Dr. Marina Rustow in her Princeton University office. Her research focuses on the Cairo Geniza.

Dr. Marina Rustow, a historian at Princeton University, has been named to the 2015 class of MacArthur Foundation Fellows. Rustow was the 2002-2003 Hazel D. Cole Fellow in Jewish Studies at the University of Washington.

The MacArthur Genius Grants, as they are known, recognize originality, dedication, and self-direction in creative pursuits. MacArthur President Julia Stasch says, “These 24 delightfully diverse MacArthur Fellows are shedding light and making progress on critical issues, pushing the boundaries of their fields, and improving our world in imaginative, unexpected ways. Their work, their commitment, and their creativity inspire us all.”

Dr. Rustow received her PhD from Columbia University in 2004. She is a social historian of the Medieval Middle East and works primarily with sources from the Cairo Geniza, a cache of more than 300,000 folio pages preserved in an Egyptian synagogue. At Princeton, Dr. Rustow is Professor of Near Eastern Studies and History, and she also directs the Princeton Geniza Lab. The MacArthur Foundation website notes, “Deploying her considerable prowess in languages, social history, and papyrology, Rustow is rewriting our understanding of medieval Jewish life and transforming the historical study of the Fatimid empire.”

You can find out more about Rustow’s project here, and you can listen to a Tablet Magazine podcast about her work at this link.

Mazel Tov to Marina on this amazing achievement!