Two Stanford professors were selected for the inaugural cohort of Andrew Carnegie Fellows. Ian Morris of the Classics Department and Shahzad Bashir of the Religious Studies Department will receive $200,000 as a part of the fellowship, which is designed to honor outstanding scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

The inaugural class of fellows comprise 32 scholars, who collectively received $6.4 million. Nearly 300 people were nominated for the award.

Fellows were selected on the basis of a research proposal. Fellows are expected to produce a book or major study based on that proposal.

“What impressed me most was the quality of the proposals—they seek to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our times with innovative and forward-looking ideas from a wide range of high-caliber candidates,” said Susan Hockfield, chair of the selection panel.

Morris will be working on a project called “Singularity and Nightfall: Trends in Social Development.”

“It’s a huge honor to find myself among the first batch of Andrew Carnegie fellows, along with a truly distinguished set of scholars,” Morris said in an email to The Daily.

“There aren’t many fellowships designed expressly to support research that moves across conventional disciplinary boundaries, and so I’m delighted to be able to add the Carnegie Foundation’s help to all the help I’ve been getting from Stanford since I came here in 1995,” he added.

“I am absolutely delighted and honored,” Bashir said. “It means as tremendous amount to me as it will allow me to take a year on leave and finish writing a book.”

Bashir’s book is called “Islamic Times,” and will examine the ways Persianate societies in the Middle and Early Modern Ages represented the past.

Contact Michael Gioia at mgioia2 ‘at’ Stanford.edu.