Shirley Ann Jackson, noted physicist and head of the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), was one of the first two African-American women to receive a doctorate in physics in the United States and the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate in any field from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
As a noted physicist, her work in the interaction of electrons on liquid helium films with surface excitations as a polaron problem gained her election as a fellow of the American Physical Society. As the first African-American woman to serve on the NRC and the first woman and African-American to lead that Commission, Jackson has articulated a vision reaffirming that agency's commitment to public health and safety. She has enhanced its regulatory effectiveness, and initiated a bottom-up strategic assessment, which is examining all NRC activities.