MSU Sociology Professor Xuefei Ren has been named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow.
“I'm deeply honored to be named a Guggenheim Fellow and to be recognized alongside such an inspiring community of scientists, artists, and scholars. I’m grateful for the support this fellowship provides, and for the opportunity to continue pursuing work that I care deeply about,” Dr. Ren said.
“I will be working on a new project about data centers, AI and the urban future, examining how the geopolitical rivalries around AI are transforming urban regions and their hinterlands in both China and the U.S.”
Dr. Ren is one of 223 Fellows working across 55 disciplines and artistic fields to be appointed by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to their 101st Fellowship Class. More than 5,000 applicants were judged on “both prior career achievement and exceptional promise,” the foundation said.
“Our new class of Guggenheim Fellows is representative of the world’s best thinkers, innovators, and creators in art, science, and scholarship,” said Edward Hirsch, award-winning poet and President of the Guggenheim Foundation. “As the Foundation enters its second century and looks to the future, I feel confident that this new class of 223 individuals will do bold and inspiring work, undaunted by the challenges ahead. We are honored to support their visionary contributions.”
Dr. Carla A. Pfeffer, Chair of the Department of Sociology, said: “We are thrilled to see Dr. Ren’s important international research recognized and supported by the Guggenheim Foundation. Generative AI is rapidly transforming our social, political, and environmental landscapes in ways that will have far-reaching and longstanding impacts. Dr. Ren’s scholarship ensures that sociological perspectives will be at the forefront of outlining and understanding the potential social benefits and pitfalls of these rapidly-emerging and proliferating technologies.”
The monetary stipend allows the fellows to “pursue independent work at the highest level under the freest possible conditions.”
Dr. Ren is among three Fellows in the Geography and Environmental Studies cohort. The full list of fellows can be viewed at gf.org. The Foundation will hold its traditional reception honoring the new Fellows on June 1, 2026 at Harvard Club of New York City.