Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Laura Lautz @llautz.bsky.social · 28d

Nooooo! Just like the agency itself, if something breaks we can fix it. We’ll get you a new one!

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Laura Lautz @llautz.bsky.social · 28d

Making my voice heard.

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Reposted by Laura Lautz

Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · Jul 22

“More than 140 employees of the National Science Foundation have signed a letter denouncing what they described as efforts to undermine one of the country’s main science funding agencies. … Out of fear of retaliation, all but one of the employees’ signatures are redacted.”

Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent

www.nytimes.com

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Margaret Fraiser @margaretfraiser.bsky.social · Jul 23

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/s...

Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent

www.nytimes.com

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Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · Jul 10

US Earth Science people: Our June webinar felt so good, we’re making it a series. Join us next Tuesday 7/15 (and again in Aug & Sept) to hear from NSF staff and to get (most of?) your questions answered. www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-d...

NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar

www.nsf.gov

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Bob Kopp @bobkopp.net · Jun 25

They are kicking the National Science Foundation out of their 8-year-old HQ building, with no alternative plan for housing staff, in order to make a gym for Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Scott Turner and his family.

Neil Lewis, Jr. @neillewisjr.bsky.social · Jun 25

These bullet points 😠

(www.afge.org/local/l3403/...)

This afternoon, AFGE Local 3403 received notice that HUD Secretary Scott Turner and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will announce HUD’s takeover of the National Science Foundation headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia tomorrow. Currently more than 1,833 NSF employees work in the building. Many were forced to relocate to Northern Virginia with very short notice and at great personal expense when return to work orders were given. AFGE Local 3403 has not been briefed on the exact details of the plan. The Union was told plans include the following: • A dedicated executive suite for the HUD Secretary on the 19th floor. • The construction of an executive dining room. • Reserved parking spaces for the Secretary’s 5 cars. • Exclusive use of one elevator for the Secretary. • A space dedicated to hosting the Secretary’s executive assistants on the 18th floor. • A potential gym for the HUD Secretary and his family. While Secretary Turner and his staff are busy enjoying private dining and a custom gym, NSF employees are being displaced with no plan, no communication, and no respect.

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · Jun 24

NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.

NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."

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Margaret Fraiser @margaretfraiser.bsky.social · Jun 25

National Science Foundation Surprise: Employees Being Relocated to
Accommodate Secretary of HUD’s Palatial New Office

www.afge.org/contentasset...

www.afge.org

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Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · Jun 9

US Earth Scientists: We know you have questions, come get them answered directly from NSF/EAR POs! Tuesday, June 17, 2p Eastern. Register here: www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-d...

NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar

www.nsf.gov

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Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · May 31

This proposed budget is a policy statement, not an appropriation.
There are still a lot of steps and potential changes ahead before it becomes one. This is not a time to sit quietly, team. Let's go.

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · May 31

How bad will it be? Catastrophic.

Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come.

But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget.

Speak up now before it is too late.

(inflation adjusted $-s below)

NSF, NASA and NIH budgets per year, inflation adjusted from 2000-2025 along with the proposed cuts. NSF includes research component only. Massive cuts across all sectors, well below support spanning 25 years.

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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · May 30

The NSF cuts are nothing short of a scorched-earth attack on US science, orchestrated w/political cynicism & total disregard for US scientific leadership. A 7% success rate doesn’t incentivize innovation; it tells researchers to take their talent elsewhere.
nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

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Anthony Edwards @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · May 30

The National Science Foundation budget proposal would be a devastating blow to American science. 240,000 fewer people would be involved in federally-funded science in fiscal year 2026, according to estimates in the document.

nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...

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Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · May 30

Trump administration cuts to NSF will result in more than 200,000 FEWER people per year involved in basic science, training, and education - what should have been the next generation of US scientists. This isn't even eating your seed corn, it is setting your seed corn on fire and salting the earth.

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Laura Lautz @llautz.bsky.social · May 22

An amazing group of dedicated federal workers celebrating 75 years of NSF supporting science. What a joy to be a part of! www.science.org/content/arti...

Is a photo subversive? NSF staff overcome obstacles to 75th anniversary portrait

Management tried to quash outpouring of support for beleaguered agency

www.science.org

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Abby Polter @ampolter.bsky.social · May 15

I am thinking a lot today about how heavy things feel in my world of faculty doing scientific research. There's the immediate chaos and panic about our ability to pay people and continue our research. But there's also a deeper grief at watching everything get bulldozed for no reason

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Margaret Fraiser @margaretfraiser.bsky.social · May 9

NSF’s entire Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EDU/EES), which “aims to provide opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to actively participate and excel in STEM disciplines” and some of it congressionally mandated, was just notified they will be RIFed. www.nsf.gov/edu/ees/about

About EES

The NSF Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES) aims to provide opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds, especially those historically underrepresented in science and engineering.

www.nsf.gov

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Science Magazine @science.org · May 8

Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.

Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions

Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund

scim.ag

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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · May 2

I am so heartened to this seriously AWESOME #SaveNSF website go up today!!!!

Has a take action toolkit with:

1. Press outreach templates
2. Social media toolkit
3. Elected official outreach
4. Talking points

Check it out and share widely!!!! Likely more to come.

www.savensf.com

Welcome to Save The U.S. National Science Foundation
A Girl Looking at a Physics Model
TAKE ACTION
Save NSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Our mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation in various scientific fields. NSF funding is critical to this work.

Join us in our endeavor to ensure a sustainable future for scientific exploration and discovery.

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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · May 3

SaveNSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the NSF.

The mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation.

Join: www.savensf.com

Home | Savensf

www.savensf.com

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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · May 2

NEW: Starting May 5, NSF will implement an across-the-board 15% indirect cost rate (mirroring policies at DOE, NIH)

Also, NSF staff expect 341 additional terminations today, bringing the total number of terminations to ~1,380.

Effective May 5, 2025, NSF will apply a standard indirect cost rate not to exceed 15% to all
grants and cooperative agreements awarded to IHEs for which indirect costs are allowable.1 The
awardee is authorized to determine the appropriate rate up to this limit.

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Nature @nature.com · May 1

Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature.

https://go.nature.com/44Ugf9V

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones

US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

go.nature.com

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Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · Apr 25

Science friends, I’ll be honest: We have no idea yet what any of this will mean. But I can tell you that I work alongside some of the best humans around and that we are fighters. www.science.org/content/arti...

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Lawrence Vulis @lvulis.bsky.social · Apr 22

NSF PD Raleigh Martin out with another statement on the NSF grant freezes. 🧪 ⚒️ #climatesky

(NOTE: These are my own personal views and do not reflect an official position of the federal government.)

This past Friday, my federal agency (the National Science Foundation) announced that hundreds of active scientific grants would be terminated because they are no longer aligned with NSF's priorities.

First, I am devastated to think about the hundreds of scientists (along with thousands of supporting students, researchers, and other staff) who have suddenly and arbitrarily had their grant funding yanked away. These are scientists who did everything right: undertaking years of grueling education, spending months thoughtfully preparing grant proposals (often multiple times after previous unsuccessful attempts), waiting further months for their proposals to be rigorously and competitively reviewed, diligently managing their awarded projects, submitting annual reports, and carefully adhering to NSF rules regarding allowable expenditures and grant activities. Despite following all the rules, these scientists will now be forced to throw away years of hard work, end student projects, and lay off staff, disrupting and even ending many scientific careers along the way.

Second, I am troubled by the arbitrariness of these grant termination actions which go against established law, procedure, and precedent. As a

federal agency, NSF is bound by laws enacted by Congress, as well as federal regulations regarding allowable grant activities. Specific funding opportunities are then informed by expert scientific staff closely attuned to their respective scientific fields and guided by external input including outside Advisory Committees (though these were also mostly terminated last week). All funding opportunities go through rigorous programmatic, managerial, and policy review before they are approved to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and agency priorities. NSF priorities do change over time, and this is reflected in the evolution of funding opportunities that apply prospectively to new proposals and grants. But now is different. Now, existing NSF grants are experiencing a bait-and-switch: having been awarded based on one set of priorities, they are now being ended through a sudden and capricious change in these priorities.

And in many cases, these awards are being terminated despite doing exactly what Congress explicitly intended: expanding participation of women and individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM.

Finally, I am worried for the broader scientific enterprise. Until recently, America's scientific ecosystem has been the envy of the world: supported by a stable base of public investment, open to talent from across the globe, and built on a productive ecosystem of universities, research labs, and academic-industry partnerships. Unfortunately, these pillars of American innovation seem to be quickly crumbling, causing irreversible harm to our economic success and cultural dynamism.

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Laura Lautz @llautz.bsky.social · Mar 14

So cool!

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