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Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson

"Shirley the Great." That's what Shirley Ann Jackson, at age 4, declared to her mother she would someday be called. 

Today, young Shirley is Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, a theoretical physicist who has spent her career researching 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 President of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. 

early on, she demonstrated a passion & gift

for learning "how things work"

Shirley Ann Jackson was born in Washington, D. C., on August 5, 1946, and grew up in the city's northwest district. The second daughter of Beatrice and George Jackson; her mother was a social worker, her father a postal worker.

Early on, Shirley showed a passion and gift for science, encouraged by her father, who often told her, "Aim for the stars so that you can reach the treetops, and at least you'll get off the ground." 

Her father frequently got involved with her science projects, even the one involving live bumblebees that Shirley fed with sugar and collected in 30 jars jammed into the basement crawl space. Jackson also built soapbox go-karts with her sister, Gloria, an activity that fed into her lifelong interest in "how things work."

Both Shirley's parents believed strongly in education, encouraging her to participate in an accelerated program in mathematics and science at Roosevelt High School in Washington, D. C. where she was a straight-A student and valedictorian of her Class of 1964.

meeting resistance,

she decides to persist in what she's doing

... & doesn't let people beat her down

In that same year, Shirley went off to college at the Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT), still a rare destination for a black woman at that point, the height of the civil rights struggle. She was one of 45 women and a handful of African Americans in her 900-member freshman class.

Shirley was unprepared for the loneliness at MIT, telling Science magazine that not only the guys, but "the irony is that the white girls weren't particularly working with me, either."  So, Jackson said, "I had to work alone and I went through a down period.  But, at some level you have to decide you will persist in what you're doing and that you won't let people beat you down."

Rising above the social isolation, Jackson delved more and more into the scientific world she loved, discovering a particular niche in materials science.  But, Jackson was also politically active during college and organized the Black Student Association, working to increase the number of minority students on campus, and she tutored at the YMCA in Boston's black neighborhood of Roxbury.

Shirley thrived academically at MIT.  And upon her graduation in 1968, (although she was accepted at Brown, Harvard, and the University of Chicago), she decided to stay at MIT for her doctoral work because she wanted to encourage more African Americans to attend the institution.

During grad school, her specialization was theoretical elementary particle physics, directed by James Young, the first full-time tenured black professor in the Physics department. Shirley received her advanced degree in 1973, the first black woman at MIT to realize that goal in any academic category.

From graduate school, she moved on for post-doctoral stints working on theories of strongly interacting elementary particles at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois and at the European Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland.  As she told Science magazine, about this time in her life, she simply got used to being one of the few women and blacks at meetings. "If you give a physics paper, it had better be good-- because people will remember," she said.

from a variety of platforms

she shows scientific & managerial excellence

& promotes the advancement of women

In 1976 Dr. Jackson accepted a job at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., where she combined her interest in theoretical particle physics with her employer's interest in gas, films, and semiconductors.  While at Bell Labs, she attracted the notice of another young physicist, Morris A. Washington, whom she later married.  [Dr. Jackson is pictured here with husband, Dr, Morris Washington, standing on the patio of the President's Home at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where she is currently President. The couple have a son, Alan.]

Corporate participation followed in the 1980s as Dr. Jackson began serving on many corporate Boards, as she does to this day.  She also served on numerous scientific committees and published over a hundred scientific articles and abstracts. At each step, she promoted not just science, but the advancement of women in the field. 

In 1985, Dr. Jackson entered the public affairs realm with her appointment by then-governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean to the N.J. Commission on Science and Technology. Jackson stayed at Bell Labs until 1991, when she re-entered the academic world as a professor of physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey. 

When President Bill Clinton nominated Dr. Jackson to the chairmanship of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1995, she inherited far more than just an agency (located in Rockville, MD) with 3,000 employees and a $500 million annual budget.  She also took on the job of regulating the safety of the United States' aging 110 nuclear power plants and of tackling the touchy politics of extending those plant licenses. In her lap was laid the twin dilemmas of mounting nuclear waste and the plants' dwindling storage space.

In 1999, Dr. Jackson was appointed the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute based in Troy, New York.  Since her arrival, she has fostered an extraordinary renaissance at Rensselaer through The Rensselaer Plan, the Institute’s strategic blueprint.  Under her leadership, Rensselaer has Initiated and/or completed $600 million in new construction and renovation of facilities for research, teaching, and student life; brought 172 new faculty members to the Institute; and improved the Institute’s ranking as one of the top 50 national universities (U.S.News #44).

her ACCOLADES . . . so far

Describing her as “a national treasure,” the National Science Board selected Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson as its 2007 recipient of the prestigious Vannevar Bush Award for “a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy.”

In 2005 Dr. Jackson was described by Time Magazine as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science.”

And, In 2000 Dr. Jackson was inducted into the Women in Technology International Foundation Hall of Fame that recognizes women technologists and scientists whose achievements are exceptional.     

. . . AND NOW, SHE'S TAKEN ON A NEW CHALLENGE:

ATTRACTING YOUNG WOMEN & YOUTH OF COLOR

to THE "STEM" DISCIPLINES

Dr. Jackson has recently become one of the most respected and often quoted authorities on the need for more Americans in general, and more women and youth of color in particular, in the so-called, "stem" disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.  As a part of this effort, Dr. Jackson's life-story is captured in a 2006 book by Diane O'Connell called: Strong Force: The Story of Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson.

Here in her own words is how Dr. Jackson describes the "stem" discipline challenge:

"The engine of our national economy, upon which our national pre-eminence depends, is powered by the technological and scientific discoveries and innovations made by scientists and engineers.

These important people form a very small segment of our national workforce – only about 5 percent.  But, fewer American students are studying science. Undergraduate enrollments in engineering and the physical sciences are static or declining.

And, young women and minority youth are now the demographic majority in our country, but they represent only a small fraction of our scientists and engineers.  We must tap this group if we are going to guarantee our national capacity.

In the last decade, the minority population increased 35 percent overall.  But, since our traditional science, mathematics, engineering, and technology workforce is nearly 82 percent white and more than 75 percent male, it appears unlikely that we can replace it with a similar population.  So, this ‘perfect storm’ is creating a risk that we, as a nation, cannot allow without taking action.

But, this risk can be mitigated if we assure that the ‘new majority’ of young women and minority youth is well prepared for careers in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics.  And, to make this happen, we need a full-fledged, national commitment to develop the talent inherent in ALL of our young people."