Casey Fiesler, professor of information sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, learned late Friday evening that one of the three subsidies which had been awarded by the National Science Foundation was being terminated.
“It was a total surprise,” said Dr. Fiesler. “This is the one I thought I was completely sure.”
THE to agree Supported Dr Fiesler’s research on the construction of AI literacy. She has received no official explanation to explain why the subsidy was terminated more than a year before its planned end. But Dr. Fiesler hypothesized that it had something to do with the word “disinformation” in the price summary.
Dr. Fiesler was not alone. On Monday, the National Science Foundation had canceled more than 400 active prices, according to a list obtained by the New York Times. The decision comes after months of examination from the agency, including a report Released by Senator Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, last October and, in February, An internal examination of the awards containing words related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or
In January, the Trump administration attempted to freeze grant payments for existing rewards at the NSF a temporary prohibition order Has the frost. The order also said that the agency could not end the active awards to comply with President Trump’s decrees, including one Called at the end of “illegal and immoral discrimination programs” under the premise of Dei through the federal government.
In a statement On Friday, the NSF said that its cancellations of grants were not in violation of the temporary ban order. When asked by the Times to give clarifications on the legality of the cancellations of grants, the agency refused to comment.
The National Science Foundation, established in 1950, finances a large part of the scientific research which takes place in the United States, ranging from astronomy and quantum computer science to microbiology and education in scientific technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.
During the year 2024, the agency had a Budget of $ 9 billion. But there was concerns about the quantity of this budget would survive under the Trump administration.
Last Thursday, Nature magazine reported The fact that all new research subsidies by the agency have been frozen, as ordered by the Ministry of Effectiveness of the Government, or DOGE. The NSF refused to confirm the freezing of new prices or what role, if necessary, DOGE had in the action.
Friday, the NSF went further, canceling subsidies supporting the research in progress. In a statementThe agency said it ended the prices that were not in accordance with its priorities, including, but without limiting itself, rewards focused on Dei as well as disinformation and disinformation.
The agency also announced changes to the way it has evaluated the potential benefits of research. Previously, the agency has taken into account the way in which projects could attract under-represented groups in science, in particular women, minorities and disabled.
In its Friday declaration, the agency announced that it had moved its priorities. Activities related to wider impacts “must aim to create opportunities for all Americans around the world,” said the agency, adding that efforts “should not prefer certain groups to the detriment of others”.
In addition, the agency said that it would no longer favor research on funding on disinformation, which could “infringe the speaking rights protected by the constitution of American citizens” and that it cancels the subsidies to “ensure that the dollars of taxpayers are spent in the most effective way”.
An NSF spokesperson refused to comment on the number of awards finished or any role played by Doge in cancellations. In a job On Friday, DOGE congratulated the agency for having canceled 402 “useless” subsidies, or $ 233 million in savings.
According to an NSF program director, who has asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, most of the prices that have been canceled so far come from the divisions of the Division Agency of the Agency of Divisions of the Agency of the Agency of Divisions of the Agency Learning research And Equity for excellence in stem.
More than 100 of the canceled prices were compiled in a database By Noam Ross, executive director of a non -profit organization called Ropensci, and Scott Delaney, epidemiologist at Harvard University. The database reflects their crescent List of awards Canceled by the National Institutes of Health, which has been continuing since January.
According to Dr. Ross, many prices subject to the new database were mentioned in the list compiled by a committee led by Senator Cruz, which identified 3,483 “doubtful projects” funded by the NSF that investigators have described as Promote Dei or what they called “the advanced propaganda of the class of neo-Marxist class”.
Democrats of the Science, Space and Technology Committee in the House of Representatives refutation of Senator Cruz’s October report last week, noting several faults, including the erroneous interpretation of scientific terms, such as “biodiversity”, as being linked to Dei
“Many people portray this as a war against the elite in higher education,” said Dr. Ross of Ropensci about the cancellations of subsidies. But “a large part of what is removed, it is the programs that make science resemble America”.
Ember McCoy, a doctoral student at the University of Michigan who studies the policy of air pollution, discovered Monday that her NSF subsidy had been canceled. She did not receive an official reason for the cancellation. But she felt that it was going to happen, she said, because in the United States, places with the highest air pollution rates are low-income neighborhoods and colored communities.
McCoy planned to use the rest of her grant to pay community partners in the southwest of Detroit, with whom she collaborates to conduct research. She also hoped to use the funds to organize a public presentation on her research for the community she is studying.
Terrell Morton, STEM education researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago, discovered his subsidy cancellations on Friday afternoon.
Dr. Morton was funded by the NSF to study the experiences of black students in the STEMs, and how these experiences influence the decisions to stay or leave the field. Two of his subsidies were identified in Senator Cruz’s October report, said Dr Morton, he was therefore not surprised when they were dismissed. What was unexpected, he said was to receive the official opinion late on Good Friday.
Critics of cancellations say that they are against existing laws.
“Congress has adopted laws that force the NSF to conduct research on specific and specific subjects,” said Dr. Delaney, who was a lawyer before becoming an epidemiologist.
Which could include the America contributes to the re -authorization lawwhich was adopted in 2010 and forces the agency to support the activities that widen the participation of women and people from other groups underrepresented in STEM.
In general, the agency offers scientists the opportunity To contest his decisions on funding. But the researchers were informed that the decision to cancel their subsidies was final and was not subject to the appeal.
Scientists have expressed their fear as to the growing disturbances in research and the damage it can do both for the academic world and the public as a whole.
“It’s shocking to see the government doing this,” said Jon Freeman, psychologist at Columbia University of which to agree When studying facial perception, it was finished. “He gives in the American leadership of science and technology in China and other countries. I think he will take at least 10 years for American scientific and biomedical research to recover. ”