When I became director of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) in June 2020, the world was in the midst of a pandemic that continues to reshape daily lives, work, education, and the research enterprise. As we enter 2021 with the promise of suppressing COVID-19, the world looks to the science and engineering community for solutions to speed global recovery. To generate the solutions needed from all sectors of science and engineering, the United States must create a vigorous culture of innovation nationwide, leverage public-private partnerships to tackle complex research questions, and align exploratory research with societal impacts.