This week, John Keene, a fiction writer and professor at Rutgers University, became Newark's latest MacArthur "Genius Grant" winner. This year's list of 25 high-achievers – otherwise known as MacArthur Fellows, also includes two teachers at Princeton University.

Each 2018 fellow will receive a $625,000 "no strings attached" award from the MacArthur Foundation to help them pursue their creative, intellectual and professional inclinations. The unique awards – given directly to the recipients instead of institutions and not monitored for results – are not earmarked for a specific project, meaning the winners will be free to spend the cash as they see fit.