"Shifting Sands: Confounded Errors" focuses on failures by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to consider empirical evidence available in the public domain early in the pandemic. The report finds compelling circumstantial evidence that lockdowns and masking mandates…

Through teaching, training, research and service to the community, Canada's universities and colleges are essential to creating a more democratic and just society, driving the economy, and preparing for the future. Canadians need a strong commitment from their federal government to protect and preserve the public post-secondary education system.…

Background: This study draws on two communities theory to address two major research questions related to conceptions of research in educational practice and policy. First, how do educators conceptualise research? Second, to what extent do educators' conceptions of research align with recent US federal educational policies? Methods: We conducted…

This paper investigates an institutional transformation at a European research university, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) by adopting a qualitative case study method. Open-ended interviews were held with 45 faculty members and administrators to investigate the driving forces and overall transformation of EPFL as well as their…

This report is the seventh publication in a series of informational briefings developed as part of "The Guardians Initiative: Reclaiming the Public Trust," an effort to educate and engage trustees as advocates on key issues in higher education. The report shows how academic research generates technological, educational, and cultural…

During the fall of 1947, the first building for the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory (NARL) was constructed, which consisted of a quonset hut retrofitted as a laboratory. Scientists arrived in Barrow (Utqiagvik), Alaska, the northernmost village in the United States, not long after. The remainder of NARL was built two miles outside the village…

The National Science Foundation (NSF), in carrying out the Obama administration's new push for greater public access to research published in scientific journals, will consider exclusivity periods shorter than the 12-month standard in the White House directive, as well as trade-offs involving data-sharing and considerations of publishers'…

In the U.S.A., advocates of academic freedom--the ability to pursue research unencumbered by government controls--have long found sparring partners in government officials who regulate technology trade. From concern over classified research in the 1950s, to the expansion of export controls to cover trade in information in the 1970s, to current…

This paper articulates a citation-based approach to science policy evaluation and employs that approach to investigate the impact of the United States' 2001 policy regarding the federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. We evaluate the impact of the policy on the level of U.S. hESC research, the U.S. position at the knowledge…

Federal government agencies provide about $33 billion a year to universities to conduct scientific research. That continuing investment expands human knowledge and helps educate the next generation of science and technology leaders. New discoveries from university research also form the basis for many new products and processes that benefit the…

Research Findings: Each year the federal government disburses billions of dollars to support young children, with a particular focus on assisting families facing hardships. Policies for children revolve around several fundamental themes, including the promotion of physical health and high-quality environments, intellectual and language skills,…

Researchers and practitioners need to exchange information in order for education research to become more useful. Practitioners need to develop more understanding of research and how to interpret its findings in light of local conditions. The What Works Clearinghouse, a project of the Institute for Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of…

A recent ranking undertaken by Jiao Tong University in Shanghai shows 36 U.S universities among the top 50 universities in the world, with eight of the top 10 in the United States. Author Fareed Zakaria has declared: "[H]igher education is the United States' best industry. In no other field is the United States' advantage so overwhelming. Although…

This paper analyzes the roots and implications of conflict between the conduct of science and government predilections in the United States, including the security state and neoconservative control of Washington. Three major conflicts are discussed: the emergence of new security and secrecy regimes that seek control of science; religiously derived…

Plants that bear less familiar names such as switch grass, "Miscanthus," and kenaf, are not much to look at, having weathered Iowa's winter snows. But Iowa State researchers see these crops as seeds of change in alternative fuels. Rows of experimental crops line the test plots at Iowa State University's research farm. Although corn is…