Vol. 38, No. 18

3-1-2006
By: Amy Murray

Distinguished scientist to deliver commencement address

Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will deliver the winter quarter commencement address March 19 at St. John Arena. In addition to the 1,700 degrees that will be awarded, Jackson will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree during the 1 p.m. ceremony.

A theoretical physicist who has held senior leadership positions in government, industry and higher education, Jackson has served as the president of RPI, the nation's oldest technological research university, since 1999.

Her career also has included chairing the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, research in theoretical physics at Bell Laboratories and a professorship at Rutgers University.Ê

Over the past five years, Jackson has worked to bring national attention to what she has dubbed the "Quiet Crisis" in America: the threat to the United States' capacity to innovate due to the looming shortage in the nation's science and technology workforce. The shortfall results from a record number of retirements on the horizon, and not enough students in the pipeline to replace them because fewer American students are studying science, mathematics and engineering.

In addition to her leadership and scientific credentials, Jackson's career has been characterized by a number of "firsts." She is the first African American woman to receive a doctorate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in any subject and one of the first two African American women in the country to earn a doctorate in physics. She is the first woman and the first African American to serve as NRC chair. She is the first African American woman to lead a national research university and also the first elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Jackson holds an S.B. in physics and a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from MIT. She is the immediate past president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and currently is chair of the AAAS Board of Directors. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society, and has advisory roles and involvement in other prestigious national organizations. Jackson also serves as a trustee of the Brookings Institution, is a life member of the MIT Board of Trustees and serves on the boards of Georgetown and Rockefeller universities, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution.

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