American Science@250: Rethink, Reimagine, and Redesign

Program Areas –

American Science@ 250: Project Updates

Stage 1 included commissioning two landscape analyses: (a) Snapshot of the Current U.S. Science Landscape and (b) Horizon Scan of the U.S. Science Policy Ecosystem. It also included the convening of three open-frame community dialogues:

• Museum of Science, Boston, May 11th & 12th, 2026
• Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, May 16th, 2026
• Jackson’s Mill, WV, May 30th, 2026

During these dialogues, 10-15 members of the public were given minimal background information and asked about their hopes and concerns regarding knowledge, learning, and the past, present, and future of their communities, as well as public support and priorities for science and technology.

Preliminary findings from these dialogues included:

• Finding 1 – Societal outcomes of research. Participants highlighted the societal outcomes of research, science, and technology in discussions about the past, present, and future.
• Finding 2 – Science and learning as important endeavors. In addition to finding 1, many participants discussed science and learning important and worthwhile endeavors worthy of public investment regardless of its contributions to specific societal, technological outcomes.
• Finding 3 – Low confidence in federal government’s ability to make decisions about science. Participants were deeply skeptical of governing institutions and their past and present decision making about science.
• Finding 4 – Variety of perspectives for governing publicly-funded research. Participants discussed the importance of a variety of values and considerations regarding governing publicly-funded research.

Stage 2 involved convening a public deliberation design workshop on June 18th, 2026, in Washington, D.C. with science and policy experts and stakeholders to gather advice and guidance on the topics, questions, content, and outputs of the three public forums.

Preliminary themes emerging from the workshop include:

• There is no one science or scientific enterprise. Higher education functions differently from national labs; environmental science operates differently from materials science and engineering. Likewise, trust and confidence in these institutions are multifaceted. Deliberative activities should attend to this diversity.
• The public should learn from and inform the “civics of science policy”–who defines the public good, who makes decisions about research topics and funding, who conducts research, etc.
• Public deliberations should explore a variety of expectations about “the social contract of science” to allow the public to weigh their own priorities and explore the outcomes, mechanisms, and processes they wish to see in publicly funded science.

To learn more about our Stage 1 and Stage 2 activities, read our American Science@ 250 Workshop Briefing Document that was distributed to our June 18 workshop participants.

A250 Forum Design Workshop Briefing Document

Stage 3 convened three public deliberations in three states: AZ, MA, and WV on October 3, 2026.

Forum participants were recruited and selected for demographically and ideologically diverse representation of their locations via community organizations, flyers, social media, newspaper, word of mouth, and more. Participants received a background document before the forum event which was compiled by the project team to share balanced information about the topics covered in the forum. In addition to this, participants watched an informative video based on the background document before each forum session. Participants were divided into tables and led through a specific protocol by a trained facilitator during their conversations. Participants were provided breakfast, lunch and a $200 gift card for their time.

During the all-day discussions, participants addresses four main questions:

• What research directions should be prioritized?
• Who should perform publicly funded research?
• Who should decide what research receives public funding?
• Who should oversee the scientific enterprise?

The day concluded by asking participants to bring those discussions together around a larger question: What should the scientific enterprise look like in the future? As they worked through these question, table group-level responses as well as individual level responses were collected.

These responses are currently being analyzed and preliminary results will be presented to relevant stakeholders, decision-makers, experts, and more at a workshop in early 2027. A final report will be published and posted in May 2027. More forum information is below.

Boston, MA

• 77 participants
• Hosted in collaboration with our partners at the Museum of Science, Boston
• Speakers included Tim Ritchie, Gwill York President, Museum of Science, and Arthur Daemmrich, Director of CSPO

Charleston, WV

• 75 participants
• Hosted in collaboration with our partners at WVStep at the Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center
• Speaker was Roger Hanshaw, West Virginia House Speaker

Phoenix, AZ

• 86 participants
• Hosted in collaboration with our partners at the Arizona Science Center
• Speakers included Tammy Stewart, Hazel A. Hare President & CEO of Arizona Science Center and Mayor Kate Gallego, City of Phoenix