Kate Starbird facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kate Starbird
Born	Catherine Evelyn Starbird (1975-07-30) July 30, 1975 (age 49) West Point, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Stanford University University of Colorado Boulder
Spouse(s)	Melissa Marsh ​ (m. 2008)​
Parent(s)	Margaret Leonard (mother)
Relatives	Alfred Starbird (grandfather) Charles Leonard (grandfather) George A. Dodd (great-great-grandfather)
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Washington (2012–present)
Thesis	Crowdwork, Crisis and Convergence: How the Connected Crowd Organizes Information during Mass Disruption Events (2012)
Doctoral advisor	Leysia Palen
Kate Starbird Personal information High school Lakes (Lakewood, Washington) Listed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Listed weight 153 lb (69 kg) Career information College Stanford (1993–1997) NBA Draft 1999 / Round: 3 / Pick: 26th overall Selected by the Sacramento Monarchs Pro career 1997–2006 Career history 1997–1998 Seattle Reign 1999 Sacramento Monarchs 2000–2002 Utah Starzz 2001–2002 Saint-Jacques Sport Reims 2002 Seattle Storm 2003–2005 Adecco Estudiantes Madrid 2004 Indiana Fever 2005–2006 PDV Ibiza Career highlights and awards Naismith College Player of the Year (1997) WBCA Player of the Year (1997) USBWA National Player of the Year (1997) 2x All-American – Kodak, USBWA (1996, 1997) First-team All-American – AP (1997) Second-team All-American – AP (1996) 2x Pac-10 Player of the Year (1996, 1997) 3x All Pac-10 (1995, 1996, 1997) First-team Parade All-American (1993) Career statistics Points 373 (3.3 ppg) Rebounds 121 (1.1 rpg) Assists 95 (0.8 apg) Medals Representing  United States World University Games Gold 1997 Marsala, Italy Team Competition

Catherine Evelyn Starbird (born July 30, 1975) is an American computer scientist and a former professional basketball player. She was a talented athlete who played as a guard in basketball.

Kate Starbird earned top honors as an All-American player in high school and college. She played for Stanford University, helping her team reach the Final Four three times. She also set a school record for career points. After college, she played professional basketball in the American Basketball League, the Women's National Basketball Association, and in Europe.

After her basketball career, Kate Starbird went back to school. She earned a doctorate in technology, media, and society. Today, she is a professor at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on how information spreads online, especially during big events like disasters.

Early Life and High School Success

Catherine Evelyn Starbird was born on July 30, 1975, in West Point, New York. Her family was a military family. Her father, Edward Starbird, was a colonel in the United States Army. Her mother, Margaret (née Leonard), was a teacher and an author.

Kate grew up in Tacoma, Washington. She went to Lakes High School in nearby Lakewood. In her senior year, 1993, she was named to the Parade All-American first team. She also won the Kodak All-America MVP award. Both Gatorade and USA Today named her Washington Player of the Year. At the 1993 Women's Basketball Coaches Association High School All-America Game, she scored 12 points and was named MVP.

College Basketball Career

Kate Starbird played basketball for the Stanford Cardinal team at Stanford University. She played as a guard under coach Tara VanDerveer from 1993 to 1997. Her team made it to the NCAA tournament every year. They even reached the Final Four three times in a row, from 1995 to 1997.

In her first year (1993–94), Kate averaged almost 10 points per game. She was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. In her second year (1994–95), she really shined, averaging 16 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4 assists. She was named first-team All-Pac-10.

As a junior (1995–96), Kate averaged over 20 points per game. She was named the Pac-10's Co-Player of the Year. She also received many All-American honors from different groups. On January 13, 1996, she scored an amazing 44 points in one game against USC.

In her senior year (1996–97), Kate continued to excel. She averaged nearly 21 points per game. She won several major awards, including the Naismith College Player of the Year and the WBCA Player of the Year.

When she graduated, Kate Starbird had scored 2,215 career points. This was a school record that lasted for 11 years! In 1997, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Stanford.

International and Professional Basketball

Kate Starbird played for the United States at the 1997 World University Games. This event took place in Marsala, Italy. The USA team won all six of their games and earned the gold medal. Kate averaged 8.7 points per game during the tournament.

After college, Kate was chosen by the Seattle Reign in the 1997 ABL draft. She played two seasons with the Reign, averaging 12.9 points per game. The ABL league closed down in late 1998.

In 1999, the Sacramento Monarchs picked Kate in the WNBA draft. She played 24 games for the Monarchs that year. Later, she was traded to the Utah Starzz. She played for the Starzz in 2000 and 2001. During the WNBA offseasons, Kate also played professional basketball in France and Austria.

In 2002, Kate played for the Starzz before being traded to the Seattle Storm. With the Storm, she had her best WNBA scoring average of 5.9 points per game. She also played for a Spanish team, Adecco Estudiantes Madrid, in 2003–04. She averaged 18.7 points and 5.1 rebounds there. Kate played her final WNBA season with the Indiana Fever in 2004. After that, she returned to play in Spain for PDV Ibiza in 2005–06.

Life After Basketball: Academic Career

After her professional basketball career, Kate Starbird focused on her studies. In 2009, she earned a special fellowship called the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She received her Ph.D. in technology, media, and society from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2012. Her doctoral research looked at how groups of people organize information during big events like disasters.

In September 2012, she became a professor at the University of Washington. She works in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering. There, she leads a research group called the Emerging Capacities of Mass Participation (emCOMP) lab. In 2019, she was promoted to associate professor.

Her research explores how social media can be used for learning. She also studies crisis informatics, which is about how information is shared during emergencies. Her work combines computer science and social science. She looks at how people interact online during disasters and other major events. She studies how volunteers and other people online help to sort and share information. For example, she studied how information was shared during the Pulse nightclub attack. She also analyzed over 600,000 tweets about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to understand how information spread.

Family and Interests

Kate Starbird comes from a family with a strong history. Her grandfather, Alfred Dodd Starbird, was an Olympic athlete and an Army general during World War II. Another grandfather, Charles Leonard, won an Olympic silver medal and was the first Olympian to get a perfect score in pistol shooting. Her great-great-grandfather, George A. Dodd, was an Army officer who fought in the Battle of Guerrero.

Besides basketball, Kate Starbird has also played Gaelic football. In 2007, she even managed the Seattle Gaels women's Gaelic football team.