Scott Delaney

National Science Board 496th Meeting YouTube video by National Science Board

National Science Board meeting starts in 20 mins—I'll try to follow along and do some live coverage.

Open session will discuss merit review and changes to agency management/decision-making.

Scientists: for a new story, I have one big question—>

What is a “good day” in the lab?

I’m looking for epic examples of the best day ever to general criteria for what constitutes a “good day” compared to a nothing-burger day.

Ping me if you have examples to share!

Re-posts appreciated!

MEGAN KELLER WITH A DIRTY DRAG MOVE AND A GOLD MEDAL WINNING GOAL 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

Congrats, Anil! Very well deserved.

Petition is here: www.sierraclub.org/sites/defaul...

The fact that @apha.org is the first named plaintiff here is key and should tell you a lot about how this fight will be framed.

Related: APHA has really stood up these past 13 months. A beacon of bravery when some other, similar orgs have shrunk from the moment and played small ball at best.

E.P.A. Faces First Lawsuit Over Its Killing of Major Climate Rule

The legal war over the endangerment finding is now underway. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/c...

BREAKING: The Department of Education has ended its directive that attempted to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in schools nationwide.

This is a victory for academic freedom and education equity.

This kid makes me proud to be a Lake Zurich High School alum.

Some SMD Activities Paused Pending OMB Guidance the following memo "Guidance to Limit Commitments in Advance of SMD Apportionment" was sent out yesterday to NASA center CFOs

Hey if there's someone NASA-affiliated who can help explain what the "SCEX22026D" fund is, my Signal is nrwitness.26

nasawatch.com/space-scienc...

Share your comments on NCAR with NSF Tell NSF the future that you want for NCAR by 13 March

Now is the moment to speak up for NCAR.

@aguscipolicy.bsky.social has a tool to help you submit a comment to NSF on why NCAR matters for science, public safety, and preparedness.

Submit: buff.ly/Q0I8rs0

#SaveNCAR

Trump’s Grip on Billions of Taxpayer Dollars Loosened by Courts US judges have halted the administration’s cuts to funding in more than half of 167 spending fights in the past year

"Litigation seems to be the only language that’s understood right now"

How judges have loosened Trump's grip on billions of taxpayer dollars: halting cuts, restoring funds and blocking efforts to tie money to anti-DEI, immigration compliance (gift link) bit.ly/4rGbuJa

The time to speak out is now:

reporting via @nytimes.com:
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/h...

and more details via Grant Witness and @noamross.net
bsky.app/profile/noam...

Tomorrow, Trump plans to terminate $600 million in health supporting grants in 4 states.

We have a list of the grants they plan to axe here: grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...

But the Trump Admin knows these cuts are unpopular, and they've reversed course before. TACO. So call your reps.

The Trump administration is planning to terminate $600M of CDC grants to CA, CO, MN, and IL. We're publishing the full list.

They are using vulnerable communities as a weapon to dismantle public health, targeting partisan enemies, and manipulating media. 🧵 1/5

grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...

VA Gov. Spanberger (moderate, was in CIA) and NYC Mayor Mamdani (left, is in DSA) both taking steps to block local law enforcement from helping ICE as it violently violates people's rights is a good example of how the relevant divide in the Dem coalition isn't center-left, it's fight-don't fight.

A line plot with the numbers of NSF awards for fiscal years 2021-2026. The curve for fiscal year 2026 is quite a bit lower than those for 2021-2025 while the curve for fiscal year 2026 (in red) is much lower than all through the same date.

But, as they say, there is no time like the present

[OK, maybe the 1930s if you want to nitpick]

But, with some data wrangling, my first NSF Funding Curves!

2/3

Trump Drops Demand for Cash From Harvard After Stiff Resistance

Reminder: Never capitulate to tyrants.

Fight Back.

#DefendHigherEd
#AcademicSky

NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up

Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter

Always has been meme. “Wait, domain knowledge is the most valuable thing a data scientist can have?”

The better LLMs get, the more data scientists are going to find out the truth.

Of all the departures this past year at NOAA—via the fork offer, retirements, etc.— the one that stung the most was the firing of people in their probationary first year. They have more modern skills than those of us who received their PhDs in the 90s and 00s. My whole department is in its 50s now.

The Senate may choose to vote together on the DHS and LHHS bills. Thus, a filibuster on DHS may mean no funding for NIH. What my colleagues are saying:

“Shut it down, public health will understand. I’ll work without pay again.”
- anonymous NIHer

This is either

1️⃣ a rather creative and harder-to-challenge-in-court way to further slow NIH grant-making (impoundment by any other name...);

2️⃣ incompetence; or

3️⃣ another lever to exert partisan control over research bc RFK can sidestep vetting and install partisan hacks.

I hope it's 2️⃣, I guess?

This must be weird news to see if you’re one of the literally hundreds or even thousands of university administrators who preemptively censored faculty, scrubbed websites, changed the names of centers, etc.

A word cloud of terms from cancelled SAMHSA grants, with the largest terms being training, capacity, prescription, prevention, and disorder

Shocking to account for what was nearly lost:
- 417 programs to prevent suicide, 465 for alcohol, and 351 for HIV
- 218 to help Americans with depression, 9 for schizophrenia
- 573 program focused on rural areas.
- Over 300 to support law enforcement dealing with mental health crises

Grant Witness is tracking SAMHSA Grant Terminations – Grant Witness

Last week, the Trump administration cancelled >$2B in mental health + addiction treatment funds. Only massive, rapid pushback caused them to reverse the decision.

But these programs remain at risk. So Grant Witness is now tracking SAMHSA grants. What found so far:

grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...

‘The damage is done’: Why Trump's DEI retreat in court may be too late for many colleges The Trump administration has dropped its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colle...

Why Trump's legal retreat from his anti-DEI campus push may be too late for many colleges:

www.latimes.com/world-nation...

Spotify Wrapped: War on Science edition

As a result, we're not standing down just yet.

If you have info on specific SAMHSA grant terminations, please submit it at the link below.

Similarly, if you receive another new NOA reinstating your grant's original terms, please submit that info as a reinstatement.

grant-witness.us/submit-samhsa

UPDATE re SAMHSA:

While the Trump Admin signaled they'll undo the terminations, we don't yet have proof.

On Jan 13, grantees received revised Notices of Award (NOAs) formally terminating their grants. Until they receive *another* new NOA w/ original terms, we assume grants remain terminated.