Catherine Evelyn Starbird (born July 30, 1975) is an American computer scientist and former professional basketball player. Playing at the guard position, Starbird earned All-American honors as a high school athlete at Lakes High School in Lakewood, Washington and later at the collegiate level at Stanford. The 1997 Naismith College Player of the Year, Starbird helped Stanford make three consecutive Final Four appearances from 1995 to 1997 and scored 2,215 career points, a school record that stood for 11 years. From 1997 to 2006, Starbird played professional basketball in the American Basketball League, Women's National Basketball Association, and various European teams. Having been a computer science major at an undergraduate at Stanford, Starbird completed a doctorate in technology, media, and society at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2012. Later that year, she joined the faculty of the University of Washington. Her research focuses on disinformation and social media communi