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NSF halts grant awards while staff do second review

by chriskanan on 4/18/25, 1:20 PM with 73 comments

  • by chriskanan on 4/18/25, 1:43 PM

    I think this is the first time I've posted an article that has been flagged, especially given that the source is the journal Science.

    As a professor working in AI, I'll probably be fine, but if I cannot get funding it will be challenging to stay in academia. Then again, both of my last major NSF proposals (which are in review) had either a required Institutional DEI Commitment Statement (that was for an NSF MRI proposal), and the other was a major AI proposal which required about 1/3 of the proposal to be aimed at broader impacts that were largely aimed at increasing diversity in AI. I do care about increasing the number of women, black, and Hispanic people in AI research, although I also had a section about how we need to increase our domestic production of AI scientists given that 70%+ of the PhDs produced in AI in the USA are non-citizens.

    Both are still in review. I'm not optimistic, but the work required hundreds of hours to create those proposals....

  • by Tepix on 4/18/25, 1:30 PM

    I feel sorry for all these agencies and (aspiring) scientists. I hope they find a safe place elsewhere.

    I'm left wondering if this administration and its henchmen will manage to do the opposite of what the Apollo program left the US in its wake: A giant leap for the U.S. economy. It sure is creating a lot of long-lasting damage.

  • by bglazer on 4/18/25, 1:36 PM

    Just for reference, the NSF funds nearly all research thats not biomedical in the US: engineering, physics, material science, etc. Its budget was $9B.

    The NIH, which accounts for nearly all biomedical research, had a budget of $48B.

    Lockheed Martin, a single defense contractor, received more than $60B in government contracts in 2024.

  • by snapcaster on 4/18/25, 1:30 PM

    this seems like it's all theater right? these aren't the huge drivers of the federal budget, but they're too scared to go after military or entitlement spending so enormous effort is put into these things that aren't even big fractions of the budget

  • by rideontime on 4/18/25, 1:26 PM

    Quick, what's a synonym for "biodiversity" that won't trip the DOGE grep?

  • by sseagull on 4/18/25, 1:37 PM

    As if review timelines aren't already way too long. I'm currently waiting 9 months for a small $250k grant (edit: waiting to hear if I've even gotten it. I barely remember what the proposal was about now).

    I can tell you most scientists are just trying to do their jobs, studying hard stuff. Unfortunately, we do not really have the resources to fight anything.

    Tough situation, and lots of scientists are pretty frightened. Many junior scientists (myself included) are looking at leaving the country.

  • by gmm1990 on 4/18/25, 1:33 PM

    How is creating a new government department that introduces a bunch of arbitrary rules and reviews not adding to bureaucracy?

  • by tomp on 4/18/25, 1:30 PM

    > The National Science Foundation (NSF) has put a cork in its grantmaking pipeline after BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set up shop at the agency this week.

    Really, "billionaire", that's what you're going with (emphasis mine)?! Isn't it more relevant that he founded and runs 2 biggest startups (as in, high velocity, high growth companies) in the world (Tesla & SpaceX) that run circles around both legacy companies and government agencies? So, yeah, if you want things to radically improve fast, of course you call someone like Elon.

    It's sad that "unbiased news" basically no longer exists.