Genius Grant to Calvin Grad

September 20, 2005 == MEDIA ADVISORY

A 1989 Calvin College graduate is one of 25 new MacArthur Fellows for 2005.

Todd Martinez, a professor of chemistry at the University of Illinois, will be
given $500,000 in "no strings attached" support over the next five years from
the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The stipend carries no restrictions, but is designed to provide a kind of seed
money or venture capital for intellectual, social and artistic endeavors.

Martinez, 37, is a theoretical chemist who seeks to explain and predict
complex chemical reactions based on the quantum mechanical properties of the
atoms involved in the reaction.

Says the MacArthur Foundation: "By combining effective strategies for
computing the quantum mechanical properties of complex molecules with a deep
intuition for their underlying chemical behavior, Martinez is revealing
fundamental insights into the physical basis for chemical reactions."

The awards have been dubbed by some media outlets as the annual "genius
grants" although the MacArthur foundation shies away from that language, noting
on its website that it avoids using the term because it "connotes a singular
characteristic of intellectual prowess."

"The people we seek to support," the website adds, "express many other
important qualities: ability to transcend traditional boundaries, willingness
to take risks, persistence in the face of personal and conceptual obstacles,
capacity to synthesize disparate ideas and approaches."

For his part Martinez isn't too worried about the terminology used to describe
the honor. He's simply elated to have the financial support for his ongoing
research and happy to have the chance to thank his research team for their
support.

"The first thing I hope to do with the money," he says, "is take my research
team somewhere to both meet and also have some free, fun time. I also plan to
endow a scholarship here (at Illinois). With the majority of the money I'll
extend and expand my current research. It really is an amazing thing to be
given this money totally out of the blue."

Jonathan F. Fanion, president of the MacArthur Foundation, says the reaction
of most MacArthur Fellow is the same. None of them apply for the award (the
only way to be considered is to be nominated) and none know that they are being
considered at any time in the process.

"The call can be life-changing," says Fanion, "coming as it does out of the
blue and offering highly creative women and men the gift of time and the
unfettered opportunity to explore, create, and contribute."

Martinez says what he's doing now at Illinois can be traced all the way back
to his days as a Calvin undergraduate. In fact he credit a Calvin interim
class as his "aha" moment.

"It's because of Roger DeKock (Calvin professor of chemistry) and his
(interim) class that I'm doing what I do now," says Martinez. "Interim is a
very special thing that Calvin has, giving professors that ability to teach
classes off the beaten path. Roger was teaching an interim on theoretical
chemistry and using computers in chemistry. That was really the beginning of
my love affair with theoretical chemistry. Math, computers and chemistry all
came together in that interim. I enjoyed the class very much. In fact, I
enjoyed Calvin very much."

Martinez was born in New York City, but lived much of his life in Central
America and the Caribbean as the son of missionaries. His parents eventually
became missionaries for the Christian Reformed Church and through that CRC
connection Martinez found his way to Calvin College. After graduating Calvin
in 1989 he went on to do graduate work at UCLA and then post-doctoral work in
the U.S. and the Middle East.

The MacArthur Fellows Program was the first major grantmaking initiative of
the Foundation and the inaugural class of MacArthur Fellows was named in 1981.
Including this year's Fellows, 707 people, ranging in age from 18 to 82, have
been named MacArthur Fellows since the inception of the program.

The number of Fellows selected each year is not fixed; typically, it varies
between 20 and 25. Interestingly the Selection Committee consists of 11 to 15
individuals who serve confidentially.

As one of the nation's largest private philanthropic foundations, the
MacArthur Foundation has awarded more than $3 billion in grants since it began
operations in 1978. Today it has assets of approximately $5 billion.

For a high-res pic of Martinez see:
http://www.calvin.edu/news/photos/alumni/tmartinez_big.jpg

For a lower-res pic of Martinez see:
http://www.calvin.edu/news/photos/alumni/tmartinez.jpg

For more on Martinze see:
http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/chem/gmartin.htm

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Received on Mon Sep 19 23:59:10 2005