Target: Brian Babin, Chair of U.S. House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Goal: Defend National Science Board from politicization and without-cause firings.
Science has endured yet another vicious political attack. Every scientist on the 20-member National Science Board has been fired by President Donald Trump. The board, part of the National Science Foundation that has been an institution for over seven decades, was first established to provide guidance and leadership on matters related to science and engineering. With its six-year terms and membership spanning non-profits, laboratories, and academic institutions, this board was a last remaining stalwart for independence and non-partisanship. But like many other independent agencies, it has been relentlessly assaulted and dismantled so political loyalists can take the place of respected experts with decades of experience.
The consequences will be far-reaching. Because of the likely loss of independence, decisions on funding for critical research and for patent grants on transformative technology will be made based on politics rather than science. A plethora of research-intensive agencies have been significantly defunded, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency. Crisis-level events, such as recent mass-casualty seabird coastal deaths, will remain un-investigated and unidentified. The National Science Foundation has already suffered after the president selected a tech investor with no science or engineering background – but with a history of vaccine skepticism – as his choice to lead the foundation. If all experts are removed from the board as well, transparency and oversight will basically become non-existent.
Sign the petition below to demand Congressional representatives for the sciences stand up to the continued assault on scientific institutions.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Representative Babin,
You outlined the National Science Board’s core mission as “pursuing science.” The National Science Foundation’s 70-plus year pursuit of science has led to game-changing advances ranging from CRISPR technology to Doppler weather systems to the internet itself. These advances, and many more, were made possible with independence, transparency, expertise, and robust funding for thinkers and dreamers far and wide. Politics and “executive and legislative priorities” have no place in this process.
Do you really want to continue America’s “brain drain” and allow China, the European Union, and other global powerhouses to claim the science crown? While other nations and alliances are investing in innovation inventions and groundbreaking scientific research, the United States is divesting, defunding, and pushing out its best and brightest minds. If you don’t want this country to be left behind — and if you want more unifying events like the Artemis space mission realized — act like the ambassador for science, space, and technology you are supposed to be and fight for a National Science Board and a scientific community unhindered by poisonous partisan politics.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: NASA
