Hi all! I'm pleased to say that I will soon be conferred my PhD following my defense this past Monday! Please enjoy select photos from my thesis defense photo shoot with my 218 page child

NEW: No fewer than 10 principle scientists at NIH investigating emerging infectious diseases and neural disorders were among those fired by RFK Jr. today. One is an esteemed scientist awarded for breakthrough research into the causes of Parkinson's disease. By me and @emilymullin.bsky.social:

Collecting my thoughts at the end of one of the worst days of my life... At NIH, > 1300 people were RIFed. These range all across the board from institute directors to low level administrative staff. Communication staff and procurement appear to be hardest hit as anticipated from the HHS plan 1/n

Dr. Richard Youle was fired today. He is an eminent scientist who has done important work on brain diseases like dementia and Parkinson’s. Musk and Trump are stopping NIH research into cures, for diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s. Americans did not vote for this.

Y'all, the LGBTQIA+ community is doing so much cool science, you have no idea. There is *so much* of it. In *so many* different fields. But their science is vital, impactful, and insightful. In very related news: the symposium I am organizing is going to be absolute 🔥🔥🔥

"Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given" - On Tyranny, T. Snyder Unfortunately, HHS has obeyed in advance, issuing a spineless email this morning stating employees are required to respond with 5 bullets to the "What did you do last week (Part II)" email.

Friendly reminder: if you are waiting on something from a US-based scientist/reviewer/editor, please realize that we're barely making it through each day putting out non-stop fires and trying not to collapse into tears. We're trying our best, but things will take longer right now. Give grace.

People are saying that Russia is winning, and Putin is now on the inside.

Truly, please call your representatives. This is not a small thing.

Musk plans to fire 7,000 Social Security Administration employees while calling Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” However, Americans have paid into the system their entire working lives!

This administration is literally destroying US science. The NSF REU program is a foundational pathway for building the next generation science workforce. I say as an REU alum.

Could not agree more. The Prez & VP are shameful, embarrassing Putin puppets & a disgrace to our country. 🤮 #SlavaUkraine 🇺🇦

Today, a reporter from the Russian state news agency TASS gained unauthorized access to the Oval Office. How does one gain unauthorized access to the Oval Office? Meanwhile, AP and Reuters were blocked.

The Trump administration is demanding the home addresses of 700,000 people suspected of being in the country illegally from the IRS. The IRS is resisting this request, as complying would directly violate federal tax privacy laws.

McCarthyism is alive and well, apparently.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is making sweeping cuts to contracts, with the Trump administration asserting that core services will remain unaffected.

Amy Gleason is the acting administrator of the DOGE. Please don’t be distracted by this—it was only done because federal judges were questioning who was actually running the operation. Gleason is completely controlled by Musk, and he is doing this to avoid testifying.

We stop this now, or we become like Russia. Plain as day.

Trump threatened to sue journalists, authors, and book publishers who use anonymous sources. Granting certain sources anonymity is a common journalistic practice, especially when sources fear retribution.

Call to Action: The Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent federal agency that safeguards federal employees in employment disputes, has paused the terminations of six probationary federal workers across various executive branch agencies and departments for 45 days.

Pay attention. They are already escalating.

Trump has signed an executive order asserting that only the President and the Attorney General are authorized to speak on "what the law is."

We have been careful to avoid using the word coup, but it’s time to call it what it is—this is a coup. Trump signed an executive order granting only the attorney general or the president the authority to interpret laws executed by the executive branch.

If you wanted to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, you would empower the inspectors general. If you wanted more waste, fraud, and abuse, you would fire them.

A top Social Security Administration official resigned after clashing with Musk staffers over access to sensitive personal records. They sought entry into an internal system containing Americans’ private data. Thank you, Michelle, for resisting—and for your 30 years of service.

Letters went out to federal workers this morning stating they were fired due to poor performance. However, all employees had been rated as “exceptional” performers by their supervisors. Please keep these records and pursue wrongful termination claims. Let the lawsuits begin.

This is a very heavy day for us. To those who lost their jobs, we are with you and will work with you again. To those struggling to see a future for our work, do not give up. Real change in public health has always been a battle. Now it’s a war. We will win it. This is our country. #RISEUP

He’s right again.

Don’t buy stuff on February 28. Money’s the only thing these dicks understand. #resist

Some federal employees who accepted Trump’s buyout offer are now being notified that their buyout has been denied, and they are being terminated instead.

A critical point.

Anyone else concerned about Trump quoting a dictator? This comes right after he fired 20 immigration judges without explanation.

Every single person in my research center who has had their position for less than a year was just fired. Including people who were promoted into their positions. To add insult to injury, the termination notices all say they are "for cause" for "low performance" so they can't file for unemployment

Oh my god. They removed "transgender" from the page about Trans woman Sylvia Rivera's page at the National Park service. "Sylvia Rivera began fighting for gay and _____ rights" WOW.

The Trump administration is now allowed to proceed with the federal employee buyout program after a federal judge denied a request to halt the program entirely. Judge George A. O’Toole Jr., a U.S. District Court judge in the District of Massachusetts, did not rule on the program’s legality.

“PFLAG’s got you” And don’t y’all forget it. You have allies all across the nation in organizations, groups, and individuals who will fight for your rights as long as they have breath in their lungs. We are right there with them! ✊

WASH POST: “Farmers report missing millions of dollars of funding they were promised by USAID despite promises from Trump a federal funding freeze would not apply to projects directly benefiting individuals…” It isn’t just the guy in that video, y’all. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

Trump ordered the EPA to reinstate previous water and efficiency standards for showers, toilets, dishwashers, and other appliances, along with earlier standards for lightbulbs.

Happy International Day of Women in Science. The National Science Foundation’s list of flagged words includes both “Women” and “Female.”

HAPPENING NOW: We’re on Capitol Hill alongside AFGE and union members to send a clear message to Elon Musk & DOGE — HANDS OFF public services!

A federal judge denied the Trump administration’s request to lift a temporary restraining order restricting individuals associated with DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury Department records and payment systems.

The judge stated that these deletions put “everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans,” at risk.

Judge John D. Bates of the D.C. Federal District Court has ordered the CDC to temporarily restore pages removed from its website to comply with Trump’s executive order barring references to race, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Trump announced that he had “ordered the immediate dismissal” of the advisory boards of the service academies for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

A belated Happy Year of the Snake! While it is an abysmal start, the snake is associated with change, and I hope that means shifts towards a better future and a better nation as we call out the wrongs we are seeing and realize that we, the people, have the power and we will not go quietly.

Read the whole thread. USAID has done so much good the world over and it has been as was so well put here, the tester bank heist for some awful people. Read, learn, repost. Let's get the whole word out.

The White House has directed the C.I.A. to send an unclassified email listing employees hired within the past two years, as part of an Elon Musk-led initiative to drastically reduce the federal workforce.

NASA workers were told to "drop everything" and spend their time scrubbing mentions of women in leadership, indigenous people, and environmental justice from the web: www.404media.co/nasa-dei-dro...

Crucial SF-50 forms, detailing job titles, salaries, and Social Security numbers, have disappeared from a federal database managed by the Office of Personnel Management.

House Democrats made an unsuccessful attempt to subpoena billionaire Elon Musk to testify about his efforts to radically reshape the federal government, only to be blocked by Republicans.