NSF FAQS (New and Updated, May 14, 2025): https://www.nsf.gov/updates-on-priorities and https://www.nsf.gov/executive-orders
5/19/25: Scientists are pushing to get their grants reinstated — and some are winning (STAT, COGR Director Krystal Toups Quoted): “The way that this is transpiring throughout the community is quite confusing and alarming,” said Krystal Toups, director for contracts and grants administration at the Council on Government Relations, or COGR, an association of research universities and academic medical centers. “Recipients have received termination letters, essentially stating that the award no longer effectuates agency’s priorities. But it’s really not transparent what those priorities are and how they qualify for grounds of termination.” https://www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/research-cuts-scientists-reverse-grant-terminations-through-lobbying-lawsuits-networking/
5/19/25: Defense Department Caps Indirect Research Cost Rates for Universities (Inside Higher Ed, COGR President Matt Owens Quoted): Matt Owens, president of COGR, which represents research institutions, condemned the DOD’s newly announced plan. “DOD research performed by universities is a force multiplier and has helped to make the U.S. military the most effective in the world. From GPS, stealth technology, advanced body armor, to precision guided missiles and night vision technology, university-based DOD research makes our military stronger,” Owens said in a statement. “A cut to DOD indirect cost reimbursements is a cut to national security. Less funding for research means less security for our nation.” https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/05/19/defense-department-caps-universities-indirect-cost-rates
Read President Owens Full Statement Here: https://www.cogr.edu/statement-cogr-president-matt-owens-department-defense-dod-policy-capping-research-indirect-cost
5/19/25; Nearly a Third of Harvard’s Federal Funds Have Been Cut (Inside Higher Ed) In the latest escalation of its fight with Harvard University, the Trump administration is terminating hundreds more research grants to the university and its medical school, The Boston Globe reported . Researchers in a variety of fields received funding-termination notices Thursday from a number of different federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy, the Globe reported. Harvard Medical School alone saw more than 350 grants impacted. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/05/19/nearly-third-harvards-federal-funds-have-been-canceled
5/19/25: Exclusive: NIH grant rejections have more than doubled amid Trump chaos (Nature) The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has drastically increased the number of grant applications it has rejected without funding, adding to a long list of setbacks for medical research that have occurred under the administration of US President Donald Trump. So far this year, at least 2,500 applications for research funding have been withdrawn — a term the agency uses to denote refusal for administrative reasons. This is more than double the number of applications that were withdrawn in the same period in each of the past two years, says an NIH official who analysed an internal NIH database and spoke to Nature anonymously because they aren’t authorized to speak to the press. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01539-5
5/19/25: When the government cancels your research grant, here’s what you can do (Nature) The mass cancellation of US federal grants marks yet another escalation in political interference in science, but there are ways to keep crucial research going. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01547-5
5/17/25: Education Secretary Wants Talks With Harvard to Resume, Without Giving Ground (New York Times) Ms. McMahon repeatedly said she would like to return to negotiations with Harvard. Still, she declined to describe what more she would like to see from university officials for at least a brief détente. The two sides have been locked in an increasingly aggressive and litigious battle over Mr. Trump’s persistence in trying to bend the school to his will by threatening to pull all $9 billion it receives in federal funding without significant changes to its admissions, curriculum and hiring practices. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/17/us/politics/linda-mcmahon-harvard-trump.html
5/16/25: NSF’s grant cuts fall heaviest on scientists from underrepresented groups (Science) More than half of the 1500 research grants that the National Science Foundation (NSF) has terminated in the past month under orders from President Donald Trump’s administration aimed to bring groups historically underrepresented in science into the mainstream. Ending those grants reversed decades of efforts focused on what the agency calls the “missing millions”: women, racial and ethnic minorities, veterans, and low-income and rural students. But that’s not the only impact. The terminations also reduced the diversity of NSF’s pool of funded scientists, as researchers from several of those groups have borne the brunt of the cuts. https://www.science.org/content/article/nsf-s-grant-cuts-fall-heaviest-scientists-underrepresented-groups
May 2025: “Revolutionary FAR Overhaul” (Acquistion.gov): https://www.acquisition.gov/far-overhaul
