SEATTLE (AP) — A University of Washington faculty member has been awarded one of 22 “genius grants” from the Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
KOMO-TV reports Shwetak Patel, a faculty member in the school’s computer science and engineering department, will be awarded a $500,000 grant.
The foundation’s 2011 winners are being announced Tuesday.
Winners are picked based on exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.
According to UW, Shwetak is the co-founder of Zensi, Inc., a developer of technology that senses and monitors energy use.
