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.

Google Senior Fellow Jeffrey Dean; Installation artist Theaster Gates; Irish author Eavan Boland; philanthropist Edythe Broad; Aspen Institute's Walter Isaacson among new members

James Carroll states the case for American support of the International Criminal Court. This editorial was initially published in The Boston Globe.

2020–2021 Academy Governance & Committees

Academy member Arthur Kleinman discusses his intellectual journey and personal odyssey for the Bulletin’s new feature, “On the Professions.”

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

The first Stated Meeting in the 220-year history of the Academy to be held outside the United States took place at the residence of the US Ambassador to France on June 6, 2000.

Governance & Committees, 2021–2022

The field of security studies has long been defined by great power politics, interstate conflict, and traditional military threats. However, shifts in the global balance of power, the rising influence of non-state actors, and the increasing urgency of nontraditional threats—such as climate change, infectious disease, biological weapons, and the risks associated with artificial intelligence—are challenging key assumptions in the field. In addition, security studies institutions are facing major funding cuts as U.S. government support for academic research and foundation support for security studies decline.

John L. Hennessy, Ann M. Arvin, Carla J. Shatz, and Peter S. Kim participated in a discussion at Stanford University about the role of university research in the innovation pipeline.

Recent Dædalus Issues

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.

The 2015 Induction Ceremony included presentations by five new members: Phil S. Baran, Patricia Smith Churchland, Roland G. Fryer, Jr., Sally Haslanger, and Darren Walker.

An exploratory meeting at the Academy brought together more than 20 participants - spanning the fields of science, technology, journalism, museum education, and law - to discuss how to bridge the gap between science and the public. They discussed changes in the science engagement landscape and the challenge of not only reaching people but also cutting through the noise and making them care.

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

On October 11, 2025, the Academy inducted more than two hundred newly elected members during its annual Induction Ceremony. The program included brief remarks from five new members, each representing one of the Academy’s membership classes. Their talks addressed topics such as the transformative power of science, building trust in expertise in the age of biology, leading for breakthroughs, creating books that act as mirrors rather than windows, and the evolving impact of Title IX. The class speakers were Gregory H. Robinson (Class I: Mathematical and Physical Sciences), Ashish K. Jha (Class II: Biological Sciences), Brian Uzzi (Class III: Social and Behavioral Sciences), Jacqueline Woodson (Class IV: Humanities and Arts), and Christine Brennan (Class V: Leadership, Policy, and Communications). Edited versions of their remarks follow.

Although declarations and prophesies of doom for the humanities abound, they provide no consistent facts about the current or past situation of the collection of academic interests loosely defined as the humanities. The Academy is trying to provide a body of information and of ideas that will support intellectual community and intellectual action.