MacArthur Fellows

Amber Wutich, an anthropologist and newly minted 'MacArthur genius,' says water scarcity is a human-caused problem that requires human-generated solutions.

One of this year's MacArthur fellows — the so-called 'genius grant' — the artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is inspired by her family's African roots, her Cuban childhood and modern American life.

This year's MacArthur Fellows include scientists, artists and historians. The so-called MacArthur "geniuses" receive unrestricted grants of $800,000 for their "exceptional creativity" and "promise."

Filmmakers Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra are both winners of MacArthur Genius grants this year. The married couple do separate but related work dealing with immigration and migrant labor.

Stacy Jupiter works with the people of Fiji to protect the oceans. Two of her most important life lessons came from the Peace Corps: 1) listen and 2) nothing ever goes according to plan.

As usual, the more than two dozen winners in 2019 span a range of fields, from fiction and cartoons to neuroscience and theoretical geophysics. Now they've got one important accolade in common.