Journalist, tap dancer among 2015 genius grant winners

At least four Jews are among thi year’s 24 winners of $625,000 MacArthur grants for so-called geniuses. The foundation says it looks for people with a “marked capacity for self-direction”. Seven of the 24 winners hail from New York City, and more than two-thirds come from the East Coast. And Juan Salgado, president and CEO of the Instituto del Progreso Latino, works with low-income immigrant communities in Chicago to remove barriers to education and the workforce. Environmental health advocate and co-founder of Health Care Without Harm who has worked to reduce the amount of pollutants and hazardous waste produced and released into the environment by American hospitals.

LaToya Ruby Frazier, 33, Chicago: “Photographer and video artist capturing the consequences of postindustrial decline for marginalized communities and illustrating how photography can promote dialogue about historical change and social responsibility”. A puppeteer and theater artist recognized for his innovative work that has helped revitalize puppetry as a serious and sophisticated art form. Her subjects: People she says have been left behind after America’s industrial economy has moved on.

— Nicole Eisenman, 50, New York.

Many of this year’s winners have been covered by NPR at a few point in their careers – most recently, playwright, composer and performer Lin-Manuel Miranda was the topic of discussion last week on All Songs Considered.

An associate professor of in the Department of Classics at the University of Toronto, the 40-year-old classicist is transforming our understanding of prehistoric Greek societies, challenging the long-held view that Late Bronze Age Mycenaean palatial society (1400 to 1200 BC) was a highly centralized oligarchy, distinct from the democratic city-states of classical Greece. A computational biologist at the University of Chicago, Novembre’s work has shed new light on the study of human evolution, migration and the cause of the genetic diseases.

The 36-year-old assistant professor of computer science at Stanford University is “democratizing” big data analytics using his training in databases and expertise in machine learning to ultimately create an inference engine dubbed DeepDive.

Historian Marina Rustow whose work with centuries-old texts is helping uncover new details about how Jewish and Muslim communities lived with one another in the medieval middle east.

A stem cell biologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Studer has pioneered research that could provide treatment for Parkinson’s disease and perhaps other neurodegenerative diseases.

“I can finally pay my debts that I have to create what I have created”, said Michelle Dorrance, a tap dancer and choreographer.

In the past, the fellowship has been extended to include artists, academics, scientists, and even a clown.

Dorrance, 36, was named a MacArthur genius today.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Heidi Williams, who focuses on exploring the market conditions that feed into, and result from, innovations in health care.