Program areas at AAAS
Advancing scientific excellence and achievement: aaas advances scientific excellence and achievement by recognizing, inspiring, and enabling a robust research ecosystem that drives discovery and innovation and prepares future scientists and engineers. We leverage award-winning journalism, publish and highlight the most promising advances, lean into our multidisciplinary strength, and serve as a representative voice on behalf of the scientific enterprise.the Science family of journals and newsscience is one of the world's leading outlets for scientific news, commentary, and cutting-edge research, with the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general-science journal. Through its print and online incarnations, Science reaches an estimated worldwide readership of more than one million. In content, the journal is truly international in scope and its articles consistently rank among the world's most cited research. the Science family of journals includes Science signaling, the leading journal of cell signaling and regulatory biology; Science translational medicine, integrating medicine, engineering and Science to promote human health; Science advances, an innovative and high-quality open access journal for all the sciences; Science immunology, research articles that report critical advances in all areas of immunological research, including important new tools and techniques; and Science robotics, original, peer-reviewed, Science- or engineering-based research articles that advance the field of robotics.the journals attract groundbreaking studies that often come to define a field or provide the first glimpse of a high impact discovery or technology. In 2022, a series of articles by Science's news staff helped to advance the field of alzheimer's research in a different way, by bringing to light a case of apparent research fraud that has had a profound influence on the field.the team also published a well-regarded special issue on mis- and dis-information, which looked at how scientists study and fight the problem, how harassment and intimidation of researchers spiked during the covid-19 pandemic, and how researchers use social media to inform the public and share their findings with colleagues.balancing public access with author inclusivityaaas/science has a long history of advocating for equitable access to scientific research and data while ensuring a more inclusive publishing ecosystem for scientists. We took a leadership role in speaking up for productive approaches to public access for several years leading up to and after the white house office of Science and technology policy (ostp) released guidance in 2022 to federal agencies regarding making published research and accompanying data from federally funded research publicly available immediately upon publication.
Catalyzing progress where Science meets policy:aaas provides actionable evidence for public policy that serves society and engenders quality Science. Aaas will leverage its seat at the table to ensure the voice of Science is heard and deliver evidence that is solutions-oriented, relevant, and actionable.advising regional and local policy with evidencethrough years of network and partnership building, the aaas center for scientific evidence in public issues (epi center) has become a go-to source of reliable, unbiased information to help decision-makers design and implement effective and equitable policy solutions. In 2022 alone, the epi center reached representatives of 212 local governments, 164 state government agencies, 42 federal agencies and offices, 160 ngos and community groups, and 181 private sector companies. Last year, they provided guidance around the infrastructure investment and jobs act, which made billions of dollars available to states and municipalities to address challenges like the public health and environmental impacts of pfas "forever chemicals and orphan and abandoned oil wells, as well as the equitable implementation of green infrastructure solutions.placing scientists and engineers in government for 50 yearsthe aaas Science & technology policy fellowship program (stpf) ushered in its 50th class in the fall of 2022, placing 300 fellows throughout the u.s. government to share their expertise and help inform, communicate, and implement policy solutions. In 2022, stpf fellows contributed to several important policies, including the chips and Science act, the American pandemic preparedness plan, the clean water act, and the 28th annual u.s. greenhouse gas inventory.a trusted resource for analysis on federal r&d fundingaaas is a leading source for data and timely analysis of trends in u.s. federal research and development (r&d) funding. Since 1976, we have served as a go-to resource for those seeking to understand long-term changes and recent policy developments affecting federal Science budgets. Each year we analyze the u.s. president's budget request, monitor congressional debates and bills, and keep an eye on longer-term r&d budget trends in the united states and in other countries to provide timely and objective information and perspectives for policymakers and the Science and engineering community.golden goose award celebrating breakthrough innovations the golden goose awards, founded by aaas and other organizations, recognize federally funded basic Science investigations that may have sounded odd but have resulted in considerable benefits to society. Since its inception in 2012, the award has honored more than 70 researchers for breakthroughs deriving from sources as wide-ranging and seemingly obscure as horseshoe crab blood and rat massage. In 2022, awards recognized breakthroughs in pain relievers, microscopes, and laser surgery.
Fostering equity and inclusion for scientific excellenceaaas believes that scientific excellence and diversity, equity, and inclusion (dei) are intrinsically linked. If we are to tackle the complex societal and scientific challenges we face, we must broaden the backgrounds, experiences, and geographies at the table to include those who are directly impacted. That requires elevating more diverse perspectives and fostering a more inclusive scientific enterprise, which underpins our strategic aims related to scientific achievement, policy development, and building trust.leading a national movement to achieve equity and excellence in stemmin 2022, aaas rallied nearly 115 partners institutions across industry, education, research infrastructure, community organizations, and philanthropy to launch the stemm opportunity alliance (soa) at a white house summit on stemm equity and excellence. This national, cross-sector initiative is dedicated to creating an equitable ecosystem that ensures equal access and opportunity for all americans to enter a stemm field by 2050. the soa will provide a clear and accountable national strategy to eliminate systemic barriers to entering stemm and to build a scientific workforce that draws upon the full breadth of the nation's talent.advancing systemic change through sea changethe aaas stemm equity achievement (sea change) program helps a growing number of colleges and universities undergo a rigorous process to assess their own culture, policies and procedures that stand in the way of access and success for students, faculty and staff from groups that are marginalized in stemm. From this self-assessment, the participating institutions plan and implement changes that break down barriers for people who are excluded or marginalized based on their gender, race, ethnicity, disability status or any other aspect of identity. the program now includes 27 members, with the university of California system becoming the first university system to join the program in may 2022.mass media Science & engineering fellowships and elevating diverse voices the aaas mass media Science & engineering fellowship and the aaas diverse voices in Science journalism program allow scientists and students to spend their summer as Science journalists in newsrooms across the united states. Now in its 48th year, the mass media fellowship has placed more than 750 scientists and engineers. 28 mass media fellows were sponsored by a scientific society or foundation in 2022 and two diverse voices in Science journalism interns spent the summer covering news stories for Science.
Building trust among scientists and communities: aaas mobilizes our members and the broader scientific enterprise to foster relationships of mutual trust with key groups such as journalists, policymakers, judges, and faith communities as a productive path to address misinformation.connecting reporters with Science sources, on deadlinesciline, an editorially independent, nonpartisan free service that works with u.s. Journalists to incorporate scientific evidence and expertise into news stories, continues to deliver on our commitment to share accurate and trustworthy Science with the public. In 2022, sciline's expert matching service fulfilled a record number of requests from reporters on deadline asking to get connected to an expert source-more than 800 such requests from more than 300 individual journalists in 41 states. Hundreds of reporters and journalism students enrolled in sciline's crash course on skillful integration of Science into news stories in 2022, and a new version of the course for editors attracted 42 participants in its inaugural offering. Sciline also trained more than 200 scientists in how to work more effectively with the media to give voice to the facts.building bridges through Science diplomacysince the cold war, aaas has championed Science diplomacy to build trust between nations with and without u.s. Diplomatic relations, with a special eye toward nations with conflicting politics or few collaborations. In 2022, our international and Science diplomacy programs led vigorous efforts to strengthen relationships between the scientific and foreign affairs communities in cuba and other countries.shifting dialogue with religious communitiesthe aaas dialogue on Science, ethics, and religion (doser) program is one of the few long-term projects in the united states committed to building trust and fostering engagement between scientific and religious communities. In 2022, doser completed the second phase of its Science for seminaries project, reaching more than 3,500 seminary students. Surveys of the project's participants show significant positive shifts in the amount of dialogue and collaboration among scientific and faith communities.pursuing justice, building trustthe aaas center for scientific responsibility and justice (srj) is empowering scientists and engineers to pursue justice by advancing trustworthy Science as the Science enterprise faces eroding trust and new ethical questions posed by cutting-edge Science and technology. Srj is developing resources to support judges as they address an increasing number of cases involving artificial intelligence. And the team is also working to increase trust in Science with communities that have not benefited from scientific progress.