In the Spotlight: August 2026
Kudos to these faculty, staff and programs.
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- NAU welcomed more than 150 public service professionals, managers, and executive leaders from across Arizona for the inaugural High Country Public Service Academy (HCPSA), a first-of-its-kind professional development experience designed to strengthen leadership, innovation, and collaboration across the public sector. Hosted by NAU’s Master of Public Administration program in partnership with NAU Continuing Education and the School of Communication, the inaugural academy welcomed a number of Arizona leaders and public servants, including Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, Arizona Board of Regent Steve Peru, Flagstaff Mayor Becky Daggett, Flagstaff City Manager Joanne Keene, Mesa City Manager Scott Butler, Phoenix Assistant City Manager Ginger Spencer and Sedona City Manager Anette Spickard, among other distinguished speakers from government, higher education and the nonprofit sector. Sara Rinfret, professor in the Department of Politics and International Affairs, led the event.
- Diego Muñoz, assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, authored the article “Planet-Planet Secular Migration Predicts a Stellar Obliquity-Period Anti-Correlation” that was published in the AAS Journals. The article provides a fossil record of hot Jupiter migration.
- Will Grundy, research professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences, authored the article “Rotation and Mutual Eclipse Events Season in the Kuiper Belt” will be published in the Astronomical Journal, while his article “Tracing the source of carbon oxides on the large moons of Uranus” was accepted in the AAS Planetary Science Journal.
- Professors Mark Loeffler, Steve Tegler, Will Grundy, and graduate student Will Burris from the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences published the article “Infrared Band Strength of Molecular Oxygen in Astrophysical Ices” in The Planetary Science Journal.
- Josh Emery, professor in the Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Lucas McClure and NAU alum Brittany Harvison co-authored the article “The Polana-Eulalia Complex with JWST NIRSpec: Connections to Bennu, Ryugu, and Outer Solar System Bodies,” which was accepted by the Planetary Science Journal.