The topic of the funding of science gets a lot of attention: which programs get cut, which get increases, how to balance sustained investment against risk-taking, etc. But less talked about how science gets organized. Our current scientific "Operating System" is still running on legacy code from 1945; it’s time for a refactor.

Informed by my work in the quantum ecosystem and inspired by a recent OSTP RFI, my latest article explores how we can reorganize and revitalize American discovery for the 21st century. We need to move beyond legacy institutional silos toward mission-driven focused research organizations (FROs), build tighter discovery-application loops, and create fluid networks for a new "Workforce of Builders."

To architect a system for 21st-century prosperity, we have to start by identifying the bugs. If you could "debug" one part of the U.S. research enterprise for 2026, where would you start?