Nicholas B. Dirks

President and CEO, The New York Academy of Sciences, Former Chancellor, University of California, Berkeley; Professor of History and Anthropology, UC Berkeley.

[NYAS @NYASciences]

Scientific discovery and private capital are increasingly interconnected. Our Private Capital and Discovery series convened leaders across AI, quantum computing, climate tech, and health innovation to explore the future of innovation investing.

Thanks to the Private Capital Research Institute and @RopesGray for their partnership.

Read more and revisit the series highlights: https://t.co/btRwb9zQ3j

[NYAS @NYASciences]

Modern economies were built around consumption - but what happens when the cost of waste becomes impossible to ignore?

In Episode #13 of the Shaping Science Podcast, Ron Gonen (@LoopFund) joins @NickDirks to discuss the circular economy, sustainability policy, and the case for extended producer responsibility.

🎧 Listen now. https://t.co/fj1Wf42fzq

[NYAS @NYASciences]

How do neuroscience and theater come together to explore aging, memory, recovery, and family?

In Episode 12 of the Shaping Science podcast, neurobiologist Stuart Firestein and playwright Jake Brasch join NYAS President @NickDirks to discuss The Reservoir, a moving new Off-Broadway play co-produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project.

From the science of memory to the power of storytelling, this conversation highlights how research and art intersect to illuminate deeply human experiences.

🎧 Listen to Episode 12 now: https://t.co/xfiZx81oqM

[NYAS @NYASciences]

🎙️ A new episode of the Shaping Science Podcast is live.

In Episode 11, @ChandrikaTandon joins @NickDirks for a powerful conversation on perseverance, purpose, and the many paths that shape a life. From growing up in India and navigating war-torn Lebanon to rising to the top of the corporate world as a partner at McKinsey, Tandon reflects on the experiences that forged her leadership and values.

Now a visionary philanthropist, Chair of the Board of the @NYUTandon, and a member of the Board of Governors at The New York Academy of Sciences, Tandon also shares how music has become a source of emotional empowerment, and a vital part of her commitment to education and impact.

🎧 Listen to the full episode: https://t.co/fRZ5E4z5rU

[NYAS @NYASciences]

🎙️ A new episode of the Shaping Science Podcast is live!

Ian Bogost, PhD (@IBogost) joins Nick Dirks (@NickDirks) to discuss interdisciplinarity, lessons from the dot-com era, and new ways of thinking about technology, gaming, and AI.

Listen now: https://t.co/K5aPxQdoMu

[NYAS @NYASciences]

🎙️ A new episode of the Shaping Science Podcast is live! @NicolasLanglitz, MD, PhD (@thenewschool) joins @NickDirks to explore medical anthropology, the anti-psychiatric movement, and the therapeutic potential of LSD. Listen now:

Listen now: https://t.co/GxTkMqEnk5

[NYAS @NYASciences]

Top-tier universities may survive - but many won’t. The challenge ahead is adapting to new technologies while preserving access to quality higher education.

- Academy President & CEO @NickDirks on the Next Big Idea podcast

Listen to the full episode: https://t.co/1nBYxBTHbS

[NYAS @NYASciences]

How do pandemics, language, and identity intersect? Science journalist Laura Spinney (@lfspinney) joins Nick Dirks (@NickDirks) on the latest Shaping Science episode to explore the 1918 flu, language origins, and how crisis shapes society.

Listen now: https://t.co/T3iKP8pZNr

[Chandrika Tandon @chandrikatandon]

This trip to India started with the Tata Transformation Prize Ceremony. It was a brilliant event co-hosted by @TataCompanies and @NYASciences, where I am proud to serve as a governor. Very inspiring to see the areas of scientific research that have the power to make the planet dramatically better! Congratulations to the exceptional award recipients, it was wonderful to celebrate them with Tata Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, NYAS President @nickdirks, @iiscbangalore Director Govindan Rangarajan, and this year’s and past prize recipients.

Love Light Laughter

[Laura Spinney @lfspinney]

I had a very fun chat with @nickdirks of @NYASciences about pandemics, language and identity - check it out https://t.co/SS6rnt4hqw

[NYAS @NYASciences]

New #ShapingScience episode!

Agustín Fuentes, PhD (@Anthrofuentes) - biological anthropologist, author & @Princeton professor - joins @NickDirks to discuss human evolution, belief, cooperation, & the scientific evidence behind sex as a spectrum.

Listen: https://t.co/hojZ3l5A0G

[China Daily @ChinaDaily]

"From human history, technology has constantly created both new opportunities and new challenges for all of us," said Nicholas Bernard Dirks, president and chief executive officer of the New York Academy of Sciences, in an interview at the World Science and Technology Development Forum 2025. He added that the key is to figure out how to optimize the adoption and use of any new #technology.

[Zenna Tavares @ZennaTavares]

LLMs lack conviction.

When you ask LLM to recommend between two comparably good (or bad) things, it often suggests a Frankenstein hybrid that combines them both, so long as it's logically possible. This is rarely what you want.

What in training incentivises this?

[Cambridge University Press Bookshop @CUPBookshop]

Such a pleasure to meet @nickdirks at the bookahop today. We're delighted to have signed copies of City of Intellect in store and online https://t.co/pkUyaqGE3w…

[NYAS @NYASciences]

Yann LeCun, VP and Chief AI Scientist at Meta, was recently recognized with the Academy’s inaugural Trailblazer Award. Not only is LeCun an accomplished computer scientist but he's also a big fan of jazz music.

Read more: https://t.co/vWOvwwKWWl

[Global Humanities Network (GHN) @Glob_Humanities]

🎓The Global Humanities Initiative at @CamArtsHums invites you to a special conversation with Prof Nicholas Dirks @nickdirks - historian, author and President & CEO of @NYASciences.
🗓️Thursday 26 June - 5:30pm @christs_college
▶️Register here: https://t.co/Lv6wWTdTIQ

[The New York Times @nytimes]

In @nytopinion

“I find no comfort in the Trump administration’s embrace of my people,” writes Wesleyan’s first Jewish president, Michael Roth. “Jew hatred is real, but today’s anti-antisemitism isn’t a legitimate effort to fight it.” https://t.co/evpJcRMRzl

[Michael S Roth @mroth78]

Read @nickdirks "this is the time to assert in the loudest possible way the extraordinary value of our universities, and the paramount need to maintain their research programmes as well as their commitment to academic freedom." https://t.co/39OBwlTXGK via @ft

[Nicholas B. Dirks @nickdirks]

Who would be a university president in America right now? As difficult as these jobs may be, I write in the @FT that this is the time to assert in the loudest possible way the extraordinary value of our universities:
https://t.co/045Xt8YK7C

[Chicago Booth Review @chicagoboothrev]

Former UC Berkeley chancellor @nickdirks joins #Capitalisnt to discuss the challenges facing higher education. https://t.co/a0pyN15KwE