Robinson Professors

Created in 1984, the Clarence J. Robinson Professors Program embodies Mason's commitment to making high-quality education accessible to undergraduate students.

Jim Trefil, a Mason physicist and Robinson Professor, explains the importance of a scientific worldview. The author of more than 50 books and one of the developers of the modern theories about quarks as a fundamental component of the universe, Trefil is helping pioneer a new way of teaching science.

Robinson Professor of Physics James Trefil is a huge proponent of science literacy and has written extensively about science for a lay audience. With his colleague, Robinson Professor of Earth Science Robert Hazen, he created and taught Great Ideas in Science, a popular course for nonscience majors.

Hakeem Oluseyi explains how he went from a life of crime to being one of the world’s renowned astrophysicists. He describes what aliens might look like – think a two-foot tall Incredible Hulk – and how the pull of the classroom overcame the pull of the streets.

Robinson Professor James Trefil, who is the third Mason faculty member to reach the milestone of 50 years of service, taught at the University of Virginia for more than a decade before joining Mason’s then brand-new Robinson Professor Program in 1987.

Professor Hakeem Oluseyi attributes his unlikely rise from the pull of poverty and crime to hope, hustle, and help, and he wants to pay it forward.

President Gregory Washington will lead two star-studded faculty panels as part of his Investiture activities next week. Both panels will be in Merten Hall, Room 1201, and can be seen live on GMU-TV.

For Hakeem Muata Oluseyi, one of the nation's best-known astrophysicists, being named a Visiting Robinson Professor at George Mason University represents the natural progression of his career.

Mary Catherine Bateson, Clarence J. Robinson Professor emerita, died Jan. 2 at the age of 81.