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.

Speaking on the episode are:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

With GeekWire's Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.