C american academy of arts & sciences american academy of arts & sciences Norton’s Woods 136 Irving Street Cambridge, ma 02138-1996 usa telephone 617-576-5000 facsimile 617-576-5050 email [email protected] website www.amacad.org summer 2009 Bulletin vol. lxii, no. 4 Page 1 Educating All Children David Brady and Pamela S. Karlan Page 4 Reconsidering the Rules of Space Daniel Yankelovich Page 8 AMERICAN ACADEMY Nanotechnology: Novel Applications OF ARTS & SCIENCES Phillip A. Sharp, Robert Langer, Angela Belcher, and Evelyn L. Hu inside: Remembering Daniel Charles Tosteson, M.D. by Mitchell T. Rabkin, M.D., Page 19 From the Archives, Page 24 C C Calendar of Events american academy of arts & sciences Notice to Fellows Norton’s Woods, 136 Irving Street, Cambridge, ma 02138 telephone 617-576-5000, facsimile 617-576-5050, Save the Date: Wednesday, New Academy Bylaws Approved email [email protected], website www.amacad.org November 11, 2009 academy officers Thursday, Meeting–Cambridge The Fellows voted to approve the proposed new Bylaws of the Academy. The vote was entered based on proxies Emilio Bizzi, President September 17, 2009 The Education of an American Dreamer: Contents submitted by the Fellowship on June 24, 2009, at a Special Meeting–Palo Alto How a Son of Greek Immigrants Learned His Leslie Berlowitz, Chief Executive Of½cer and William T. Golden Chair Way from a Nebraska Diner to Washington, Meeting of the Academy called for this purpose. One Louis W. Cabot, Chair of the Academy Trust and Vice President The Challenge of Mass Incarceration in America Wall Street, and Beyond thousand, three hundred, and ½fty-seven Fellows voted Academy Projects John S. Reed, Treasurer Speakers: Glenn Loury, Brown University, in favor of the amendments; sixteen Fellows voted against Speaker: Peter Peterson, Peter G. Peterson Jerrold Meinwald, Secretary Educating All Children 1 and Bruce Western, Harvard University Foundation the proposed changes. The Academy’s new Bylaws con- Steven Marcus, Editor Location: Stanford University form to modern nonpro½t governance practice and law Reconsidering the Rules of Space 4 Location: House of the Academy John Katzenellenbogen, Vice President, Midwest and reflect the Academy’s national character and research Jesse H. Choper, Vice President, West Thursday, Wednesday, mission. We are grateful to the many Fellows who con- New Publications 6 Robert C. Post, Librarian September 24, 2009 December 9, 2009 tributed to the bylaw revision process and look forward Meeting–Cambridge to implementing the new Bylaws during the forthcoming Academy Fellowships 7 Meeting–Cambridge publications advisory board transition period. A New Literary History of America Holiday Concert–An Evening with Malcolm Jesse H. Choper, Denis Donoghue, Linda Greenhouse, Jerome Kagan, Academy Meetings Speakers: Werner Sollors, Harvard Bilson –Emilio Bizzi, President Steven Marcus, Jerrold Meinwald, Emilio Bizzi University, and Greil Marcus, Berkeley, Introduction: Christoph Wolff, Harvard Nanotechnology: Novel Applications California University editorial staff Phillip A. Sharp, Robert Langer, Phyllis S. Bendell, Director of Publications Angela Belcher, and Evelyn L. Hu 8 Location: House of the Academy Speaker: Malcolm Bilson, Cornell University Micah J. Buis, Associate Editor Saturday, Location: House of the Academy Scott Eaton Wilder, Layout & Design In Memoriam: Remembering October 10, 2009 Daniel Charles Tosteson, M.D. 19 Initial design by Joe Moore of Moore + Associates 2009 Induction Ceremony–Cambridge For informationand reservations, contact the Bulletin Summer 2009 Noteworthy 21 lxii Sunday, Events Of½ce (phone: 617-576-5032; email: Issued as Volume , Number 4 ©2009 by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences October 11, 2009 [email protected]). issn x From the Archives 24 Meeting–Cambridge The Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences ( 0002–712 ) is published quarterly by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Science, Energy, and the Environment Periodicals rate postage paid at Boston, ma, and at additional mailing of½ces. Postmaster: Send address changes to Bulletin, American Acad- Moderator: Richard Meserve, Carnegie emy of Arts & Sciences, 136 Irving Street, Cambridge, ma 02138. Institution for Science The views expressed in the Bulletin are those held by each contribu- Speakers include: Steven Koonin, United tor and are not necessarily those of the Of½cers and Fellows of the States Department of Energy; Paul Joskow, American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Alfred P.Sloan Foundation; John W. Rowe, Exelon Corporation; John Doerr, Kleiner photo credits Perkins Cau½eld & Byers Steve Rosenthal inside front cover Wendy Barrows page 1, left Martha Stewart pages 1, right; 8, 9, 14 !_Summer09_CdrivePhyllis:Academy Bulletin 8/3/2009 4:49 PM Page 1 Academy Projects Educating All Children In 2001, the American Academy began the means, and consequences of Universal Basic and Secondary Education providing education to all (ubase) project to advance the promise of children: a quality education for all children world- What do we know about wide. The project presumed that universal global education and how education has the potential to help alleviate do we know it? poverty, raise living standards, increase hu- What would be the conse- man dignity, and improve health (including quences of providing every reproductive health); but at the same time, child with primary and Joel E. Cohen David E. Bloom the project understood that various obsta- secondary schooling? cles stand in the way of meeting that goal, What is the history of efforts to expand including: education? That discussions about what stakeholders What obstacles stand in the way of achiev- Nearly 30 percent of school-age children ing universal education? want primary and secondary education to worldwide are not enrolled in school. achieve must take place openly at the na- What are the best practices and innova- Of school-age children who enter primary tions for overcoming those obstacles? tional, regional, and international levels; school in developing countries, more than That the diverse character of educational one in four drops out before attaining lit- What will it cost to provide primary and secondary schooling for all children? systems in different countries must be eracy. internationally recognized, and aid poli- There are gross disparities in education cies and assessment requirements must that separate regions, income groups, and Universal education has the be adapted to local contexts; and genders. potential to help alleviate pov- That education must be allotted both more Yet in advocating for universal education, money and higher priority, especially in the project quickly recognized a signi½cant erty, raise living standards, terms of the amount of funding that de- roadblock: the lack of knowledge of the basic veloped countries provide for education facts about global education, as well as lack increase human dignity, and in developing countries. of knowledge of how these facts are produced improve health (including The Academy has made the project’s ½ndings and whether they are reliable. Education is and recommendations public through a series one of the largest and most important invest- reproductive health). of ½ve Occasional Papers–Measuring Global ments made by governments and people. Educational Progress; Global Educational Expan- Understanding whether this investment By beginning with these questions, the proj- sion: Historical Legacies and Political Obstacles; leads to the desired ends is crucial to effec- ect tackled ½rst the soundness of advocat- Achieving Universal Basic and Secondary Educa- tive government policy and private decision- ing for universal education–the question of tion: How Much Will It Cost?; Education, Health, making. whether–before moving to questions of what and Development: An Under-Explored Nexus; To this end, the project endeavored to create to do and how. and Improving Education Through Assessment, Innovation, and Evaluation–and two edited a methodology, a new theoretical research Ultimately, the project offered ½ve major books: Educating All Children: A Global Agenda base to underpin any inquiry into the role recommendations: mit that primary and secondary education might ( Press, 2006) and International Perspec- play in creating positive global change. The That a commitment must be made to ex- tives on the Goals of Universal Basic and Secondary tending a full cycle of high-quality primary Academy brought together an international Education (Routledge, forthcoming 2009). and secondary education to all children; ubase team of scholars, program of½cers, educators, Many of the publications are posted That more reliable data must be created public servants, and business leaders, head- on the Academy’s website, www.amacad.org, and used in studying what children learn, ed by Project Directors Joel E. Cohen (Rock- and some of the publications have been what alternative pedagogical techniques efeller and Columbia Universities) and David translated and distributed in multiple lan- and technologies exist, and which coun- E. Bloom (Harvard University), to consid- guages. tries are performing best; er fundamental questions about the costs, Bulletin of the American Academy, Summer 2009 1 !_Summer09_CdrivePhyllis:Academy Bulletin 8/3/2009 4:49 PM Page 2 Academy Projects PROJECT PUBLICATIONS Edited Volumes Educating All Children: A Global Agenda, edited by Joel E. Cohen, David E. Bloom, and Martin B. Malin, argues that universal education,