American Institutions, Society & the Public Good

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.

Two weeks before the 2024 presidential election, Academy members convened in Cambridge for a compelling discussion about trust in science that featured Naomi Oreskes and Sean Decatur in conversation with Holden Thorp. The event, titled Rebuilding Trust in Science: A Morton L. Mandel Conversation, featured in this Bulletin issue on pages 60–77, took stock of the shifting terrain of science communication since the Academy’s Public Face of Science project. The panelists tackled a landscape marked by growing acceptance of climate change, deepening skepticism of the medical community, and the relentless churn of misinformation. They explored how scientists, journalists, institutional leaders, and others can cut through division and engage the public more meaningfully. With polarization and politicization eroding public trust in science, the stakes could not be higher. The event also featured Shirley Malcom and Cristine Russell, who bookended the discussion, as well as a vibrant exchange with the audience, leaving no doubt that rebuilding trust is urgent and complex.

The Global Security and International Affairs program area draws on the expertise of policy-makers, practitioners, and scholars to foster knowledge and inform innovative and more substantial policies to address crucial issues affecting the global community. Projects underway in this area engage with pressing strategic development and moral questions that underpin relations among people, communities, and states worldwide. Each initiative embraces a broad conception of security as the interaction among human, national, and global security imperatives. Project recommendations move beyond the idea of security as the absence of war toward higher aspirations of collective peace, development, and justice.

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

Over five decades, the Clean Air Act has become a venerable, living institution that has been highly successful in improving the environment around the country. Its success results from its durability and flexibility, two concepts that often seem to be in opposition yet may be essential to establishing successful climate and energy policy.

The conversation about climate change has evolved dramatically over the past three years. Since the Academy’s Board of Directors issued a public statement on climate change and the Academy’s Commission on Accelerating Climate Action began, public opinion and legislative measures have shifted toward more significant climate solutions.

What do students learn in college? When do professors learn how to teach? How can we ensure students are truly being educated for the future? The answers to these questions are determined in part by the quality of instruction students receive, yet public policy discussions about higher education rarely focus on teaching. Michael S. McPherson and Sandy Baum explored the importance of improving teaching and strengthening the college learning experience in the Fall 2019 issue of Dædalus.

Global challenges, like pandemics, cannot be addressed by one nation alone; scientific capacity is essential in all corners of the globe to deal with COVID-19 today and the threats of tomorrow. A new Academy report, “Global Connections: Emerging Science Partners,” issued by the Challenges for International Scientific Partnerships initiative, describes the importance of strengthening collaborations between the U.S. and emerging science partner countries.