Latest news with #MichaelKratsios
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
AI education is vital for Washington. Trump's order will help
President Donald Trump recently used his executive pen to advance AI education across the country. Signed on April 23, the 'Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth' executive order implements a federal AI education framework for all K-12 schools and more. The president checks nearly every box that proponents of AI education are advocating for. The order creates a federal task force, holds student competitions, fosters industry collaboration and fast-tracks grant programs. According to the AI education order: 'To ensure the United States remains a global leader in this technological revolution, we must provide our Nation's youth with opportunities to cultivate the skills and understanding necessary to use and create the next generation of AI technology. By fostering AI competency, we will equip our students with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to adapt to and thrive in an increasingly digital society.' A high-level White House Task Force on AI education will be led by Michael Kratsios, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. The task force also consists of cabinet members and agency heads from the departments of education, labor, energy, agriculture and the National Science Foundation. Its role is to organize national AI education efforts. The order specifies that federal agencies will work with industry, academic researchers and nonprofits to create online materials that will help teach K–12 students the basics of AI literacy and critical thinking. A national contest will be used to promote and showcase student and educator AI successes, advancing technology and spurring cross-sector collaboration. Idaho, Washington, Montana and Wyoming all have something different to offer to the national conversation about AI education, and all have something to gain from the federal executive order. Each state has its challenges, but the opportunity is the same: Equip students to go from being tech consumers to tech creators in the AI-driven economy. By matching the national strategy, states throughout our region can make the most of this federal push in some very specific and important ways. Idaho can take advantage of federal dollars to boost its already strong STEM programs and give more rural educators AI teaching tools. Washington has an opportunity to turn its tech-sector supremacy into in-classroom success, establishing more effective collaboration between industry and public education through partnership, apprenticeship and early career pipelines. Montana, with AI integration, can empower its distance learning architecture and level the playing field so rural students have access to the same advanced tools that urban students do. Wyoming has the opportunity to integrate AI literacy throughout its expanding career and technical education pathways, which have the potential to not only prepare students for college but also high-skill, high-wage jobs in an ever-changing workforce. The executive order on AI education acknowledges the need to get the next generation ready for a future where AI is central. The Mountain States region could extract great value by supporting the effort and ensuring that its youth are not only technology consumers, but also technology creators and leaders in the AI-fueled world. Sebastian Griffin is the lead researcher for the Junkermier Center for Technology and Innovation at Mountain States Policy Center, an independent research organization based in Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington and Wyoming. Online at
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump to push for 'nuclear renaissance' in US energy production
US President Donald Trump aims to support a massive expansion of nuclear power in the United States - which he has dubbed a "nuclear renaissance" - with a series of new decrees. The goal, according to a senior US government official, is to quadruple the amount of electricity generated by nuclear energy within the next 25 years. "Under President Trump's leadership, America will usher in a nuclear energy renaissance," a statement from the White House said. "We are restoring a strong American nuclear industrial base, rebuilding a secure and sovereign domestic nuclear fuel supply chain, and leading the world towards a future fuelled by American nuclear energy," said White House Office of Science and Technology Director Michael Kratsios. "These actions are critical to American energy independence and continued dominance in [artificial intelligence] and other emerging technologies," Kratsios said. The goal of increasing the installed power plant capacity from the current approximately 100 gigawatts to 400 gigawatts by 2050 seems hardly realistic given the necessary investments and approvals required. Additionally, it is unclear where the large numbers of energy-hungry consumers for such a massive production expansion would come from. The decrees signed by Trump are intended to facilitate the construction of new nuclear power plants of various sizes, significantly speed up the necessary approvals, ease credit provision and support new research into reactor design. Furthermore, the production of the necessary nuclear fuel for the reactors is to be increasingly carried out in the US, both in terms of uranium mining and enrichment. The reprocessing of nuclear fuels is also to be supported. The Department of Energy is also instructed, among other things, to advocate for the construction of 10 new, large reactors by 2030. The department should also work to use nuclear power to operate data centres for AI.
Mint
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
MAGA's assault on science is an act of grievous self-harm
Editor's update (May 22nd): The Trump administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students. The attacks have been fast and furious. In a matter of months the Trump administration has cancelled thousands of research grants and withheld billions of dollars from scientists. Projects at Harvard and Columbia, among the world's best universities, have been abruptly cut off. A proposed budget measure would slash as much as 50% from America's main research-funding bodies. Because America's technological and scientific prowess is world-beating, the country has long been a magnet for talent. Now some of the world's brightest minds are anxiously looking for the exit. Why is the administration undermining its own scientific establishment? On May 19th Michael Kratsios, a scientific adviser to President Donald Trump, laid out the logic. Science needs shaking up, he said, because it has become inefficient and sclerotic, and its practitioners have been captured by groupthink, especially on diversity, equity and inclusion (dei). You might find that reasonable enough. Look closely at what is happening, though, and the picture is alarming. The assault on science is unfocused and disingenuous. Far from unshackling scientific endeavour, the administration is doing it grievous damage. The consequences will be bad for the world, but America will pay the biggest price of all. One problem is that actions are less targeted than the administration claims, as our special Science section this week explains. As Mr Trump's officials seek to stamp out dei, punish universities for incidents of antisemitism and cut overall government spending, science has become collateral damage. A suspicion that scientists are pushing 'woke" thinking has led grant-makers to become allergic to words like 'trans" and 'equity". As a consequence, it is not only inclusive education schemes that are being culled, but an array of orthodox science. Funding has been nixed for studies that seek, say, to assess cancer risk factors by race, or the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases by sex. The attack on elite universities takes this to an illogical extreme. Because the White House sees colleges as bastions of wokeness and antisemitism, it has withheld funding for research at Harvard and Columbia, no matter in which subject. Overnight, projects on everything from Alzheimer's disease to quantum physics have been stopped. When scientists warn of the harm this does, they risk being seen as part of a scornful anti-MAGA elite that has been protected for too long. More fundamentally, the claim that Mr Trump will stop groupthink is disingenuous. maga reserves a special hatred for public-health and climate researchers, whom it regards as finger-wagging worrywarts determined to suppress Americans' liberties—as they did in lockdowns and school closures during covid-19. The consequence is that spending on vaccine and climate research will be gutted most viciously of all. With the stroke of a pen, officials are trying to impose new rules that tell scientists what areas of inquiry they may pursue and what is off-limits—a shocking step backwards for a republic founded on the freethinking values of the Enlightenment. Meanwhile, genuine problems with the way science works in America are being neglected. Mr Kratsios is right that there is too much bureaucracy. America's best researchers say they spend two out of five days on form-filling and other administrative tasks, instead of in the lab. Research is becoming more incremental. New ways of funding, such as lotteries, are worth trying. So far, however, the White House has not set out plans to make science work better. Indeed, when scientists are uncertain whether their work will still be funded, or if they take to the courts to challenge arbitrary grant terminations, American science becomes less efficient, not more so. Congress and the courts may yet act to limit the scale and the scope of these anti-science endeavours. Even so, the damage of the past few months will soon be felt. Savage cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mean worse weather-forecasting, making it harder for farmers to know when to plant their crops, and for local authorities to prepare for natural disasters. Those to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention will make it harder to monitor, and thus curb, outbreaks of disease. There will also be longer-term harm. Although Mr Trump hopes his tariffs will lure businesses to invest in America, their research spending is unlikely to fill the same gaps as publicly funded basic work, much of which may not be commercialised for years, if ever. As funding is frozen, the danger of a brain drain looms. In the first three months of the year the number of applications for overseas jobs from American scientists rose by a third compared with the same period in 2024; foreign researchers applying to come to America fell by a quarter. The country's reputation for welcoming talent will not be so easily regained. If the belief that academic freedom is curtailed takes hold, the scientists who remain could self-censor their lines of inquiry for years to come. The consequences will be felt around the world. America is the planet's biggest backer of public research; it is home to half of all science Nobel laureates and four of the ten best scientific-research universities. The knowledge uncovered by American scientists and resulting innovations such as the internet and mrna vaccines have been a boon to humanity. When America retreats, everyone is robbed of the fruits of this ingenuity. Exit, pursued by an elephant It is America, however, that will feel the pain most of all. At the beginning of the 20th century there was no branch of science in which Uncle Sam led the world. At the century's end there was none where it did not. America's triumphs—its economic prowess, and its technological and military might—were interwoven with that scientific success. As America pulls back, it will cede ground to authoritarian China as a scientific superpower, with all the benefits that confers. maga's assault on science is not just about dei, nor is it about universities. It is first and foremost an act of self-harm. For subscribers only: to see how we design each week's cover, sign up to our weekly Cover Story newsletter. © 2025, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under licence. The original content can be found on
Epoch Times
23-05-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
Trump Signs Order Telling Federal Agencies to Engage in ‘Gold Standard' Science
President Donald Trump on May 23 signed an order that directs federal agencies to engage in what the White House described as 'gold standard' science. The order requires agencies to make sure the science on which they rely is reproducible, transparent, and subject to unbiased peer review, the White House said. The research in question must also be free of conflicts of interest, officials said. 'In recent decades, we've seen a decline in disruptive research, disruptive scientific patents and papers, diminishing returns on investments in biomedical research, and serious cases of irreproducibility fraud, and misconduct in the scientific enterprise,' Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told reporters in a call. 'In addition, policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and woke DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] initiatives have seriously damaged the American public's trust and confidence in our scientists and the way taxpayer money funds their important work.' A senior White House official told the same call that 'our federal research institutions have an opportunity now to align their work with gold standard science, which will help not only bring back the confidence to the American people, but also create a foundation for accelerated scientific breakthroughs.' The Make America Healthy Again Commission Related Stories 5/22/2025 5/22/2025 Nearly three-quarters of 1,630 researchers in a survey NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told an agency council in April that he intended to 'restore replication and reproducibility of research as the core idea of what is seen as true in science,' in part to address the increase in confirmed and suspected research fraud. That includes directing each institute to establish standards for replication in the fields with which they deal, the director said. NIH is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on CNN that up to 20 percent of the institutes' budget would focus on replication, and that early work from researchers working on the agency's new autism project would be devoted to replicating research that has already been done.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump signs orders to boost nuclear power, including reduced environmental review
President Trump on Friday signed executive orders that aim to bolster nuclear power, including by scaling back environmental reviews. The president signed four orders, including one that directs an evaluation of whether the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is too cautious in terms of acceptable levels of radiation exposure. Trump's orders also are expected to require the commission to decide whether to approve a nuclear reactor within 18 months, speeding up a process that typically takes many years to complete. The commission's environmental reviews alone typically take two to three years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency that regulates nuclear power plants. Another order Trump is signing is expected to allow the Energy and Defense departments to build nuclear reactors on federally owned lands, allowing nuclear energy to power defense and artificial intelligence operations. Trump was also expected to sign orders that speed up nuclear reactor testing at national labs and bolster domestic uranium mining and enrichment. Broadly, the Trump administration has sought to bolster domestic energy production from sources including fossil fuels and nuclear. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios described the orders as Trump taking 'historic action to ensure America's energy dominance and provide affordable, reliable, safe and secure energy to the American people.' 'With these actions, President Trump is telling the world that America will build again, and American nuclear renaissance can begin,' Kratsios told reporters. Nuclear energy's supporters point out that it is carbon-free and dispatchable, meaning it can be turned on and off as needed. Its opponents raise concerns about radiation exposure, disposal of nuclear waste and the possibility of nuclear meltdowns. Trump was also expected to sign a separate executive order related to scientific research more generally. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
