How US Policy Changes Are Affecting University Research and Innovation

U.S. universities are confronting significant shifts driven by changes in federal research funding and immigration and higher education policy. Reductions in government support for science, alongside declining international student enrollment, raise urgent questions about the future of research, teaching, and innovation. This event will examine how policy decisions are reshaping university research capacity, graduate training, talent pipelines, and the broader innovation ecosystem. What are the implications for U.S. competitiveness and global leadership in science and technology? And how should institutions and policymakers respond?

 

Join us for a timely discussion at the intersection of higher education, science policy, and economic strategy.

 

Speakers:

Pierre Azoulay is the International Programs Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on the impact of different funding regimes on the rate and direction of scientific progress. He is also part of a large team surveying management practices and culture in scientific laboratories on a large scale. His latest projects examine the complex relationship between risk and return in scientific research. At MIT Sloan, he teaches courses on competitive strategy, technology strategy, and platform strategy, as well as a PhD class on the economics of ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship.He holds a Diplôme d’Études Supérieures de Gestion from the Institut National des Télécommunications, an MA from Michigan State University, and a PhD in Management from MIT.

 

Maryann P. Feldman is a leading scholar in innovation, entrepreneurship, and regional economic development. She is the Watts Professor of Public Policy and Management at Arizona State University’s Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions and serves as Research Director at the Global Center for Technology Transfer. Her work focuses on how research institutions, firms, and entrepreneurs translate scientific knowledge into economic growth, productivity, and regional competitiveness. Dr. Feldman has played a central role in national science and innovation policy, particularly in the evaluation of federal research commercialization programs. She has served as co-chair on five congressionally mandated National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) studies of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, providing rigorous analysis of program performance, economic impact, and policy design. She holds a PhD in economics and management from Carnegie Mellon University.

 

David Goldston served as Director of the MIT Washington Office from May 2017 until retiring from the position in May 2025.  In that role, he directed MIT’s federal relations and helped faculty bring their insights to policymakers.  For the eight prior years, he was the Director of Government Affairs at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading environmental group, where he helped shape NRDC’s federal political strategy, policies and communications.  He came to NRDC after spending more than 20 years on Capitol Hill, working primarily on science policy and environmental policy.  He was Chief of Staff of the U.S. House Committee on Science from 2001 through 2006. Goldston has taught courses on science policy at Princeton, Harvard and the University of California, and for the past decade has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.  He is also currently serving in a consulting position as a Senior Advisor at the Association of American Universities (AAU), which represents the nation’s top research universities. From 2007 through 2009, he wrote a monthly column for Nature on science policy titled “Party of One.”  Goldston also was the project director for the Bipartisan Policy Center report “Improving the Use of Science in Regulatory Policy” (2009). He authored a chapter in The Science of Science Policy: A Handbook (Stanford University Press, 2011).  He has served on several committees of the National Academy of Sciences and is currently a member of its advisory committee for its Climate Crossroads project. He holds a B.A. (1978) from Cornell University and completed the course work for a Ph.D. in American history at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Shiri M. Breznitz, an economic geographer, specializing in innovation, technology commercialization, and regional economic development. Shiri is Director of Research and the Ralph and Roz Halbert Professor of Innovation at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. In addition, she is Editor-in-Chief in Progress in economic geography, a member of the Executive Leadership Team at Medicine By Design and a member of the Scientific Board of the Journal of Technology Transfer. Her research is at the critical intersection of theory and policy to fit the new realities of globalization: Professor Breznitz’s work has informed policymaking at the local, national, and international levels. She has advised on the role of universities in the larger story of innovation, on the economic impact of biotechnology and Intellectual Property, and on the role of clusters in driving innovation. Her current projects include a study on intellectual property and technology commercialization policies at higher education institutions, a study on the regenerative medicine cluster in Toronto, and the economic impact of entrepreneurship education.