The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study was formerly a research unit of George Mason University with the mission to: "seek to expand scientific understanding of the mind, the brain, and intelligence by conducting research at the intersection of cognitive science, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and complex adaptive systems... and examine how new insights from this interdisciplinary research can be applied for human benefit in the areas of mental health, neurological disease, education, environmental and societal dynamics, and intelligent systems design."

The Krasnow Institute was the brainchild of Shelley Krasnow, a Northern Virginia scientist and businessman. Krasnow invested in land holdings throughout Northern Virginia before the development boom of the mid-twentieth century. He insisted that knowledge and education were to be applied in service to the larger community. Intrigued by the research and study of human life as it responds to its environment, he began researching the relationship between geography and cancers in humans in the 1960s. By the end of his life, Krasnow had expressed a desire to establish an "Institute for Advanced Study" which would work "for the betterment of mankind." In 1988 Krasnow and his attorneys created the Virginia Institute for Advanced Study that, once built and staffed, would conduct cutting-edge research.

He was later introduced to George Mason University President George W. Johnson and Northern Virginia businessman, Sidney Dewberry, the founder of a local architectural and engineering consulting firm. Dewberry and Johnson, along with Senior Vice President J. Wade Gilley, successfully courted Krasnow, hoping that he would consider establishing the Institute at George Mason. In September of 1989, Krasnow died, bequeathing significant landholdings to George Mason University to sell and use the proceeds to build the Institute. The land sale netted $7.35 million.

In May 1993 the University was host to a scientific conference, co-sponsored by the prestigious Santa Fe Institute, to help determine which specific area of science the Institute would pursue in terms of research. Titled "The Mind, the Brain, and Complex Adaptive Systems," the conference brought together an unusual group of scientists whose ranks included Nobel laureates Murray Gell-Mann and Herbert Simon. The conference and resulting published paper introduced new ideas regarding the study of the human brain and mind. The Institute would make its mission to study the human mind and how it operates. Closely related is the second area of inquiry, namely how the human mind functions in education, decision-making, and other day-to-day human activities.

The university appointed Mason faculty member, Steven Diner as Acting Director of the Institute in 1990. Diner was the George Mason University administrator responsible for the initial planning of the still nascent institute. Scientist and Robinson Professor Dr. Harold Morowitz was named the first director of the facility in the fall of 1993. Morowitz's resume at the time of his appointment included: teaching at several institutions of higher learning, publishing sixteen books, and authoring over 125 research papers. Several advisory committees were also established to advise the administration of the Institute. The memberships of these "boards" comprised professors and administrators in many different fields from universities all across the country.

In the summer of 1994, the Krasnow Institute opened in the Commerce Building, a leased property about one-half mile to the north of the Fairfax campus in Fairfax City, while its main building on the University grounds was being constructed. The 30,000 square-foot permanent building on campus would have office space for a staff of forty, an MRI scanning laboratory, a library, and several meeting rooms. The building was dedicated on April 2 and occupied by staff on May 2, 1997.

Dr. Morowitz stepped down 1998 and Dr. James L. Olds became Director of the Krasnow Institute. Morowitz remained a member of the facility's faculty until his death in 2016. The Institute became a (non-academic) university unit in 2009, reporting under the university provost. In 2017 the Institute ceased to be a university unit and its faculty was dispersed among other George Mason University academic units.The building which once housed the Krasnow Institute retained the Krasnow Institute name and the laboratories still remain.