All 22 members of the National Science Board were fired by the Trump administration in a terse email on Friday.
The administration has given no explanation for the purge of the board, which helps run the National Science Foundation and acts as an independent advisory body to the President and Congress on scientific and engineering issues, providing reports throughout the year. The layoffs represent another blow to NSF and the broader scientific enterprise in the United States.
On Friday, members received a two-sentence email saying that, “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump,” their positions were “terminated, effective immediately.”
Keivan Stassun, a professor of physics and astronomy at Vanderbilt University and director of the Vanderbilt Initiative in Data-Intensive Astrophysics, was among those laid off. After reaching out to other board members and finding out they too were fired, he described the change to the Los Angeles Times as “a wholesale evisceration of American leadership in science and technology worldwide.”
ONN members are appointed by the president and serve six-year terms, which overlap to provide continuity. Other members who spoke to Nature News reporters told the outlet that the board would meet on May 5 and planned to publish a report on how the United States is doing. ceding ground to China in scientific efforts.
Assault on science
The NSF and the board were established by President Truman in 1950. “We have come to know that our ability to survive and grow as a nation depends largely on our scientific progress.” Truman said after creating them.. “Furthermore, it is not enough to simply keep up with the rest of the world on scientific issues. We must maintain our leadership.”
