The NAU Review — ‘A transformative public health leader’, understanding asteroids, a third straight for women’s tennis and so much more

🎓 May 3, 2022 🎓

The NAU Review. The official news source for Northern Arizona University.

Alexandra Samarron Longorio sitting at her desk

🎓 ‘A transformative public health leader’ 🎓

When you’re undocumented, you don’t always feel like you have a voice. Alexandra Samarron Longorio wanted to make sure undocumented students did. The first-generation college student took on an undergraduate project that shared stories of Arizona’s undocumented students, and as a master’s of public health student and a senior research coordinator for CHER, she studied how hotel practices and policies affect the health of Latina immigrant housekeepers. She also helped establish Aqui Entre Nos—Just Between Us, a CHER initiative focused on wellness and health for hospitality workers, in collaboration with hotel housekeepers, CHER researchers and other MPH students.

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What sequencing 100K COVID genomes can tell us

The Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union, of which Paul Keim is a leader, is positioning Arizona to play a role in the planned U.S. Pathogen Genomics Centers of Excellence, which would expand infectious disease collaborations between public health agencies and universities.

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LumberSNAPS
NAU hosts the 2022 Regents’ Cup

For the first time, NAU hosted the annual Regents’ Cup, a tri-university competition that celebrates free speech and civil discourse. See photos from the event, which took place Saturday at the High Country Conference Center.

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Members of the women's tennis team with the Big Sky trophy

🏆 Three-time Big Sky champs 🏆

After a regular-season loss to the Weber State Wildcats—the team’s only Big Sky loss this year—the Lumberjack women’s tennis team got a chance for a rematch at the Big Sky Conference Championship in Phoenix this weekend. They got their redemption—and a conference championship trophy—taking an early lead via the doubles point against the Wildcats before taking a trio of straight set victories. The victory makes it three straight conference tournament titles, as well as NCAA Tournament appearances for Ewa Bogusz and the Lumberjacks and the sixth conference tournament title in program history.

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Group of students in a field outside with blue sky

Developing future Diné public health leaders

The Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program, a one-week summer training program that introduces Native American high school students to public health careers and mentorship, helps students cultivate a love and understanding of their own cultural, strength-based assets, new research from NAU and Diné College found.

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Artist rendering of the OSIRIS-APEX spacecraft

Expanding our understanding of asteroids

Postdoctoral scholar Chris Haberle received a $3.1 million grant as part of OSIRIS-APEX, a NASA project, in which he will lead the science operations planning for the OTES instrument. This new project is building on OSIRIS-REx, originally launched in 2016; the extended mission will study Apophis, which will have a close encounter with Earth in 2029.

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