When you’re a professor, researcher, inventor, entrepreneur, and MacArthur fellow, it can be hard to introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you on an airplane. Shwetak Patel keeps it simple. “I always say professor at the University of Washington. Everything else comes out of that,” said Patel, who has a joint appointment in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering. “I’m passionate about teaching, research, and mentoring students. The other stuff, like being an inventor, is all part of being a professor.”