The Hanford weather service office is closed for 5.5 hours every night due to critically low staffing levels. The Sacramento and Hanford offices collectively serve more than 7.3M Californians in the Central Valley and some of the state's most wildfire-prone landscape in the Sierra foothills. #CAwx
I was wondering who’s responsible for the ongoing demolition of NSF. Aside from Chief Management Officer Cheatham, whose resignation the staff union seeks, it appears to be 3 DOGE agents: Farritor (23), Terrell (25), and Riley (33). None appear to have any familiarity with scientific research.
'I did not complete a customs declaration for frog embryos (...) this would normally result in a warning or fine. Instead, my visa was revoked & I was sent to a detention center in Louisiana, where I have spent the past 3 months with roughly 100 other women. We share one room w dormitory-style beds'
Disgusting.
Rep. Julie Johnson to Noem: "Are you aware that ICE agent jackets are available on Etsy for $20? Anybody can throw a mask on and run around and terrorize people of color without any regard for the law because your agency does not have proper protocols to make sure your agents are clearly identified"
At the Cato Institute today, Secretary McMahon suggested that required Dept of Ed data collections could be transferred to NSF, where Trump admin is gutting its ed unit, as rightly noted below.
But McMahon may also be referencing transfer to NCSES too (Nat'l Center for Science & Engineering Stats).
Senator Alsobrooks: You’ve been unable to address specific questions about your agency. Can you name which office the Safe to Sleep program operates out of?
RFK Jr.: Guesses wrong 5 times
Alsobrooks: It is the Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD.
The scream that I screamt when I got to the part about the April NSB statement oh my god
"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."
Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.
I wrote about my decision in TIME.
time.com/7285045/resi...
In case you needed that final straw to get offline and foster real, physical community, how about a budget reconciliation bill that (inexplicably) includes language completely deregulating AI and "automated decision systems" for ten years.
Do you want Skynet? Because this is how you get Skynet.
NOBODY STOP HIM
(But please stop the kids omg)
And why the administrative shakeup with the NSF division directors matters for the approval of new funds:
"The process for reviewing and approving future research grants was thrown into chaos with the elimination of division directors who were stripped of their powers."
Appreciate the vital and helpful context in this NSF update from @jillbarshay.bsky.social!
"Several congressionally mandated programs are housed within the eliminated equity division, including Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) and the Eddie Bernice Johnson initiative."
If anyone knows what is actually going on at LOC/Copyright, I would like to talk with you. Please reach out via Signal — crg.32 — via a nonwork phone.
I know NIH is ~5x bigger than NSF but I think the gutting of NSF is getting a lot less than 1/5 the attention— in the news media and in higher ed— compared with what's happened to NIH.
Yes! Exactly what’s needed to #SaveNSF include letters like these that use stories of **local** impact to call on specific reps in Congress.
I'll just take this moment to point out that the US Institute of Peace, just a few weeks ago, contained one of the finest concentrations of US expertise on India and Pakistan, and crisis management in South Asia.
Everybody I know at a research university works at a department that lost federal or state money in the last 5 months. The destruction of higher education is occurring at a scale and speed that nobody could imagine
Prof. Tanamachi in the field with UMass Skyler mobile phased array radar in 2019. Frame grab from a Raytheon promotional film.
My graduate research was funded by the National Science Foundation. The research that sealed my tenure case was majority funded by NSF. Five of my graduate students have been funded by NSF. My current sabbatical is #NSFfunded. In short, #withoutNSF, I would not be the scientist I am today. #saveNSF
Scientists, tell your story in a LOCAL HOMETOWN PAPER op-ed, to publish on June 16! #McClintockLetters #saveNSF We have to move the needle on public opinion.
Fight this attack by sharing how we serve the public with fed dollars, & insights into fed funded research. tinyurl.com/McClintockLetters
#WithoutNSF my research on plant adaptation won’t receive the critical funding it needs to continue studying weediness, herbicide resistance, and other plant traits that improve agriculture.
#SupportNSF #SaveNSF
This is one of the absolute best resources out there for science teachers to use to help students visualize and understand scientific processes. It was a godsend during the pandemic when in-person labs were not possible. And it's free for all to use. So disappointing. 🧪🎢 ⚛️ 🥽 🍎 #WithoutNSF #SaveNSF
Without the National Science Foundation, I'd be nothing.
NSF funded my PhD (GRF, DDIG) on bird origins and later my work on dinosaur extinction & rise of mammals.
Now it's being dismantled for pure political reasons. Our country culture & economy will all suffer. Disgraceful!
#WithoutNSF #SaveNSF
A red and navy graphic titled ‘What You Can Do Right Now’ lists four action steps to support the National Science Foundation: contact your representatives via 5calls.org, join the SaveNSF.com mailing list, check out their action toolkit, and spread the word. Illustrated icons include a megaphone, raised fist, and protestors. At the bottom, black-and-white images show people at a science march holding signs, including one reading ‘My kids’ careers require science’ and another that says ‘Brains love science’.
(11/11)
Want to help save science? Here’s how to get started:
1. Call your reps: 5calls.org/issue/nih-ns...
2. Join the fight: savensf.com/join-our-list
3. Take action: savensf.com/take-action
4. Spread the word. Science needs you.
#SaveNSF
#StandUpForScience
#WithoutNSF
🧪 Ranking member Lofgren and 11 other House dems sent a fiery 7-page letter to acting NSF director today
"The cancelation of these awards suggests instead that NSF is willing to apply political censorship of awards under direction from President Trump and the DOGE teenagers"
Share widely #SaveNSF
Graph of benefits to cost ratio for federal R&D over time. Bottom: 1 dollar spent. Solid blue line: economic benefit alone. Upper dashed line all benefits (primarily economic plus health). Graph runs from 1975 to 2020. Peak at $8 for economic benefits and $16 for all benefits. 2020 at $5 for economic benefits, $9 for all.
This article makes a good case that every dollar spent on Federal research & development generates between $5-12 in return.
In the graph below, the lower line is economic benefit alone, while the upper includes health and other benefits.
So why the rush to drastically cut R&D?
While going about your Saturday routine, please take a minute to stop and think about this. #Altgov exists because regular employees of the federal government must FIGHT this administration to simply be allowed to do the work we were hired and funded to do for the American people. THIS IS INSANE.
Marc Andreesen received government funding from NSF to create Mosaic.
Here is a letter that we (2 former NSF GRFP program officers) sent to the National Science Board Fri 5/9. The NSB is the Exec Branch's lawful governing board for NSF (as opposed to DOGE).
