25 New MacArthur Fellows Named

By C. QUINN HANCHETTE

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, has announced 25 new MacArthur Fellows.

Recipients of the fellowships, often called “genius awards,” are free to use the money as they wish. The foundation does not require them to produce any products or reports.

No one can apply for a MacArthur Fellowship. The foundation taps several hundred people to serve anonymously as nominators for the program. A 13-member selection committee then recommends candidates to the foundation’s Board of Directors.

Each fellow receives $500,000 over five years. The foundation also offers recipients health insurance.

Including this year’s group, the foundation has named a total of 588 fellows since the program began in 1981.

Following are the 2000 fellows:

Susan Alcock, 39, associate professor of classical archaeology and classics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She examines the history of the ancient world using both archaeology and social history; her first book, Graecia Capta, studied settlement patterns during the Roman domination of Greece.

K. Christopher Beard, 38, associate curator of vertebrate paleontology, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh. He is a paleontologist whose recent discoveries have raised new questions about the evolutionary origins of mammals.

Lucy Blake, 40, president, Sierra Business Council, Sierraville, Calif. She has shown businesses in the Sierra Nevada region how environmental protection can serve their interests; her group seeks to integrate social, economic, and ecological concerns.

Anne Carson, 49, professor, department of history, McGill University, Montreal. She is a poet and essayist whose work often blends classical topics and modern approaches.

Peter Hayes, 47, executive director, Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development, Berkeley, Calif. His organization attempts to solve security, environmental, and energy-policy problems in Northeast Asia, with an emphasis on North Korea.

David Isay, 34, radio producer, New York. He creates documentaries designed to trigger the social conscience of listeners; examples include The Sunshine Hotel, which presented the stories of men who live in the Bowery section of New York.

Alfredo Jaar, 44, artist, New York. His installations bring together different images and media to offer his views on topics such as poverty, exploitation, and genocide.

Ben Katchor, 48, cartoonist, New York. His comic strips convey a bittersweet nostalgia for 19th- and 20th-century city life, in which characters move through a world of forgotten entertainments and industries.

Hideo Mabuchi, 28, assistant professor of physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. His studies explore how thermodynamic processes mask quantum behavior, and how the interaction of those processes might be harnessed for practical uses.

Susan Marshall, 41, artistic director and choreographer, Susan Marshall & Company, New York. Her athletic choreography mixes traditional dance styles and everyday human gestures to to comment on contemporary life.

Samuel Mockbee, 55, professor of architecture, Auburn University, Ala. He co-founded Auburn’s Rural Studio, where he teaches students architecture lessons and the value of community service; he and his students have built structures along rural roads in Alabama, including a residence made from hay bales.

Cecilia Muñoz, 37, vice president, Office of Research, Advocacy, and Legislation, National Council of La Raza, Silver Spring, Md. She is a leader in immigration and civil-rights policy, working for such issues as the legalization of undocumented aliens, access to welfare benefits and education for immigrants, and the rights of farm workers.

Margaret Murnane, 41, professor of physics, University of Colorado at Boulder. She has made important advances studying the brevity, power, and frequency of laser-pulse generation; her work holds significant implications for understanding light and matter.

Laura Otis, 38, associate professor of English, Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y. She explores scientific advances and literature in the late-19th and early-20th centuries, examining the ties between the artistic and the empirical.

Lucia Perillo, 41, associate professor, creative-writing program, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She is a poet whose work emphasizes characterization and drama.

Matthew Rabin, 36, professor of economics, University of California at Berkeley. He has been a pioneer in behavioral economics, a field that applies psychological insights such as bias, fairness, impulsiveness, and risk aversion to economic theory and research.

Carl Safina, 45, vice president for marine conservation, National Audubon Society, New York. He is a scientist, writer, and advocate for oceans and aquatic life whose work has called attention to a growing deficit in marine resources.

Daniel Schrag, 34, professor of geochemistry, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. His work focuses on the relationship between environmental policy and science, and his research has contributed to the understanding of marine fossils, glaciers, and oceanography.

Susan Sygall, 47, executive director, Mobility International USA, Eugene, Ore. Her organization seeks to secure rights and opportunities for disabled people, particularly women, in the United States and in poor and isolated parts of the world.

Gina Turrigiano, 37, assistant professor, department of biology and Center for Complex Systems, Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass. She is a neuroscientist who has furthered understanding of how brain cells modify their activity in response to changing conditions.

Gary Urton, 53, professor of anthropology, Colgate University, Hamilton, N.Y. He has made contributions to the study of Incan mythology, Andean astronomy and cosmology, and the Incan philosophy of numbers.

Patricia J. Williams, 48, Columbia University Law School, New York. She is a legal scholar and commentator on race in America whose writings bring together elements of popular culture, political theory, and social activism.

Deborah Willis, 52, curator of exhibitions, Center for African-American History and Culture at the Anacostia Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. She is an expert on photography by black Americans.

Erik Winfree, 30, assistant professor of computer science and computation and neural systems, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. He has used recent advances in computer science, molecular biology, nanotechnology, and mathematics to create new approaches to studying molecules.

Horng-Tzer Yau, 40, professor of mathematics, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University. His work focuses on applying mathematical insights to physical behavior.