UCSD Professors Win Guggenheim Fellowships

Barry Jagoda and Debra Kain | April 7, 2008

Rae Armantrout, professor of writing in the Department of Literature

Jason X.-J. Yuan, professor of medicine and associate chair for research in the Department of Medicine.

Two members of the faculty have just been announced as recipients of prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship Awards for 2008.  Selected, on the basis of “distinguished achievement and exceptional promise,” are Rae Armantrout, professor of writing in the department of literature, and Jason X.-J. Yuan, professor of medicine and associate chair for research in the department of medicine.

Armantrout is a highly regarded and widely published poet whose work frequently appears in The New Yorker. Her most recent book of poetry, “Next Life,” was published late last year and was named one of the “100 Notable Books of 2007” by The New York Times.  Asked how she intended to use the fellowship, Armantrout said, “I plan to take the fall off and complete my new manuscript “Dark Matter.”  The poem "Integer," which is in The New Yorker this week, is part of that manuscript in progress.”

Dr. Yuan is a leading physician scientist and an innovator in pulmonary vascular biology research.  "I am very honored to receive this award, and — as a medical scientist — am pleased to be in the company of an accomplished poet from UC San Diego," said Yuan. He plans to use the fellowship for a new research project that will investigate the pathogenic role of stem cells in pulmonary hypertension, together with collaborators in Italy and the U.K.

The award program is a project of the New York-based John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  This year’s class of Guggenheim Fellows includes 190 artists, scholars and scientists representing 75 disciplines and 81 different academic institutions.