Jesse Shanahan

Timeline

1. 2011

   Linguistics at Virginia

   As an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia, they study Arabic linguistics and philosophy, and in 2011 they study linguistics in Tunisia during the Arab Spring. An astrobiology class pulls them toward physics, and they start volunteer research in George Mason University's department of astronomy.

2. 2015

   Accessibility work at the AAS

   They spend two years in Wesleyan University's graduate astrophysics program. In 2015, they serve on a panel at the AAS-sponsored Inclusive Astronomy conference, and AAS president Meg Urry asks them to organize accessibility for an AAS conference. They co-found the AAS Working Group on Accessibility and Disability and serve on its Coordinating Committee.

3. 2017–2018

   Galaxy Zoo research

   Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott brings them into Galaxy Zoo, and from early 2017 they carry out research and data science work for it. With Brooke Simmons at the University of California, San Diego, they study the spectroscopic signatures of active galactic nuclei and their host galaxies. In February 2018, they tell a story on The Story Collider about the black holes they study.

4. 2018

   Creating #DisabledAndSTEM

   They create the #DisabledAndSTEM hashtag for sharing experiences of disability in science. By May 2018, they have joined the leadership team of 500 Women Scientists while working as an accessibility coordinator and science communicator. Their writing appears in Science, Astronomy Magazine and Forbes.

5. By 2021

   Applied AI at Peltarion

   After leaving academia, they move into data science and machine learning development, with a focus on humanitarian uses of AI and AI ethics, and they hold a patent for cybersecurity applications of machine learning. By summer 2021, they are Head of Applied AI at Peltarion, a Swedish AI start-up with a mission to democratize AI.

6. 2021–2022

   CTO of Another Round

   In summer 2021, they meet Max Cotton, a former MMA fighter who set up the fitness start-up Another Round in 2018, and the pair have a first AI MVP by the end of 2021. Another Round, which applies its own AI to personal training, names them CTO in October 2022. As CTO, they work on an online personal-training tool meant to be affordable and accessible to wheelchair users and people with chronic pain or ADHD.

7. 2022–2023

   Hubble studies from Galaxy Zoo

   In 2022, they coauthor William C. Keel's paper on Gems of the Galaxy Zoos, a gap-filler program that uses short windows in the Hubble Space Telescope's schedule to image objects picked by Galaxy Zoo volunteers. In 2023, they coauthor Izzy L. Garland's study of luminous, merger-free active galactic nuclei, which finds these AGN only marginally more likely than inactive galaxies to host a bar.

8. As of October 2026

   CTO of Vor

   Vor, Max Cotton's AI exercise-programming company, launches in 2024 and runs pilots with international gym groups and hardware providers in 2025. As of October 2026, they are its CTO and lead AI developer, with expertise in AI ethics and bias in natural language processing.