“Your service and your dedication (to science) … has been an inspiration for me.”
You have facilitated “a moment in the watershed of my career”
Your comments when I was a young scientist “meant the world for me”
“My grant would not exist without your thoughtful encouragement and your practical and useful conversations”
These congratulations were one of the hundreds of messages sent by scientists to the National Science Foundation, or NSF program officers, who were suddenly dismissed from their positions on Tuesday. In total, 10% of scientists who generate research subsidies, including all so-called “experts”, who are specialized scientists who know their areas best, were part of the massacre.
As a researcher funded by the NSF, I cannot overestimate the devastation formulated in dismissing people who manage federal subsidy programs. I call the program agents to help me understand how to present my research so that it is funded and when I need help for strategies in the way of making my science as impactful as possible.
I am devastated by what these cuts mean for my ability to form the next generation of scientists and to produce sciences that help us understand how to deal with biodiversity and climatic crises. I am terrified that these federal cuts and others mean that we will not be ready for the next pandemic, forest fire or natural disaster.
On NPR, I recently heard that the Trump administration could seek to give taxpayers some of the economies of these blind layoffs. If the amount in dollars they consider is true and that many say that its orders of magnitude are lower than their estimate, this would earn $ 11 per taxpayer. I do not know for you, but if it is between $ 11 in my pocket and the continuous capacity of our country to produce world class sciences, I would choose science every time.
I’m Holly Jones, and it’s my point of view.