MacArthur Foundation Names 2008 Fellows; Tony Winner Tipton Among Recipients

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today named 25 new MacArthur Fellows for 2008. This past week, the recipients learned in a single phone call from the Foundation that they will each receive $500,000 in “no strings attached” support over the next five years. The new Fellows work across a broad spectrum of endeavors and include a neurobiologist, a saxophonist, a critical care physician, an urban farmer, an optical physicist, a sculptor, a geriatrician, a historian of medicine, and an inventor of musical instruments. All were selected for their creativity, originality, and potential to make important contributions in the future.

“The MacArthur Fellows Program celebrates extraordinarily creative individuals who inspire new heights in human achievement,” said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. “With their boldness, courage, and uncommon energy, this new group of Fellows, men and women of all ages in diverse fields, exemplifies the boundless nature of the human mind and spirit.”

MacArthur Fellowships offer the opportunity for Fellows to accelerate their current activities or take their work in new directions. The unusual level of independence afforded to Fellows underscores the spirit of freedom intrinsic to creative endeavors. The extraordinary creativity of MacArthur Fellows knows neither boundaries nor the constraints of age, place, and endeavor.

Recipients this year include
• an astronomer designing experiments and devices to advance understanding of the geometry of the universe and the story of both its beginning and its end (Adam Reiss);
• a neuroscientist tracing the natural interactions of differentiating neurons, bringing us closer to developing effective methods for treating central nervous system damage (Sally Temple);
• a novelist exploring the circumstances that lead to ethnic conflict in works inspired by events in her native Nigeria (Chimamanda Adichie);

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• an inventor of musical instruments that transform and transcend the musical experience and navigate the boundaries between live and recorded sound (Walter Kitundu);
• an urban farmer applying low-cost technology to the cultivation, production, and delivery of healthy foods to underserved urban populations here and abroad (Will Allen);
• a geriatrician transforming treatment for the seriously ill into more humane and effective care (Diane Meier);
• an optical physicist demonstrating that power can be transmitted wirelessly, opening the door to the possibility of a range of devices operating free of traditional power sources (Marin Soljaèiæ);
• a saxophonist drawing from a variety of jazz idioms and the music of his native Puerto Rico to create complex, accessible sounds that overflow with emotion (Miguel Zenón);
• a critical care physician devising life-saving, clinical practices to improve patient safety in hospitals and spare countless lives from deadly consequences of human error (Peter Pronovost);
• a structural engineer restoring cathedrals and other structures of the distant past and identifying ancient technologies for use in contemporary constructions (John Ochsendorf);
• a stage lighting designer pushing the visible boundaries of her art form with painterly lighting that evokes mood and sculpts movement in dance, drama, and opera (Jennifer Tipton);
• an anthropologist illuminating the intellectual and emotional life of ancient Mesoamerican peoples through insightful interpretations of hieroglyphic inscriptions and figural art (Stephen Houston).

“Our goal, each year, is to surprise ourselves and others by the creativity, distinctiveness, and reach of those we identify and support. We have surprised ourselves again this year. As a group, this new class of Fellows takes one’s breath away. Each is an original, and each confirms that the creative individual is alive and well, at the cutting edge, and at work to make our world a better place,” said Daniel J. Socolow, Director of the MacArthur Fellows Program.

A complete list of the 25 new Fellows and their areas of activity is attached to this release. Full biographies and photos of this year’s Fellows, as well as background information about the program, can be found on a password-protected Web site, www.macarthurfellows.org. To obtain a user name and password, contact Anne Marie Borrego at 202-457-8100. Video B-roll on selected Fellows will also be available.

After the embargo is lifted, full biographies, photographs, and videos of the Fellows will be available at www.macfound.org, where a list of previous recipients and program information is provided.

The MacArthur Fellows Program was the first major grantmaking initiative of the Foundation. The inaugural class of MacArthur Fellows was named in 1981. Including this year’s Fellows, 781 people, ranging in age from 18 to 82 at the time of their selection, have been named MacArthur Fellows since the program began.

The selection process begins with formal nominations. Hundreds of anonymous nominators assist the Foundation in identifying people to be considered for a MacArthur Fellowship.

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Nominations are accepted only from invited nominators, a list that is constantly renewed throughout the year. They are chosen from many areas and challenged to identify people who demonstrate exceptional creativity and promise. A 12-member Selection Committee, whose members also serve anonymously, meets regularly to review files, narrow the list, and make final recommendations to the Foundation’s Board of Directors. The number of Fellows selected each year is not fixed; typically, it varies between 20 and 25. The list of previous recipients from 1981 to 2007 is available at www.macfound.org.

The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. For more information or to sign-up for MacArthur’s e-newsletter, visit www.macfound.org.

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Complete list of MacArthur Fellows for 2008

Chimamanda Adichie
Unaffiliated
Columbia, MD
Age: 31
Fiction Writer exploring the circumstances that lead to ethnic conflict in richly imagined novels and stories inspired by events in her native Nigeria.

Will Allen
Growing Power, Inc.
Milwaukee, WI
Age: 59
Urban Farmer transforming the cultivation, production, and delivery of healthy foods to underserved, urban populations through a novel synthesis of low-cost farming technologies.

Regina Benjamin
Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic
Bayou La Batre, AL
Age: 51
Rural Family Physician delivering highquality medical care to diverse, underserved communities in Alabama and ensuring that the most vulnerable among us are not forgotten.

Kirsten Bomblies
Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology
Tubingen, Germany
Age: 34
Plant Evolutionary Geneticist opening avenues into the mysteries of how new species originate through her explorations of incompatible hybrids as a mechanism for speciation in shared ecological niches.

Tara Donovan
Unaffiliated
Brooklyn, NY
Age: 38
Sculptor transforming accumulations of ordinary materials into visually arresting, sculptural works reminiscent of geological and biological forms.

Wafaa El-Sadr
Columbia University / Mailman School of Public
Health
New York, NY
Age: 58
Infectious Disease Physician introducing multi-pronged treatment strategies for some of the most pressing pandemics of our time – HIV/AIDS and TB – diseases that often afflict people with the least access to quality health care.

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Andrea Ghez
University of California / Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
Age: 43
Astrophysicist using novel, ground-based telescopic techniques to identify thousands of new star systems and illuminate the role of super-massive black holes in the evolution of galaxies.

Stephen Houston
Brown University
Providence, RI
Age: 49
Anthropologist/Epigrapher illuminating the intellectual and emotional life of ancient Mesoamerican peoples through insightful interpretations of hieroglyphic inscriptions and figural art.

Mary Jackson
Unaffiliated
Charleston, SC
Age: 63
Fiber Artist translating practical designs into intricately coiled vessels that preserve the centuries-old craft of sweetgrass basketry and push the tradition in stunning new directions.

Leila Josefowicz
Unaffiliated
New York, NY
Age: 30
Violinist broadening the instrument’s repertoire and captivating audiences through her juxtaposition of the avant-garde and eclectic with the more traditional.

Alexei Kitaev
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, CA
Age: 45
Physicist/Computer Scientist deepening insights into the fundamental nature of quantum physics and bringing us closer to realizing the full potential of quantum computing.

Walter Kitundu
Exploratorium
San Francisco, CA
Age: 35
Instrument Maker and Composer inventing instruments inspired by experimental and traditional musical forms to produce electroacoustic works that navigate the boundary between live and recorded performance.

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Susan Mango
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT
Age: 47
Developmental Biologist synthesizing approaches from genetics, genomics, ecology, and embryology to address one of the most challenging questions in developmental biology – how organs are formed.

Diane Meier
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
New York, NY
Age: 56
Geriatrician transforming treatment for the seriously ill into more humane and effective care.

David Montgomery
University of Washington / Seattle
Seattle, WA
Age: 46
Geomorphologist unsettling accepted wisdom about both local and global environmental change by exploring the ecological consequences of a wide range of Earth surface processes.

John Ochsendorf
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Age: 34
Structural Engineer/Architectural Preservationist restoring structures from the distant past and identifying ancient technologies for use in contemporary constructions.

Peter Pronovost
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore, MD
Age: 43
Critical Care Physician devising life-saving, clinical practices that are improving patient safety in hospitals and sparing countless lives from the often deadly consequences of human error.

Adam Riess
Johns Hopkins University
Astronomer, Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, MD
Age: 38
Astronomer designing experiments and devices to advance our understanding of the geometry of the universe and to trace the story of both its beginning and its end.

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Alex Ross
The New Yorker
New York, NY
Age: 40
Music Critic offering both highly specialized and casual readers new ways of thinking about the music of the past and its place in our future.

Nancy Siraisi
Unaffiliated
Brooklyn, NY
Age: 76
Historian of Medicine elucidating in meticulously researched and elegant prose the profound impact of medical theory and practice on Renaissance society, culture, and religion.

Marin Soljaèiæ
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA
Age: 34
Optical Physicist demonstrating both theoretically and experimentally that power can be transmitted wirelessly, potentially leading to a range of electrical devices that can operate without batteries or wall connections.

Sally Temple
New York Neural Stem Cell Institute
Albany, NY
Age: 49
Neuroscientist tracing the natural interactions of differentiating neurons in the development of complex, heterogeneous tissue to bring us closer to effective clinical treatments for central nervous system damage.

Jennifer Tipton
Unaffiliated
New York, NY
Age: 71
Stage Lighting Designer pushing the visual boundaries of her art form with painterly lighting that evokes mood and sculpts movement in dance, drama, and opera.

Rachel Wilson
Harvard Medical School
Boston, MA
Age: 34
Experimental Neurobiologist integrating electrophysiology, neuropharmacology, molecular genetics, and anatomy to measure the activity of neurons in the diminutive brain of the fruit fly.

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Miguel Zenón
Unaffiliated
New York, NY
Age: 31
Saxophonist drawing from a variety of jazz idioms and the indigenous music of his native Puerto Rico to create a new language of complex, yet accessible sounds that overflow with emotion.