The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has named Vanderbilt University humanities professors Jonathan Lamb and William Luis 2012 fellows.

Both men work within VU’s College of Arts and Science.

Lamb, the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, and Luis, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of Spanish, are among 181 recipients in the United States and Canada selected for the highly coveted fellowship. Artists, scholars and scientists in all fields are eligible to apply for the fellowships, which are awarded on the basis of impressive achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment.

“The Guggenheim represents the pinnacle of academic achievement, and we are honored by this tribute to Professors Lamb and Luis, Carolyn Dever, dean of the VU College of Arts and Science and professor of English, said in a release. “Both scholars bring innovation to questions of major significance within their fields.”

Lamb, who teaches and writes about 18th century literature and culture, is working on a book about the effects of the disease scurvy on the nerves and temperaments of its victims.

Luis, who is editor of the Afro-Hispanic Review, will use his Guggenheim funding to write the definitive book on the life and works of the Cuban slave poet Juan Francisco Manzano.

Previous Vanderbilt recipients of Guggenheim Fellowships include the following: William Caferro, the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of History; Michael Bess, the Chancellor’s Professor of History; Barbara Hahn, Distinguished Professor of German; Ruth Rogaski, associate professor of history; Jay Clayton, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English; Paul Freedman, former professor of history; John Wikswo, the Gordon A. Cain University Professor; Mark Jarman, Centennial Professor of English; and Matthew Ramsey, associate professor of history.