Despite America’s history and reputation as a “melting pot,” immigration continues to polarize policy-makers. The Summer 2013 issue of Dædalus examines the origins and characteristics of new immigrants and considers their reception in the United States, with regard to both public policies and private behavior. The issue is guest edited by Academy Fellow Douglas S. Massey (Princeton University), a leading expert in the sociology of immigration.

Neal Lane and Norman Augustine, cochairs of the Academy project on New Models for U.S. Science and Technology Policy, discuss the project’s latest report on the perils of complacency and how the U.S. can compete with China.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has received a $750,000 grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation to advance the Academy's work on statistical indicators for the humanities.

In an effort to place the job advertisements in the broader context of the humanities field, staff members at the Humanities Indicators gathered up the numbers reported by the larger societies back to 2001.

As the Academy emerges from this difficult year, we have good news to share as well. Despite the challenges we have faced, our Academy community has remained active and vibrant.

The Summer 2013 issue of Dædalus examines the origins and characteristics of new immigrants and considers their reception in the United States, with regard to both public policies and private behavior.

In 2002, the Academy’s Initiative on Humanities and Culture issued its first Occasional Paper, Making the Humanities Count–a study of the need for a systematic and sustained effort to collect data on the state of the humanities in the United States. The Academy took up the challenge, and on January 7, 2009, it launched a prototype set of statistics: the Humanities Indicators.

Deceased Members

Attendees of the 21st Annual Conference of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities were urged today to consider advancing new strategies to sustain and strengthen public research universities by members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Lincoln Project.

Where does creativity come from? That is the question that animated a December 2025 concert lecture delivered by clinical psychiatrist Richard Kogan (Weill Cornell Medical College) at the House of the Academy in Cambridge.

New Data Available on College and University Humanities Departments

Select Prizes and Awards to Members

The Academy cohosted a German-American exchange about the political responsibility of universities for democratic culture as part of ongoing discussions about the importance of democratic values in the twenty-first century.

On March 12, 2014, the Academy hosted a program at its 2006th Stated Meeting about “At Berkeley,” a new documentary by Frederick Wiseman. The program included screened selections from the film, followed by a panel discussion with filmmaker Frederick Wiseman, Robert J. Birgeneau, George W. Breslauer, and Mark S. Schlissel.

“A Night at the Museums” was conceived of and hosted by Academy members and Gainesville Representatives Pamela Soltis and Douglas Soltis (both, University of Florida). They wanted an event that would highlight the utility of the modern museum collection while connecting members from across the country. This program gave a behind-the-scenes look at museums in Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, California, and Oregon – all of which are associated with universities in the Academy’s network of Affiliate institutions. An edited version of select portions of the presentations and Q&A session follows.

Temple Grandin discussed the education of students who have different kinds of minds, as well as her own upbringing and work experience as a woman with autism.

There is no resource more central to life on Earth than water. It is essential to the survival of people, organisms, and economies; its availability is inextricably linked to humanity’s need for security, energy, food, and community. The Summer 2015 issue of Dædalus moves beyond the failures of our tried approaches to water management.