InnovationFest 2025
InnovationFest 2025 showcased the impactful research, scholarship, creativity, and entrepreneurship being conducted at the George Washington University (GW). The event celebrated GW’s contributions to advancing new knowledge while facilitating new cross-disciplinary collaborations.
InnovationFest featured a dynamic slate of programming:
- Panel discussions, performances, presentations and pitches
- Hands-on demonstrations by cutting-edge scholars
- A pop-up-style “marketplace” with products and inventions launched by GW entrepreneurs
- Art x Science gallery highlighting creative and multimedia work
- Poster presentations by student, faculty and postdoc scholars
Event Program
Meet Revolutionaries who are creating a greater world. The GW InnovationFest program will feature research posters, demonstrations, books, inventions, performances and art—all under one roof! Explore the 2025 digital program below.
| Time | About the Session |
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| 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM | Festival Stage
Panel: Innovations in A.I. and the Humanities An exploration of artificial intelligence's impact on society, ethics, and the human experience, as well as using AI to enhance research and teaching.
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| 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Festival Stage
Panel: Harnessing the Immune System Against Cancer: From Shots to Stem Cells GW Cancer Center experts explain how researchers have advanced new treatments that empower the body's natural immune system to fight cancer.
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| 12:30 PM - 12:45 PM | Festival Stage
Performance: GW Saxophone Quartet "Mishima" is a movement from Phillip Glass's "String Quartet #3." The piece fits Glass's signature minimalist sound. Our arrangement is by our instructor, Jeremy Koch. "Introduction et variations sur une ronde populaire" is one of the most standard pieces in the saxophone quartet repertoire. Composed by Gabriel Pierné in 1938, just over 100 years after the invention of the saxophone, it puts the technical and lyrical versatility of the instrument on full display.
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| 1:00 PM - 1:15 PM | Festival Stage
Performance: Brooke Shapiro on the Alto Saxophone "Billie" is a piece composed by Dutch composer Jacob Ter Veldhuis in 2003. The saxophone part is accompanied by a backtrack that splices together clips of Billie Holliday speaking in radio interviews. At times, the saxophone part mimics Holliday's voice to harmonize, but at other times, the saxophone part goes against Holliday's voice, creating a cacophony of sound.
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| 1:45 PM - 2:15 PM | Festival Stage
New Venture and Tech Commercialization Showcase GW New Venture Competition teams will present their winning pitches. Inventors at various stages along the technology commercialization path will present their inventions. Presented by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Technology Commercialization Office.
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| 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM | Festival Stage
Accelerating Innovation: GW’s 3 Minute Thesis Showcase 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) challenges graduate students to present their research clearly and concisely to a non-specialist audience—in just three minutes and with one static PowerPoint slide. This fast-paced competition cultivates skills in public speaking, knowledge translation, and engaging storytelling. Hear from GW’s top 3MT winners as they demonstrate how complex ideas can be made accessible across disciplines through the power of concise communication.
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