New Orleans professors win MacArthur "genius grants"

How it works: MacArthur Fellows are nominated and endorsed anonymously by their peers, and the selection process can take years, AP reports.

Bryan is a Tulane University professor of music who grew up in New Orleans where she learned about music through her church.

• She draws on that diverse influence in her compositions, bridging "the sacred and the secular," a press release says.
• Bryan hasn't decided how she'll use the stipend, but she expects it'll support the local community.
• "New Orleans formed who I am and how I see the world, and if there's something creative I want to do, I want to base it in New Orleans," Bryan says.

Armstrong is a Loyola University New Orleans law professor whose work focuses on incarceration policy.

• Often integrating "law, history, public health, and the arts," Armstrong explores "the human cost of incarceration," a press release says.
• One of her projects is Incarceration Transparency, tracking deaths in prisons, jails and youth detention centers.
• The award, Armstrong says, "will help me continue creating tools for public understanding and engagement with incarceration, particularly those integrating cutting-edge research with student learning."