Marshall G. Jones

Over his career, Jones has also received many honors for his professional and community service. He served as a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advisory Committee. He has been a member of the board and long-time volunteer for the Capital District Chapter of the New York Association for the Learning Disabled, and a member of the external advisory board for the University of Michigan Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is a former commissioner of the Schenectady Human Rights Commission. In 2013, Jones was presented the University of Massachusetts Amherst Salute to Service award from Chancellor Subbaswamy. Jones has been recognized for his work in the African American community through the GE ICON award. Jones was also a teacher. He taught as an adjunct professor at SUNY of Albany and at Schenectady County Community College. In 1996, Jones received the Lewis H. Latimer Fund, Inc. Award for exemplary conduct as an educator.

While at Aquebogue Elementary School, Jones developed a speech impediment that required him to repeat the fourth grade. Jones reflected on this in 2005 during a talk at Duke University: "I can honestly say that repeating the fourth grade is what helped me become an engineer....I just wasn't learning reading and spelling at the same pace I was learning math, and I needed to take that extra year to get caught up." Jones had an early interest in becoming a pilot, but learned as a teenager that his vision was too poor. As a high school athlete, he focused on wrestling to secure a college scholarship. However, in his junior year at Riverhead High School, he injured his knee and lost a scholarship to Rochester Institute of Technology.

Jones joined the General Electric Corporation Research and Development facility in Niskayuna, New York, in 1974. He started out working with a group of scientists exploring semiconductors and lasers. Jones' manager at the time challenged him to fix a GE laser in the lab that didn't work. Building on the work of his colleagues, Jones got that laser to work and it inspired his first patent: a novel technique using a laser to rapidly weld the dissimilar metals of copper and aluminum. Jones also developed methods to weld other dissimilar metals like molybdenum and tungsten. Jones initiated research on fiber-optic laser-beam delivery systems in 1982. This work resulted in a laser beam capable of cutting nickel-based alloys, titanium, and steel. It could also weld and drill these materials at multiple angles.

Jones graduated Riverhead High School in 1960. Based on advice from his high school counselor, Jones decided to pursue mechanical engineering at a two-year college. He joined the Mechanical Technology program at Mohawk Valley Technical Institute (now known as Mohawk Valley Community College, MVCC) in Utica, New York, and earned his associate's degree in 1962. At the time, he was the only African-American in MVCC’s Mechanical Technology program. He was refused admittance to the first residence house he was assigned in Utica because of his race. Jones then went to the University of Michigan and earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1965. He was the only African American student in the University of Michigan engineering school at that time. After graduation, he joined Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) as a development engineer and draftsperson in the High Energy Physics Department. He continued his graduate education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Jones earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1972 and a doctorate in mechanical engineering in 1974.

Marshall G. Jones (born August 1, 1941) is an American mechanical engineer, inventor, mentor, and teacher. Jones is currently a Coolidge Fellow at General Electric (GE) Global Research. He has been awarded more than 65 U.S. patents and is recognized as a pioneer for laser materials processing and a leading authority on fiber-optic laser beam technology. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Marshall G. Jones was born on August 1, 1941 in the town of Southampton on New York's Long Island, USA. Jones and his brother lived with his aunt and uncle on their duck farm. Jones was cared for by his extended relatives while his father was away in the Navy and his mother was in New York City to work as a seamstress. Jones excelled in mathematics and loved sports.