Filed under #StrippingFunctor #FR_HotTakes

R.I.P. N.S.B. :(

The point of the NSB is to protect science from the fickle whims of politicians and robber barons.

Did you see the Canceled NSB Sunshine Act Meetings Notice on last week's Federal Register?[1]

That cancellation hits a little different now that the entirety of the National Science Board was fired by the current president.

The National Science Foundation, from its inception, has had two steering bodies: the Director and the NSB. The point of the NSB is to protect science from the fickle whims of politicians and robber barons. As mathematicians, we should be familiar with the “but what is it good for?” question from people who haven't realized the lag between Euler’s totient function and RSA.

This leaves NSF NSB-less and also Director-less. Trump's Director appointee from his previous administration quit this time around[2], and Trump's pick to replace him, charitably described as a "stranger to the NSF research community", has not yet been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. According to recent gossip among my NSF pals, there's still no HQ to speak of, so pour one out for your program officer who has a return-to-work mandate but nowhere to which to return.

Anyway, things just got a lot worse for U.S. science without the NSB. Here's their 2024 report on a changing science and engineering landscape. Looks like someone read the chart below as inspiration, not a warning.

(NCSES, I’d watch my back if I were you.)
——

[1] Probably not; I read the FR so you don't have to!
[2] I would quit too if my operating budget was going to get cut by more than half. Even though it looks (cross fingers) like the budget is going back to previous levels, the TIP Directorate is drawing from the same budget since Congress didn't re-up its budget line. (So much for the "and Science" part of CHIPS and Science.)⠀⠀⠀⠀

     ,-=-.      
    /  x  \   R.I.P. N.S.B. 
    | ~~~ |     1950-2026  
    |N.S.B|       "an independent body of STEM advisors
vV,,|_____|,,VV,    to the President and Congress"

(c) MOTHERFUNCTOR! 2026