Jedidah Isler

Jedidah C. Isler is an American astrophysicist, educator, and an active advocate for diversity in STEM. She became the first African-American woman to complete her PhD in astrophysics at Yale in 2014. She is currently an assistant professor of astrophysics at Dartmouth College. Her research explores the physics of blazars (hyperactive supermassive black holes) and examines the jet streams emanating from them. Isler’s research focuses on the high-energy physics of blazars, a type of active galactic nucleus with supermassive black holes at their centers. Her work examines the near-infrared color variability of these celestial objects to better understand the mechanisms behind their powerful relativistic jets. In November 2020, Isler was named a member of Joe Biden's presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Early life and education

Isler was raised in Niagara Falls, New York and then later Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her interest in astronomy began when she was 11 or 12 years old. Using the telescope that her sister gave her for her birthday, she began looking at the stars and actively studying for a professional career in science. Shortly before leaving for college, Isler's father left the family causing some financial turmoil that threatened to cut her studies short.

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 completed multiple internships and summer research projects related to astronomy. 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''."

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. 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 .

In 2014, she obtained her PhD from Yale University in Astronomy where she studied astrophysics, specifically researching blazars. She became the first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Yale. In an NPR interview, she recalled an exchange with one of her classmates during her first year at Yale. "So there are plates everywhere," she recalls. "And all of a sudden, white male studentin my class hands me a pile of his dirty plates...and says, 'Here, now go and do what you're really here to do.'" In 2014, Isler published her doctoral dissertation, ''In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion: Probing the Disk-Jet Connection in Fermi Gamma-Ray Bright Blazars'', which earned the Roger Doxsey Dissertation Prize from the American Astronomical Society.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, she cited her role models as Mae Jemison, Beth A. Brown, and her mother.

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. In 2014, Isler was awarded the Future Faculty Leaders Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. Afterwards, she won a 2015 National Science Foundation Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship supporting her research in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Vanderbilt University. In 2015, Isler was awarded a TED Fellowship. She is a 2016 National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and in 2017 she became a TED Senior Fellow. Isler describes her research as follows:In 2019, she was named a member of the 2020 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey's Panel on the State of the Profession and Societal Impacts.

STEM advocacy and communication

In 2015, Isler founded Vanguard: Conversations with Women of Color in STEM ( VanguardSTEM) as a signature initiative of The STEM en Route to Change Foundation ( SeRCH Foundation, Inc). VanguardSTEM is a web series that features interviews hosted by Isler and featuring women of color in STEM, discussing academic and professional work and culture as well as current events. Featured scientists include Brittany Kamai, DeAndrea Salvador, and Naia Butler-Craig. The webinar's described purpose is to "create conversations between emerging and established women of color in STEM, where we can celebrate an affirm our identities and STEM interests in a safe space".

Isler is the founder of *VanguardSTEM*, an online platform designed to foster conversations and create support networks for women of color in STEM. The initiative is part of her broader efforts to make scientific spaces more inclusive.

Isler has delivered two popular TED Talks, each with over 1.5 million views as of December 2020. The second of these confronts issues of intersectionality, specifically the marginalization of Black women in STEM industries and education, noting that:

In 2015, in response to US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' comments in Fisher v. University of Texas (2016) asking, "What unique perspective does a minority student bring to a physics class?", Isler wrote a New York Times op-ed titled "The 'Benefits' of Black Physics Students."

In 2016, Isler was featured in Vanity Fair in a profile called "Saluting a New Guard of S.T.E.M Stars."

Isler has appeared in two episodes of the documentary television series ''How the Universe Works'', describing astronomical phenomena and explaining astrophysics theories. She also has appeared in the television series ''Genius by Stephen Hawking'', and National Geographic television series ''Mars''.

In response to the murder of George Floyd and other Black Americans at the hands of police in 2020, Isler helped to organize the #ShutDownSTEM Day on June 10, 2020. The movement encouraged scientists to strike from academic work for one day in favor of learning about anti-racism, making personal plans to combat racism in their communities, and supporting Black colleagues.

Honors and awards

* Senior TED Fellow, 2017
* The Root 100 Most Influential African Americans, 2016
* National Geographic Emerging Explorer, 2016
* Kavli Fellow Frontiers of Science Symposium, November 2015
* Curator & Host TED Conference, February 2016
* Host TED@IBM, October 2015
* TED Fellow, 2015
* American Astronomical Society Roger Doxsey Dissertation Prize, January 2014
* Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, August 2012
* Edward Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, March 2012
* National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, June 2007
* NASA-Harriett G. Jenkins Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, June 2007
* In 2016, Isler was named a National Geographic Emerging Explorer in recognition of her contributions to astrophysics and her advocacy for increasing diversity in STEM fields.

References

External links

Official website
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"How I fell in love with quasars, blazars and our incredible universe" (TED2015)
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"The untapped genius that could change science for the better" (TED2015)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Isler, Jedidah
American astrophysicists
American women astrophysicists
21st-century African-American scientists
American science communicators
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Norfolk State University alumni
Yale University alumni
Fisk University alumni
Dartmouth College faculty
TED Fellows
Scientists from Virginia Beach, Virginia
People from Niagara Falls, New York
21st-century American physicists
20th-century American women scientists
African-American activists
20th-century American painters
21st-century American painters
21st-century American women scientists
American women academics
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American painters
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American artists
African-American physicists
21st-century African-American academics
21st-century American academics
Graduate Women in Science members