Jacob O’Connor
He/Him
I am asexual biromantic and I am a biochemist/computational structural biologist. //
I work as a graduate student at the University of Washington, using computers to predict and design the shapes of tiny proteins that will be used as new types of pharmaceuticals. I’m also interested in science communication and science policy. I serve on the board of directors of a graduate-student run course teaching graduate students how to communicate their work to the public called ENGAGE and I’m a steward for my department in our labor union. I’ve known I was somewhere on the ace/aro spectrum since high school but determining how to best describe myself is a continuing journey. As an undergrad at Whitman College I helped organize a panel discussion about asexuality and aromanticism and received some really inspiring feedback from friends who found it helpful and informative. Since then I’ve been interested in public education about LGBTQIA+ issues especially in the field of queer representation in STEM. If you have questions about being ace feel free to message me.