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Insights from Uncommon Thinkers: How these innovators found novel approaches in their fields

This week on the GeekWire Podcast, we sit down with some of the Seattle region’s “Uncommon Thinkers” — inventors, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs transforming industries and driving positive change in the world.

We recorded the episode on location, backstage at the GeekWire Gala, where we recognized five Uncommon Thinkers through this annual awards program, presented in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners.

GeekWire co-founder John Cook, left, and Greater Seattle Partners COO Rebecca Lovell, fourth from left, with the “Uncommon Thinkers” honorees, Andy Lapsa, Ingrid Swanson Pultz, Uri Shumlak, and Chris Dunckley, at the GeekWire Gala. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Speaking on the episode are:

Uri Shumlak of Zap Energy, right, with GeekWire’s Todd Bishop. (GeekWire Photo / Curt Milton)

Uri Shumlak, co-founder and chief scientist at Zap Energy, a physicist leading a team in pursuit of fusion energy, taking a different approach from others in the field. Read the profile.

“Uncommon Thinkers” honoree Ingrid Swanson Pultz, a protein design researcher at the University of Washington, is interviewed for the Saturday, Dec. 14, episode of GeekWire Podcast with GeekWire’s Todd Bishop at Thursday’s GeekWire Gala. (GeekWire Photo / Curt Milton)

Ingrid Swanson Pultz, CTO at Mopac Biologics, and translational advisor at the UW Institute for Protein Design, a microbiologist who led the development of a gluten-destroying enzyme. Read the profile.

“Uncommon Thinkers” honoree Chris Dunckley, TerraPower Isotopes’ director of chemistry and engineering, at the GeekWire Gala on Thursday. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Chris Dunckley, director of chemistry and engineering of TerraPower Isotopes, a chemical engineer who leads a team turning radioactive waste into cancer therapy. Read the profile.

“Uncommon Thinkers” honoree Andy Lapsa, the co-founder and CEO of Stoke Space, at Thursday’s GeekWire Gala. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Andy Lapsa, aerospace engineer and CEO of Stoke Space, a company focused on developing fully and rapidly reusable space vehicles using a liquid cooling technique for re-entry. Read the profile.

Also featured in in the Uncommon Thinkers series: Hanna Hajishirzi of the Allen Institute for AI and the UW’s Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, who focuses on open-source AI models. Read the profile.

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