Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson

Brief

    Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson was born on August 5, 1946, in Washington, D.C. She earned both her B.S. in Physics (1968) and her Ph.D. in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics (1973) from MIT, becoming the first Black woman to receive a doctorate from the institution. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. In 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed her as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where she served until 1999. She was the first woman and the first African American to hold that position.

     Later that year, she became the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), making her the first Black woman to lead a top-ranked research university. She held that role from 1999 to 2022. From 2014 to 2017, she served as Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and currently, she sits on The Nature Conservancy’s Global Board of Directors, where she is expected to serve until 2029.

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