Biography

Dr. Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson is a nationally recognized leader in engineering and public policy, serving as Head of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University. Under her leadership, the department has become a hub for innovation, interdisciplinary research, and impactful solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Dr. Gibson’s career spans both academia and high-level public policy, uniquely positioning her to address the intersection of science, engineering, and governance. Before entering academia, she spent 13 years in influential policy roles, including serving as Associate Director of the U.S. National Research Council’s Water Science and Technology Board and acting as a key liaison to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy during her tenure with The RAND Corporation. Her interdisciplinary research addresses critical global challenges, ranging from optimizing water infrastructure to enhance public health in the United States to developing strategic frameworks for prioritizing environmental policy initiatives in the United Arab Emirates.

Currently, Dr. Gibson is the President of the Society for Risk Analysis and serves as an Associate Editor for Environmental Science & Technology, one of the premier journals in environmental engineering and science. She holds dual PhDs in Engineering and Public Policy and in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, an MS in Environmental Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a BA in Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College. Dr. Gibson’s work continues to influence transformative policy decisions and pave the way for sustainable solutions to critical environmental challenges.