The Carnegie Corporation of New York has announced the selection of sixteen scholars, all of whom will study themes focusing on Islam and the modern world, as its 2005 Carnegie Scholars.

In the past, Carnegie Scholars, who receive up to $100,000 each over a two-year period to pursue research, have focused on the foundation's four program areas. Over the next few years, however, Carnegie will focus the program on the study of Islam in hopes of making the field more central to American research and instruction and significantly expanding the breadth of knowledge necessary to build leadership and guide national and foreign policy.

"Our overall aim," said Carnegie Corporation president Vartan Gregorian, "is to expand the range of scholarship in order to promote knowledge and understanding about Islam as a religion and about the cultures and communities of Muslim societies both in the United States and abroad."

For a complete list of this year's Carnegie Scholars, see: http://carnegie.org/sub/news/ann_scholars.html.