MacArthur Fellows 2022

https://www.macfound.org/programs/fellows/

“The 2022 MacArthur Fellows are architects of new modes of activism, artistic practice, and citizen science. They are excavators uncovering what has been overlooked, undervalued, or poorly understood. They are archivists reminding us of what should survive.

Their work extends from the molecular level to the land beneath our feet to Earth’s orbital environment—offering new ways for us to understand the communities, systems, and social forces that shape our lives around the globe.”

—Marlies Carruth
Director, MacArthur Fellows

2022 MacArthur Fellows

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Jennifer Carlson

Sociologist

Uncovering the motivations, assumptions, and social forces that drive gun ownership and shape gun culture in the United States.

Tucson, AZ

Paul Chan

Artist

Testing the capacity of art to make human experience available for critical reflection and to effect social change.

New York, NY

Yejin Choi

Computer Scientist

Using natural language processing to develop artificial intelligence systems that can understand language and make inferences about the world.

Seattle, WA

P. Gabrielle Foreman

Literary Historian and Digital Humanist

Catalyzing inquiry into historic nineteenth-century collective Black organizing efforts through initiatives such as the Colored Conventions Project.

University Park, PA

Danna Freedman

Synthetic Inorganic Chemist

Creating novel molecular materials with unique properties directly relevant to quantum information technologies.

Cambridge, MA

Martha Gonzalez

Musician, Scholar, and Artist/Activist

Strengthening cross-border ties and advancing participatory methods of artistic knowledge production in the service of social justice.

Claremont, CA

Sky Hopinka

Artist and Filmmaker

Combining imagery and language in films and videos that offer new strategies of representation for the expression of Indigenous worldviews.

Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

June Huh

Mathematician

Discovering underlying connections between disparate areas of mathematics and proving long-standing mathematical conjectures.

Princeton, NJ

Moriba Jah

Astrodynamicist

Envisioning transparent and collaborative solutions for creating a circular space economy that improves oversight of Earth’s orbital spheres.

Austin, TX

Jenna Jambeck

Environmental Engineer

Investigating the scale and pathways of plastic pollution and galvanizing efforts to address plastic waste.

Athens, GA

Monica Kim

Historian

Examining the interplay between U.S. foreign policy, military intervention, processes of decolonization, and individual rights in regional settings around the globe.

Madison, WI

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Plant Ecologist, Educator, and Writer

Articulating an alternative vision of environmental stewardship informed by traditional ecological knowledge.

Syracuse, NY

Priti Krishtel

Health Justice Lawyer

Exposing the inequities in the patent system to increase access to affordable, life-saving medications on a global scale.

Oakland, CA

Joseph Drew Lanham

Ornithologist, Naturalist, and Writer

Creating a new model of conservation that combines conservation science with personal, historical, and cultural narratives of nature.

Clemson, SC

Kiese Laymon

Writer

Bearing witness to the myriad forms of violence that mark the Black experience in formally inventive fiction and nonfiction.

Houston, TX

Reuben Jonathan Miller

Sociologist, Criminologist, and Social Worker

Tracing the long-term consequences that incarceration and re-entry systems have on the lives of individuals and their families.

Chicago, IL

Ikue Mori

Electronic Music Composer and Performer

Transforming the use of percussion in improvisation and expanding the boundaries of machine-based music.

New York, NY

Steven Prohira

Physicist

Challenging conventional theories and engineering new tools to detect ultra-high energy sub-atomic particles that could hold clues to long-held mysteries of our universe.

Lawrence, KS

Tomeka Reid

Jazz Cellist and Composer

Forging a unique jazz sound that draws from a range of musical traditions and expanding the expressive possibilities of the cello in improvised music.

Chicago, IL

Loretta J. Ross

Reproductive Justice and Human Rights Advocate

Shaping a visionary paradigm linking social justice, human rights, and reproductive justice.

Northampton, MA

Steven Ruggles

Historical Demographer

Setting new standards in quantitative historical research by building the world’s largest publicly available database of population statistics.

Minneapolis, MN

Tavares Strachan

Interdisciplinary Conceptual Artist

Expanding the possibilities for what art can be and illuminating overlooked contributions of marginalized figures throughout history.

New York, NY and Nassau, The Bahamas

Emily Wang

Primary Care Physician and Researcher

Partnering with people recently released from prison to address their needs and the ways that incarceration influences chronic health conditions.

New Haven, CT

Amanda Williams

Artist and Architect

Reimagining public space to expose the complex ways that value, both cultural and economic, intersects with race in the built environment.

Chicago, IL

Melanie Matchett Wood

Mathematician

Addressing foundational questions in number theory from the perspective of arithmetic statistics.

Cambridge, MA