Time Magazine called Shirley Ann Jackson the “ultimate role model for women in science” and so it was no surprise that the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce bestowed on Dr. Jackson its first ever Alice H. Parker Women Leaders in Innovation Award in 2015.

Jackson has been a pioneer from the time she turned her love of science into a physics degree from MIT in 1968 – only the second African American woman in the U.S. to earn such a degree. Five years later she became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. from MIT in any subject when she earned hers in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics.

After 15 years as a theoretical physicist at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, Jackson spent five years as a professor of physics at Rutgers.

In 1999, she became the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where her leadership has transformed the school into a world-class technology research university.

President Bill Clinton took notice of Jackson and appointed her to serve as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed Jackson as co-chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

Describing her as “a national treasure,” the National Science Board selected 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.”

She culminated a lifetime of awards and recognition in 2015 when she was awarded the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest honor in science and engineering.