Presidential Anniversary Tribute Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. 18th President Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute October 3, 2019 Troy Campus
The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., is the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the United States, where she has led an extraordinary transformation since 1999. Described by Time magazine as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science,” Dr. Jackson has held senior leadership positions in academia, government, industry, and research. A theoretical physicist, Dr. Jackson holds an S.B. in Physics, and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics, both from MIT. In September 2014, United States President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Jackson as Co-Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, where she served until January 2017. Dr. Jackson also served on the U.S. Secretary of State International Security Advisory Board from 2011 to 2017, and the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board from 2013 to 2017. From 2009 to 2014, Dr. Jackson served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and, as part of PCAST, was Co-Chair of the President’s Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC). Before taking the helm at Rensselaer, Dr. Jackson was Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), from 1995 to 1999. At the NRC, Dr. Jackson conceived and promulgated risk- informed, performance-based regulation and created a new planning, budgeting, and performance management process (PBPM). During her tenure at the NRC, Dr. Jackson spearheaded the formation of the International Nuclear Regulators Association (INRA), and served as its Chairman from 1997-1999. Dr. Jackson is a Life Member of the MIT Corporation, and a former Vice-Chair of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. In October 2017, she was named
Regent Emerita of the Smithsonian Institution. She currently serves on the boards of major corporations that include FedEx and IBM. She is a former member of the board of the World Economic Forum USA (WEF USA), Medtronic, the New York Stock Exchange, Key Corp, AT&T, Marathon Oil, U.S. Steel, and Sealed Air Corporation. Dr. Jackson is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is an international fellow of the British Royal Academy of Engineering, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of which she also served as past president. She holds 55 honorary doctoral degrees. In 2018, Dr. Jackson was awarded the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal from the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. The medal honors those who have made significant contributions to African and African American history and culture, and more broadly, individuals who advocate for intercultural understanding and human rights in an increasingly global and interconnected world. In 2007, describing her as “a national treasure,” the National Science Board selected Dr. Jackson as the recipient of The Vannevar Bush Award for “a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy.” In 2016, United States President Barack Obama awarded Dr. Jackson the National Medal of Science, the nation’s highest honor in science and engineering.
PROGRAM
WELCOME REMARKS Arthur F. Golden ’66 Chair of the Board and Trustee
MASTER OF CEREMONIES John D. Bennett, MD, FACC, FACP, ’74 President and CEO of Capital District Physicians Health Plan Inc.
VIDEO PRESENTATION TRANSCEND TRANSFORM: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
THE PILLARS Dr. John D. Bennett ’74
PEOPLE Wanda Denson-Low, JD, ’78 Vice Chair of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees, Retired Senior Vice President, Boeing
CLASS: PRESIDENT JACKSON’S VISION IN ACTION Naila Brown ’19, ’20G Gino Gasbarro ’18, ’19G
PROGRAMS Mary Simoni, Ph.D. Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
PLATFORMS Prabhat Hajela, Ph.D. Provost
Jonathan S. Dordick, Ph.D. Howard P. Isermann Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Senior Adviser to the President for Strategic Initiatives
PARTNERSHIPS John E. Kelly III ’78G, ’80 Ph.D., D.H.L. (Hon.) Trustee, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Executive Vice President, IBM
Dr. Ralph Izzo Chairman of the Board, President and CEO, Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated
PHILANTHROPY
RENSSELAER CHAMBER ENSEMBLE Hannah Lim ’21, violin Frank Peters ’21, violoncello Gabriel Priem ’22, marimba Mary Simoni, Ph.D., piano
PRESENTATION OF TRIBUTE GIFT Thomas Capek ’86 Rensselaer Corporate Ambassador, Senior Vice President & Chief Engineer, Corning
UP CLOSE AND WORKING WITH THE PRESIDENT
PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE TEAM Karyl Contois House Manager and Presidential Events Coordinator
Jennifer Brock Manager, Office Operations and Board Relations
John Zerebynsky Executive Protection Specialist
THE PRESIDENT’S CABINET John Kolb ’79, ’83G Vice President, Information Services and Technology and Chief Information Officer
Curtis Powell Vice President for Human Resources
FAMILY STORIES Morris A. Washington, Ph.D. Associate Director, Center for Materials, Devices, and Integrated Systems
Alan Washington Head of Operations and Real Estate at Success Academy Charter Schools
GUEST OF HONOR REMARKS Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D. President, Professor of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy and Professor of Engineering Sciences
RECEPTION Evelyn’s Café at EMPAC
FIREWORKS OVER EMPAC
Curtis R. Priem ’82, P’22 Secretary of the Board and Co-Founder and Former Chief Technical Officer, Nvidia Corp.
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MILESTONES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
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December 11, 1998 Announcement that the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will be Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson
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September, 2009 Five Rensselaer faculty present research at the World Economic Forum summer meeting in Dalian, China
September 24, 1999 Inauguration of President Jackson 66
October, 2008 Renaissance at Rensselaer campaign reaches its revised $1.4 billion goal, nine months ahead of schedule
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October 3, 2008 Opening of the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
May 12, 2000 Unanimous approval of The Rensselaer Plan by Board of Trustees
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September 7, 2007 Opening of the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations
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March 12, 2001 $360 million anonymous gift announced
September 10, 2004 Launch of the largest capital campaign in Rensselaer history, Renaissance at Rensselaer, with an initial goal of $1 billion
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Opening of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
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September 13, 2004
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October 3, 2019 20 years of transformative leadership is celebrated
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October 3, 2009 Opening of Phase 1 of the East Campus Athletic Village
May 19, 2019 First full class of rising juniors begins summer semester of The Arch
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October 13, 2017
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Launch of Transformative: Campaign for Global Change
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December, 2012
U.S. President Barack Obama awards President Jackson the National Medal of Science
Board of Trustees approves refreshed plan, The Rensselaer Plan 2024
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January 22, 2013 President Jackson reveals “The New Polytechnic” paradigm at British Royal Academy of Engineering
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Launch of The Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications
June 27, 2013 Launch of The Jefferson Project at Lake George
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June 13, 2013
October 3, 2013 Rensselaer reaches petascale with AMOS supercomputer
Rensselaer and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai sign affiliation agreement
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November 20, 2015 Cognitive and Immersive Systems Laboratory launch
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May 22, 2013
May 19, 2016
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LEADERSHIP THAT AIMS FOR THE STARS
Over the last two decades, under the leadership of President Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer has been transformed into a world-class university with global reach and global impact. Rensselaer is privileged to celebrate the impact of her leadership this fall. Nationwide, the median tenure of college presidents has declined to just five years, with disruptive changes at the top adding, at many institutions, to an array of sectoral challenges. Rensselaer, on the other hand, has benefited from 20 years of strong, steady, visionary leadership under President Shirley Ann Jackson. Like the greatest of leaders in every field, President Jackson has succeeded in balancing short-term concerns, as they have arisen, with a long-term strategy that has elevated Rensselaer in every aspect of its mission. She took the helm in 1999, promising to transform Rensselaer into a top-tier, world-class technological research university, with global reach and global impact. By refocusing and reinvigorating its research enterprise, building dazzling new platforms, turning Rensselaer into a center of pedagogical innovation, inspiring philanthropists and corporate and government partners, and creating one of the best student experiences in the United States, she has reached and exceeded that goal.
Dr. Jackson’s vision for and leadership of the university will continue to propel Rensselaer toward the goal of The Rensselaer Plan 2024 – increasing its prominence as a top-tier, world-class technological research university with global reach and global impact.” Arthur F. Golden ’66, Chair, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees
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Only a few leaders in the nearly 200-year history of Rensselaer have even approached her impact. Among them are Rensselaer academic founder Amos Eaton, who revolutionized scientific and technological education by sending students into laboratories to perform their own experiments, out into the field to survey and explore, and to the front of the classroom to present the knowledge they had gained to their fellow students and professors. In the mid-19th century, after touring the great technological schools of Europe, Benjamin Franklin Greene added “polytechnic,” which means “skilled in many arts,” to the Rensselaer name, and broadened and deepened the Rensselaer curriculum. At the beginning of the 20th century, Palmer Ricketts served as President for 33 years, and vastly expanded the resources of Rensselaer, its physical footprint, and its curriculum.
As a result, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute stands on the cusp of its third century not just transformed, but a transformative force, to change lives, to advance society, and to change the world.
With breathtaking clarity, Shirley Ann Jackson saw the path to excellence for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the 21st century. With a gift for inspiring others, she persuaded the Rensselaer community to follow her on that path. With unwavering confidence in the vision she began with, she has allowed Rensselaer to travel far without backtracking.
In all organizations over time, different people bring different things at different times. President Jackson brought everything at the same time. She could arguably be the greatest president this university ever had.” John W. Carr ’77, 79G, J.D./M.B.A., Rensselaer Trustee, retired partner Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
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A BOLD BEGINNING
On December 11, 1998, when Samuel Heffner Jr. ’56, Chairman of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees, announced that the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute would be Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, then the Chairman of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the audience in the Darrin Communications Center burst into cheers and applause.
Rensselaer needed change, and she was a change agent.
Two things were instantly apparent to the Rensselaer community that day: first, that the Institute had been drifting since the loss of President George Low ’48 14 years earlier. One of the architects of NASA and the manager of the Apollo space program that put humans on the moon, he was able to increase research support and enrollment substantially before he died in office in 1984.
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First, what defines the intellectual core in key disciplines at Rensselaer?
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Second, in these disciplines, are we in a leadership position? Do we set the standard and the agenda?
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Third, if we are not in a leadership position, do we have the underlying strengths and capabilities necessary to move rapidly into a position of primacy with the proper focus and investment?
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Fourth, are there areas that are so vital that we must create a presence in order to stand in the community of world-class universities?
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And finally, what areas of current endeavor must we be willing to transform — or to give up — in order to focus our resources and our energies to create the impact we envision?
And, second, that while Shirley Ann Jackson was an unconventional choice in many ways, she was a true leader capable of setting a new course for Rensselaer. At the NRC, in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, she had taken bold steps to restore public confidence, around the world, in the peaceful use of nuclear power and materials.
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At her inaugural ceremony, she challenged the Rensselaer community to reimagine their own realms and the Institute as a whole, with five thought-provoking questions:
She promised a Rensselaer Plan that would answer those questions, capture a vision, and guide the community’s choices. Less than eight months later, with the input of the entire Rensselaer community, that plan was unanimously approved by the Board of Trustees. The Rensselaer Plan had a unique character. It kept all of Rensselaer focused on one overarching goal: “To achieve greater prominence in the 21st century as a top-tier, world-class technological research university with global reach and global impact” — with six parts: •
Offer an outstanding and distinctive education;
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Expand, dramatically, the research enterprise, including in information technology and biotechnology;
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Increase scientific and technological entrepreneurship;
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Achieve true intellectual, geographic, gender, and ethnic diversity;
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Draw vitality from and add vitality to the multiple and diverse communities Rensselaer belongs to; and
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Redesign and invigorate enabling activities.
The plan was frankly aspirational and motivated by a desire for excellence. Although it was intended to guide every portfolio at Rensselaer, it was not a prescriptive or processoriented document that would be left behind by changing circumstances. It was designed to be evergreen. It was, very simply, a vision intended to inspire. And inspire it did.
She left no doubt that change would be radical and fast and might be unpopular with some members. It was time for all at RPI to buckle their seat belts.” Paul Gray, Sc.D., 14th President of MIT from 1980 to 1990
A new vocabulary for a new mindset President Shirley Ann Jackson, who won oratorical contests in high school, is highly accomplished at employing the power of language as a persuasive force. With The Rensselaer Plan, she introduced a new vocabulary to Rensselaer, designed to spur aspiration and action: Markers
Constellations
These were the key concepts against which all change would be measured — excellence, the deliberate pursuit of leadership, and recognition of Rensselaer as a single community that seeks partnership with other communities.
Underscoring the fact that Rensselaer intended to attract star faculty in focal areas of research in information technology and biotechnology, constellations were defined as a critical mass of world-class faculty and students needed to energize a particular area of research.
Boundary conditions
These were the characteristics Rensselaer would aspire to in teaching, research, the student experience, and supporting activities that would provide a starting point for each portfolio to develop its own performance plan.
“We will” statements
The Rensselaer Plan introduced more than 140 expressions of resolve, including “Rensselaer will grow from an institution centered on undergraduate education with selected research strengths to a full research university.”
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CONFIDENCE SHAPED BY THE CONFLUENCE OF TWO EVENTS
President Jackson set a new bold course for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute immediately upon her arrival.
While society as a whole expected relatively little of Shirley Ann Jackson as a young African American girl growing up in Washington, D.C., in the 1950s, her parents counted on her, to reach for excellence, and emphasized the value of education and hard work. Then two events created new opportunities: The first was the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954, which led to the integration of the nation’s public schools, allowing President Jackson to attend excellent schools in her own neighborhood with children from different backgrounds. The second was the launch by the Soviet Union of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, in 1957. The fear that the United States might be falling behind militarily and in terms of innovation ignited the Space Race, and a new emphasis on science and mathematics in American schools. Shirley Ann Jackson was passionate about these fields and excelled in them. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class and went on to pursue physics at MIT.
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Despite excelling in her studies as an undergraduate at MIT, she encountered active discrimination there. When she continued at MIT as a graduate student in theoretical elementary particle physics, she was determined to transform MIT into an institution that welcomed talented underrepresented minorities, and with the help of Provost Paul Gray, she succeeded. Soon after, she became the first African American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT in any field and she was invited to join the MIT Corporation, the Institute’s board of trustees.
I hope to bring to Rensselaer leadership that will be characterized by the development of a shared vision, the clarity of that vision, the skill to articulate it, and the perseverance to bring it to fruition.� Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., on accepting the presidency of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1998
During a brilliant research career at Bell Labs in theoretical condensed matter physics, she was tapped by three successive governors of New Jersey for advisory roles that required approval of the New Jersey State Senate. This service, as well as her expertise in nuclear physics and experience of overseeing nuclear power plants as a corporate director, led President Bill Clinton to appoint her Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1995. Her experience of restoring confidence in the NRC and putting its processes and systems on a more businesslike footing, as well as her leadership in founding and chairing the International Nuclear Regulators Association, were recognized by the Rensselaer Board of Trustees as highly relevant when she became their unanimous choice for president.
She was the right person to increase the stature of Rensselaer, in the United States, and around the globe.
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CLASPED HANDS
“Teaching and research are the clasped hands of the university.” — President Shirley Ann Jackson With The Rensselaer Plan, President Jackson underscored that Rensselaer needed to create “a research portfolio of substantially greater size, quality, prominence, and impact.” The plan promised that Rensselaer would grow from an institution with selected research strengths to a full research university. It would also substantially increase investments in two burgeoning fields that were likely to reshape the human experience: information technology, where Rensselaer already had a presence, and biotechnology, where it did not. Interdisciplinary research and strategic alliances with industry — positive characteristics of Rensselaer research when President Jackson arrived — would be reinforced to increase the impact of those investments.
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To realize these expanded ambitions, at the beginning of 2000, President Jackson established the Office of Research at Rensselaer. For the first time, Rensselaer had an Institutewide team to play a planning and coordinating role in research initiatives and key faculty recruitment; to offer support services for faculty members seeking research opportunities; and to allocate research space. The Office of Research tracked fields of emerging research, and helped to develop a comprehensive plan to make a research experience available to most undergraduate students.
And, as the Rensselaer community reviewed its existing research strengths, as well as areas of great opportunity that intersected with those strengths, five fields of focus came into view, dubbed the “signature thrusts”: •
Energy, Environment, and Smart Systems
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Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials
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Computational Science and Engineering
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Biotechnology and the Life Sciences
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Media, Arts, Science, and Technology
With the right resources applied to these multidisciplinary thrusts, in terms of people, programs, platforms, and partnerships with leading innovators in industry, such as IBM, research funding rapidly grew from less than $35 million in 1998 to nearly $86 million in 2004, to $101 million today, despite a difficult climate for federal funding.
Rensselaer students and faculty were now fully engaged in generating discoveries and innovations to change the world.
In the 20 years since Shirley Ann Jackson became President, Rensselaer and IBM together have advanced artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, high-performance computing, and other disciplines. But, just as important, we’ve created a pipeline of remarkable talent that will benefit industry for years to come.” Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of IBM
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A WORLD-CLASS FACULTY
To meet its ambitious goals in research and education, Rensselaer needed to expand its faculty by hiring worldclass talent in the fields it had identified as offering particular opportunity, including in the two fields flagged in The Rensselaer Plan as priorities: information technology and biotechnology.
Fortunately, President Jackson’s poetic concept of “constellations” spoke to the star faculty Rensselaer needed to draw. They responded to the opportunity to build research groups and to conduct collaborative research across departmental lines in defined areas. The first constellation in biotechnology, in Biocatalysis and Metabolic Engineering, was launched when Rensselaer recruited the internationally renowned biochemist Dr. Robert Linhardt in 2003. His work on the widely prescribed anticoagulant heparin has had a wide-ranging impact. After contaminated heparin from China caused the deaths of at least 80 patients in the United States alone, Dr. Linhardt was part of the team that identified the lethal contamination. Dr. Linhardt and his collaborators were the first to create a fully synthetic form of heparin, a potentially safer, purer alternative. Another hiring coup launched the Tetherless World Constellation, when Rensselaer in 2007 persuaded Dr. James Hendler, one of the inventors of the Semantic Web and an expert in artificial intelligence, to come to Rensselaer. He was soon joined by two other constellation chairs, Dr. Deborah McGuinness, an expert in knowledge representation, and Dr. Peter Fox, whose research lies at the nexus of data science and analytics, and earth and environmental sciences. President Jackson’s constellation metaphor proved prophetic. The gravity generated by massive stars drew other remarkable faculty and students to Rensselaer. In all, under Dr. Jackson’s tenure, 384 new tenured and tenuretrack faculty have been hired, and together they have added new life to research and education at Rensselaer.
Today, this world-class faculty includes members of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Academy of Public Administration; several professors who serve on high-level national panels and committees; hundreds of fellows of technical and professional societies; dozens of early CAREER award recipients; and numerous winners of national and international awards.
It was the constellation concept that brought me to Rensselaer. It was a chance to work outside a departmental structure, with people who had overlapping interests, in a new research hub — a multidisciplinary approach that would allow me to do world-class research with top colleagues.” James Hendler, Tetherless World Senior Constellation Professor of Computer, Web, and Cognitive Sciences; Director of the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications.
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LEADING IN THE CENTURY OF BIOLOGY
During her inaugural address, President Jackson asked the challenging question, “Are there areas that are so vital that we must create a presence in them — in order to stand in the community of world-class universities?”
Her answer was to create a uniquely focused biotechnology research program. The life sciences were undergoing a revolution that was poised to change many lives and Rensselaer was well-suited to drive a stake into the ground of this new frontier.
Four areas of research focus were identified that shaped the $100 million program:
President Jackson saw the opportunities. The life sciences were becoming increasingly quantitative, and they increasingly drew on computation, engineering, and design-driven research, while researchers in the physical and information sciences and engineering now used biology as inspiration for man-made innovations. It was not that Rensselaer was moving into biotechnology, but that biotechnology was moving toward Rensselaer. The Board of Trustees embraced President Jackson’s vision, and The Rensselaer Plan promised that dramatic investments would follow. On a campus that had not seen a major new academic building since the 1980s, the planning began almost immediately for the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies (CBIS).
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Biocatalysis and metabolic engineering
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Biocomputation and bioinformatics
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Functional tissue engineering and regenerative medicine
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Integrative systems biology
An unusually sensitive design by a world-class architecture team led in part by Rensselaer alumni announced that CBIS was where the great traditions of Rensselaer would meet the future: The 15th Street façade is of a piece with the century-old neoclassical architecture of the Quadrangle dormitories. When a corner is turned, CBIS becomes a soaring modern structure. The 218,000-square-foot platform was deliberately designed without departmental offices and with open and flexible laboratory spaces to allow for collaborations across the disciplines.
Since its opening in 2004, CBIS has allowed Rensselaer to engage vigorously in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. CBIS researchers have developed the first physiological test for autism, identified the protein modifications that underlie osteoporosis, and devised new drug approaches for Alzheimer’s that focus on the disease’s characteristic plaques. CBIS faculty have done important work to heal the planet as well as people, developing, for example, nanostructures for separations based on molecule size and shape that can purify water without a great deal of energy or pressure; and creating bioengineered plants that can remove specific toxins from indoor air to support “green wall” air purification technology created by Rensselaer’s Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE). And because of the strength of CBIS, Rensselaer today is a Tier 1 partner of The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, a $200 million publicprivate partnership to advance manufacturing innovations for biotherapeutics that can improve drug quality, address shortages, and support personalized medicine.
If the 21st century is, as it has been called, “the century of biology,” this is a century in which Rensselaer is poised to lead.
If the Trustees of Rensselaer had not made this investment in CBIS, Rensselaer would have missed the 21st century.” Elias Zerhouni, M.D., Director of the National Institutes of Health, 2002-2008
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CLAIMING THE INTERSECTION OF ART, SCIENCE, AND ENGINEERING AS RENSSELAER TERRITORY
As The Rensselaer Plan was first being implemented, one area of true distinction for Rensselaer rose to the fore: Rensselaer had created the first integrated electronic arts program within a research university in the United States. President Jackson saw the value in a new platform for media and the arts that would allow Rensselaer to broaden and deepen its explorations at the interface of art, science, and technology — an opportunity for international leadership in an interdisciplinary realm.
The pieces for a striking addition to the Troy campus and to the Rensselaer mission fell into place. A juried design competition selected Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners as the architect. Johannes Goebel, an internationally respected curator and composer, was brought on as a consultant to ensure that world-class technical specifications were incorporated into the design of the incipient center. He later was named the founding director. Then, Trustee Curtis R. Priem ’82, co-founder of the leading graphics chip company NVIDIA, a cellist who had enrolled in the first electronic music class at Rensselaer and who had played in the Rensselaer Orchestra, gave a $40 million gift to make this vision a reality.
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The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center opened in October 2008. It was a bold architectural statement, jutting out from a hill overlooking Troy and the Hudson River, redefining the campus, and announcing that a new spirit animated Rensselaer. At 220,000 square feet, the platform is the most technologically sophisticated center in the world for the time-based arts. It incorporates a 1,200-seat concert hall with remarkable acoustics, a 400-seat theater, and two black-box studios designed to accommodate a shifting array of explorations by artists and researchers. EMPAC immediately began drawing important artists and supporting important work. Its inaugural distinguished artist-in-residence, multimedia artist Laurie Anderson, called the opportunity to work there “a dream.” The cultural opportunities for Rensselaer students soared.
At the same time, EMPAC was designed to serve as a laboratory for faculty and student research in all fields where digital meets reality at human scale. Today, it is the locus of a groundbreaking partnership with IBM, the Cognitive and Immersive Systems Laboratory (CISL), which is developing smart “situation rooms” — such as a smart boardroom, design studio, or classroom — that integrate cognitive computing with advanced immersive systems. These rooms recognize their occupants; parse the social aspects of a meeting, including biases; and anticipate the participants’ need for exploration and information — all to radically augment group learning and decision-making.
President Jackson is one of a kind, with vision beyond all the rest of us. She understands where we’re going, where we’ve been, and what we need to go do.” Curtis R. Priem ’82, Secretary of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees, co-founder of NVIDIA
Upon its opening The New York Times declared it, “A technological pleasure dome for the minds and senses … dedicated to the marriage of art and science as it has never been done before.”
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SEEDING A REMARKABLE COMPUTATIONAL ECOSYSTEM
For Rensselaer to achieve its ambitions in education and research, the most advanced computational tools would be required. President Jackson enlisted two important partners for Rensselaer, IBM and New York state. She persuaded both that if they joined forces with Rensselaer, Rensselaer could advance the field of high-performance computing itself, while supporting research in other fields that required a large amount of computational power, and while spurring economic development by serving as a resource for businesses of all sizes. The result was a strategic $100 million partnership that created the Center for Computational Innovations (CCI), initially known as the Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations, at the Rensselaer Technology Park. The center was anchored by an IBM Blue Gene system that in 2007 represented the most powerful supercomputer at any university in the world.
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As President Jackson had envisioned, the CCI soon supported inquiry across fields where modeling and simulation are crucial. The CCI enabled investigations into protein folding, for example, which has been called one of the most important unsolved problems in biochemistry, since misfolded proteins are implicated in a number of diseases; and into the active elimination of aerodynamic drag for more energy-efficient designs for aircraft, wind turbines, and other engineered systems. In 2013, Rensselaer and its partner IBM revealed a new petaflops IBM Blue Gene Q system at the CCI that was the most powerful at any American private university and that was optimized for the advent of Big Data. It was named the Advanced Multiprocessing Optimized System, or AMOS, in honor of Rensselaer’s academic founder Amos Eaton. AMOS’s massively parallel processing capabilities allowed for the analysis of enormous amounts of data, as well as the modeling and simulation of the most complex of industrial products and processes. AMOS also supported the modeling of next-generation computing, including exascale highperformance computing and hybrid computing that included cognitive computing.
Since its inception, the CCI has generated over a thousand peer-reviewed publications. In the 2018-2019 academic year alone, it supported $48 million of external research. It has helped companies like Corning to solve extremely complex problems, such as optimizing the extrusion process that transforms molten glass into a desired product. And in the great Rensselaer tradition of hands-on, minds-on learning, the CCI has given Rensselaer students the unique opportunity to learn on some of the very fastest computers in the world.
I had the experience of calling up Dr. Jackson, and saying, ‘I think we ought to put a supercomputer of this scale at Rensselaer.’ In one breath, she said, ‘Yes, I’ll take it, when can I have it, and that’s not big enough!’ This is so different than dealing with normal academic institutions. She is about bigger, faster, let’s get it done.” John E. Kelly III ’78G, ’80 Ph.D., D.H.L. (Hon.); Rensselaer Trustee; Executive Vice President, IBM
The CCI, among the most powerful supercomputers in the world, is without peer.
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WHY NOT CHANGE THE WORLD?
The Rensselaer Plan promised a revolution: “an undergraduate experience that surpasses all others.” President Jackson transformed every aspect of the student experience. Academic offerings were increased, with an eye to new fields emerging at the intersections of disciplines. Among the introductions were Bachelor of Science degrees in Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences, in Information Technology and Web Science, and in Design, Innovation, and Society. In all, 24 new degree programs have been added during her tenure. New concentrations, minors, dual degrees, and interdisciplinary projects were introduced, specifically to allow students to “forge exciting individual career trajectories.” Students were challenged to change the world.
President Jackson also wisely understood the value of giving undergraduates, particularly freshmen, many of whom were away from home for the first time, an immediate sense of belonging. In 2001, she created an Office of the First-Year Experience (FYE) to nurture student excellence, to build community, and to help students succeed. FYE introduced “Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond,” a five-day program for incoming freshmen that uses adventure and team-building activities, historical and cultural programs, and community service opportunities to help students to bond with each other and with Rensselaer before classes even begin. In 2006, the Office of the First-Year Experience received a gold award for excellence from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
As The Rensselaer Plan was being implemented, it became increasingly apparent that, under the guidance of Shirley Ann Jackson, we were making history.” Samuel F. Heffner Jr. ’56, Chairman of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees 1995-2010, founder of Dickinson-Heffner and Heffner & Weber
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In 2009, the CLASS model was initiated, or Clustered Learning, Advocacy, and Support for Students. It made those bonds even stronger throughout a student’s career at Rensselaer with two kinds of clustering: time-based clustering, which offered the right programming, supports, and opportunities for each developmental phase, as students progressed through Rensselaer, and residential clustering, with students living in tight-knit groups in residential commons. Even those upperclassmen who moved off campus were networked together through the Greek Life Commons or the Off-Campus Commons. The physical conditions in which Rensselaer students lived also were vastly improved, as President Jackson undertook longoverdue renovations, beginning with the freshman residences, and created new residences for both undergraduates and graduate students, including the Howard N. Blitman, P.E. ’50 Residence Commons and City Station. President Jackson also understood that it was up to Rensselaer to develop the whole student — mind, body, and spirit — and that required new facilities. With the opening of the Mueller Center in 2000, a 32,000-square-
foot fitness center enabled by a gift from Institute Trustee and entrepreneur Nancy Mueller in honor of her husband Glenn Mueller ’64, a student body that included 75 percent participation in sports at some level was better served. President Jackson saw the value in an even greater commitment to athletic competition, as a great force for community and an opportunity for student-athletes to become leaders. Construction on the $92 million East Campus Athletic Village (ECAV) began in 2007, with two planned phases. The completed Phase I of ECAV has added another important platform to the Troy campus, including a new stadium for football, lacrosse, and soccer, and a new arena for basketball and other indoor events. As a result of these and other changes, applications for undergraduate admissions to Rensselaer began to soar, nearly quadrupling over President Jackson’s tenure, and hitting a high of 20,403 in 2018. The academic qualifications of incoming classes also soared, with average SAT scores rising from 1266 in 1998 to 1411 in 2019.
Rensselaer today offers one of the very best student experiences in the United States, and the most talented high school students in the nation and the world now vie for the opportunity to join the Rensselaer community.
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SUPPORTING THE VISION
Realizing the audacious goals of The Rensselaer Plan clearly required the improvement of all enabling activities, and a great deal of money for new people, programs, platforms, and partnerships. President Jackson put in place a performance planning process that would support The Rensselaer Plan. Each year, all Rensselaer portfolios would now spell out exactly how they intended to contribute to the Institute’s highest priorities, as well as portfolio-specific priorities. Each plan would look three years into the future and include key metrics for measuring success. Each portfolio would also prepare a performance budget showing how it would achieve its plan. This was managerial brilliance. Performance planning integrated a process for considering the future into the culture of Rensselaer. It also served to take decentralized, department-based views of priorities and budgeting and concentrated them on the betterment of the Institute as a whole. At the same time, the portfolio plans were inherently realistic, in that they were designed by the unit that would be charged with carrying them out. And since they were prepared annually, they allowed the portfolios flexibility, so that they could expand upon a previous year’s successes.
However, more efficient and effective operations alone were not sufficient to make The Rensselaer Plan a reality. New resources were needed. It was President Jackson who predicted that a goal of $1 billion was reachable for a new capital campaign — an unprecedented amount for Rensselaer, whose previous campaign had raised just $207 million. In 2001, President Jackson solicited, and received, a $360 million anonymous gift. At the time, it was the largest unrestricted gift in the history of American higher education. And at the official launch of Renaissance at Rensselaer: The Campaign for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2004, Trustee Curtis Priem ’82 pledged another transformative gift of $40 million. With an outpouring of philanthropic support for President Jackson’s vision, the goal of the campaign was increased in 2006 to $1.4 billion — a goal that was reached in October 2008, nine months ahead of schedule.
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In all, more than $1 billion was invested in The Rensselaer Plan, including more than $800 million in the physical transformation of the Troy campus and its facilities.
As a scientist, she is doubly blessed with having a good mind for management and business. She can work through the minutiae of detail and complexity and get to the heart of the matter, and make very clear the path you need to follow to get results.� Paul Tonko, United States Representative for New York’s 20th District
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THE VISION EXPANDS
Under The Rensselaer Plan, the Institute made major investments in people, programs, platforms, and partnerships, bringing about about a true Renaissance at Rensselaer. These investments transformed Rensselaer into a top-tier technological research university with global reach and global impact. Now, it was time for Rensselaer to move from being transformed to becoming transformative in the world. In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of the founding of Rensselaer in 2024, the plan was refreshed as The Rensselaer Plan 2024. While many of the premises of the refreshed plan were familiar, new connections were underscored, including “intellectual congruence,” “addressing global challenges,” and “diversity and inclusion,” all leading to an excellent education. A Rensselaer education now was focused explicitly on exposure to many different perspectives, with an elevated sense of purpose: changing the world. In research, too, the five signature research thrusts Rensselaer had established were linked to the grand challenges of humanity. Invited to give the 2013 ERA Foundation Lecture to the British Royal Academy of Engineering, President Jackson, an international fellow of the Royal Academy, further refined her vision. She spoke of “The New Polytechnic,” a model for the ways that a technological research university could lead in the 21st century.
The New Polytechnic was informed by two factors: first, that humanity’s most pressing challenges — such as climate change and food, water, and energy security — were global in scope, interrelated, and far too complex to be resolved by even the most brilliant individual working alone, or single discipline, sector, nation, or generation. Collaborations across all borders were demanded. The second factor was the advent of remarkable new technologies and tools, particularly in the digital realm, which allowed more effective approaches to such complexity. Within this vision, Rensselaer, as The New Polytechnic, would serve as a great crossroads for collaboration, and it would lead by bringing a multiplicity of perspectives and advanced tools to bear on humanity’s great challenges. More than 13 years into her tenure, President Jackson continued to inspire Rensselaer people to take on the very hardest of problems, and to improve lives on a grand scale.
The Rensselaer Plan 2024: Seven Premises 1. Education and research are inextricably linked in world-class universities. 2. Research potentiates education. 3. Research and education drive reputation. 4. Intellectual congruence leads to excellent education. 5. Addressing global challenges leads to transformational education. 6. Diversity and inclusion are essential to academic excellence and innovation. 7. Strategic focus is essential to achieving our goal.
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The New Polytechnic enables collaboration at a deeper, more fluent level than ever before. It can help us to re-envision possibilities and clear away barriers on a vast scale.� Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., Royal Academy of Engineering ERA Foundation Lecture, January 2013
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COMMUNIVERSITY
President Jackson coined the word “communiversity” to describe an important aspect of a Rensselaer education: the deliberate development in Rensselaer students of a sense of civic responsibility to all the communities linked to Rensselaer — local, statewide, national, and international.
Dr. Jackson has revolutionized the way science informs public policy, from rethinking safety at our nuclear plants to training a new generation of scientists and engineers that looks more like the diverse and inclusive America she loves.” Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States
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President Jackson, who had been tapped as a policy adviser since graduate school, was keenly aware of the role that scientists and engineers can play in public life. As the 18th President of Rensselaer, she was invited to serve as an adviser at the highest levels in government, business, and the not-for-profit sector. She joined the boards of distinguished corporations, such as FedEx, IBM, Medtronic, and PSEG. She served in the capital markets, as a director of the New York Stock Exchange, Chairman of the Board of New York Stock Exchange Regulation, and then as a member of the board of governors of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
She served President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2014 as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and from 2014 to 2017 as Co-Chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board. She was a member of the United States Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and the United States Secretary of State’s International Security Advisory Board. She was a Citizen Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, served as its Vice Chair, and today is Regent Emerita. In these roles, she was able to keep the nation focused on issues such as the “quiet crisis,” or the fact that in failing to inspire sufficient numbers of women and minorities to build careers in the sciences and engineering, the United States was limiting its own future leadership in innovation. As a member of PCAST, she co-chaired a report on advanced manufacturing, which inspired Manufacturing USA, a network of linked institutes that would bring together the federal government, universities, and industry to build the capacity of the United States in particularly promising manufacturing technologies. Today, Rensselaer has a leadership role in institutes focused on robotics, biopharmaceuticals, and smart manufacturing.
Dr. Jackson has not only brought the perspective of Rensselaer, at the leading edge of scientific and technological research, to her advisory roles — in these roles, she has raised the stature of Rensselaer around the globe. As a board member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) USA, and the Co-Chair of the WEF Global Future Council on the Future of International Security, President Jackson was able to showcase the research of Rensselaer faculty members at WEF meetings. Furthering the international profile of Rensselaer are relationships with universities in other nations, including Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In recognition of a scientific career characterized by both public service and brilliant research, President Barack Obama awarded President Jackson the 2014 National Medal of Science, the highest honor for scientific achievement bestowed by the United States government.
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A REGIONAL RENAISSANCE
Communiversity, as defined by President Jackson, certainly includes one’s hometown and home region. In the Capital Region of New York state, the “renaissance at Rensselaer” has had profound effects, with the Institute’s overall contribution to the regional economy rising from $435 million in 2001, to nearly $1 billion in 2017. President Jackson also has used the influence and operations of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to spur a revitalization of the city of Troy, New York. Offices were moved downtown, including into the Gurley Building, and new residences for upperclassmen and graduate students were sited downtown, including Blitman Commons, the Polytechnic Apartments, and City Station. Rensselaer also stewarded and stabilized Troy’s landmark Proctor’s and Chasan buildings, helping to drive $90 million in total in privatized economic development in the city. And the Institute itself spent $7 million improving the city infrastructure, including the complete redesign and reconstruction of College Avenue.
Rensselaer also contributes to regional economic development by nurturing brilliant young entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, managers, architects, artists, and scholars — many of them educated in emerging disciplines — who help to build world-class businesses. The graduates emerging from Rensselaer’s top-ranked Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences program, for example, have helped to turn Troy and the wider Capital Region into a gaming hub. When Karthik Bala ’97 and his brother Guha, co-founders of the successful game developer Vicarious Visions, launched a new experimental gaming company named Velan Studios a few years ago, they did it in Troy, specifically to be close to the talent emanating from Rensselaer. In 2018, New York state recognized Rensselaer’s profound influence on the regional gaming industry by designating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a new Center of Excellence in Digital Game Development. In this role, the Institute is helping new gaming startups to learn about entrepreneurship.
Rensselaer also has helped local and regional businesses gain a competitive edge, by partnering with them in research that addresses their great challenges and opportunities. In June of 2019, for example, researchers at the Rensselaer IDEA joined forces with local health insurer CDPHP to use artificial intelligence to determine which strategies yield the best health outcomes for the highest-need patients.
Dr. Jackson’s vision has transformed RPI and put the Capital Region on a national stage for innovation in higher education. From all of us here at CDPHP, we congratulate Dr. Jackson and thank her for all she has done to improve the economic vitality of a community we call home.” John D. Bennett ’74, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, CDPHP
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Under President Jackson’s leadership, Rensselaer contributes compassion as well as economic growth to the region — with students absorbing a culture of service as part of their education, and with the Rensselaer community raising over $100,000 for the United Way of the Greater Capital Region each year, supporting those in need. In 2019, the United Way named President Jackson and her husband, Dr. Morris Washington, to the inaugural class of the Capital Region Philanthropy Hall of Fame.
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RESEARCH ANTICIPATING A THIRD CENTURY OF DISCOVERY
Soon after The New Polytechnic vision was developed, a number of groundbreaking new multidisciplinary efforts in research and education served to embody it.
In May 2013, President Jackson signed a new affiliation agreement with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. To be able to join forces with one of the best medical schools in the nation was both a statement about Rensselaer’s increasing leadership in biotechnology and an opportunity to expand it. The expertise of Mount Sinai in biomedical research and patient care would now reinforce the expertise of Rensselaer at the nexus of the life and physical sciences, and engineering. This partnership launched new educational opportunities for the students of both institutions and joint research projects. Among those projects was the creation of the Data Center at the NIH-funded Children’s Health Exposure Analysis Resource — a tool designed to forward the emerging field of “exposomics,” by allowing health care researchers across the nation to combine data from a wide range of health studies, to determine which children are most vulnerable to environmental toxins. In her speech to the Royal Academy of Engineering, President Jackson had referred to data as a “new natural resource.” To break new ground in extracting and employing this natural resource, Rensselaer announced the creation in 2013 of the Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications, or the Rensselaer IDEA, led by Professor James Hendler. The IDEA, one of the first academic data science centers in the United States, brought together talents and strengths in web science, high-performance computing, cognitive computing, data science and predictive analytics, and immersive technologies in order to forward research and education in every other realm, and its expertise quickly proved a boon to faculty inquiry throughout Rensselaer, bringing in over $40 million in new funding since its inception. The Jefferson Project, a partnership with IBM and The FUND for Lake George, also has data at its heart, as it creates a new model for the conservation of fresh water resources. A series of 50 smart sensor platforms, some invented just for this purpose, have been put in place in Lake George and its surrounding watershed to measure a diverse array of variables related to weather, water runoff, water circulation, and water quality, including the influence
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of human encroachments, such as road salt. This is far beyond “Internet of Things” technology, toward something President Jackson sees as the future, “An Intelligent Internet of Intelligent Things,” in which a network is smart and recognizes the opportunities and vulnerabilities in data streams — and the devices it connects also are smart, and able to adapt to changing conditions. In this case, the sensors are able autonomously to collect more data when something interesting, such as a storm, is in progress. The incoming data — roughly 9 terabytes per year — then are wirelessly communicated in real time to the Helen-Jo and John E. Kelly III ’78 Data Visualization Laboratory, where high-performance computing, computer modeling, and visualization help to reveal the insights within this data, that can then guide predictions and experimentation — all with the goal of protecting water quality and the food web. Recently expanded to Skaneateles Lake, an important drinking water source, The Jefferson Project has identified one of the causes of a toxic algae bloom, and is poised to deliver its data-driven approach to other lakes.
Shirley Ann Jackson has qualities that are key to any successful organization: an ability to plan, consistency in realizing the plan, and a willingness to seize new opportunities as they appear on the horizon.” Frederick W. Smith, founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx Corp.
Another important research initiative and another important partnership with IBM is the Cognitive and Immersive Systems Laboratory, or CISL. Based at EMPAC, CISL is creating smart “situations rooms,� such as a smart boardroom, classroom, or design studio. These rooms integrate cognitive computing and hierarchies of intelligent agents with advanced immersive systems in order to facilitate meetings, with the goal of radically enhancing group learning and decision-making.
Rensselaer and IBM also have joined forces to improve decision-making in the arena of personal health, with the goal of preventing chronic diseases. The Center for Health Empowerment by Analytics, Learning, and Semantics, or HEALS, is using cognitive computing, data analytics, and the technologies of the Semantic Web to help clinicians to keep their patients from developing chronic conditions, by providing those patients with personalized information that takes into account their specific medical and life circumstances.
At the crossroads of The New Polytechnic, a healthier, cleaner, and more creative world is being shaped.
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TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR INTELLECTUAL AGILITY, MULTICULTURAL SOPHISTICATION, AND A GLOBAL VIEW
Support for innovations in teaching, learning, and student life has continued apace under The Rensselaer Plan 2024. New and more exciting ways to teach and to learn continue to emerge from groundbreaking Rensselaer research. An effort named the Mandarin Project has developed a group game narrative to teach the Mandarin Chinese language and culture, including immersive experiences designed to give students the experience of being in Beijing, with no plane ticket required. Now, the Cognitive and Immersive Systems Laboratory has used the Mandarin Project for the academic debut of its smart classroom, and is employing both artificial intelligence and leading-edge immersive technologies to help students to master the most difficult aspects of the language and to increase their sense of engagement with the Chinese culture. Rensselaer has continued to introduce new academic programs, including a new technologically inflected Bachelor of Science degree in Music, designed to ready Rensselaer students — many of whom arrive at Rensselaer with considerable musical accomplishments — for 21stcentury careers in music. The launch of this degree was celebrated in October 2018 with a magnificent performance by the Rensselaer Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Another initiative titled Art_X ensures that all Rensselaer students become familiar with aesthetic concepts such as symmetry and the Golden Mean that are common to the arts, architecture, mathematics, science, and technology, to spur their own creativity. Infused throughout the curriculum, and in co-curricular activities, Art_X is bringing together Rensselaer students and faculty in all five schools in engaging new ways, and challenging them to learn from each other. Rensselaer also has instituted a “data dexterity” requirement, the first of its kind in the nation, that reflects the reality of the enormous amounts of digital data humanity is generating and the fact that leaders in every field will need to understand how to find insights within diverse datasets. Every Rensselaer undergraduate is now required to complete two data-intensive courses, and for those who wish to go further, a multidisciplinary Data Science and Engineering minor is offered.
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The boldest innovation in pedagogy and student life under The Rensselaer Plan 2024 is The Arch, a reorganization of the academic calendar. Under The Arch, all undergraduates remain on campus during the summer after their sophomore year, completing junior-level classes. During this summer on campus, they profit from the exclusive attention of Rensselaer faculty and staff at a critical juncture in their educational careers. The Center for Career and Professional Development focuses on these rising juniors, offering programs, panels, and networking opportunities, to help them choose their away experience. Then, during the traditional junior year, students leave campus for at least a full semester, to enjoy an intellectual adventure specifically suited to their own passions and interests — and still are able to graduate on time. That adventure may be a semester spent studying abroad, an internship in their chosen field, an intensive research project, a volunteer service post, or the launch of an entrepreneurial enterprise.
Plutarch wrote, ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson has continuously provided kindling to that flame of learning burning brightly within our students at RPI, through innovative programs, learning techniques, and facilities that enable our students to be limited only by their own imaginations and creativity.” Wanda Denson-Low ’78, JD, Vice Chair of the Rensselaer Board of Trustees; former Senior Vice President, Office of Internal Governance, The Boeing Company
Under The Arch, Rensselaer students not only expand their academic horizons — they are challenged to develop professional skills and to learn from their exposure to new cultures of all kinds.
Rensselaer graduates long have been in high demand from the best employers and graduate schools. With these new mind-expanding, aperture-broadening experiences President Jackson has woven into their college years, they truly stand apart.
New Degree Programs for Remarkable Careers Architectural Sciences, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Biophysics, Ph.D.
Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences, B.S.
Quantitative Finance and Risk Analytics, M.S.
Biological Neuroscience, B.S.
Human Computer Interaction, M.S.
Supply Chain Management, M.S.
Business Analytics, B.S., M.S.
Information Technology, M.S.
Sustainability Studies, B.S.
Cognitive Science, B.S., M.S., Ph.D.
Information Technology and Web Science, B.S.
Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship, M.S.
Critical Game Design, M.S., Ph.D. Design, Innovation, and Society, B.S. Electronic Arts, B.S., Ph.D.
Multidisciplinary Science, M.S., Ph.D. Music, B.S.
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TRANSFORMATIVE: CAMPAIGN FOR GLOBAL CHANGE
To ready Rensselaer, the oldest technological research university in the nation, for global leadership in the 21st century, the “Transformative: Campaign for Global Change” was launched in October 2017.
Co-chaired by Trustee Paul J. Severino ’69 and his wife, Kathleen, the campaign was officially inaugurated with $400 million already raised in its quiet phase, and with an ultimate goal of $1 billion. These funds will support three pillars: The first is increasing student financial aid and investing in the student experience. The cost of the education offered at Rensselaer — world-class, immersive, and experiential — has outstripped the financial means of many students, and 43% of Rensselaer undergraduate students currently need more financial aid than the Institute can provide. The campaign intends to create an endowment for student scholarships to bridge this gap, and to allow Rensselaer to educate the most talented students, regardless of socioeconomic background.
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The second pillar focuses on the faculty. The resources unleashed by the campaign will be used to create new endowed professorships that will allow Rensselaer to attract and retain the very best academic talent from around the world. Endowed chairs will allow Rensselaer to expand its tenured and tenure-track faculty to 500, so that Rensselaer can achieve intellectual critical mass in crucial areas of research and education for “the application of science to the common purposes of life.” The third pillar focuses on the beautiful Troy campus. Rensselaer facilities already had grown by 30 percent under The Rensselaer Plan. Now, the Institute needs to grow again to accommodate a larger faculty, and needs to modernize and equip itself for continued leadership in research, teaching, and student life. Among the new platforms envisioned are a state-of-the-art Center for Science, and the second phase of the East Campus Athletic Village. The goal is to create a physical plant that will increase research productivity, raise rankings and visibility, and improve the quality of students’ intellectual, athletic, and personal lives.
Twenty years of superb service have only enlarged President Jackson’s ambitions for Rensselaer, and her vision of what — with the intelligent application of resources and the backing of farsighted philanthropists — it can be.
Shirley Ann Jackson is the most dynamic thing that has happened to Rensselaer… probably in its history.” Howard Blitman ’50, honorary Rensselaer Trustee, President of the Blitman Building Corporation
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LOOKING BACK TO LOOK FORWARD
Today, the world is in flux. Climate change, evolving demographics, and transformative technologies are proving profoundly disruptive for societies around the world, and for universities such as ours. Yet within every great challenge lies great opportunities. At Rensselaer, we are surveying the landscape before us, and seizing those opportunities. With outside affiliations that inform her vision of where the world is going, and the insights offered by Rensselaer faculty, President Jackson continues to anticipate the future, so that Rensselaer can shape it. New initiatives are being created to address emerging challenges. Among those challenges is world population growth, combined with increasing urbanization. By 2050, the world’s urban infrastructure will have to expand to accommodate 2.5 billion more people — and by the end of the century, to double — a tremendous challenge in terms of human and environmental resilience. A new Institute for Energy, the Built Environment, and Smart Systems — a partnership of CASE, the School of Engineering, and the Brooklyn Law School — is being launched to design urban environments in light of increasing demand and emerging technologies. Such environments will include autonomous buildings that generate their own renewable energy, within a network of intelligent systems, including in communications and transportation.
When you do start up companies, you’ve got to do something unique. We’ve done that here. President Jackson has transformed us from where we were to a new paradigm. And she’s done it in a way that is uniquely Rensselaer’s. It’s not a copy of MIT or Caltech or Carnegie Mellon. It’s Rensselaer.” Paul Severino ’69, Rensselaer Trustee, co-founder and Chairman of Bay Networks Inc.
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A new partnership with IBM, the Artificial Intelligence Research Collaboration (AIRC), is designed to advance the science of artificial intelligence, while forwarding its applications in all fields. Current faculty experts in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as new faculty experts being hired in all five Rensselaer schools, will have their research and graduate students supported by the AIRC. IBM and Rensselaer also have created a special AI Horizons Scholars program for graduate students whose work is jointly overseen by a Rensselaer thesis adviser and an IBM research mentor. To undergird the AIRC, as well as many other programs, Rensselaer is planning to add a new high-performance computer system at the Center for Computational Innovations that will offer the most advanced university-based testbed for artificial intelligence and deep learning in the world. Over two decades, President Jackson consistently has honored the nearly 200-year-old vision of Rensselaer founders Amos Eaton and Stephen Van Rensselaer, including their wise insistence that students learn best by teaching themselves through experimentation, exploration, and presentation, and their high-minded belief that the purpose of a technological education is using innovations to uplift lives. She has honored them by pushing Rensselaer to the leading edge in research, in teaching and learning, and in the student experience — poised to seize new chances, and to break new ground.
For Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the future looks bright.
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Congratulatory Messages
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IN TRIBUTE TO 20 YEARS OF T R A N S FOR M AT I V E L E A DE R SH I P
As you read of the admiration and appreciation expressed within these pages, you will see that you captured the hearts and minds of your trustees, faculty, students, staff, alumni and alumnae, colleagues, peers, and friends. We, your family, knew you long before any of them, when you were a little girl experimenting with bees under the family back porch. You inspired our awe and wonder at your aspirations and determination. It is with deep affection that we add our voices to recognize this achievement and wish you continued success. We are thankful for your devotion, personal warmth, and support as a most caring wife, mother, sister, and aunt. Your Family
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20 YEARS OF SERVICE The Priem family would like to thank you for your 20 years of service to Rensselaer and your lifelong commitment to education, research, and our country. You not only have a deep understanding of pedagogy and a vision of what it should become, but you also have the unique skills and the unrelenting dedication and energy required to transform Rensselaer into the standard-bearer of what higher education will be for the next century… Cindi, Gabriel ’22, and Curtis Priem ’82, Secretary of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees, Co-Founder of Nvidia
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CONGRATULATIONS Dr. Jackson – Your brilliance and fearlessness has inspired us. Your innovative and entrepreneurial style has lifted us to greater heights. Your guidance and mentorship has left an indelible imprint on us. Thank you and congratulations on 20 years of extraordinary leadership. With great appreciation, Craig A. Cook
Robert Hull
Lee McElroy
Graig R. Eastin
Richie C. Hunter
Curtis Powell
Secretary of the Institute and General Counsel Vice President, Institute Advancement
Prabhat Hajela Provost
Barbara J. Hough
Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Senior Associate Vice President for Research Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Relations
John Kolb ’79, ’83G
Vice President, Information Services and Technology and Chief Information Officer
Peter Konwerski
Associate Vice President & Director of Athletics Vice President for Human Resources
Claude Rounds
Vice President, Administration
Jonathan D. Wexler
Vice President, Enrollment Management
Vice President for Student Life
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CONGRATULATIONS! Dr. Jackson, Congratulations and thank you for 20 years of outstanding leadership and service to our great institution. You developed a great vision for Rensselaer; you set high standards for quality and excellence; you built, mentored, and supported excellent teams; and, through your intellect, vision, and work you transformed the Institute. Your work will stand the test of time, for it has positioned Rensselaer to transform the world in the 21st century and beyond. It is an honor and a privilege to be part of your team. With heartfelt gratitude, Curtis M. Breneman Dean, School of Science
Prabhat Hajela Provost
Evan J. Douglis Dean, School of Architecture
Aric W. Krause Dean, Academic and Administrative Affairs, Rensselaer at Hartford
Stanley M. Dunn Vice Provost and Dean, Graduate Education Chanaka Edirisinghe Acting Dean, Lally School of Management Shekhar Garde Dean, School of Engineering
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Keith Moo-Young Vice Provost and Dean, Undergraduate Education Mary H. Simoni Dean, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
WITH DEEP APPRECIATION For her tireless efforts, Thanks and Congratulations to Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson for 20 years of Leadership and Vision and Transforming Rensselaer — leading it into and positioning it to thrive in the 21st century. Beth and Arthur Golden ’66, Chair, Board of Trustees
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THANK YOU Dr. Jackson, your 20 years of leadership and commitment to the overall student experience made it possible for students like our son to achieve great things, due in part to the fire you “kindled” on Analytics. Christopher, a member of the classes of 2012 and 2014, was part of the inaugural class of the Master of Science in Business Analytics program. On behalf of your extended Rensselaer family, congratulations on this tremendous milestone! Ronald Low and Wanda Denson-Low ’78, Vice Chair of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees, Retired Senior VP, Boeing
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
DR. JACKSON, Your 20 years of visionary leadership at Rensselaer have transformed the student experience and the reputation of the school. When I reflect on what Rensselaer has done for me and my family, I am grateful you have led the institution to an even better place. Congratulations!
T.J. Wojnar Jr. ’80 Trustee, Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning, ExxonMobil Corporation
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CONGRATULATIONS Dr. Jackson, the past 20 years of your leadership has brought Rensselaer to a place where it can own its future and be a highly competitive and differentiated technological university. You have raised the bar and created a flow of graduates destined to truly create positive change for the world and through them, improve the human condition. So many lives will be enhanced by the work you have done. Congratulations on this enormous contribution and sustainable success. Louise and Roy Davis ’78G, Trustee
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
DR. JACKSON Reflecting on the past two decades of your leadership and accomplishments at Rensselaer, you indeed have enabled our students and faculty to change the world. Your vision, hard work, and sheer determination are honored to call you a colleague and friend. On behalf of the Pickett family, best of luck for your future and congratulations on this incredible milestone! Jennifer and Daniel T. Pickett III ’90 Trustee, President, Hudson River Capital Co-Chairs, Transformative: Campaign For Global Change
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CONGRATULATIONS Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, On your 20 years of inspired leadership. You have reimagined and built a Rensselaer for the 21st century. Through your hard work and dedication, RPI has new People, Programs, Platforms, and Partnerships that will benefit our students and mankind for years to come.
It has been my privilege to contribute to and participate in this transformation. Paula Loring Simon ’68 Trustee (1996 – present)
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THANK YOU With the determination and brilliance of Dr. Jackson and her leadership team, she turned the course of history to shoot RPI to the moon. Thank you, Dr. Jackson, for your wisdom and leadership through the last 20 years. You are a SUPER STAR! Nancy S. Mueller, Trustee
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CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS! With appreciation and a big thank you to Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson on the occasion of the 20th year of her presidency at RPI. We recognize you for your leadership and personal commitment to education, scholarship and development at Rensselaer. Best personal regards, Susan and Gary DiCamillo ’73
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
CONGRATULATIONS Greetings and congratulations, Dr. Jackson, on your 20 years of tremendous leadership at the helm of Rensselaer. You have had so many great accomplishments during your tenure, and the Rensselaer community and I personally are very proud and thankful for all you have done. John J. Nigro, Honorary Trustee
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CONGRATULATIONS DR. JACKSON! Your inspiring leadership over the past 20 years has transformed the vision of the Rensselaer Plan into reality. Because of your dedication and perseverance, RPI is flourishing today with renewed prestige, recognition, and global impact. Your continuing efforts to ensure the University is well-prepared to enter its third century are an inspiration to us all. Gail and I thank you sincerely for all you have done and will continue to do at the helm of this great University. And we are proud to do our part to help. Gail and Jeffrey Kodosky ’70, Trustee
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
DEAR PRESIDENT JACKSON, Thank you for leading the way on ensuring “the quiet crisis” did not remain a hidden crisis. Your outspoken advocacy that all communities be fully engaged as talented members of the national and international engineering and science workforce holds the promise of unanticipated discoveries and their creative application to improvements in human health, safety, and welfare. Congratulations on this extraordinary milestone of 20 years as President of Rensselaer! Janet C. Rutledge ’83, Trustee Dean of the Graduate School, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Norman L. Fortenberry Executive Director, American Society for Engineering Education
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THANK YOU DR. JACKSON For your vision, leadership, commitment, and dedication, to the transformation of Rensselaer. As a result of your drive and perseverance, Rensselaer has substantially improved facilities, an even more gifted and engaged faculty, an amazingly qualified and capable student body, and world-class academic programs. Jeanne and I are truly proud of the progress at Rensselaer resulting from your leadership and many contributions! Jeanne and Frank Fischer ’64, ’65G, Trustee
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
CONGRATULATIONS Dr. Jackson, Mona and I would like to congratulate you on your amazing 20 years as President of Rensselaer. Under your leadership, the University now stands as one of the best scientific and engineering schools in the country. Your enlightened vision of the future, commitment to educational excellence, and providing the very best learning environment for students has ensured RPI’s success for years to come. Once again, a huge thanks for your outstanding accomplishments. Mona and Ed Zander ’68 Trustee and Former Chairman and CEO of Motorola Corp.
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CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES DR. JACKSON On your 20 years of leadership and innovation! Liann and David Ho ’86, Trustee
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
CONGRATULATIONS DR. JACKSON on your 20 years of distinguished service to Rensselaer! Hope L. and David M. Hirsch ’65, Trustee
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ENDURING LEGACY Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been a worldwide leader in technological education for nearly two centuries. Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson has guided and strengthened that leadership for 20 years. Rensselaer is honored by her enduring legacy of knowledge and thoroughness. John W. Carr ’77, ’79G, Trustee
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
WITH DEEP APPRECIATION President Jackson, for your visionary leadership and unwavering commitment for the past 20 years, we salute you. It has been a pleasure to work with you, and we wish you continued success! Kathy and Paul Severino ’69, Trustee, Campaign Co-Chairs
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WITH THE UTMOST ADMIRATION AND AFFECTION FOR DR. SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON For providing the vision and transforming Rensselaer to be on a world-changing trajectory for the 21st century. For challenging us all to be intellectually curious even while demonstrating how to value and cherish each other. Congratulations on 20 years of leadership. Ranjana and Siva Sivaram ’85G, ’86 Ph.D.
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
WITH APPRECIATION AND GRATITUDE TO DR. SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON For your 20 years of groundbreaking leadership at Rensselaer and a lifetime of inspiration to women in STEM fields everywhere. Congratulations! Robert Jojo ’92G and Linda Jojo ’87, ’92G, Trustee
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CONGRATULATIONS ON 20 FANTASTIC YEARS! Dr. Jackson, you have made a tremendous difference at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The caliber of the students, the capabilities of the faculty, the quality of the learning experience, the vibrancy of the campus and, notably, the stature of the school are all outstanding as a result of your leadership. We are proud to be your partners in the Rensselaer family and we look forward to even better things to come. Thank you for your extraordinary leadership. Terri and Mark Little, Ph.D. ’82, Trustee and Retired CTO, GE
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson for 20 years of inspiring leadership. Kay and Jackson Tai ’72, Trustee
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PRESIDENT JACKSON has consistently made time to get to know students from a diverse group of clubs and organizations. She has been willing to dream with us and hear our plans for the future of the Union and all of its offerings. She has supported the Union as it has gone through many physical and cultural changes over the last 20 years. Our newest addition to the Union aesthetic, the Hearthstone installation, symbolizes this partnership between student leaders, union administrative staff, the administration, and Dr. Jackson. Thank you and congratulations! Meagan Lettko ’20 154th Grand Marshal of the Rensselaer Union Caitlin Kennedy ’20 130th President of the Rensselaer Union
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CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP
BEST WISHES The proud alumni of the RAA Chapter of New York City send best wishes to Dr. Jackson and thank her for 20 years of transformative leadership and vision. Chapter President Brett A. Shisler ’04 Vice President Jonathan Zola ’04 Treasurer Juan (Julia) Wu ’10G H. Roi Hansraj ’98, Director of Programming Viola Wu ’15, Director of Engagement Jennifer Papazian ’16, Director of Social Media
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CONGRATULATIONS DR. JACKSON On your 20 years of visionary leadership at Rensselaer! Kathryn I. Murtagh ’87 Co-Chair, Rensselaer New England Executive Council
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CONGRATULATIONS Congratulations on 20 years of remarkable leadership, Dr. Jackson! You have changed Rensselaer – and all of us – for the better. Tenée and Jim Casaccio and your friends at JMZ Architects and Planners, P.C.
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ENDURING LEGACY The Rensselaer community has been so lucky to have you as our leader for 20 years. Very few university Presidents serve for two decades, and still fewer have the kind of impact that you have had at Rensselaer. You are simply amazing! Thank you for your leadership and friendship. Helen-Jo Kelly and John E. Kelly III ’78G, ’80 Ph.D., Trustee Co-Chairs, Transformative: Campaign For Global Change
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