About the CASSB Training Program
CASSBI’s Training Program Program is training the next generation of leaders to take on some of the most challenging problems faced by society today.
Our trainees are tackling the opioid use epidemic, mental and behavioral health disorders and enabling individuals with disabilities to participate fully in needed and desired life roles and activities. These complex problems cannot be addressed by one individual or even one discipline.
The next generation of leaders charged with addressing these challenges must work together across traditional academic disciplinary boundaries to integrate engineering, data science, and social science knowledge, while meaningfully engaging with stakeholder communities in a mutually beneficial manner.
The CASSBI Training Program is designed to cross-train graduate students from engineering, data science, and social science disciplines to:
- Define a problem from multiple perspectives based on disciplinary knowledge, lived experiences, and community knowledge
- Utilize design thinking principles to break down open-ended problems
- Develop creative solutions by adapting and applying theories and methodologies from different disciplines
- Communicate effectively with stakeholders and broad audiences
- Work productively on diverse multidisciplinary teams
The Training Program involves an individualized interdisciplinary curriculum, scaffolded by laboratory rotations and hands-on workshops, a year-long community-engaged design project, and training in entrepreneurship, communication skills and team science. Individualized curriculums are tailored to trainees to comply with the requirements of their home graduate degree programs. A limited number of fellowships are available for eligible trainees.
For more information about the program, contact Program Director Siddhartha Sikdar at [email protected].
Community-Engaged Design Projects
A core element of the CASSBI Training Program experience is participation in a year-long community-engaged design project. Interdisciplinary teams of graduate students are immersed in community settings, challenging the traditional hierarchies between researchers and participants by engaging community stakeholders as full participants in the research process. Teams work with community partners and stakeholders to:
- identify challenges and needs within a community,
- formulate a research question, and
- engage in participatory design to develop and test ecologically-valid solutions.
Previous projects have focused on important community & societal issues, such as chronic disease management, accesible technology, mental and behavioral health, substance abuse, service delivery and health care systems.
Trainees complete this project as part of a two-course sequence: Community-Engaged Interdisciplinary Design I and II (PROV801/802)
For Potential Community Partners
Community partnership is critical to the work of the CASSBI Training Program. We seek to build long-term relationships, to develop a shared vision and goals, and to work together in a mutually-beneficial manner.
Do you have a need for a research project that will help your organization plan, evaluate, or report on your programs? Provide evidence for policy changes that will benefit the individuals or community that you serve? Understand changes in your community? CASSBI’s Training Program is requesting proposals for community-engaged design and data challenge projects.
The CASSBI Training Program connects teams of graduate students with community partners to conduct a year-long research project. The goal of these projects is to develop solutions that directly address urgent community needs.
Our network of partners is essential to the success of our program. If you are interested in working with our program, or have a project to propose, please contact Program Director Siddhartha Sikdar at [email protected].
Benefits to partnering with the CASSBI Training Program:
- Have a voice in shaping research and outcomes relevant to the communities you serve
- Connect with Mason graduate students from different disciplines who are interested in developing solutions relevant to community needs
- Establish a pathway to George Mason University for aspiring scholars in your community
- Grow and expand your network to include professionals in other sectors
Ways to be involved:
- Participate in informational interviews with CASSBI students to help them understand the complex dimensions of the problems faced by the communities you serve
- Connect students to others in your network who might be willing to share their perspectives on community needs and potential solutions
- Brainstorm with the students to help them identify workable solutions or approaches
Do you have another idea for how to partner with our training program to solve problems that are important to you? We’d love to hear it! Please contact Program Director Siddhartha Sikdar.