John Ochsendorf - U.S. Student to Spain and 2008 MacArthur Foundation Fellow
Field: Architecture
Home Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Grant Dates: 2001-2002
John Ochsendorf under a Spanish tile vault on the MIT campus, built in 1901 by Spanish architect-engineer Rafael Guastavino. (Photo Credit: Donna Coveney/MIT)
"At the time of my Fulbright year in Spain, I knew that my studies in Barcelona and Madrid were an integral component of my PhD. But the Fulbright was much more than that. While in Spain, I discovered an additional set of questions and problems to work on, which has taken my work in many new directions in the last eight years.
Our research in historic building technology crosses between engineering, history, architecture, and archaeology, and was recently recognized with a MacArthur Fellows Program award. The MacArthur Fellowship will allow me to develop in new directions and will help to support my ongoing studies of a 19th century Spanish architect/engineer named Rafael Guastavino.
Most importantly, I have learned that students should follow their passion and study something that is deeply important to them. If you do what you love, then you will do better work and you will have an interesting life."
To the U.S.-Spain Fulbright Program