Carnegie Corporation of New York Names 31 Winners of Andrew Carnegie Fellowships

Building on a century-old, philanthropic tradition of investing in creative scholarly research, Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced the 2018 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. As part of the so-called “brainy award,” 31 extraordinary scholars and writers will each receive up to $200,000, making it possible for them to devote their time to significant research, writing, and publishing in the humanities and social sciences.

By Celeste FordApril 25, 2018

 

$6.2 million in philanthropic support for significant research in the humanities and social sciences

Carnegie Corporation of New York Names 31 Winners of Andrew Carnegie Fellowships

Building on a century-old, philanthropic tradition of investing in creative scholarly research, Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced the 2018 class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. As part of the so-called “brainy awards,” 31 extraordinary scholars and writers will each receive up to $200,000, making it possible for them to devote their time to significant research, writing, and publishing in the humanities and social sciences.

 

A distinguished panel of jurors selected the fellows based on the quality of their proposals. As part of the criteria, they looked for high-caliber scholarship that applies fresh perspectives to some of the most pressing issues of our times, shows potential for meaningful impact on a field of study, and has the capacity for dissemination to a broad audience.

 

Topics of the winning proposals focus on a broad variety of complex political, economic, technological, humanistic, and sociological matters. Among them: ethics pertaining to fertility treatments; moral dilemmas for workers such as prison guards and military drone operators; the disproportionate number of black women in U.S. prisons; policing in impoverished, midsized cities; inequality in healthcare from state to state; college choices among students in rural America; protecting online privacy; countering misinformation in news coverage; public attitudes toward climate change; the environmental and cultural impact of garbage in Appalachia; assumptions about nuclear deterrence and strategic stability; immigration and xenophobia; disaster recovery in Puerto Rico; and controlling infectious diseases.

“We were reassured by the immense talent and breadth of experience reflected in the proposals from this year’s nominees for the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program,” said Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and president emeritus of Brown University. “Since its founding in 1911, the Corporation has provided strong support to individual scholars, as well as a wide variety of institutions, causes, and organizations. The response to the fellows program gives me great hope for the future of the study of the humanities and the social sciences as a way for this country to learn from the past, understand the present, and devise paths to progress and peace.”

Gregorian noted that the fellows program includes a balance of emerging and established scholars from public and private colleges and universities across the country. For the class of 2018, 14 of the fellows are from public institutions and two-thirds are women. The selection committee of 17 jurors comprises scholars and intellectual leaders from some of the world’s leading educational institutions, foundations and scholarly societies—seven are either current or former university presidents.

“The jurors were greatly impressed by the wide range of institutions represented, the remarkable quality and depth of the proposals, and the overall display of intellectual diversity and creativity shown by the nominees,” said Susan Hockfield, chair of the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program jury, and president emerita of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Narrowing the field to 31 fellows was both challenging and rewarding for the jurors. We are pleased to know that this investment provides a tremendous opportunity for the fellows to contribute important research and writing to their fields of study, which is a benefit to us all.”

Each year as part of the nominating process, the heads of more than 600 institutions, representing universities, think tanks, publishers, and nonprofit organizations nationwide, are invited to nominate up to two people for the fellowships. For 2018, the Corporation received a total of 270 nominations. Each underwent a preliminary evaluation by anonymous, nationally prominent experts in various fields. Then the top proposals were forwarded to the members of the jury for their scrutiny and ultimate decision.

The Andrew Carnegie Fellows program was established with the inaugural class in 2015. The anticipated result of each fellowship is a book or major study. View an interactive timeline featuring the history of scholarly research at the Corporation, and read more about the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program, the class of 2018, and the work of past honorees on Carnegie.org. Join the conversation online at #CarnegieFellows and via Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

2018 Andrew Carnegie Fellows

Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program Jurors

  • Chair:Susan Hockfield president emerita and professor of neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Jared L. Cohon president emeritus and university professor of engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Mary Sue Coleman president, Association of American Universities and president emerita, University of Michigan
  • John J. DeGioia president, Georgetown University
  • Robbert Dijkgraaf director and Leon Levy Professor, Institute for Advanced Study
  • Jonathan Fanton president, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
  • Amy Gutmann president, University of Pennsylvania
  • Rush D. Holt CEO, American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • Alberto Ibargüen president and CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
  • Ira Katznelson professor of political science and history, Columbia University
  • Arthur Levine president, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
  • Earl Lewis founding director, Center for Social Solutions, University of Michigan; immediate past president, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
  • Marcia McNutt president, National Academy of Sciences
  • Alondra Nelson president, Social Science Research Council
  • Don Randel president emeritus, The University of Chicago
  • Louise Richardson vice-chancellor, University of Oxford
  • Pauline Yu president, American Council of Learned Societies


About Carnegie Corporation of New York

Carnegie Corporation of New York was established in 1911 by Andrew Carnegie to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. In keeping with this mandate, the Corporation's work focuses on the issues that Andrew Carnegie considered of paramount importance: international peace, education and knowledge, and a strong democracy.

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