Thomas M Truskett

Since 2022, my colleagues and I have been targeted by political attacks. Early on, we worried that political actors would specifically target our projects & universities for defunding. But in the end, they came after everyone. The strategy of keeping heads down was never the right one.

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...

NIH insiders: Trump is ‘dismantling and destroying everything’ After just 100 days, agency scientists say U.S. health institutes are demoralized and have lost essential staff and funding

Science article with perspectives from NIH insiders

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

1/n

A 50% cut to science funding (which is close to what Trump is proposing for NIH) would result in huge negative long-term economic outcomes:
*7.6% cut in GDP
*8.6% cut in federal revenues
*equivalents of making the average American $10,000 poorer

The NIH budget is on a fast track to disaster An NIH insider explains what Republicans are likely to do next, and what we can do

Important info here on the details of how they plan to dismantle NIH and NSF. They are counting on scientists to keep their heads down and stay “neutral,” when the only hope is to organize and stand up for science and equal opportunity to do science donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-nih-bu...

Trump’s escalating attacks on research and education are hurting UC Santa Cruz – the public needs to act now The Trump administration’s attack on scientific research will deeply affect UC Santa Cruz, write three eminent UCSC professors, including one who won a Nobel Prize for her work. Since Donald Trump too...

I and my colleagues, @carpenterlab.bsky.social and Carol Greider, wrote an op-ed for our local media site, @lookoutsantacruz.bsky.social, about the recent cancellations of NIH funded training programs meant to broaden participation in science at UCSC:

lookout.co/trumps-escal...

How Universities Became So Dependent on the Federal Government For decades, universities got billions in federal dollars for research. The relationship was mutually beneficial, until President Trump decided it wasn’t.

much has been said about the NYT's framing of the growth of the government-university research complex as a story of higher ed "dependency" on government

it's a silly and ahistorical way to characterize a carefully thought out national strategy, one imagined by

1/
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/u...

It me

MSU faculty join call for Big Ten 'mutual defense compact' against Trump administration - The State News Under the compact, participating institutions would “commit meaningful funding to a shared or distributed defense fund” that would “provide immediate and strategic support to any member institution un...

"Faculty at Michigan State University have become the latest in the Big Ten to urge conference leaders to create a "mutual defense compact" statenews.com/article/2025...

Ok so yeah, this has quickly become the #1 misunderstanding about the canceled grants

the grants are not “subsidies” or “entitlements” to Harvard or Princeton or whatever

they aren’t going into universities’ endowments

they are competitive contracts won by these universities to do research

International students in the U.S. are reeling amid revoked visas and terminated records The moves also affect a temporary work program heavily used by STEM graduates

“I’m going to keep trying to maintain the life that I have here,” a Nigerian student says. “But what life am I fighting for if people don’t want me here?”

International students in U.S. are reeling from terminated records and revoked visas. My latest for @science.org
www.science.org/content/arti...

University of California, what’s up girl? I know you’re public, but you’re big & beautiful. Also, the #1 employer in the state.

The Chronicle covers the growing MADC* movement!

Faculty senates at Indiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Nebraska state flagships have ALL passed resolutions for Mutual Academic Defense Compacts!!

Will your institution be next? Make it so!

*because we're mad, see? <groan lol>

Harvard will not comply.

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
— Harvard President Alan M. Garber

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Nearly 300 Students Have Had Visas Revoked and Could Face Deportation (Gift Article) Dozens of schools, including the University of California and Harvard, said the Trump administration ended the visas of their students in recent days. For many, the reasons are unclear.

They're revoking international students' visas over issues like speeding tickets - this should be a bigger story.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/07/u...

The Attack on International Students New surveillance and punishment systems are a warning to us all

New, from me: Marco Rubio used to boast that he was banned from China, calling it a totalitarian state.

Now he combines a) new surveillance capabilities to monitor and punish international students, with b) little accountability or due process. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-attack...

LEFT: Near-field electric field enhancement maps of nanocystal layers in cross-section showing spatial concentration in different layers RIGHT: Reflection spectra in the mid-IR depending on the number of nanocrystal layers stacked on a Au-backed Ge substrate, demonstrating ultrastrong coupling and increasing splitting of spectral modes where reflection drops to zero.

Photonic integration of plasmonic metal oxide nanocrystal assemblies for ultrastrong coupling and infrared spectral tuning. Collaboration with @utmid-ir.bsky.social and @tmtruskett.bsky.social now out in @pubs.acs.org ACS Nano.
@texasche.bsky.social

#ChemSky 🧪
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

LEFT: S(q) from small angle X-ray scattering showing comparison between theory predicted structure and observed structure in colloidal nanocrystal dispersions with added polymer. RIGHT: Phase diagram comparing theoretical predictions for phase boundaries (FVT, GFVT) with experimental observations of phase stability for varying polymer concentration and ratio of sizes between nanocrystals and polymers.

How do polymer co-solutes induce attractive interactions between colloidal nanocrystals? Quantitative theory-experiment analysis with @tmtruskett.bsky.social group using small angle X-ray scattering. @texasche.bsky.social @chemistry.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#ChemSky 🧪

Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...

As NIH and university funding in the US is dismantled and as this admin revokes international student visas for no reason…we need to make a stand. Thanks @ardemp.bskyverified.social for being vocal about what’s at stake! www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...

from "learn to code!" to "learn to put screws in iPhones!" in a few short years. really makes you think about Employable Skills

Good for John Hartwig. He is of course correct, and it’s important to say these things loudly and clearly, both abroad and in the US.

I do love The Daily Texan. You go, student journalists!

"This Editorial Board opposes all attempts to ban drag and believes the Board of Regents should reverse its ruling to uphold our constitutional right to free speech at our University."
thedailytexan.com/2025/04/04/d...

Harvard’s moment of truth - The Boston Globe The stakes are high, but the choice should not be difficult.

“Harvard now faces one of the most consequential choices in its history: Submit to extortion and make itself complicit in the most profound assault on academic freedom and constitutional governance of our time—or go to court. The stakes are high, but the choice should not be difficult.” (Fixed link)

Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies Import taxes on staples such as microscopes, glassware and computer chips will affect institutions already feeling financial strain.

Looking at a 54% increase in the cost of scientific instruments due to the tariff tax.

I teach my U-M students about diversity, inclusion, loyalty, honesty and respect | Opinion I teach at University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Ford's values are worth teaching, not Donald Trump's.

My Ford School colleague Rusty Hills was chair of the Michigan Republican Party. Here, he reminds us that his party used to openly embrace some of the values they are now banning on campus.
www.freep.com/story/opinio...

NSF has awarded almost 50% fewer grants since Trump took office The reasons aren’t clear—and the agency’s director claims the president’s policies haven’t slowed grant awards

This hasn't gotten much attention—but new National Science Foundation grants have dropped by almost half since Trump took office, an analysis by @davidimiller.bsky.social shows. www.science.org/content/arti...

(Story by @policyhound.bsky.social)

The Continuing Crisis, Part X: Reductions in Force, Gains in Centralized Power

The news across HHS today is awful, and the stated reasons behind it all are lies:

Who becomes a trustee? At Columbia there are 21, all of them from business, law and technology, with the exception of a former journalist. Although they are in charge of an academic institution, none of them is an academic. None as ever led a classroom or a lab meeting or medical rounds with interns. None has gone through the process of tenure, where their teaching, publication record and service are rigorously assessed by colleagues in the field both from within the institution and outside it. None as ever had their work peer-reviewed by anonymous readers or panels of experts. None has ever published in academic or scientific journals or presses and had their ideas debated in the public sphere. None has ever framed a hypothesis and tested it on the basis of evidence they have collected. None, in short, has sought truth and had their search confirmed by objective scholars and scientists.

Arjun Appadurai and Sheldon Pollock on boards of trustees: “Who actually runs Columbia University?” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

When Will US Academia and Business Speak Up Against Trump? | by Dani Rodrik - Project Syndicate Dani Rodrik argues that leaders in both sectors bear a disproportionate responsibility to come to democracy's defense.

Imagine “the chief executives of America’s top universities and richest corporations […] issued a public statement that spoke clearly and loudly about the dangers of undermining the rule of law, academic freedom, and scientific research” @drodrik.bsky.social
www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/w...