Downers Grove Native Awarded MacArthur 'Genius Grant'

Mark Hersam, a Downers Grove native, was named to the MacArthur Fellows Program Class of 2014.

Commonly called the MacArthur ”genius grant,” the fellowship comes with a $625,000 stipend, paid out over five years in quarterly installments, according to the MacArthur Foundation website.

Hersam, 39, is a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. He investigates nanomaterials that could be used in information technology, biotechnology, energy and more.

”Hersam has established himself as a leading experimentalist in the area of hybrid organic-inorganic materials, with a focus on the study of the electrical and optical properties of carbon and related nanomaterials,” according to the MacArthur website.

His research has been published in “Nature Nanotechnology,” “Advanced Materials,“ “Nano Letters,” and “ACS Nano.”

Read more about Hersam’s research on his MacArthur Fellowship page, and read more about the MacArthur Fellows.