“Reports & Events” is a monthly tip sheet for the news media that highlights selected meetings of interest and forthcoming reports from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.  

Selected Events in April 2025 Click on each event title below to access meeting details, an agenda, and registration information, or contact the Office of News and Public Information (email news@nas.edu). Reporters should register for all meetings. 

Find more National Academies events at https://www.nationalacademies.org/events.
 
Space Science Week 2025
March 31 - April 4
Leaders of NASA and other space agencies as well as an array of space experts will discuss recent advances, upcoming projects, and the future of space science, including the Artemis program, Mars sample return, AI in space applications, planetary defense, and more.  

Primary Care and the Cost of Education April 1 This webinar will examine whether the cost of education is a barrier to students entering primary care professions as well as to working in rural settings. Speakers will share potential strategies to incentivize entry into the primary care workforce.  

The Warped Side of Our Universe
April 2
This public lecture from physicist Kip Thorne and artist Lia Halloran will focus on their project “The Warped Side of Our Universe: An Odyssey Through Black Holes, Wormholes, Time Travel, and Gravitational Waves,” which blends scientific insights with art to explore questions about the universe’s origins and the nature of time and space.  

Assessing and Navigating Biosecurity Concerns and Benefits of Artificial Intelligence Use in the Life Sciences April 2
This is a public briefing for the recent consensus study report, The Age of AI in the Life Sciences: Benefits and Biosecurity Considerations.   

Publishing Studies of In Silico Modeling and Computational Approaches of Biological Agents and Organisms April 3 and 4
This workshop will explore the benefits and biosecurity risks of communicating studies that use computational modeling and generative artificial intelligence to understand and design biological systems.  

Implications of Recent Supreme Court Decisions for Agency Decision-Making
April 7 and 8
In recent decisions, the Supreme Court moved away from the traditional deference afforded government agencies under the 1984 case Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — ultimately overturning the decision in June 2024 and embracing the “major questions doctrine” (MQD). This workshop will examine the implications of the MQD and the overturning of Chevron deference for agency decision-making.  

Reinventing the Right of Way: Policy, Technical, and Economic Implications of Siting Transmission Lines Along Transportation Corridors
April 7-9
This workshop will discuss opportunities, benefits, and barriers for the use of highway and rail rights of way for electrical transmission. Key stakeholders in the planning, operations, ownership, use, and regulation of both transmission projects and transportation rights of way, as well as experts from private industry, nonprofits, and academia, will come together to discuss the issue and address critical questions.  

Mitigating Exposure to Airborne Diseases on Buses
April 10
Public transportation vehicles, especially buses, can be high-risk environments for the health of passengers and employees. This session will explore effective strategies, both immediate responses and long-term engineering solutions, to mitigate the transmission of airborne viruses in bus cabins.  

Chemistry 2050: Space
April 14
This webinar will feature a moderated discussion exploring how advances in astrochemistry intersect with our understanding of the origins of solar systems and future space travel missions.  

Financial Strategies for Addressing Climate Change Impacts, Decarbonization, and the Cost of Inaction
April 14
This webinar will explore financial strategies for leadership, particularly in the health sector, to address climate-related risks, including the cost of inaction, financial impacts of mandates, reputation risks, and the importance of hardening facilities, among other related topics.  

Repeated Head Impacts in Youth and Strategies to Minimize Exposure
April 15 and 16
This workshop will explore the evidence on repeated head impacts on youth, including what is known the risk of repeated head impacts and how to minimize them. Researchers, children’s health care providers, and others will also discuss the current gaps in clinical guidelines and opportunities for more research.  

Perspectives on the Plastics Life Cycle
April 18
This meeting will focus on the global problem of plastic pollution and its downstream effects. It will also include an overview of the sources, fate, and transformation of plastic in the environment and discussions of the ecological, economic, and human health impacts of plastic pollution.  

Climate and Health Summit
April 22
The National Academy of Medicine will host its second annual Climate and Health Summit, which will include panels featuring top experts offering insights into innovative and exemplar climate and health programs across the nation. Agenda highlights include a plenary session on lessons learned from the Los Angeles wildfires and concurrent sessions on protecting workers amid crises, the critical role of accrediting bodies, and more.  

Excessive Heat and the Indoor Environment
April 23
This workshop will explore how excessive heat affects indoor environments, particularly for workers, and it will examine the effects of excessive heat, its impact on environmental chemistry, and the consequences for human health.  

Supply Chain-Based Resilience Planning in the U.S.
April 24
Disruptions to the supply chain can have widespread economic and societal impacts, particularly for regions recovering from extreme weather events. This webinar will highlight innovative approaches to freight resilience planning and strategies to improve supply chain stability across the country.  

NAS Annual Meeting
April 25-27 and 29
Events for the 162nd annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences include an induction ceremony for members elected in 2024, a ceremony to honor 2025 award recipients, an address to members by NAS President Marcia McNutt, a symposium on expanding U.S. electric transmission power capacity, and a science program that highlights groundbreaking research by members who were elected last year. Each of these events will be webcast. New NAS members will also be elected; election results will be available online by 3 p.m. EDT on April 29. Reporters should register in advance to receive the list of new members via e-mail or to attend any of the public sessions in person.  

Data-Informed Decision-Making: Shaping the Future of Science and Technology
April 30
This webinar will bring together experts from multiple sectors to discuss how a data-informed approaches are transforming the accessibility, agility, and competitiveness of the science and technology ecosystem.    ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR REPORTERS

• The National Academies’ Newsroom

• PNAS in the News | Register to receive embargoed material from the PNAS News Office

• Reports and other publications from the National Academies

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