At a Capitol Hill briefing today in conjunction with the release of three new policy monographs, experts outlined the current state of U.S. and foreign space policy and encouraged the Administration to set a clear direction that advances the country’s national security, civilian, and commercial interests in space.

At the 3rd Meeting of the Academy held on August 30, 1780, Academy members voted to appoint “a Committee to confer with the Reverend and Honorable Corporation of the University of Cambridge upon pursuing measures to procure an accurate observation of the Solar eclipse...”

Key recommendations in the fall 2011 issue of the Academy’s journal, Daedalus, “Protecting the Internet as a Public Commons,” are reflected in the White House’s newly released “Privacy Bill of Rights,” for online consumers.

A transcript from an interdisciplinary panel discussion on the importance of creativity in science, with participants highlighting how creativity and imagination fuel scientific discovery and how science inspires artistic expression. The conversation followed the presentation of the Rumford Prize to Andrea Ghez by Laurie Patton.

The Winter 2014 issue of Dædalus suggests humanists help us better understand ourselves and the world around us. Through analysis and personal reflection, the contributors to the issue demonstrate how the humanities improve our humanity.

In "The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?" Michael J. Sandel argues that the divide between winners and losers has poisoned our politics and pulled us apart. The problem, he contends, is not only that we have failed to live up to the meritocratic ideals we profess, but that a meritocratic society is a flawed aspiration. It produces hubris among the successful and humiliation among those left behind. In the first virtual Stated Meeting in the history of the Academy, Michael J. Sandel joined T. J. Jackson Lears and Anna Deavere Smith in a conversation about his new book and the destructive consequences of linking socioeconomic status with personal worth.

NAPA and the American Academy’s Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship led a four-part series on public governance and civic engagement, covering topics such as civic culture, media, and trust in government.

A reflection on work done to advance democratic renewal rooted in the recommendations of the Our Common Purpose report, issued by a bipartisan Academy Commission in 2020.

Nicholas Lemann, member of the Academy's Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, discusses the bigger issue of college completion rates.

National Commission seeks recommendations from New England’s State Humanities Councils in preparation for report to Congress

Economist and philosopher Amartya Sen discusses the importance of democracy, following an introduction from Thomas Scanlon.

Public-private partnerships, new sources of revenue among recommendations for strategic directions

The Global Security and International Affairs program area draws on the expertise of a broad range of policymakers, practitioners, and scholars to foster knowledge and promote innovative and evidence-based policies to address crucial issues affecting the international community. Projects underway in this area engage with pressing strategic, development, and moral questions that underpin relations among people, communities, and states worldwide. Each initiative embraces a broad conception of security as the interaction among human, national, and global security imperatives. Project recommendations move beyond the idea of security as the absence of war toward higher aspirations of collective peace, development, and justice at all levels of society.

“Access to Justice,” the Winter 2019 issue of Dædalus, the Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, is a multidisciplinary exploration of the challenges, costs, and opportunities related to the crisis of limited civil legal services.

Projects in the Education program area examine the vital role that education plays in our nation and the world. Work in this area seeks to inform policy and practice in support of high-quality educational opportunities for all Americans. From advancing equitable educational outcomes to leveraging new developments in the learning sciences and digital technologies to understanding the vital role that public universities play as engines of economic growth, innovation, social mobility, and citizenship, projects in this area draw on scholars and practitioners from diverse fields to provide guidance and actionable solutions to policymakers, higher education leaders, and philanthropists.

Scott Russell Sanders discusses writing as discovery for the Bulletin’s new feature, “On the Professions”