INSTITUTE FOR POLICY RESEARCH

Sera Young: 2026 Guggenheim Fellow

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation named IPR anthropologist Sera Young as one of its 223 fellows for 2026.

Guggenheim fellows are “tapped based on both prior career achievement and exceptional promise,” according to the foundation. Young joins an impressive cadre of scholars and artists, such as author Roxane Gay (2018), photographer Dorothea Lange (1941), Silent Spring author Rachel Carson (1951)—as well as Young’s husband and research partner, synthetic biologist and IPR associate Julius Lucks (2015), among others.

The application process was extremely competitive this year with more than 5,000 scholars applying across 55 fields, more than double the number of applicants in years past.

“Our new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world’s best thinkers, innovators, and creators in art, science, and scholarship,” said poet Edward Hirsch, president of the Guggenheim Foundation, sharing his confidence that the 223 fellows “will do bold and inspiring work, undaunted by the challenges ahead.”    

Young is a leading scholar on maternal anemia, infant nutrition, and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. Her work in Kenya led her to study human experiences with water.  She headed an international team that developed the globally validated, human-centered Water InSecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales, which launched in 2019. More than 100 organizations now use them in over 90 countries, including Gallup, the World Bank, and the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. WHO and UNICEF have also recommended that organizations use the scales to understand how water insecurity experiences vary by age and gender, or Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. 

Closer to home, she also currently works with Lucks on a pilot project to validate a handheld, at-home kit, to test lead levels in Chicagoans' drinking water. The kit offers a low-cost, accessible alternative to municipal testing.

Learn more about Sera Young and her research.

Photo credit: Vanessa Bly

Published: April 29, 2026.