MacArthur Foundation awards 2008 'genius grants'

CHICAGO -- An evolutionary geneticist in Germany, a Nigerian-born writer, and an architectural historian who studies ancient bridges are among 25 recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius grants."

The $500,000 fellowships were announced Tuesday by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Recipients may use the money however they wish.

Kirsten Bomblies, 34, a plant evolutionary geneticist in Tuebingen, Germany, said the money will allow her to expand her research.

"Maybe try to explore some slightly riskier options that maybe I otherwise wouldn't be able to get funding for," said Bomblies, originally from Colorado. "We rarely have that opportunity. I think I might write a book at the end of it all, a scientific book ... just to get some of the ideas that we have on paper."

Nigerian-born writer Chimamanda Adichie, who lives in Maryland, received an award for her work exploring ethnic conflicts inspired by her native country.

Dr. Regina Benjamin said the money will help rebuild her rural health clinic in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, which serves 4,400 patients. It was rebuilt by volunteers after being destroyed by Katrina Hurricane, only to burn down months later.

"The patients came by and they were crying," said Benjamin, 51, remembering one woman who handed her an envelope with a $7 donation to rebuild. The new clinic is about half built, she said.

"If she can find $7, I can figure out the rest," Benjamin said. "The patients I treat have their own disasters. Hopefully this grant will help them in some way. It will be as much theirs as it is mine."

John Ochsendorf, an associate professor of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said he at first didn't believe the news that he'd received a grant.

"I had to sit down. I had tears running down my face. I had a hard time breathing," Ochsendorf said. "It changes everything. This is validation."

Ochsendorf, 34, uses engineering and architecture to explain the ancient world. His research team studies Incan suspension bridges that cross gorges of the Andes Mountains.