  One of the central open problems in nuclear physics is the construction of
effective interactions suitable for many-body calculations. We discuss a
recently developed approach to this problem, where one starts with an effective
field theory containing only fermion fields and formulated directly in a
no-core shell-model space. We present applications to light nuclei and to
systems of a few atoms in a harmonic-oscillator trap. Future applications and
extensions, as well as challenges, are also considered.
