Andrew Begel
@abegel.bsky.social
Associate Professor, S3D, SCS, Carnegie Mellon University
"Even if AI helps write code, humans still have to decide what problems are worth solving, what success looks like and whether a system behaves appropriately." - SCS faculty member Claire Le Goues on why people will always drive software engineering 👉 https://bit.ly/4vSi9ld
In advance of tonight: we are going to hear long-debunked claims about “rigged elections”re-aired alongside declassification theater. Here’s how to understand the facts vs the playbook: open.substack.com/pub/agentsof...
Trump is going to lie to you tonight. An old guide to propaganda shows how to spot the red flags.
Trump is expected to revive his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, using selectively declassified intelligence as “receipts.” Here’s how to spot the tricks used to sell that story.
open.substack.com
Come take my AI Tools for Software Development course!
Jonathan Aldrich@jonathanaldrich.bsky.social · 3w agoCMU is launching a new online professional graduate certificate program: Software Engineering with AI! www.cmu.edu/online/softw... Learn how to use AI to build software more productively, and how to effectively use AI as a component in your applications (1/3)
NEW: NSF has been funding research at a fraction of its historic rate. Last week, the agency finally began distributing money to its directorates and is now likely to pick up the grantmaking pace. But these allocations also amount to substantial cuts across the sciences. My reporting:
Delays have kept new NSF grants to a trickle — that could be about to change
The agency is finally ready to distribute a spate of new grants, but it is also preparing substantial cuts to areas such as biological and social sciences.
nature.com
Are you on the spectrum and working in IT? Help out my friend Janet Siegmund's study! In IT, research is still too often done about you rather than with you. Help us understand what matters to you in your IT jobs! More info: brains-on-code.github.io/mental-model/
brains-on-code.github.io
Props to @scott.hanselman.com for naming the elephant in the room in big tech. AI coding tools boost senior engineers but create challenges for juniors who lack context to judge outputs. Cutting junior hiring for near-term gains weakens the future pipeline. We’ll need apprenticeship-style paths.
Redefining the Software Engineering Profession for AI | Communications of the ACM
dl.acm.org
BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide. This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.
These data show that the NSF terminations targeted STEM Ed and Soc Behav and Econ Sciences almost exclusively with an 11.4% drop in active EDU grants and a 7.4% drop in SPE from FY2024 to FY2025 and most other Directorates essentially unchanged (with an overall drop in the number of active grants)
Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 6mo agoMore on NSF Here are the number grants that were active in each year (at least part) including the effects of grant terminations (data from grant-witness.us) by directorate from 2021-2025. The only directorates showing losses are STEM Education and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.
This a word cloud from the titles of ~1100 terminated NSF grants. It is hard not to see these grant terminations as an attack on the training of the future United States scientific workforce.
Tomorrow’s front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 23, 2026
I talked to Don and some other really smart amazing people about this ongoing five alarm erasure of history back before I left my job to be able to do my job better: www.npr.org/2025/03/29/n...
Scholars say Trump administration is trying to erase America's non-white history
From painting over a Black Lives Matter mural to temporarily scrubbing web stories of Navajo Code Talkers, scholars and activists say the Trump administration is trying to erase non-white history.
npr.org
Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 6mo agoOne day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history
Trump is waging a kind of civil war, against the places where too many Americans who don't like him live. My latest at MSNOW: www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
Opinion | The president of the United States is at war with his own country
Paul Waldman: If you support Trump, he likes you. If you don’t, you’re his enemy.
ms.now
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
Wow! Yay! The Senate just rejected Trump’s proposed science cuts, voting 82–15 to boost funding for NOAA, NASA, and the NSF. The bill already passed the House 397–28. Strong bipartisan support for science still exists.
US Senate passes bill to boost federal science spending after White House sought major cuts
The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday to approve billions of dollars in funding for federal science agencies, rejecting deep cuts proposed by President Donald Trump in space and other areas.
reuters.com
While the pasty incels who work the federal agencies continue to churn out feeble, bloodless AI pastiches of Axis propaganda, here’s how a living breathing artist powerfully invokes design history. This is by illustrator Emily K in South Philly, a free poster-sized download on her website: →
NSF now planning to let POs largely decide what gets funded, and to send PIs reviews that are only 3-5 sentences long. They don't have to use outside reviewers (except maybe 1) and don't have to convene panels. (1/5)
NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists
Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities
science.org
Ren, an expert in teamwork skills in CS and AI, is looking for an internship for Summer 2026. He’s at the Doctoral Consortium today. Kaia, an expert in developer cognition, Is going to give a great talk about disclosing ADHD in the software industry on Wednesday. #ASSETS25
Heading out to the ASSETS conference in Denver, CO! Looking forward to seeing everyone again. If you’re there, say hi to my PhD students, Ren and Kaia! See you soon!
Are you working on human aspects of software engineering? Submit your work to the 19th International Conference on Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering (CHASE 2026): abstracts by October 16, papers by October 23 conf.researchr.org/home/chase-2...
The Coalition of Autism Scientists have entered the chat: “The data cited do not support the claim that Tylenol causes autism and leucovorin is a cure, and only stoke fear and falsely suggest hope where there is no simple answer.” www.thetransmitter.org/spectrum/aut...
Autism experts question HHS statements on Tylenol, leucovorin
Concerns include the administration’s reliance on weak, correlational evidence rather than established research…
thetransmitter.org
Do you conduct accessibility research? We want to hear about your work! Sign up here to be a guest speaker at CMU's Accessibility Lunch Seminar in Fall 2025: forms.gle/KvVRvsLRdgyc...
CMU Accessibility Lunch Seminar
Do you conduct accessibility research? We want to hear about your work! We are now accepting responses for guest speakers for the CMU Accessibility Lunch Seminar Series for Fall 2025. If you are inter...
forms.gle
New course coming this fall where we apply the latest and great AI dev tools to all aspects of development. You know it’s going to be good when there are typos. Taught by the esteemed @abegel.bsky.social and me.
"NSF employees are committed to serving the American people. But they cannot do so under fear, censorship & institutional sabotage. Without immediate oversight & corrective action from Congress one of our nation’s greatest engines for scientific & technological advancement faces irreversible damage.
There are tons of very famous scientists on this list. Congress, please listen to them!
Nigel Goldenfeld@nigelgoldenfeld.bsky.social · last yr.Today, 1,152 NAS members/Nobel Laureates (as private individuals) sent a letter to Congress regarding the cuts to science being proposed by the Administration, and currently going through the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. tinyurl.com/5n7y7853 @standupforscience.bsky.social
Are you 18+, have ADHD, and have no coding experience? Enroll in our 1-hour long online study called “Enhancing Learning Platforms for Individuals with ADHD” and get compensated with a $25 Amazon gift card! Fill out our eligibility survey by August 1, 2025: tinyurl.com/cmuadhd
Enhancing Learning Platforms for Individuals with ADHD Screening Survey
We are the NAPE project under CMU’s VariAbility Lab, and we are conducting research to explore how different modifications to educational videos may affect how well lesson material is retained. We a...
tinyurl.com
I work in the best university in the world, less than 3 hours from my rural hometown, yet superstar students travel here from all over the world… if we keep treating them badly, will centers of excellence move elsewhere? "If my kids excel, will they move away?" jeffreybigham.com/blog/2025/wh...
In Pittsburgh, I’m a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the top computer science school in the world. I’ve also worked in various large technology companies, who have offices in Pittsburgh to connect with and employ Carnegie Mellon faculty and students.
jeffreybigham.com
We published a piece in March saying the real Trump/Vought/DOGE goal was to bring universities to their knees, and now they’re just … saying it out loud. From our blog: altnih4science.substack.com/p/trump-is-a...
Trump is attacking NIH because politicizing funding can force universities to become conservative thinktanks
It's bad, folks. The real war is on free thought in the United States.
altnih4science.substack.com
King Algamemnon@adamrothman.bsky.social · last yr."We have to bring these universities to their knees." - DOJ official www.cnn.com/2025/05/31/p...
The bottom line with the proposed cuts to NSF is to cut the number of working scientists and disappear opportunities to train new scientists. This is a PROPOSED budget to Congress. Call your reps.
