Shirley Ann Jackson is the former president and Chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society. Jackson is a trustee of the Brookings Institution and a lifetime member of the MIT Corporation.

Jackson is a director of IBM, FedEx, Marathon Oil, Medtronic and PSEG. She served as chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995-1998.

Jackson holds an S.B. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics from MIT, as well as 44 honorary doctoral degrees. She received the 2007 Vannevar Bush Award for "a lifetime of achievements in scientific research, education, and senior statesman-like contributions to public policy."