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Great resource. imo Trump is jerking the wheel too hard in the other direction but some of this stuff was legitimately crazy. FAQ: Q: I am only requesting supp

by themgt 2y ago

Great resource. imo Trump is jerking the wheel too hard in the other direction but some of this stuff was legitimately crazy. FAQ: Q: I am only requesting support for one graduate student; do I still need to submit a PIER Plan? A: Yes, all applications for funding to the Office of Science, with the exception of supplemental proposals, conference proposals, and proposals to the SBIR/STTR Programs (at this time), require a PIER Plan. All applicants are encouraged to consider what contributions they can make to creating more equitable and inclusive research environments. It is expected that the complexity and detail of a PIER Plan for a smaller research project and fewer project personnel would be less than that for a larger research project. [and no we won't provide you an example, it needs to be from your heart] When you're requiring the greengrocer to submit a personalized statement justifying how each single apple he sells contributes to the project of worldwide socialism you might be risking provoking a reactionary counterrevolution. Americans need to just chill with trying to enforce micromanaged ideological conformity on a continent-sized country of 350 million people. And avoid winding up in a place "eroded by the ideological rituals that the entire power structure depend on, 'that are ever less credible, exactly because they are untested by public discussion and controversy'".

foobarbecue 2y ago
I applied for and won a small NASA ROSES citizen science seed funding grant ($80K). The call focused on outreach and equity in a way that encouraged me come up with a plan to get underprivileged high school students involved. This improved my results and made a difference in their lives.
- rafram 2y ago
  And now even involving underprivileged high school students voluntarily, without being asked, could get your grant revoked.
hombre_fatal 2y ago
The pendulum went from "DEI totally just means learning about slavery in school, everything else you're noticing is just in your head" to "everything bad is caused by DEI". I hope once this runs its course we can find a middleground between the extremes.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- tbrownaw 2y ago
  I think the groups saying each of those things are the same groups that have been saying those same things for quite a while already.
- intended 2y ago
  I'm sorry, but this hope needs to be put to rest. This political reality has been under construction since Watergate. The winner take all, take no prisoners approach worked. Its counteracted evolution, climate science, even reality. Creating your own media outlet, ditching bi-partishanship, has only helped the Republicans. People here are talking about how MAGA is not the conservative voter. This is a distinction without a purpose, because Maga and the Tea Party movements won elections. The left and dems must and will follow suit. You will only see more extreme points, and frankly outright violence. This is only the first 11 days. The impacts of removing fact checkers and the new free speech moderation stance is going to result in a direct uptick of hate speech. As things get worse, theres going to be even more incitement with utterly fabricated content. This is going to only further entrench the dominance of the media powerhouse that exists. The greater the animosity, the easier people are going to respond to the perceived threats - and since being disconnected from reality works, it will not matter if its true or not. All that matters now is winning elections.
  - mistermann 2y ago
    >As things get worse, theres going to be even more incitement with utterly fabricated content. Speaking of fabricated content, are you describing the actual future or a simulation of it?
    - intended 2y ago
      Hmm. Dunno, I can't really answer that without sounding like I am tooting my own horn. Would it help further if I said that my day job is about disinfo/ fraudulent content, and that I make these statements based on work experience? I could add that I've made these calls, since 2008, and they've been predictable. Thing is, any rando online can claim these things, so I don't know how to answer your comment. So what would you look for to differentiate between prediction and simulation?
causal 2y ago
Ah yes asking people to consider how they can be inclusive. Such unabashed hate for merit. Literally 1984. Definitely deserves all the vitriole and backlash we're seeing. /s
garden_hermit 2y ago
You are interpreting this through a really uncharitable lens. That statement is not about ideology, the whole premise is stewardship of taxpayer funds. If a grad student is funded on the project but gets pushed out because of toxic culture, discrimination, or some other kind of marginalization, then that is a waste of research funds and slows down research. Successful teams need to be able to work together effectively and mitigate conflicts. People are diverse, and conflicts are likely to arise because of this: anyone running a research team needs a plan to manage their team, just as they need a plan to manage their data. Its boring HR stuff that is necessary in a diverse society.
- physicsguy 2y ago
  And of course writing such a statement will prevent any of that from happening… When these things are performative they’re worthless. People who are going to do those things are going to write the statement just the same. Even easier now with ChatGPT.
creer 2y ago
It's worse than "micromanaged" for that matter. PIER plans (nominally) required the applicant to do the work to become competent at this themselves, to develop and present a creative plan themselves, to implement that plan and conduct their entire project according to that plan. All this INSTEAD of doing their science job. All the while hoping that some perfect candidate will show up that will fit all the crazy requirements. Meanwhile remaining aware of illegal HR practices even when they could have sped up the process. So they had to become amateur sociologists and HR specialists. At least in a micromanagement situation, the PI might have submitted 3 candidates to a reviewer who would have picked one for them. But no. Now to be fair, the project leads - I expect - usually have no appetite for all this nonsense and try to cut corners everywhere possible (most likely copy/pasting generic stuff for a start and justifying decisions rather then making the "wrong" ones since they still had an interest in the project achieving its goals) but this was still a waste of time and energy from a point of view of science achieved. When I say "was", it probably still is because most of this current emergency change will be challenged in court and will need to be redone a couple times. So for now, this is MORE waste of time rather than less.

by themgt 2y ago

foobarbecue 2y ago

I applied for and won a small NASA ROSES citizen science seed funding grant ($80K). The call focused on outreach and equity in a way that encouraged me come up with a plan to get underprivileged high school students involved. This improved my results and made a difference in their lives.

rafram 2y ago
And now even involving underprivileged high school students voluntarily, without being asked, could get your grant revoked.

hombre_fatal 2y ago

The pendulum went from "DEI totally just means learning about slavery in school, everything else you're noticing is just in your head" to "everything bad is caused by DEI". I hope once this runs its course we can find a middleground between the extremes.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
tbrownaw 2y ago
I think the groups saying each of those things are the same groups that have been saying those same things for quite a while already.
intended 2y ago
I'm sorry, but this hope needs to be put to rest. This political reality has been under construction since Watergate. The winner take all, take no prisoners approach worked. Its counteracted evolution, climate science, even reality. Creating your own media outlet, ditching bi-partishanship, has only helped the Republicans. People here are talking about how MAGA is not the conservative voter. This is a distinction without a purpose, because Maga and the Tea Party movements won elections. The left and dems must and will follow suit. You will only see more extreme points, and frankly outright violence. This is only the first 11 days. The impacts of removing fact checkers and the new free speech moderation stance is going to result in a direct uptick of hate speech. As things get worse, theres going to be even more incitement with utterly fabricated content. This is going to only further entrench the dominance of the media powerhouse that exists. The greater the animosity, the easier people are going to respond to the perceived threats - and since being disconnected from reality works, it will not matter if its true or not. All that matters now is winning elections.
- mistermann 2y ago
  >As things get worse, theres going to be even more incitement with utterly fabricated content. Speaking of fabricated content, are you describing the actual future or a simulation of it?
  - intended 2y ago
    Hmm. Dunno, I can't really answer that without sounding like I am tooting my own horn. Would it help further if I said that my day job is about disinfo/ fraudulent content, and that I make these statements based on work experience? I could add that I've made these calls, since 2008, and they've been predictable. Thing is, any rando online can claim these things, so I don't know how to answer your comment. So what would you look for to differentiate between prediction and simulation?

causal 2y ago

Ah yes asking people to consider how they can be inclusive. Such unabashed hate for merit. Literally 1984. Definitely deserves all the vitriole and backlash we're seeing. /s

garden_hermit 2y ago

You are interpreting this through a really uncharitable lens. That statement is not about ideology, the whole premise is stewardship of taxpayer funds. If a grad student is funded on the project but gets pushed out because of toxic culture, discrimination, or some other kind of marginalization, then that is a waste of research funds and slows down research. Successful teams need to be able to work together effectively and mitigate conflicts. People are diverse, and conflicts are likely to arise because of this: anyone running a research team needs a plan to manage their team, just as they need a plan to manage their data. Its boring HR stuff that is necessary in a diverse society.

physicsguy 2y ago
And of course writing such a statement will prevent any of that from happening… When these things are performative they’re worthless. People who are going to do those things are going to write the statement just the same. Even easier now with ChatGPT.

creer 2y ago

It's worse than "micromanaged" for that matter. PIER plans (nominally) required the applicant to do the work to become competent at this themselves, to develop and present a creative plan themselves, to implement that plan and conduct their entire project according to that plan. All this INSTEAD of doing their science job. All the while hoping that some perfect candidate will show up that will fit all the crazy requirements. Meanwhile remaining aware of illegal HR practices even when they could have sped up the process. So they had to become amateur sociologists and HR specialists. At least in a micromanagement situation, the PI might have submitted 3 candidates to a reviewer who would have picked one for them. But no. Now to be fair, the project leads - I expect - usually have no appetite for all this nonsense and try to cut corners everywhere possible (most likely copy/pasting generic stuff for a start and justifying decisions rather then making the "wrong" ones since they still had an interest in the project achieving its goals) but this was still a waste of time and energy from a point of view of science achieved. When I say "was", it probably still is because most of this current emergency change will be challenged in court and will need to be redone a couple times. So for now, this is MORE waste of time rather than less.