Roger Ferguson, cochair of the Academy’s Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education, addresses how recent crises have exacerbated enduring challenges in higher education and how we collectively address those headwinds will shape outcomes for generations to come.

Scott D. Sagan, Joseph H. Felter, and Paul H. Wise discussed “A Collective Moral Awakening: Ethical Choices in War and Peace,” which is, in part, the subject of the Winter 2017 issue of Dædalus.

Immigration is not only where the people come from, and why they come, and whether they are forced to come; it's also how and, in the long run, whether they are received.

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

At an Academy event held in Seattle, Washington, author Annie Proulx described some surprising places her research has led: from accusations of plagiarism against Alfred, Lord Tennyson to obsessive lepidopterists and images of long-lost swamplands. Following her opening remarks, she joined Shawn Wong, professor of English, in conversation.

Christopher B. Field and Anna M. Michalak led a panel discussion on "Water: California in a Global Context" with Annie Maxwell, Holly Doremus, and Isha Ray. The program, which served as the Academy’s 2032nd Stated Meeting, followed from the Summer 2015 issue of Dædalus “On Water.”

An article by Martha Nussbaum

Academy Staff

The Committee on Studies and Publications supports the Academy’s Council by regularly reviewing the progress of projects, considering topics for future studies, and evaluating publications, including Dædalus.

As both a scholar and former administrator, Hope Shannon has been immersed in the world of local history organizations, and speaks in her essay to the ways in which such groups can use NIHO to leverage their limited resources.

On October 17, 2023, Dava Newman (Director of the MIT Media Lab and former NASA Deputy Administrator) spoke about the MIT Media Lab’s work and the use of vast amounts of data collected by satellites to inform and motivate the public for the fight against climate change. The program included welcoming remarks by Academy President David W. Oxtoby. An edited and condensed version of Dr. Newman’s presentation follows.

Two days after the election of Donald Trump as the forty-fifth president of the United States, Charles Stewart III, Lawrence D. Bobo, and Jennifer L. Hochschild discussed “Populism and the Future of American Politics.”

The Spring 2018 issue of Dædalus, “Unfolding Futures: Indigenous Ways of Knowing for the Twenty-First Century,” offers Native and non-Native voices on subjects ranging from political movements, adaptive leadership, and representational politics to the production of scientific knowledge, the ethics of bioscience, and language preservation.

Audrey Williams June explores key findings from a recent Humanities Indicators report, which shows that college graduates who major in humanities outearn people with no degree and earn similar median salaries as those who major in behavioral or social sciences, arts, or education.

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.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post presents the recommendations in “Our Common Purpose” on social media and disinformation as key to restoring American democracy.

U.S. courts operate as “informationally disabled” institutions that may lack (or intentionally exclude) important facts when making complex legal decisions. In his Dædalus essay, Frederick Schauer discusses why courts may not be suited to the task of “adequate factual determination.”

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

Since our nation’s founding, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences has celebrated excellence in every domain of scholarship and cultivated knowledge from many perspectives to advance the public good. The Academy is an independent, nonpartisan institution. Central to our work is a commitment to intellectual freedom–the freedom to teach, to learn, to speak, and to inquire without strictures of ideological or political orthodoxy. Freedom to pursue knowledge, without fear of censorship or discipline, is a bedrock value of our constitutional democracy and a practical condition for crafting the most effective solutions to our society’s toughest challenges.

As shared via social media, a delegation to Boston from Belgium celebrated the election of Belgian scientist and physician Peter Carmeliet to the Academy in 2021. A professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Dr. Carmeliet specializes in angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels.