Their specializations could not be much more different, but Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie and Toshiro Tanimoto have a lot in widespread: intellectual rigor, determination and an outstanding report of achievements in their fields.
Now the UC Santa Barbara faculty members share a thing unique — each have been named 2022 Guggenheim Fellows. Every fellow receives a sizeable grant meant to aid their investigate and imaginative tasks for a year.
“On behalf of UC Santa Barbara, I present my warmest congratulations to Professors Toshiro Tanimoto and Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie on their range as 2022 Guggenheim Fellows,” explained Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “These hugely prestigious fellowships for their research on geology in the Arctic zone and African art history, respectively, are an honor for our total campus neighborhood. We are enormously proud of this meaningful recognition of their achievements, and search forward to their continuing contributions to our campus and our society.”
Ogbechie, a professor in the Department of the Historical past of Art & Architecture, will get the job done on a e book undertaking titled “The Curator as Society Broker: Symbolizing Africa in World Present-day Art.” The e-book will examine how curators and artwork historians signify African artists and artworks in the discourse of worldwide up to date art.
“It is a great honor to be named a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow,” Ogbechie explained, “and to be part of the lengthy checklist of remarkable scholars who have acquired this distinguished award.”
Tanimoto, a distinguished professor of Earth Science, will research a geophysical system for estimating the ice soften at a variety of spots in polar regions.
“I am honored, thrilled to obtain the fellowship,” Tanimoto explained, “but at the identical time I am a bit stunned since I was not anticipating it.”
Guggenheim Fellowships — reserved for those who have already demonstrated exceptional ability for productive scholarship or remarkable imaginative skill in the arts — are awarded throughout a assortment of disciplines, including the purely natural sciences, cinema, musical composition, education and learning, arithmetic and the visual arts. The honorees for 2022 were being chosen from a team of almost 2,500 applicants.
“The Guggenheim is one of the most aggressive grants in the subject of art background,” stated Laurie Monahan, affiliate professor and chair of the heritage of artwork and architecture, “and Professor Ogbechie, whose get the job done highlights African-born, African-descended and African diaspora artists in fashionable and up to date artwork, encourages artwork historians to reassess and reconsider the methods in which the modern is outlined over and above the conventions of the Western European canon. The office is exceptionally happy to have him as a colleague.”
Susannah Porter, professor and chair of earth sciences, called Tanimoto’s fellowship a properly-deserved honor.
“We are actually energized for Toshiro and very pleased to have him as a member of our section,” she mentioned. “This is a authentic honor for Toshiro and for our department. In addition to being an outstanding scientist, Toshiro has normally been a fantastic colleague.”
