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
·
8.5 x 11
·
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.
Import this citation to:
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
·
7 x 10
·
paperback
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.
Import this citation to:
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
·
6 x 9
·
paperback
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.
Import this citation to:
Workshop
In recent years, concerns have grown about foreign actors exploiting the openness of the U.S. research ecosystem to misappropriate scientific and technological information to enhance their nations' scientific, economic, and military capabilities. Research security requirements for academic institutions currently include research security training, disclosure of funding sources in applications for federal research and development awards, and the development of comprehensive research security plans focused on cybersecurity, foreign travel security, insider threat awareness training, and export control training and compliance. These requirements are being implemented, and additional requirements are being contemplated.
To consider the impacts of current and potential research security requirements, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop on May 22-23, 2025, in Washington, DC. The event focused on potential measures of effectiveness and performance and the data needed to assess research security and protection efforts in higher education by a range of federal agencies. This proceedings describes the presentations and discussions at the workshop.
112 pages
·
6 x 9
·
paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-59915-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-59916-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29241
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Assessing Research Security Efforts in Higher Education: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Consensus
The public colleges and universities established in 1862, 1890, and 1994 as part of the land-grant system have historically played an important role in bringing the assets of institutions of higher education to bear on the public good. This report describes how the land-grant institutions can increase their collective impact for the public good by growing their institution-wide capacity to partner with each other, with communities, and with organizations across different sectors of society.
The report concludes that developing successful collaborative platforms require authentic engagement and long-term relationship building between universities and their partners. It found that a network of organizations, faculty members, and university professionals invested in supporting engagement and collaboration is emerging on campuses, states, and nationally. Among other roles, they act as catalysts for and facilitators of collaboration, help colleges and universities learn from collaborations, and seek to develop appropriate metrics of outcomes and impact with the input of invested partners. To encourage and sustain the involvement of more academic units from across the land-grant institution in collaborative activity, university leadership can establish infrastructure, incentives, rewards, and other supports. The intention is to move the institutional culture to embrace external engagement as a means of aligning their academic programs with public values. By strengthening collaboration and embedding public purpose into research, teaching, and extension, land-grant institutions can generate more meaningful outcomes for society.
100 pages
·
7 x 10
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09914-5
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29092
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Fulfilling the Public Mission of the Land-Grant System: Building Platforms for Collaboration and Impact. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
On October 9, 2024, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a workshop, Leveraging the National Climate Assessment to Empower Communities, in Washington, DC. Through presentations and discussion, workshop participants explored possibilities and challenges for broadening the reach of the National Climate Assessment to increase community engagement and application of report findings. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes the presentations and discussions of the workshop.
12 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99185-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29122
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Leveraging the National Climate Assessment to Empower Communities: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
Meeting the United States' growing demand for reliable, resilient, and affordable energy will require expanded electric transmission capacity across the nation. As grid planners identify paths to accomplishing this expansion, the co-location of transmission lines along highway and rail rights of way (ROWs) may be one option for siting future transmission infrastructure. While this approach can potentially offer benefits for feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and public acceptance, there are few successful examples of this approach to date and many policy, logistical, design, and construction challenges to consider.
To provide a forum for discussing opportunities for the use of transportation ROWs for electrical transmission, the challenges involved, and potential solutions to overcome barriers, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted the workshop on Reinventing the Right of Way: Policy, Technical, and Economic Implications of Siting Transmission Lines Along Transportation Corridors on April 7-9, 2025. The workshop convened stakeholders in the planning, operations, ownership, use, and regulation of transmission projects and transportation ROWs to establish a shared understanding of the issues and elicit constructive suggestions for action.
12 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99445-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29178
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Reinventing the Right of Way: Policy, Technical, and Economic Implications of Siting Transmission Lines Along Transportation Corridors: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
Advancing precision medicine - sometimes referred to as personalized medicine - relies on active collaboration among domestic and international scientific organizations to accelerate the translation of research into clinical practice by bringing together complementary expertise, resources, and perspectives. To further knowledge exchange between Kuwait and the United States in this field, the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences launched a collaborative series of workshops designed to investigate interdisciplinary approaches between biological and material sciences, engineering disciplines, and data science to achieve meaningful solutions in precision medicine.
The first workshop in the series was held between February 2 and 3, 2025, in Kuwait. The sessions explored advancements in point-of-care technologies and the unprecedented impact of artificial intelligence on the evolving landscape of precision medicine in the United States and Kuwait. Workshop discussions also highlighted how precision health research is revolutionizing the understanding and treatment of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, which is prevalent in both countries. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief provides a high-level summary of key discussions held during the February 2025 workshop.
14 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99450-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29197
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Promoting Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration Between Kuwait and the United States: Precision Medicine: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
People, communities, and nature are directly and indirectly affected by long-term shifts in the environment. Transformative action is necessary to respond to these shifts and infuse sustainable practices throughout affected sectors and communities. Higher education institutions are central in identifying sustainable and resilient paths forward that incorporate fundamental research, workforce development, education, and community engagement.
On February 5, 2025, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and convened a public workshop to build upon national dialogues and explore additional mechanisms to advance the role of the higher education sector in supporting sustainability and resilience. The Board on Higher Education and Workforce, in collaboration with the National Academies Climate Crossroads initiative, brought together higher education stakeholders to share visions of collaboration and success, possible frameworks for cooperation and implementation, and potential partners for sustainability and resilience initiatives - including surrounding communities, industry, and state and local government. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.
13 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99444-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29177
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Higher Education's Path to Sustainability and Resilience: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
On May 1-3, 2024, a committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop to address the environmental damage resulting from Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion of and subsequent war against Ukraine. The damage includes the shelling of agricultural fields and oil deposits; the destruction of infrastructure, which has resulted in the pollution of land and water resources; and the environmental consequences of military actions. Presentations and discussion focused on describing the full scope of the damage, highlighting efforts to monitor it, and discussing ways to address or mitigate the effects.
15 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73564-5
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29077
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Addressing Environmental Damage in Ukraine: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Research shows that sexual harassment can cause harm to not only the survivor of sexual harassment but also the person accused of the harassing behavior and the community in which the harassment has occurred. Given many institutions' primary focus on compliance processes and relative lack of attention to addressing the harm experienced by different individuals as a result of the harassment, there is a pressing need for work that elucidates the resources that currently exist and the resources that are still needed to address that harm.
Synthesizing research, case studies, and archival data from the Action Collaborative's repository of novel work on the topic, this paper explores the harms that can occur as a result of sexual harassment at institutions of higher education, and the resources that exist to remedy those harms. The paper reviews how, at a high level, these laws, policies, and regulations may influence what the remediation of sexual harm can entail, including a brief history of how institutions have approached their remediation efforts in the past, followed by a discussion of the current landscape of efforts to assist various individuals harmed directly or indirectly by sexual harassment over the course of the institutional response process.
76 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-09929-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29095
Frasca, T., Alvarado, I., Bühlmann, P., and Hutchison, E. 2025. Identifying Gaps in Sexual Harassment Remediation Efforts in Higher Education: Issue Paper. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Symposium_in_brief
Many of the challenges engineers seek to address through their work - from increased access to clean water and transportation to climate change adaptation - are inextricably tied to human rights, and addressing them holistically requires embedding human rights frameworks into engineering practice. In turn, efforts to advance human rights can be strengthened by incorporating engineering expertise, problem-solving approaches, and novel technologies.
To explore these concepts, the National Academy of Engineering Cultural, Ethical, Social, and Environmental Responsibility in Engineering program and the Committee on Human Rights of the National Academy of Sciences conducted a symposium on November 18-19, 2024. Participants discussed ways to increase awareness of the role that engineers play in protecting and promoting human rights and explored ways that human rights-based approaches in engineering might help engineers and human rights experts solve pressing challenges. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the symposium.
104 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-99323-7
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99324-5
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29141
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Issues at the Intersection of Engineering and Human Rights: Proceedings of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop
On May 16-17, 2024, the National Academies held a workshop to explore how various stakeholder engagement strategies can support communities that may host federally funded energy infrastructure projects. During the event, experts from national and regional community-based organizations, academia, federal agencies, and private-sector project developers shared successful case studies and discussed best practices for negotiating community benefits. This proceedings summarizes the workshop discussions and synthesizes the key lessons learned.
82 pages
·
6 x 9
·
paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-72776-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-72777-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/27996
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Leveraging Community Benefit Frameworks: Empowering Communities to Benefit from Federally Funded Energy Projects: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
The funding and incentivizing model for research and development has evolved rapidly within the past decade, with philanthropy playing an increasingly significant role alongside government, university, and industry partnerships to accelerate discovery and innovation. Traditional academic research processes are inadequate to facilitate a rapid transition to real-world applications and markets—and growing national security concerns have affected how universities participate in the innovation ecosystem. On October 15–16, 2024, members and guests of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Government-University-Industry-Philanthropy Research Roundtable convened in Washington, DC, to consider these and related questions. These questions included how collaborations across sectors are shaped by research environments and culture, how to overcome barriers, and how to incentivize risk-taking to address urgent societal technology challenges. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the event.
12 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99184-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29121
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Incentivizing Urgency, Speed, and Scale to Support Future U.S. Innovation: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop_in_brief
The climate surrounding reproductive health research in the U.S. changes rapidly. The National Academies Standing Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society hosted a workshop in November 2024 to address the challenges and opportunities and their effects on research quality and quantity. This Proceedings of a Workshop-In Brief highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred at the workshop.
12 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-99284-2
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29131
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Understanding the Barriers and Opportunities to Conducting Reproductive Health Research: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Postdoctoral scholars are particularly vulnerable to sexual harassment because of their early career stage, a lack of clear institutional policies, and dyadic relationships with their advisors, among other factors. Recent surveys and listening sessions have reiterated this issue, indicating that workplace bullying, harassment, and discrimination are chief concerns to postdoctoral scholars and that power imbalances are a cross-cutting theme contributing to harassment, bullying, and questionable behaviors by mentors and principal investigators. It is within environments of generalized disrespect and incivility that much sexual harassment occurs.
This issue paper builds on the findings and recommendations in the 2018 report Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine by providing more information related to implementing the report’s recommendation to diffuse the hierarchical and dependent relationships between faculty and their trainees (e.g., students, postdoctoral fellows, residents). Through this paper, individual scholars, higher education leaders, and practitioners from the Action Collaborative’s Response Working Group describe key institutional considerations and challenges in supporting postdoctoral scholars experiencing sexual harassment in higher education.
84 pages
·
8.5 x 11
·
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73295-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/28852
Gary, S., A. Allison, S. Burton, C. Cuthbert-Martinez, L. J. McKown, and S. Rankin. 2025. Considerations for Supporting Postdoctoral Scholars Experiencing Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Issue Paper. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
Workshop
Addressing burnout is important for healthy workplaces and healthy individuals. Burnout comes with many significant consequences for workers who may face physical and mental health challenges as well as organizations that can suffer from absenteeism, attrition, and diminished engagement, all of which can reduce growth and innovation. In healthcare settings, consequences have the potential to be even more dire. It has been shown that burnout can be related to negative patient outcomes as individual providers are struggling to manage overwhelming caseloads and hours. The uneven effect of burnout is also cause for concern for a thriving science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) ecosystem, as this can diminish the kind of creativity and innovation that thrives in environments when a broad set of voices are represented. Taken together, these challenges make clear the need for continued attention to burnout and interventions in STEMM fields.
To explore these challenges in greater detail, the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine of the National Academies convened a workshop on October 1 and 2, 2024, in Washington, D.C., to examine burnout and its implications for gender equity in STEMM. Through three commissioned papers, panel and breakout discussions, and participant engagement, the workshop was designed to examine current knowledge, share lessons learned, and consider ways to address burnout in STEMM settings. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.
232 pages
·
6 x 9
·
paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-73567-X
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-73568-8
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29078
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Impact of Burnout on the STEMM Workforce: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to:
The Committee on Human Rights (CHR) promotes engagement with internationally recognized human rights norms to help shape effective, sustainable, and just responses to societal challenges. It advocates and marshals support for members of the research, technological, and health care communities who come under threat as a result of repression and discrimination. This annual report summarizes the activities of CHR in 2024.
1 pages
·
·
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/29067
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2025. Committee on Human Rights: Annual Report 2024. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Import this citation to: