Welcome to the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative
Welcome to the National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI), a program of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) with support from the W.M. Keck Foundation. Launched in 2003, NAKFI has been catalyzing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of science, engineering and medicine, and enhancing education among researchers, funding organizations, and universities. We also support scientific communication by awarding four $20,000 cash prizes to those who bring science, engineering and medicine to the public through books, newspapers, television, radio, films and online media. We are an important component of the pursuit of discovery that President Obama, in his speech at the NAS annual meeting in spring of 2009, said is necessary to fuel our prosperity and success as a nation for the next 50 years.
NAKFI’s objectives include enhancing the climate for conducting interdisciplinary research, and breaking down related institutional and systemic barriers. We work toward these objectives by harnessing the intellectual horsepower of approximately 150 of the brightest minds from diverse backgrounds who apply to attend our annual “think-tank” style conference to contemplate the real world challenges of our day; and by awarding seed grants – on a competitive basis – to conference participants to enable further pursuit of bold, new ideas and inspirations generated at the conference. The generative ideas that surface in this process are the impetus for collaborative efforts with new partners toward new frontiers, and often remind us that the whole is better than the sum of its parts.
If you’re interested in interdisciplinary discovery and being part of an intellectually stimulating community, sign up for our email alerts and apply to attend our next conference. Conference attendees comprise the “Futures Network,” a virtual community to connect with fellow NAKFI alumni, share research ideas, search for collaborators and funders, and further the breakthroughs discovered through the NAKFI experience.
National Academies 2010 Communication Awards Nominations Open
The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative has started accepting nominations for the 2010 National Academies Communication Awards for excellence in reporting and communicating science, engineering, and/or medicine to the public during 2009.
NAKFI Conference Synthetic Biology: Building on Nature's Inspiration Featured in Nature Editorial
An editorial in the January 20, 2010, issue of Nature magazine focuses on "Ten Years of Synergy," regarding contributions to and from basic science to the field of synthetic biology.
NAKFI Complex Systems Grantee Publishes Research on Cancer and Wound Healing in PNAS
Complex Systems Grantee Philip LeDuc published the latest findings of his research on cancer and wound healing in the December 29, 2009, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
NAKFI Grantees Host Workshop on Complexity of Higher Education in Developing Countries
NAKFI Grantees Professors Muhammad Hamid Zaman and Adil Najam hosted a workshop on complexity of higher education in developing countries with a Futures Grant. Scholars from multiple disciplines and practitioners from around the world met at Boston University on October 27 – 28, 2009, to discuss how the success and sustainability of a higher education system can be defined in the context of a developing world.
This workshop was supported by a grant from The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative and was sponsored by the Boston University Provost’s office, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The workshop focused on understanding the dimensions of the higher education ’systems’ in developing countries with the hope of turning that understanding into a larger program of interdisciplinary research and activity.
NAKFI Grantee Publishes Article on Clues for Extending Human Healthspan
NAKFI Healthspan Grantee Steven N. Austad's article "Methusaleh's Zoo: How Nature Provides Us with Clues for Extending Human Healthspan" appears in the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Comparative Pathology. NAKFI awarded Dr. Austad a Futures Grant in the Spring of 2008 to conduct a workshop with experts in basic aging research, canine genomics, epidemiology, pathology, and the assessment of canine health, to develop a research plan to study dogs and breed differences for animal models of extended healthspan.
Conference on Synthetic Biology Offers New Opportunities for Interdisciplinary Collaboration $1 Million in Grants to Be Awarded to Researchers More than 160 participants gathered late November for the seventh annual National Academies Keck FUTURES INITIATIVE conference. This year's topic, "Synthetic Biology," brought together scientists, engineers, and medical researchers to explore the engineering, scientific, and social issues surrounding the rapidly emerging field of synthetic biology. Bonnie L. Bassler, professor of molecular biology at Princeton University and this year's conference chair, challenged the attendees to work at bridging the gap between what synthetic biology already has achieved and what it may someday make possible. “The promise of synthetic biology” Bassler said, “could come from engineering new ways to fight disease, producing renewable energy sources, or synthesizing materials more cheaply and efficiently. For scientists, the excitement will come from pushing the boundaries, moving the field forward in unexpected ways, and in doing so, discovering new principles.” To encourage further interdisciplinary work, the National Academies announced the availability of $1 million in seed grants – up to $100,000 each – for new lines of research identified at the conference. Recipients of the competitive grants will be announced next April. To help participants overcome differences in terminology used in various fields, the organizers offered a number of podcast "tutorials" focusing on many aspects of synthetic biology. The podcasts were created by NPR News science correspondent Joe Palca and feature interviews with experts in the field. These tutorials are available online at www.keckfutures.org. During the conference, researchers participated in one of 12 research teams to explore diverse challenges. Among the challenges were to identify technologies and tools that would make biology easier to engineer; how to understand natural genetic circuits using synthetic biology; how to design communities of cells; how to move beyond genetics to engage chemical and physical approaches to synthetic biology; and the role of evolution and evolvability in synthetic biology. Representatives from public and private funding organizations, government, industry, graduate writing students, and the media also participated. Researchers also presented posters describing their latest research. 2009 Communication Awards Encouraging better communication among scientists in various fields and between scientists and the public is another key component of the FUTURES INITIATIVE. During the conference, the National Academies held an awards dinner to honor their 2009 Communication Awards winners: • Neil Shubin for his book Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body about evolution from primitive fish to humans • Mark Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, for his newspaper series 'Targeting the Good Cell' about reprogramming human cells • Larry Adelman, Llewellyn M. Smith, and Christine Herbes-Sommers for their documentary Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? about complex issues in affecting public health (California Newsreel in association with Vital Pictures Inc.) • Vikki Valentine, Alison Richards, and Anne Gudenkauf for NPR's Climate Connections, a multimedia Web site to explain the impacts of global climate change (NPR News in partnership with National Geographic) The awards recognize excellence in communicating science, engineering, and medicine to the public. The winners of the four $20,000 cash prizes spoke to conference attendees about their experiences communicating science.
The nominations process for the 2010 Communication Awards competition opened today. A link to the nomination forms is available at: http://www.keckfutures.org/awards/index.html.
February 15, 2010 9:01 AM PST
Imaging Science Applications Accepted
Application process for the 2010 Conference on Imaging Science opens. A link to the application will be available at www.keckfutures.org.
National Academies Keck Futures Initiative
100 Academy 2nd Floor | Irvine, CA 92617 T: 949 721 2270 | F: 949 721 2216 | E:KeckFutures@nas.edu I:www.keckfutures.org
