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President Donald Trump fired all 24 members of the National Science Board (NSB) on Friday (April 24) — a move some say could undermine the independence of the agency that oversees federal science funding.
Established in 1950 through the passage of the National Science Foundation Act, the purpose of the NSB is to advise both Congress and the current administration on national science policy, according to Science.org. It has statutory authority to oversee the National Science Foundation (NSF) and an annual budget of over $9 billion to fulfill this role, including setting policies and approving expenditures.
Keivan Stassun, a professor at Vanderbilt University and one of the fired board members, told the outlet that the move represents the latest indication that the White House is dictating the NSF’s policies in the wake of the resignation of its previous director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, on April 24, 2025.
Panchanathan was appointed by Trump in 2020 and led the agency until his resignation. While no official reason has been given for his departure, sources speculate that interference from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and a series of questionable orders from the White House may have been involved in his decision.
Two days after DOGE set up shop in the NSF office, the foundation announced the immediate halting of any new awards for grants recommended for funding by program officers and in the final stages of approval, per Science.org.
In addition, pending proposals that appeared to conflict with any of Trump’s executive orders were to be returned for “mitigation.”
The White House also reportedly ordered Panchanathan to accept a 55% cut in the agency’s budget for next year and to fire half of its 1,700-person staff, a move the board publicly criticized in May 2025. Congress ultimately ignored the proposal as well.
“Maybe one way to say it from the administration's perspective is that this group of presidential appointees was advising the Congress not to follow the president's wishes,” Stassun, who was appointed to the board in 2022, told the outlet.
The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) also reportedly asked Congress last month to grant the NSF $900 million for a new Antarctic research icebreaker next year, without first advising the board.
Zoe Lofgren, top Democrat on the Science Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives, called Trump’s decision “the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation,” in a press release published Saturday (April 25). She also said she worries Trump will “fill the NSB with MAGA loyalists who won’t stand up to him.”
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