The NAU Review — Getting to know grads, smart bikes and redirecting asteroids

‘Smart’ bikes improve cycling safety, efficiency

The intelligent cycling project, led by Chun-Hsing Ho, Brendan Russo and Steven Gehrke, also intends to increase use of bicycles in hopes of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

As a first-generation college student, Oscar Lujan didn’t know where to begin. Thankfully, NAU had an array of programs to help him navigate higher education. From the Successful Transition and Academic Readiness program to the Initiative for Maximizing Student Diversity program, he not only found his place at NAU, but his home in the lab. He worked in the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine lab and took his passion for research to the Philippines where he studied molecular defense mechanisms in rice plants. It wasn’t until Lujan joined the Latinx Student Union after returning from studying abroad that he found the one thing that still seemed to be missing: familiar culture. Lujan graduated on Friday with his master’s in biology.

Bracing for impact

Can NASA redirect an incoming asteroid to prevent it from hitting Earth? A test mission launched last month will do a practice run to find out. Planetary scientist Cristina Thomas leads a group of international scientists who will observe and analyze the asteroids and their orbits.