“I didn’t even know what engineering was back then,” she says. “I liked chemistry in high school so I took it to fulfill a science requirement. That first semester I got an A in chemistry and a B in political science.” Her chemistry teacher became her mentor. She says she might not have gone on to take more science classes if he hadn’t taken an interest in her, but she can’t be certain of that.

“I didn’t even know what chemists did,” she says. “He opened my eyes to the possibilities.” Jackson says he really got her attention when he outlined the many ways she could help people through chemical engineering. “That’s what got me,” she adds.

After obtaining her bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Jackson went on to earn a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990. A year later, she and her husband Jim Miller, also a chemical engineer whom she met in graduate school, moved to Albuquerque to work for Sandia National Laboratories. Her first job was as the principal investigator of a specialized energy-related project. She’s been moving up ever since.

“I’ve been involved in fascinating work,” she says. “Chemistry is part of every aspect of our lives and I’ve been fortunate to work on really interesting projects.”

Jackson is now the deputy director of the laboratory’s International Security Center, a department that was heavily involved in helping Russia secure its weapons and nuclear material against theft.

“You don’t play defense only on the goal line to prevent scoring,” she says. “You create the best defense far from the border.”

While Jackson’s job sounds glamorous and even dangerous, she says it’s neither. “I don’t travel,” she states. “My job is to support the people in the field, the ones who spend weeks and weeks in the most remote parts of the world. Those are the real heroes. They’re providing a service to the nation and to the entire world.”

Although Jackson also acts as a liaison to other lab departments whose assistance is needed and backs up the director when necessary, she says her job is really all about personal relationships, and as a woman, she feels very well suited for her work.

“The more I can interact with people, the more they’re going to trust me. That’s very much what this job is about.” Jackson says that the majority of people in her department are women, precisely because they’re more adept at establishing and maintaining healthy relationships. “That isn’t something you’ll see in any other technical field. While things are getting better for women who are earning science degrees and entering the profession, women still have a long way to go to achieve parity,” Jackson says.

“As one of the few and occasionally the only woman, I had to fight overt discrimination from my male colleagues. It’s a lot different now than when I was starting out.” As more women entered the field, things began to change, although Jackson says discrimination hasn’t disappeared. “I think there’s this slow accumulation of incidents that has a negative effect. These are little things that happen every day and seem too small to complain about, but they add up, and it’s very painful.” However, Jackson says she has recently seen signs of improvement.

She says that discrimination shouldn’t discourage girls from pursuing a degree in the technical sciences. “No degree pays better than this one. Women entering the field now are often paid more than their male counterparts because they tend to have higher grade point averages, something that is figured into a starting salary.” She continues, saying, “But we still face a challenge in attracting women to the field. Little boys do things with things and they excel and they are rewarded. Little girls care more about people and want to make an impact, and unless they know how they can use a technical education to make that impact, they might not consider it.”

She says that’s particularly true for Native Americans, who are taught to value the community above the individual. Although Jackson says she defers to the experts when it comes to trying to change the status quo on a larger scale, she’s doing her part to make changes on another level. She was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the American Chemical Society, a far-reaching professional society that has an enormous impact throughout the United States. Jackson is a member of the organization’s committee on grants and awards, some 60 of which are parceled out each year.

“Unfortunately, very few are awarded for women and minorities,” she notes. “I hope to help the organization understand that its awards are a reflection of its values.”

Despite her global and national focus, Jackson still takes time to contribute to projects in her community. She’s worked with Saranum, a nonprofit organization founded five years ago that assists homeless families. This year, she’s chairing the Board of Directors and is clearly proud of the group’s mission to provide families in crisis with a home, educational programs, therapy, and support.

Jackson says, “I recently negotiated the purchase of an apartment building where we can house our families. I don’t work directly with the families because I don’t have that expertise, but I do the kinds of things that keep an organization like this afloat.

“When a parent graduates from our program, I know that I helped changed their life, not just them, but their kids, too. That’s a good feeling.”

When Jackson isn’t protecting the world or changing it, she’s cheering her 12-year-old twins at their soccer games or skiing and snowboarding with her husband and sons.

“I couldn’t do all these things that I get to do without the help of a supportive husband, and Jim enables me to do the many things I do,” she says.

Although Jackson isn’t directly involved with sparking a young mind’s interest in science, there are people at Sandia who are, and Marie Brown, a former Albuquerque police officer, is one of them. Marie holds the official title of Equal Employment Opportunity Analyst.

“I do investigations and conduct interviews to make certain that EEO and affirmative action guidelines are being met within the lab,” Brown says cheerfully and with finality. But ask her about her other duties as the coordinator of the Dream Catcher Science Program and she’s happy to provide details.

“We are now seeing more girls who want to pursue an education in science or engineering.” Brown says the program focuses on real world concepts to bridge the gap between standard school theory and practical applications. “Among other things, we want to give kids an answer to the question of ‘Why would I ever use geometry?’” And by involving their parents in the program, they also bridge the gap between community and the outside world.

“When they’re learning with their parents, they’ll both get that ‘Aha!’ moment,” she says, “and that usually leads to parents being more supportive as their children’s interests develop.”

Brown will be the first to admit how important parental support can be. Her father died when she was a baby and she, her mother, and her sister moved in with her grandmother.

“My grandmother was a great mentor who established a strong foundation for me. She taught me what was required of a woman in the workplace.”

Brown, whose heritage is Navajo and Alaskan Native, says her grandmother also taught her the importance of balance. “I deal with a lot of sensitive issues and that can get very stressful,” she says. “My grandmother taught me that you have to find a healthy outlet for that stress.”

Brown says she honors her grandmother’s advice by running three miles every other day. And not a day goes by that Brown doesn’t apply something her grandmother taught her, particularly when it comes to raising her own children, 20-year-old Michael, a junior at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, and 5-year-old Naakii, with husband Laurence.

Brown says she loves being the mother of a young child again, although she notices a lot of differences between herself as a young mother and now. “I delivered my son in six hours and my daughter in nineteen,” she says. “That’s the first time I realized the difference a few years makes.”

Sandia National Laboratories www.sandia.gov

Valerie Santillanes is working toward her MFA in fiction and teaching at the University of New Mexico . She also works as a freelance editor and technical writer.