#MacArthur Foundation’s 19 Newest Fellows, 2023:
#Scientists, #Filmmakers, #Artists, Legal Scholars, #Sociologists, #Musicians, #Writers, #Activists and #Historians

logo 2023

The 2023 MacArthur Fellows are applying individual creativity with global perspective, centering connections across generations and communities. They forge stunning forms of artistic expression from ancestral and regional traditions, heighten our attention to the natural world, improve how we process massive flows of information for the common good, and deepen understanding of systems shaping our environment. 

Marlies Carruth 
Director, MacArthur Fellows

“The MacArthur Fellowship is a $800,000, no-strings-attached award to extraordinarily talented and creative individuals as an investment in their potential….Since 1981, 1131 people have been named MacArthur Fellows….

“Nominees are brought to the Program’s attention through a constantly changing pool of invited external nominators chosen from as broad a range of fields and areas of interest as possible. They are encouraged to draw on their expertise, accomplishments, and breadth of experience to nominate the most creative people they know within their field and beyond….

“The MacArthur Fellows Program is intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations. In keeping with this purpose, the Foundation awards fellowships directly to individuals rather than through institutions. Recipients may be writers, scientists, artists, social scientists, humanists, teachers, entrepreneurs, or those in other fields, with or without institutional affiliations. They may use their fellowship to advance their expertise, engage in bold new work, or, if they wish, to change fields or alter the direction of their careers.

“Although nominees are reviewed for their achievements, the fellowship is not a lifetime achievement award, but rather an investment in a person’s originality, insight, and potential. Indeed, the purpose of the MacArthur Fellows Program is to enable recipients to exercise their own creative instincts for the benefit of human society.

“The Foundation does not require or expect specific products or reports from MacArthur Fellows and does not evaluate recipients’ creativity during the term of the fellowship. The MacArthur Fellowship is a “no strings attached” award in support of people, not projects. Each fellowship comes with a stipend of $800,000 to the recipient, paid out in equal quarterly installments over five years….”

“There are three criteria for selection of Fellows:

Exceptional creativityPromise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishmentsPotential for the Fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.”

Meet the newest crop of very fortunate creative sorts, this year’s MacArthur Fellows, who will each receive $800,000/year spread over 5 years, to do WHATEVER THEY WANT!

MacArthur Fellows 2023
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

For bios, specific info on each Fellow (photos, videos, websites, more), and plenty about the Program and the Foundation, check out their website: https://www.macfound.org/programs/fellows/

Imagine: There are no outside or public applications or nominations. The process for selection is so secretive and unknown that very few people (no one outside the Foundation, supposedly) even knows who the nominating and selection committees’ members ARE each year!

In the Foundation’s favor, this year—for the SECOND time since I’ve been tracking it, which is many years—the female-appearing Fellows are exceeding the male-appearing Fellows: 5 seeming male and 13 seeming females fellow. The Fellows process has been great on “diversity” and varying geographic locations for quite a while (still heavier on both coasts than within the USA, though). This year, only about 6 appear to be Caucasian. You can check out the stats on their site any time.

Again, LOVE this! Here are mini-bios of each Fellow for 2023:

E. Tendayi Achiume, Los Angeles, CA, Legal Scholar: “Reframing foundational concepts of international law at the intersection of racial justice and global migration.”

Andrea Armstrong, New Orleans, LA, Incarceration Law Scholar: “Bringing transparency to detention policies, conditions of confinement, and deaths in U.S. prisons and jails.”

Rina Foygel Barber, Chicago, IL, Statistician: “Developing tools to reduce false positives and improve confidence in high-dimensional data models.”

Ian Bassin, Washington, DC, Lawyer and Democracy Advocate: “Working to strengthen the structures, norms, and institutions that make the United States a democracy.”

Courtney Bryan, New Orleans, LA, Composer and Pianist: “Melding elements of jazz, classical, and sacred music in works that reverberate with social and political issues of our time.”

Jason D. Buenrostro, Cambridge, MA, Cellular and Molecular Biologist: “Developing methods and technologies that advance our understanding of the mechanisms regulating gene expression.”

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Nashville, TN, Multidisciplinary Artist: “Exploring personal and collective histories across the Caribbean with a distinctive and expansive visual style.”

Raven Chacon, Red Hook, NY, Composer and Artist: “Creating musical works that cut across boundaries of visual art and performance to illuminate landscapes, their inhabitants, and histories.”

Diana Greene Foster, San Francisco, CA, Demographer and Reproductive Health Researcher: “Investigating how reproductive healthcare policies and access impact individuals’ physical, mental, and socioeconomic well-being.”

Lucy Hutyra, Boston, MA, Environmental Ecologist: “Investigating impacts of urbanization on environmental carbon cycle dynamics.”

Carolyn Lazard, Philadelphia, PA, Artist: “Exploring the limits of aesthetic perception and using accessibility as a creative tool for collective practices of care.”

Ada Limón, Lexington, KY, Poet: “Counterbalancing grief with wonder in works that heighten our awareness of the natural world and our connections to one another.”

Lester Mackey, Cambridge, MA, Computer Scientist and Statistician: “Pioneering statistical and machine learning techniques to solve data science problems with real-world relevance.”

Patrick Makuakāne, San Francisco, CA, Kumu Hula and Cultural Preservationist: “Blending traditional hula with contemporary music and movements and uplifting Hawaiian culture and history.”

Linsey Marr, Blacksburg, VA, Environmental Engineer: “Examining indoor and outdoor air quality and the airborne transmission of infectious bioaerosols.”

Manuel Muñoz, Tucson, AZ, Fiction Writer: “Depicting with empathy and nuance the Mexican American communities of California.”

Imani Perry, Cambridge, MA, Interdisciplinary Scholar and Writer: “Giving fresh context to history and the cultural expressions forged by Black Americans in the face of injustice.”

Dyani White Hawk, Shakopee, MN, Multidisciplinary Artist: “Illuminating the enduring strength, presence, and influence of Indigenous artistic practices within modern and contemporary art.”

A. Park Williams, Los Angeles, CA, Hydroclimatologist: “Uncovering new insights into how climate change influences drought, wildfires, and tree mortality.”

Amber Wutich, Tempe, AZ, Anthropologist: “Documenting the impact of water insecurity on human well‑being and the social infrastructure communities use to cope with inadequate water.”

You can view ALL 1131 recipients of this “Genius Grant” (all the Fellows): https://www.macfound.org/fellows/search/all