These are research grants awarded through evaluation of their merits by scientific peers, in which the investigators are carrying out important, ground-breaking work. They're being targeted because, as required by NSF guidelines, they include some investment in benefits for the broader community. - ThreadSky

astrokatie.com • 10 days ago

These are research grants awarded through evaluation of their merits by scientific peers, in which the investigators are carrying out important, ground-breaking work. They're being targeted because, as required by NSF guidelines, they include some investment in benefits for the broader community.

Reposted from Dr Pamela L Gay

Ted Cruz released a spreadsheet of NSF grants found to be "questionable projects that promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda."

There are more planetary sci grants here then I expected. Are you here?

www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/2/cruz-...

Comments

wokeful.bsky.social•10 days ago

Do you think Elon's robbing grants to fund SpaceX's Mars shot? Probably a stupid question

bolognaamputation.bsky.social•10 days ago

He's probably robbing them to fund his pockets.

meteodan.bsky.social•10 days ago

Atmospheric scientist here studying severe storms. My CAREER grant is on that list. Probably because I said something about wanting to help poor high school students in my area get excited about science.

sal-needs-coffee.bsky.social•10 days ago

Sorry to hear that. I think it's probably not because you're a kind person who is helping poor high school students, they cratered almost everything I can see related to climate science OF ANY KIND (including air pollution). So congrats, you got dinged twice by the fascists! You get TWO gold stars!

astrokatie.com•10 days ago

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear it. ☹️

stephanieway.bsky.social•10 days ago

Frankly, I’m proud of you. Keep up the good science. 👍🏻

meteodan.bsky.social•10 days ago

Awww thanks Steph, that makes my day :)

avetchling.bsky.social•10 days ago

I picked out one at random and asked ChatGPT to tell me what the research was about. I am not a specialist and just wanted a bit of help.
After summarizing and seeing nothing 'woke' I asked the AI to find anything.

avetchling.bsky.social•10 days ago

All found:
The core of the research is focused on cybersecurity and robustness in machine learning (ML) for cloud-based FPGA systems. However, the proposal does mention efforts to promote women and underrepresented minorities in STEM through K-12 outreach programs as part of its broader impact.

avetchling.bsky.social•10 days ago

"If someone defines "woke" as any effort to improve diversity and inclusion, they might label that aspect as such. However, the primary research—focused on preventing hardware-based attacks in cloud computing—is technical and unrelated to social or political activism. "

avetchling.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is the level of 'woke' you need to have your funding halted by these vandals and barbarians. #FallofEmpire #Decline&Fall

everyonesings.bsky.social•10 days ago

Look at this filename. This is what people mean when they say this entire majority government is unserious.

shitposts.online•10 days ago

The first one I clicked on down by the bottom was about AI engineering and social sciences, how people will talk to the computer. The second one I clicked on was a conference on electronic materials and quantum structures. Alzheimers research. Cryogenic cooling tech. Apparently all woke now. Insane.

jjofbc.bsky.social•10 days ago

it's not "insane"

try bleak
try ridiculous
try unreal
try unserious

please try expanding your vocab beyond ableist slurs when we're facing down literal nazis

nogbad666.bsky.social•10 days ago

He wouldn’t recognise “neo-Marxist class warfare” if it bit him in the ass.

tiadee1031.bsky.social•10 days ago

I love how the uneducated repeat words to stir up their uneducated cult followers to try and make a point about something they have no knowledge of.

briar-rose.bsky.social•10 days ago

NSF guidelines pull from a Congressional mandate to expand access to women & minorities and consider impacts. His EO says basically we don't need those old diversity EOs because we have equal opportunity laws which we will follow. So if the NSF mandate is on the books, how does an attack hold up?

briar-rose.bsky.social•10 days ago

https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title42-section1885&num=0&edition=prelim

briar-rose.bsky.social•10 days ago

This "reveal" is such a blatant lie because Congress has gotten regular reports on this for decades - see https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/ceose

coffeeindiana.bsky.social•10 days ago

I picked a large one at random and the people tagging these things are morons. What a terrible thing to spend money on (sarcasm).

https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2221250_4900/

"THE OVERALL GOAL OF THE PROJECT IS TO INCREASE DEGREE COMPLETION OF LOW-INCOME, HIGH-ACHIEVING UNDERGRADUATES IN STEM FIELDS. "

profcrustacean2009.bsky.social•10 days ago

That sounds like an NSF S-STEM grant. My former institution had one and we funded 3 cohorts of students. The third cohort is about to graduate with their BS; some already have grad assistantships or a job lined up. They’re good for the students and society.

floerist.bsky.social•9 days ago

I have friends whose grants are on this list; in one case, it appears to be for no reason other than the fact that my friend is a woman with a non-white-sounding name. It also seems that some grants were included for having the ✨scary woke words✨ in them, e.g. "Nonadiabatic Transition Probabilities"

aquagyrl.bsky.social•9 days ago

McCarthyism.

andybrining.bsky.social•10 days ago

Unsurprisingly, Cruz' witchhunt premise is as disingenuous as his press release. All they have to do is apply their dog whistle labels to anything, regardless of any context, and its scuttled. This wrecking ball mentality is insane and the downstream costs may be immeasurable.

kmagnacca.bsky.social•10 days ago

Very cool that the most anodyne one-sentence statement is enough to get something flagged as “neo-Marxist”.

sal-needs-coffee.bsky.social•10 days ago

I went through a partial list that affects SUNY:

https://bsky.app/profile/sal-needs-coffee.bsky.social/post/3lhypvwjdck2g

astrokatie.com•10 days ago

I have served on several NSF grant selection committees. In those committees, we have worked hard to select the grants most likely to produce major breakthroughs in science. We discuss & consider Broader Impacts projects, because they're important, but the science always carries the most weight.

glennbean.bsky.social•10 days ago

This is exactly the most maddening part of this assault on anything perceived as DEI.

I've also served on NSF selection committees and I don't think people appreciate the volume of excellent proposals that come through, and how few are funded.

glennbean.bsky.social•10 days ago

They're rated by scientific merit first. And frankly that's where *the vast majority* of the time is spent.

After that, the positive impact on the community - and young folks who will hopefully be the future of our country- is reviewed. Every choice made at that point is already based on merit.

astrokatie.com•10 days ago

Yep. A few times I’ve tried to argue for putting more weight on Broader Impacts projects when the scientific return looks comparable and we’re just ranking the top few but there have always been far more incredibly worthy proposals than can be funded anyway.

astrokatie.com•10 days ago

Personally, I think Broader Impacts projects should carry more weight than they do in grant selection. Some of this public funding SHOULD go toward immediate, concrete benefits to the public, & we DO have a responsibility to broaden access & participation. Sickening to think it's disqualifying now.

thesharkpianist.bsky.social•10 days ago

I think the worst thing is that I saw this attitude in the Republican Party - rather overtly, might I add, back in 2009 and 2010 with the likes of Texas' Lamar Alexander on the Science Committee, who openly called for scrutiny and oversight and defunding science research. Nobody took it seriously.

billpe.bsky.social•10 days ago

Lamar Alexander was from Tennessee, not Texas.

thesharkpianist.bsky.social•10 days ago

Thank you for the correction. He was still awful.

sierrapoppies.bsky.social•10 days ago

It's taken 20+ years, but the entire gop has now whittled itself down to a party of weak, self-serving hypocrites.

Mark 7:6 NIV
“These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules."

sierrapoppies.bsky.social•10 days ago

btw, no, I'm not religious, but I will use the words of their god to reveal them for who they really are.

peterjwagner3.bsky.social•10 days ago

Scientists took it seriously. The problem is that the general public’s idea of “science” is closer to engineering: they think that we should be solving specific problems like “curing cancer”the way that The Scientist does in movies. The notion of theory-based hypothesis testing is not part of what…

peterjwagner3.bsky.social•10 days ago

… people think is important to science even though that is the heart of science! And they have no clue how most scientific contributions to engineering & medicine are completely serendipitous. Weight loss drugs from reptile venom? How does that work?

erecstebbins.com•10 days ago

NIH grants of the last few years must consider many DEI aspects. It was required. Heck, animal experiments have to include gender consideration (because experiments can produce misleading results when confined to one gender, historically, male). Keyword stupidity is going to tar many of these.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply