40 Years of Issues

It’s thought that the very first coin ever produced by the United States Mint was made on a screw press in a Philadelphia basement in 1792, in the presence of George Washington… Read More

The National Science Foundation’s efforts to expand access to graduate STEM fellowships over the last fifty years offer useful lessons as college administrators seek to broaden access and participation in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action.

Foresight and planning can help universities intentionally shift the engineering curriculum (explicit and implicit) to encourage lifelong learning rather than thwart it.

“Are we here because the mere dust of stars torched / In the throat of an equation?”

First-term members of the US House of Representatives reflect on the intersection of science and policy, and what drives their work.

Drawing on her four decades in R&D, presidential science and technology advisor Arati Prabhakar talks about how the US innovation ecosystem can help the country and its citizens to flourish.

To offer evidence to policymakers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Academies formed an unprecedented network of social science experts who fielded questions and offered advice.

Thousands of American towns are losing jobs in fossil fuels. More sophisticated analytical tools could help communities marshal their resources for a better future.

Falling employment in the oil industry is shrinking university geoscience departments and closing petroleum engineering programs, but changes to the curriculum could make the field a leader in developing the workforce for the energy transition.

Advances in engineering and financial incentives are putting a Gulf Coast city at the forefront of the energy transition. Can policies make good on promises to clean the environment and create jobs?

Now that the potential of quantum technologies is becoming clearer, the United States must work quickly to build a workforce that reflects the diverse perspectives of our society.

What have the past 40 years taught us about the evolving relationship between science and society?

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was created in 1958 in response to the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik. The agency matured in an era of incredible American scientific and technological… Read More

The acting director of the ARPA for energy provides insights on how a government agency can take big-but-smart bets.

With the growth of “ARPA-everything,” it’s time to start testing predictions about what makes the model succeed. That means being able to understand when and why it doesn’t.

Science and engineering disciplines sometimes struggle to connect research with social benefits and to retain diverse students. Solving one problem can solve the other.

Bringing sociology into civil engineering helps explain how Ukraine’s social and physical systems work together to keep the lights on amid constant attacks.

European research collaborations with China have not followed the same patterns as those between the United States and China; understanding the nuances of these relationships offers insights into the future of global science.