KEYNOTE PRESENTATION
Jedidah Isler (Assistant Director, STEM Opportunity & Engagement White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Executive Office of the President) is an American astrophysicist and educator and an active advocate for diversity in STEM. She conducts research on blazars (hyperactive supermassive black holes) and examines the jet streams emanating from them. She is currently an Assistant professor of Astrophysics at Dartmouth College. In November 2020, Isler was named a member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Isler was raised in Niagara Falls, New York and then later Virginia Beach, Virginia. For her birthday one year, her sister got her a telescope, which she would use to look at the stars. Her interest in astronomy began when she 12 years old, and began to study for a professional career in science.
Since her undergraduate institution did not offer an astronomy degree, Isler decided to get a degree in physics. During her time as an undergrad, she was able to have multiple internships and summer research projects related to astronomy. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor's of Science degree from Norfolk State University's Dozoretz National Institute for Mathematics and Applied Sciences (DNIMAS), "...a program aimed at cultivating minority scientists who want to complete graduate-level work."
After obtaining her B.S., Isler went on to first earn a Master's of Arts (M.A.) in Physics at Fisk University under the tutelage of Keivan Stassun, and later a Master's of Science (M.S.) in Physics from Yale University. She became one of the first three-student members of the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master's-to-Ph.D. Bridge Program, a program designed to increase the number of women and under-represented minorities with advanced STEM degrees. Through this program, students obtain a master's degree from Fisk University, and then go onto Vanderbilt for their PhD, though Isler decided to go to Yale for her PhD.
In 2014, Isler obtained her PhD from Yale University in Astronomy where she worked with her doctoral studies in astrophysics, researching blazars. She became the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Yale.
Presentation Materials
- Roundtable Readout: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2021/10/12/readout-of-the-fifth-roundtable-in-time-is-now-advancing-equity-in-science-and-technology-series-the-covid-19-pandemic-and-overlapping-crises-for-women-and-people-with-gender-expa/
- 2021 Study on Perceptions of Work/Life Balance: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34129021/
- NCSES site: https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/home
- (Now Available!) Special News/Announcement: https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2021/10/14/the-white-house-office-of-science-and-technology-policy-launches-the-time-is-now-advancing-equity-in-science-and-technology-ideation-challenge/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/WHOSTP/status/1448702228156583943