FABBS is hiring a short-term Tech Policy Fellow to focus on behavioral science and AI (link below). Share with early career policy wonks @ilpfoundry.bsky.social @asa-scipol.bsky.social @scipolguy.bsky.social @abankston.bsky.social @matthourihan.bsky.social @snapcoalition.bsky.social #scipoljobs

🆕NSF cuts don't just gut universities. Join New America, the R&D Congressional Caucus, and the American Association of Community Colleges for a briefing around the value of the #NSF for the skilled technical #workforce and #communitycolleges. Register and share: forms.gle/LNaF6PptDr2u... #scipol

The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued its first impoundment ruling yesterday. Possibly first of many as dozens of investigations are underway. www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

Good deep dive in @nature.com. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Coverage of Senator Kelly's efforts. Use planet.ly/senateletter to encourage your Senators to join him. payloadspace.com/kelly-rallie...

The MAGA revolution threatens America’s most innovative place economist.com/united-state... from The Economist

We don’t get the next mRNA vaccine or moon landing without risk. Short-term grants. Political landmines. Shrinking budgets. Big bets are disappearing—and so are possible breakthroughs. bistromathic.substack.com/p/the-case-f... #science #risk #innovation #NSF #NIH #research #bluesky

Not great. arstechnica.com/science/2025...

NEWS: I just led 112 of my colleagues in demanding answers from the Trump Administration on their funding freeze of the National Science Foundation. Cutting off NSF funding threatens vital research, stalls innovation, and risks ceding global scientific leadership to China.

“Libraries are a trusted source. Let the books battle it out on the shelves. We have different perspectives, and you can choose.” Carla Hayden, who sat down with ISSUES last year, was fired from her position as leader of the Library of Congress yesterday. issues.org/interview-li...

Called and spoke to real humans at each of my three representative's offices this morning (both local offices and in DC). Share your stories, your impact, your students' success, your discoveries, and your hope for the future.

Banger essay on the importance of federally funded R&D to American entrepreneurship from David Singer of Maverick Ventures. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...

🚨 Breaking: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions 1️⃣ Removes/demotes division director leaders 2️⃣ Forced layoff notices to NSF staff going out tonight 3️⃣ More grant terminations expected tomorrow One glimmer of hope: the 8 directorates appear to be staying

Enjoyed talking to @dkthomp.bsky.social about the crisis in American science. Glad to have him on our side in talking about how to protect American science in the future. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

🧪 BOOM: The AAU, ACE, APLU, and 13 universities just filed suit today against NSF for slashing to 15% indirect rates. Full compliant: www.aau.edu/sites/defaul... Updates: www.aau.edu/resources-aa... A similar group of plaintiffs won a *permanent* injunction against a similar change at NIH.

Excellent news. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/03/b...

With the release of the skinny Presidential Budget Request, the FY 2026 season officially kicks off and the dashboard goes live! Because this is a -skinny- request not everything was mentioned, so we'll keep updating as more details roll out in the next weeks and months. www.aaas.org/news/fy-2026...

Skinny Budget Day! Another terrible budget for US science and innovation. While attention is on NSF and NIH, some brief notes on energy and space, which also matter for competitiveness. www.whitehouse.gov/omb/informat... 🧵

This from Jeffrey Mervis (@policyhound.bsky.social) on NSF budget request: Trump has proposed cutting NSF's budget by more than half, to $4B, in FY 2026. The math in his "skinny" budget request is hard to follow, so here's a quick analysis:

Thanks to @npr.org for interviewing me on Morning Edition about the danger of #DOGE's gutting the federal research enterprise. 🧵A note on reform: I can't think of a serious #scipol researcher who DOESN'T believe in reform. DOGE is not focused on reform or efficiency. one.npr.org?sharedMediaI...

The Comptroller General, who runs GAO, plays an important role as an impartial auditor who holds the Executive Branch accountable. They are appointed by the President, with Senate confirmation, to a 15-year term. Guess when the current Comptroller General's term expires.

Today NSF eliminated all its advisory committees (except TIP) enacting Feb Trump EO @science.org @politico.com @kathrynpalmer.bsky.social @chronicle.com @kvasquez.bsky.social @scipolguy.bsky.social @techiewonk.bsky.social @policyhound.bsky.social @matthourihan.bsky.social @asa-scipol.bsky.social

Important story amid everything else. | DOGE comes for the data wonks economist.com/united-state...

A new lawsuit argues that canceling billions in research grants will delay scientific advancements, compromise human health and even result in deaths.

“People are coming to realize the stellarator maybe is the way to go” - Chris Hegna, Type One Energy 🧪 @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Great reporting on the enormous value of science to the nation. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...

House passes legislation that would lower gift reporting thresholds for universities and require waivers for contracts with “countries of concern.” ww2.aip.org/fyi/house-pa...

NIH, which began this week terminating projects studying long COVID, has reinstated the grants, after pressure from Sen. Todd Young's (R-IN) office, an HHS source tells me. Young had secured a commitment from RFK Jr that he'd continue funding long COVID research. Story by @thesicktimes.bsky.social

Very good deep dive from the Post-Gazette into what layoffs have meant at the National Energy Technology Lab (NETL) - the only DOE lab operated by government (whereas others are contractor-operated). www.post-gazette.com/business/pow...

Wondering if your study section cancelled? I update this sheet daily. As of today, 56/124 study sections that should have met since Jan 2, 2025 have "not met as scheduled." docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

“My weather app does it better!” -Weather Watches/Warnings? NWS -Forecast data? NWS -Observations? NWS -Satellite? NOAA/NESDIS -Futurecast modeling data? You guessed it, NWS (via EMC). -Climatology data? The weather data compiled over a long period by techs. -Outlooks? NWS Food for thought. 💭

Pleased to join several science and tech organizations in the Accelerate Science Now campaign launching today, to support policy for AI tools to drive scientific discovery. www.seedai.org/media/asn-la... acceleratesciencenow.com

The serial continuing resolutions from Congress are a slow death for science. NIH has to function not knowing what their budget is. So they delay funding decisions, or issue grants with reduced budgets. DoD research is also impacted as they cannot release new funding under continuing resolutions.

Great item from @science.org @policyhound.bsky.social on Jimmy Carter's legacy in the Department of Energy research enterprise. www.science.org/content/arti...

The new House rules package includes a continuation of the Select CCP Committee in the 119th Congress. docs.house.gov/floor/

Looking to build a community of folks working to improve and advance scientific #research, #innovation and #STEMworkforce development. #competitiveness #policy @chrispickett5.bsky.social @ubadahsabbagh.com @scipolguy.bsky.social @matthourihan.bsky.social @jpflores.bsky.social go.bsky.app/FQk37Ba

Maybe it's a Catholic school thing but it seriously never occurred to me until I was an adult that faith and science couldn't comfortably coexist.

One aspect of a prospective shutdown I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere: it has already been a slow transition at science agencies for the incoming Trump administration. Telling civil servants to go home, right when that process is ramping up, is not remotely helpful for a smooth transition.

Trump's new nominee for NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, offered a strong call for saving Chandra X-Ray Observatory in the face of proposed cuts. His letter to NASA as a private citizen: static1.squarespace.com/static/65ef9... More from @science.org @voosen.me: www.science.org/content/arti...

Recommendations from the article:

Helpful review. It’s possible AI-enhanced science could ultimately boost US productivity overall. open.substack.com/pub/fasterpl...

Jeff Foust on Trump's new pick for NASA Administrator. spacenews.com/trump-select...

I’m late to this but good, even-handed story from @science.org on Bhattacharya nomination. www.science.org/content/arti...

For all the talk about this & that & whatever with Trump, this is the real game/set/match for executive power: Musk/Varaswamy suggest a SCOTUS ruling that the Impoundment Act is unconstitutional and that POTUS can refuse to spend appropriations. 1/

Great interview with new rep John Mannion from @policyhound.bsky.social. www.science.org/content/arti...

AAAS would like to learn more about researchers’ experience with CC BY and other open licenses. What impacts have such licenses had on downstream uses of your research output? Scientists, please consider taking our short survey here: bit.ly/48iDDO7

Great story in Science Mag on Majority Leader Thune's past efforts to support deep subsurface physics experiments in South Dakota. www.science.org/content/arti...

A lot to chew on in these results. Scientists still relatively trusted, but conflicting views on the role of scientists in policy deliberations and public values. www.pewresearch.org/science/2024...

In the wake of the U.S. election, Natl Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt has authored a spot-on editorial in Science, stressing the apolitical nature of science and how it remains vital to informing a lot of public policy. Best read all week!! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #scipol 🧪