The first African American woman to earn a doctorate at M.I.T., Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson is responsible for the major advances in telecommunications research that led to the invention of the touch-tone phone, portable fax, fiber optic cables, solar cells, call waiting and caller ID.

To learn more about the current president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the U.S., check out the links to sources below:

Strong Force: The Story of Physicist Shirley Ann Jackson

https://president.rpi.edu/president-biography

https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/shirley-ann-jackson/

https://www.news10.com/news/local-news/dr-shirley-ann-jackson-a-lifetime-shattering-glass-ceilings-in-math-and-science-for-black-women/

https://youtu.be/mKAgAdHaJw0 (National Medal of Science bio)

https://youtu.be/0CYQAQ1EPSo (Storied Women of MIT)

https://youtu.be/ATcTENr07U8 (An evening with Dr. Jackson NSTMF)

https://youtu.be/xvGPPE-09OE (Brown University Department of Physics bio)

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