Many of the activities for which AAAS is best known today emerged from initiatives taken since 1970. Drawing increasingly on support from foundations and federal agencies, the Association has built pioneering programs for bringing underrepresented groups into science; applying science to human rights; supporting the growth of science in the developing world; exploring issues of science, ethics, and law; tracking federal spending for R&D; and in bringing scientists and engineers to work in Congress and executive agencies of government. Project 2061 has taken on the ambitious task of reforming American science education from kindergarten to 12th grade. And Science has become the one of the world's most prestigious and widely-quoted scientific journals as well as a respected source of science news.
"...universities and scientists alike must find ways to influence and adjust to the political,
organizational, and economic realities of America in transition."
Mina Rees, 1971