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Deborah Jackson
Born	1952
Education	BS Physics Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1970-1974) P.h D Physics Stanford University (1974-1980)
Employer	National Science Foundation
Known for	Physics research in the field of "photonics" and "electromagnetic phenomena"

Deborah Jackson

Dr. Debora Jackson was born in Topeka, Kansas in 1952 to a military family. After earning her Ph.D from Stanford in 1980, Dr. Jackson now has more than twenty years experience in laboratory research covering topics such as "electromagnetic phenomena, solid state integrated optics, and photonic systems development" and had worked in prestigious research-oriented organizations such as RAND, NASA, and the NSF. Her research spans across various topics in photonics ranging from laser technology to data encryption. Additionally, she has done research in systems engineering, constructing a financial model of an innovative economy. Currently, as a member of the Quantum Computing Technologies group at the NSF, she has a long term interest in exploring how quantum networks can be exploited to aid autonomous decision making for sensor data fusion.

Early Life/Background

In her early years, Dr. Jackson was an avid reader and mystery enthusiast. She read Nancy Drew, adult mystery, and eventually science fiction. She studied science because she wanted to be a science fiction writer and wanted the background to write well. However, the challenge of science drove her. Math apparently came naturally for her, but she struggled to understand science; this struggle drove her to succeed in this field. Although she had few science role models, she chose to attend MIT, where she studied physics and had "many women, white and black, and also some blacked men who mentored [her]" and gave her the support she needed.

Education

Primary Education

Dr. Jackson attended thirteen different schools in the US and abroad due to her father's work in the military. Much of primary education was in Catholic schools or various Department of Defense schools in Europe. She earned her high school diploma at the AFCENT International School, in Brunssumm, Netherlands, in 1970.

Secondary Education

When Jackson entered MIT as an undergraduate in 1969, she was the first in her family to enter science. Therefore, it was hard for her to adjust as she came from a military background while her classmates' families were already engrossed in STEM. Dr. Jackson turned to Margaret McVicar, a female material science professor, and Shirley Ann Jackson, the first black chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for inspiration at MIT. After graduating in 1974, Jackson was accepted to Stanford, Cornell, and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, but went to Stanford because it had the most supportive environment as it graduated the largest number of black Ph. D physicists in the country.

Ph. D at Stanford (1974-1980)

Dr. Jackson received the Ford Foundation Fellowship to support her first two years of graduate school and Bell Laboratories to finance the rest of her education at Stanford.

At Stanford, Dr. Jackson worked towards interfacing new laser technology with nonlinear optics writing her thesis dissertation on "Excited State Spectroscopy on Helium Using a Color Center Laser." Her research goal was to investigate the feasibility of utilizing the color center laser for for high resolution laser spectroscopy in the spectral region between two to three micrometers(10^-6 m). Using a special method called "optogalvanic detection," she concentrated her efforts on intermediate states of helium and used microwave excitation. She believed she could extract useful information from the discharge and line widths and signal strengths that were studied in Doppler-free and Doppler-limited spectroscopy.

For Dr. Jackson, race and gender were a concern in graduate school as she struggled at first a find an supportive adviser. However, she eventually met Dr. Theodor W. Hänsch, a German physicist who won one fourth a 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions in laser-based precision spectroscopy. Through Dr. Hänsch guidance, Jackson finishes her research and completed her Ph. D Degree in 1980.

Career

Technical Staff Member at Hughes Research Labs (1983-1988)

Dr. Jackson worked as a researcher at Hughes Research Labs on projects in relation to Integrated Circuits and Optical Devices. She spent much of her time was developing optical devices that could be integrated on high speed VHSIC and MMIC chips.

Senior Member of Technical Staff- RAND Corporation(1988-1992)

At RAND, Dr. Jackson initiated a task team to review the state of Photonics technology on a national basis. Through her research and published article,"A Structural Approach to the Photonic Processor," she outlines detailed methodological approach for developing and optimizing the architecture of a photonic processor. She established the differences of photonic processors and electronic processors and how these differences require engineers to embody a completely different approach in design.

Senior Researcher NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory(1992-2005)

Dr. Jackson spent close to half her career at NASA, working as a high-level researcher in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. During her time at NASA, Dr. Jackson made strong contributions to the organization producing a patent and even wrote a section in textbook "Changes Withing Physical Systems and/or Conservation of Energy and Momentum". Her research career covered a wide variety of topics ranging from electromagnetic phenom to solid state integrated optics.

Program Director- National Science Foundation(2005-Present)

Currently, Dr. Jackson leads the Microelectronics, Sensors, and Information Technologies, Cluster within the Engineering Research Center's (ERC) Program office. Additionally she manages the ERC Industrial Liaison Officer's working group, whose purpose is to strategically develop centers to commercialize and utilize ERC's research findings/technology. Currently, she has a variety of projects that range from Lighting Enabled Systems & Applications to Health Care Systems for undeserved populations working with institutions all around the country like RPI, UCLA, Texas A&M, etc.

Awards and Publications

Associations

Dr. Jackson is an elected member of the scientific honor society Sigma Xi, American Physics Society, New York Academy of Sciences, and the National Society of Black Physicists. Specifically in the American Physics Society, she sits on the chair for Edward A. Bouchet Award Committee. Additionally, she has served many National Research Council Committees such as NRC Board of Army Science and Technology, Committee on Electrical power for the Dismounted Soldiers., Committee on Women in Science and Engineering, and Committee on the Use of international Space Station for Engineering Research and Technology development(1995).

Patents

Optical Encryption Interface (US Patent No: 5793871)

Dr. Jackson's patent on Optical Encryption Interfaces was filed in November 26, 1996. She created an analog optical encryption based on phase scrambling of 2-D optical images and holographic transformation for achieving large encryption keys and high encryption speed. Essentially, she was able to covert a series of bits or digital data stream into an optical image that had randomized features built for encryption. Her patent presents a technique for enciphering ad deciphering using this system. Her system at the time encoded and decoded data faster than any other previously on the market while ensuring accurate and safe return of data. Additionally, she was able to increase the number of encryption keys compared to previous systems.

Stress Waveguides in Bulk Crystalline Materials (US Patent No: 4733927)

Dr. Jackson filed this patent on November 14, 1984 while working for Hughes Research Labs. Her invention relates to manufacturing and fabrication processes of stress induced optical waveguides, a structure for guiding and propagating light, in bulk crystalline materials. Her patent includes descriptions to develop this technology from thin films, etched ribs, materials doped with metallic atoms. The waveguides have applications in modern-day in modulators, detectors, switches, and other electronics present in modern-day computer hardware.

Publications

What is an Innovation Ecosystem?, National Science Foundation(2011)

Dr. Jackson's most popular work at the National Science Foundation is "What is an Innovation Ecosystem?" She begins the article by drawing an analogy between an an innovative ecosystem and biological ecosystem. She states that as a biological ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among living resources and environment while an innovation ecosystem models a similar relationship between material resources(funding,equipment, etc.) and human capital(members of society). According to Dr. Jackson, an innovative ecosystem bases itself from effective translation from the knowledge economy(research, academia) to commercial economy(industry,business). Dr. Jackson goes into financial and profit economics models that explain how various theories such as risk mitigation play a role in her research model. She asserts there needs to be a closed loop between R&D investments through innovation that increase profits in the commercial economy. Her research can be further analyzed using control and signal processing techniques.

Changes Withing Physical Systems and/or Conservation of Energy and Momentum, The Rosen Publishing Group(2006)

In this text Dr. Jackson looks at the technology behind solar sails and illustrates how scientists are using conservation of energy and momentum to develop this technology. She explains how Solar Sailing, a method of converting energy from the sun into a source of propulsion for spacecraft is fundamentally based on the core principles of Newtons Second Law (Force= mass * acceleration) and Third Law(for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction") For example, she explains how if the scientists can reflect the photons along direction of the spacecraft's motion, the opposing force caused by that can accelerate or decelerate the aircraft, based on the pilots needs.

A Structural Approach to the Photonic Processor, Rand Corporation(1991)

In this article, published when Dr. Jackson was working at RAND, she establishes a plan in order to make a central processing unit using photonic technology. The overview of her methodology is as follows: (1) defining the problem, (2) define the design parameters of the processor, (3) develop optical circuits with respective block diagrams, (4) decomposing circuit into basic optical operational functions, (5) determining the constraints of the available technology base, and (6) hardware realization of photonic processor." Essentially this process asserts that one needs to define the application or use, design a plan, execute that plan, and lastly test that plan before building.