Reinventing Science

A ground-breaking new agenda for science that overhauls the current system and its values—and replaces it with a path forward that benefits everyone.

Written by award-winning scientific leaders from historically marginalized sectors of race, gender, and class.

The scientific method is the best tool we have for understanding the natural world, and it is a stunning triumph of human history. But the scientific enterprise has had inequitable impacts. In Reinventing Science, Gilda Barabino, Joseph Graves, Jr., Maureen Kearney, and Shirley Malcom argue that our current scientific system has resulted in inequality across the board—from the practice of science to access to science to the applications of scientific advances for the betterment of society.

This book envisions a reinvented and modernized scientific enterprise that serves contemporary societal needs and further fulfills its promise for the future. The authors make the case for prioritizing a pro-social, values-based vision for science and science policy, particularly at a time when social inequality is exponentially rising, planetary health is rapidly declining, and our democratic systems are eroding. The book features:

• A detailed chronicle of the 2025 assault on American science across federal agencies, academia, the scientific workforce, and scientific practices and norms
• An updated characterization of the US scientific workforce and why it matters to outcomes
• A clear analysis of the processes influencing translation of scientific knowledge into beneficial societal outcomes
• A call for the collective action necessary to improve science in order to save our future

Finally, the authors call for expanding the scientific workforce; changing the scientific workforce culture so that it can attract and protect historically underserved people into the disciplines; and changing how we evaluate scientific research agendas by re-tasking them to meet societal needs and human aspirations for knowledge and understanding.

Gilda Barabino served as the 2nd  President of Olin College of Engineering and is an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She leads on a global stage and is a past-president and past board chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a recipient of the Dickson Prize in Science and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

Joseph L. Graves, Jr. is MacKenzie Scott Endowed Professor of Biology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. He has received a “Genius Award” from the Liberty Science Center as well as the Outstanding Alumni Service Award from Oberlin College. He is the author of The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Race Myth, Principles and Applications of Antimicrobial Nanomaterials, Racism, Not Race, A Voice in the Wilderness, and Why Black People Die Sooner.

Maureen Kearney is Senior Research Scientist at Arizona State University’s Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes. She is an active biodiversity scientist, evolutionary biologist, and science policy researcher. She has worked as faculty in academia, as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, as Chief Scientist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, as Chief Program Officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and as an expert scientist for national and international biodiversity and nature assessments and policies.

Shirley Malcom is Senior Advisor and Director of SEA Change at the Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She serves as a trustee of Caltech and regent of Morgan State University. She is a member of the board of the Heinz Endowments, Kavli Foundation, and the National Mathematics-Science Initiative. She is a fellow of the AAAS, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the Public Welfare Medal of the National Academy of Sciences. She served on the National Science Board and President Clinton’s PCAST.