This work relates selected events in the history of the National Academy focusing on the terms of the various presidents from the first, Alexander D. Bache, the great grandson of Benjamin Franklin, to the most recent, Ralph Cicerone.

The encyclopedia takes a broad, multidisciplinary approach to the history of the period. It includes general and specific entries on politics and business, labor, industry, agriculture, education and youth, law and legislative affairs, literature, music, the performing and visual arts, health and medicine, science and technology, exploration, life on the Western frontier, family life, slave life, Native American life, women, and more than a hundred influential individuals.

Navigating the Maze: How Science and Technology Policies Shape America and the World offers a captivating deep dive into the inner workings of the world of public policy. Written by prominent science advocate and renowned physics researcher and educator, Michael S. Lubell, this valuable book provides insights and real-world examples for anyone looking to understand how policy works in reality: for students, scientists, and the public. Well-organized and featuring a compelling historical narrative, this unique resource will enable researchers, educators, elected officials, industrialists, financial managers, science lobbyists, and readers in general to easily navigate the complex world of science and technology (S&T) policy. As science communication and STEM policy occupy rapidly growing areas of interest and provide important career paths, this book provides invaluable insights into the public policy arena, as well as lessons for effective science advocacy. - Presents compelling narratives about Climate Change, the Internet, the Human Genome, the BRAIN Initiative, the Manhattan Project, the Science Stimulus, the origin of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, and more. - Provides insights into the future of S&T through a 225-year American policy retrospective, highlighting impacts on health and medicine, STEM education, economic growth, energy, defense, innovation, and industrial competitiveness. - Illuminates the role of S&T on the global stage, from diplomatic engagement to military intervention and from scientific collaboration to technological competition.

This timely volume identifies factors that impede the success of women in STEM professions and demonstrates the negative impact of sexual harassment on women’s physical health, mental health, and job performance. Focusing specifically on the narratives of women in higher education, the authors illuminate the structural and systemic barriers facing women working as graduate students, faculty, and administrators. Drawing on insights from the #metoo and #timesup movements as well as the Brett Kavanaugh Senate hearings, this book: Provides real-life narratives as clarifying examples Validates the experiences of women struggling to negotiate the STEM workplace Recommends specific helpful practices for both women and employers .This book will be a valuable resource for those in academia and the workplace, and serve as an illuminating of women's experience generally.

Long before the foundations of the concept of sustainability were laid down and green chemistry became a hot topic, chemists had already been looking for alternative feedstocks hoping to liberate the industry from its dependency on fossil fuels. This book examines one such story. Near the largest French forest in the southwest of the country, in Aquitaine, a network of entrepreneurs of chemists established in the early 20th century the Pine Institute. This curious institution, working at the interface of academia and industry explored new uses for pine resin. It is used to produce not only solvents, glues, and paper, but also rocket fuels. The pine resin has been one of the most versatile raw materials known to humanity.This book not only explains the success of the material itself but also of the scientific-industrial network that made it possible to exploit it sustainably over many decades. Did the Pine Institute find a recipe for making the future more sustainable in the post-oil world? It carefully examines its organisational features, relations with the local economy, as well as the core elements of resin chemistry as an independent discipline prefigurating sustainable chemistry of today.This unique book constitutes an original and pioneering work on the origins of some of the ideas that are being labeled today as green or sustainable chemistry. It establishes a bridge between two worlds, explaining in detail the history of a sustainable scientific discipline in its institutional and economic setting accounting for the complexity of the relations between stakeholders and of the knowledge circulation patterns. In other words, the book fills a gap in the emerging field of social studies of scientific sustainability.

In a world where advanced knowledge is widespread and low-cost labor is readily available, U.S. advantages in the marketplace and in science and technology have begun to erode. A comprehensive and coordinated federal effort is urgently needed to bolster U.S. competitiveness and pre-eminence in these areas. This congressionally requested report by a pre-eminent committee makes four recommendations along with 20 implementation actions that federal policy-makers should take to create high-quality jobs and focus new science and technology efforts on meeting the nation's needs, especially in the area of clean, affordable energy: 1) Increase America's talent pool by vastly improving K-12 mathematics and science education; 2) Sustain and strengthen the nation's commitment to long-term basic research; 3) Develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers from both the U.S. and abroad; and 4) Ensure that the United States is the premier place in the world for innovation. Some actions will involve changing existing laws, while others will require financial support that would come from reallocating existing budgets or increasing them. Rising Above the Gathering Storm will be of great interest to federal and state government agencies, educators and schools, public decision makers, research sponsors, regulatory analysts, and scholars.

Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research examines current interdisciplinary research efforts and recommends ways to stimulate and support such research. Advances in science and engineering increasingly require the collaboration of scholars from various fields. This shift is driven by the need to address complex problems that cut across traditional disciplines, and the capacity of new technologies to both transform existing disciplines and generate new ones. At the same time, however, interdisciplinary research can be impeded by policies on hiring, promotion, tenure, proposal review, and resource allocation that favor traditional disciplines. This report identifies steps that researchers, teachers, students, institutions, funding organizations, and disciplinary societies can take to more effectively conduct, facilitate, and evaluate interdisciplinary research programs and projects. Throughout the report key concepts are illustrated with case studies and results of the committee's surveys of individual researchers and university provosts.

The field of computer science (CS) is currently experiencing a surge in undergraduate degree production and course enrollments, which is straining program resources at many institutions and causing concern among faculty and administrators about how best to respond to the rapidly growing demand. There is also significant interest about what this growth will mean for the future of CS programs, the role of computer science in academic institutions, the field as a whole, and U.S. society more broadly. Assessing and Responding to the Growth of Computer Science Undergraduate Enrollments seeks to provide a better understanding of the current trends in computing enrollments in the context of past trends. It examines drivers of the current enrollment surge, relationships between the surge and current and potential gains in diversity in the field, and the potential impacts of responses to the increased demand for computing in higher education, and it considers the likely effects of those responses on students, faculty, and institutions. This report provides recommendations for what institutions of higher education, government agencies, and the private sector can do to respond to the surge and plan for a strong and sustainable future for the field of CS in general, the health of the institutions of higher education, and the prosperity of the nation.

Scores of talented and dedicated people serve the forensic science community, performing vitally important work. However, they are often constrained by lack of adequate resources, sound policies, and national support. It is clear that change and advancements, both systematic and scientific, are needed in a number of forensic science disciplines to ensure the reliability of work, establish enforceable standards, and promote best practices with consistent application. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward provides a detailed plan for addressing these needs and suggests the creation of a new government entity, the National Institute of Forensic Science, to establish and enforce standards within the forensic science community. The benefits of improving and regulating the forensic science disciplines are clear: assisting law enforcement officials, enhancing homeland security, and reducing the risk of wrongful conviction and exoneration. Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States gives a full account of what is needed to advance the forensic science disciplines, including upgrading of systems and organizational structures, better training, widespread adoption of uniform and enforceable best practices, and mandatory certification and accreditation programs. While this book provides an essential call-to-action for congress and policy makers, it also serves as a vital tool for law enforcement agencies, criminal prosecutors and attorneys, and forensic science educators.