The Humboldt Research Award is a prestigious honor conferred on internationally renowned scholars and scientists in recognition of their entire academic record to date. An academic at a German institution nominates an awardee to conduct an original research project of their own design, in close collaboration with a colleague in Germany, for an academic year.
Department of Linguistics
Professor in the Department of Linguistics, Jeff Good, PhD, is a linguist who studies cross-linguistic variation in word and sentence structure, the comparative linguistics of the Niger-Congo language family of Africa, and the documentation of endangered languages. A particular focus of his documentary work is the study of the multilingual practices of small-scale societies in the country of Cameroon. As a member of an international team that includes researchers from Cameroon, he has worked on collaborative projects to document, map, and investigate the social dynamics of its languages. In recognition of the strength and impact of his work, in 2023, Good received a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
