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| Surprise Grants Transforming 23 More Lives | Surprise Grants Transforming 23 More Lives |
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| Natalia Almada, a 37-year-old filmmaker in Mexico City; Raj Chetty, a 33-year-old public economist who teaches at Harvard; and Eric A. Coleman, a 47-year-old physician in Denver, have now become connected, part of an eclectic group whose lives were recently, and irrevocably, changed with a single telephone call. | Natalia Almada, a 37-year-old filmmaker in Mexico City; Raj Chetty, a 33-year-old public economist who teaches at Harvard; and Eric A. Coleman, a 47-year-old physician in Denver, have now become connected, part of an eclectic group whose lives were recently, and irrevocably, changed with a single telephone call. |
| The three were among the 23 MacArthur Fellows for 2012, whose names were revealed Monday afternoon, ahead of the official announcement scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, awards that can’t be applied for, are the stuff of fantasy. Besides the imprimatur of outstanding achievement, they come with a no-strings-attached $100,000 a year for five years. | The three were among the 23 MacArthur Fellows for 2012, whose names were revealed Monday afternoon, ahead of the official announcement scheduled for 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, awards that can’t be applied for, are the stuff of fantasy. Besides the imprimatur of outstanding achievement, they come with a no-strings-attached $100,000 a year for five years. |
| The 13 men and 10 women named fellows this year range in age from 31 to 66 and, as in years past, are a diverse group. They include an astronomer, a stringed instrument bow maker, two photographers and a marine ecologist. This year the boldface names belong to writers and musicians: Junot Díaz, 43, the writer and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Chris Thile, 31, a mandolinist and composer in New York City; David Finkel 56, a Washington Post reporter; Dinaw Mengestu, 34, a novelist and journalist in Washington; and Claire Chase, 34, a flutist and arts entrepreneur in Brooklyn. | The 13 men and 10 women named fellows this year range in age from 31 to 66 and, as in years past, are a diverse group. They include an astronomer, a stringed instrument bow maker, two photographers and a marine ecologist. This year the boldface names belong to writers and musicians: Junot Díaz, 43, the writer and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Chris Thile, 31, a mandolinist and composer in New York City; David Finkel 56, a Washington Post reporter; Dinaw Mengestu, 34, a novelist and journalist in Washington; and Claire Chase, 34, a flutist and arts entrepreneur in Brooklyn. |
| “You usually have to apply for something, and it’s a lot of work,” said Ms. Almada, a citizen of Mexico and the United States. “It’s such freedom to think I can count on something. It’s huge. It’s validating.” | “You usually have to apply for something, and it’s a lot of work,” said Ms. Almada, a citizen of Mexico and the United States. “It’s such freedom to think I can count on something. It’s huge. It’s validating.” |
| Ms. Almada’s films have been shown around the world, including on public television stations in this country and at museums and international film festivals. She is known for not relying on conventional techniques, like interviews with experts or even a linear timeline. | Ms. Almada’s films have been shown around the world, including on public television stations in this country and at museums and international film festivals. She is known for not relying on conventional techniques, like interviews with experts or even a linear timeline. |
| Her 2001 thesis film at the Rhode Island School of Design, “All Water Has a Perfect Memory,” is an experimental short exploring the impact on her family of the drowning death of her older sister at age 2 ½. Ms. Almada plumbed her own biography again — she is the great-granddaughter of Plutarco Elías Calles, a former president of Mexico — for her 2009 film “El General,” about Mr. Calles. Like “All Water” it is a meditation on the complexity of memory. | Her 2001 thesis film at the Rhode Island School of Design, “All Water Has a Perfect Memory,” is an experimental short exploring the impact on her family of the drowning death of her older sister at age 2 ½. Ms. Almada plumbed her own biography again — she is the great-granddaughter of Plutarco Elías Calles, a former president of Mexico — for her 2009 film “El General,” about Mr. Calles. Like “All Water” it is a meditation on the complexity of memory. |
| “Notions of objectivity and subjectivity are getting questioned more and more,” she said of the world of documentary filmmaking. She said that as a female filmmaker in a mostly male world, “it makes a difference” in the conversations that unfold when she picks up her camera. | “Notions of objectivity and subjectivity are getting questioned more and more,” she said of the world of documentary filmmaking. She said that as a female filmmaker in a mostly male world, “it makes a difference” in the conversations that unfold when she picks up her camera. |
| Like Ms. Almada, Mr. Chetty also found early success. He was a tenured professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, by the age of 27. He was born in New Delhi; his high-achieving family came to Milwaukee when he was 9. His two older sisters are college professors, his mother is a pediatric pulmonologist, and his father is an economist. | Like Ms. Almada, Mr. Chetty also found early success. He was a tenured professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, by the age of 27. He was born in New Delhi; his high-achieving family came to Milwaukee when he was 9. His two older sisters are college professors, his mother is a pediatric pulmonologist, and his father is an economist. |
| He was having lunch with his mother when the MacArthur phone call came. “She was very excited,” he said. “She was happy that we moved here, and things turned out so well.” | He was having lunch with his mother when the MacArthur phone call came. “She was very excited,” he said. “She was happy that we moved here, and things turned out so well.” |
| Mr. Chetty took part in two studies that have made headlines because they sought to quantify the value of good teachers. One released this year, conducted with economists at Harvard and Columbia, tracked one million students in a large urban school district over 20 years and calculated that replacing an average teacher with an excellent one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $1.4 million. Good teachers who lifted standardized test scores also had students less likely to become teenage parents and more likely to attend a good college, among other positive results. | Mr. Chetty took part in two studies that have made headlines because they sought to quantify the value of good teachers. One released this year, conducted with economists at Harvard and Columbia, tracked one million students in a large urban school district over 20 years and calculated that replacing an average teacher with an excellent one would raise a single classroom’s lifetime earnings by about $1.4 million. Good teachers who lifted standardized test scores also had students less likely to become teenage parents and more likely to attend a good college, among other positive results. |
| “I’m motivated to ask these questions about why some students have good outcomes and some do not by reading the paper or observing the real world,” Mr. Chetty said. “At a broad level government policies can impact people’s lives, but we often don’t have the scientific evidence.” | “I’m motivated to ask these questions about why some students have good outcomes and some do not by reading the paper or observing the real world,” Mr. Chetty said. “At a broad level government policies can impact people’s lives, but we often don’t have the scientific evidence.” |
| He is already immersed in his next project, which explores what factors allow children to move up the economic ladder, relative to their parents. | He is already immersed in his next project, which explores what factors allow children to move up the economic ladder, relative to their parents. |
| Dr. Coleman, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is director of the Care Transitions Program, which trains nurses and social workers to help patients and their caregivers manage issues like medication use and organizing appointments. The impetus behind starting the program was the constant stream of stories about patients discharged from hospitals only to be readmitted in short order. A recent study estimated that 20 percent of Medicare patients discharged from hospitals are readmitted within 30 days because of lapses of communication among patients and various health care providers. “We liken the discharge experience to a drive-by shooting,” Dr. Coleman said. | Dr. Coleman, a geriatrician and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, is director of the Care Transitions Program, which trains nurses and social workers to help patients and their caregivers manage issues like medication use and organizing appointments. The impetus behind starting the program was the constant stream of stories about patients discharged from hospitals only to be readmitted in short order. A recent study estimated that 20 percent of Medicare patients discharged from hospitals are readmitted within 30 days because of lapses of communication among patients and various health care providers. “We liken the discharge experience to a drive-by shooting,” Dr. Coleman said. |
| Hundreds of hospitals and community agencies across the country and abroad have adopted the intervention, which has been shown to reduce the likelihood of readmission by 20 to 50 percent. | Hundreds of hospitals and community agencies across the country and abroad have adopted the intervention, which has been shown to reduce the likelihood of readmission by 20 to 50 percent. |
| The other winners in the sciences this year are: Maria Chudnovsky, 35, a mathematician at Columbia University; Olivier Guyon; 36, an optical physicist and astronomer at the University of Arizona in Tucson; Elissa Hallem, 34, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles; Sarkis Mazmanian, 39, a medical microbiologist at the California Institute of Technology; Terry Plank, 48 a geochemist at Columbia University; Nancy Rabalais, 62, a marine ecologist at Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium; Daniel Spielman, 42, a computer scientist at Yale; Melody Swartz, 43, a bioengineer at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland; and Benjamin Warf, 54, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital Boston. | The other winners in the sciences this year are: Maria Chudnovsky, 35, a mathematician at Columbia University; Olivier Guyon; 36, an optical physicist and astronomer at the University of Arizona in Tucson; Elissa Hallem, 34, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles; Sarkis Mazmanian, 39, a medical microbiologist at the California Institute of Technology; Terry Plank, 48 a geochemist at Columbia University; Nancy Rabalais, 62, a marine ecologist at Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium; Daniel Spielman, 42, a computer scientist at Yale; Melody Swartz, 43, a bioengineer at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland; and Benjamin Warf, 54, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Children’s Hospital Boston. |
| And the other winners in the arts are: Uta Barth, 54 a conceptual photographer in Los Angeles; Maurice Lim Miller, 66, a social services innovator in Oakland, Calif; Dylan C. Penningroth 41, a historian at Northwestern University; Laura Poitras, 48, a documentary filmmaker in New York City; Benoît Rolland, 58, a stringed instrument bow maker in Boston; and An-My Lê, 52, a photographer at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. | And the other winners in the arts are: Uta Barth, 54 a conceptual photographer in Los Angeles; Maurice Lim Miller, 66, a social services innovator in Oakland, Calif; Dylan C. Penningroth 41, a historian at Northwestern University; Laura Poitras, 48, a documentary filmmaker in New York City; Benoît Rolland, 58, a stringed instrument bow maker in Boston; and An-My Lê, 52, a photographer at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. |
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: October 3, 2012 | |
An | An article on Tuesday about the 2012 MacArthur Fellows misidentified the university where one, Raj Chetty, was a tenured professor of economics at the age of 27. It was the University of California, Berkeley — not Harvard. (He moved to Harvard and had the same position there at the age of 29.) |