The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including over-incarceration, global climate change, nuclear risk, and significantly increasing financial capital for the social sector.

The MacArthur fellowships, awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for exceptional “originality, insight and potential,” come with a no-strings-attached award of $625,000, distributed over five years.

These are the 2017 female fellows:

Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Painter Visualizing the complexities of globalization and transnational identity in works that layer paint, photographic imagery, prints, and collage elements.

Annie Baker
Playwright Mining the minutiae of how we speak, act and relate to one another and the absurdity and tragedy that result from the limitations of language.

Regina Barzilay
Computer Scientist Developing machine learning methods that enable computers to process and analyze vast amounts of human language data.

Rhiannon Giddens
Singer, Instrumentalist, and Songwriter Reclaiming African American contributions to folk and country music and bringing to light new connections between music from the past and the present.

Nikole Hannah-Jones
Journalist Chronicling the persistence of racial segregation in American society, particularly in education, and reshaping national conversations around education reform.

Cristina Jiménez Moreta
Social Justice Organizer Changing public perceptions of immigrant youth and playing a critical role in shaping the debate around immigration policy.

Kate Orff
Landscape Architect Designing adaptive and resilient urban habitats and encouraging residents to be active stewards of the ecological systems underlying our built environment.

Betsy Levy Paluck
Psychologist Unraveling how social networks and norms influence our interactions with one another and identifying interventions that can change destructive behavior.

Jesmyn Ward
Fiction Writer Exploring the enduring bonds of community and familial love among poor African Americans of the rural South against a landscape of circumscribed possibilities and lost potential.