About Her
Dr. Jedidah Isler is an African American astrophysicist, educator, and an active advocate for a difference in STEM. She became the first African American woman to complete her PhD in astrophysics at Yale in 2014.
Her Education
She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor 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."[5] After obtaining her B.S., Isler went on to earn a Master of Arts (M.A.) in physics at Fisk University under the tutelage of Keivan Stassun, and later a Master 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.[10] Through this program, students obtain a master's degree from Fisk University, and then go on to Vanderbilt for their PhD. Isler, however, decided to go to Yale instead, for her PhD.
Academic Career
After achieving her PhD, Isler went on to conduct her research through a number of postdoctoral research appointments. From 2013 to 2015, she held a two-year Chancellor's Faculty Fellowship at Syracuse University.[5] In 2014, Isler was awarded the Future Faculty Leaders Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.[17] Afterwards, she won a 2015 National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship supporting her research in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Vanderbilt University.[18] In 2015, Isler was awarded a TED Fellowship.[19] She is a 2016 National Geographic Emerging Explorer,[20] and in 2017 she became a TED Senior Fellow.
Honors and Awards
Senior TED Fellow, 2017[30] The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans, 2016[31] National Geographic Emerging Explorer, 2016[20][32] Kavli Fellow Frontiers of Science Symposium, November 2015[33] Curator & Host TED Conference, February 2016 Host TED@IBM, October 2015 TED Fellow, 2015[34] American Astronomical Society Roger Doxsey Dissertation Prize, January 2014 Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, August 2012[35] Edward Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, March 2012 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, June 2007[36] NASA-Harriett G. Jenkins Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, June 2007.
Her Inspiration to Me
She influences me to really try to do astrology and become an Astrophysicist. I haved loved it for so long and I know that now based off her and her story I know that race doesn't define me trying to achieve my goals.