To expand on this, right now ~200 postdoc fellows directly funded by NSF are locked out of their salary &research funds right before the first of the month. No doubt other NSF funded grads &postdocs are affected as well. All requests for funds put in before the freeze are slowly being cancelled - ThreadSky

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social • 25 days ago

To expand on this, right now ~200 postdoc fellows directly funded by NSF are locked out of their salary &research funds right before the first of the month. No doubt other NSF funded grads &postdocs are affected as well. All requests for funds put in before the freeze are slowly being cancelled

Reposted from Kevin Bird

As of now, NSF does not appear to be changing course at all given the temporary restraining order or the rescission of the memo. I can't help but feel that the NSF director is failing us and his handling of this is indefensible. new.nsf.gov/executive-or...

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highcountryrose.bsky.social•24 days ago

Why is NSF so eager to comply with this now repealed order with a lawsuit against it? Will email to the office help?

mllambrinou.bsky.social•24 days ago

I think you should still reach out. I reached out to PO with rescission memo and article link to it. Haven’t heard back but need to keep the pressure on.

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social•24 days ago

Well the current Director is a Trump appointee, I can only speculate as to the role that may have

highcountryrose.bsky.social•24 days ago

I should have known :/

ashleyhoguet.bsky.social•24 days ago

Quick question, do you think this’ll affect REUs funded by the NSF? I’m sure the REU grants have already been approved, but could this pushback against DEI affect these types of opportunities?

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social•24 days ago

Very unclear. No one has said what happens to non-compliant activities/awards or what even constitutes non-compliance. The freeze almost definitely won’t last that long but who knows what makes it past the screening and how

rednecklefty.bsky.social•24 days ago

cc @kyledcheney.bsky.social

rednecklefty.bsky.social•24 days ago

Apparently the NSF director is a Trump appointee from 2020 and has doubled down on this. I'm wondering if he plans to work in any administrative or academic job after he leaves the NSF, other than at the University of Austin.
cc @democraticags.bsky.social @qasimrashid.com @cfidd.bsky.social

omearabrian.bsky.social•25 days ago

Wait, so those who asked for money yesterday are having it clawed back?

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social•25 days ago

Yup! The PRFB slack is full of people reporting their requests being rejected, even those made last week. the ACM$ shutdown notice did say it would cancel/reject any pending transactions so I was always worried about this.

omearabrian.bsky.social•25 days ago

jdpardo.bsky.social•25 days ago

holy shit

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social•25 days ago

Yeah, typical procedure is to pull down a month's worth of salary at a time so people are about to be frozen out right as bills and rent are due

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social•25 days ago

And of course, depending on how things go they may lose their funds entirely

jdpardo.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yeah, I'm outright expecting that any money not yet disbursed is likely going to be clawed back. There is no process here. There is no intent to adhere to the law here.

jdpardo.bsky.social•24 days ago

Yep. I'm on an NSF EAR PF so the same general idea. I scheduled payment on my February stipend last week because I was afraid this might happen, so I'm luckier than some. This is really unconsciable though.

stairwaytokevin.bsky.social•25 days ago

By my understanding anything not found in compliance will be eliminated. What does that mean for the Broadening Participation section of the postdoc fellowship? Or ones with newly verboten broader impact plans? Do those people lose their entire remaining fellowship?

isabelott.bsky.social•24 days ago

sorry y’all are in this situation. seems like a lot of needless stress and confusion in an already-stressful time. (I’m wondering similar things for GRFP awards/pending apps given…“the existence of BI sections” 🥴)

kjmd.bsky.social•24 days ago

It's not clear to me that "executive priorities" can override the policies of the NSF -- which are supposed to be determined by the National Science Board. Congress mandated in the CHIPS and Science Act that the NSF fund programs to broaden participation in STEM.

kjmd.bsky.social•24 days ago

In any case, none of my NSF-funded "broadening participation" activities violate the EOs because they don't involve DEIA principles and frameworks (which are not things that exist).

josephwb.bsky.social•24 days ago

I feel so bad for these people. Postdocs often have young families and (due to moving every 2 years) a single (let's face it: not-fantastic) income. Even _with_ dependable funding you are just scraping by :/

aheise.bsky.social•24 days ago

Called my congressperson to urge that she get the NSF director to get the funds moving again. She represents a district that includes the University of Michigan so I *hope* this matters to her!

drk-lo.bsky.social•24 days ago

Please communicate to them to keep specific data on all the ways these decisions are affecting their lives, including messages, verbal or written communication, and dollar amounts for lost income or other costs with evidence

jcsoulliere.bsky.social•24 days ago

They say one thing and do another anyway. This is the Trump MO. There is no concern for the judicial process, but he'll make us think so for another day or two, then pull another stunt, meanwhile in the background it's just as he intended all along.

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