FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004
UC News Office (510) 987-9200

TWO UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RESEARCHERS AWARDED “GENIUS” GRANTS

Two University of California faculty were among the 23 recipients of the coveted MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants, announced by the Chicago-based foundation today (Tuesday).

They are:
- Joseph DeRisi, 35, a UC San Francisco associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics and Gordon M. Tomkins Chair, who has designed new tools for exploring the activity of genes, and used them to make major advances in understanding such infectious diseases as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and malaria.

- Maria Mavroudi, 37, a UC Berkeley assistant professor of history and an expert on Greek and Arabic cultural interaction in the Middle Ages.

Bestowed by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the prestigious annual awards, commonly known as “genius” grants, provides recipients with $500,000 – with no strings attached – over a five-year period. A 12-member committee, who serve anonymously, select the fellows based on their exceptional creativity and promise.

With these latest awards, more than 50 faculty, researchers and others affiliated with UC have been named recipients since the MacArthur Fellowships were inaugurated in 1981.

For additional information about the University of California’s latest MacArthur fellows, please see their respective campus news releases at:

Joseph DeRisi:

http://pub.ucsf.edu/today/cache/news/200409274.html

Profile of DeRisi from spring 2004 edition of the UC Santa Cruz "Review":

http://review.ucsc.edu/spring04/alumni_profile.html

Maria Mavroudi:

www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2004/09/28_Mavroudi.shtml

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