Shirley Ann Jackson
Courtesy of Shirley Ann Jackson
Doctor of Science
Shirley Ann Jackson, president emerita of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was a transformative leader of the institute from 1999-2022.
A theoretical physicist and the first African American woman to earn a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jackson has held senior leadership positions in academia, government, industry and research. Time magazine described her as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science.” In 2014, then-President Barack Obama appointed her co-chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. Earlier, she served on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.
More recently, Jackson has been a member of the International Security Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of State, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, and the Defense Science Board at the U.S. Department of Defense. She also has served on the boards of directors of major corporations, including FedEx, IBM, Medtronic, U.S. Steel, Marathon Oil, Public Service Enterprise Group and the New York Stock Exchange/Euronext. She was also a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs during the tenure of former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
Before taking the helm at Rensselaer, Jackson was chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for four years.
Jackson has earned many honors, including the National Medal of Science, the highest award bestowed by the U.S. president to individuals who advance knowledge in science and engineering, and the Vannevar Bush Award, which the National Science Board gave Jackson in recognition of her “lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy.”