Read our full annual report here, or just the letter from FAS CEO Daniel Correa below.
Friends and colleagues,
2025 was a year of momentous change and upheaval – and more than a few bright spots for FAS.
New presidential administrations often force reconsideration, regrouping and reformulation of strategies for organizations that care about public policy. But the scale of the shifts in funding and priorities at the federal level this year were seismic. And it quickly became clear for the science and technology community that simply hoping for a return to the status quo – or responding to current challenges using the same old playbook – wasn’t going to cut it. Neither would accepting a world in which science and technology succumb to deep politicization and partisanship.
So where do we go from here?
For 80 years, FAS has taken its role in shaping the future of the science and technology landscape quite seriously. In our founding era, we both argued for measures to mitigate the risks presented by nuclear weapons while aggressively advocating for the creation of an independent National Science Foundation to bring Vannevar Bush’s vision for a post-war science ecosystem to life. These actions seem as wise now as they did then.
But as many in our community have known for some time – and as this year of upheaval has made even more clear – our society’s relationship with science is due for a renewal, and our science and technology ecosystem needs revitalization and reform.
The exact blueprint for this renewal can’t be drawn from our past – no matter how many great minds and great ideas have graced the FAS offices these past 80 years. There is nonetheless deep inspiration to be uncovered in our past that propels us forward. For decades, FAS has been an engine of creative ideas and strategic policy responses to meet unexpected challenges. In moments like this one, such approaches will serve us well.
Only recently did we give this way of working a name: policy entrepreneurship. And the agility of our work over the last year is a good example of what it means, and where we think our community needs to go.
Our north star is real-world impact. And our work this year produced impacts that will last for years to come – tackling challenges such as the wildfire crisis, the public health impacts of extreme heat, and the implications of AI advances on biorisks and nuclear weapons. We made strategic moves that will strengthen FAS far beyond this year, including acquiring MetroLab Network – a nonprofit dedicated to science and innovation policy at the state and local levels. We even added our very first Chief Science Officer, Jedidah Isler (who you’ll hear from later) who started raising the bar at FAS from her very first day.
There are so many reasons to be proud of the FAS team this year. And yet none of it could have happened without the courage and ingenuity of our founders – who officially gathered for the first time 80 years ago. So that’s where this report will start – with a look back, as we celebrate FAS’s 80th year.
Our founders knew back in 1945 that good public policy had to be built on foundations beyond the walls of the White House and the halls of Capitol Hill; it had to address what was actually happening in laboratories, factories, classrooms and communities around the country. And it had to account for the way federal agencies actually worked. As we now embark on a project that seeks to revitalize the scientific enterprise and renew society’s relationship with it, we are guided by these insights.
The 80-year journey that’s led FAS to today is truly remarkable, as you’ll see, but I’m just as excited for the road ahead. I’ve never been more thrilled to have you along for the ride.
Daniel Correa, FAS CEO
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