Three MIT faculty named Guggenheim fellows

April 11, 2008

Three MIT professors were named Guggenheim fellows for their "stellar achievement and exceptional promise for continued accomplishment," the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation announced this month.

Robert Kanigel, professor of science writing; Susan S. Silbey, the Department of Anthropology head; and Alexander van Oudenaarden, an associate professor of physics, were named as fellows.

Kanigel's fellowship will be focused on his upcoming book, set on the Blasket Islands in the west of Ireland, Silbey's focus will be on trust and surveillance in the cultures of science and van Oudenaarden will study stochastic gene expression in development.

The Guggenheim foundation named a total of 190 fellows at 81 different academic institutions for 2008. Each fellow receives different grants based on need, with more than $8 million awarded this year for an average grant of $43,200.

A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 16, 2008 (download PDF).