Surprise, shock, honor. Such were the emotions of many of the MacArthur Fellows selected this year by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
"I was in total shock when I first learned about it,” said Dr. Linsey C. Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor and University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech and one of the 20 individuals chosen to be part of the MacArthur Fellow Class of 2023. “It's kind of a mixture of elation and excitement and good fortune, because there's so many people out there doing great research."
As part of the honor, the 20 fellows – selected and recognized for their groundbreak work and potential – will each receive an $800,000 ‘genius grant,’ issued quarterly over five years.
“The 2023 MacArthur Fellows are applying individual creativity with global perspective, centering connections across generations and communities,” said Marlies Carruth, director of the MacArthur Fellows program. “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.”
Among the fellows this year were lauded scholars, poets, musicians, scientists, mathematicians, and writers.
Marr, for one, is a civil and environmental engineer with a specific focus on air quality, airborne pathogens, atmospheric science, and public health. Her research has involved studying today’s airborne issues such as air pollution and COVID-19 transmission.
It is understandable that many of the fellows found themselves caught off-guard by the award. The program – “intended to encourage people of outstanding talent to pursue their own creative, intellectual, and professional inclinations” – are awarded based on external nominators from various fields. The nominations are then evaluated while the nominees themselves are never officially informed of their nomination status unless selected.
