CHICAGO — A violin virtuoso, an architectural historian who studies ancient bridges, and a family physician who rebuilt an Alabama health clinic after it was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina are among 25 recipients of this year’s MacArthur Foundation “genius grants.”
The $500,000 fellowships were announced by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Recipients may use the money however they wish.
The MacArthur Foundation names the fellows, who are recommended to the foundation’s board by a 12-member selection committee.
The recipients include:
Kirsten Bomblies
Bomblies, 34, a plant evolutionary geneticist in Tubingen, Germany, who is originally from Castle Rock and attended Douglas County High School, said the money will allow her to expand her research.
“Maybe try to explore some slightly riskier options that maybe I otherwise wouldn’t be able to get funding for,” she said. “We rarely have that opportunity. I think I might write a book at the end of it all, a scientific book . . . just to get some of the ideas that we have on paper.”
Dr. Regina Benjamin
Benjamin said the money will help rebuild her rural health clinic in Bayou La Batre, Ala., which serves 4,400 patients. It was rebuilt by volunteers after being wrecked by Katrina, only to burn down months later.
“The patients came by, and they were crying,” said Benjamin, 51, remembering one woman who handed her an envelope with a $7 donation to rebuild. The new clinic is about half built, she said.
“If she can find $7, I can figure out the rest,” Benjamin said. “The patients I treat have their own disasters. Hopefully this grant will help them in some way.”
John Ochsendorf
Ochsendorf, a West Virginia native and an associate professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., said he at first didn’t believe that he had received a grant.
“I had to sit down. I had tears running down my face. I had a hard time breathing,” Ochsendorf said. “It changes everything. This is validation.”
Ochsendorf, 34, uses engineering and architecture to explain the ancient world. His research team studies Incan suspension bridges that cross gorges of the Andes Mountains.
Leila Josefowicz
Josefowicz, 30, is a solo violinist based in New York who travels the world performing with orchestras and conductors. The native Canadian made her Carnegie Hall debut at age 16 and said she finds excitement in playing pieces from modern composers.
“If I’m not worried about playing the circuit just for financial reasons, this can give me a buffer,” Josefowicz said. “I’ll spend more time studying and listening out there and choosing the composer I want to work with. I’m so grateful to work with composers to bring more concertos to the violin repertoire.”
Other recipients include:
• Chimamanda Adichie, 31, fiction writer, Columbia, Md.. She uses events inspired by her native Nigeria to explore ethnic conflict in stories.
• Will Allen, 59, urban farmer, Milwaukee. He provides healthy food to underserved and urban populations using low-cost farming techniques.
• Andrea Ghez, 43, astrophysicist, Los Angeles. She has identified thousands of star systems and researched black holes.
• Alex Ross, 40, music critic, New York. As a critic for The New Yorker, he offers new ways of thinking about music.
• Rachel Wilson, 34, experimental neurobiologist, Boston. She uses electrophysiology, neuropharmacology, molecular genetics and anatomy to study brain neurons.
