Three Northwestern faculty members were awarded Guggenheim Fellowships, which are intended to fund research projects by writers, scientists and other scholars, from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation last week.
According to a news release from the Guggenheim Foundation, 181 winners were selected out of nearly 3,000 applicants; the competition is open to the United States and Canada. The financial award per grant varies, but Prof. James Druckman, a recipient of the Fellowship, said the average amount is about $40,000.
When he applied, NU sociology Prof. Steven Epstein submitted a proposal for “Sexual Health As Buzzword,” a book that will detail the origins of the term “sexual health” and the effects of its various uses.
“It’s a very competitive process,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting to receive this, and it was a very pleasant surprise.”
Epstein has already begun research for his book, he said, and the Fellowship will allow him to continue this work while on sabbatical leave next school year.
“My hope is to make very substantial progress to complete the research and write several chapters while I’m away,” said Epstein, who is also a faculty associate of NU’s Institute for Policy Research and director of NU’s Science in Human Culture Program.
Weinberg senior Cari Romm is pursuing an adjunct major in the Science in Human Culture Program, and Epstein is her undergraduate thesis adviser.
“As a professor, he’s always been really interested in the students, really willing to help,” Romm said.
Lynn Spigel, a professor in NU’s Radio, Television and Film department, received a Fellowship, for which she submitted a proposal for her upcoming book, “Imagining the Smart Home: The Fabulous Future of Everyday Life.” It will examine the relationship between houses, technological changes and new media.
The Fellowship will help Spigel take time off to travel overseas and conduct archival research, she said. Spigel also partially attributes her achievement to her passion for her work.
“I love what I do, so I want to do it every day, ” Spigel said.
Druckman received a Fellowship in the field of political science. When he applied, he submitted a proposal for the expansion of a research project he has already started that studies public opinion on energy policy and technology, Druckman wrote in an email. Druckman, who is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science, began the original project with Fay Lomax Cook of NU’s Institute for Policy Research and NU alumnus Toby Bolsen, who is now a professor at Georgia State University, he said.
Druckman (Weinberg ’93), who is also a faculty fellow of the Institute for Policy Research, gave the University credit for his achievement.
“It’s a very stimulating intellectual environment,” Druckman said. “I felt quite overwhelmed and humbled by the honor.”
