HONORABLE Dr. SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON P.h.D
August 5, 1946
Former head of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
Dr. Jackson utilized her extensive knowledge of theoretical physics to foster breakthroughs in telecommunications research. Her research led to inventions such as the portable fax machine, touch-tone telephone, solar cells, fiber optic cables, caller ID, and call waiting.
An advocate for women and minorities in the sciences, Dr. Jackson has been described by Time Magazine
as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science.
Award presented by President Obama at a White House ceremony
She is one of the first two African-American women to receive a doctorate in physics in the U.S.. She received her Ph.D. in nuclear physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973 in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics, becoming THE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN to earn a doctorate at MIT in any field. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 for “her significant contributions as a distinguished scientist and advocate for education, science, and public policy”. In 2002, she was named one of the 50 Most Important Women in Science by DISCOVER magazine.
Dr. Jackson has held senior leadership positions in government, industry, and research, as well as academe. A theoretical physicist, Dr. Jackson’s early distinguished research career included tenures at both the storied Bell Labs and Rutgers University. She served as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999. In 2014, President Obama appointed Dr. Jackson as Co-Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, which assesses issues pertaining to the quality, quantity, and adequacy of intelligence activities. In addition, she sits on the Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board and the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Jackson served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which assists the White House in policy formulation in the many areas of science, technology, and innovation that are crucial to strengthening the economy and increasing opportunity. In 2011, she co-authored a report to the President offering an overarching strategy for revitalizing the leadership of the nation in manufacturing.
She was presented with the 2014 National Medal of Science, the highest honor for scientific achievement bestowed by the United States government. It was presented today by President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony. The award honors individuals deserving of special recognition for their outstanding cumulative contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, or behavioral or social sciences, in service to the nation.
“Shirley the Great.” That’s what Shirley Ann Jackson, at age 4, declared to her mother she would someday be called.
Dr. Shirlely Jackson was born in Washington D.C. Her parents, Beatrice and George Jackson. She was raised in a family filled with morals ethics and education.
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson is a theoretical physicist who has spent her entire career researching, inventing and teaching particle physics – the branch of physics that uses theories and mathematics to predict the existence of subatomic particles and forces that bind them together. Dr. Jackson is also the former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the current 18th President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In Troy New York in which she also holds the titles of Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, and Professor of Engineering Sciences. In addition to her academic achievements, she also has an impressive list of inventions to her credit. Her experiments with theoretical physics are responsible for many telecommunications developments, including the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax, caller ID, call waiting, and the fiber-optic cable.
In 1995 she was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), becoming the first woman and first African American to hold that position. At the NRC, she had “ultimate authority for all NRC functions pertaining to an emergency involving an NRC licensee”. In addition, while Jackson served on the commission she assisted in the establishment of the International Nuclear Regulators Association. Dr. Jackson served as the chairperson for the International Regulators Association from 1997 to 1999. The association consisted of senior nuclear regulatory officials from countries like Canada, France, Germany, and Spain.
On July 1, 1999, Jackson became the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). She was the first woman and first African American to hold this position. Since her appointment to president of RPI, Jackson has helped raise over $1 billion in donations for philanthropic causes.
She led the development of a strategic initiative called The Rensselaer Plan and much progress has been made towards achieving the Plan’s goals. She oversaw a large capital improvement campaign, including the construction of an Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center costing $200 million, and the East Campus Athletic Village. In June 2010, it was announced that the Rensselaer Board of Trustees unanimously voted to extend Jackson a ten-year contract renewal, which she accepted. Shirley Ann Jackson’s compensation ranked first among US private university presidents in 2014.
A 2015 Money.com article cited Jackson as the highest-paid college President and “took home a base salary of $945,000 plus another $276,474 in bonuses, $31,874 in nontaxable benefits”.
In fall of 2018, another contract extension was approved by the board of trustees through the end of June 2022.
On June 25, 2021, Jackson publicly announced she would be stepping down from her post as president as of July 1, 2022, after 23 years.
In February 2020, Shirley Ann Jackson joined the Nature Conservancy Global Board. She will be serving on this board until October 2029. Board Chair Tom Tierney says, “To successfully take on the most pressing environmental challenges facing us, TNC needs people with ambition and big ideas.
Shirley Jackson is married to Dr. Morris A. Washington, a physics professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and they have one adult son. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority
Honors and Awards
Jackson has received many fellowships, including the Martin Marietta Aircraft Company Scholarship and Fellowship, the Prince Hall Masons Scholarship, the National Science Foundation Traineeship, and a Ford Foundation Advanced Study Fellowship. She has been elected to numerous special societies, including the American Philosophical Society. In 2014, she was named a recipient of the National Medal of Science.
In the early 1990s, then-New Jersey Governor James Florio awarded Jackson the Thomas Alva Edison Science Award for her contributions to physics and for the promotion of science.
Jackson received awards for the years 1976 and 1981 as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America. She was inducted into National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 for “her significant contributions as a distinguished scientist and advocate for education, science, and public policy”. She received a Candace Award for Technology from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1982.
In 2001, she received the Richtmyer Memorial Award given annually by the American Association of Physics Teachers. She has also received many honorary doctorate degrees.
In spring 2007, she was awarded the Vannevar Bush Award for “a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy”.
In 2007, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Dr. Ben Carson.
In 2008 she became the University Vice Chairman of the US Council on Competitiveness, a non-for profit group based in Washington, DC. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Jackson to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a 20-member advisory group dedicated to public policy.
She was appointed an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) in 2012.
In 2018, she was awarded by the Hutchins Center for African American Research with the W.E.B DuBois medal.
In 2019, the American Physical Society Forum on Physics and Society awarded her the Joseph A. Burton Forum Award.
In 2021, she was the recipient of the Hans Christian Oersted Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers.Also in 2021, she received, from the UC Berkeley Academic Senate, the Clark Kerr Award for distinguished leadership in higher education.
Shirley Ann Jackson and her husband were named to the inaugural class of the Capital Region Philanthropy Hall of Fame in 2019.
She is recognized in a published book by ESSENCE titled 50 of The Most Inspiring African-Americans. She also was named one of “50 R&D Stars to Watch” by Industry Week Magazine.
She was inducted into the Women in Technology International Foundation Hall of Fame (WITI) in June 2000. WITI recognizes women technologists and scientists whose achievements are exceptional.
Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; in industry and research, as a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and in academe, as a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University.
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