Shirley Ann Jackson

Shirley Ann Jackson (born August 5, 1946) is an African American physicist and the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is the first African American woman to earn a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics. In 2002, Discover magazine recognized her as one of the 50 most important women in science. At the NRC, she had "ultimate authority for all NRC functions pertaining to an emergency involving an NRC licensee".

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute On July 1, 1999, Jackson became the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Jackson's goal for Rensselaer is "to achieve prominence in the 21st century as a top-tier world-class technological research university, with global reach and global impact." 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.

On December 4–5, 2009 Jackson celebrated her tenth year at RPI with a "Celebration Weekend," which featured tribute concerts by Aretha Franklin and Joshua Bell among other events.

The Nature Conservancy In February 2020, Jackson joined the Nature Conservancy Global Board. Her term on the board runs through 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."

Jackson received awards for the years 1976 and 1981 as one of the Outstanding Young Women of America.

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 2008, she became the University Vice Chairman of the US Council on Competitiveness, a nonprofit 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. 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.

Personal life Jackson is married to Morris A. Washington, a physics professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and they have one adult son.