100 Notable alumni of
University of California - Santa Cruz
Updated:
The University of California - Santa Cruz is 388th in the world, 154th in North America, and 144th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of California - Santa Cruz sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Susan Wojcicki
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- 1991-1993 graduated with Master of Science in economics
- Occupations
- businesspersonmanager
- Biography
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Susan Diane Wojcicki was an American business executive who was the chief executive officer of YouTube from 2014 to 2023. Her net worth was estimated at $765 million in 2022.
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Andy Samberg
- Occupations
- film producerfilm actortelevision actorvoice actorhip-hop musician
- Biography
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Andy Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper, writer and producer. He is a member of the comedy music group the Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Samberg was also a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012, where he and his fellow group members are credited with popularizing the SNL Digital Shorts.
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Maya Rudolph
- Occupations
- singertelevision actorcomedianvoice actorfilm actor
- Biography
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Maya Khabira Rudolph is an American actress and comedian. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). During her tenure on the show, she appeared in supporting roles in the films 50 First Dates (2004), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and Idiocracy (2006).
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Rebecca Romijn
- Occupations
- modeltelevision actorvoice actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Rebecca Alie O'Connell is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Mystique in the original trilogy (2000–2006) of the X-Men film series, as Joan from The Punisher (2004) (both based on Marvel Comics), the dual roles of Laure Ash and Lily Watts in Femme Fatale (2002), and Una Chin-Riley on Star Trek: Discovery (2019) and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022–present). She has also had a recurring role as Alexis Meade on the ABC television series Ugly Betty. Her other major roles include Eve Baird on the TNT series The Librarians, voicing Lois Lane in the DC Animated Movie Universe, and as the host of the reality competition show Skin Wars.
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Huey P. Newton
- Occupations
- human rights defendersociologistphilosopherpolitician
- Biography
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Huey Percy Newton was an African American revolutionary and political activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. He ran the party as its first leader and crafted its ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale. Under his leadership, the party organized numerous social programs and community events, advocated for collective defense, and threatened political violence in service of their goals.
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Cary Joji Fukunaga
- Occupations
- television directorfilm directorcinematographertelevision producerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Cary Joji Fukunaga is an American filmmaker. A director of TV and film, he first came to wide prominence by directing the first season of the HBO series True Detective (2014). He is known for directing critically acclaimed films such as the thriller Sin nombre (2009), the period drama Jane Eyre (2011), the war drama Beasts of No Nation (2015) and the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die (2021). He also co-wrote the Stephen King adaptation It (2017).
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Tom Franco
- Occupations
- actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Thomas Andrew Franco is an American actor, artist, and the founder of the Firehouse Art Collective in Berkeley, California. He is the brother of actors James Franco and Dave Franco.
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bell hooks
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1983 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in English
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopherwriter
- Biography
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Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She was best known for her writings on race, feminism, and social class. Her work explored the intersections of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she described as their ability to produce and perpetuate systems of oppression and class domination. Her work served as foundational to the modern idea of intersectionality. She published numerous scholarly articles and nearly 40 books, in styles ranging from essays and poetry to children's literature, with a body of work that addressed love, gender, art, history, sexuality, and mass media.
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Camryn Manheim
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorvoice actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Debra Frances "Camryn" Manheim is an American actress who first came to attention with her off-Broadway one-woman show, Wake Up, I'm Fat, in 1994. She is known for her portrayals of Ellenor Frutt on The Practice (1997–2004), Delia Banks on Ghost Whisperer (2006–2010), "Control" on Person of Interest (2013–2015), Lieutenant Cosgrove on Stumptown (2019–2020), and Gladys Presley in the 2005 miniseries Elvis.
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Bret Weinstein
- Occupations
- biologistpodcasterevolutionary biologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Bret Samuel Weinstein is an American podcaster, author, and former professor of evolutionary biology. He served on the faculty of Evergreen State College from 2002 until 2017, when he resigned in the aftermath of a series of campus protests about racial equity at Evergreen, which brought Weinstein to national attention. Like his brother Eric Weinstein, he was named as a member of the intellectual dark web in a 2018 New York Times essay by columnist Bari Weiss. Weinstein has been a prominent purveyor of false statements about COVID-19 treatments and vaccines and misinformation about HIV/AIDS.
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Ezra Klein
- Occupations
- podcastercolumnistjournalisttelevision producerwriter
- Biography
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Ezra Klein is an American political commentator and journalist. He has been a New York Times columnist since 2021 and is the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. He is a co-founder of Vox and was formerly the website's editor-at-large. He has held editorial positions at The Washington Post and The American Prospect and was a regular contributor to Bloomberg News and MSNBC. Klein has written two books, both published by Simon & Schuster: Why We're Polarized in January 2020, and Abundance, cowritten with Derek Thompson, in March 2025.
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Akiva Schaffer
- Occupations
- film editortelevision actorsongwriterwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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Akiva Daniel Shebar Schaffer is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and rapper. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. Schaffer began his career with The Lonely Island making videos for Channel 101. In 2005, Saturday Night Live hired the trio, with Schaffer joining as a writer. In their time at SNL, The Lonely Island pioneered the digital short format, creating popular sketches such as "Lazy Sunday", "I Just Had Sex", "I'm on a Boat", and "Dick in a Box". After SNL, Schaffer went on to direct movies including Hot Rod, The Watch, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and The Naked Gun. The Lonely Island has made albums such as Incredibad, Turtleneck & Chain, and The Wack Album. Schaffer also produced a number of TV shows and movies, including MacGruber, Pen15, I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, and Palm Springs.
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Victor Davis Hanson
- Occupations
- historianjournalistuniversity teacherclassical scholar
- Biography
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Victor Davis Hanson is an American classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National Review, the Washington Times, and other media outlets.
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Jonah Peretti
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Jonah H. Peretti is an American internet entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, a co-founder of HuffPost, and a developer of reblogging under the project "Reblog".
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Amy Tan
- Occupations
- screenwriteressayistnovelistwriterchildren's writer
- Biography
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Amy Ruth Tan is an American author best known for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also known for other novels, short story collections, children's books, and a memoir.
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Miranda July
- Occupations
- performance artistartistfilm actorfilm directoractor
- Biography
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Miranda July is an American film director, screenwriter, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art.
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Gillian Welch
- Occupations
- singerguitaristsinger-songwritercomposerrecording artist
- Biography
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Gillian Howard Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, country and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms."
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Omi Vaidya
- Occupations
- film directortelevision actorwriterpresenteractor
- Biography
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Omi Vaidya is an American actor in Hindi cinema. He is best known for his performance as Chatur Ramalingam or "Silencer" in the 2009 comedy-drama film, 3 Idiots. In addition, Vaidya has played roles on The Office and Arrested Development. Omi has directed many short films and worked as a feature film editor. He has also appeared in a number of commercials and works as a producer.
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Richard Bandler
- Occupations
- computer scientistpsychologistwriter
- Biography
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Richard Wayne Bandler is an American writer, consultant, and public speaker in the field of self-help. With John Grinder, he founded the neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) approach to psychotherapy in the 1970s.
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Matt Bettinelli-Olpin
- Occupations
- musicianscreenwriterfilm directorfilm screenwriteractor
- Biography
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Matt Bettinelli-Olpin is an American director, writer, actor, and musician. He is a founding member of the punk band Link 80 and co-creator of the filmmaking collectives Chad, Matt & Rob and Radio Silence. He is best known for his work in horror films, including V/H/S, Southbound, Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI and Abigail.
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Kent Nagano
- Occupations
- conductormusic director
- Biography
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Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. From 2015 until 2025, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg.
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Kathryn D. Sullivan
- Occupations
- geologistscientistastronaut
- Biography
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Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan is an American geologist, oceanographer, and former NASA astronaut and US Navy officer. She was a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions.
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Gus Hansen
- Occupations
- poker player
- Biography
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Gustav Hansen is a Danish professional poker player from Copenhagen, Denmark who has lived in Monaco since 2003. In his poker career, Hansen has won three World Poker Tour open titles, one WSOP bracelet and the 2007 Aussie Millions main event, and was the season one winner of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. Before turning to playing poker professionally in 1997, Hansen was already a world class backgammon player and a youth tennis champion.
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Marti Noxon
- Occupations
- film directordirectoractortelevision producershowrunner
- Biography
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Martha Mills Noxon is an American television and film writer, director, and producer. She is best known for her work as a screenwriter and executive producer on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). She was also executive producer, writer, and creator of the Bravo comedy-drama series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce (2014–18) and the Lifetime drama series UnREAL (2015–18), and an executive producer of the CBS medical drama series Code Black (2015–17).
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Susan Ruttan
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Susan Diane Ruttan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Roxanne Melman on L.A. Law (1986–1993), for which she was nominated four times for a Primetime Emmy Award.
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Marc Okrand
- Occupations
- Klingonistlinguistwriter
- Biography
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Marc Okrand is an American linguist. His professional work is in Native American languages, and he is well known as the creator of the Klingon language in the Star Trek science fiction franchise.
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John Grinder
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1971 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphilosopherlinguistpsychologist
- Biography
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John Thomas Grinder Jr. is an American linguist, writer, management consultant, trainer and speaker. Grinder is credited with co-creating the pseudoscience known as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) with Richard Bandler. He is co-director of Quantum Leap Inc., a management consulting firm founded by his partner Carmen Bostic St. Clair in 1987 (Grinder joined in 1989). Grinder and Bostic St. Clair also run workshops and seminars on NLP internationally.
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Steven Hawley
- Occupations
- astronomerastronautphysicist
- Biography
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Steven Alan Hawley is a retired astronomer and NASA astronaut who flew on five U.S. Space Shuttle flights. Hawley is a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas.
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Brett Dennen
- Occupations
- singer-songwriterguitaristsingermusician
- Biography
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Brett Michael Dennen is an American folk/pop singer-songwriter from Central California. His seventh studio album, See the World was released in July 2021.
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Konstantin Batygin
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 2008 graduated with bachelor's degree in astrophysics
- Occupations
- astronomeruniversity teacherastrophysicistplanetary scientistscience communicator
- Biography
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Konstantin Batygin is an American astronomer and Professor of Planetary Sciences at Caltech.
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Alyona Minkovski
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Alyona Leonidovna Minkovski is an American journalist, television host and commentator. In 2011, she was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 media list.
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Edward Neumeier
- Occupations
- screenwriterexecutive producerfilm screenwriterfilm producer
- Biography
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Edward Neumeier is an American screenwriter best known for his work on the science fiction movies RoboCop and Starship Troopers. He wrote the latter's sequels Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (which he also directed) and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars.
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John M. Ackerman
- Occupations
- university teacherpolitical activist
- Biography
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John Mill Ackerman Rose is an American-born, naturalized Mexican political activist, TV host, and academic at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
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Jamus Lim
- Occupations
- politicianeconomist
- Biography
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Jamus Jerome Lim Chee Wui is a Singaporean politician, economist and associate professor. A member of the Workers' Party (WP), Lim has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Anchorvale division of Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2020.
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Joan Donoghue
- Occupations
- juristlawyerjudge
- Biography
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Joan E. Donoghue is an American lawyer, international legal scholar, former U.S. State Department official, and former president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was first elected to the court in 2010, re-elected in 2014, and elected by the ICJ judges to be president of the ICJ in 2021. She was the third woman to be elected to the ICJ and the first American woman elected as president of the court.
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Guillermo Anderson
- Occupations
- composer
- Biography
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Guillermo Anderson was one of the best known Honduran musicians. A singer-songwriter, his lyrics often touch upon themes of ecology (including exaltation of Honduras' natural landscapes) and social problems.
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David Talbot
- Occupations
- journalistnon-fiction writer
- Biography
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David Talbot is an American journalist, author, editor, activist and independent historian. Talbot is known for his books about the "hidden history" of U.S. power and the liberal movements to change America, as well as his public advocacy. He was also the founder and former editor-in-chief of the online magazine Salon.
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Wendy Brown
- Years
- 1955-.. (age 71)
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1977 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in economics and politics
- Occupations
- university teacherphilosopheranthropologistpolitical scientistwomen's rights activist
- Biography
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Wendy L. Brown is an American political theorist. She is the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Previously, she was Class of 1936 First Professor of Political Science and a core faculty member of critical theory at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Eli Erlick
- Occupations
- writerLGBTQ rights activist
- Biography
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Eli Erlick is an American activist, writer, and academic. She is the author of Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950 and founder of the organization Trans Student Educational Resources.
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Sam Liu
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- illustratortelevision directorcharacter designerdirectorfilm producer
- Biography
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Sam Liu is an American animation producer, director, storyboard artist and character designer. He is best known for directing animated superhero films at both Marvel Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation.
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Laurie Garrett
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
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Laurie Garrett is an American science journalist and author. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1996 for a series of works published in Newsday that chronicled the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire.
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Susie Bright
- Occupations
- actorcriticauthorcolumnistsex educator
- Biography
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Susannah Bright is an American feminist, author and journalist, often writing on the subject of politics and sexuality.
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Paul Mayeda Berges
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Paul Mayeda Berges is an American screenwriter and director. He is known for his work on films such as 2002's Bend It Like Beckham.
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Jesse Thorn
- Occupations
- podcasterbroadcastertelevision presenterradio personality
- Biography
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Jesse Michael Gabriel Thorn is an American media entrepreneur and public radio and podcast host/creator. He is the founder of the Maximum Fun podcast network, and the host and producer of the podcasts Judge John Hodgman and Jordan, Jesse, Go! and the radio show and podcast Bullseye. Bullseye (formerly The Sound of Young America), is distributed by National Public Radio to several hundred public terrestrial radio stations. In 2024, Thorn was elected to the Podcasting Hall of Fame.
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Blake Schwarzenbach
- Years
- 1967-.. (age 59)
- Occupations
- singercomposersinger-songwriterpianistlyricist
- Biography
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Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach is an American musician. He is the singer and guitarist of the San Francisco based band Jawbreaker (1986–1996; 2017–present), and was also a member of Jets to Brazil (1997–2003), The Thorns of Life (2008–2009), and forgetters (2009–2013). Although experiencing little mainstream success himself, Schwarzenbach and groups he has been a member of have influenced a variety of musical groups.
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Zach Dawes
- Years
- 1985-.. (age 41)
- Occupations
- guitarist
- Biography
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Zachary Edwin Dawes is an American musician, producer, engineer, and technician, best known as the bassist for the bands Mini Mansions and The Last Shadow Puppets. He has also worked extensively with Brian Wilson, Lana Del Rey, Sharon Van Etten, among other musicians and songwriters. He composes and music supervises for many film and television shows including The Summer I Turned Pretty, The Big Door Prize, and worked with frequent collaborator Este Haim on the hit Netflix show Nobody Wants This. His producing work with Lana Del Rey on Norman Fucking Rockwell and Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard earned him two Grammy nominations for Album of the Year.
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Aaron Peskin
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Aaron Dan Peskin is an American former elected official in San Francisco, California. He was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 3 from 2001 to 2009, and again from 2015 to 2025.
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Adam Parfrey
- Occupations
- journalistopinion journalistediting staffpublisher
- Biography
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Adam Parfrey was an American journalist, author, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centered on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" topics. Previously, he was the publisher of several magazines, and another publisher, Amok Press. He also wrote for several magazines and wrote, cowrote, or edited several books, among them Apocalypse Culture.
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Andrea Smith
- Occupations
- designerillustratorintellectual
- Biography
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Andrea Lee Smith is an American academic, feminist, and activist. Smith's work has primarily focused on issues of violence against women of color and their communities, specifically Native American women. Formerly an assistant professor of American Culture and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she is also a co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, the Boarding School Healing Project, and the Chicago chapter of Women of All Red Nations.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
- Occupations
- astrophysicistastronomercosmologist
- Biography
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an American theoretical cosmologist and particle physicist at the University of New Hampshire. She is also an advocate of increasing diversity in science.
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Sandy Stone
- Occupations
- writertheoristperforming artistperformance artist
- Biography
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Allucquére Rosanne "Sandy" Stone is an American academic theorist, media theorist, author, and performance artist. She is an Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin where she was the Founding Director of the Advanced Communication Technologies Laboratory (ACTLab) and the New Media Initiative in the department of Radio-TV-Film. Stone has worked in and written about film, music, experimental neurology, writing, engineering, and computer programming. Stone is transgender and is considered a founder of the academic discipline of transgender studies.
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Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell
- Occupations
- film directorjournalistartistufologist
- Biography
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Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell is an American contemporary artist, filmmaker and ufologist based in Los Angeles, California. Initially gaining prominence as a visual artist, by the late 2010s Corbell became a well known figure in the UFO community, producing documentary films and podcasts on the subject.
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Sarah Schechter
- Occupations
- film producertelevision producer
- Biography
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Sarah Schechter is an American television and film producer. Schechter is chairperson and partner at Berlanti Productions, and the co-founder of Berlanti-Schechter Films.
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Geoffrey Marcy
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1982 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- astrophysicistastronomeruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Geoffrey William Marcy is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University. Marcy and his research teams discovered many extrasolar planets, including 70 out of the first 100 known exoplanets and also the first planetary system around a Sun-like star, Upsilon Andromedae. Marcy was a co-investigator on the NASA Kepler space telescope mission. His collaborators have included R. Paul Butler, Debra Fischer and Steven S. Vogt, Jason Wright, Andrew Howard, Katie Peek, John Johnson, Erik Petigura, Lauren Weiss, Lea Hirsch and the Kepler Science Team. Following an investigation for sexual harassment in 2015, Marcy resigned his position at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Gail Carriger
- Occupations
- writerscience fiction writerchildren's writernovelist
- Biography
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Gail Carriger is an American archaeologist and author of steampunk fiction. She was born in Bolinas, an unincorporated community in Marin County, California, and attended high school at Marin Academy. She received her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, a masters of science in archaeological materials at England's University of Nottingham in 2000, and a master of arts in anthropology (with a focus on archaeology) at the University of California Santa Cruz in 2008. She is a 2010 recipient of the Alex Awards.
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Amita Kuttner
- Occupations
- astrophysicistpolitician
- Biography
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Amita Kuttner is a Canadian astrophysicist, actor, and politician who served as the interim leader of the Green Party of Canada from November 24, 2021, to November 19, 2022. Kuttner first ran for office in the 2019 federal election, seeking a House of Commons seat as a Green candidate, followed by a run for Green Party leadership in 2020 following the election. They are the first transgender person and the first person of East Asian descent to lead a federal party in Canada.
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J. Doyne Farmer
- Occupations
- quantitative analystphysicistentrepreneuruniversity teacher
- Biography
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J. Doyne Farmer is an American complex systems scientist and entrepreneur with interests in chaos theory, complexity and econophysics. He is Baillie Gifford Professor of Complex Systems Science at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University, where he is also director of the Complexity Economics programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. Additionally, he is an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute. His current research is on complexity economics, focusing on systemic risk in financial markets and technological progress.
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Richard Gunn
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Richard Gunn is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Calvin "Sketchy" Theodore in the Fox series Dark Angel (2000–2002), Chief of Police John Sanders in the BYU TV series Granite Flats, and Aitor Quantic in the third and final season of the Netflix original series Hemlock Grove.
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Stephen Mirrione
- Occupations
- film editor
- Biography
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Stephen Mirrione is an American film editor. He is best known for winning an Academy Award for his editing of the film Traffic (2000).
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Shakina Nayfack
- Occupations
- LGBTQ rights activistactortelevision actor
- Biography
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Shakina Nayfack is an American actress and transgender activist. She is most notable for her series regular role as Lola, a "trans-truther", on the second and third seasons of the Hulu television program Difficult People, on which she was also a writing consultant. In 2020, she became the first trans person to have a starring role on a major network comedy show, Connecting.
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Stephanie Allain
- Occupations
- television producerdirectorbusinesspersonactor
- Biography
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Stephanie Allain is an American film producer.
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Kristen R. Ghodsee
- Years
- 1970-.. (age 56)
- Occupations
- ethnographeranthropologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Kristen Rogheh Ghodsee is an American ethnographer and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is primarily known for her ethnographic work on post-Communist Bulgaria as well as being a contributor to the field of postsocialist gender studies. She was critical of the role of Western feminist nongovernmental organizations doing work among East European women in the 1990s. She has also examined the shifting gender relations of Muslim minorities after Communist rule, the intersections of Islamic beliefs and practices with the ideological remains of Marxism–Leninism, communist nostalgia, the legacies of Marxist feminism, and the intellectual history of utopianism.
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John Doolittle
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1972 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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John Taylor Doolittle is an American politician and attorney. Elected to Congress in 1990, he served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009, representing California's 4th congressional district (numbered as California's 14th congressional district during his first term). In the 109th Congress, he held a leadership role as the Deputy Whip for the Republican party in the House. He was succeeded in the House of Representatives by Tom McClintock. Before being elected to Congress, he had served in the California State Senate from 1984 to 1991.
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Emily Jane White
- Occupations
- singercomposersinger-songwriter
- Biography
-
Emily Jane White is an American singer and songwriter. Active as a solo artist since 2003, White has released seven solo albums and tours internationally.
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Laura Helmuth
- Occupations
- science journalisteditor-in-chiefjournalist
- Biography
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Laura Lee Helmuth is an American science journalist and columnist for Slate and the Last Word on Nothing website. She was formerly editor in chief of Scientific American and the Health and Science editor at The Washington Post. From 2016 to 2018, she served as the president of the National Association of Science Writers.
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Marge Frantz
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1984 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in history of consciousness
- Occupations
- women's rights activistuniversity teacherpeace activist
- Biography
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Marge Frantz was an American activist and among the first generation of academics who taught women's study courses in the United States. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, from a young age she became involved in progressive causes. She worked as a labor organizer, agitated for civil rights, and participated in the women's poll tax repeal movement. After working as an organizer for the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union in 1944, she was employed full time at the Southern Conference for Human Welfare in Nashville, as a secretary and editor of the organization's press organ, Southern Patriot. By the late 1940s, she was being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee and in 1950, she and her husband moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Vince Girdhari Chhabria
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
-
Vince Girdhari Chhabria is an American lawyer and jurist who is a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama. Chhabria was formerly a deputy city attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney's Office.
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Reyna Grande
- Occupations
- novelist
- Biography
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Reyna Grande is a Mexican-American author.
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Jonah
- Occupations
- Eastern Orthodox priest
- Biography
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Metropolitan Jonah is a retired American Eastern Orthodox bishop who served as the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) with the title The Most Blessed Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada from his election on November 12, 2008, until his resignation on July 7, 2012. Metropolitan Jonah was the first convert to the Orthodox faith to have been elected as the primate of the OCA.
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Lisa Lutz
- Occupations
- novelistscreenwriterwriter
- Biography
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Lisa Lutz is an American author. She began her career writing screenplays for Hollywood. One of her rejected screenplays became the basis for a popular series of novels about a family of private investigators, the Spellmans. She is a 2020 recipient of an Alex Award.
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Tyler MacNiven
- Occupations
- documentary filmmaker
- Biography
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Tyler Kingsley MacNiven is an American filmmaker and reality television contestant.
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Héctor Tobar
- Occupations
- novelistwriterjournalist
- Biography
-
Héctor Tobar is a Los Angeles author, novelist, and journalist, whose work examines the evolving and interdependent relationship between Latin America, Latino immigrants, and the United States. In 2023, he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in Fiction.
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Dana Priest
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Dana Louise Priest is an American journalist, writer and teacher. She has worked for nearly 30 years for the Washington Post and became the third John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism in 2014. Before becoming a full-time investigative reporter at the Post, Priest specialized in intelligence reporting and wrote many articles on the U.S. "War on terror" and was the newspaper's Pentagon correspondent. In 2006 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting citing "her persistent, painstaking reports on secret "black site" prisons and other controversial features of the government's counter-terrorism campaign." The Washington Post won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, citing the work of reporters Priest and Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille "exposing mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital, evoking a national outcry and producing reforms by federal officials."
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John Laird
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
John Laird is an American politician who is serving as the California State Senator for District 17 since December 7, 2020. A Democrat, Laird was Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency from 2011 to 2019 and represented the 27th District in the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2008. The 27th District included parts of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
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Julie Packard
- Years
- 1952-.. (age 74)
- Occupations
- conservationistmarine biologist
- Biography
-
Julie E. Packard is an American ocean conservationist and philanthropist. She helped create the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the early 1980s and is its executive director, a position she has held since its opening in 1984. She speaks at conferences and symposia related to ocean conservation and writes online about current issues. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a recipient of the Audubon Medal.
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Kim TallBear
- Years
- 1968-.. (age 58)
- Occupations
- university teacher
- Biography
-
Kim TallBear is a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate professor at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, specializing in racial politics in science. Holding the first ever Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, TallBear has published on DNA testing, race science and Indigenous identities, as well as on polyamory as a decolonization practice.
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Natalie Batalha
- Occupations
- astrophysicistastronomerphysicistuniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Natalie M. Batalha is professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. Previously she was a research astronomer in the Space Sciences Division of NASA Ames Research Center and held the position of Science Team Lead (2010 - 2012), Mission Scientist (2012 - 2016), and Project Scientist (2016 - 2018) on the Kepler Mission, the first mission capable of finding Earth-size planets around other stars. Before moving to NASA, Batalha was a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at San Jose State University (2002 - 2012).
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Yoav Freund
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- 1989-1993 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- computer scientistengineer
- Biography
-
Yoav Freund is an Israeli professor of computer science at the University of California San Diego who mainly works on machine learning, probability theory and related fields and applications.
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Rachel Goslins
- Occupations
- film directorfilm producer
- Biography
-
Rachel Eva Goslins is an American non-profit leader, museum director and documentary film director. As of August 2025, she is the Executive Director of the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, a cultural center in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, she was Director of the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building. She was previously head of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities under President Obama, launching several initiatives in education and cultural diplomacy, and organizing a campaign for arts education.
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Chris Tashima
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directoractorfilm actor
- Biography
-
Christopher Inadomi Tashima is an American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. Tashima directed, co-wrote, and starred in the 26-minute film Visas and Virtue for which he and producer Chris Donahue won the 1998 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.
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Barbara Ferrer
- Born in
-
United States - Occupations
- health administrator
- Biography
-
Barbara Ferrer is an American health executive, serving as the Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She has been highly visible in Los Angeles County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Art Torres
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Arthur A. Torres is an American former politician who served as a member of the California State Legislature. He is the vice chair of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). CIRM, established in 2005 following the passage of Proposition 71, is charged with allocating US$3 billion to California universities and research institutions to support and advance stem cell research. He is a colon cancer survivor and serves on the board as a patient advocate.
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Steven G. Krantz
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
-
Steven George Krantz is an American scholar, mathematician, and writer. Krantz is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis. He has authored more than 350 research papers and published more than 150 books. Additionally, Krantz has edited journals such as the Notices of the American Mathematical Society and The Journal of Geometric Analysis.
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Pat Murphy
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writerwriter
- Biography
-
Patrice Ann "Pat" Murphy is an American science writer and author of science fiction and fantasy novels.
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Lawrence Weschler
- Occupations
- journalistwriter
- Biography
-
Lawrence Weschler is an American author of works of creative nonfiction.
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Joseph DeRisi
- Years
- 1969-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- virologistresearchermolecular biologist
- Biography
-
Joseph Lyman DeRisi is an American biochemist, specializing in molecular biology, parasitology, genomics, virology, and computational biology.
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Rubén Valtierra
- Occupations
- composerkeyboardist
- Biography
-
Rubén Valtierra is an American keyboardist best known for recording and touring with "Weird Al" Yankovic. The two met at the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary special in October 1991, and shortly after Valtierra joined his band.
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Chela Sandoval
- Years
- 1956-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- women's rights activisttheoristartivist
- Biography
-
Chela Sandoval, associate professor of Chicana Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, is a noted theorist of postcolonial feminism and third world feminism. Beginning with her 1991 pioneering essay 'U.S. Third World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World', Sandoval emerged as a significant voice for women of color and decolonial feminism.
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Lisa Winter
- Occupations
- roboticist
- Biography
-
Lisa Winter is an American engineer, roboticist, and television personality. She is best known for her work on the television series BattleBots, where she competed with numerous robots and is currently a judge.
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Lorna Dee Cervantes
- Occupations
- poetwriter
- Biography
-
Lorna Dee Cervantes is an American poet and activist, who is considered one of the greatest figures in Chicano poetry. She has been described by Alurista as "probably the best Chicana poet active today."
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Debra Fischer
- Years
- 1951-.. (age 75)
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 1998 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- astrophysicistastronomer
- Biography
-
Debra Ann Fischer is an American astronomer and professor emerita at Yale University. She is known for her work in the discovery and characterization of exoplanets using the radial velocity method.
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Rebecca Cokley
- Occupations
- disability rights activistmanager
- Biography
-
Rebecca A. Hare Cokley is an American disability rights activist and public speaker who is currently the first U.S. Disability Rights Program Officer for the Ford Foundation. Prior to joining Ford, Cokley was the founding director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. During the Obama administration, Cokley served as the executive director of the National Council on Disability.
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Deborah Madison
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- chef
- Biography
-
Deborah Madison is an American chef, writer, food activist, and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking, although she is not a strict vegetarian. Her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlights Slow Food, local foods and farmers' markets.
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Tracy Fullerton
- Occupations
- computer scientistdesigneruniversity teacher
- Biography
-
Tracy Fullerton is an American game designer, educator and writer, best known for Walden, a game (2017). She is a Professor in the USC Interactive Media & Games Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Director of the Game Innovation Lab at USC.
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Ron Yerxa
- Occupations
- film producer
- Biography
-
Ron Yerxa is an American film producer. He is known for the films Little Miss Sunshine, Somewhere in Queens, Hamlet 2 and Cold Mountain.
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Gershom Gorenberg
- Occupations
- journalisthistorian
- Biography
-
Gershom Gorenberg is an American-born Israeli journalist and historian specializing in Middle Eastern politics and the interaction of religion and politics. He is currently a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, a monthly American political magazine. Gorenberg self-identifies as "a left-wing, skeptical Orthodox Zionist Jew".
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Patricia Nelson Limerick
- Occupations
- historianuniversity teacherjournalist
- Biography
-
Patricia Nelson Limerick is an American historian, author, lecturer and teacher, considered to be one of the leading historians of the American West.
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Jim Kent
- Enrolled in the University of California - Santa Cruz
- In 2002 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- biologistbioinformatician
- Biography
-
William James Kent is an American research scientist and computer programmer. He has been a contributor to genome database projects and the 2003 winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award.
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Ron Gonzales
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
-
Ronald R. Gonzales is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, who served as the 63rd Mayor of San Jose, California. Gonzales was the first Hispanic to serve as Mayor of San Jose since 1845.
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Norman Packard
- Occupations
- physicist
- Biography
-
Norman Harry Packard is a chaos theory physicist and one of the founders of the Prediction Company and ProtoLife. He is an alumnus of Reed College, with a PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Packard is known for his contributions to chaos theory, complex systems, and artificial life. He coined the phrase "the edge of chaos".
