Meeting hosted by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in partnership with Nuclear Law Association and TERI University

In collaboration with the Ash Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Academy hosted a discussion on “Redistricting and Representation,” which included presentations by Gary King, Jamal Greene, and Moon Duchin. Chief Judge Patti Saris moderated the program.

On October 24, 2023, the Academy released Forging Climate Solutions: How to Accelerate Action Across America, the final report of the Commission on Accelerating Climate Action. Prompted by a statement by the Academy’s Board in 2021, the report addresses the need for a climate strategy that breaks through the divisions that characterize politics in the nation today.

Reflections from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. on Receiving the Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies

Academy projects in Science, Engineering, and Technology seek to strengthen the capacity of science, engineering, and technology to improve the common good. Leveraging the diverse expertise of its members and a wide network of external specialists, the Academy conducts in-depth studies to assess the implications of scientific and technological progress. These studies inform actionable policy recommendations for stakeholders across government, academia, the nonprofit sector, and industry.

Militaries, like civilian industries, have a profound capacity to pollute the air, land, and water. What are the estimates of military impact on the environment? And what are some ways to reduce it? The Academy convened a range of experts to consider impacts and options.

First national study of language learning in 30 years was requested from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences by a bipartisan group of members of U.S. Senate & House of Representatives

Judge Theodor Meron on his experiences being an international criminal judge.

On May 18, 2017, the American Academy, in partnership with the Carnegie Institution for Science, hosted a meeting at the Carnegie Institution in Washington, D.C., on “Communicating Science in an Age of Disbelief in Experts.”

The Academy’s strategic priorities include improving the impact of the Academy’s work and raising the visibility of the institution with external audiences. These audiences vary and have included policymakers at the federal, state, and local level; leaders in philanthropy, higher education, nonprofit organizations, and business; scholars and students; advocacy groups; professional groups and practitioners; and the public.

The class speakers at the Induction Ceremony explored several themes, including the value of curiosity and the unexpected; strategies to prevent scientific failures with harmful consequences; the role of the social sciences in addressing the urgent challenges of today; the processes of transformation and translation; and how openness fosters innovative and sustainable problem-solving. The ceremony featured presentations from theoretical astrophysicist Charles F. Gammie, research ecologist Helene Muller-Landau, lawyer and legal scholar Daniel E. Ho, writer and translator Jhumpa Lahiri, and economist and nonprofit leader Cecilia A. Conrad. An edited version of their presentations follows.

The world is witnessing the emergence of new nuclear states that have acquired or are pursuing nuclear capabilities. These new nuclear actors pose significant threats to global security as they challenge the existing nuclear order and nonproliferation regime.

On April 18, 2024, Kwame Anthony Appiah received the Academy’s Don M. Randel Award for Humanistic Studies. Established in 1975 as the Award for Humanistic Studies and renamed in 2017 in honor of musicologist Don M. Randel, the award recognizes outstanding contributions to humanistic scholarship. The award ceremony included opening remarks from Academy President David W. Oxtoby, a reading of the prize citation by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., acceptance remarks from Professor Appiah, and a conversation between Professor Appiah and journalist Margaret Sullivan. An edited transcript of the program follows.

Global challenges, like pandemics, cannot be addressed by one nation alone; scientific capacity is essential in all corners of the globe to deal with COVID-19 today and the threats of tomorrow. A new Academy report, “Global Connections: Emerging Science Partners,” issued by the Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships initiative, describes the importance of strengthening collaborations between the U.S. and emerging science partner countries.

Projects in Science, Engineering, and Technology seek to strengthen the capacity of science and engineering to improve the human condition. This goal has never been more important. Global challenges increasingly require collaboration across disciplinary, professional, and national boundaries, while advances in information processing and transmission raise issues for both the management of scientific and technical information and for the ability of individuals and institutions to assimilate and act on new discoveries.

Valerie Bunce, George W. Breslauer, and Timothy J. Colton discuss the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Russia.

"Much of the biological variability I encountered in my childhood stays vividly with me now and very much forms part of my ongoing research drive."

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.