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People & Profiles

Whether they were college sweethearts or connected after graduation, these Wildcat couples are very much in love today — and many are celebrating reunions this year!

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Parkinson’s disease often causes hand tremors and muscle rigidity, making it difficult to write by hand. After her grandpa was diagnosed with the disease and could no longer write, journalism major Izzy Mokotoff teamed up with biomedical engineering major Alexis Chan to develop SteadyScrib, a special pen and clipboard system that helps counteract Parkinson’s symptoms.

See how SteadyScrib works

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Lizards can regrow their tails and crabs their severed claws. Now, after decades of research, scientists including Samuel Stupp ’77 PhD are closer than ever to unlocking the human body’s healing powers.

Learn more about regenerative medicine

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Cody Keenan ’02 spent eight years as a White House speechwriter for President Barack Obama ’06 H. Now a visiting professor at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Keenan talked with Northwestern Magazine about his start in politics, what he learned from the former president and what gives him hope.

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At age 8, Sydney Lee ’22 MMus was accepted into The Juilliard School’s pre-college program, and at 13 she made her orchestral debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Now, the award-winning cellist performs around the world, dazzling audiences with her heartfelt, classical music.

Learn more and watch Lee perform

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Isabella Twocrow interned for 10 weeks with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, working alongside some of the most important decision-makers when it comes to Native American life, including Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. “They’re the people protecting tribal sovereignty through policymaking,” says Twocrow, who is Oglala Lakota and a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and co-chair of Northwestern’s Native American and Indigenous Student Alliance.

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George R.R. Martin ’70, ’71 MS, ’21 H, author of the acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire novels and co-executive producer of the Emmy Award–winning Game of Thrones series, is sharing his love of storytelling through two gifts to Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

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A pair of endangered piping plovers needed a voice when they nested at the busiest beach in Chicago. Luckily, Tamima Itani ’86 MS, ’91 PhD, ’02 CERT spoke up and rallied support for the birds.

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For her first feature-length film, ‘Being BeBe,’ documentary filmmaker Emily Branham ’02 spent 15 years chronicling the unconventional story of drag performer Marshall Ngwa, aka BeBe Zahara Benet, an immigrant from Cameroon and the first winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

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Three-and-a-half decades after she founded the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Barbara Gaines ’68 will step down as its artistic director this March. But thanks to her efforts over the years, the Tony Award–winning theater will go on with the show — putting on as many 20 productions and 650 performances each year on its three stages.

Learn more about Gaines

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