Shirley Ann Jackson	Shirley Ann Jackson, AAAS President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Shirley Ann Jackson is the first African-American woman elected president of AAAS. A physicist, she has been an outspoken advocate and role model for underrepresented groups in science, and embraced the term "affirmative opportunity" as a rallying cry to all segments of society to engage talent from every sector of the population. Jackson was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998 for her significant contributions as a distinguished scientist and advocate for education, science and public policy, and was named one of the 50 Most Important Women in Science by Discover magazine. Among other achievements, she is the first African-American woman to receive a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the first two in the United States to receive a doctorate in physics, the first woman and African-American to serve as chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the first African-American woman to lead a national research university — as current president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute — and to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Her research specialties are: optical physics; theoretical, quantum and solid-state physics; science and technology policy; and nuclear energy and regulation. • BACK TO TOP
Steven W. Squyres	Steven W. Squyres, Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University Steven W. Squyres focuses his research on the geophysical characteristics of the large solid terrestrial planets and the satellites of the outer planets in our solar system. His best-known work includes study of the history and distribution of water on Mars and of the possible existence and habitability of a liquid water ocean on Europa. He has participated in many NASA's planetary exploration missions, including the Voyager mission to Jupiter and Saturn, the Magellan mission to Venus, and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. He is a co-investigator on the 2005 Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter missions, a member of the Gamma-Ray Spectrometer Flight Investigation Team for the Mars Odyssey mission, and a member of the imaging team for the Cassini mission to Saturn. As the scientific principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, he was responsible for the design, building and testing of the scientific tools on the twin solar-powered rovers. His work involves analysis of data from both spacecraft and ground-based telescopes, as well as a variety of types of geophysical modeling. Data analysis and theory are used together to examine the processes that have shaped the surfaces and interiors of these bodies. • BACK TO TOP
Mamphela Ramphele	Mamphela Ramphele, Managing Director, The World Bank Mamphela Ramphele, a medical doctor, civil rights leader, community development worker, academic researcher, and university administrator, was appointed one of four managing directors of the World Bank in May 2000. Growing up in remote, rural South Africa under the dictum “blacks should not be shown green pastures where they would never be allowed to graze,” she persevered against all odds to become a medical doctor. Today she leads the formulation of the World Bank’s policies on health, education, and the social dimension of globalization, including human rights. She also is in charge of integrating, monitoring, and evaluating progress in attaining the Millennium Development Goals, which vigorously promotes human development as the key to sustaining social and economic progress in all countries, and recognizes the importance of creating a global partnership for development. • BACK TO TOP
S. James Gates, Jr.	S. James Gates Jr., John S. Toll Professor of Physics and Director, Center for String and Particle Theory, University of Maryland S. James Gates, Jr., is a pioneer in the search for a new vision of physical reality. His doctoral dissertation at M.I.T. was the first ever at that university on supersymmetry. He and Einstein have much in common as seekers of the same elusive explanation. Einstein's theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity, when combined, fail to accurately describe the forces of the universe. Gates hopes that string theory, with the first signs of supersymmetry at hand, will emerge as the theory that describes all four forces of nature and all of matter within a single, all-encompassing framework. Dr. Gates is a college professor -- the first African-American to hold an endowed chair in physics at a major U.S. research university -- as well as an author and an expert at explaining complex physics to a non-physics audience. He has been a tireless proponent of the importance of communicating the ideas at the forefront of research to a general audience in order to foster the public's support of science. • BACK TO TOP
Julie Louise Gerberding	Julie Louise Gerberding, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry As the director of the nation's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Julie Gerberding is one of the most important doctors in the country. During her tenure at the CDC, she has addressed many critical medical issues, including SARS and the West Nile Virus. She also is the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which serves the public by using the best science, taking responsive public health actions, and providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances. Previously, Dr.Gerberding was acting deputy director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases, where she played a major role in leading CDC's response to the anthrax bioterrorism events of 2001. She joined CDC in 1998 and developed patient safety initiatives, among other programs, to prevent infections, antimicrobial resistance, and medical errors in healthcare settings. Dr. Gerberding is at the forefront in building our nation's capacity to protect the public's health during an era marked by disquieting medical news.