 In 2010, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation named Carol Padden a recipient of its so-called "genius" grant.The foundation recognized Padden's pioneering work in the morphology and evolution of American Sign Language with a no-strings attached grant of $500,000.Padden's PhD dissertation on American Sign Language morphology and syntax was published in the Garland Press Outstanding Dissertations (Linguistics Series, 1988).