Association of American Universities

06/18/2026

The FIFA World Cup 2026 is underway — and research universities are in on the action. Learn how research conducted at AAU member universities is contributing to the success of this year's World Cup and to the sport of soccer more broadly:

From the turf under players’ feet to the data collection that tracks disease and protects athletes’ brains, this work won’t show up in highlight reels – but it will help ensure that when the whistle blows, fans can just sit back and enjoy the game.

06/17/2026

Last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget proposed major changes to how federal agencies administer financial assistance, including research grants. Learn about five ways these changes would impact scientific research:

Last month, the White House Office of Management and Budget published a proposal that would make significant changes to how federal agencies administer financial assistance, including research grants. If allowed to go into effect, the changes would seriously harm the American scientific research ent...

06/15/2026

A UCLA-led study found that an investigational drug nearly doubled survival for people with advanced pancreatic cancer.
​
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. For Tycie Smith, the drug has been "life-changing." "It just feels like I can just take the pill and get on with my everyday life. I'm not feeling fatigued or tired," said Smith.
​
Researchers are waiting on the FDA to give the treatment full approval, which would make the drug more widely available and give hope to pancreatic cancer patients.
​
Learn more:

In the study, patients taking the drug lived longer compared to those undergoing chemotherapy. "This study showed that they doubled that. They went from 6.5 to like 13 months on average," Dr. Zev Wainberg said.

06/12/2026

"We believe that the DETERRENT Act … has serious problems – not for what it seeks to do, but rather for how it proposes to do it," write AAU's Meredith Asbury and Tobin Smith in a recent op-ed.

The DETERRENT Act would lower universities’ reporting threshold for funding from most foreign countries, which AAU believes is reasonable. However, the legislation would also endanger countless cultural and academic exchanges that pose no plausible national security threat, potentially expose professors to discrimination and attacks, and ultimately impede scientific progress in the United States.

Read more:

In a recent RCE op-ed piece, author Cliff Smith advocated for a bill currently before the United States Senate by seriously mischaracterizing a quote from our organization’s analysis of a n

06/11/2026

Goalkeeper and Harvard University graduate Matt Freese will be competing for the U.S. in the World Cup — but did you know he also comes from a family of scientists?

His grandfather, Ernst Freese, was a German-born scientist who worked for the NIH studying Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. His aunt, Katherine, is an astrophysicist at the The University of Texas at Austin. And Matt's dad, Andrew, was an Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate and a pioneer in gene therapy before he died in 2021.

In addition to advancing our nation's scientific progress, the Freese family may now claim a role in advancing the U.S. out of the group stage! ⚽️

Matt Freese once wrote a college research project on penalty kicks. Now he’s competing to be the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. men’s national team at this summer’s World Cup.

06/10/2026

What do OpenAI, SpaceX, Stripe, Epic Games, Chobani, and Perplexity have in common? Each company has an immigrant founder or cofounder.

According to a new report by the National Foundation for American Policy, immigrants founded or cofounded 59% of all U.S.-based unicorn startups — privately held companies valued at $1 billion or more. 24% of these unicorn startups were founded by individuals who first came to the U.S. as international students.

However, immigration policies are making it harder for international students to pursue study in the U.S. and, after graduation, remain here and contribute to our workforce and economy.

Learn more:

Nearly one in four (24%) of unicorn startups were founded by individuals who first came to the United States as international students.

06/09/2026

Senators are currently considering a bill that — if passed and signed into law — would hamper scientific progress in the United States, effectively ending all academic engagement with China, and potentially exposing professors to discrimination and attacks.

"The DETERRENT Act asks lawmakers to accept a false choice: that the only way to protect our campuses from malign foreign influence is to wall them off from the world and subject scholars to sweeping surveillance and suspicion," write AAU's Meredith Asbury and Kritika Agarwal.

Learn more:

Senators are currently considering a bill that – if passed and signed into law – would hamper scientific progress in the United States, effectively ending all academic engagement with China, and potentially exposing professors to discrimination and attacks.

06/08/2026

The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently proposed major changes to how federal agencies administer research grants.

AAU President Barbara R. Snyder noted in a letter she sent to OMB soon after the proposal was published that these changes "could undermine key elements of the U.S. research ecosystem, including the use of merit based scientific review and the longstanding commitment to scientific openness and broad dissemination of research results."

AAU and other organizations are requesting an extension of the official comment period in order to provide more time for the research community and the public to analyze and respond to OMB's 400+ page proposal.

Read more:

The proposal, published on May 29, would have far-reaching implications for how federal agencies administer research grants and how institutions, including colleges and universities, conduct federally funded research.

06/08/2026

"You never know what basic science discovery is going to revolutionize."
​
THE ENDLESS FRONTIER is a new documentary film that highlights the importance of curosity-driven, fundamental research. The film follows three scientists as they work to solve some of the most pressing challenges of our time against the backdrop of the growing threat to the American research engine.
​
Get your tickets to the film premiere: https://dcdoxfest.com/films/the-endless-frontier/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=analytics

06/06/2026

Did you know that cutting-edge meteorological science advanced by university researchers in partnership with the federal government played a critical role in the invasion?

AAU's Tobin Smith breaks down the importance of university research to the field of weather forecasting in history and its relevance today:

Saturday, June 6, marks the 82nd anniversary of the D‑Day invasion. Advances in meteorological science, developed significantly by government forecasters and researchers at America’s colleges and universities, played a key role in ensuring the invasion's success.