For many students in the U.S. a career in science is out of reach. Too often young people interested in science never get the chance to pursue their dreams simply because they come from low-income families or live in parts of the country where opportunities to engage in scientific research are limited. This leads to […]
Over the past year, there have been significant policy advances related to the US bioeconomy—the part of the economy driven by the life sciences and biotech, and enabled by engineering, computing, and information science.1 The bioeconomy includes a wide range of products and processes, from mRNA vaccines and drought-resistant crops to microbial fertilizers and bioindustrial fermentation. […]
The concept of forecasting is pretty familiar to anyone who’s flipped on their local news to get a sense of the week’s weather. But the broader science of forecasting, which is being applied to policy-relevant topics such as epidemiology, energy, technology progress, and many more topics – – has never been in a more exciting […]
We don’t know if Congress does New Year’s Resolutions like the rest of us, but it seems like at least one of their goals is to continue ‘Building Regional Innovation Economies.’ We can guess that much from that title – given to a House of Representatives Subcommittee on Research and Technology hearing at the end of December. […]
The C-17As of the 62nd Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord serve as the Prime Nuclear Airlift Force (PNAF), the only airlift wing that is authorized to transport the Air Force’s nuclear warheads.
On December 8th, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation hosted a workshop, “Transportation, Mobility, and the Future of Infrastructure,” in collaboration with the Federation of American Scientists.
One of the most urgent challenges discussed the past few weeks at COP27 was climate adaptation—how to secure and empower communities worldwide that are already in the throes of climate change’s worst impacts. U.S. policymakers have rightly recognized climate adaptation and food security as growing intertwined national security and development aid priorities. Yet most acute climate adaptation challenges like […]
Just over a year ago, I found myself pausing during a research lab meeting. “Why were all the subjects in our studies of wearable devices white? And what were the consequences of exclusion?” This question stuck with me long after the meeting. Digging into the evidence, I was alarmed to find paper after paper signaling embedded […]
Over the past two years, the federal government has invested unprecedented amounts of funding in wildfire suppression, hazardous fuels reduction, community preparedness, and restoration through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Together, the IIJA and IRA provide $24 billion in funding for wildfire issues, distributed over 40 different programs and administered […]
Earlier this year Congress passed the CHIPS And Science Act: a once-in-a-generation piece of legislation to secure U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, enhance U.S. science investment, and foster the next generation of STEM talent. But at the core of that legislation are aggressive spending targets for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy Office of Science […]
Until a month ago, I was an event skeptic. When it’s as easy as a Zoom link to connect with colleagues, I found it hard to believe that getting a bunch of people together around an agenda was ever really worth the time and effort. Point one for my colleagues at FAS and the White […]
Question: What do family game nights and federal government initiatives have in common? Answer: They’re both much easier to successfully start than to successfully finish. Coordinating multiple stakeholders—each with their unique interests and perspectives—around a common goal is simply difficult. At FAS, we have yet to figure out how to best tackle family game nights. But we […]