NSF employees brace for major restructuring

On the eve of its 75th anniversary, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) has told employees it will be undergoing a drastic restructuring. The changes, which were first reported by Science, would include dissolving the agency’s divisional structure, firing some staff, and reducing the number of scientific experts the NSF relies on to help manage its programs.

These actions “are necessary to implement Administration guidance to reduce the size of the federal workforce and reduce federal spending,” says a memo sent to staff on the afternoon of May 9 by NSF chief management officer Micah Cheatham. “Cost savings realized through these actions will be reinvested in Administration priorities.”

But a district court ruling handed down just hours after Cheatham sent the memo put many of the planned changes on hold until at least May 23. In the ruling, Judge Susan Illston issued a 14-day temporary restraining order blocking several federal agencies—including the NSF—from implementing any reduction in force (RIF) or reorganization plans.

The judge also ordered the agencies to submit those plans to the court for review by today.

Even with the restraining order, employees are worried about the NSF’s future. Speaking anonymously to protect their job, one staff member says the changes announced so far suggest that the agency is going to become less about supporting research communities and more about catering to the “political whims” of the administration.

When asked for clarification about the agency’s RIF and reorganization plans, NSF spokesperson Michael England referred C&EN to a list of frequently asked questions about the agency's priorities. The list contains information about the sunsetting of one division but nothing about other downsizing or restructuring.

Here’s what we know so far about the upheaval at the NSF.

Dissolving of divisions

Cheatham’s May 9 memo announced that the entire Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES) would be eliminated and that its 65 permanent staff members would be fired. The EES employees include program directors, administrative staff, and technical support staff.

According to one internal NSF memo reviewed by C&EN, the abolishment of EES is paused because of the court order, but communication within the agency has been sporadic and haphazard. For example, on May 12 an EES employee told C&EN on the condition of anonymity that they were waiting for the NSF to confirm if the restraining order covers them and their division.

The research and initiatives funded by EES aim to broaden participation of historically underrepresented groups in science and engineering, which the NSF is legally required to do. EES also administers several congressionally mandated programs, including the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation.

On the webpage for the NSF education directorate, under which EES falls, the agency says the decision to sunset EES was made to ensure that all NSF efforts align with its priorities. The NSF adds that it is “mindful of its statutory program obligations and plans to take steps to ensure those continue.”

As of today, the message has not been updated to reflect the temporary restraining order.

EES is one of 37 divisions at the NSF; the divisions make up the agency’s eight directorates. Both NSF employees that C&EN spoke with say they have heard that the divisions, one of which is chemistry, will eventually be collapsed into a handful of “clusters” or “pods.”

“We’re not really sure beyond that what the restructuring is going to look like,” the EES employee says.

The formation of the clusters would render division directors and deputy division directors unnecessary. One of the main tasks of a division director is to approve funding recommendations that program directors make after a proposal has successfully gone through the review process.

It’s unclear who would perform that job within the new clusters. The first NSF employee quoted in this piece says they suspect this change could make it easier to permanently embed a step in the review process to determine that research proposals fit president Donald J. Trump’s political agenda.

Indeed, the NSF has already been returning approved proposals to program officers to ensure that they comply with executive orders issued by the Trump administration.

Downsizing NSF’s workforce

The elimination of the division director and deputy division director positions is part of a larger effort to do away with leadership positions at the NSF. According to Cheatham’s memo, the agency will cut 84 out of a total of 143 of these positions, though the employees may be reassigned. The agency has about 1,500 permanent employees overall.

In addition, Cheatham’s memo says the NSF will reduce its temporary employee headcount from 368 to 70. Temporary employees include scientists and engineers who work with the NSF for 2–4 years alongside permanent staff.

These outside experts—called rotators—make recommendations about which proposals to fund and can help define the direction of funding programs. The rotator program is “central to NSF success,” the first NSF employee says.

In the memo, Cheatham says the 70 remaining rotator positions will support the president’s five research priorities: artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology, nuclear energy, and translational science. Contracts for the other 300 rotators will not be renewed.

The EES employee notes that because many rotators are professors on temporary leave from universities, their institutions “now have to scramble to find the funding to support these people.”

It’s unclear if the temporary restraining order issued May 9 applies to NSF rotators.

Grant termination continues

On top of internal job cuts and reorganizations, the agency continues to eliminate grants. Since April 11, it has canceled over 1,400 awards representing $1 billion in committed funds. The agency has also frozen all funding actions and implemented a 15% cap on the rate at which it reimburses institutions for indirect research costs.

The Democratic members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a letter to acting NSF director Brian Stone on May 8 questioning the legality of some of the recent actions. Separately, 113 members of Congress sent a letter to Trump expressing their concern over the disruption of NSF-funded research.

Neither the Republican members of the House committee nor the White House responded to C&EN’s request for comment before the publication of this article.

The first NSF employee says researchers looking to push back against changes at the funding agency should go to savensf.com, which has resources like congressional call scripts and social media tool kits.

“The entire landscape of American science, research, and engineering are under heavy attack,” the employee says. “It’s really critical that we all speak against it and be unified in our opposition.”