{"id":22105,"date":"2026-05-01T09:26:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/mass-firing-trump-fresh-blow-american-science-nsf-nsb\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:26:28","slug":"mass-firing-trump-fresh-blow-american-science-nsf-nsb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/01\/mass-firing-trump-fresh-blow-american-science-nsf-nsb\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s mass firing just dealt another blow to American science"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This past week delivered another gut punch for science in the US. This time, the target was the National Science Foundation\u2014a federal agency that funds major research projects to the tune of around $9 billion. The foundation\u2019s efforts were overseen by a board of 22 prominent scientists. On Friday last week, they were all fired<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NSF has been without a director since April 2025, when former director Sethuraman Panchanathan\u00a0stepped down<\/a> in the wake of\u00a0DOGE-led funding cuts<\/a> and mass firings. Trump\u2019s nominee<\/a> for the role is\u00a0Jim O\u2019Neill<\/a>, an investor and longevity enthusiast who does not have a science background.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to predict exactly how things will shake out for science. But it\u2019s not looking great.<\/p>\n

The NSF was\u00a0established in 1950<\/a> to \u201cpromote the progress of science,\u201d among other goals. It has served as a major source of support for research and education since then. In 2024, the agency\u00a0spent $9.39 billion<\/a>\u2014a substantial figure but only 0.1% of all federal spending.<\/p>\n

Key decisions about how that money is spent have been made by the National Science Board. Each of the scientists who made up the board until last week was appointed by a US president to serve, at least initially, a six-year term. Those members were responsible for establishing NSF policies, authorizing major expenditures and providing oversight, says Keivan Stassun, a physicist and astronomer at Vanderbilt University who was appointed to the board in late 2022.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, the board was responsible for\u00a0establishing a new \u201cdirectorate\u201d<\/a> within the agency to channel funding to \u201ctechnology, innovations and partnerships,\u201d for example. The board also authorized funding for\u00a0the US Extremely Large Telescope Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a relatively small group with a tremendous amount of responsibility and authority,\u201d says Stassun. He viewed his appointment as \u201ca tremendous honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, last Friday, the email landed in his inbox.<\/strong> \u201cIt said: On behalf of President Trump, this letter is to notify you that your position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service,<\/em>\u201d says Stassun. \u201cIt was deeply disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Stassun wasn\u2019t surprised, given the administration\u2019s actions across federal science agencies over the past year.<\/p>\n

Since Donald Trump took office at the start of 2025, the NSF\u2014along with many other federal agencies\u2014has\u00a0frozen, unfrozen, and terminated grants<\/a>. \u201cThe board was not involved in any of those [terminations],\u201d says Stassun. Members had no say in the firing of agency staff either, he says. Staff numbers are currently down 40%, he adds.<\/p>\n

In a 2026 budget request, the Trump administration sought to cut the NSF\u2019s budget by around 57%. Last summer, NSF staffers wrote a\u00a0letter of dissent<\/a> arguing that such substantial cuts would \u201ccripple American science.\u201d The proposed cuts would have hit biological sciences, engineering, and STEM education particularly hard.<\/p>\n

Those cuts were\u00a0rejected by Congress<\/a> earlier this year. But grant terminations and firings are essentially allowing them to take effect regardless, says Stassun. \u201cThe funds that the White House has been dispersing to the agency \u2026 have been far less than what Congress intended,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Many ambitious research projects are grinding to a halt as a result. \u201cThe Extremely Large Telescope Program appears to be dead in the water for now,\u201d says Stassun. And the NSF arm dedicated to science education \u201chas effectively zeroed out,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But not all of them. While the administration\u2019s\u00a02027 budget request<\/a> states that NSF will \u201cclose out\u201d its directorate for social, behavioral, and economic sciences, it describes AI and quantum information science as key \u201cfrontier initiatives.\u201d Biotechnology is described as a \u201cfocal point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

When asked for comment, the NSF directed MIT Technology Review<\/em> to the White House press office. The White House did not respond directly to questions about the firing of NSB members and said in a statement, \u201cThe National Science Foundation\u2019s work continues uninterrupted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim O\u2019Neill, Trump\u2019s current candidate for the position of NSF director, is certainly interested in biotechnology. Specifically, when\u00a0I spoke to O\u2019Neill in February<\/a>, he told me that he supposes he is a\u00a0Vitalist<\/a>\u2014a hardcore supporter of efforts to extend human longevity who believes that death is wrong.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill was deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention until a leadership shakeup a couple of months ago. But he isn\u2019t a scientist. And that has some scientists\u00a0worried<\/a>. He has yet to be confirmed by the Senate for the role.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the administration\u2019s efforts are having a real impact on research. \u201cWe [NSB members] tried to stand for a continued investment in science, engineering, and technology, and in science education broadly,\u201d says Stassun. \u201cThe administration will now be able to operate the agency the way that [it wants to, with] no governance body in the way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past week delivered another gut punch for science in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}