Notable Immigrants
Every Fourth of July, Carnegie Corporation of New York celebrates remarkable Americans — all naturalized citizens — who have enriched and strengthened our democracy through their actions and contributions. The 24 Americans honored today serve as a reminder of the economic and societal benefits that each new generation of immigrants brings to our country and the richness of talent, skills, and achievements they contribute to our democracy,” said Dame Louise Richardson, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York and a naturalized American citizen, born in Ireland. “In honor of our founder, Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant, we celebrate these extraordinary individuals who have made notable contributions to American society.
Leila Ahmed
Professor, Harvard Divinity
School, and Author
Leila Ahmed was born in Cairo, Egypt. She lived there until the 1960s, when she left to attend the University of Cambridge, earning undergraduate and graduate degrees before coming to the United States to teach and write. In 1999, Ahmed became the first professor of women’s studies in religion at Harvard Divinity School, and has held the Victor S. Thomas chair since 2003. She was named the Victor S. Thomas Research Professor of Divinity in 2020.
Team Member
Stand-up Comedian, Actor, Screenwriter, and Director
Mohammed (Mo) Amer was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents. When he was nine years old, Amer, his mother, and two siblings fled Kuwait during the Gulf War and immigrated to the United States, settling in Houston, Texas. As a refugee, Amer had to wait 20 years to become a naturalized citizen and obtain a passport — a situation he has turned into comedy.
Abhijit Banerjee
Professor of Economics, MIT, and Nobel Prize Laureate
Abhijit Banerjee was born in Mumbai, India. He came to the United States to pursue a PhD in economics at Harvard University, which he completed in 1988. He is now the Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2003, Banerjee cofounded the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at MIT, a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.
Leon Botstein
President, Bard College, Conductor, and Scholar
Leon Botstein was born in Zurich, Switzerland, to Polish parents who had escaped Nazi persecution. When he was two years old, the family immigrated to the United States and settled in New York City. Botstein attended the University of Chicago, where he founded the university chamber orchestra. While earning a PhD in history at Harvard University, he served as assistant conductor of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.
Viviana Gradinaru
Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering, Caltech
Viviana Gradinaru was born in Romania. She immigrated to the United States to study at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), earning a bachelor’s degree in biology, followed by a PhD in neuroscience from Stanford University. She returned to Caltech, where she is now the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Neuroscience and Biological Engineering.
Immaculée Ilibagiza
Author and Motivational Speaker
Immaculée Ilibagiza grew up in Mataba, a rural town in Rwanda, surrounded by family. Life there was peaceful until April 1994, when Ilibagiza came home from university for Easter, and everyday existence became a nightmare. She escaped the violence by hiding for 91 days, along with seven other Tutsi women, crammed into a 3 x 4-foot room in the home of a local Hutu pastor.
Lorgia García Peña
Professor of Latinx Studies, Princeton University
Born in the Dominican Republic, García Peña immigrated to the United States at age 12. She lived in New Jersey and earned BA and MA degrees from Rutgers University, then a PhD from the University of Michigan.
She specializes in Latinx studies with a focus on Black Latinidades and the ways anti-Blackness and xenophobia intersect the Global North, producing categories of exclusion that lead to violence and erasure.
Premal Shah
Social Entrepreneur and Cofounder, Kiva
Premal Shah was born in India and grew up in Minnesota. After attending Stanford University and working for PayPal, he cofounded Kiva — a global poverty alleviation nonprofit that has raised over $2 billion for low-income entrepreneurs in 150 countries. He was named a Champion of Change by the Obama White House and one of Fortune magazine’s “40 Under 40.”
You can see the complete 2024 Great Immigrants at the Carneguei website
Congratulations to the 2024 Great Immigrants honorees!
Since 2006, the Corporation has named more than 740 Great Immigrants, forming one of the largest online resources of its type. The 2024 honorees, the 19th class in the program, will be recognized with a full-page public service announcement in the New York Times on the Fourth of July and through tributes on social media. Please join the celebration by sharing via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X (Twitter) using the hashtag #GreatImmigrants.
