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��Ųʿ�� Stories

The best way to learn about the ��Ųʿ�� experience is to hear from the people that make up our exceptional community.

��Ųʿ�� students, faculty and alumni are smart and engaged, and they care deeply about their work and the world around them. Get to know more about our faculty and their impactful research, find out what drives our students, and see how our graduates are making an impact in the world. Meet some of the people that help make ��Ųʿ�� what it is.

Alana Pizarro ’22

Alana Pizarro joined a fieldwork expedition to Isla Guadalupe, a wind-swept island off the coast of Baja California. The researchers were studying the Guadalupe Island Junco, a small sparrow with unique evolutionary characteristics and a delicate existence.

Keala Ede ’00

Alumni Politics Psychology

As the first Native Hawaiian judge in Minnesota history, Keala Ede brings a commitment to justice to his courtroom—and a taste of surf culture to the shores of Lake Superior.

Student Diplomacy & World Affairs

During his gap year, first-year Diplomacy & World Affairs major Will McMillan traveled to Ukraine for a month to volunteer on behalf of the war effort. He has been gathering stories to help generate more support back at home for Ukraine, which has been at war with Russia since early 2022.

Nikki Seymour

Faculty Geology

Meet Nikki Seymour of geology, whose research explores how deformation related to plate tectonic motion is accommodated in the middle to upper crust, the interactions between magmatism and deformation, and effects of sediment subduction at convergent plate boundaries.

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz

Syeda ShahBano Ijaz

Faculty Diplomacy & World Affairs

Meet Syeda ShahBano Ijaz of Diplomacy & World Affairs, a scholar of the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia. Her research, teaching, and public scholarship is situated at the cusp of international and comparative politics.

Alexandria Pivovaroff

Alexandria Pivovaroff

Faculty Biology

Meet Alexandria Pivovaroff of biology, a global change biologist who specializes in plant water relations, hydraulics, and functional traits to understand how forests are responding to changes in the environment.

Teddy Pozo

Faculty Computer Science

Meet Teddy Max Pozo of computer science, a multimedia writer and artist. Their art practice combines conductive materials with clay sculptures and original game designs to create unique game arcade machine and console installations.

Vivian Wenli Lin

Vivian Wenli Lin

Faculty Media Arts & Culture

Meet Vivian Wenli Lin of Media Arts & Culture, a media artist and educator with a background in psychology, documentary film, video art, and interactive installation whose research interests focus on issues of representation, gender, migration, and the Asian diaspora.

Min Joo Lee

Faculty Asian Studies

Meet Min Joo Lee of Asian studies, whose research focuses on the transnational popularity of Korean popular culture, gender and race politics in Korea, and feminist media theory.

Karla Peña

Faculty Urban & Environmental Policy

Meet Karla Peña of Urban & Environmental Policy, whose teaching and research involves developmental sociology and natural resources and environment.

Zachary Silver

Faculty Psychology

Meet Zachary Silver of psychology, whose research and teaching interests involve how animals learn from and about humans.

Faculty Philosophy

Meet Season Blake of philosophy, whose teaching and research interests include theory of knowledge, early Chinese philosophy, philosophy of perception, philosophy of language, and philosophy of mind.