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Dr. David Miller đŸłïžâ€đŸŒˆ
Dr. David Miller đŸłïžâ€đŸŒˆ

đŸ§Ș The NSF director is lying to you. Let’s fact check 7 claims from yesterday’s letter to the community, while pointing out 3 critical omissions. đŸ§”

1. Many media reports and other discussions “
do not reflect the hard work and dedication by [NSF employees].” FALSE. The media reports and discussions I’ve seen have all recognized how incredibly hard-working and dedicated NSF staff are. What the director doesn’t like is how *he’s* portrayed. 2. “I moved quickly to reinstate the probationary staff.” FALSE. He only did so after a court order & massive backlash. NSF, not OPM, violated labor contracts by reclassifying the probationary period from 1 yr to 2 yrs, a move not taken by other agencies (fact: reuters.com)

3. “The agency has not slowed down.” FALSE. The director ordered staff to waste their valuable time & expertise to review already awarded grants with words like “woman” (but not “man”), slowing down the agency in its core mission due to his actions (fact: science.org) 4. “Have issued 95% of our funding [vs.] same time last year” FALSE. I don’t know how he’s contorting the data, but the public award data don’t show anywhere close to 95%. Instead, it’s more like
52%. Per total intended $ in new awards from Jan 20 to yesterday (fact: nsf.gov)

5. “Made over 600 awards.” MISLEADING. Technically correct. From Jan 20 to yesterday, the public data show 603 awards
but that’s 50% of the same # of awards compared to last year.

6. “Nearly 100 CAREER awards across the country.” MISLEADING. It’s actually “more than 100” from Jan 20 to yesterday, but let’s set aside that weird inaccuracy. Even still, it’s still a massively lower # than this same time last year (41% of last year's #).

7. “My priorities have not changed.” MISLEADING (at the very least). He normally talks big about “inspiring missing millions”, “broadening participation”, “opportunities everywhere”, etc. But that's not in yesterday's letter. That's a change, suspiciously related to the anti-DEI EOs. NOW THREE CRITICAL OMISSIONS
 Omission 1: Firing of at-will employees Beyond the probationary employees, NSF acted *on its own* to also fire at-will employees (fact: wired.com) and *still has not reinstated* those at-will employees (fact: science.org).

Omission 2: STEM education is core to NSF’s mission. The letter stresses investing in science. No argument here. What it omits: STEM ed is also central to NSF’s mission and the future of scientific research (core in the very first mandated function of NSF) law.cornell.edu

And that omission is crucial because
 Omission 3: There’s a halt on new STEM ed awards Here’s a fresh graph for Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). But you can discount 6 of 9 for FY25 (reissuing award b/c PI transfer). Only 3 are brand new. See below for why EDU is so key to NSF’s mission

Dr. David Miller đŸłïžâ€đŸŒˆ
Dr. David Miller đŸłïžâ€đŸŒˆ03/03/25

đŸ§Ș🚹 NSF's Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) has halted making nearly all new awards since inauguration day. Among *many* other things, EDU runs the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). We need to protect the education & training of the next gen of scientists #StandUpForScience ThreadđŸ‘‡đŸ§”

One last reflection: Why focus this thread on the NSF director and not the root causes of Trump or Musk? Because entire structures crumble when others like the NSF director (over-)comply with illegal and unconstitutional orders. Pushing on those other leaders can impede that dismantling.

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Long letter from NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan, available here: https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/Letter-to-the-Community.pdf
National Science Foundation administrators reclassified hundreds of employees from permanent to probationary status in violation of labor contracts, according to a U.S. lawmaker and an employee at the NSF, a U.S. federal agency that funds science research. The agency made the change after President Donald Trump took office on January 20 with a sweeping directive aimed at reducing the federal workforce, they said. On that day, the Office of Personnel Management required federal agencies to submit a list of employees who were on probation.
$413M from Jan 20 to yesterday for FY25, versus $788M in FY24.
603 from Jan 20 to yesterday for FY25, versus 1213 in FY24.
134 from Jan 20 to yesterday for FY25, versus 326 in FY24.
The termination action this morning also included all permanent employees who were designated as “at-will” workers. One terminated worker tells WIRED that they were a permanent federal employee working on a part-time basis, with an annual contract that was up for renewal in September. The decision to terminate at-will employees came from NSF alone, not from the administration, NSF management told workers during the meeting. When asked whether at-will employees were just terminated out of fairness to the probationary workers, NSF management replied that the decision was “partly due to fairness, but that’s not all.”
The Foundation is authorized and directed— (1)to initiate and support basic scientific research and programs to strengthen scientific research potential and science education programs at all levels in the mathematical, physical, medical, biological, social, and other sciences, and to initiate and support research fundamental to the engineering process and programs to strengthen engineering research potential and engineering education programs at all levels in the various fields of engineering, by making contracts or other arrangements (including grants, loans, and other forms of assistance) to support such scientific, engineering, and educational activities and to appraise the impact of research upon industrial development and upon the general welfare;
9 from Jan 20 to yesterday for FY25, versus 80 in FY24.
Graph between 1/20 and 2/28 of fiscal year 2024 and 2025 new awards in the EDU directorate.

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