The CSD's Town Hall at GSA Connects will occur on Sunday, Oct. 11 from 6:30-9:30 PM in the Hyatt Regency Denver Centennial Ballroom B! We hope to see you there!
Melissa Berke
@melissaberke.bsky.social
Associate Professor, Paleoclimatology and organic biogeochemistry, University of Notre Dame, she/her
Agency-wide, NSF made far fewer new grants (~6,200, down from an average of ~11,000) and underspent its buget by 1.4 billion. See previous coverage:
Exclusive: NSF set to issue lowest number of new grants in four decades
The US science-funding agency is withholding $1 billion of its budget so that the money can go to a special White House project.
nature.com
NEW: In March the White House released an FY27 budget request that zeroed out the National Science Foundation's directorate of Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). For months it was unclear what would happen. Now, with FY26 over, the damage to SBE is coming to light. My reporting:
‘Complete devastation’: How NSF gutted its social sciences research
Agency body that funds sociology, linguistics, and archaeology studies in U.S. gave 90% fewer new grants this year
science.org
🚨🔊 DEADLINE: Last day to speak up for the #RoadlessRule! It's the sole protection for over 80,000 miles of rivers on public lands and has tremendous importance for drinking water, wildlife, and recreation. Act now: https://act.americanrivers.org/page/101689/action/1?ea.tracking.id=facebook
Tell the U.S. Department of Agriculture: do not rescind the Roadless Rule.
Join us in urging the USDA to keep the the Roadless Rule as is, and ensure protection for the sources of drinking water flowing off of our National Forests for over 24 million Americans.
act.americanrivers.org
🧪 “The National Science Foundation, one of the biggest sources of federal research funding, withheld $1.4 billion that Congress had intended for research over the course of the past year, according to internal data reviewed by The New York Times.” www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
nytimes.com
We are looking for a graduate director (level C - senior lecturer) for our new centre of excellence “our future oceans” 🌊 the role will involve working with me to run training and mentoring for phd and Early career tesearchers in the centre. But also opportunities to do research on ocean science.
Jobs - Recent Jobs
jobs.unsw.edu.au
Unless Congress reclaims its power, this will just become the new normal. A good first step would be to impeach Vought. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
nytimes.com
If you are part of an academic society or a professor of any kind, public statements that you do not condone Drexel cutting off the academy of natural sciences from the public of Philadelphia is very important right now. We need your voices. Urgently.
All sorts of illegal shit. The taxpayers should be furious. 🧪
Jennifer Ouellette@jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · last wk.Enraging. Agency Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress. The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
They are targeting Universities specifically and showing how little they value education in general. Eliminate funding, break Universities. It’s always been about working to kneecap Universities….
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · last wk.OMB has not repeatedly proposed a 55%+ cut to NSF because of 'woke' research—even if you eliminated all of the grants flagged in the Cruz report, you wouldn't scratch 10% of the budget. It is because NSF heavily funds universities.
It is true that this has major implications for research, but my point—and IMO people miss this bigger picture because they're focused on the research—is that for OMB the issue is about the money and who the money is going to. (e.g. other major funding disruptions to Dem-led states)
Brandon Bishop@brandontbishop.bsky.social · last wk.Which is nearly synonymous with stopping basic research in the US.
OMB's focus on NIH and NSF, which has confused a lot of folks, pretty much boils down to stopping money going to universities.
Cole Donovan@colesci.bsky.social · last wk.But collectively, the narrow focus on grants to universities is misguided, especially when one accounts for the balance of where the money actually goes (source: NCSES). A plurality of federal R&D funding goes to businesses, followed by internal R&D expenditure, followed by higher education.
Reminder: perhaps the easiest & cheapest way to tell Bezos to fuck off is by linking to Bookshop or (even better) an indie bookstore WHENEVER you talk about a book online. W/o a link people will just google it & that will lead to Amazon. W a link you can send a sale to a good business
One additional 'quick fact': if your name is John, the Nobel committee is twice as likely to award you the Prize for Physics, compared to scientists who are female - Number of physics prizes to a John: 10 - Number of female physics Nobel laureates: 5 Best wishes to all the John-hopefuls this yr 👩🔬⚛️
Nobel Prize@nobelprize.org · 2w agoThe announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics is happening in one week – and we'll be breaking the news live at nobelprize.org. Quick facts: - Number of physics prizes: 119 - Individuals awarded the physics prize: 229 - Youngest laureate: 25 - Oldest laureate: 96 - Double physics laureates: 1
I became a biologist because of a museum exhibit. Real artifacts tell stories that are more powerful than anything we can get from scrolling. They are part of our engine for training the next generation of scientists. 🧪 scienceforeveryone.science/the-awesomen...
The awesomeness of museums
Genuine artifacts tell the richest stories that fill our souls. And they fuel the scientific enterprise.
scienceforeveryone.science
Got a fave museum story from childhood (or adulthood)? Tell it! Tell them museums improve communities and make them places people *want* to live in!
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D.@sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 2w agoIf you care about keeping the Academy of Natural Sciences open to the public in Philadelphia, I need you to read and share this thread. Trish Wellenbach was sent from the mayor's office to oversee the Academy of Natural sciences situation. She needs to hear from us. Here comes the action item:
The slow pace of federal research funding under Trump, coupled with his administration’s mass cancellations of existing grants, have led to severe underfunding of research. As another fiscal year under Trump comes to a close on September 30, NOAA, AHRQ, NSF are far behind in money awarded.
NSF Over Billion Behind on Grants; IES Says Will Give Funds
As the fiscal year’s end looms Sept. 30, the National Science Foundation has awarded significantly fewer grants than usual, and a judge has ordered an update from the Institute of Education Sciences o...
insidehighered.com
I would like to see more foram sculpture parks!
Jonathan Parkes Allen@jparkesallen.bsky.social · 3w agoThere is a foraminifera sculpture park in Zhongshan, Guangdong, the outcome of the vision of Pakistani-American marine geologist Bilal Haq and Chinese marine biologist Zheng Shouyi, honestly there should be more in more cities
Trump has gutted & crippled the GOV’s highly trained professional firefighter personnel in the Forest Service & other Federal land agencies Many American’s will pay w/their lives & property for Trump & DOGE‘s willy nilly brainless impulse driven management style www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘We’re near a breaking point:’ firefighters say US government is failing them amid intense wildfire season
US grapples with federal firefighter shortage as crews say they’re spread thin and lack resources during unrelenting year of fire
theguardian.com
The Trump admin has decimated American science budgets, taking away life saving opportunities, and the potential for groundbreaking discoveries. This is how you destroy American innovation. apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump administration has cut or frozen $177 billion in grants across every state, analysis shows
An analysis finds that the Trump administration has cut or frozen up to $177 billion in federal grants since the president took office for his second term.
apnews.com
Request a speaker from the AGU Distinguished Lecturer series! 2026-27 speakers include Tim Druitt, IODP Expedition 398 co-chief, with a talk on understanding volcanic activity using IODP and other data. Learn more: connect.agu.org/collegeoffellows/committees/speakerseries/meet-the-lecturers
"stores and tracks faculty CVs and productivity" in the hands of private equity can't go wrong can it
Matthew J Kuiper@matthewjkuiper.bsky.social · 3w agoWatermark, a company whose software stores and tracks faculty CVs & productivity (present on some 1500 campuses), has been taken over by Main Equity Partners. I couldn’t be more thrilled 🤢 (The takeover of higher ed by the Trojan horses of edtech controlled by “private equity” continues apace)
My anonymous questions on this here zoom are pretty spicy. Does he realize how exhausting it is to be a US scientist on this timeline?
🚢 #NowHiring: Scripps Oceanography is hiring an Oceanographic Instrumentation Engineer to provide technical support in the calibration, maintenance, repair, deployment, & more of specialized shipboard oceanographic instrumentation systems. Apply by 10/1: https://bit.ly/4xnhOb6
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months. n.pr/3SK34oz
NASA rushed engineers out of their labs. They say it risks future space missions
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months.
n.pr
NSF has funded over 80% of the world's BGC-Argo floats via GO-BGC, which ends in October 2026, so the global array will start shrinking. NSF is asking US researchers to weigh in on future ocean observing priorities: www.go-bgc.org/nsf/nsf-requ...
I also recommend writing emails to J. Kundu and B. Stone if you didn’t like what you saw in this (www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-lea...). Tell them what you see in this doc that will not lead to advancements in science. Expressing your concerns to those high up is the only way to change things right now.
NSF leadership in a new golden age of science
The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has...
nsf.gov
Liz Hearn@liz-hearn.bsky.social · last mo.If you care about Earth science in the US, please sign up for the NSF GEO virtual office hour Sept 15 with GEO directorate head Joydip Kundu! NSF leadership needs to hear directly that people care and are concerned about GEO. Maxxing out their Zoom tier sends a message. www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-g...
Scoop: This afternoon NSF will formally announce its four 'Frontier Initiatives', and a suite of other changes in a public letter. These Frontier Initiatives (left) are identical to OSTP's 'Grand Research Challenges' that we have been reporting on (right). www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I started translating the announcement into plain English, but got too depressed to continue before I even reached the most pernicious parts in the "full letter" linked.
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 4w agoAnnouncement now up.