Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson: WITI Hall of Fame 2000 Induction Video - Women In Technology International

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• published: 07 Nov 2009
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Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson President Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (profile updated in 2007) The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson is the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., and Hartford, Conn., the oldest technological research university in the United States. Describing her as "a national treasure," the National Science Board selected Dr. 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." Described by Time Magazine (2005) as "perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science," President Jackson has held senior leadership positions in government, industry, research, and academe. Since her arrival in 1999, Dr. Jackson has fostered an extraordinary renaissance at Rensselaer through the vision, development and implementation of The Rensselaer Plan, the Institute's strategic blueprint. This institutional transformation has included the hiring of more than 180 new faculty and a corresponding reduction in class size and student/faculty ratios; initiating and/or completing $600 million in new construction and renovation of facilities for research, teaching, and student life; a doubling of research awards; and innovations in curriculum, undergraduate research, and student life initiatives. President Jackson secured a $360 million unrestricted gift to the university (2001), launched the $1 billion Renaissance at Rensselaer Campaign (2004), and expanded the goal of the campaign to $1.4 billion (2006) when the initial goal was met earlier than anticipated. Dr. Jackson holds a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from M.I.T. (1973) and a S.B. in physics from M.I.T. (1968). Her research specialty is in theoretical condensed matter physics, especially layered systems, and the physics of opto-electronic materials. Prior to her leadership of Rensselaer, President Jackson was Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; a theoretical physicist conducting basic research at the former AT&T; Bell Laboratories; and a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University. In 1995 President William Clinton appointed Dr. Jackson to serve as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). She was Chairman of the NRC from 1995-1999. As Chairman, she was the principal executive officer of and the official spokesman for the NRC. She had ultimate authority for all NRC functions pertaining to an emergency involving an NRC licensee. The NRC is charged with the protection of the public health and safety, the environment, and the common defense and security by licensing, regulating, and safeguarding the use of reactor byproduct material in the U.S. This includes power reactors; research, test, and training reactors; fuel cycle facilities; reactor byproduct use in medicine, industry and research; the transportation, storage, and disposal of high-level and low-level radioactive waste; and the licensing of nuclear exports for peaceful uses. While at the NRC, Dr. Jackson initiated a strategic assessment and rebaselining of the agency, leading to a new planning, budgeting, and performance management system that put the NRC on a more businesslike footing. She conceptualized and introduced risk-informed, performance-based regulation to the NRC (utilizing probabilistic risk assessment on a consistent basis), which has been infused throughout its regulatory programs. Elements of the approach also have been incorporated into the nuclear regulatory programs of other nations. She led the development of a new reactor oversight program, and created, with the Commission, a license renewal process resulting in the first renewal (in March 2000) of the license of an operating reactor in the United States. While Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Dr. Jackson spearheaded the formation of the International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA) in May 1997, and was elected as the group's first chairman, a position she held from 1997 to 1999. The association was made up of the most senior nuclear regulatory officials from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States (and now South Korea). As the first INRA chairman, Dr. Jackson guided its development as a high-level forum to examine issues, and to offer assistance to other nations, on matters of nuclear safety. While at the NRC, Dr. Jackson represented the United States four times (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998) as a delegate to the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. This video was presented at the 2000 WITI (Women In Technology International) Hall of Fame Award Ceremony.