officer, George Mason University

Vice President and Chief AI Officer Amarda Shehu welcomes the audience of researchers, educators, students, policymakers, and institutional leaders and shares the agenda for the day: to showcase the many ways AI is advancing foundational technologies, responsible classroom practice, scholarship, and governance. She makes particular note of the importance of collaboration across K–12, higher education, and public policy.

Why We’re Here: The Case for AI Convergence

Amarda Shehu

Why is George Mason AI Day important? Amarda Shehu reflects on the day as being not just an event but part of a larger institutional response from the university. In a region where data centers are visible from the highway and federal AI policy is still being written, Northern Virginia is an epicenter for the impact AI is already having on education, workforce, and institutions. However, both George Mason and other public universities face a central tension: the pace of AI change versus the necessarily thoughtful, regulatory pace of curriculum revision, which Shehu explains needs urgent, coordinated action.

Morning Keynote: AI, Society and the Hard Questions

Tina Eliassi-Rad — Northeastern University

A leading voice in AI ethics and network science—and one of the 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics (2021)—Tina Eliassi-Rad of Northeastern University examines how AI is reshaping knowledge creation, decision-making, and the future of work, while also raising questions about trust, accountability, and responsible deployment. A rigorous and thought-provoking talk for researchers, educators, and policymakers alike.

What Does AI Literacy Actually Mean?

Pat Yongpradit — General Manager, Global Education and Workforce Policy, Microsoft

Former chief academic officer of Code.org and current Microsoft leader Pat Yongpradit brings a practitioner’s perspective to one of the day’s central questions: What does real AI literacy look like, and what should we actually be teaching students? Drawing on his background as a middle school teacher, his work scaling computer science education nationally, and his current role at Microsoft to challenge educators and institutions to think beyond tool use, Yongpradit talks the audience toward a genuine understanding of how AI works, where it fails, and how broad, inclusive preparation is necessary for learners to thrive.

Building AI Literacy from K–12 to Higher Ed

AI literacy is no longer optional—it’s as foundational as reading, writing, and critical thinking. This panel explores what it means to prepare students as producers of knowledge in an AI-shaped world, not just consumers of it. Highlights include the story behind Virginia’s first high school data science standards of learning, now active in 132 schools statewide, and broader conversation about teaching students at every level the importance of combining technical awareness with human judgment, ethics, creativity, and critical analysis.

Research Showcase: AI at Work Across George Mason University

What does AI research actually look like when serious people are doing it at a public research university? George Mason faculty and researchers answer that question in this TED-style showcase spanning disciplines and applications: computer vision for bruise detection in forensic medical exams, geospatial AI, AI in financial reporting, machine learning for precision health, human-robot interaction, and more. A compelling window into the breadth of AI innovation underway at George Mason University.

Northern Virginia’s AI Infrastructure and What It Means for the Region

Without physical infrastructure, there is no AI—and some of the most critical infrastructure in the world is less than 30 miles from George Mason University. This panel pulls back the curtain on the data centers, power systems, cooling technology, and energy demands that make modern AI possible, featuring experts from Digital Realty (the world’s largest global data center platform), NVIDIA, and George Mason’s own Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The conversation closes with a call for university-industry-government partnership to responsibly power the AI future in our own backyard.

Convergence: What Virginia’s AI Moment Requires

What will it take for Virginia to realize its AI potential? Convergence: the coming together of disciplines, sectors, and perspectives to fully coordinate across the education and policy pipeline. Panelists representing K–12, community college, higher education, law, and the Virginia House of Delegates discuss the current gaps and brainstorm solutions, emphasizing interdisciplinary thinking and coordinated leadership as essential to building responsible and effective AI ecosystems.

Navigating AI Uncertainty

For higher education CIOs, AI decisions have quickly evolved from technology questions to institution-defining ones—with consequences for enrollment, student success, academic integrity, financial stability, and public confidence. Moderated by George Mason University CIO Charmaine Madison, this panel convenes CIOs from Virginia Tech, University of Maryland Baltimore, Northern Virginia Community College, and Arlington Public Schools for a frank conversation about navigating risk, building trust, and making high-stakes AI decisions under uncertainty.

Working With AI: Faculty Demonstrations of AI in the Classroom

Get a close-up look at integrating AI into teaching and scholarship. Four faculty members each take 10 minutes to demonstrate real applications of AI in practice, including redesigning a health informatics course for nursing students using AI-driven, clinically contextualized instruction; building AI agents with custom instructions to prevent hallucination and drift; and more. Practical, specific, and immediately applicable for educators exploring AI-enhanced pedagogy.

A Conversation with U.S. Representative Don Beyer

U.S. Representative Don Beyer

U.S. Representative Don Beyer of Virginia’s 8th District joins Amarda Shehu for a wide-ranging chat on AI, governance, and what this technological moment could mean for humanity. A fifth-generation Northern Virginian who has been taking computer science and math classes at George Mason for four years, Beyer brings both legislative perspective and genuine intellectual curiosity to questions about AI safety, the future of work, fusion energy, and what he calls—carefully but optimistically—the potential for a “Renaissance cubed.”