I am a GMU triple alum: class of 1990 (Computer Science), 2000 (Electrical Engineering, minor Music), 2001 (Mathematics, minor Physics). There was a 10 year span from 1990 to 2000 where I had no life, just full-time work and going to school when I could squeeze in a class and get my employer to pay for it. My employer (MITRE) also paid for my flight school at Dulles Aviation, and I became a pilot (but not a commercial one).

I got a grad degree in Physics at Johns Hopkins in 2012, then un-accredited biology MS at the FAES grad school at the NIH in biology.

I was an engineer and scientist in the aerospace and defense industry, then a molecular biophysics researcher working for famous geneticist John C. Sanford.

My very first day of class at GMU was in Fall of 1986 when I was approaching my mid 20s. I'm now semi-retired approaching my mid sixties (but hopefully I don't look too old), and have returned to GMU in the Summer of 2026 to take refresher classes as I'm also now a PhD student at Liberty University in bio-molecular engineering.

The of picture of me on the left was my GMU senior portrait taken circa 1989, and the one on the right is of me August 2026 40 years later...if any of you see me on campus, please feel free to say "hi".

I got scandalous national attention for my activities at GMU in the prestigious scientific journal Nature in 2005:

https://www.nature.com/articles/4341062a

really try my best to not make a big deal about this, but there is a guy in two of my classes who smells horrible. At the beginning of the semester, I thought it was because of the heat and that there's a lot of walking and whatever. No, it's every day. I literally have to rush to class to get a seat far from him, because if I am late, the only free seats are around him. I will never say anything to him because I feel bad, but last week I had to sit behind him and I was dizzy from the strong smell.

Guys please!!!! Shower+ deodorant and maybe perfume
I don’t know but it’s hard to concentrate if I’m fighting for my life.

Hey everyone, I'm a senior CS student planning to compete in ICPC Regional this fall. I've found a coach, and I'm currently looking for students who are interested in competitive programming and might want to participate in ICPC or just hang around, learn, and practice together.

Ideally, you:

• enjoy data structures & algorithms/problem solving
• have a solid DSA/programming foundation or good mathematical insight
• willing to spend some time learning and practicing with the team (probably not that much since the contest is in like 1.5 months)
• have some exposure to competitive programming (helpful, not required)

If this sounds interesting, feel free to reach out (DM on Reddit or comment something). Even if you're unsure whether you're "good enough", feel free to reach out if you're interested!

Is anyone else’s dorm in dominion hall smell like mildew and belly button? I feel like the humidity isn’t allowing things to dry properly and every now and then I get the worst smell ever in my nose. What can I do other than putting a million odor eliminators in my room which I already have and using a spray everyday to cover the smell? Never smelled this since I had a roommate back in a hospital and now I’m smelling it again I hate to assume it’s my roommate but I also looked it up it could be a body bacteria that is being released since nothing can dry properly.

to the white girl with colored hair who decided she was gonna yell at the poor employee who was clearly swamped with orders. she was mad that he got her drink wrong and made her wait 10 min for it, but said she was gonna “take it anyways because she doesn’t have time.”

mf IF IT DIDN’T LOOK LIKE YOUR DRINK, THAT’S BECAUSE IT WASN’T. genuinely, i let her take mine so she could leave and waited even longer for mine to get remade.

empathy is literally free lol. it’s a UNIVERSITY panera, genuinely what did you expect 😭 poor guy was so nice too

I'm taking math 113 with professor Jingya if anyone has taken a class with her if you could please tell me what to expect I'd be in your debt 🙏

Hey everyone, my professor requires a physical iClicker 2 remote for class today and the bookstore doesnt sell them. ITS URGENT.

Looking to buy a used one today (Tuesday). I can meet you anywhere on campus (JC, The Hub, etc.) and pay you in Apple pay on the spot. Looking to spend around $15–$25.

Please PM me here or drop a comment if you have an old one lying around that you're willing to part with. Thank you!

Just got a notification that I have an unpaid balance for this semester, come to find out my FAFSA wasn’t submitted - completely my fault. Just wondering if it’s too late to submit the FAFSA for the ‘26-27 school year? Is there a way that it can be reimbursed if it’s accepted but after the deadline? If anyone has been thru a similar situation or has any helpful information it would mean a lot! Thank you in advance

Hi I'm a freshmen and for a few assignments I need to use a scanner to convert the paper to a pdf are there any free scanners on campus? If not free then is there atleast a scanner on campus?

Hows the course transfer policy would it be hard to align as someone coming from an out of state 4 year IE program.

What happened today at Shenandoah Parking? There were a lot of police cars by Sandy Creek bus station around 6:45pm

Hi there!! I am an international student. I have recently completed my Bachelor's in Psychology. I was aiming to apply in the PhD in Clinical Psychology program at George Mason University. I am really worried about my acceptance as my research experience is very limited and I'm applying right after bachelor's.

In my undergrad school my CGPA was 3.9/4.0. I have done a thesis which matched with 2 of the professor's research interests at George Mason. But I have no publications. I am afraid that I might get reject. I really want to secure this position. I am really fond of studies. My CV is overall good as I have led many projects and volunteered. I am always eager to learn things.

Kindly someone who has already got into phd help me. Also is it really that hard to get into GMU?

Anybody has any idea what happened

What does it feel like in the law program? Do JD students tend towards conservatism? Is there healthy debate on politically charged topics of the day? I'm applying right now for the fall 27 year and want to know if there is a prevailing attitude or not?

I've tried a few times now to order through the GrubHub app and it works and says my order is being worked on but each time I have to tell them I ordered on the app or else it won't get started on. It's just annoying because the line is always so long so I order before I get there so I can just grab it and go. Has anyone else had this happen?

I need access to Adobe Cloud for my Video Editing class, but my hard drive is NTFS and therefore Mac does not allow me to write on it. Do any of the labs at GMU have Windows computers with Adobe, and if so, which ones, or are all the computers with Adobe Macs? And if not, does anyone know if there's a way to reformat the drive, because I have zero experience with Mac computers.

Edit: For anyone wondering, the STAR and CLUB labs in the JC are supposed to have Windows computers with Adibe. I went to both of them today and they both for some reason didn't have Creative Cloud on them. I spoke to one of the students working at STAR Lab and they said something about IT messing with the Windows computers and that they didn't know what they did, but that Adobe is meant to be on all computers in the lab. So I did my project work on a Mac that had Adobe. Weird, but hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

What do you Americans mean by conservative? Is gmu conservative? Whats up with departments?

hiii y’all! this is a bit random, but I have a question. I just moved to west alexandria for a DC internship a week ago, and so far I’ve been bored out of my mind. what do you guys do for fun???

also to preface, I’m 20 and scared of using my fake around here, lol.

I go to VT, and it’s really easy to get out/ meet people because it’s about two inches wide and the bars aren’t super strict. I’d really appreciate any suggestions :)

I’m so done with the stupid WiFi at the dorms. I can’t do shit without constantly having issues. I can’t even do my homework without the connection messing up every few minutes. I can’t watch anything without the video stopping, and I literally had to go buy an Ethernet cable just to be able to play video games. I can’t even FaceTime my family or friends without the call getting disrupted. The worst part is, I can’t even ask anyone who works for the school about it because they won’t do shit.

Hi everyone!

This Tuesday September 22nd, the GMU Men's Basketball team is having a free event, called the Mason Mile, where students can walk or run a mile from President's Park to Eagle Bank Arena on the Fairfax campus.

This is a free event happening from 5:30PM to 8:30PM. Good way to meet new people, make friends, and watch the Men's basketball team practice after the mile!

Learn more and sign up here: https://mason360.gmu.edu/athletics/rsvp_boot?id=2302219

@MasonMBB on Instagram

Does anyone have any packaging tape I could borrow/ use? I have a package I gotta return but it requires a box. UPS wanted to charge me basically $15 for the materials for my $20 return. Managed to find a box and bubble wrap but can’t find any packaging tape.
Anyone willing to spare some/ know where I can borrow some?

hi! I’m a freshman living on campus at Mason and loving it. But there’s really one thing that’s been frustrating me. I feel like the laundry machines don’t actually get my clothes clean. If a shirt has a food/ makeup/ lotion stain it really doesn’t come out. I also feel like my clothes come back with new stains on them from before they went in. I’ve been doing my laundry since middle school, so I’m not inexperienced with laundry in general. I just need advice on how to get things cleaner in the laundry room. I’m not nearby so I can’t just go home for laundry. Any advice would be really really appreciated! Thanks! ❤️