Tuesday, September 22, 2009

MacArthur Genius Grants announced

Seven Jaini (WQ)
(9/22/09) – There are 24 new geniuses in America as decided by the the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation based in Chicago. The foundation has awarded each $500,000.00 with no strings attached and no explicit expectations.

WQ tracked down their names and fields of endeavor. Here, in simple alphabetical order, is the heavily Judeochristian listing of our best and brightest (who came to the attention of the foundation's 12 anonymous judges in 2009 by nomination not application).
  1. Lynsey Addario, photojournalist
  2. Maneesh Agrawala, computer vision technologist
  3. Timothy Barrett, papermaker/conservator
  4. Mark Bradford (CalArts, Los Angeles), mixed media artist
  5. Edwidge Danticat, novelist
  6. Rackstraw Downes, realist painter
  7. Esther Duflo, economist
  8. Deborah Eisenberg, short story writer
  9. Lin He, molecular biologist
  10. Peter Huybers, climate scientist
  11. James Longley, filmmaker
  12. L. Mahadevan, applied mathematician
  13. Heather McHugh, poet
  14. Jerry Mitchell, investigative reporter
  15. Rebecca Onie, public health entrepreneur
  16. Richard Prum, ornithologist
  17. John A. Rogers, applied physicist
  18. Elyn Saks (USC, Los Angeles), mental health lawyer
  19. Jill Seaman, infectious disease physician
  20. Beth Shapiro, evolutionary biologist
  21. Daniel Sigman, biogeochemist
  22. Mary Tinetti, geriatric physician
  23. Camille Utterback, digital artist
  24. Theodore Zoli, bridge engineer
There have been 805 Genius Grant recipients to date. They will take their half-million dollar "fellowships" and spend them anyway they choose without answering to anyone or anything but conscience. Why are they geniuses? The MacArthur Foundation explains that they select activists, artists, and scientists of every stripe for what they might do as importantly as for what they have done. Therefore, some are geniuses-to-be with their best work yet to be realized.

The foundation's president, Bob Gallucci, explains: "This is not just an award for past accomplishment [but] for the potential to do more creative things in the future." The foundation, established in 1978, is a private, independent grant-making institution dedicated to helping groups and individuals to improve the human condition.

There are a disproportionate number of recipients who adhere to one particular religion, be it culturally or spiritually. There are also many youthful fellows with bright futures now able to blossom into the geniuses they have have the potential to become. There are no age restrictions. One is even identified as a high functioning schizophrenic, who is currently a professor at USC. Their work and fields of interest also seems to have influenced judges -- from the economy to climate change, short story writing to poetry, from engineering to biology, visual art to applied math.

Past Buddhist Geniuses?

  • UCLA's MacArthur Fellows
    UCLA's distinguished faculty includes MacArthur "genius grant" Fellows...Schopen, whose books include Bones, Stones and Buddhist Monks (with Donald S. Lopez)
  • Buddhist Channel Buddhism News...
    Nov 23, 2007...Moreover, American Buddhist converts like Saunders, who won the MacArthur Foundation's ''genius grant'' last year, are scooping up accolades...
  • Leading Buddhist Studies Program Eyes Tibetan Gap, UCLA Asia Institute
    On May 23, a high-ranking Buddhist abbot and a U of Michigan professor will read...and two UCLA Buddhologists—MacArthur "genius" grant recipient Gregory...
  • 3 Bay Area Residents Tapped for "Genius Awards" - Grants
    Jun 15, 1993...The so-called genius awards from the MacArthur Foundation went to... Leonard van der Kuijp, 40, Buddhist and Tibetan scholar...
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