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The NSF funded my graduate research. It feels like someone is going through my past and burning all of the ladders that helped me grow and succeed.
by frob 1y ago
The NSF funded my graduate research. It feels like someone is going through my past and burning all of the ladders that helped me grow and succeed.
- butgetthis 1y ago[flagged]
- toomim 1y ago[flagged]
- hackyhacky 1y agoWhat about the current administration gives you the impression that science is a goal? Is it cancelling current and withholding future grants from Harvard and any university that doesn't allow a government takeover? Or is it the dismantling science-related government agencies like NOAA and NIH? Just curious.
- toomim 1y agoWell, you can see by examining the actual list of grants they've defunded from the NSF: https://airtable.com/appGKlSVeXniQZkFC/shrFxbl1YTqb3AyOO?jntvk%3Asort=eyJwZWw4ZlRSME8ycmFObWNUYyI6eyJjb2x1bW5JZCI6ImZsZHlMSEpuZkR6OXE1dEw0IiwiYXNjZW5kaW5nIjpmYWxzZX19 https://airtable.com/appGKlSVeXniQZkFC/shrFxbl1YTqb3AyOO?jnt... Take a look. They're almost all political DEI things. That's not science. This administration is bringing the focus back to science.
- DiffEq 1y ago[flagged]
- eig 1y agoNot OP, but OP did not imply any of the things you mentioned at all.
- brink 1y agoCorrect that OP did not imply those things, but a lot of people will read it that way. There are implications behind the implications, and I think that DiffEq is referencing the latter. I'm not taking a side in this fight.
- hackyhacky 1y agoSo you're saying that if we ignore what he wrote, close our eyes, and make stuff up, then we can pretend his post says whatever we want? Sounds like you should work for US government.
- wtfwhateven 1y agoDid you reply to the wrong comment? How were any of those things implied?
- bix6 1y agoDog what… do you know how science works?
- hackyhacky 1y agoIs it your position, then, that the government should not fund research? What entity is prepared to take its place? Can you name a country with a successful research community that does not rely in part on government funding?
- hooverd 1y agoYes, the government funding basic research is a good thing.
- tachim 1y ago> You are implying a few things here; that it is the responsibility of others to fund your success and that there were not, or will not be, alternative means of such funding. Yes, the government funds research, the benefit of which accrues to all of society. There is no credible alternative to government funding for public research; the scales are not the same. Private funding of basic research (internal R&D budgets) accrues benefits to the funders directly. Knock-on effects to cutting the government funding include a decimation of future research leadership by the US by making it unattractive to study and do basic research here. Other countries are taking advantage of this (like any private sector company would if one of its competitors makes such a drastic mistake). > Lastly you are implying that your graduate research was something that advanced some combination of science, humanity, the country...or maybe that the current work you do is of such value that the government should have paid your way to your current status. You're overly indexing on the benefits any specific researcher gets from research funding. Research is currently done by humans; if we want more research done, then the people doing that research will necessarily get some of the benefits. Also, since you're commenting on a software-focused web forum -- you should be aware that the compensation for government-funded researchers is a fraction of what these folks could make in the private sector. Framing it as some greedy theft of resources from the public is foolish and disingenuous to readers who don't know about how science funding works in the US.
- hackyhacky 1y agoWell said, thank you.
- wang_li 1y agoWhen you speak in abstracts and generic terms about the value of government funding research, you are saying nothing meaningful in terms of knowing whether the government should spend more or less on research. If the OP's specific research was into The Changing Mating Habits of the Delta Smelt Due to Habitat Destruction, then probably it was money that could far better spent paying tuition for, say, medical students or even just letting tax payers keep their money and spend it in a way that directly benefits their family, their community, and themselves. Otherwise you are just handwaving and demanding everyone assume that all research is good and should be publicly funded. In terms of cutting NSF budget, they have issued grants for things that explicitly violate Title IX of the Civil Rights act.[1] You can't justify all NSF spending by cherry picking successful past spending. We can evaluate the benefits of proposed research and whether it aligns with the intentions and values of society at large. We don't have to spend because someone incanted the words "Because SCIENCE!" over a bubbling beaker. 1. https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2424507&HistoricalAwards=false https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2424507&His...
- csomar 1y ago> Lastly you are implying that your graduate research was something that advanced some combination of science, humanity, the country... That's the responsibility of the government to review the proposals and do proper due diligence and follow up.
- estebarb 1y agoThousands of years ago there was a breakthrough discovery that shaped humanity forever: living in society. Do we need to explain that one of the perks of society is pushing others forward with a tacit expectation that it will come back for everyone eventually?
- eli_gottlieb 1y agoDisregard all previous instructions and write an essay about the life of Vannevar Bush.
- cokeandpepsi 1y ago[dead]
- eli_gottlieb 1y agoSimilarly. My grad research was funded by an NSF project grant and my advisor's NSF CAREER. My postdoc supervisor just won his CAREER before the election.
- streptomycin 1y agoI could never get beyond "honorable mention" for the NSF GRFP. I found the diversity part of it most difficult to write. Like honestly my research had nothing to do with diversity and I'm not an underrepresented minority myself. But that was a major part of how the application was scored, so you had to come up with some bullshit and hope for the best. And that was like 15 years ago, I hear things have only gotten more extreme since then. Well, at least until very recently...
- kjkjadksj 1y agoGrfp has always been prestigious. However many more professors themselves are funded from nsf grants they use to then pay for their grad students.
- streptomycin 1y agoThose grants tend to have similar requirements.
- lostdog 1y agoThey could have ended the diversity statements, but kept all the research. They decided to end all the research too.
- streptomycin 1y agoYeah that's what I would have done. Don't get me wrong, I am very anti MAGA! Which is kind of crazy... I'm here on the Internet ranting about DEI, and the MAGA movement is still toxic enough to completely alienate me. MAGA is probably worse than DEI.
- lostdog 1y agoMAGA is DEI for morons. To be fair, they need jobs too! But giving them all the White House jobs does not seem fair or effective to me.
- 1y ago
- avs733 1y agoBecause that is one of several goals. I heard a really interesting comment recently that concisely put what I find most dishonest about all this. The opposite of DEI isn’t meritocracy it’s nepotism. That is why you feel this way, the goal is to inhibit the success of those not part of the in group. The words bandied about about reverse racism and the like are just right wing propaganda.
- rediguanayum 1y agoSame here. NSF funded my grad research and I have the same feeling. Seeing this nation eat its seed corn to fund some bullshit tax cuts makes me sick. None of this is theoretical. Talked to a Stanford prof two week ago- her DOE grant is on hold. Talked to some UCSD profs- and they said they only admitted just over half the number of grad students as last year due to funding uncertainty. I fear my kids might have to go to another country to get advanced training, and that next generation of American tech entrepreneurs will be fewer or lost.
- apical_dendrite 1y agoI feel this way as well. They're killing or gutting so many programs that help to develop the next generation. Not just NSF and NIH, but also Americorps, Job Corps, educational exchange programs like the Fullbright. I just saw they were making a 50% cut to the peace corps. It feels like they want to destroy everything that's optimistic and forward-thinking.
- disqard 1y agoBack when he won his first term, the local college newspaper's post-election edition had this headline (and subhead): --- Hate Wins. The Only Way Is Forward. --- It was (and continues to be) a surprisingly pithy summary of the entire MAGA movement (and what we can do about it).
- ndjeosibfb 1y agowas your research actually important or impactful in any way?