The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced its 2026 class of fellows on Tuesday, naming 20 scholars, artists and scientists who will each receive an $800,000 grant with no strings attached. The prestigious awards, widely known as "genius grants," are distributed over five years and come with no reporting requirements, allowing recipients to spend the money however they see fit.
This year's cohort spans an unusually broad range of disciplines, from forensic anthropology and organic chemistry to public art and contemporary music. According to the foundation, the fellows were selected by a network of anonymous scouts who identify candidates across fields and then evaluate them on the basis of exceptional creativity and the promise of future work.
The recipients converge, sometimes unexpectedly, around shared themes. Several fellows explore questions of human connection and healing, including visual and sound artist Christine Sun Kim, philosopher and cognitive scientist Felipe De Brigard, and novelist Bryan Washington — each approaching the subject from radically different creative standpoints.
Among the most prominent names on the list is Ellora Derenoncourt, a labor economist and economic historian who studies wage gaps between racial groups. Her research has helped document how historical discrimination continues to shape contemporary labor markets, a line of inquiry with direct implications for debates over reparations, minimum wage policy and workplace equity.
Another fellow, forensic anthropologist Kate Spradley, has drawn national attention for her work repatriating the remains of migrants who died along the Texas-Mexico border. Her efforts have provided answers to families who might otherwise never have learned what happened to loved ones who disappeared during the perilous crossing.
Climate change features prominently in the 2026 class. Holly Jean Buck, a sociologist at the University at Buffalo, focuses on the ethical and political dimensions of climate policy. In her 2019 book "After Geoengineering," Buck argues that carbon removal systems should be designed to serve local communities and the public interest rather than corporate profit — a position that places her at the center of debates over how emerging climate technologies are governed.
Song Lin, an organic chemist, also appears on the list, though the source material does not detail his specific research focus. His inclusion reflects the foundation's tradition of recognizing laboratory scientists whose work may take years or decades to yield tangible applications.
The arts are represented by a diverse array of practitioners. Saxophonist and composer — whose live performances have featured a chef cooking meals onstage — is among the musicians honored. The format blurs the boundary between concert and communal dining, turning each performance into a shared sensory experience.
Public artist Chip Thomas, another fellow, has built a reputation for large-scale installations that engage directly with the communities where they appear. His work often addresses themes of identity, history and place, and is frequently created in public spaces rather than galleries.
Christine Sun Kim, who works in visual and sound media, has spent years exploring the nature of auditory experience, often drawing on her perspective as a Deaf artist. Her practice interrogates how sound functions as a social and cultural force, and how assumptions about hearing shape the way people interact.
Felipe De Brigard, a philosopher and cognitive scientist, studies memory, imagination and the ways the mind constructs experience. His research sits at the intersection of philosophy and neuroscience, asking how people form beliefs about the past and how those beliefs influence behavior in the present.
Novelist Bryan Washington rounds out the group of fellows exploring human connection. His fiction often centers on intimate relationships, family dynamics and the experiences of queer and mixed-race characters, earning him a reputation as one of the most distinctive literary voices of his generation.
The foundation's selection process is deliberately opaque. Candidates are typically identified through a confidential network of nominators, and the foundation does not accept direct applications or unsolicited nominations. Final selections are made by a committee that reviews the candidates' work over a period of months.
The $800,000 award is one of the largest unrestricted grants available to individual artists and scholars. Unlike many fellowships, it does not require recipients to relocate, produce a specific body of work or submit progress reports. Previous winners have used the funds to take creative risks, pay down debt, care for family members or simply buy time to think.
The MacArthur Fellows program was established in 1981 and has since awarded more than 1,000 fellowships. The foundation says the program is designed to recognize people who have shown "extraordinary originality and dedication" in their creative pursuits and who demonstrate the potential to make "important contributions in the future."
The 2026 class reflects a continuing shift toward interdisciplinary work. Several fellows work across traditional academic boundaries — blending sociology with climate science, or philosophy with neuroscience — while others operate outside institutions entirely, building careers through public-facing projects and unconventional performance formats.
For the winners, the practical effect of the award can be immediate and transformative. The unrestricted nature of the money means recipients can pursue projects that might otherwise seem too risky or time-consuming, free from the pressures of fundraising, grant reporting or commercial success.
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