Emmanuel Candès is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow
Among his colleagues in the fields of pure math, applied math, statistics, and computer science who already know his name—and "know by heart specific papers that he's written," says David Donoho—that name will now come with the additional modifier of "genius grant recipient." Fellowships awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation recognize individuals who show "exceptional originality in and dedication to their creative pursuits." Fellows receive stipends that come with no conditions in order to inspire recipients to "pursue their own creative interests."
Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne expressed the university's appreciation for this tremendous honor, stating, "The ability to harness and analyze big data will transform our lives, and Emmanuel Candès has been on the forefront of this revolution. The future applications of his work will influence everything from medical imaging to cloud computing." Professor Candès says he hopes to use the grant to pursue new avenues in statistics in the face of big data, and the Statistics Department is pleased and proud to congratulate him today.