Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF

Smaller. Cheaper. More constrained. That appears to be the vision for the National Science Foundation (NSF) that is emerging from an unprecedented series of changes by President Donald Trump’s administration, including moves last week to restructure the organization and transform how it awards grants.

The changes would result in a shrunken NSF that focuses on a handful of fields seen as economic drivers rather than supporting basic research across all disciplines. Its process of choosing what to fund would no longer rely heavily on scientists on leave from their universities, bringing with them fresh ideas on how to invest in cutting-edge science.

One major change would abolish NSF’s current 37 divisions, spread across eight directorates, which distribute funding to researchers in a wide range of fields, from the social sciences to physics. Those divisions would be replaced by clusters that would focus on five areas: artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology, nuclear energy, and translational science.

Last week, NSF preemptively eliminated one of those divisions within the education directorate, on equity for excellence in science, technology, engineering, and math, and fired its entire staff, believed to number between 15 and 20. However, on 12 May NSF rescinded both moves after a federal judge temporarily blocked the White House from laying off workers at several agencies in a suit brought by a labor union representing federal employees.

“The focus on a few areas is gravely concerning,” says Suzanne Ortega, who leads the Council of Graduate Schools. “The basic, curiosity-driven science that has paid off so handsomely for the country over the decades doesn’t necessarily start in one of those fields. And the idea that the insights of social scientists aren’t important in understanding today’s world and our political adversaries is just ridiculous.”