U.S.

'Genius Grants' Awarded

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 24, 2001 / 12:42 PM EDT / CBS

Astrobiologist Christopher Chyba hasn't had much time to think about his new $500,000 "genius grant" - the expert on the origins of life on Earth has been making recommendations to policy makers about preparations for a biological attack.

"I hope I can find a way to use this to help," said Chyba, the 41-year-old co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the 23 award winners Wednesday. Among them are two acclaimed writers, an expert on human rights in China, a Kenyan naturalist, a concert pianist, a pilot who researches Mexico's wildlife and a scholar on punishment in classical Athens.

"These are people who provide the imagination and fresh ideas that can improve people's lives and bring about movement on important issues," said Jonathan Fanton, the foundation's president.

The MacArthur Fellows will each receive the no-strings-attached funding over the next five years. The announcement of the winners was delayed from Sept. 19 because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Sandra Lanham, the pilot researcher from Tucson, Ariz., said she was surprised to receive the award and doesn't consider herself a genius.

"Not one of my qualities. In my case, it's subgenius," said the 53-year-old founder of Environmental Flying Services. "My friends would all laugh."

Lanham often flies her 1956 Cessna over Mexico for four to six hours a day, gathering research on marine and desert ecology. Her work, used mostly by the Mexican government or U.S. nonprofit companies that work in Mexico, helps protect endangered species.

Rosanne Haggerty, 41, founder and executive director of Common Ground in New York, renovates old hotels in Manhattan into housing for homeless and low-income adults. She isn't sure how she will spend her money but plans to use it to continue her work.

"It's a wonderful problem to have," Haggerty said. "It's a lot to live up to."

Other winners include Baltimore psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison, 55, who used examples in her own life to write about depression, suicide and other mood disorders in such books as "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide" and "An Unquiet Mind."

An award also went to Jean Strouse, 56, of New York, who has written acclaimed biographies of Alice James, the younger sister of William and Henry James, and legendary Wall Street financier J.P. Morgan.

The youngest fellow this year is Danielle Allen of Chicago. At 29, she holds two doctorates and has written a book about the theory and practice of punishment in classical Athens. She wants to use some of her grant money to write a book about citizenship.

"It's pretty staggering," said Allen, an associate professor at the University of Chicago. "It's very exciting, there's no question about it."

Grant winners are nominated anonymously. A 12-member selection committee then makes recommendations to directors of the foundationwhich began the fellows program in 1981. The foundation does not require or expect specific projects from the fellows, nor does it ask for reports on how the money is used.

Lanham, the pilot, said she plans to use the grant to continue her work monitoring species that are endangered or in need of protection.

"This just takes an enormous (financial) weight off of me," she said.

The other MacArthur Fellows are:

Andrea Barrett, 46, Rochester, New York, novelist and instructor at the writers program at Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, North Carolina

Michael Dickinson, 39, insect physiologist, University of California, Berkeley;

Lene Hau, 41, Cambridge, Massachusetts, optical physicist at Harvard University

Dave Hickey, 62, Las Vegas, art critic and historian, University of Nevada;

Stephen Hough, 39, London and New York, concert pianist

Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, 40, Chicago, artist and associate professor, University of Illinois at Chicago;

Cynthia Moss, 61, naturalist and director of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Dirk Obbink, 44, lecturer in papyrology and Greek literature, University of Oxford, fellow and tutor in Greek, Christ Church College, Oxford, England

Norman Pace, 59, Boulder, Colorado, molecular biologist, University of Colorado

Suzan-Lori Parks, 38, Valencia, California, playwright, director of the A.S.K. Theater Projects Writing for Performance Program, California Institute of the Arts;

Brooks Pate, 36, Charlottesville, Virginia, physical chemist and professor of chemistry at the University of Virginia

Xiao Qiang, 39, human rights leader, executive director Human Rights in China and New York

Geraldine Seydoux, 37, Baltimore, developmental biologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Bright Sheng, 45, Ann Arbor, Michigan, composer and professor of music, University of Michigan;

David Spergel, 40, Princeton, New Jersey, astrophysicist, professor of astrophysical sciences, Princeton University

Julie Su, 32, Los Angeles, public interest lawyer, litigation director for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center

David Wilson, 55, Culver City, California, artist/inventor, founder and proprietor of the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

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