Speaker 1: I was one of just two African American women in
Speaker 1: my freshman class of about nine plus, and the other
Speaker 1: students were sometimes quite unfriendly and even the professors could
Speaker 1: be discouraging. One professor advised me when I was considering
Speaker 1: majoring in physics that colored girls should learn a trade. Now.
Speaker 1: Needless to say, I was quite taken aback and hurt
Speaker 1: by those low expectations for me, especially since ironically I
Speaker 1: had the highest braids in this class. That was Dr
Speaker 1: Shirley Jackson, physicist, President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a
Speaker 1: groundbreaker in every way, including as the first African American
Speaker 1: woman to get a PhD from m I t I'm
Speaker 1: a land Revere and this is Seneca's one d. Women
Speaker 1: to hear. We are bringing you one hundred of the
Speaker 1: world's most inspiring and history making women. You need to hear.
Speaker 1: Dr Jackson made history in when she became the first
Speaker 1: woman and first African American to lead Rensselaer, a world
Speaker 1: renowned school that is the oldest technological research university in
Speaker 1: the United States. Prior to that, Dr Jackson was an academic,
Speaker 1: a researcher, and served as head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Speaker 1: Quite a journey for someone who began her education by
Speaker 1: attending segregated public schools in Washington, d C. Listen and
Speaker 1: learn why Dr Shirley Jackson is one of Seneca's one
Speaker 1: hundred Women to Hear. I'm here today with Dr Shirley Jackson,
Speaker 1: the president of Rensselaer Politech, a institute, but just an
Speaker 1: extraordinary leader in her time, in our time, a very
Speaker 1: strong leader for the United States in the world of science,
Speaker 1: and more so, Dr Jackson, it is an extraordinary pleasure
Speaker 1: to be with you today. Well, it's my pleasure to
Speaker 1: be here and my honor. Thank you very much for heaven.
Speaker 1: You are a physicist, which is a mouthful to say
Speaker 1: about any women, because we have so few women and
Speaker 1: science and we need far more. But you are not
Speaker 1: just a physicist. You were the first African American woman
Speaker 1: to get a PhD from m I T and the
Speaker 1: second African American woman in the United States to earn
Speaker 1: a doctorate in physics. What was there in your background
Speaker 1: in growing up that motivated you to go into science
Speaker 1: and physics when it still seems so elusive a field
Speaker 1: for women. Well, I would say that it it was
Speaker 1: rooted in my growing up and my parents who were wonderful,
Speaker 1: and I think i'd like to tell you just a
Speaker 1: little bit about them, because I think that will explain
Speaker 1: a lot. My mother was a social worker who originally
Speaker 1: was a teacher, and she loved literature and reading was
Speaker 1: an excellent writer. She taught all of us, my siblings
Speaker 1: and made to read before kindergarten. My father was a
Speaker 1: postal worker who never had the opportunity to graduate from
Speaker 1: high school, but he was very mathematically and mechanically gifted.
Speaker 1: He could do many things in his head. He served
Speaker 1: actually in World War Two in a segregated army unit,
Speaker 1: and during the Normandy invasion, when the rudders of the
Speaker 1: amphibious vehicles bringing the supplies and some troops to shore
Speaker 1: kept breaking, he actually was able to improvise a repair
Speaker 1: with a special splice that he created on the spot,
Speaker 1: and for that he received a bronze Star. In fact,
Speaker 1: his technique was taught to the U. S. Army maintenance
Speaker 1: units throughout France for the remainder of the conflict. So
Speaker 1: my parents encouraged my early interests in science. My father
Speaker 1: actually helped me and my siblings to build and race
Speaker 1: go carts, of all things. I learned a lot about
Speaker 1: the principles of mechanics and aerodynamics from this experience, and
Speaker 1: I quickly figured out that the skill of the go
Speaker 1: cart driver was less important than the aerodynamic design of
Speaker 1: the vehicle, which was a good thing since I was
Speaker 1: not cut out to be a race car driver. But
Speaker 1: I also would capture live bees, live bumble bees, and
Speaker 1: keep them in Mason jars under our back porch. We
Speaker 1: had a crawl space under the porch, and so I
Speaker 1: would observe how they behaved under different conditions, such as
Speaker 1: the relative amount of light and darkness they were exposed
Speaker 1: to over the course of a day. Now today we
Speaker 1: would say that I was doing experiments in circadian biology, which,
Speaker 1: as you know, refers to the chemical clocks inside ourselves
Speaker 1: that respond to cycles of light and darkness during a
Speaker 1: twenty four hour day. This turns out to be an
Speaker 1: important area of research, including at Rensler Polytechnic Institute, because
Speaker 1: we're increasingly finding out more about disruptions in our circadian
Speaker 1: rhythms having many impacts on our health. But I was
Speaker 1: also fortunate in that my childhood coincided with great world
Speaker 1: events that in the end benefited me. In nineteen fifty seven,
Speaker 1: for example, the then Soviet Union launched sput Nick one,
Speaker 1: the first Earth orbiting artificial satellite, which people knew then
Speaker 1: but who lived then no occasioned a degree of panic
Speaker 1: among US political leaders and policy makers that we might
Speaker 1: be losing the Cold War, and this sparked the space race,
Speaker 1: which was really a science based defense race, and spurred
Speaker 1: a rigorous emphasis on math and science in the public
Speaker 1: schools which I attended. But this dovetailed with my own
Speaker 1: interests and abilities and allowed me to excel. And so
Speaker 1: that was one key element of of what led me
Speaker 1: to where I ended up in physics. So many interesting
Speaker 1: influences really, and you couldn't have predicted much of it,
Speaker 1: I guess, But you talked about being a product of
Speaker 1: the times, particularly when it came to spot Nick. But
Speaker 1: also the decision on Brown v. Board of Education made
Speaker 1: a difference in your life. What was the effect that
Speaker 1: that ruling in nineteen fifty four did for you? Because
Speaker 1: the court rule that US state laws establishing racial segregation
Speaker 1: in the public schools was no longer constitutional, it was unconstitutional.
Speaker 1: How did that affect your life? I'm glad you asked
Speaker 1: me about that. Because the Brown Uh, the Board of
Speaker 1: Education decision, you know, overlapped in time with the launch
Speaker 1: of the Sputnik satellite, and because of that momentous Supreme
Speaker 1: Court decision, the public schools in Washington, d C. Were
Speaker 1: desegregated in nineteen This meant that I could attend a
Speaker 1: good school right in my own neighborhood, with children from
Speaker 1: backgrounds that were different than mine, which introduced me to
Speaker 1: new perspectives, but also with more competition we spurred me on.
Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, before then we would have to travel past
Speaker 1: that school to a school miles away that had been
Speaker 1: the school for what they then call colored children. But
Speaker 1: after the ground v Board of Education decision, we could
Speaker 1: walk to that school. It then turned out that I
Speaker 1: was tested uh in the sixth grade into an accelerated
Speaker 1: honors academic program beginning in the seventh grade, which allowed
Speaker 1: me actually to finish the regular college press curriculum a
Speaker 1: year early, and overall the Finnish high school with a
Speaker 1: number of college level courses and courses that people would
Speaker 1: call a p courses today. I also was the valedictorian
Speaker 1: of my high school graduating class, and and that all
Speaker 1: opened the door for me to go to to m
Speaker 1: I T. So what a liberating impact that had? Uh?
Speaker 1: And we need to think over and over today why
Speaker 1: these decisions of this kind matter so greatly. So you
Speaker 1: talked about the acceleration that that provided you, and then
Speaker 1: you went on to m I T and you were
Speaker 1: studying theoretical physics. There. You were one of fewer than
Speaker 1: twenty black students, not just black students in physics, but
Speaker 1: all told at m I T. Now what was that
Speaker 1: like for you and what kind of lessons or impressions
Speaker 1: did you take from it that have stayed with you? Well,
Speaker 1: thank you for asking that as well. You know, I've
Speaker 1: arrived at m I T just a year after the
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty three March on Washington in nineteen sixty four
Speaker 1: as an undergraduate, and when I arrived, it was, as
Speaker 1: it is today, a challenging and thrilling place to receive
Speaker 1: an education, particularly one in what we refer to as
Speaker 1: stem fields. But it also was rather cold on the
Speaker 1: personal front. I was one of just two African American
Speaker 1: women in my freshman class of about nine plus, and
Speaker 1: the other students were sometimes quite unfriendly, so I was
Speaker 1: not invited for example, to join the study groups, that
Speaker 1: the women in my dorm form and even the professors
Speaker 1: could be discouraging. And even though I was doing well,
Speaker 1: one one professor advised me when I was considering majoring
Speaker 1: in physics, uh, that colored girls should learn a trade. Now,
Speaker 1: needless to say, I was quite taken aback and hurt
Speaker 1: by those low expectations for me, especially since ironically I
Speaker 1: had the highest grades in this class MHM. To be honest,
Speaker 1: because of how my parents had raised me, I thought
Speaker 1: about my chances and my choices, and a chance had
Speaker 1: made me colored what we would say is African American today.
Speaker 1: Chance had made me a female a girl. Now I
Speaker 1: readily embraced both of those. But in terms of choice, uh,
Speaker 1: I chose physics irrespective of of what this particular professor
Speaker 1: had advised. And so I've been talking with my parents,
Speaker 1: and even though I was hurt, I was faced with
Speaker 1: the option of either giving in to ignorance or pursuing excellence,
Speaker 1: and so I chose the latter, And I am so
Speaker 1: glad that I did, because I've had a wonderful life
Speaker 1: and career. Now I'll tell you a little bit more,
Speaker 1: because that also had an impact on the course of
Speaker 1: my life. In the spring of my senior year, while
Speaker 1: I was deciding were to attend graduate school and frankly
Speaker 1: feeling that I was ready to leave M I T.
Speaker 1: The University of Pennsylvania Physics department, which had accepted me
Speaker 1: into its graduate program, invited me to visit, and I
Speaker 1: had a great visit. But as I was leaving penn
Speaker 1: after the visit in a car with my sorority sister
Speaker 1: on my way to the Philadelphia airport, the radio broadcast
Speaker 1: was interrupted and we learned that the Reverend doctor Martin
Speaker 1: Luther King, Junior had been shot in Memphis and later died,
Speaker 1: and we nearly drove the car off the road. By
Speaker 1: the time I got back to Cambridge, I knew and
Speaker 1: I had decided that I would remain at M I
Speaker 1: T for graduate school. I was inspired and had been
Speaker 1: by the courage of doctor King and the other leaders
Speaker 1: of the civil rights movement, and I knew that M
Speaker 1: I T was a place where I could have a
Speaker 1: great opportunity to change things for the better. So within
Speaker 1: a few months of beginning UH my graduate program, I
Speaker 1: was one of the co founders of the Black Students Union,
Speaker 1: and we presented pen proposals to the m I T administration.
Speaker 1: Now to ourselves we call them demands. To the administration,
Speaker 1: we call them proposals. And then Associate Provost Paul Gray,
Speaker 1: who later became president of m i T, listened um
Speaker 1: and he formed a task Force on Educational Opportunity. That
Speaker 1: was the administration's response, and I was asked to join it.
Speaker 1: Now that task force accomplished a great deal, and m
Speaker 1: i T did begin to hire black administrators and some faculty,
Speaker 1: and began for the first time to recruit minority students.
Speaker 1: It also initiated a summer program called Project Interface that
Speaker 1: helped to prepare incoming minority freshmen for the rigorous course
Speaker 1: work they would encourage and that they would encounter rather
Speaker 1: at m i T. And although I was still a
Speaker 1: graduate student, I was asked to teach in and then
Speaker 1: ultimately to take over and design the physics curriculum. UH
Speaker 1: after the first year of that program. I'm proud to
Speaker 1: say that the African American students I helped to bring
Speaker 1: to m i T and helped to adjust to its
Speaker 1: culture did very well. They've gone on to be very
Speaker 1: very high level professionals. They proved to the world that
Speaker 1: scientific and engineering talent is not restricted to one race,
Speaker 1: one sex, or one story of origin or one gender choice.
Speaker 1: And because I had proven that I could both excel
Speaker 1: in theoretical physics and identify practical ways to address an
Speaker 1: intricate institutional challenge, I ultimately was offered many more opportunities
Speaker 1: for leadership. Seneca has one hundred women to hear will
Speaker 1: be back after the short break, you know. Listening to you,
Speaker 1: I I just say to myself, thank God that you
Speaker 1: had the the constitution to overcome some of these cultural shocks,
Speaker 1: that you had the resilience to keep your eye on
Speaker 1: the prize, so to speak, because your accomplishments have been
Speaker 1: so substantial. You know, I remember first knowing Dr Shirley
Speaker 1: Jackson when I was in the Clinton administration. You were
Speaker 1: the chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Now I didn't
Speaker 1: know much about what the Nuclear regular Tory Commission was doing,
Speaker 1: but you were a giant and you continue to be obviously,
Speaker 1: and you've gone on now to be president of Rensselaer
Speaker 1: Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological research university in the United States.
Speaker 1: By all accounts, it's been an institution that you have
Speaker 1: in many ways transformed. So what was it like starting
Speaker 1: out at r P I and then what was your
Speaker 1: vision and what continues to be your motivation. Well, let
Speaker 1: me just give you a bit of history about rent.
Speaker 1: Renseler has had a rich history since eight it's the
Speaker 1: actually the oldest private technological university in the US, and
Speaker 1: that history includes producing outstanding graduates, the ones who have
Speaker 1: designed and built much of the physical and early digital
Speaker 1: infrastructure of the US and the world. And I just
Speaker 1: mentioned a few the trans Continental Railroad, the microprocessor, the
Speaker 1: digital camera, and the first mapping in sequencing of the
Speaker 1: genomes of disease pathogens. All of these were spearheaded by
Speaker 1: our graduates. And I was intrigued by the fact that
Speaker 1: here was another, UH great technological university, not unlike the
Speaker 1: one where I had gotten my degrees. And the board
Speaker 1: of Trustees UH indicated that it wanted a change agent.
Speaker 1: And because of what I had accomplished at the NRC
Speaker 1: that you mentioned so kindly, UH, they felt that I
Speaker 1: could make a difference, and I had transformed the regulatory
Speaker 1: program of the NRC as well as how it operated.
Speaker 1: Now by the time I was asked to assume the
Speaker 1: presidency of Rentlyre by its board of trustees. The university
Speaker 1: had gone through a somewhat rudderless period when had five
Speaker 1: leaders in fourteen years. Ay, it was a much beloved
Speaker 1: prior president who unfortunately passed away in office who had
Speaker 1: been Associate administrator of NASA. His name was George Low
Speaker 1: And but after he passed away that the university went
Speaker 1: through this series of presidents and acting presidents. So I
Speaker 1: was asked to come in to stabilize it, but to
Speaker 1: transform it at the same time. And so we developed
Speaker 1: the plan that we simply called the rents Leer Plan
Speaker 1: because it was built on the idea of the original
Speaker 1: rent Alerian Plan, which laid out the program of work
Speaker 1: and study for the original uh Rentslar Institute, which became
Speaker 1: rent Polytechnic Institute by the way, even being founded in
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty four. What also intrigued me was that rents
Speaker 1: Leer was founded to educate and women. It was founded
Speaker 1: to educate the sons and daughters, it said, of farmers
Speaker 1: and mechanics who would apply science to the common purposes
Speaker 1: of life. And so we that plan covered everything from
Speaker 1: improving the undergraduate experience both from a a student life perspective,
Speaker 1: a curricular perspective, and literally the facilities the students lived
Speaker 1: in and spent time. But I also felt that we
Speaker 1: had to make a down payment in new research thrusts
Speaker 1: that would be important to the the US and to
Speaker 1: the world going forward. And so in our research enterprise,
Speaker 1: we made major investments in five what we call signature
Speaker 1: thrust areas that we felt would be a fundamental importance
Speaker 1: in the twenty one century. And they include computational science
Speaker 1: and engineering, biotechnology and the life sciences, nanotechnology and advanced materials, energy,
Speaker 1: the environment, and smart systems. And here's the interesting one, media,
Speaker 1: the arts, science and technology. Wow, you've talked about the
Speaker 1: quiet crisis that this country faces, challenges to American innovation
Speaker 1: and competitiveness. Why are we in a quiet crisis and
Speaker 1: what should we be doing about it? Well, when you
Speaker 1: think about it, if you think about women, and then
Speaker 1: you add underrepresented minorities, then you're talking about a majority
Speaker 1: of the population. So if we're trying to solve national
Speaker 1: and global challenges as well as trying to compete with
Speaker 1: other nations, we can't do that without engaging the full
Speaker 1: complement of talent. So our natural failure to bring women
Speaker 1: and underrepresented minorities into the STEM professions in the way
Speaker 1: we should in sufficient numbers does represent a quiet crisis.
Speaker 1: And it's quiet because it takes years to to educate
Speaker 1: and train hype functioning professionals in these fields. But it's
Speaker 1: a crisis because our livelihoods are national defense and security,
Speaker 1: homeland security, as well as our ability to help uplift
Speaker 1: other nations, all risks on excellence in these areas and
Speaker 1: tapping the complete talent pool. And so the United States
Speaker 1: has just not been making the progress it should, and
Speaker 1: in some fields going backwards. If you think of the
Speaker 1: remarkable opportunities and job growth in the computer sciences and
Speaker 1: related areas, think about that. It makes no sense that
Speaker 1: in African Americans earned nearly of batteries degree in computer
Speaker 1: science and twenty years later we were at eight point
Speaker 1: seven seven. But if you look at the situation with women,
Speaker 1: it's even more stark, where the share of bachelor's degrees
Speaker 1: in computer science declined over twenty years from under And
Speaker 1: so we can and should do better. You know, I
Speaker 1: I heard a female scientists some years ago talk about
Speaker 1: the situation you just described as a ticking time bomb
Speaker 1: that we critically needed to address or we were going
Speaker 1: to find ourselves in exactly the situation you just described.
Speaker 1: So what do we do about the underrepresentation, certainly for
Speaker 1: women and women of color. We aren't where we need
Speaker 1: to be. There's so many conversations today about getting women
Speaker 1: into STEM. What should we be doing that we're not
Speaker 1: doing well? The first thing we have to do is
Speaker 1: to believe and acknowledge and recognize the importance of bringing
Speaker 1: the full complement of talent onboard men, women, people of
Speaker 1: all ethnic backgrounds, gender choices, and so we have to
Speaker 1: start there. And then we have to start early with
Speaker 1: ensuring that young people are invited and excited into STEM
Speaker 1: fields and that they get the right grounding in the
Speaker 1: fundamentals and can experience early success and exposure to what
Speaker 1: can be wrought through a career rooted in science, technology, engineering,
Speaker 1: and mathematics. And in many ways the education is quite cumulative. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, one cannot do algebra and trigonometry, and if
Speaker 1: one cannot add subtract multiplined by, and one can't do
Speaker 1: calculus and differential equations, if one can't do all the
Speaker 1: things leading up to it. So it's important that we
Speaker 1: raise and maintain the baseline level, and so those things
Speaker 1: coupled with removing barriers. You know, I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: disadvantage a group, because one is trying to ensure that
Speaker 1: those who have been underrepresented have an opportunity, but to
Speaker 1: elevate all of us, and frankly, we need to have
Speaker 1: more of our own citizens are joining and and going
Speaker 1: into these fields, even as we still recognize how much
Speaker 1: high level talent we've attracted historically from abroad, although that
Speaker 1: may be changing. Well, you mentioned education even at the
Speaker 1: earliest levels, getting fundamental math and science beyond then going
Speaker 1: into the more challenging aspects of the field. Is confidence
Speaker 1: an issue with women, generally women of color at a
Speaker 1: certain age that they drop out before even realizing this
Speaker 1: great potential they have to more seriously get into the field. Well,
Speaker 1: I think there are complexities that African American women and
Speaker 1: women of color face that are that are rooted in
Speaker 1: the challenges that women face on the one hand and
Speaker 1: minorities face on the other. Now, we know that women
Speaker 1: get dissuaded, many of them by the time they're in
Speaker 1: middle school from really thinking of themselves in these fields.
Speaker 1: And there's some fields that have been very male dominated,
Speaker 1: and that then will obviously redound to have an effect
Speaker 1: on African American or a minority women generally. But then
Speaker 1: it's further exact abated by sort of kind of a
Speaker 1: lack of confidence or belief in the talents of African
Speaker 1: Americans in this country and and other minorities in terms
Speaker 1: of people seeing them seeing us in these fields, and
Speaker 1: then that can become self inculcated so that they given
Speaker 1: individual doesn't see herself as either being able to do
Speaker 1: these uh do work in these fields, or even if
Speaker 1: they believe they could do it and are excited by
Speaker 1: the work, they may feel the mountains are too high
Speaker 1: to climb, and so people move and do other things.
Speaker 1: That's why you're such an inspiration. I just wanted to,
Speaker 1: as our our time is running out here to ask
Speaker 1: you about the future, about your hopes. It's a very
Speaker 1: challenging time by any definition, and you talked about challenges
Speaker 1: that you went through that still the center country in
Speaker 1: many ways. What gives you hope in Well, let me
Speaker 1: start this way. All of us in higher education are
Speaker 1: by definition in the whole business because we educate the
Speaker 1: next generations of innovators and discovery with discoverers and those
Speaker 1: who will be policymakers, et cetera. But from the perspective
Speaker 1: of the kind of institution I leave, you know, we
Speaker 1: really focus on those who will innovate, who will invent,
Speaker 1: who will discover, and join with those who come from
Speaker 1: other fields of endeavor to create what needs to be
Speaker 1: created to keep us moving forward. And so I believe
Speaker 1: it is truly the most important work in the world,
Speaker 1: and certainly here it rents layer. We are educating many
Speaker 1: dynamic women leaders in science and technology g We have
Speaker 1: women professors in computer science who have had great success
Speaker 1: in drawing young women into the field by proving to
Speaker 1: them that one does not have to grow up gaming
Speaker 1: or programming as many of the young men in the
Speaker 1: class do in order to succeed. In fact, our young
Speaker 1: women do quite well when they're here. They graduated very
Speaker 1: high rates, and they go on to do amazing things.
Speaker 1: We have more challenge with attracting and retaining minority students.
Speaker 1: But again, those who come here, they hang in, they
Speaker 1: do well, and they go on to do important things.
Speaker 1: And then there's another cause of the hope that while
Speaker 1: women still struggle, some of them to be promoted in corporations.
Speaker 1: We are seeing more of them move into the C suite,
Speaker 1: and pre pre pandemic, many women were starting businesses at
Speaker 1: a rather tory rate. Nationwide, the number of women owned
Speaker 1: businesses and grew by about over the five year period
Speaker 1: from Town and in fact, firms owned by women of
Speaker 1: color drew forty and that's despite the fact that women
Speaker 1: founded companies attract only a fraction of the available venture capital.
Speaker 1: Now the pandemic, of course, has put new stresses on
Speaker 1: many women. But I'm one who believes at times of
Speaker 1: upheaval can open up opportunities for those previously shut out
Speaker 1: of them. As we discussed at the beginning of our conversation,
Speaker 1: I benefited from a society and plux in the nineteen
Speaker 1: sixties and seventies which offered possibilities to me that would
Speaker 1: not have been offered to my parents. And I'm one
Speaker 1: who believes is that one has to step through one's
Speaker 1: window in time when it opens and to take advantage
Speaker 1: of whatever those opportunities there are offered. And so we've
Speaker 1: now arrived at another moment when there is at least
Speaker 1: more discussion about inequality of opportunity that it being recognized
Speaker 1: as something that in our democracy, at least in most quarters,
Speaker 1: it's not something that we should have define us or
Speaker 1: be tolerable. And so I suspect on the one hand
Speaker 1: that this current moment will inspire a new generation of
Speaker 1: women leaders and a new generation of leaders of color,
Speaker 1: including African Americans. And there's evidence that more of them
Speaker 1: want to go into medicine because of what has happened
Speaker 1: to minority communities in this pandemic. And so people will
Speaker 1: continue to aspire and strive, and then the society has
Speaker 1: to respond and and have those windows open, those doors open,
Speaker 1: those ceilings shattered, and then with that we will be
Speaker 1: and even greater country and global leader then ever, and
Speaker 1: and I do believe that, Oh that's so beautifully said.
Speaker 1: Embrace this moment, and there's no telling where we can go.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Dr Jackson. When I think scientists, educator,
Speaker 1: role model, you're certainly a leader of our time. This
Speaker 1: has been a wonderful, wonderful conversation. Thank you. I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: What an incredible woman. There's so much wisdom and what
Speaker 1: Dr Shirley Jackson has to say. Here are three things
Speaker 1: I took away from that conversation. First, never underestimate the
Speaker 1: power of national events to shape individual lives. Two historical
Speaker 1: moments had a big impact on her future. The nifty
Speaker 1: four Supreme Court case Brown versus the Board of Education,
Speaker 1: which desegregated public schools and allowed her to get a better,
Speaker 1: broader education, and the n seven launch of Sputnik, which
Speaker 1: made science a priority for the United States. Second, we
Speaker 1: need to pay attention to what Dr Jackson calls the
Speaker 1: quiet crisis in the United States. That is, when we
Speaker 1: failed to bring women and minorities into the stem professions.
Speaker 1: We fall behind as a nation because we're not tapping
Speaker 1: into our full talent pool. And finally, let's take hope
Speaker 1: from Dr Jackson's word about this current moment that current
Speaker 1: challenges will inspire a new generation of women leaders and
Speaker 1: leaders of color, and as a result, the windows will open,
Speaker 1: the doors will open, and the ceilings will shatter. Tune
Speaker 1: in next Tuesday to hear about our next featured woman
Speaker 1: and discover why she's one of Seneca's on Women to Hear.
Speaker 1: Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear is a collaboration between
Speaker 1: the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio, with
Speaker 1: support from founding partner Pung, have a great day.