Two UCLA faculty members, E. Tendayi Achiume from the UCLA School of Law and Park Williams from the geography department in the UCLA College, have been awarded 2023 MacArthur Fellowships, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced today.
► Newsroom’s E. Tendayi Achiume fellowship announcement
► Newsroom’s Park Williams fellowship annnouncement
Commonly known as “genius grants,” the fellowships are awarded annually to individuals who demonstrate exceptional creativity and the prospect for innovative advances in the future. They come with an $800,000, five-year stipend be used at the recipient’s discretion.
Achiume, UCLA’s Alicia Miñana Professor of Law and a former United Nations special rapporteur, was recognized for her impactful work on race, migration, human rights and law. Williams, an acclaimed hydroclimatologist, was honored for his research on climate change and its connection to terrestrial events like droughts and wildfires.
“The transformative work that is being done by our brilliant and inspiring scholars, Park Williams and E. Tendayi Achiume, exemplifies Bruin values of service and a commitment to applied research,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “The MacArthur Fellowships recognize the significance of these faculty members’ contributions thus far and signal that they have much more to share with the world.”
Achiume and Williams join 14 previous UCLA faculty recipients of the MacArthur Fellowship, including Safiya Noble (2021) and Kelly Lytle Hernández (2019).