Science under attack

This report focuses on changing agency priorities at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) from the Biden-Harris administration (2021-2025) to the Trump-Vance administration (2025-present). I had joined NSF in 2022 as an Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) assignee (NSF, n.d.-f). The IPA program enables academics to serve as Program Directors or in other leadership capacities at NSF; the rotation of expertise between academia and NSF connects NSF grant-making to the scientific community and benefits advancements in federally funded science. This report presents my experience and assessment of how some of the government-wide changes to the organization, structures, and priorities of science funding unfolded at NSF during the transition across the two administrations since 2025. The report is based on the autoethnographic research method in the social sciences (Denzin, 2013). Autoethnographic accounts are anchored in the qualitative research tradition; the qualitative approach provides a contextual understanding of social phenomena, and the autoethnographic method is one way to do so. An autoethnographic account tends to use the observer’s experience as part of a social community as a lens through which to better understand broader socio-cultural, institutional, and political phenomena. The report first briefly discusses the importance of federal funding for the development of Science & Technology (S&T) and the role of NSF in contributing to US leadership in S&T. Secondly, the focus is on NSF work culture and priorities before 2025 and the institutional transformations set in motion with the transition to the new administration on January 20th, 2025. The report highlights how the changes instituted impacted the agency’s human resources, infra/structural assets as well as work practices. Thirdly, the report sketches out the impact of these changes on public servants, their attempts to support their agency, and for some, the difficult choice to either stay and adjust to new institutional realities or leave public service.