Sarah Jennings

Huge congrats!! What awesome news!

Based on some quick math, this alone could fund the NSF Plant Genome Research Program for ~4 years; the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology, which was totally axed in the NSF budget request, for ~9 years; and ~ half the total NSF GRFP budget

The 2026 federal budget proposes eliminating the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, threatening bird banding, research, and conservation nationwide, endangering 100+ years of vital ecological data. www.aba.org/proposed-bir...

In our most recent episode we talk with Bill Zamer and Sam Scheiner, two former BIO program officers at the NSF, about the recently proposed 56% budget cut to the NSF.

🎙️Listen now: bigbiology.substack.com/p/savensf-ep...

#scicomm #science #sciencecommunication #SaveNSF #NSF

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

The reductions in funding touch virtually every area of science and seem certain to harm American competitiveness.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

It's not that we might lose our jobs. It's that all of it will disappear or mutate beyond recognition. I worry we're not talking or thinking enough about this deeper sadness hiding behind our immediate anxieties and it's this heaviness that has us all at a breaking point.

What strikes me about the NSF termination data is exactly this: the PIs *doing the work* of making science more inclusive are primarily women, people of color, people with disabilities, and all intersections of those identities.

Why I’m Resigning from the NSF and Library of Congress I cannot participate in systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging.

"For me, the answer now lies in refusal, the withdrawal of participation from systems that require dishonesty as the price of belonging."

Today I am resigning from the National Science Board and the Library of Congress Scholars Council.

I wrote about my decision in TIME.

time.com/7285045/resi...

Thank you for your service, your integrity, and your courage to share this powerful and important message with the world.

Is science political? - with Kevin Bird Tiny Living Beings · Episode

On this week’s ep, Kevin Bird (@stairwaytokevin.bsky.social) explains the events of the last 3 months, how science is funded in the United States, why it is being attacked so aggressively, and the ideologies behind these attacks. Found everywhere you get podcasts.
open.spotify.com/episode/0E9l...

These findings are devastating but send a very clear message. Over $300 million of the NSF grants that were illegally terminated in the past few weeks were for STEM Eduction 😢 These cancellations are clearly targeted and designed to undercut (and maybe eliminate) the next generation of US scientists

We are witnessing the destruction of science in America | Paul Darren Bieniasz If we stay on this administration’s course, future life-saving medicines may never be invented

“…science is the only way to generate the foundational knowledge that enables technology, medicine and an understanding of how the world works.

The extraordinary success that has been American science makes it especially distressing to now witness its destruction.”

Impact on postdocs from Executive Branch Actions (87% of postdocs funded by the fed); 54% of postdocs impacted by executive branch actions; 78% say their position is threatened or research delayed

37% of postdocs had research cut!

graphs showing impact on postdocs in the US - outlook is bad, see alt text in first image

Sharing this from the National Postdoctoral Association
HT - American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS)

No bueno.

87% of postdocs in the survey are funded by the fed; 54% of postdocs are impacted by executive branch actions; 78% say their position is threatened or research delayed!

Federal research instability risks postdoc careers, American leadership In a new National Postdoctoral Association report, 43% of postdocs said Trump administration policies have threatened their positions, while more than one-third said their research is delayed or in je...

More than 50% of postdocs have been impacted by the first six weeks of the Trump administration's second term. We need to protect funding and opportunities for early career scientists otherwise the US will lose many of its talented and highly-trained researchers www.statnews.com/2025/03/13/p...

Opinion | This Is the Greatest Threat to Free Speech Since the Red Scare (Gift Article) Mahmoud Khalil’s detention is a frightening sign of an authoritarian slide.

In case it needs to be said baldly..don't expect the university to protect you.

Proud of fellow NSF PRFB postdocs @couchmicroscopy.bsky.social and @stairwaytokevin.bsky.social for sharing how funding cuts and the current administration's attempts to squash scientific research are hurting early career scientists

If you have experienced direct harm to your work/lab/job due to recent changes at US NSF, & are willing to share this on behalf of the Am. Society of Naturalists and NSF, please DM/ email me ASAP (this is time-sensitive) or submit story here sites.google.com/view/scienti...
Please share widely

The Institute for Bird Populations is in trouble. Their ability to continue many of their projects and pay their staff is in jeopardy due to paused federal grants. If you’re an ornithologist or someone who cares about birds, please consider donating to help keep their important research going

House Republicans just voted to gut Medicaid, which covers 1 in 5 Americans overall, including 41% of births and 63% of nursing home care.

They also just voted to gut SNAP, on which 41 million food insecure Americans rely.

This won’t just harm people. This will kill people.

They own this.

‘The Interview’: Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World The Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer talks about burnout from covering the pandemic and how bird-watching gave him a new sense of hope.

The most achingly beautiful explanation of what science is, from @edyong209.bsky.social: “the idea that much of the world is hidden from us, that we don’t perceive it and don’t understand it, and that it is worth understanding and it is necessary to understand.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/22/m...

U.S. early-career researchers struggling amid chaos Uncertain funding, government firings, and distressed universities hit vulnerable groups especially hard

"These kinds of shocks are going to lead to a mass exodus … for minorities in particular.”

For my latest @science.org story, I spoke with early career researchers who have been affected by the federal upheaval and are concerned about what it means for their future.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Grassroots college leader group resists anti-DEI legislation Education for All, a grassroots network of mostly community college leaders, is spreading strategies for how to resist anti-DEI bills and rhetoric.

An inspiring article on courageous community college leaders who are *publicly* organizing and standing up against DEI attacks.. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

I'm seeing a lot of support for fired scientists and environmental professionals, which is great

But a lot is phased is "just keep doing your important work," and I need you to know that these are early career people with student loans and no savings, and they need income for food and shelter.

‘I really wanted something to happen.’ The students behind the Stand Up for Science protests New group hopes to turn out researchers for 7 March demonstrations against Trump administration policies

Scientists are now organizing events, called Stand Up for Science, on 7 March in Washington, D.C., and state capitals.

So far, they have attracted more than 100 volunteers from some 30 states who are hoping to rally support for research as a public good. scim.ag/4328LAD

National Science Foundation fires roughly 10% of its workforce NSF fired 168 employees, leaving the agency less equipped to fund a wide range of scientific research.

"I don't know what NSF is going to be now, but it's not more efficient. It's just a mess."

My story on today's firings and their impact.
www.npr.org/2025/02/18/n...

A quick resistance task:
1. Google Gulf of Mexico
2. “Gulf of America" is the top
3. Click on the three little dots to the right of it
4. Select "Send Feedback"
5. Click on "Gulf Of America"
6. Select "Inaccurate content"
7. Select "Incorrect" and type in "The correct name is “Gulf of Mexico"

"All disciplines will be affected by these cuts, not just science." - H. Holden Thorp, Editor-in-chief, Science journals

"These [NIH indirect cost reimbursement] cuts should be a rallying cry for higher education to come together to make the case for the American system of research and teaching,” writes @holdenthorp.bsky.social in a new #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/4b2nv4D

The point is not to gut science funding, the point is gut the entire body of research and higher education in the country.

Letter from the SSE/SSB/ASN councils on the scientific understanding of sex and gender, pls RT