Dr. Tracy Heath

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Please share — Michigan State Plant Biology is searching for an Herbarium Director! Tenure stream, open rank faculty position balancing research, teaching, service, and admin responsibilities. Join us! Reach out to me or @emjo.bsky.social with questions!

plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

Nonprofit Refuses $1.5M Science Grant Due To New Federal DEI Rules A coding nonprofit turned down a $1.5M NSF grant after new DEI restrictions, highlighting the clash between federal policy and scientific community values.

I spoke with Kari Jordan and Erin Becker of The Carpentries about why they declined a $1.5M NSF grant intended to expand data science training. Their decision highlights the growing intersection of #science, #DEI, and federal policy.

Read the full story on Forbes: www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...

I'm excited to share that my story is featured in this week's edition of Science Magazine! Being able to do my research with my Tribe and in my homelands has been so impactful and meaningful personally and for my career. And it's important for other young Indigenous researches to know it's possible!

Congratulations!!!!! 🎉

Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...

There is one month left to apply for our Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution! These awards provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in #ecology and #evolution. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons... #science

Calling all @utaustin.bsky.social people past and present that are attending #Evol2025. We are taking a community photo on Tuesday during the afternoon coffee break. Details below, please spread the word!

Last but not least, I will be sharing some work on a model I have been developing for chromosome evolution today! Be there or be square! I'll be presenting at 4:45 in Phylogenetic Theory! #Evol2025

I ❤️ Systematics #Evol2025

Thank you so much for everyone who came to my #Evol2025 talk! For those who couldn’t make it, I’m planning to upload it to my website and make a little thread here about the work, so stay tuned 🐕

Have you gotten your professional portrait done yet? Thanks to @systbiol.bsky.social DEIC @analyssi.bsky.social for sponsoring free portraits today with a professional photographer! In the Atrium! #Evol2025

Had a wonderful time celebrating the work and message of @corriemoreau.bsky.social at the @systbiol.bsky.social presidential address! #Evol2025

#Evol2025

Excited to hear from @jbyoder.org, winner of @systbiol.bsky.social @sse-evolution.bsky.social @asn-amnat.bsky.social idea award! #Evol2025

Cartoon drawings of a Hawaiian shirt, flashlight, compass, and camping tent. Text: Evolution 2025 Field Gear Swap, Diversity Committees Booth.

Packing for #Evol2025? Bring your new and gently used field gear and clothes that you no longer use to donate to the Field Gear Swap! Hosted by the tri-society Diversity Committees - drop by their booth to donate or pick up! www.evolutionsociety.org/news/display... @evolmtg.bsky.social

Today, NSF added another 500 GRFP awardees, bringing this year’s total to 1500
www.research.gov/grfp/Awardee...

Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump (Gift Article) Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.

New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Congratulations!!! They are very lucky to have you! 😊

Claudia Solis-Lemus lecturing to a dark room of students watching her slides on their laptops. And light from the hallway emergency lights illuminate Claudia.

High winds can't stop us from learning about phylogenetic networks from Claudia Solis-Lemus! The power is out, but we still have internet and zoom. #MOLE2025

Logo for Society of Systematic Biologists Mentorship Program. Two parallel phylogenies, nothing fancy.

It's back! The Society of Systematic Biologists is running Year 3 of the Mentorship Program!

Find community, support your colleagues, and talk trees. Apply by June 10th, 2025.

Program info: www.systbio.org/mentorship-p...

Application form: forms.gle/QtD22C9dtfRF...

@systbiol.bsky.social

Yesterday was Bayes Day at #MOLE2025!

Paul Lewis kicked things off with Bayes' Theorem, Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC), and many related topics.

Afternoon and evening devoted to gene-tree inference (me) and divergence-time estimation (@trayc7.bsky.social‬) using graphical models and RevBayes.

More details coming soon, but mark your calendars ...

Breakout meeting for @systbiol.bsky.social‬ The Society of Systematic Biologists - will be Jan 9-11 in Baton Rouge!

Topic is 'The Importance of Natural History Collections'

@jembrown.bsky.social is primary host/organizer

ssb2026.github.io

🗳️ Ballots went out this week! 🗳️

You have one week remaining to vote.

Have you encountered an issue with your ballot? Email info@systematicbiologists.org as soon as possible so we can get you sorted out.

NSF slashes number of ‘rotators’ and well-paid managers as part of restructuring Smaller future budgets will require fewer people, NSF official tells staff

NSF officials announced they are essentially abandoning the use of “rotators”— scientists on leave from academic positions who help the agency choose the best research to fund. NSF also plans to reduce the number of administrators classified as senior executive service employees. scim.ag/3EKnxmc

About EES The NSF Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES) aims to provide opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds, especially those historically underrepresented in science and engineering.

NSF’s entire Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EDU/EES), which “aims to provide opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to actively participate and excel in STEM disciplines” and some of it congressionally mandated, was just notified they will be RIFed. www.nsf.gov/edu/ees/about

NEW: We (mostly @noamross.net) launched a website to shine a brighter light on terminated NIH and NSF grants.

grant-watch.us

It links to our NIH & NSF trackers, grant info submission forms, and other info. We'll also add new analyses soon.

Check it out and let us know what else you'd like to see.

#WithoutNSF I wouldn’t be a scientist.
- I got in an NSF REU Program and learned about grad school.
- I did my PhD funded by 2 different NSF grants.
- As a postdoc, I was an NSF RCN participant, building my network.
- I got tenure with an NSF RAPID grant.
- I got promoted with an NSF EPSCoR grant.

🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴 🌿🌸🌾🪴

For American students planning to start grad school who are reconsidering their USA offers (or had offer rescinded), my Canadian university #QueensU announced a special funding call. Want to join my lab to study #plant #evolution? Get in touch!

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NIH just cancelled the STEP-UP summer research program and they alerted students today.

One of my students accepted their offer, turned down other REUs, and is now screwed for this summer.

Art quilt of an angry penguin with Hands Odd in orange above him. The dark blue background says “protect women’s rights, the arts, due process, free speech, lgbtqia+ rights, museums, libraries, research, science, national parks, our vote” and in the bottom of the penguin, “the penguins.”

The penguin is quilted and ready to protest! It’s a bit crooked, but I have had vertigo off and on all week, so I’m okay with crooked.