{"id":77293,"date":"2026-10-09T11:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=77293"},"modified":"2026-10-09T11:13:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T15:13:34","slug":"buck-macarthur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/buck-macarthur\/","title":{"rendered":"Sociologist Who Studies Climate Change Wins MacArthur Fellowship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The doctoral alum, on the University at Buffalo faculty, garnered one of the coveted honors, known as \u2018genius grants\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the MacArthur Foundation scheduled a call with sociologist Holly Jean Buck, PhD \u201917, she assumed that the nonprofit wanted her thoughts on where it should direct funding for research on mitigating climate change\u2014one of her areas of expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was actually the third call with funders I had scheduled that day, just randomly,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting that they would notify me that I was a fellow. That was really a big surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, the honor she\u2019d garnered isn\u2019t just any fellowship: colloquially known as the \u201cgenius grant,\u201d it\u2019s given to notables in a wide range of fields\u2014and has no application process, relying instead on a confidential nomination system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buck is one of this year\u2019s 20 recipients of the fellowship<\/a>, which carries an unrestricted $800,000 award. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buck is one of this year\u2019s 20 recipients of the fellowship, which carries an unrestricted $800,000 award.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other 2026 honorees include artists and writers, a forensic anthropologist, a poet, a labor economist, and a choreographer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An associate professor<\/a> in the Department of Environment and Sustainability at the University at Buffalo, Buck does research in such areas as climate change, environmental policy, and public participation in emerging technologies, particularly in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBuck is setting forth a compelling vision for what is needed to launch a successful energy and climate transition and to support rural innovation, while remaining attentive to social realities and justice,\u201d the foundation says on its website, noting that she \u201ccuts through heated rhetoric to focus on communities and just and equitable implementation of solutions to our planetary climate crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Buck is setting forth a compelling vision for what is needed to launch a successful energy and climate transition and to support rural innovation, while remaining attentive to social realities and justice.<\/p>\nThe MacArthur Foundation<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A doctoral alum in development sociology, Buck did interdisciplinary research during her time on the Hill, such as studying food systems and poverty reduction in East Africa. Her dissertation included work in the Arctic communities of Finnish Lapland, where she examined the role of public engagement in considering strategies for reflecting sunlight to cool the Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among her published works is the 2019 book After Geoengineering<\/em><\/a>: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It explores whether the dystopian-seeming methods of manipulating<\/a> the planet\u2019s environment to counteract the effects of climate change may in fact have benefits\u2014if thoughtfully deployed for the good of the populace rather than industrial interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021, she published Ending Fossil Fuels<\/em><\/a>: Why Net Zero is Not Enough,<\/em> in which she argues that the focus on emissions accounting is a perilous distraction from the need to cease burning oil, coal, and gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s currently at work on another book\u2014she hopes the fellowship will allow her to devote time to it\u2014on how rural communities are involved in shaping new technologies, from agriculture to semiconductors.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising that MacArthur chose Holly for this award,\u201d says Stephen Hilgartner \u201978, BA \u201983, PhD \u201988<\/a>, Cornell\u2019s Whiton Professor of Science & Technology Studies and a member of her doctoral committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe is extremely smart and creative. She has an impressive feel for the social aspects of science and technology, and her work on environmental politics and policy is incisive and provocative. Her writing is clear and precise, and she\u2019s skilled at interacting with academic and lay audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She is extremely smart and creative. She has an impressive feel for the social aspects of science and technology, and her work on environmental politics and policy is incisive and provocative.<\/p>\nProf. Stephen Hilgartner \u201978, BA \u201983, PhD \u201988<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Buck has done extensive work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/a>, a U.N. body devoted to assessing the science that could mitigate the global threat. Under a grant from the Sloan Foundation, she has also been studying how climate technologies and the transition away from fossil fuels are viewed in various regions of the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing interviews, focus groups, and surveys,\u201d she explains, \u201ctrying to understand how people are thinking about the energy transition and about policies to achieve net-zero emissions, including what they see as the risks and benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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