George Mason University is partnering with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to develop a unified platform to improve the process for students from community colleges to transfer into the university.
In a press release, the university said it has entered into a “strategic collaboration” with AWS that will “allow the university to better serve students, advance its commitment to a more sustainable campus environment, and introduce new educational programs in data center engineering.” George Mason said the seamless process it hopes to develop will “support Mason’s commitment to access by eliminating obstacles related to enrollment and transfer, ensuring systematic barriers do not prevent student success.”
“The diverse talent pipeline that George Mason University produces is in part what attracted Amazon to Arlington,” Mason President Gregory Washington said of the company’s construction of a headquarters facility in Arlington, Va. “Mason’s work with Amazon will better serve the students in that pipeline as well as drive economic growth through business, government and community collaborations as Mason becomes one of the most technologically advanced, inclusive universities in the nation.”
In a statement, Mason said its faculty, students, staff, and public-sector and industry partners can also expect the development of new approaches to address food insecurity, reduce the technical skills gap in data center engineering, and advance environmental priorities.
In addition to the new streamlined platform, George Mason said the new partnership will allow students to access novel programs and new curriculum that will help learners pursue careers in data center engineering.
George Mason said that its partnership with AWS will allow the school to implement enhanced, high-performance computing and machine learning. It also will accelerate George Mason’s research capabilities and provide new platforms for innovation, including an increased collaboration with the intelligence community to drive research and new discoveries with artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and 5G technology.
