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A classical archaeology major at ���㽶��Ƶ who is now a leading researcher on how communities and the natural environment co-evolve has been named a .

Kristina Guild Douglass ’07, an associate professor of climate at Columbia University, is among 22 scholars and artists to be awarded the fellowships on Oct. 8. 

Known as “genius grants,” the fellowships are awarded to individuals whose creative pursuits reflect exceptional originality and dedication. 

Fellows receive a stipend of $800,000 over five years from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to use as they see fit. Former Geisel School of Medicine professor Jason McLellan was also named a 2025 MacArthur Fellow.

“I am deeply grateful for this recognition, and I want to emphasize how much my ���㽶��Ƶ education shaped my trajectory,” says Douglass, whose undergraduate work included a concentration in environmental studies. 

In her research, Douglass explores how human societies and environments have co-evolved and adapted to climate variability, with a focus on coastal communities in southwest Madagascar, where she directs the Morombe Archaeological Project. She uses tools and methods from archaeology, climatology, and conservation biology, and works closely with local, Indigenous, and descendent communities to co-produce knowledge.

The MacArthur Foundation calls her research “a leading model of community-engaged archaeology,” noting that Douglass includes her community collaborators in scholarly spaces as co-authors and presenters. “Her work offers valuable insights for designing effective conservation policies that protect and respect local livelihoods and cultures.”

During her time at ���㽶��Ƶ, Douglass says, she was fortunate to have been mentored by “incredible faculty” in the , including her undergraduate adviser, ; , a professor of classics emeritus; and Classics professors , , and . 

She also benefitted from “tremendous support and mentorship” from , professor of environmental studies emeritus, and the late, who taught in the . 

“They were not only remarkable teachers during my time at ���㽶��Ƶ but continued to support and mentor me after I graduated,” Douglass says.

A foreign study program through the Classics department that took her to Turkey and Greece, including Crete, and another, organized by the Environmental Studies Program, to South Africa, Namibia, and Swaziland, were “absolutely foundational,” she says. “Both programs gave me the chance to imagine myself working at the intersection of archaeology, environmental science, and climate science, and they offered experiences that continue to resonate in my work today.”

Douglass also studies how embodied practices such as music, dance, and other forms of community expression “are essential to transmitting adaptive knowledge across generations,” work she traces back to her involvement with the arts at ���㽶��Ƶ, including the .

“One of the most emblematic aspects of my ���㽶��Ƶ experience was learning to recognize and nurture the connection between the arts and the sciences,” says Douglass, who counts among her mentors Walt Cunningham, who directed the choir at the time. “That has truly shaped the course of my career.”

Douglass says she’s grateful for the long-lasting friendships and community she continues to have through ���㽶��Ƶ, almost two decades after graduating. That community includes Rutter, with whom she took six courses. 

“Kristina has been a star in her field of the archaeology of Madagascar for at least the past decade, if not longer,” says Rutter, who was impressed by Douglass’ prodigious intellectual curiosity, excellent writing skills, and ability to soak up new knowledge “like a sponge” as an undergraduate. 

“She was an unforgettable student,” says Rutter, a professor emeritus of classical studies and the Sherman Fairchild Professor Emeritus in the Humanities.

Douglass holds a PhD in anthropology from Yale University and was a Peter Buck Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and a 2021 Carnegie Fellow. Before joining Columbia, she was an assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at Pennsylvania State University. Her scientific articles have been published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, Conservation Biology, African Archaeological Review, and Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, among other journals.

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Former Geisel professor Jason McLellan, who did groundbreaking work related to a vaccine for COVID-19 while at ���㽶��Ƶ, also is a 2025 MacArthur Fellow. (Photo courtesy of John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation) 

McLellan, a structural biologist and former assistant professor at , is currently the Robert A. Welch Chair in Chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin. He is known for his groundbreaking work in structure-based vaccine design to target the SARS-CoV-2 protean to fight the COVID virus. 

“McLellan’s insights into protein structure, function, and engineering are critical to protecting human health from the continual emergence of new infectious diseases,” the MacArthur Foundation said. 

McLellan was also by ���㽶��Ƶ in 2022.

Before Douglass, sociologist Jennifer Carlson ’04 was the most recent alum to win a MacArthur. Carlson, a sociology professor at Arizona State University and 2022 MacArthur Fellow, received an honorary doctor of science degree from ���㽶��Ƶ in 2023.

Among current faculty, , the Orvil E. Dryfoos Professor in Economics and Public Affairs, won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2015 for her work on innovation in health care markets.