James M. Gentile

The Nation's Report Card on Science 2011, released last week by the federal government, showed modest improvement but raised even more concern about America's ability to grow the science-literate workforce needed in the 21st century. Yet, as worrisome as the mildly improving report is, there are schools in...

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of America's oldest foundation devoted wholly to science, Research Corporation for Science Advancement. In March, I had the pleasure of celebrating the anniversary at a gala at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., where leaders of the...

During the 100th Anniversary Gala of Research Corporation for Science Advancement last week, Ralph J. Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences, asked the assembled group of science luminaries to pause and remember Nobel Prize-winning chemist F. Sherwood Rowland, who had died four days earlier and who literally may...

In late November, President Obama nominated Arun Majumdar to be Undersecretary of Energy, a vital position for a nation whose energy use and future energy strategy are essential to national security and economic preeminence. Nine days later, the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources held a confirmation hearing...

The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report on Feb. 7 on how to produce 1 million additional college graduates over the next decade with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). It's an important report that should serve as a launching pad for...

America's oldest foundation devoted wholly to science -- Research Corporation for Science Advancement -- celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and, in that context, announced last week the 10 liberal arts colleges in the United States that have received the most research grants from the foundation in its history. It's...

The 2012 Intel Science Talent Search -- the nation's most prestigious pre-college science competition -- is underway and already tells us much about our nation's quest to engage and prepare future scientists. Last week, it announced its 300 semi-finalists and received an extra burst of media coverage when...

Despite the uncertain future of human space exploration by Americans, significant milestones have recently been reached that bode well for space exploration and the knowledge and technological innovation that stem from it. Those milestones offer significant lessons for science advancement already, but they are also good news for the future...

President Barack Obama and the Jobs Council announced earlier this year an "all-hands-on-deck strategy to train 10,000 new American engineers every year" -- with private-sector companies teaming up with government to help "promote STEM education, to offer students incentives to finish those degrees, and then to help universities fund those...

The recent bankruptcy of Solyndra, the solar panel maker that received $535 million in federally guaranteed loans, is making headlines and spawning investigations. But the key question that is being missed -- and that should be asked now -- is: Will the federal government approach this failure as politicians or...

It's been a tough summer for space technology -- both for exploring space and for harnessing its resources. Yet innovation in space technology is still key to U.S. scientific and economic preeminence; space has been primarily America's frontier for 50 years and should remain so.

In July, NASA's 135th space...

As Research Corporation for Science Advancement prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year (as America's oldest foundation dedicated wholly to science), a look back at its history offers insights for the future of U.S. scientific and technological innovation. One of those insights is that collaboration within competition is a...

The research of Richard Taylor, published in the May 2011 issue of Physics World, underscores the transformational advances in technology, science, and medicine that are possible through cross-disciplinary collaboration and interaction. Dr. Taylor's title speaks for itself: Professor of Physics, Psychology, and Art at the University of Oregon.

The introduction...

The recent death of Nobel Prize-winning chemist William N. Lipscomb, Jr. highlights the pivotal role of the scientist-educator and the importance of funding early career scientists, especially at a time when U.S. scientific preeminence -- and the jobs that flow from it -- is challenged as never before. Dr. Lipscomb,...

The Intel Corporation and the Society for Science & the Public recently announced the winners of this year's Intel Science Talent Search -- America's most elite and demanding high school research competition, and one that has taken on even greater national importance, as U.S. preeminence in scientific innovation is challenged...

Organized labor is rallying across the country in support of public employees' compensation. The question is: Will they join the scientists and also rally for federal funding of science? Will they, in other words, rally for the scientific innovation that supports both public-sector employees and private-sector jobs?

American prosperity in...

Last week, the Nation's Report Card released additional information on the performance of U.S. students in science. The results should be a call to action for all who care about the economic preeminence of our nation, and its ability to provide future jobs to deserving Americans.

Most of the 17...

In the wake of President Barack Obama's recent State of the Union Address -- in which he lamented that the "quality of our math and science education lags behind many other nations" -- comes an extraordinary new book by five Harvard College students promoting science education to high school students....

Hu Jintao, president of China, the dominant producer of solar panels in the world, arrives in Washington, DC, for a State visit Tuesday. He arrives just days after one of America's largest producers of solar panels -- Evergreen Solar -- announced that it was, according to The New...

For many of us in Tucson, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was a cherished friend long before Saturday's stunning assassination attempt made her a household name. Our prayers go out to her and to all of the shooting's survivors -- for their speedy and full recoveries -- and to the loved ones...