Time 100’s Pioneers

Dan Carder, whose WVU research team caught VW cheating.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, producer/writer/star of Broadway’s “Hamilton,” about America’s  founding father Alexander Hamilton.

Kip Thorne, who proved that Einstein’s big bang creation of the universe was right.

Kathy Niacan, who is doing ground-breaking work in manipulating DNA to improve newborns’ chances for a healthy start.

Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin” actress.

Ibtihaj Muhammad, a Muslim on the U.S. Olympic fencing team who will compete this summer while wearing the traditional hijab covering for women.

Raj Punjabi, whose Last Mile Health organization made Liberia Ebola free.

Alan Stern, whose New Horizons spacecraft sent back astounding information about the planet Pluto (yes, I still call it a planet).

Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change who played a major role in the Paris Climate Agreement.

Mark Edwards and Mona Hanna-Attisha.  He’s a civil-engineering professor who blew the whistle on lead in the Flint, Michigan water. Pediatrician Dr. Hanna-Attisha tested Flint’s kids to prove that they’d been poisoned.

Mussie Zerai, a Catholic priest in Rome who relays Mediterranean boat refugees’ locations to authorities to reduce drowning deaths.

Lee Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa who found a new type of pre-human – Homo naledi -- that lived 2.5 million years ago.

Nadia Murad, an ISIS rape victim who has become a spokesman for the 3,000 Yezidi women still captives of the terrorists.

Hope Jaren, a University of Hawaii professor/scientist/writer who challenges the boys club of science.

Felix Kjellberg aka PewDiePie, the most-watched person on YouTube (43 million) who comments while playing video games in a picture-in-a-picture format.

Roy Choi -- chef, activist, film producer, restaurateur -- whose Kogi trucks make culinary masterpieces available to even poor  neighborhoods.

Sunita Narain, a constant campaigner for cleaner air in India.

Palmer Luckey, whose visual reality technology advances made it possible for a 360-degree experience of being on Mars.

Laura Esserman and Shelley Hwang, doctors whose lumpectomy research is reducing full-breast removals to fight cancer.

Caitlyn Jenner aka Bruce Jenner, an American Olympics decathlon gold medalist as a male whose body was surgically changed to female anatomy.

Aziz Ansari, an actor on Netflix’s “Master of None” series.