In the Spotlight: Feb. 23-27, 2026

Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs.

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  • Daniella Quiroz, a psychological sciences undergraduate student, was one of six students named to the GIFFORDS 2026 class of Arizona Courage Fellows. Students selected for their demonstrated interest in political activism spend five months learning from gun policy experts and participating in lobbying training sessions, a process that culminates in a gun violence prevention project that the student presents to their community.  
  • Undergraduate mathematics students Gabby Stewart and Shaye Fordring presented at the 2026 Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Wisdom in Mathematics. Both students discussed the implications of their collaborative research projects, titled “New Results in Graph Pebbling” and  “Pattern avoidance in signed Cayley permutations,” with industry leaders. 
  • Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science (APS) associate professor Cristina Thomas, part-time temporary employee Lauren McGraw and graduate research assistant Aidan Madden-Watson co-authored the paper “The Nysa family as the main source of unequilibrated LL ordinary chondrites,” published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The study investigates the likelihood of two major models of diverse ordinary chondrite formation, the most common meteorites on Earth.  
  • APS adjunct faculty member Will Grundy will join the department as a research professor this week. Grundy’s research portfolio includes extensive lab work, telescopic observations and student mentorship through NAU project involvement. 
  • Interdisciplinary health doctoral student Hosava Kretzmann qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials, being the first Native American runner to do so. He completed the event with a time of 2:15:50, 10 seconds under the Olympic trials qualifying standard.
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