NSF terminates over 1,000 grants in 2 weeks

The US National Science Foundation has terminated 1,042 active grants over the past 2 weeks, according to a list provided to C&EN by an internal NSF source, who insisted on anonymity out of fear of retribution. The agency terminated around 400 awards on April 18; the remainder were canceled on April 25.No grants associated with the foundation’s chemistry division have been affected so far, but several chemistry education researchers have lost access to their funding. Nature reported on May 1 that the NSF has also paused funding new grants and directed staff to screen proposals for certain topics and activities. Noam Ross, executive director of the research sharing nonprofit rOpenSci , has been compiling crowdsourced data to track canceled NSF awards. A lot of what has been targeted to this point is research focused on improving science education and training programs for early-career researchers, he says. “It’s things that the administration might call DEI,” Ross says, referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “But it's really a matter of them cutting off opportunities for a broader set of scientists.” More termination notices are expected to go out over the next few weeks, the NSF employee says. The next round could happen as soon as today.The notices that have been sent, which C&EN has reviewed, state that the “termination of certain awards is necessary because they’re not in alignment with current NSF priorities.” The funding agency’s website clarifies that the awards impacted include those that “rely on DEI frameworks” or focus on