"Twenty years ago I set out with a Chinese friend and research partner, Gao Xiaoxian, to seek from elderly women in northwest Chinese villages their memories of socialist collectivization in the 1950s. We wanted to hear from them before advancing age and death silenced their stories."

Weather and climate disasters – along with natural hazards, such as earthquakes, public health crises, and human-caused contaminant spills – threaten human lives and pose challenges to relief efforts, to the restoration of ecosystems, and to the rebuilding of communities. Science plays an important role in response and recovery and can contribute immensely to disaster prevention.

The Academy, in collaboration with the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA), hosted the Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture on “How Are Humans Different from Other Great Apes?” featuring Ajit P. Varki, Pascal Gagneux, Fred H. Gage, and Margaret J. Schoeninger.

Jeffrey G. Lewis and Scott D. Sagan published an op-ed adapted from their Daedalus article "The Nuclear Necessity Principle: Making U.S. Targeting Policy Conform with Ethics & the Laws of War."

Local Program Committees and Representatives bring together communities of members to connect, explore topics of interest, and
advise informally on Academy projects.

Local Program Committees and Representatives bring together communities of members to connect, explore topics of interest, and advise informally on Academy projects.

Local Program Committees and Representatives bring members together to connect with the Academy and each other in the communities where they live.

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy hosted a Civic Scientist Lecture on the Academy's recent report.

Local Program Committees and Representatives bring members together to connect with the Academy and each other in the communities where they live.

The Academy's Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE) is rethinking the values, policies, narratives, and metrics that shape the nation’s political economy. Rather than focus on how the economy is doing, the Commission seeks to direct a focus onto how Americans are doing. As part of this work, the Academy hosted a conversation with U.S. Representative Jim Himes, Chair of the House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth and U.S. Representative Bryan Steil, the Ranking Member of the Committee.

Local Program Committees and Representatives bring members together to connect with the Academy and each other in the communities where they live.

The American Academy inducted its 236th class of members at a ceremony that included presentations by five new members: Terry A. Plank, Jay D Keasling, Andrea Louise Campbell, Theaster Gates, Jr., and Walter Isaacson.

The humanities, arts, and culture are woven through virtually every Academy program, where artists and humanists add interdisciplinary breadth to projects in science, democracy, and security. However, the Academy also undertakes projects that put humanities, arts, and culture at the forefront, strengthening their practice and highlighting their importance to all aspects of the nation’s thriving intellectual life. These projects call attention to the role the arts and humanities play in enriching the growth and vitality of individuals, communities, and the nation.

The White House’s proposed budget cuts to language and exchange programs will make America less able to communicate with and understand our allies and potential adversaries abroad, argues Karl Eikenberry, citing Academy report.

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.

On September 6, 2018, at Emory University, the American Academy hosted a Morton L. Mandel Public Lecture on “The Study of African American Women’s Writing: Pasts & Futures.” The program, which included a welcome from Dwight A. McBride, served as the 2069th Stated Meeting of the American Academy. Michelle M. Wright introduced the evening’s speakers – Frances Smith Foster, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, and Pellom McDaniels III – and moderated the discussion.

A national survey of the public from June 2024 offers insights into how often the public engages with various aspects of the arts and humanities.

The decennial census is the longest continuous scientific project in American history. It is also the largest applied social science project undertaken in this country.

Some notable patterns have emerged in a series of surveys surveys asking about public engagement with various types of humanistic and artistic content.