MacArthur “Genius Grant” winners include anti-racist author, civil rights activist and computer virologist

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Colloquially known as the “Engineering Grant,” MacArthur Fellows receive an unconditional grant of $ 625,000 paid over five years. Since 1981, 1,061 people have been named MacArthur Fellows, according to the foundation’s website. There are no restrictions on how the money is spent, the foundation said.

“As we emerge from the shadows of the past two years, this class of 25 fellows are helping us reinvent what is possible,” said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of MacArthur Fellows. “They demonstrate that creativity knows no boundaries. It is happening in all walks of life, among the relatively young and the more experienced, in Iowa and Puerto Rico.”

“To be named #MacFellow 2021 is great! Thanks to @macfound and my peers for this honor – for recognizing and supporting the work to create a just and just society,” Kendi tweeted Tuesday. “To feel encouraged, excited, stunned, grateful. So many feelings! … It is the honor of a lifetime to join this illustrious community.”

Desmond Meade, a Florida-based civil rights activist who works to restore the franchise to citizens who were previously incarcerated, was also one of 25 scholarship recipients.

“It’s an incredible honor that I didn’t see coming, but now that it’s here, I hope this recognition serves as an example of what can happen when we commit to improving our society,” Meade said in a statement. posted on Twitter. Trevor Bedford, a Seattle-based computer virologist who has developed tools to track the evolution of viruses, took a darker tone when he found out he was a comrade. Bedford studied Covid-19 and tweeted in early 2020 – at the start of the pandemic – that there had been an outbreak in Washington state that had not been detected for weeks. While Bedford said he was “honored and overwhelmed” to be named a member, he tweeted on Tuesday, “It’s hard for me to sort out my feelings about these awards because they are so closely tied to the pandemic. “.

“It might be uncomfortable to be professionally rewarded for doing something that seemed like a moral imperative,” he said. “So many scientists, public health officials, healthcare workers, journalists and others have worked in the nude during the pandemic. While there is still a long way to go, I am confident that our collective effort will eventually bring COVID under control. “

Here is the full list of the 2021 laureates: Hanif Abdurraqib, music critic, essayist and poet Daniel Alarcn, writer and radio producer Marcella Alsan, medical economist Trevor Bedford, computer virologist Reginald Dwayne Betts, poet and lawyer Jordan Casteel, painter Don Mee Choi, poet and translator, Ibrahim Ciss Biological Physicist Nicole Fleetwood, Art Historian and Curator Cristina Ibarra, Documentary Maker Ibram X. Kendi, American Historian and Writer Daniel Lind-Ramos, Sculptor and Painter Monica Muoz Martinez, Public Historian Desmond Meade, Civil Rights Activist Joshua Monje, Adaptive Technology Designer, Michelle Monje neuroscientist and neuro-oncologist Safiya Noble, Internet and digital media studies specialist Taylor Perron, geomorphologist Alex Rivera, filmmaker and media artist Lisa Schulte Moore, landscape ecologist Jesse Shapiro, applied microeconomist Jacqueline Stewart, film specialist, archivist and curator K eeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, historian and writer Victor J. Torres, microbiologist Jaw ole Willa Jo Zollar, choreographer and dance entrepreneur

CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.

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