13 Academics Named as MacArthur Fellows

Thirteen academics were among those named today as new MacArthur Fellows by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowships -- commonly called "genius" awards -- provide $500,000 over five years, no strings attached. This year's academic winners are:

• Raj Chetty, a professor of economics at Harvard University.
• Maria Chudnovsky, associate professor of industrial engineering and operations research at Columbia University.
• Eric Coleman, professor of health care policy and research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
• Junot Díaz, the Rudge and Nancy Allen Professor of Writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Oliver Gunyon, assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona.
• Elissa Hallem, assistant professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics at the University of California at Los Angeles.
• An-My Lê, professor of photography at Bard College.
• Sarkis Mazmanian, professor of biology at California Institute of Technology.
• Dylan C. Penningroth, associate professor of history at Northwestern University.
• Terry Plank, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University.
• Nancy Rabalais, executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.
• Daniel Spielman, the Henry Ford II Professor of Computer Science at Yale University.
• Melody Swartz, professor of bioengineering at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Details on these and other winners, and on the program, may be found here.