The Michigan Society of Fellows has selected six new fellows from nearly 900 applications to serve three-year appointments as postdoctoral scholars and assistant professors, beginning this fall.
The fellows were chosen for the importance and quality of their scholarship and for their interest in interdisciplinary work.
During their time at the University of Michigan they will teach selected courses in their affiliated departments and continue their scholarly research.
The new fellows, with their affiliated department at U-M, their degree-granting institutions, and their research projects are:
• Alvita Akiboh — Department of History; Northwestern University; Natural Disasters and Disaster Relief in the U.S. Colonial Empire, 1898-Present
• Neil Gong — Department of Sociology; University of California, Los Angeles; The Sociology of “Free Speech”
• Heath Pearson — Department of Afroamerican and African Studies; Princeton University; Relationship of Privatized Land to Labor, Difference, and Incarceration
• Merel van’t Hoff — Department of Astronomy; Leiden University; Chemistry and Physics of the Youngest Protoplanetary Disks
• Carlos Peredo — Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; George Mason University; Evolutionary Origins of Key Sensory Systems in Marine Mammals
• Juan Ospina Velásquez; Department of Music; University of Pittsburgh; Sonic Expressions of Class and Privilege in the Latin American Cities
Fellows appointed in previous years who will continue as members of the Society of Fellows are Laura Finch, English language and literature; Cynthia Gerlein-Safdi, climate and space sciences and engineering; Linda Gosner, classical studies; James Macmillen, urban planning; Benjamin Mangrum, English language and literature; Brendan McMahon, history of art; Lynette Shaw, complex systems; Marlous van Waijenburg, economics; Ania Aizman, Slavic language and literature; Jonathan Bruno, law; Shane DuBay, ecology and evolutionary biology; Joseph Feldblum, anthropology; Blake Gutt, romance languages and literatures; Mihaela Mihailova, screen arts and cultures; Mitchell Newberry, complex systems; and Bryan Norwood, architecture.
The Michigan Society of Fellows was founded in 1970 with grants from the Ford Foundation and Horace H. and Mary Rackham Funds. It provides financial and intellectual support to individuals selected for professional promise and interdisciplinary interests.
Competition for the fellowships is open to eligible candidates in the physical and life sciences, engineering, the social sciences, education, the humanities, and the arts.
