Astronomy Professor Michael Strong is a survivor and a cyborg.

Strong teaches astronomy and physics at Cosumnes River College. He may speak like a monotone robot, but don’t let that fool you. Strong is a jokester at heart who’s always willing to crack a “Star Trek” one-liner.

With a master’s degree in physics, he shares his knowledge with his students through lectures and quizzes, but not with homework.

A professor who doesn’t assign homework? If that seems unorthodox, his quizzes will surprise students even more.

Strong hands out his quizzes and posts the questions on the board. The class votes on which answer they think is right for each question. Then, he gives his students time to discuss the answers with each other and make changes according to their peers’ suggestions.

“It turns the quizzes from just an assessment tool, into a different form of learning where you’re not just learning from me, but instead you’re comparing what you understand with the people around you and this discussion allows you to forge out the correct answer and have a better understanding,” Strong said.

Hope Tran, an 18-year-old studio arts major student in Strong’s astronomy class, said she “appreciates Strongs passion.”

“I didn’t know what to expect from Professor Strong, but I really got the impression that he loved what he taught,” Tran said.

Strong tells students he knows how challenging college can be and speaks openly about how long it took him to finish school himself.

Strong was diagnosed with a brain tumor in August 1987.

Before receiving treatment, Strong waited two months to receive results from an evaluation that determined his next course of action.

He then faced a six-week treatment five days a week, to destroy cancer cells within his brain.

Due to the treatment of the tumor, around 10 years later, he would lose his hearing in his right ear and he would become more forgetful, Strong said.

“The auditory nerves over a very slow process sort of heal themselves over time, but after getting zapped by x-rays it just starts to degrade instead,” Strong said.

Even through all this, Strong pushed through and eventually got a device implanted in his head, behind his right ear that allowed him to hear again.

“It’s known as a cochlear implant and it can even help people who have been deaf their whole lives,” Strong said.

Alongside gaining his hearing back, Strong said he gained the title of cyborg, a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts.

Yingyin Luo is a 19-year-old psychology major who is currently enrolled in Strong’s astronomy laboratory class.

“You have to yell at him sometimes but it’s not that big of an issue for me at least, and it’s just funny that we get to yell in class,” Luo said.

Tran had a different take.

“It makes it hard sometimes to ask him things, like for me, I’m very soft-spoken but he’s fairly competent in what he teaches so it doesn’t really affect the course,” Lau said.

At the end of Strong’s astronomy class, he always ends with a quote from one of his favorite shows, “Star Gazers.”

“Keep looking up,” Strong said.