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A political scientist who studies what helps people connect despite their differences. a novelist whose books native American in communities oakland, CaliforniaGave rise to a passionate following. A photographer whose black-and-white photographs examine poverty in America.
Harry Hahn, Tommy Orange and Matt Black are among 22 fellows selected this year by John D. and Katherine T. MacArthur Foundation And the announcement was made on Wednesday. This is a recognition often called a “genius award”, which comes with an $800,000 prize, paid out over five years that people can spend as they wish.
The Foundation selects Fellows over the years, taking into account a wide range of recommendations from their peers.
“Each class doesn’t have a theme and we’re not building a group around a certain idea,” said Marlize Carruth, director of the MacArthur Fellows Program. “But I think this year, we see empathy and deep engagement with community figures prominently in this class.”
Through a variety of methods, many partners “boldly and fearlessly” reflect on what they see and hear from deep engagement with their communities, he said.
Since Fellows did not apply or participate in any way in their selection, the award often comes as a shock and is sometimes accompanied by difficult moments. Nabarun Dasgupta, an epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina, recently left a team meeting where he shared that a longtime colleague in harm reduction work had died after noticing one too many missed calls. chicago The number on which the call was made again. This was the MacArthur Foundation.
They were awarding him the fellowship in recognition of his work, which includes helping start a testing program for street drugs to identify unregulated substances and helping to address the shortage of naloxone, which reverses opioid overdoses.
To understand the intense moment that blended deep loss and recognition, Dasgupta wrote the following in a journal.
“We are surrounded by death every day. Sometimes, you have to encourage yourself to get out of bed. Other mornings, the universe screams in your ear and tells you to keep going because what we are doing is working.”
“I think there couldn’t be a clearer signal that work has to continue,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Other fellows were contacted by the Foundation via email and asked to talk about potential projects. Chicago-based artist Tonika Louise Johnson planned to take calls in the car. Foundation representatives tried to talk to him before breaking the news, but he refused.
“They were definitely worried about my safety,” she said, laughing, and then she stopped driving.
Johnson’s projects are rooted in his Englewood neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. She has photographed the same addresses in North and South Chicago, beautifying residents’ homes and making predatory housing practices visible. Overall, his work highlights very specific people and places affected by racial segregation.
Johnson said, “This award is recognition and recognition of my neighborhood, this small black neighborhood of Chicago, where everyone is told, ‘Don’t go because it’s dangerous,’ this award means there is talent here.”
Angel F., an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For Adams Coraliza, the award is also a recognition of the talent and grit that comes from Puerto Rico, where he is from, despite the hardships his community has faced. Their research has uncovered several new findings about what influences weather patterns in tropical regions, which may ultimately help improve forecasts in those regions.
Adams said that normally one of his classes would be ending right when the Foundation would publish a new class of fellows, so he was planning to end the lecture early to get back to his office. He said he was having trouble understanding what it would be like.
“I have little expectation that some people will be coming into my office at, like, 11:02 in the morning or something,” he said.
Before receiving news of the award, Adams said he was expecting to scale back his research in the coming years as government funding for climate and weather research has been significantly cut or altered. He said he was questioning what would happen next for his career.
The MacArthur Prize may allow him to pursue some new theoretical ideas that are harder to get funded, he said.
Regarding climate and meteorology, he said, “I think people care and it matters to the general public, regardless of the political landscape, which is pretty negative on it right now.”
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