Eight Women Academics Are Named MacArthur Fellows

The Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation has announced the selection of 24 individuals in this year’s class of MacArthur Fellows. The honors, frequently referred to as the “Genius Awards,” include a $625,000 stipend over the next five years which the individuals can use as they see fit. The $125,000 per year award is an increase from the $100,000 annual stipend that has been given in past years.

Of the 24 MacArthur Fellows in this year’s class, 11 are women. Eight of the 11 women winners have current academic affiliations.

(L to R) Angela Duckworth, Robin Fleming, Dina Katabi, Julie Livingston,
Susan Murphy, Sheila Nirenberg, Ana Maria Ray, and Sara Seager

Angela Duckworth is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on two traits that can be instrumental in human success: grit — the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward long-term goals; and self-control — the voluntary regulation of behavioral, emotional, and attentional impulses.  Dr. Duckworth joined the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania in 2007. He is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a master’s degree from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Robin Fleming is a professor of medieval history at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She is the author of Britain After Rome: The Fall and Rise, 400–1070 (Penguin, 2011). Professor Fleming has served on the Boston College faculty since 1989. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Dina Katabi is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also the director of Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing at MIT. Her research aims to improve the speed, reliability, and security of data exchange. Dr. Katabi is a graduate of the University of Damascus and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from MIT.

Julie Livingston is a professor of history at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is a medical and public health historian whose recent work has involved the African nation of Botswana. Her latest book is Improvising Medicine: An African Oncology Ward in an Emerging Cancer Epidemic (Duke University Press, 2012). Professor Livingston joined the Rutgers faculty in 2003. She is a graduate of Tufts University. She holds a master’s degree and a master of public health degree from Boston University and a Ph.D. from Emory University in Atlanta.

Susan Murphy is the H. E. Robbins Professor of Statistics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is developing new methodologies to evaluate courses of treatment for individuals coping with chronic or relapsing disorders such as depression or substance abuse. Before coming to the University of Michigan in 1997, she taught at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Murphy is a graduate of Louisiana State University and holds a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina.

Sheila Nirenberg is an associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Her research is focused on restoring sight after photoreceptor cell degeneration and on developing more advanced “robotic vision.” Dr. Nirenberg is a graduate of the University at Albany, a campus of the State University of New York system. She earned a Ph.D. at Harvard University.

Ana Maria Ray is a research assistant professor in the department of physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She also is a fellow of JILA, a joint institute of the University of Colorado at Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Dr. Ray is a graduate of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.

Sara Seager is a professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her work is focuses on exoplanets, those outside our solar system. Professor Seager joined the MIT faculty in 2006. She is a graduate of the University of Toronto and holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University