2/26/26: NSF Plans to Boost Staffing, Halve Grant Solicitations (Inside Higher Ed) Following last year’s cuts, the chief management officer of the federal research funding agency says its number of employees is “too low.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2026/02/26/nsf-plans-boost-staffing-halve-grant
2/26/26: NSF officials break silence on how AI and quantum now drive agency grantmaking (Science) For the first time, officials at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) have spoken publicly about how President Donald Trump is now calling the shots at the $9 billion research agency, with his administration reorienting it to focus on the twin White House priorities of artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum information science.https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-officials-break-silence-how-ai-and-quantum-now-drive-agency-grantmaking
2/26/26: Private money cannot replace public funding of science (Science) Who should pay for American science? In the current political climate, many are looking to the private sector to compensate for cuts in public funding. At the Harvard School of Public Health—particularly hard-hit by Trump administration cuts— a task force has been created to foster “Strategic Public Private Partnerships” with pharmaceutical companies to tackle major health threats. Some have even argued that private funding is superior , maintaining that it is more flexible, less prone to groupthink, and reduces the “burden” on taxpayers. But can the private sector really replace public funding? History suggests not.https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aef2849
2/26/26: ED’s DEI Guidance Is Dead, but Trump’s Crackdown Isn’t (Inside Higher Ed) Diversity advocates say the courts have been clear—Trump has no justification to ban DEI. But other legal experts say the administration has plenty of other tools it can use to accomplish the same goal. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2026/02/26/eds-dei-guidance-dead-trumps-crackdown-isnt
See also: Trump Made Higher Ed A Target — Now States Are Taking Aim At It (Forbes) https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2026/02/26/trump-made-higher-ed-a-target-now-states-are-taking-dead-aim-at-it/
2/25/26: The Education Department’s 9 interagency agreements: What is going where (Higher Ed Dive) The U.S. Department of Education is shrinking its federal footprint in line with President Donald Trump’s gameplan — in part by partnering with other federal agencies on grant management, technical assistance and other tasks. https://www.highereddive.com/news/education-departments-9-interagency-agreements/813158/
2/25/26: Updated Elements of an NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan (NIH NOT-OD-26-046) The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Data Management and Sharing Policy requires applicants to submit a Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMS Plan) for any NIH-funded or conducted research that will generate scientific data (See NIH Grants Policy Statement 8.2.3.1 ). As part of its ongoing efforts to increase efficiency and minimize applicant burden, NIH is updating the required elements of a DMS Plan. This notice supersedes NOT-OD-21-014 . https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-26-046.html
2/25/26: The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next? (Nature) Advances in organ and computer models are raising the prospect that some animal experiments could be eliminated. But there are still huge hurdles to overcome. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00563-3
2/24/26: ED Partnering With State Dept. to Track Universities’ Foreign Funding (Inside Higher Ed) The Education Department has announced more agreements to transfer responsibilities to, or share duties with, other federal agencies. They include a partnership with the State Department to track foreign gifts and contracts that U.S. colleges and universities receive. But the collaboration with State doesn’t appear to be ED just offloading more of its congressionally required duties to another department. It could expand the federal government’s crackdown on universities, experts worry. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2026/02/24/ed-partners-state-dept-track-college-foreign-funds
2/24/26: I Was a CDC Senior Leader. From What I Saw, No One Should Run Two Agencies. (MedPage Today, Opinion) Running a major federal health agency is a significant, high-stakes leadership role, particularly during an outbreak or other public health threat. Placing one person in charge of running two agencies at once raises serious questions about feasibility, governance, and risk to our communities. The current arrangement places Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, in charge of both leading the NIH and serving as acting director of the CDC. This means he is overseeing the nation’s biomedical research enterprise and our primary public health and response agency for the foreseeable future. Each role alone is a 24/7 job. While concerns have been raised about his leadership and scientific expertise, my alarm is more fundamental: no matter how capable any individual may be, this is not a reasonable or responsible structure. https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/second-opinions/120020
2/23/26: State Department Improves Transparency of Foreign Funding in U.S. Higher Education (State Dept Release) https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/2026/02/state-department-improves-transparency-of-foreign-funding-in-u-s-higher-education
2/23/26: Trump administration steps up efforts to scrutinize foreign funding of universities (Reuters) The Trump administration is stepping up work to uncover what it sees as malign foreign influence at U.S. colleges and universities, officials said on Monday as they announced that the State Department would assist the Department of Education in that effort. https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-administration-steps-up-efforts-scrutinize-foreign-funding-universities-2026-02-23/
1/29/26: A Plan to Restore Trust in Science From a ‘Fringe Epidemiologist’ (New York Times, Opinion) Jay Bhattacharya, the N.I.H. director, says authorities broke the public’s trust in the Covid era. Now it’s up to outsiders to restore it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/opinion/jay-bhattacharya-public-health-covid-trust.html
