Gregory Washington is President of George Mason University, Virginia’s largest public university. During his tenure, Mason has restructured its research enterprise, grown its enrollment to over 39,000 students, posted its third-highest fundraising year, and opened or broken ground on academic facilities on all three campuses. Washington launched the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence (ARIE) Task Force to examine and eradicate any practices and traditions of institutional racism at Mason while positioning the university as a national leader for the advancement of antiracism, reconciliation, and healing.

In his research, Washington has focused on the use of smart materials and other active components in Smart Electromagnetic Structures and is credited with developing one of the first applications of neural networks to electromagnetic systems. In 2023, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering.