Dr. Trachette Jackson would never have guessed she would be considered one of the nation’s youngest preeminent scholars in the burgeoning field of mathematical biology, particularly since she went to college to become an engineer.
“Although I was always good at math, I always wanted to be an engineer,” says Jackson. “But a mathematics professor actually recognized my talents, took me under his wing and steered me away from engineering.”
The move has turned out to be a good one for Jackson.
She’s become one of a handful of tenured Black women in a math department at a Research I university and has won a slew of awards for her work.
She was one of the very best 118 young faculty members in the math and sciences to receive the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 2003. She’s only the second female to receive the award in the field of math.
“This is an excellent mathematician, and she really is after the biology [of math],” says Dr. Mike Reed, professor of math at Duke University where Jackson did some postdoctoral work along with her husband. “She’s really driven by the science and if you’re driven by the science, then success follows. I have tremendous admiration for her for that.”
Jackson chose to work at Michigan seven years ago, attracted by a tenured position but more so by a university where research was truly emphasized.
