Two University of Minnesota professors have been selected for MacArthur fellowships.

Paul Dauenhauer and Damien Fair were both selected for the award, the university announced Tuesday. Both were given genius grants for pursuing original projects. MacArthur fellows are given $625,000 stipends to support their work and are nominated anonymously by leaders in their fields.

Dauenhauer, part of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, is working on developing renewable alternatives to product materials made from fossil fuels.

“Our laboratory took immense intellectual risk to develop new, frontier technologies in renewable materials and sustainable energy storage, and these have paid off with the dedication and hard work of our incredible students at the University of Minnesota,” Dauenhauer said in a statement.

“I am proud of all of their accomplishments and am pleased to see our collective work highlighted by this award.”

Fair is the Redleaf Endowed director at the university’s Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain. His work involves brain imaging and characterizing the brain’s functions. He is also a professor at the university’s Institute of Child Development.

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to continue this journey toward improving developmental brain health with my exceptional colleagues and community partners here in Minnesota,” Fair said in a statement.