Scientific Societies Issue Letter to Congress Regarding National Science Foundation Reorganizations and Cuts

A coalition of professional societies and organizations whose members conduct research in fields supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), including the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation, today issued a letter to the United States Congress. The letter expresses support for the NSF and concern about recent organizational and financial developments at the agency.

The NSF has a 75-year successful record of driving groundbreaking innovations and landmark achievements through its support of basic research and education in the non-medical sciences and engineering. Recently, the agency has experienced abrupt reorganizations and reductions in force, plans to reduce its scope, abrupt cancellation of existing grants, and devastating proposed cuts to its future budget.

The letter, which is initially endorsed by more than 50 signatories, calls on the leaders of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology to exercise their oversight authority to investigate those developments.

The full text of the letter and the initial signatories can be found here:

Letter addressed to the leadership of the authorizing committees with oversight over NSF (PDF)