Shirley Ann Jackson, pt. 1: UM Commencement 2007

Described by Time magazine in 2005 as "perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science," Shirley Ann Jackson is widely regarded as a brilliant academic leader and pioneering scientist whose stellar achievements have advanced the cause of scientific education on a national scale. Jackson is the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and Hartford, Connecticut, the oldest technological research university in the United States. During her remarkable career, she has held senior leadership positions in government, industry, research, and academe. For her extraordinary dedication to advancing scientific scholarship as both a strategy for national leadership and an issue of global importance, Jackson is receiving the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.