The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.

The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., has held leadership positions in academia, government, industry, and research. A theoretical physicist, Dr. Jackson holds an S.B. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics, both from MIT.

Dr. Jackson was the transformative 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute from 1999-2022. Dr. Jackson served as Co-Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, from September 2014 until January 2017. From 2009-2014, Dr. Jackson served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and as Co-Chair of the President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). Dr. Jackson also has served on the U.S. Department of State International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), and the U.S Department of Defense Science Board.

Dr. Jackson was Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) from 1995-1999. At the NRC, Dr. Jackson conceived and promulgated risk-informed, performance-based regulation, and created a new planning, budgeting, and performance management process (PBPM). Under Dr. Jackson’s leadership, the NRC advanced the Convention on Nuclear Safety, signed by over 170 countries, which remains in force today. While at the NRC, Dr. Jackson spearheaded the formation of the International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA), serving as its Chairman from 1997-1999.

Dr. Jackson is a Life Member Emerita of the MIT Corporation, a former Vice-Chair, now Regent Emerita, of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. She was a member of the boards of the World Economic Forum USA (WEF USA), FedEx, IBM, Medtronic, PSEG, the New York Stock Exchange, KeyCorp, AT&T, Marathon Oil, U.S. Steel, and Sealed Air Corporation.

Dr. Jackson currently serves on the Board of Directors of Kyndryl, the Global Board of Directors of The Nature Conservancy, and the Board of Trustees of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Dr. Jackson is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations, serving on its Board of Directors from 2008-2018. She is an International Fellow of the British Royal Academy of Engineering, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, serving as its president in 2004.

Dr. Jackson was the 2021 recipient of the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) Oersted Medal, the 2021 FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award, the 2019 American Physical Society (APS) Joseph A. Burton Forum Award, and, in 2018, the W.E.B. DuBois Medal from Harvard University.

In 2007, Dr. Jackson received the Vannevar Bush Award, awarded by the National Science Board, for “a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy.”

In 2016, United States President Barack Obama awarded Dr. Jackson the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest honor in science and engineering.

Dr. Jackson holds 58 honorary doctoral degrees.