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Profiles

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ astronomer Emily Levesque will soon add a new role as editor-in-chief of the prestigious American Astronomical Society Journals to her ongoing work studying red supergiants and other stellar oddities.

In 2016, Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. But a search for a bone marrow donor turned up only five matches, and none ended up being a donor. People of color are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry; according to Be The Match, the nation’s largest bone marrow registry, white people have a 79% chance of finding a match. But a Black person’s potential match is only 29%, and Asian and Latinx people both have about a 47% chance. People of Native American ancestry have a 60% chance of finding a match.

Paula Thiele, a communication major who will graduate this spring, became the inaugural scholar to participate in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµâ€™s new Scholarship for Immersive Internships in León, dubbed “¡Spain Works!â€� — a partnership between the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ León Center, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Study Abroad and the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Career & Internship Center.

Azjargal Amarsanaa, a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant, is teaching the Mongolian language to Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ students for the 2021-22 academic year. It’s the first chance Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ students have had to learn Mongolian in 15 years.

Shyam Gollakota, a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ professor in the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, has taken inspiration from nature’s tiniest creatures, creating inventions that allow humans to use technology to go where they haven’t gone before. He is being celebrated for those inventions as a 2021 Moore Inventor Fellow.

Prof. Emily Levesque’s course “Great Heroes and Discoveries of Astronomy� — part of The Great Courses, a popular online learning platform — takes viewers on a tour of the biggest advancements in one of humanity’s oldest sciences and the people behind them.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ School of Nursing Dean Azita Emami’s commitment to fighting for those underserved by the health care system has deep roots in her identity. Born in Iran, she has been shaped by the experience of being an “insider–outsider.”

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ student Zoe Mikuta’s first book, “Gearbreakers,â€� is set to come out June 29. Categorized in the young adult genre, it tells the story of Eris and Sona, who live under a tyrannical regime enforced by 100-foot-tall mecha robots. She’s sold the film rights to “Gearbreakersâ€� and is currently working on its sequel.

In a new book, Taso Lagos of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Jackson School studies the rivalry between Aimee Semple McPherson and Robert “Fighting Bob” Shuler, two California-based performer-preachers who had the country’s rapt attention in the 1920s.

A conversation with Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ professor Cecilia Aragon about her new memoir, “Flying Free: My Victory Over Fear to Become the First Latina Pilot on the US Aerobatic Team”

José Alaniz says that comics — especially superhero tales — hooked him and “rewired” his brain at an early age. They also got him drawing his own comics, chronicling his life and the things he observes. Now Alaniz, a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ professor of Slavic languages and literatures, has published a collection of his own drawings and essays. “The Phantom Zone.”

Notable new books by Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ faculty and staff include a study of rebellion at sea, an emeritus faculty member’s Buddhist-focused memoir, a reconsideration of Northwest Coast Native American art with Indigenous perspectives in mind, thoughts on bridging cultural gaps through design — and an award for the editor-in-chief of Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Press.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ family physician Morhaf Al Achkar publishes memoir “Being Authentic,” and a Lambda Literary award goes to Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Tacoma’s Emily Thuma.

Recent notable books by Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ faculty members explore the legal history of Indigenous nations and the mentoring benefits of fan fiction. Plus, a Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ anthropologist’s book is honored, a former English faculty member is remembered in a biography, and Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ Press brings out paperback editions of three popular titles.

Of the many papers and presentations scheduled for AbSciCon2019, the conference on astrobiology and the search for life in space happening in Bellevue the week of June 24, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ’s Dominic Sivitilli’s is perhaps unique — he’ll discuss his research into how octopuses “think.”

Emily Levesque, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ assistant professor of astronomy, is gathering material for a new book to be called “The Last Stargazers: True Tales of the Colorful and Vanishing World of Observational Astronomy.â€�

As the 50th anniversary approaches of the murder of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Ä¢¹½ÊÓÆµ historian Michael Honey reminds us in a new book that economic justice and labor rights were always part of King’s progressive message.