Program areas at AAAS
Advancing scientific excellence and achievementaaas 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 Science 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 2023, Science, Science advances and Science translational medicine published 22 papers collectively detailing the monumental achievement of the first human brain-wide census of cell types, a feat born of the national institutes of health's brain research through advancing innovative neurotechnologies (brain) initiative-cell census network, launched in 2017. the unprecedented collaboration- rare for a noncommercial publisher - positions the Science family of journals as a home for publication of large-scale, highly complex research. Within a week of publication, several of those papers earned between 80 and 100 stories in media coverage in the united states and internationally.ensuring equitable access to research for readers and authorsaaas/science has a long history of advocating for equitable access to scientific research and data while ensuring a more inclusive publishing ecosystem for scientists. As part of this commitment, aaas became a fully open-access publisher in 2023, adopting a "green" policy for all its subscription journals, including Science. As a result, authors can make their accepted manuscripts immediately available in repositories of their choosing - free of charge.
Fostering equity and inclusion for scientific excellence: aaas 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 stemmlaunched in 2022, the stemm (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, & medicine) opportunity alliance, is a national, cross-sector initiative dedicated to creating an equitable ecosystem that ensures equal access and opportunity for all americans to enter a stemm field by 2050. In 2023, soa co-constructed the first-ever national strategy for stemm equity and excellence with input from more than 1,500 community members through 12 convenings across the nation and five virtual town hall sessions. the final strategy was unveiled at a white house summit in may 2024, which will kick off the implementation phase with hundreds of cross-sector partners.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 from across the united states.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 49th year, the mass media fellowship has placed more than 750 scientists and engineers. 21 mass media fellows were sponsored by a scientific society or foundation in 2023 and two diverse voices in Science journalism interns spent the summer covering news stories for Science.
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.providing timely expertise on aiin response to surging interest from those on capitol hill in artificial intelligence policy following the public release of chatgpt and other generative ai tools, aaas launched a new cohort of Science & technology policy fellow in 2023. the ai cohort, representing a wide range of scientists and engineers with ai-relevant experience, are serving across u.s. senate offices and committees on both sides of the aisle as they craft legislation and address critical topics at the intersection of ai and policy.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 2023, the epi center reached 1,333 decision-makers in 49 states. Last year, they launched "responsible ai use in local and state government" to help policymakers navigate government use of ai for public services to ensure accountability and fairness. 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 2023, placing nearly 300 fellows throughout the u.s. government to share their expertise and help inform, communicate, and implement policy solutions. 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 2023, awards recognized breakthroughs in dna sequencing, genetically modified plants, and experiments in poultry 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. To encourage reporters to incorporate accurate information in their stories, sciline hosted media briefings in 2023 on timely topics such as extreme heat, depression and anxiety in young people, coastal flooding, avian influenza, and reproductive health care access. Sciline also trained close to 1,000 scientists in understanding the media and how to be more effective sources for reporters.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. Following the successes of its Science for seminaries program that ran from 2013 to 2022, doser launched a new three-year climate Science in theological education project which provides grants to theological education institutions to incorporate climate Science engagement in the training of future faith leaders. 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. Mobilizing scientists and engineers at the local levelaaas' local Science engagement network is empowering local leaders, scientists, and engineers to foster relationships with civic, community, business and policy leaders by providing scientific information and insights and building demand for scientific evidence in public decision-making. In 2023, the inaugural class of six liaisons kicked off networks in Maine, western north carolina, the north carolina research triangle, puerto rico, Utah and west Virginia. 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 2023, our international and Science diplomacy programs led vigorous efforts to strengthen relationships between the scientific and foreign affairs communities in cuba and other countries.