Calls for expanded student exchange and research collaboration in speech at Beijing Normal University

Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson joined U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dina Habib Powell, and a delegation of 11 other United States university and college presidents traveling to Japan, Korea, and China to promote U.S. higher education in Asia. The delegation met with key government officials, university leaders, students, business leaders, and others during the trip, November 10 to 18, 2006.

“As President of the nation’s oldest technological research university with a long history of educating students from around the world, I understand the transformational power of education to unleash human talent and realize our collective potential,” President Jackson said.

“As the world becomes ever-more connected and the global marketplace accelerates, it is essential that we provide the next generation of innovators — scientists, engineers, and others — with a global educational experience,” President Jackson said. “We must work together to create opportunity pathways for exchange by developing and enhancing education and research partnerships with institutions around the world. Through this exchange of people and ideas, across geographic and cultural boundaries, we can work to address the key energy, health, and environmental challenges of our time.”

In an address to Chinese government education leaders, faculty, students and other guests at Beijing Normal University on November 16, President Jackson said, “Just as all of us here—university and college presidents—will encourage our students to study at your great universities and others around the world, we invite you and your students to come to United States universities for your own global experience. We must work together to prepare the next generation of scientists, engineers, and other professionals, who will become the innovators and leaders of the future. It is essential that they all be global citizens with multicultural sophistication and shared experiences. We have a great deal to learn from each other, and a great deal to offer each other.”

Calling for an expansion of collaborative research, along with student exchange, President Jackson said, “Our world has become a connected, interdependent world during our lifetime. The resolution of the multiple challenges which we all face rests upon collaborative research and innovation. Energy security is one example. It is, perhaps, the greatest global challenge of our time. Every nation faces this challenge. China faces this challenge, as its economy rapidly develops. True energy security rests upon redundancy of supply and diversity of source. It requires global solutions, which can be applied nationally and locally.”

“This, in turn, requires innovation, and innovation rests solely upon a skilled human workforce. Indeed, innovation is imperative to address all of the key global challenges including energy security, health, the environment, clean water, and food production. Global research partnerships will provide multidisciplinary approaches to meet these challenges. Universities are especially suited to be a base of such partnerships,” she said. (For a full text of the speech go to: http://www.rpi.edu/president/speeches/ps111606-beijing.html )

In announcing the trip, U.S. State Department officials said: “This historic pairing of the U.S. government and higher education leaders follows from a commitment made at the U.S. University Presidents Summit on International Education co-hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings in January 2006. The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs is organizing high-level delegations of college and university presidents, each led by a senior U.S. government official, to key world regions to promote the value of U.S. higher education overseas and engage in discussions on the future and importance of international education.”

In addition to President Jackson, the higher education leaders in the delegation included: John B. Simpson, President, University at Buffalo, SUNY; Henry T. Yang, Chancellor, University of California, Santa Barbara; Bernard Machen, President, University of Florida; Adam W. Herbert, President, Indiana University; William Brody, President, Johns Hopkins University; Karen A. Holbrook, President, Ohio State University; Stephen M. Curtis, President, Community College of Philadelphia; H. James Owen, President, Piedmont Community College; David W. Leebron, President, Rice University; Philip W. Eaton, President, Seattle Pacific University; and Steadman Upham, President, University of Tulsa.

Background on President Jackson
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson is the 18th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest technological university in the United States. Since her arrival in 1999, Dr. Jackson has fostered an extraordinary renaissance at Rensselaer.

Described by Time magazine (2005) as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science,” President Jackson has held senior positions in government, industry, research, and academe: as President (2004) and Chairman of the Board (2005) of the largest general scientific society in the world — the American Association for the Advancement of Science; as Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1995-99); in industry and research, as a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and in academe, as a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University in New Jersey She is a member of the Board of the New York Stock Exchange, the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, and is a director of several major corporations (including IBM, FedEx, and Marathon Oil) and academic organizations (including Trusteeship at MIT and Georgetown University).

In 2005 she led a delegation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to China, meeting with many leaders in the government, scientific, academic, and business community, speaking about global energy demands and the scientific and technological innovations necessary to develop the energy infrastructure to meet the growing global demand. These discussions included conversations about the role of great universities in fostering innovation that can be transferred to the marketplace. This trip resulted in several bilateral agreements with major institutions in China.

Over the past several years President Jackson has worked successfully — collaborating with leaders in government, business, and academe in the United States — to bring national attention to what she has dubbed the “quiet crisis.” The science and engineering workforce in the United States is on the verge of retiring in record numbers, fewer students are coming from abroad to study and stay, and there are not enough young people in the United States who are being encouraged and prepared to pursue careers in these fields. President Jackson has urged a national focus on energy research as a focal point to excite and encourage greater interest in science and engineering careers

President Jackson holds a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from M.I.T. (1973) and a S.B. in physics from M.I.T. (1968).

Contact: Theresa Bourgeois
Phone: (518) 276-2840
E-mail: bourgt@rpi.edu