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.

Organizers of 2015 “Innovation: An American Imperative” Issue Progress Report Detailing Path Congress & Administration Must Take to Ensure U.S. Remains Global Innovation Leader

As part of the Academy’s 2017 Induction weekend, Kathryn D. Sullivan discussed her experiences as a NASA astronaut and participated in a conversation with David M. Rubenstein.

Much of the attention about the humanities in higher education tends to focus on four-year colleges and universities (and more specifically, on the declining number of students who major in the humanities). In recent years, the American Academy’s Humanities Indicators (HI) have been exploring the growing presence of the humanities in the community college sector.

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.

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.

ARISE II Calls for Reorganization of the U.S. Scientific Enterprise

To thwart the skepticism of prospective students, some map job options, offer guarantees.

David Ellwood and Christopher Jencks discuss how inequalities in race, gender, and income continue to divide American society. Through the 2000–2001 Stated Meeting series on inequalities, the Academy seeks to reevaluate what has been achieved in the past quarter-century and assess the challenges that await us in the future.

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.

As the Academy continues to look at issues related to public perceptions of risk, uncertainty, and scientific research through its Public Face of Science initiative, it partnered with the University of Chicago to organize a public symposium on “Communicating Scientific Facts in an Age of Uncertainty.” The symposium featured presentations by Olufunmilayo I. Olopade and Arthur Lupia.

Judith Resnik, Jonathan Lippman, Carol S. Steiker, Susan S. Silbey, Jamal Greene, and Linda Greenhouse participated in a conversation on the function of courts in the United States.

At the National Press Club, members of the Academy's language commission met for a public discussion of their answers. Commission member Rubén Rumbaut, offered the core of the commission’s framing, “Ironically, despite the diversity of American languages, the United States has acquired the dubious designation of being a language graveyard...we have immigrants and children of immigrants not passing on their language skills.”

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences receives a $10 million gift from David Rubenstein. This is the largest gift in the organization's 241-year history and will support a new facility for the Academy Archives and establish the Rubenstein Fund for American Institutions.

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir made history in October 2019 when she participated in the first all-female spacewalk. After 205 days in the isolation of space, she returned to a planet experiencing its own form of isolation: the global COVID-19 pandemic. As an astronaut and a marine biologist, Dr. Meir’s research into the impact of extreme environments has brought her to the depths of the Antarctic and the heights of space. At a virtual program, hosted by the Academy’s San Diego Program Committee, Dr. Meir described her research and her experiences in space and participated in a conversation with Brian Keating (University of California San Diego) about the perspectives that her work provides about our world.

The Academy hosted a meeting at the University of California, Los Angeles, on public research universities in the twenty-first century. The speakers included Gene Block, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and Kim A. Wilcox.

Noteworthy

A transcript from an interdisciplinary panel discussion on the importance of creativity in science, with participants highlighting how creativity and imagination fuel scientific discovery and how science inspires artistic expression. The conversation followed the presentation of the Rumford Prize to Andrea Ghez by Laurie Patton.