Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

MacArthur Foundation Announces Genius Grants

Posted by chrisd on from the chrisd-pinhead-awards-to-follow dept.

Chagasi writes: "The MacArthur Foundation has announced this year's 'Genius Grant' awards. The complete list of the 24 recipients can be read here(1) at their web site and here(2) via Google's news service. The winners include a robotics researcher from Dartmouth studying robotics, and a paleoethnobotanist from Penn State studying the ancient plants and foods of prehistoric peoples."

7 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. One of the awarded and his work by jukal · · Score: 3, Informative
    Daniel Jurafsky, 39, a University of Colorado linguist and computer scientist improving computers' capability of processing natural language.

    His homepage, and research on Speech Recognition and Understanding and Computational Psycholinguistics . They have for example designed a discourse tagging system, in 1997.

  2. Google Images Shows Genuis Drawings by deathcow · · Score: 4, Informative

    Toba Khedoori's Drawings. She is one of the chosen.

  3. They're "Fellows" by BrianWCarver · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the FAQ about MacArthur Fellows:
    Q. Why does the program not use the term "genius" regarding its Fellows?

    A. We avoid using the term "genius" to describe MacArthur Fellows because it connotes a singular characteristic of intellectual prowess. The people we seek to support express many other important qualities: ability to transcend traditional boundaries, willingness to take risks, persistence in the face of personal and conceptual obstacles, capacity to synthesize disparate ideas and approaches.
    So calling them "Genius Grants" is apparently not quite right.

    Brian
    --
    Like Digital Freedoms? Then donate to EFF before they're gone.
  4. Woo hoo, arxiv.org founder wins big by phr2 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Paul Ginsparg is a great choice for receiving an award. His arxiv.org server has had a huge impact on scientific publishing by distributing papers for free online. The Slashdot story The Future of Scientific Publishing describes some of that impact. Arxiv.org has been doing for math and science papers what the FSF has been doing for software.

    Way to go, Macarthur Foundation!

  5. Re:diversity by buswolley · · Score: 3, Informative
    There are quite a few types of geniuses, which cannot always be quantisized empiricly. Musical, spatial, linear, hyper-linear :) , methodic,intuitive, social interaction, etc. And there are even more, of course.

    i.e. Musical geniuses can be easily split between two groups: Those who can write good music, and those who can play it exceptionally well.(not neccessarily excluding each other).

    It is good that genius isnt just Menza members. High I.Q. doesnt quite mean genius either.. Its all what you do with your brain.

    1% inspiration, 99% perspiration (Einstein(I believe))

    --

    A Good Troll is better than a Bad Human.

  6. Re:Grants for open source developers by selan · · Score: 3, Informative
    Tim Berners-Lee got one.

    But if you want to lobby, good luck. The Macarthur process is set up to prevent lobbying. The nominees are secretly chosen by a secret group of nominaters drawn from a diverse group of people noted in their fields. The best way to get a Macarthur grant is to be known in your field for doing good, interesting work. So I think that Linus or Larry Wall actually have a good chance to get one, one of these years.

  7. Re:Does a Genius Grant translate into success? by Raiford · · Score: 3, Informative
    Well at least one recipient continues to distinguish himself --> Steven Wolfram

    Here's the reference to the Genius Award:

    http://www.stephenwolfram.com/about-sw/interviews/ 81-nyt/

    --
    "player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"