MIT affiliates awarded 2026 Guggenheim Fellowships
Afreen Siddiqi, Kathleen Thelen, Vinod Vaikuntanathan, and alumna Kate Manne have been awarded 2026 Guggenheim Fellowships in recognition of their exceptional achievements and promise. The fellowship supports independent work across disciplines including political science, computer science, and environmental studies. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation selected 223 fellows from nearly 5,000 applicants for their outstanding contributions to their fields.
- ▪Afreen Siddiqi, Kathleen Thelen, and Vinod Vaikuntanathan are MIT affiliates, while Kate Manne is an MIT alumna and now a professor at Cornell University.
- ▪The 2026 Guggenheim Fellows were chosen from nearly 5,000 applicants based on prior achievement and exceptional promise.
- ▪Siddiqi specializes in systems-theoretic modeling for space and Earth systems, while Thelen studies political economy and American capitalism.
- ▪Vaikuntanathan's research focuses on cryptography, including fully homomorphic encryption and lattice-based cryptography for post-quantum security.
- ▪The Guggenheim Foundation has awarded nearly $450 million in fellowships since its founding in 1925.
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Afreen Siddiqi, Kathleen Thelen, and Vinod Vaikuntanathan, along with alumna Kate Manne, are appointed to the 2026 class of “trail-blazing fellows.” Jordan Silva | School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences | School of Engineering Publication Date: May 1, 2026 Press Inquiries Press Contact: Jordan Silva Email: [email protected] MIT School of Engineering Close Caption: Left to right: Afreen Siddiqi, Kathleen Thelen, and Vinod Vaikuntanathan Previous image Next image MIT Research Scientist Afreen Siddiqi ’99, SM ’01, PhD ’06; MIT professors Kathleen Thelen and Vinod Vaikuntanathan SM ’05, PhD ’09; as well as Kate Manne PhD ’11 are among 223 scientists, artists, and scholars awarded 2026 fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at MIT News.