Ver Steeg Fellowship

The Dorothy Ann and Clarence L. Ver Steeg Distinguished Research Fellowship Award supports research and scholarship and is awarded annually to two tenured Northwestern professors whose work enhances the national and international reputation of the University. It carries an award of $45,000 per award recipient.

Clarence Ver Steeg was for many years a faculty member in the Department of History, served as dean of The Graduate School, and was a leader in the Northwestern community.

Congratulations to the 2023 Recipients

Moya Bailey

Associate Professor of Communication Studies, School of Communication

Moya Bailey's work focuses on marginalized groups’ use of digital media to promote social justice, and she is interested in how race, gender and sexuality are represented in media and medicine.

Bailey is the digital alchemist for the Octavia E. Butler Legacy Network and board president of Allied Media Projects, a Detroit-based movement media organization that supports an ever-growing network of activists and organizers. She is the author of “Misogynoir Transformed: Black Women’s Digital Resistance” (New York University Press, 2021). Bailey coined the term misogynoir which describes the unique anti-Black racist misogyny that Black women experience; it is the newest word entered into Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.

Read the official announcement of Bailey's award.

Mark Hersam

Walter P. Murphy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering

Mark Hersam’s research interests include nanomaterials, nanomanufacturing, scanning probe microscopy, nanoelectronic devices, biosensors and renewable energy. He is highly engaged in education and outreach at all levels including regularly giving public lectures, participating in Northwestern’s All-Scout Nano Day, serving as director of the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Research Experience for Undergraduates Program for 12 years and developing the Materials Science Exhibit in partnership with the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.

Hersam has received numerous honors including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, TMS Robert Lansing Hardy Award, AVS Peter Mark Award, MRS Outstanding Young Investigator, U.S. Science Envoy, the MacArthur Fellowship and eight Teacher of the Year Awards. An elected member of the National Academy of Inventors, he has founded two companies, NanoIntegris and Volexion, which are commercial suppliers of nanoelectronic and battery materials, respectively.

Read the official announcement of Hersam's award.