Consensus
Understanding and anticipating change in the ocean, and how it will affect marine ecosystems and humans, has never been more urgent. Over recent years, basic and applied research in ocean science has developed more accurate forecasts of ocean and seafloor processes that have helped communities adapt to changing conditions. However, at the start of this new decade (2025-2035), U.S. investment in ocean science, engineering, and technology is not keeping pace with growing societal needs, even as U.S. competitors are increasing investments in ocean science and advancing their capacities.
At the request of the National Science Foundation (NSF), this report provides advice on how to focus investments in ocean research, infrastructure, and workforce to meet national and global challenges in the coming decade and beyond, and in doing so, enhance national security, scientific leadership, and economic competitiveness through a thriving blue economy. The report also sets out an overarching challenge for NSF and the broader research community: to establish a new paradigm for forecasting the state of the ocean at scales relevant to human well-being in the next decade. Accomplishing this challenge is reliant on continued funding for basic research across ocean studies and reinvestment in ocean science infrastructure. It will require an integrated approach to research that takes full advantage of emerging technologies, expands the workforce, and increases available resources through strategic partnerships among federal and state agencies, industry, academia, and other interest holders.
164 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-72222-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-72223-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/27846
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Forecasting the Ocean: The 2025–2035 Decade of Ocean Science. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Ensuring the safety and security of customers is a core responsibility of public transit agencies. Perceptions of personal safety play a critical role in influencing travel behavior, with fear and anxiety about personal safety acting as major deterrents to transit use.
TCRP Synthesis 184: Improving Transit Customer Perception of Personal Security, from TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program, documents the current state of the practice related to customer perceptions of safety and security on bus and rail transit. Drawing from a literature review, a national survey of 35 transit providers, and in-depth case examples of five transit providers, this synthesis highlights strategies to improve customers’ outlook, the effectiveness of those strategies, how the strategies are communicated to the public, and the associated change in customers’ perceptions.
102 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-59927-X
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-59928-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29244
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Improving Transit Customer Perception of Personal Security. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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State departments of transportation (DOTs) have increased their focus on resilience initiatives to address impacts from short-term and long-term stressors such as extreme weather events, wildfires, and flooding. Economic shifts, changes in population, and other disruptions also cause transportation agencies to modify their practices to accommodate uncertainty. State DOTs need tools and approaches to justify additional project expenses for increasing resilience.
NCHRP Research Report 1159: Measuring Impacts and Performance of State DOT Resilience Efforts: A Guide, from TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program, presents a guide for applying resilience performance measures (RPMs) to resilience investments made by state DOTs.
Supplemental to the report is NCHRP Web-Only Document 432: Impacts and Performance of State DOT Resilience Efforts.
76 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99479-9
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99480-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29207
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Measuring Impacts and Performance of State DOT Resilience Efforts: A Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Derailment loads in nearly all U.S. transit design criteria documents are similar across agencies. However, it is unclear whether horizontal and vertical derailment loads for the efficient and safe design of transit structures are reasonably accurate.
TCRP Research Report 257: Determination of Actual Derailment Loads on Transit Bridges, from TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program, provides the transit industry with a reasoned basis for derailment loads on bridges. It also offers methodologies that bridge design engineers can utilize to calculate the horizontal and vertical derailment impact loading.
92 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-59972-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-59973-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29257
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Determination of Actual Derailment Loads on Transit Bridges. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can have lasting physical, cognitive, and emotional health effects that extend well beyond the initial event. In March 2025, the National Academies' Forum on Traumatic Brain Injury convened a workshop to explore TBI as a chronic condition and to identify opportunities to improve lifelong care.
Participants examined evidence supporting the classification of TBI as a chronic condition, explored the biological mechanisms that drive long-term outcomes, and discussed the complex comorbidities that can persist or emerge years after injury. Lived experience perspectives shared throughout the workshop underscored the human impact of these issues and the importance of sustained, multidisciplinary support for recovery and well-being. This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes presentations and discussions from the workshop.
124 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-60041-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60039-1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29230
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Examining Traumatic Brain Injury as a Chronic Condition: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Symposium_in_brief
On March 13-14, 2025, the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted the most recent Gilbert W. Beebe symposium, with the goal of discussing the applications of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in the fields of radiation therapy, medical diagnostics, and occupational health and safety. Among other topics, symposium participants discussed the importance of data for AI readiness, multimodal modeling, digital twins, uncertainty quantification and trustworthiness, and bias and ethics as it applies to each of these fields.
The Gilbert W. Beebe Symposium was established by the Board on Radiation Effects Research (a predecessor of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board) in 2002 to honor the scientific achievements of the late Dr. Gilbert W. Beebe, a distinguished National Cancer Institute radiation epidemiologist who was one of the designers and key implementers of the epidemiology studies of Japanese atomic bomb survivors and a co-founder of the Medical Follow-up Agency. The symposium is used to promote discussions among scientists, federal staff, and other interested parties concerned with radiation health effects.
114 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99459-4
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99460-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29200
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Gilbert W. Beebe Symposium: AI and ML Applications in Radiation Therapy, Medical Diagnostics, and Radiation Occupational Health and Safety. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_in_brief
Labor and employment policies impact where people live and work, as well as their access to health care and overall well-being. The National Academies' Roundtable on Population Health Improvement held a public workshop in June 2025 to examine the specific ways in which these policies influence health outcomes and health equity across communities. Discussions addressed the impact of larger trends shaping the modern labor market, such as automation and gig work, on health and economic security; effects of unemployment insurance, paid leave, wage laws, and scheduling protections; and more. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes presentations and discussions from the workshop.
14 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60082-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29281
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Exploring Relevant Policy Domains: Labor and Employment Policy and Population Health: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The Census Transportation Planning Products datasets and the American Community Survey are critical data elements that support the analysis of transportation plans, policies, programs, and project selection.
NCHRP Research Report 1108: Census Data Field Guide for Transportation Applications, from TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program, presents a comprehensive field guide for transportation practitioners on how to effectively utilize census data to support transportation analyses.
136 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-73399-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73400-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29028
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Census Data Field Guide for Transportation Applications. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among teenagers in the United States. Despite significant risks associated with young drivers, current driver’s licensing exams are not strong predictors of driving safety. The on-road driving skills examination represents a “gateway” from the learner phase to licensure and independent, unsupervised driving.
BTSCRP Research Report 16: Predicting High-Risk Drivers: Skills Examination and Scoring Guidelines, from TRB's Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program, provides guidance and methods to reliably and consistently identify drivers who pose a high safety risk and need more driving experience before being licensed.
88 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99549-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99550-7
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29223
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Predicting High-Risk Drivers: Skills Examination and Scoring Guidelines. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Early career STEMM professionals - individuals entering graduate school or seeking postdoctoral positions - face decreasing programmatic support, resulting in smaller cohort sizes. Amid growing tension and uncertainty, critical questions have reemerged around the role of trainees within this system and their place in a rapidly changing future. This confluence of events has created a landscape which invites a comprehensive examination and fundamental rethinking of the STEMM enterprise towards clarity on priorities for reform and advancement in the future. To explore training and career development of STEMM graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, the Board on Higher Education and Workforce of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a Summit on July 22-23, 2025. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the summit.
20 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60090-1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29283
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Reimagining STEMM Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Career Development: Proceedings of a Summit—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Active shooter drills have become a standard practice in nearly all U.S. schools, yet their potential impact on students and educators has received limited attention. School Active Shooter Drills: Mitigating Risks to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health explores how these drills are conducted and how to reduce potential harm while supporting school safety. Developed by a committee of experts in education, school safety, public health, pediatrics, child and adolescent development, psychiatry, psychology, neuroscience, public policy, and criminology, this report provides an in-depth review of current practices and offers guidance. The report provides suggestions for implementing practices that promote prevention and preparedness while supporting well-being, and foster learning environments where students and staff feel safe, capable, and supported.
School Active Shooter Drills finds that while drills aim to enhance preparedness, they often vary dramatically in intensity and design, from simple safety walk-throughs to unannounced, high-simulation events. Such inconsistencies can heighten anxiety, distress, and confusion, especially among vulnerable student populations. The report underscores that developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed practices are essential, and drills involving realistic simulations or deception should be avoided entirely.
School Active Shooter Drills outlines actionable recommendations for state and local policymakers, school leaders, researchers, and federal agencies, including banning harmful practices, supporting staff training, ensuring equitable inclusion, and increasing access to mental health resources. This report also calls for national guidance and sustained research to strengthen the evidence base and help schools foster safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environments so that schools not only prepare students and staff for emergencies but also protect their mental, emotional, and behavioral well-being.
422 pages
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99198-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99199-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29105
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. School Active Shooter Drills: Mitigating Risks to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Health. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
The National Academies' Roundtable on Plastics convened a workshop in May 2025 to explore circularity and other approaches for sustainable life cycle management of plastic materials to mitigate plastic pollution, including reduction of plastic waste through redesign, reuse, remaking, and recycling. This workshop specifically addressed areas of both high plastic production and waste, namely packaging, textiles, and building material sectors. Throughout, participants considered solutions including rethinking, redesign, and reuse; the use of these synergies and strategies to minimize impacts on plastic waste; and the associated effects on human and environmental health.
76 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99455-1
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99456-X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29199
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Circularity and Plastics: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The field of solar and space physics explores the heliosphere - the vast protective bubble formed by the solar wind that extends from the Sun to the outer fringes of the solar system, and beyond. This booklet highlights key themes and recommendations from the 2025 decadal survey for solar and space physics, The Next Decade of Discovery in Solar and Space Physics: Exploring and Safeguarding Humanity's Home in Space.
40 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99359-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29150
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Solar and Space Physics for the Nation: An Overview of the 2024–2033 Decadal Survey. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Low-level electrical fault currents are a phenomenon found in direct current (DC) traction systems used in public transit systems worldwide. These low-level currents are typically caused by small and sporadic failures of insulation within the electrification system, which makes them difficult to locate, measure, and control. If these faults are left undetected, existing evidence shows extensive damage to infrastructure of transit systems and that of adjacent private/public utilities could result.
TCRP Research Report 259: Low-Level DC Leakage and Fault Currents in Transit Systems: Developing a Prototype for Detection and Mitigation, from TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program, develops a prototype system that can detect low-level faults in electrified transit systems powered by third rails.
The report is supplemental to TCRP Research Report 211: Guidebook for Detecting and Mitigating Low-Level DC Leakage and Fault Currents in Transit Systems.
36 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-59935-0
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-59936-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29246
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Low-Level DC Leakage and Fault Currents in Transit Systems: Developing a Prototype for Detection and Mitigation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
The U.S. scientific enterprise has produced countless discoveries that have led to significant advances in technology, health, security, safety, and economic prosperity. However, concern exists that excessive, uncoordinated, and duplicative policies and regulations surrounding research are hampering progress and jeopardizing American scientific competitiveness. Estimates suggest the typical U.S. academic researcher spends more than 40 percent of their federally funded research time on administrative and regulatory matters, wasting intellectual capacity and taxpayer dollars. Although administrative and regulatory compliance work can be vital aspects of research, the time spent by researchers on such activities continues to increase because of a dramatic rise in regulations, policies, and requirements over time.
To better ensure that the research community is maximally productive while simultaneously ensuring the safety, accountability, security, and ethical conduct of publicly funded research, Simplifying Research Regulations and Policies: Optimizing American Science examines current federal research regulations. This report identifies ways to improve regulatory processes and administrative tasks, reduce or eliminate unnecessary work, and modify and remove policies and regulations that have outlived their purpose while maintaining necessary and appropriate integrity, accountability, and oversight. Simplifying Research Regulations provides a roadmap for establishing a more agile and resource-effective regulatory framework for federally funded research.
142 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99579-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99580-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29231
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Simplifying Research Regulations and Policies: Optimizing American Science. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Traffic safety public awareness and education efforts are two countermeasures that traffic safety professionals, including those working at state highway safety offices (SHSOs), employ to improve roadway user safety. These efforts are intended to share messaging that will raise awareness of dangerous roadway behaviors, increase knowledge of the impact of these behaviors and safer alternatives, change attitudes about both those behaviors and the alternatives, and ultimately, change those behaviors.
BTSCRP Research Report 14: Evaluating Traffic Safety Campaigns: A Guide, from TRB's Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program, provides insights into current practices for measuring the effectiveness of behavioral-based traffic safety campaigns. It also presents a framework for evaluating traffic safety campaigns, with the goal of designing and conducting future campaigns to more effectively promote safer road user behaviors.
152 pages
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99370-9
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99371-7
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29154
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Evaluating Traffic Safety Campaigns: A Guide. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Behavioral outreach is a compelling option for improving traffic safety, because it presents a relatively low-cost and broad-based way for highway safety offices to discourage unsafe behaviors and encourage safe behaviors without requiring the same logistics and resources as deploying enforcement or changing infrastructure.
BTSCRP Web-Only Document 7: Objectives, Components, and Measures of Effective Traffic Safety Public Awareness and Education Efforts, from TRB's Behavioral Traffic Safety Cooperative Research Program, identifies current practices used by state highway safety offices (SHSOs) and other entities to evaluate the effectiveness of traffic safety campaigns and associated outcomes. The document also includes a practical and scalable framework for evaluating efforts to engage road users, through traffic safety campaigns, to change behavior and improve safety performance.
150 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99374-1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29155
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Objectives, Components, and Measures of Effective Traffic Safety Public Awareness and Education Efforts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Every community across the United States faces impacts on their health and well-being from a wide range of sources including pollution of air, water, and soil and extreme events such as wildfires and other natural or human-caused disasters. Impacts may be heightened by factors such as unaffordable housing, limited or no access to healthcare, poverty, and unemployment. Cumulative impact assessment (CIA) is a tool to help environmental and other relevant decision-makers consider multiple factors in evaluating priorities and potential changes in policies or regulations, with a focus on improving health and well-being.
In response to a request from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this report provides recommendations on the state of the science of CIA and on fostering its application at the community, state, regional, tribal, and national levels. On the basis of input gathered in a number of public meetings, the report recommends EPA expand its CIA framework in important conceptual ways, including to encompass multiple dimensions of health and well-being. Further, the factors that undermine health and well-being (stressors) should be distinguished from those that promote health and well-being (resources).
State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment lays out an expanded, five-step process for cumulative impact assessment that is driven by ongoing meaningful engagement and includes a final step of monitoring and evaluation of decisions implemented. This report's authoring committee applied its recommended five-step process to eight case studies across different contexts and scales - including the region in Louisiana known as "cancer alley"; a tribal population in Colorado; the train derailment and chemical fire in East Palestine, Ohio; the Los Angeles, California wildfires; and the replacement of lead service lines across the nation - concluding that the recommendations can increase the effectiveness of actions to improve health and well-being.
276 pages
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paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99446-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60061-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29182
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. State of the Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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The affordability of health professional education (HPE) is a critical issue in the U.S., with rising costs and mounting debt impacting who can enter and sustain health professional careers. The National Academies Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education convened a workshop series in early 2025 to examine financial barriers, assess workforce effects, and consider strategies to improve the value and accessibility of HPE. Policy experts, educators, students, and international stakeholders discussed topics such as financing and payment models that influence access to HPE programs; the impact of debt on students' decisions to enter primary care or practice in rural and underserved areas; and return on investment considerations for HPE programs and their implications for individuals, institutions, and society. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes presentations and discussions that took place across the series.
11 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-60045-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29271
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Affordability of Health Professional Education: Proceedings of a Workshop Series—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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