Trump’s mass firing just dealt another blow to American science

The National Science Foundation (NSF)—the U.S. federal agency that funds roughly $9 billion in research each year—suffered a devastating blow when the Trump administration fired all 22 members of its governing board, the National Science Board (NSB), effective immediately. The NSB, composed of prominent scientists appointed by past presidents, had been responsible for setting NSF policies, authorizing major expenditures like the Extremely Large Telescope Program, and overseeing the agency's $9.39 billion budget (just 0.1% of federal spending). Keivan Stassun, a fired board member, called the termination 'deeply disappointing' but unsurprising given the administration's year-long assault on federal science. The NSF has lacked a permanent director since April 2025; Trump's nominee, Jim O'Neill—a Vitalist who believes death is 'wrong' and has no formal science background—faces uncertain confirmation. Staff numbers have already been slashed by 40% through prior rounds of DOGE-led firings.

Beyond the board purge, the administration is effectively gutting the agency through budget maneuvers. The Trump administration's 2027 budget request plans to 'close out' the social, behavioral, and economic sciences directorate while designating AI, quantum information science, and biotechnology as 'frontier initiatives.' However, Congress rejected a proposed 57% cut to NSF's budget earlier this year. Stassun says the White House is circumventing that by dispersing far less funding than Congress intended and terminating grants unfrozen only weeks ago. The Extremely Large Telescope Program is now 'dead in the water,' and the science education arm has been effectively zeroed out. When asked, the White House claimed the NSF's work 'continues uninterrupted' but declined to address the firings. The rapid dismantling of one of America's premier research funding bodies threatens decades of scientific progress in engineering, biology, and STEM education.