2014 GRANTMAKING

Learn more about the 2014 Fellows. View full bios and videos via the profiles below.

Danielle Bassett

Danielle Bassett ›

  • Physicist
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Age: 32

Physicist Applying mathematical approaches to the analysis and modeling of brain connectivity and enhancing our understanding of how these connections give rise to the functions the brain performs. More ›

Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel ›

  • Cartoonist and Graphic Memoirist
  • Bolton, Vermont
  • Age: 54

Cartoonist and Graphic Memoirist Expanding the expressive potential of the graphic form in intricate narratives that explore the complexities of familial relationships. More ›

Mary L. Bonauto

Mary L. Bonauto ›

  • Civil Rights Lawyer
  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Age: 53

Civil Rights Lawyer Breaking down legal barriers based on sexual orientation and gender identity to equal treatment under the law for all, and working to secure the freedom to marry for same-sex couples and the protections, obligations, and dignity marriage affords. More ›

Tami Bond

Tami Bond ›

  • Environmental Engineer
  • Urbana, Illinois
  • Age: 50

Environmental Engineer Unraveling the global effects of black carbon emissions, or soot, on climate and human health and playing a key role in understanding the complex relationship between energy and climate change. More ›

Steve Coleman

Steve Coleman ›

  • Jazz Composer and Saxophonist
  • Allentown, Pennsylvania
  • Age: 57

Jazz Composer and Saxophonist Infusing iconic spontaneous music idioms with the melodic, rhythmic, and structural components of an eclectic range of musical traditions to create a distinctive new sound. More ›

Sarah Deer

Sarah Deer ›

  • Legal Scholar and Advocate
  • Saint Paul, Minnesota
  • Age: 41

Legal Scholar and Advocate Developing policies and legislation that are empowering tribal authorities and reshaping the landscape of support and protection for Native American women at risk for domestic and sexual violence. More ›

Jennifer L. Eberhardt

Jennifer L. Eberhardt ›

  • Social Psychologist
  • Stanford, California
  • Age: 49

Social Psychologist Investigating the subtle, complex, largely unconscious yet deeply ingrained ways that individuals racially code and categorize people and the far-reaching consequences of stereotypic associations between race and crime. More ›

Craig Gentry

Craig Gentry ›

  • Computer Scientist
  • Yorktown Heights, New York
  • Age: 41

Computer Scientist Fueling a revolution in cryptography and theoretical computer science through his breakthroughs in fully homomorphic encryption, leading to the possibility of more secure cloud computing. More ›

Terrance Hayes

Terrance Hayes ›

  • Poet
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • Age: 42

Poet Reflecting on race, gender, and family in works that seamlessly encompass both the historical and the personal and subvert canonical forms. More ›

John Henneberger

John Henneberger ›

  • Housing Advocate
  • Austin, Texas
  • Age: 59

Housing Advocate Building collaborations among elected officials, developers, and community residents to preserve and expand the supply of affordable housing and ensure that all Americans have equal access to housing and federal disaster relief. More ›

Mark Hersam

Mark Hersam ›

  • Materials Scientist
  • Evanston, Illinois
  • Age: 39

Materials Scientist Drawing on techniques from a variety of fields in investigations of the physical, chemical, and biological properties of nanomaterials, offering new promise for applied uses. More ›

Samuel D. Hunter

Samuel D. Hunter ›

  • Playwright
  • New York, New York
  • Age: 33

Playwright Crafting quietly captivating dramas that explore the human capacity for empathy and confront the socially isolating aspects of contemporary life across the American landscape. More ›

Pamela O. Long

Pamela O. Long ›

  • Historian of Science and Technology
  • Washington, District of Columbia
  • Age: 71

Historian of Science and Technology Challenging our understanding of the role of scholarship and craftsmanship in Renaissance societies and demonstrating how technologies are deeply enmeshed within the broader cultural fabric. More ›

Rick Lowe

Rick Lowe ›

  • Public Artist
  • Houston, Texas
  • Age: 53

Public Artist Reinventing community revitalization as an art form by transforming a long-neglected neighborhood in Houston into a visionary amalgam of arts venue, community support center, and historic preservation initiative. More ›

Jacob Lurie

Jacob Lurie ›

  • Mathematician
  • Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • Age: 36

Mathematician Creating a novel conceptual foundation for derived algebraic geometry (DAG) and rewriting large swathes of mathematics from a new point of view. More ›

Khaled Mattawa

Khaled Mattawa ›

  • Translator and Poet
  • Ann Arbor, Michigan
  • Age: 50

Translator and Poet Rendering the beauty and meaning of contemporary Arab poetry accessible to an English reader and highlighting the invaluable role of literary translation in bridging cultural divides. More ›

Joshua Oppenheimer

Joshua Oppenheimer ›

  • Documentary Filmmaker
  • Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Age: 39

Documentary Filmmaker Illuminating the social, psychological, and emotional dimensions of controversial subjects, such as state-sponsored violence, in works that challenge the modern aesthetic of contemporary documentary cinema in both intimacy of focus and visual construct. More ›

Ai-jen Poo

Ai-jen Poo ›

  • Labor Organizer
  • New York, New York
  • Age: 40

Labor Organizer Catalyzing a vibrant, worker-led movement for improved working conditions and labor standards for domestic or private-household workers. More ›

Jonathan Rapping

Jonathan Rapping ›

  • Criminal Lawyer
  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Age: 48

Criminal Lawyer Safeguarding the essential democratic right of every American to high-quality legal representation by transforming the practice of indigent defense in the South through training, mentorship, and community. More ›

Tara Zahra

Tara Zahra ›

  • Historian of Modern Europe
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Age: 38

Historian of Modern Europe Combining extensive archival research with broad sociohistorical analysis of notions of nation, family, and ethnicity to construct an integrative, transnational understanding of events in twentieth-century Europe. More ›

Yitang Zhang

Yitang Zhang ›

  • Mathematician
  • Durham, New Hampshire
  • Age: 59

Mathematician Tackling truly hard questions in number theory leading to the first finite bound on a gap between prime numbers and the best possible qualitative approximation of the twin prime conjecture. More ›