None of the more-qualified front pagers here seem to have mentioned the 2010 MacArthur Fellows, the list of whom was released earlier this week. I am not ashamed to admit that I can’t begin to understand an “Optical Physicist working at the intersection of fundamental photonics and nanofabrication engineering to design silicon-based photonic circuits that are paving the way for practical optical computing devices” (Michal Lipson), or to judge whether a “Quantum Astrophysicist linking optics, condensed matter, and quantum mechanics in research that enhances our ability to detect and quantify gravitational radiation” (Nergis Mavalvala) is worthy of an being part of this august fellowship. (Although the short videos on each Fellow’s biographical webpage are mostly informative.)
But, hey, David Simon! — of Homicide: Life on the Street, and The Wire, and now Treme. And Annette Gordon-Reed is writing a sequel to The Hemingses of Monticello, which I can’t wait to read…
Anybody care to speculate as to the merits and potentials of this year’s honorees?
El Cid
I was very gladdened to see on the winners’ list Emmanuel Saez, the Berkeley economist who has done so much to help show the effects of income & wealth matters on individual and social development, often quoted in political debates when he focuses both the facts of and the harms of such a ridiculous concentration of income & wealth in this nation toward the super-ultra-rich.
If you’ve seen those charts showing concentrations of wealth in the US and other nations from, say, 1916 – 2008, they’re probably from him & colleagues.
Most of his papers are available from his own website, linked above.
He also recently estimated that given the value a good kindergarten teacher measurably improves the economic success of children over a lifetime, such a teacher should get about $320K a year, which we can’t afford because of the deficit and because we don’t want to kill the geese which lay the golden eggs etc.
Princess
I found myself sitting next to one of them in a meeting this week. We’ll be in a seminar together all year, so I guess I’ll get a chance to judge merit and potential then. But this person’s work seemed really interesting. I do note that they seem to be going for people who are earlier in their careers these days, in their 30s and 40s. Probably a good idea, but it makes them bigger targets because they are less likely to be universally compelling as “geniuses” because they have just plain done less than someone ten-twenty years older.
Linda Featheringill
The winners seem to be a collection of very intelligent people.
Marla Spivak may be doing the most important work IMHO, honey bees. We need those little creatures.
I was also intrigued by the work of Nergis Mavalvava . Her studies might prove useful in the future when we venture forth from the planet Earth. [I am much in favor of colonizing the universe, or at least the galaxy.]
I would imagine that Carlos Bustamante’s work of human DNA and evolution could produce some interesting insights on how we got to this point. I like history and he is working with some deep history.
Some of the others I don’t understand what they are doing or why their work is considered important. Type designer? Don’t we have enough fonts?
Still, I guess it’s time to say “Congratulations” to all the winners.
Dennis SGMM
@Linda Featheringill:
Carter designed (Among many others) Verdana, a font that’s almost ubiquitous on the web. His genius is in designing fonts that are legible and scalable on computer screens and he’s working on fonts with similar characteristics for hand held devices. To my mind, he deserves the fellowship.
mistermix
@Dennis SGMM: Yep. He’s worthy.
WereBear
Chee, I thought we didn’t need geniuses. Just some good ol’ common sense and elbow grease and belt tightenin’ and cliches and grifting!
As a Font Fan, I say Verdana has done more good in the world than Jim DeMint. Ever.
JCT
While limited in availability, the MacArthurs’ play an important role in trying to “jump-start” investigators who are trying to push the envelope with regards to creative and often highly risky novel approaches to important questions. The choices this year seem particularly thoughtful (I love Saez’ work).
From the scientific side, the more recent implosion of the NIH funding structure, the near complete loss of the ONR and the tightening of NSF funding over the past decade has done terrible damage to academics. Everyone is hunkering down trying to hold on to enough funding to stay employed and keep their lab running — this is, in no way conducive to the creativity and edge-pushing that is really needed to address some very basic questions that have the potential to (in my field) impact biomedical research. Hard to propose your most “risky” experiments in this climate, so people are falling back to the tried and true approaches. It’s stifling and takes away some of the very best aspects of being a scientist. Many funding agencies (govt and foundation) have started their own “jump-start” funding programs to help junior people explore their more creative ideas.
The most troubling aspect of this situation is the trickle down to grad students, postdocs and fellows who are supposed to be the next wave. My field is in a near panic over the realization that no one seems to want to enter academic medicine any more. Can’t say that I blame them, but it is very worrisome.
frostys
@El Cid: My son’s kindergarten teacher flagged that he wasn’t picking up the alphabet and letters, we got him tested, he was dyslexic, we put him through tutoring and specialized private school through 6th grade, he learned to read, went back to public school, graduated high school, and is now in college.
Without her, he might still be floundering.
El Cid
@WereBear: Not only that, but having all this pointy-head ivory tower types shows the librul soshullist agenda to back the elites instead of good Real Americans. You don’t need a bunch of ‘scientists’ to figure out that there’s no global warming, you just point to the sky and say that “The Sun is hot!” You don’t need no fancy “architects” and “engineers” to help carefully design a bridge, you just send down a bunch of good, ordinary guys with hammers and saws. And maybe if our doctors would learn more about how to pray, we’d be able to save a lot more on health care without hurting the insurance companies who employ a lot of people.
El Cid
@frostys: Clearly if she were a better teacher her main concerns would be protecting the other children from your child’s deviancy, and also stopping the teachers’ unions which cause all the problems. And introducing the Bible and the free market into the classroom.
Seonachan
I’ve met Jessie little doe Baird once, and for people concerned with the disappearance of Native American languages, or any language at all, she is an inspiration. With no linguistic background, inspired by dreams in which her ancestors were speaking to her in a language she couldn’t understand, she set out learn Wampanoag (the language of the folks who discovered the Pilgrims), which hadn’t been spoken in a century and a half. She had to rely on surviving written documents (of which there is a lot – bibles, wills & other legal documents, etc.) to reconstruct its lexicon and grammar. Her daughter is now the first native Wampanoag speaker in 150 years.
SapphireCate
When I was an undergrad, one of the phd students in my dept was awarded one of these. We had to tie her to a chair to keep her from floating into space in exhultation.
One of the really interesting (to me) things about the award is, in my field (archaeology) the gender breakdown… Archaeology is still heavily male at upper levels and very masculine in ethos, but most undergrads and about 50-60% of MA/PhD students are women. These proportions have been true for at least the last 15 or 20 years yet men still rise to the top of the profession at a much higher rate and women still leave to change jobs, raise children, etc. much more frequently. However, when you look at the Macarthur awards given to archaeologists (I used the wikipedia page), most recipients are women. That’s not ‘normal’ for how grants and funding are awarded and it makes me wonder a bit about their criteria and goals other than rewarding individual deserving people.
Monkeyhawk
I’m pretty sure the MacArthur people misplaced my address.
PurpleGirl
Years ago when I worked at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU (as a mathematical typist) I often typed the papers of Chales Peskin. He was working on modeling blood flow through the heart and a bunch of other medical/anatomical matters using partial differential equations. After I left the Courant Peskin won a MacArthur Fellowship. The one thing I remember about him, besides being a nice guy, is that he couldn’t spell stochastic or asymptotic for beans. Always had them wrong. As typing mathematics on stencils using an IBM Selectric is a pita, and correcting them even worse, I learned to spell those words.
ETA: A book people might find interesting is Uncommon Genius How Great Ideas Are Born (Tracing the Creative Impulse with Forty Winners of the MacArthur Award) by Denise Shekerjian, 1990, Viking.
Tom Hilton
Only 3 from the Bay Area, which is lower than usual (but at least Cal beats Stanford 2-1). Otherwise, all of them, when I read the capsule description of what they did, it sounds really cool.
And hey, David Simon! I’m betting those Emmy snubs sting a little less now.
Tom Hilton
Oh, and don’t forget The Corner.
Triassic Sands
I heard an interview with Simoni and his was response to his selection seemed to be embarrassment. He made it clear he didn’t think that what he did was on the same level as many other recipients. Successful TV pays very well and Simoni doesn’t appear to need the money. I guess that’s why he said he’d put most of the money aside and if others needed some of it, they could give him a call.
Nathan
What is 500k to a physicist? If you are a stone cutter, linguist, etc. then you can likely do something with the award itself. For the scientists, this is just a wonderful addition to grant applications.
Daddy-O
Quantum Astrophysicist linking optics, condensed matter, and quantum mechanics in research that enhances our ability to detect and quantify gravitational radiation” (Nergis Mavalvala)
If you are seriously interested in humans traveling in space as a practical matter…
…then you have to study gravity waves. Period. I’m glad for this particular MacArthur grant, myself. It’s probably the best hope for space fans and the future of our species OFF the Earth.
mds
I’ll nth the praise for Saez, since this might help his work gain wider circulation. Offhand, most of the rest seem promising, too (I’m sure they’ve just breathed a collective sigh of relief). The only quibble I might have is that Carlos Bustamente already has a fairly big reputation in biology, and almost certainly has little trouble gaining funding (He got his Ph.D. in 2001, and is already a full professor). So as an acknowledgment of his impressiveness, it’s fine, but as a “leg up” for a young researcher trying to make a bigger splash, it’s not the optimal choice. One could also say that David Simon probably doesn’t need financial help to pursue his work either.
SBJules
A teacher at a local high school won one this year:
http://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=39902
The school has an engineering program. Incidentally, Katy Perry attended the school; she left early via a GED. She recently came back & gave a concert at the school, the kids were thrilled.
Bill Section 147
This is such a great reward. All about originality and creativity – awesome to think that historians, artists and typographers are valued members of our society, at least valued by the MacArthur Foundation.
Bill Section 147
@mds: I think the award is not for young researchers or underpaid creativity. Having the award go to great minds that have impacted their field already and continue to foment original and progressive concepts enhances the prestige of the newbies and the almost unknown winners. And even for the funded, it is a lot of coin with no strings attached to work on something for which no body would pay.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
I’ll put in a word for John Dabiri, a Caltech biophysicist and bioengineer. I read a BBC article on his research with colleagues last year about how jellyfish help stir the ocean and thought it was both odd and interesting.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
In other news, the IgNobel awards are out. My favorite winners:
Brilliant. I wonder whether anyone showed up to collect.
El Cid
How could they have skipped Megan McAddled?
Rick Massimo
TWO Rhode Islanders, yo! Let’s talk Genius Population Density!
meander
Marla Spivak, an entomologist with expertise in honey bees, looks to be doing some very valuable research — if you like to eat, anyway, given the incredible importance of honey bees in our food system (it is pretty amazing that in the year 2010 we are so reliant on insects to pollinate our crops). One particularly interesting concept she is working on is “hygienic bees”, breeds that would be able to recognize immature bees that are infected by a parasite and disease, and then remove those bees from the hive before they can infect others. But don’t let the Right Wing hear about this…it might be too close to abortion for them…
Kilkee
@Seonachan: My son is, like Jesse, a linguist, and specifically an Algonquinist. He’s quite friendly with Jesse and is on cloud nine to see her win. You’re exactly right about her dedication and her inspiring example. FYI, he also happens to know the other linguist winner, who’s an ASL ‘genius.’ Excellent year for linguists!
something fabulous
A Woot! For my childhood neighbor David Cromer!
So exciting, to see kind of first-hand, that what is rewarded is not only “genius,” but the focus and determination to continue following one’s vision, when there are so often so many reasons to give up and try something easier, more lucrative, and so on. I can only assume that’s true for the scientists, as well.
And how great, to include a high school teacher! Talk about financially unrewarded! I love the whole idea of this prize/grant/fellowship.
JGabriel
Anne Laurie:
Translation: Optical Physicist working on really really small computer type thingies that use photons instead of electrons.
.
JGabriel
Tom Hilton:
I don’t begrudge Simon the award, but he doesn’t really need the money – hard to see how an extra 100k/yr for five years will really affect him. The MacArthur Award doesn’t translate into increased public awareness the way Nobels, Emmys, Oscars, and Pulitzers, etc. do – probably because they’re not in simple recognizable “Best So-and-So” categories.
So it would have been nice to see that award go to someone less established. Which isn’t to say that Simon doesn’t deserve it (he obviously meets the criteria), just that it could have potentially done more more good elsewhere.
.
Triassic Sands
@JGabriel:
In the interview I heard with Simon, he sounded very much like he agrees with you.
Yusifu
Shannon Dawdy is fantastic. She does great work at the boundaries of archeology, history, and sociocultural anthropology, working to reconstruct the everyday history of colonial New Orleans. She was also, I think, FEMA’s chief consultant about historic preservation after Katrina. Very smart, very nice, and *excellent* work…
Josh
Carol Padden, first Deaf MacArthur winner (maybe first disability scholar to win?) rawks the haus.
Kilkee
@Josh: Indeed. See comment 29. Woo-hoo!
Ken Pidcock
If you’re interested in biomedical education, or just in animation, Drew Berry does some really, really cool stuff
Kerry Reid
@something fabulous:
I second the “woot!” for Cromer, who was a classmate of mine at Columbia College Chicago. His production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” at Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe (Chicago suburb on the North Shore), as well as his stagings of “Our Town” and the musical version of Elmer Rice’s “Adding Machine” were truly fantastic. Genius? Hard to say — but they made an indelible impression on me.
Nancy Irving
They all look very impressive, but I wish so many were not already teaching at prestigious universities (Harvard, MIT, Cornell, Stanford etc.).
These folks are already making BIG bucks themselves and have access to more big bucks in research money; they don’t really need the MacArthur grants.
IIRC the MacArthur grants started out as a way to pick unrecognized “geniuses” from obscurity and enable them to do projects they would not otherwise have been able to do.
At this point, though, it looks like they’ve been co-opted into the academic establishment.
Probably an inevitable development.