MacArthur Foundation Names 24 New Fellows

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, in Chicago, has announced 24 new MacArthur Fellows.

Recipients of the prestigious fellowships, often dubbed “the genius awards,” are free to use the money as they wish. The foundation does not require them to produce any reports or other works or to account for use of the funds. Each fellowship package provides $500,000 over five years along with optional health insurance.

No one may apply for the MacArthur Fellowships. Each year the foundation selects several hundred people from diverse fields who serve anonymously as nominators. A 12-member selection committee then makes final recommendations to the foundation’s Board of Directors.

Including this year’s group, the foundation has named a total of 635 fellows, ranging in age from 18 to 82, since the program’s inception in 1981.

Following are the 2002 fellows, and how the foundation described their achievements:

Bonnie Bassler, 40, associate professor of molecular biology, Princeton University, N.J. Her research on the chemical mechanisms that bacteria use to communicate with each other may prove instrumental in developing new strategies for treating bacterial infections.

Ann Blair, 40, professor of history, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. An intellectual historian, her work focuses on interpretations of Renaissance and other early modern European efforts to compile and classify knowledge.

Katherine Boo, 38, staff writer, The Washington Post. An investigative journalist, her Pulitzer Prize–winning work focuses on homeless, mentally disabled, and other marginalized people, and has led in some cases to improved services for those people.

Paul Ginsparg, 46, professor of physics and computing and information science, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. He has created a free Internet service through which scientists can publish and communicate their research results, helping to encourage the speedier and more democratic exchange of information on scientific advances.

David Goldstein, 51, energy program co-director, Natural Resources Defense Council, San Francisco. His work concentrates on eliminating economic and political obstacles to greater global energy efficiency and has included efforts to improve building codes in China and Russia and to revamp U.S. transportation policies.

Karen Hesse, 50, novelist, Brattleboro, Vt. Her 15 books for children and adolescents incorporate innovative uses of language and form while encouraging young readers to wrestle with racism and other social issues.

Janine Jagger, 52, founder and director, International Health Care Worker Safety Center, Charlottesville, Va. An epidemiologist, she has invented new devices and monitoring systems to protect health-care workers from the transmission of HIV and other blood-borne diseases.

Daniel Jurafsky, 39, associate professor of linguistics and computer science, University of Colorado at Boulder. His work focuses on improving the ability of computer systems to process natural language by analyzing the syntax and usage of ordinary sentences.

Toba Khedoori, 37, artist, Los Angeles. She uses oil paint, pencils, and other traditional materials to create drawings on huge stretches of unframed paper that incorporate urban and architectural imagery.

Liz Lerman, 54, founder and artistic director, Dance Exchange, Takoma Park, Md. Her choreography involves people of all ages and from all walks of life in dance projects, challenging the assumption that only dance professionals can create performances that are both aesthetically pleasing and well received by audiences.

George Lewis, 50, professor of music, University of California–San Diego, La Jolla. He is a trombonist and composer whose performances, criticism, and scholarly analyses examine musical improvisation and its role in the history and future of musical expression.

Liza Lou, 33, artist, Los Angeles. Using hundreds of thousands of glass beads and other materials, she creates installation works and sculptures that merge fine art and craft.

Edgar Meyer, 41, bassist and composer, Nashville. His performances and compositions fuse classical and bluegrass music, expanding the technical and stylistic possibilities of the bass and other stringed instruments.

Jack Miles, 60, senior adviser to the president, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles. A literary scholar and critic, his works examine biblical literature, the role of religion in international relations, and the links between the ethical premises of the Bible and such contemporary challenges as nuclear weapons and environmental degradation.

Erik Mueggler, 40, associate professor of anthropology, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He studies ethnic minorities in China, examining the role of the Cultural Revolution and other factors related to the state in modern ritual, identity, and nationalism.

Sendhil Mullainathan, 29, associate professor of economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. He studies the ways in which the limits of knowledge, willpower, and self-interest affect economic behavior, offering new perspectives from which to examine traditional questions in economics.

Stanley Nelson, 48, director, writer, and producer, Firelight Media/Half-Nelson Films, New York. A documentary filmmaker, his works explore often-overlooked figures and themes in African-American history and have included films on black journalists, Marcus Garvey, and the black middle class on Martha’s Vineyard.

Lee Ann Newsom, 45, associate professor of anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park. She is a paleoethnobotanist whose study of fossilized plant remains has shed new light on prehistoric cultures in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

Daniela Rus, 39, associate professor of computer science and cognitive neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. Her research in computer science and robotics has ranged from abstract aspects of information processing to the practical use of self-reconfigurable robots in planetary and deep-sea exploration.

Charles Steidel, 39, professor of astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. He has developed methods that enable astronomers to detect very distant galaxies, enhancing understanding of the early history of the universe.

Brian Tucker, 56, founder and president, GeoHazards International, Palo Alto, Calif. A seismologist, he helps poor countries prone to earthquakes minimize casualties through the use of low-cost civil-engineering techniques.

Camilo Vergara, 58, photographer and ethnographer, New York. He uses time-lapse images to document the transformation of urban landscapes in America, helping to inform city-planning and neighborhood-development efforts.

Paul Wennberg, 40, professor of atmospheric chemistry and environmental engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. He has developed new tools and analytic methods for measuring and understanding the chemistry of the earth’s atmosphere.

Colson Whitehead, 32, novelist, New York. His two published novels, The Intuitionist and John Henry Days, blend American folklore, historical criticism, humor, and commentary on racism and other social issues.