Bill Thies, a Microsoft computer scientist who is creating communication and digital technologies to improve the lives of people in the developing world, has been selected as one of the 23 annual MacArthur Foundation fellows (via The Verge). For those unfamiliar, The MacArthur Fellows Program celebrates the potential of individuals who have shown exceptional creativity in their work through a $625,000, no-strings-attached grant.
Thies joined Microsoft Research India back in 2008 and recently worked on the 99DOTS initiative, a low-cost approach for monitoring and improving tuberculosis medication adherence. You can learn more details about his work in the video below:
The foundation released the following statement about the computer scientist:
Thies combines technical expertise in several subfields of computer science with a deep understanding of the real-world constraints and needs of the communities in rural India he hopes to reach. He overcomes challenges such as stark financial constraints, limited access to internet services, and low levels of literacy by devising interfaces between basic mobile phones, which are relatively affordable and widely used, and modern networks and applications.
You can learn more about the other 22 2016 MacArthur Fellows over here.
Further reading: India, MacArthur Foundation, Microsoft
