AZ Faust

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If you are still subscribing to Washington Post… why???

"It is going to be disastrous if this continues"

Nobel Prize physics laureate John Clarke says Trump cuts will 'cripple' US scientific research

u.afp.com/SmAy

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I’m so sorry.

Guys, science may need a superbowl ad…

Thankfully my kid prefers soccer so we’re going to go with that for high school

Absolutely a gut wrenching decision as a parent. I have a kid who was exceptional at flag. But flag for boys ends at 8th grade so if your kid is good, the only option you have is tackle.

8. Nothing about what is happening in the US is new to anyone from outside of Western Europe/NA/Australia. If anything, it's a bit funny how familiar it all is?

7. When Bosnians were screaming about the authoritarianism of Trump - everyone told us we were being hysterical. I don't know man, once you've seen one Milosevic and once you've seen one nation willing to tolerate genocide of their neighbors, you've seen them all.

... makes me wonder if we will ever get things in this country that will make lives better for everyone. Purity has costs.

6. I always considered myself far left based on my strong insistence that healthcare and higher education should be free to everyone. But given the insistence of the American "left" to just excommunicate anyone not totally in step with whatever the thought du jour they are on today...

5. I don't know that US will ever be a stable place for science again. I know that sounds nihilistic but the 50% of the country that voted for Trump is not going anywhere and they appear to be ok with blowing up the entire research infrastructure for shits and giggles.

4. If you're looking for a postdoc and you're not looking outside of the US - what in the world are you thinking??? This is not a place to establish a stable science career at the moment.

3. Same goes for freelancing. When budget tightening starts, the first thing they cut are freelancers (understandably). Don't be blind to this fact.

2. This is a terrible time to go into research development. Our little field, which has been humming and growing gloriously for the past 15 years is in a precarious position at the moment. When staff reductions start, we will likely be among the first on the chopping block.

What does that mean practically? Assume that you won't be able to get an R01 in the next 3 years. Negotiate $ to sustain you and enough to generate preliminary data regardless of the cost. You need to go into that R01 app with data guns blazing - "too expensive" can't be an excuse.

A couple of related-unrelated thoughts that have swirling in my head:

1. This is a bad time to become a new PI in the US. Probably the worst since WWII. If you're negotiating for a position, know your road is way harder than it was for the people on your TT committee. Negotiate accordingly.

There is a state-determined calculator. Don't know the detailed methodology but our school board is known for returning tax payer funds and running a permanent budget surplus so I think it's fairly reflective of our local situation.

And if parents can't afford it, their kid is basically SOL.

(Things are thankfully changing for reading, so I am hoping we see some real change in outcomes in the next 3-4 years. Unfortunately I don't see any imperative to change away from expensive, computer-based, ineffective math curricula)

While some districts are definitely underfunded, that is not the case with ours. We are funded at 125% of district needs. We spend more per student than local parochial schools. Our issues have more to do with poor curriculum putting the burden on parents to provide extracurricular education.

I find the whole system ridiculous.

The issue for us came down to how the district funnels kids in different programs. For example, in my district, the only way for an 8th-grader to take Algebra I (and be on track to take Calculus senior year in HS) is to be put into an honors math class.

That has only happened twice in the last 5 years but the instant relief I felt is something I never experienced when I worked for institutions. I can remove a stressor through a simple email. It's glorious.

It's such a tricky balance and some days working for an institution seems attractive (any time I have to do invoicing) but the freedom to just "peace out" as a freelancer when something is not working is priceless.

I thought he seemed familiar - he was at MD Anderson when I was a postdoc there. Was committed to developing and supporting trainees then as well (during that time frame, MDA was voted the best place to do a postdoc by the National Postdoc Association).

Perfection

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Frankly, this is exactly the legal framework of the US Supreme Court in 2025.

Being an independent agency and not having a Trump appointee at the head allowed NSF to run below the radar for the past 5 months (ever since doge departed). They gave Trump a half-hearted thumbs up on AI and then went about their business.