Kavli Frontiers of Science

Since 1989, the Academy has organized annual symposia on Frontiers of Science. These symposia bring together some the very best young scientists to discuss exciting advances and opportunities in their fields in a format that encourages informal collective as well as one-on-one discussions among participants. Speakers are urged to focus their talks on current cutting-edge research in their disciplines to colleagues outside their field and to address questions such as:

What are the major research problems and distinctive tools of your field?
What are the current limitations in advancing your field?
How might insight derived from other fields contribute to overcoming these limitations?

Formulating and answering such questions involves surmounting the barriers imposed by the specialized terminologies and techniques that characterize different branches of science. This poses formidable challenges that these symposia are addressing with success.

The first Frontiers symposium was held in Irvine, California, from March 2 to 4, 1989. It was organized by a committee of young scholars with the support of the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the National Academy of Sciences. The positive response to this meeting prompted the Academy to organize a second symposium in 1990 and annually thereafter. The symposia, which are held each November, are attended by approximately 80 to 100 scholars under 45 years of age, by up to a dozen senior colleagues, and by several science writers. Volumes that summarize presentations at the 1989, as well as the 1991 and 1992 symposia, have been published.* Participants include leading researchers from academic, industrial, and federal laboratories in such disciplines as astronomy, astrophysics, atmospheric science, biology, biomedicine, chemistry, computer science, earth sciences, genetics, material sciences, mathematical sciences, neurosciences, pharmacology, and physics.

At each symposium, approximately 25 young scientists report on current research within their disciplines to an academically trained and scientifically diverse audience. They highlight major research challenges, methodologies, and limitations to progress at the frontiers of their respective fields. All attendees participate actively in a general discussion period, during which they learn from and form collaborative relationships with other young scientists in different fields.

In 2005, the Oxnard, California-based Kavli Foundation, which supports scientific research, honors scientific achievement, and promotes public understanding of scientists and their work, provided a 10-year, $5 million gift. This gift provides a solid financial foundation for the program over the next decade, enabling broader dissemination of the content of each symposium, and strengthening opportunities for continued connections between participants over the years.

The success of the Frontiers symposium series has spawned similar programs, such as the series on Frontiers of Engineering by the National Academy of Engineering, and the German-American Frontiers of Science, under the auspices of the German-American Academic Council and in coordination with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Max Planck Society. In addition, Frontiers of Science symposia with Japan and China began in 1998 and a bilaterial symposium with India started in early 2005. Thus, the Frontiers of Science symposia have become a major instrument in bringing together the best young researchers--the next generation of leaders--in the natural sciences and engineering fields, in the United States and around the world.

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*Topics presented at the 1989 symposium are included in Science at the Frontier, ed. Addison Greenwood (1989) (National Academy of Sciences/National Academy Press, Washington, DC).

Topics presented in the 1991 and 1992 symposia are included in A Positron Named Priscilla: Scientific Discovery at the Frontier, eds. Marcia Bartusiak, Barbara Burke, Andrew Chaikin, Addison Greenwood, T. A. Heppenheimer, Michelle Hoffman, David Holzman, Elizabeth J. Maggio, and Anne Simon Moffatt (1994) (National Academy of Sciences/National Academy Press, Washington, DC).