Radcliffe Institute Names 42 Incoming Fellows

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study released its list of fellows for the 2020-2021 school year Friday, naming 42 scholars from a wide range of disciplines from health policy, climate change, and astronomy, to poetry and cartoons.

Radcliffe’s fellowship program, first established in 1960, provides fellows with academic and financial support as well as access to Harvard and Radcliffe resources. This year’s programming will be held virtually in light of the coronavirus pandemic, with the possibility of a residential component later in the year.

This year’s fellows were selected from a pool of more than 1400 applicants and hail from six different countries.

“Their creative work will change how we see the world. And they will pursue solutions to some of the most pressing issues facing our society,” Radcliffe Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin said in the press release. “Their endeavors will be immeasurably enhanced by the unique intellectual cross-fertilization that takes place at Radcliffe.”

The fellows will also undertake a diverse range of projects during their time at Radcliffe. Will Mackin, a fiction writer and former special operations soldier, will work on a story collection based on his experiences in Afghanistan and New York. Alaa Murabit, a physician and United Nations High-Level Commissioner, will work on a project aimed at expanding women’s roles in peacemaking.

David Hemenway ’66, a professor at Harvard’s School of Public Health, will examine solutions to reduce gun violence.

This year’s fellowship program will also be the first held during executive director Claudia Rizzini's tenure. She joins Radcliffe after a post serving as the director for precision medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

As the rest of the University considers plans for either remote or on-campus learning in the fall, Brown-Nagin stressed the importance of Radcliffe’s mission during the ongoing pandemic.

“This fellowship class, taking shape amid a devastating pandemic, reflects our conviction that the cross-disciplinary exchange and deep exploration that Radcliffe enables are critically important to Harvard and for the wider world—especially in times like these, when we must confront unprecedented challenges,” Brown-Nagin said in the press release.

—Staff writer Andy Z. Wang can be reached at andy.wang@thecrimson.com