Membership

Join CASSBI!

The Center for Advancing Systems Science and Bioengineering Innovation (CASSBI) has three categories of membership, based on different levels of participation:

1. Core Investigators (Mason faculty only)
2. Affiliate Investigators (Mason faculty only)
3. Affiliate Community Partners

If you are a Mason faculty member or potential community partner interested in joining CASSBI, please send an email to our center directors, Dr. Siddhartha Sikdar and Dr. Parag Chitnis.

What about students & trainees?

All undergraduate, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows at Mason are invited to participate in CASSBI activities, especially if their faculty mentors are CASSBI investigators. We offer training programs, workshops, and seminars where students can get involved and develop their research and community-engagement skills.

Our competitive CASSBI fellowship offers selected graduate students an opportunity to work with CASBBI researchers to advance medical tehcnologies into the real world using human-centered and communnity engaged methodologies focused on the lived experiences of real people.

If you are a prospective graduate student, attend an open house event or reach out to Dr. Samuel Acuña, Dr. Jenny Mai Phan, or Dr. Siddhartha Sikdar.

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Core Investigators

Core Investigators will serve as a participant or leader in at least one of the Center Cores & Activities. Core Investigators must be faculty at George Mason University.

Participation includes one or more of the following:

1. Mentor junior faculty on interdisciplinary research
2. Mentor trainees on interdisciplinary research
3. Participate and contribute to CASSBI hosted seminars, webinars and events
4. Collaborate on large center-scale grant applications
5. Serve on dissertation/thesis committees of CASSBI trainees

Benefits of CASSBI Core Membership:

1. Access to CASSBI shared resources
   • community partnerships
   • core facilities and equipment
   • clinical research and small animal research facilities and infrastructure
   • research staff
2. Support for grant writing and management
   • concept development workshops
   • internal review panels
   • mentoring
   • supporting documents
   • collaboration
   • networking
   • pre- and post-award support
3. Access to training for faculty and trainees
   • team science
   • qualitative and quantitative methods
   • participatory action research and community-based participatory research
   • human-centered design
   • technology translation
4. Access to a vibrant scientific and broader community
   • scientific and community advisory boards
   • internal and external partnerships
   • center scale research and educational initiatives
   • annual retreat
5. Student travel support for presenting at conferences
6. Seed funding for new initiatives and projects

Affiliate Investigators

Affiliate Investigators benefit from CASSBI resources by working with a core investigator. Affiliate Investigators must be faculty at George Mason University.

Participation includes one or more of the following:

1. Collaborative research with CASSBI investigators
2. Advisory role on scientific or training initiatives
3. Participate in seminars and workshops
4. Community engagement

Affiliate Community Partners

This membership category is designed for individuals and organizations outside of Mason who would like to work with CASSBI investigators and students.

Participation includes one or more of the following:

1. Collaborate with CASSBI Core Investigators on grants or other initiatives
2. Advise scientific or training initiatives
3. Participate in seminars and workshops
4. Contribute subject matter expertise, best practices, and community knowledge
5. Assist with outreach, engagement, and dissemination of CASSBI products