How to Get Nominated For a MacArthur Genius Grant
The MacArthur Foundation is a nonprofit organization that offers fellowships (also known as “genius grants”) to creative people who have demonstrated exceptional creativity. It typically selects 20 to 30 fellows each year.
Each award carries an $800,000 stipend paid over five years with no strings attached to how it can be spent. Usually, these awards are given to American residents who exhibit outstanding talent in their fields.
1. Be American
MacArthur Genius Grants are one of the most coveted and distinguished honors in academia, arts and science. The award comes with $800,000 in stipends paid quarterly over five years and is a “no-strings attached” investment in a person’s potential to create.
Getting nominated for the MacArthur Foundation’s genius grants requires a lot of work and a lot of talent. You can’t just get nominated by your friends or family and it’s a tricky process.
It’s important to remember that the MacArthur Foundation’s nominees are evaluated by a selection committee made up of leaders in a variety of fields and interest areas. Although there are no quotas, typically 20 to 30 Fellows are selected each year.
2. Be a professor
The macarthur genius grant is perhaps the most coveted and distinguished award in academia, arts and sciences. It is a no-strings-attached prize worth $800,000 that allows fellows to pursue their passions or change their careers.
In order to be a professor, you need to earn your PhD (or equivalent doctoral degree). That takes several years of study and research before you can teach a class at the college level.
You should also be a passionate researcher, and preferably have a strong background in your field. You should be willing to take on difficult challenges.
3. Be a scientist
The MacArthur genius grant is one of the most coveted philanthropic awards in America. It’s a no-strings-attached stipend worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that can be used however the recipient chooses.
The Foundation, which has awarded these fellowships since 1981, typically awards around 20 people each year. They are selected by a committee that includes leaders in their field and is anonymous.
This year’s winners include a socioologist who is working to understand how gun ownership can make people feel safe and secure, an astrodynamicist who is preventing collisions between satellites in space, and a lawyer who is helping to expose patent monopolies that limit access to medicines. Regardless of their disciplinary background, these geniuses all share the same trait: They’re exceptional at what they do.
4. Be a writer
If you’re a writer, you can get nominated for a macarthur genius grant, an award worth $800,000 that comes with no strings attached. It’s one of the most prestigious honors in academia, the arts and science.
The foundation awards up to 20 fellows each year based on recommendations from anonymous nominators and a committee made up of leaders in the arts, sciences and for-profit and nonprofit sectors.
This year’s class of MacArthur genius grant recipients includes Rice University English professor and acclaimed author Kiese Laymon, whose work bears witness to the myriad forms of violence that mark the Black experience in formally inventive fiction and nonfiction. Also among the 25 is Yale University School of Medicine physician and researcher Emily Wang, who studies health outcomes for formerly incarcerated individuals. She says her stipend will give her time to focus on her research.
5. Be provocative
Every year, the MacArthur Foundation awards unrestricted fellowships (known as “genius grants”) to people who display exceptional creativity and promise for important future advances. The foundation says the purpose is to give award recipients an unrestricted stipend so they can pursue their creative projects with freedom and flexibility.
The foundation also prefers to support the left wing, so it looks for artists who campaign for social justice and activists who fight poverty, disability rights and racial equality. 2000 winner Matthew Rabin, for example, analyzes the economic implications of procrastination.
The latest class of genius grant winners includes writers Maggie Nelson and Sarah Stillman, composer Julia Wolfe, theater artist and educator Anne Basting and geobiologist Victoria Orphan. All received $800,000 stipends. Unlike other prestigious honors, the macarthur genius grant isn’t open to anyone — nominees are suggested by a network of hundreds of talent scouts and narrowed down by an anonymous selection committee.
6. Be slightly quirky
The MacArthur genius grant is one of the most coveted and distinguished awards in academia, the arts and science. Its pool of candidates is a closely-held secret and it comes with a cash prize.
The foundation dispenses no-strings-attached $800,000 grants to 25 incredibly talented individuals each year. These fellows can advance their careers, change careers, buy a house or pursue other passions.
The foundation likes to pick slightly eccentric people over ordinary ones, so try to be a little off-center. That could help you get a MacArthur, as it helped Seattle sound sculptor Trimpin, who goes by only one name, or economist Matthew Rabin, who wears tie-dyes and listens to Abba.
7. Be a social butterfly
The MacArthur genius grant, which has been around for nearly 50 years, is the most prestigious philanthropy project in the United States. The awards are given to a select few whose work, as the foundation notes, “focuses on issues such as poverty, exploitation, and genocide.”
According to holistic child and family psychologist Nicole Beurkens, Ph.D., social butterflies prioritize connecting with people and seeking out plans and conversation. These extroverts, Beurkens tells mbg, thrive on togetherness and community, and are more likely to spend their time with other people than by themselves.
However, there are challenges that can come with being a social butterfly. For example, Beurkens says they may struggle with feeling overwhelmed by other people’s needs and problems. And they may say yes to too many events and projects, which can lead to overbooking their schedules.
8. Be a philanthropist
MacArthur genius grants are given to people who have a high degree of creativity and originality. The stipends are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and can be used as the recipient chooses.
The MacArthur Foundation awards the grants through a program that is commonly called the “MacArthur Fellows Program.” It was started in 1981 by J. Roderick MacArthur, the son of the foundation’s founder.
Nominations for the awards come from outside sources, and they are evaluated by an independent selection committee that is made up of leaders in the arts, humanities, sciences and for-profit and nonprofit industries. Typically 20 to 30 fellows are selected each year.
9. Be a scientist
The MacArthur Foundation bestows “genius grants” of $800,000 over five years on people who have demonstrated exceptional originality and dedication to their creative work. Fellows are nominated by a committee of leaders in the arts, sciences, humanities and for-profit sectors.
The winners of this year’s “genius grants” include a sociologist devoted to understanding what drives gun ownership; an astrodynamicist managing space traffic; and a lawyer fighting patent infringement that limits access to affordable medications.
Another scientist named a genius grant winner is Yejin Choi, a computer science professor at the University of Washington who works on developing artificial intelligence systems that can understand common sense knowledge and reasoning.
The MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grants” are among the most prestigious awards given to American scientists, writers, artists, and other talented individuals. They have become a hallmark of American innovation, helping to spur new discoveries and inspire future generations of creative minds.
10. Be a mathematician
Mathematicians are experts in mathematics, which is the study of numbers and their relationship to one another. They use this knowledge to interpret data and make business or scientific decisions.
They work in a variety of industries, including engineering, law enforcement and healthcare. They may also work in the academic field, such as teaching or assisting others in their studies.
Mathematicians often write articles for professional journals and studies to share their discoveries and insights with the public. They also contribute to research and develop theories that help us understand the world more accurately.