Troy, N.Y. — Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson is leading a delegation from the Institute to Asia, meeting government, scientific, business, and academic leaders in Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, from March 26 to April 6, 2005.

“Innovation — from discovery to application — is at the core of global health, energy, and economic security,” Jackson said. “The great universities historically have fostered global innovation.”

“A great university builds relationships and alliances all over the world,” Jackson said. “We welcome the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with these leaders in technological innovation in the world today as we continue to expand Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s reach around the globe.”

In China, Jackson and the delegation will meet with officials in the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education, and other government and university officials. Jackson will give a speech and will meet to discuss energy policy with members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and will speak to the American Chamber of Commerce on “Energy and China’s Future: A Perspective.” The delegation will also tour the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) and meet with local officials.

In Hong Kong, Jackson and the delegation will meet with leading business and university officials.

In Singapore, Jackson will meet with nanotechnology research leaders and business leaders. Members of the delegation will tour Biopolis and meet with science and engineering researchers.

In Malaysia, the delegation will meet with leaders in science, technology and innovation, and higher education.

Jackson, the 18th president of Rensselaer, has held senior leadership positions in government, industry, research, and academe. Described recently by Time Magazine as “perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science,” Jackson is chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society, and has advisory roles and involvement in other prestigious national organizations. She was appointed chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), 1995-1999, by U.S. President William J. Clinton. Prior to that, she was a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories. She serves on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange, is a director of several major corporations, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

The Rensselaer delegation also includes research leaders in biotechnology and cell biology, nanotechnology and nanoelectronics, chemistry, aeronautical engineering, engineering education, architecture, and international, corporate, and entrepreneurial finance. The delegation will meet with Rensselaer alumni in all of the cities.

Rensselaer is the oldest technological research university in the United States. U.S. News & World Report ranks Rensselaer 46th among the nation’s top universities, and the undergraduate engineering program is rated 16th in the nation. Entrepreneur magazine ranks the technological entrepreneurship program at Rensselaer’s Lally School of Management and Technology sixth in entrepreneurship in the nation. A Princeton Review survey ranks Rensselaer first in a list of the “most connected campuses” in the country and the campus was described as “technological nirvana,” when the rankings were released on Forbes.com.

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