American Academy Journal Dædalus examines race in America today. Twenty-two prominent social scientists examine “Race, Inequality, and Culture,” considering topics ranging from education and family support to racial identity, politics, employment, immigration, and the influence of hip hop.

PBS and the Academy are partnering for a PBS AMERICAN PORTRAIT storytelling project to develop a crowdsourced poem curated by Academy member and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey.

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

John E. Bryson (elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011) passed away peacefully at his home in San Marino, California, on May 13, 2025. He left behind his wife Louise (elected to the American Academy in 2010), four daughters, eight grandchildren, two sisters, and a consequential life of civic, governmental, business, and philanthropic leadership.

Looking forward to the Academy report on the future of undergraduate education, Jeffrey Selingo outlines three basic recommendations to improve undergraduate education in the United States.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

In my previous message, I discussed how – despite the challenges of the pandemic – our community of members has remained active and engaged in the life of the Academy. During the past year, our virtual events reached more audiences in more places than ever before. Our project work continued unabated, including the release of Our Common Purpose: Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century and the development of new major projects on climate change and inequality. And despite great uncertainty, our members came together to produce a record-breaking fundraising year.

Rebecca Blank, member of the Academy's Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, discusses access and affordability in higher education.

The Academy and the Center for Strategic and International Studies launched a new book -- The Fragile Balance of Terror: Deterrence in the Nuclear Age -- at a cohosted event in Washington D.C. featuring one of the volume's editors and multiple authors.

The Academy's report on strengthening democracy for 21st century America can be used as a playbook for "how we might regain our footing as citizens to renew the world’s oldest democracy," writes Daniel Stid.

The Academy’s 2017th Stated Meeting on February 11, 2015, featured members of the Catalyst Collaborative@MIT performing a staged reading of Mr g, a novel by Alan Lightman. Mr g is the story of creation as narrated by God (Mr g). In it, Mr g’s uncle Deva and aunt Penelope give him advice as he sets about creating the universe; he also spars with a Satan-like character about various ethical and philosophical issues raised by his creation, especially when intelligent life emerges.

Private and public pushes to increase STEM education have given rise to new concerns about the value of a liberal arts education. Humanities Indicators reports that the number of bachelor’s degrees in the humanities that were earned in 2015 was down nearly 10 percent from three years earlier.

America is the most punitive nation in the world: we incarcerate the largest number of individuals and at the highest rate. American criminal justice policies of such punitive excess and unequal protection under the law have been shaped by and sustain racial inequality and exclusion and add to the harsh conditions of American poverty.

The Unstable Biomedical Research Ecosystem: How Can It Be Made More Robust?

Roberto Rey Agudo explores what a recent survey by the American Academy’s Humanities Indicators initiative tells us about the value and meaningfulness of language learning in college.

For centuries, humans have sought to enhance their natural appearance and abilities through medicine, surgery, exercise, and education. Today, performance enhancement is most often associated with drugs taken by athletes and college students to improve physical and mental performance.