Category Archives: NSF

Once Again, The Trump Administration Takes The Ax To Science Funding

Posted on March 12, 2019 by mikethemadbiologist

It’s a day that ends with “-y”, so you know the Trump Administration will propose something horrible. Today, it’s massive cuts in the discretionary budget–which includes science (boldface mine): The deficit would also persist despite the administration’s plans for steep … Continue reading →

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A Challenge To NIH Over Sexual Harassment

Posted on August 15, 2018 by mikethemadbiologist

Unfortunately, after years of ‘creating awareness’ and what not, it’s pretty clear that university administrators, when faced with sexual assault or sexual harassment, will respond to only one thing: money. It has to be more costly for them to ignore … Continue reading →

Posted in NIH, NSF | 1 Comment

NSF-Funded Collections Aren’t Dead Yet

Posted on June 3, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

A couple of weeks ago, I described how NSF’s collections program was going to be cut–and why that would be a very stupid thing to do. Well, it looks like NSF has granted the program a reprieve (boldface mine): In … Continue reading →

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Another Cost Of Insufficient Science Funding

Posted on May 5, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

In a story revolving around paleobiologist Hope Jahren’s need to acquire funding, Jahren makes a point you might have heard here once or twice: When we talk in this presidential campaign about “falling behind” in the race to produce scientists, … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NSF | 1 Comment

Grants: Load, Deadlines, And Gamesmanship

Posted on April 18, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

The NSF conducted a very interesting experiment which halved the number of grant proposals (boldface mine): Annual or semiannual grant deadlines lead to enormous spikes in submissions, which in turn cause headaches for the program managers who have to organize … Continue reading →

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We Need to Restore NSF’s Biological Collections Program

Posted on March 22, 2016 by mikethemadbiologist

I’ve described many, many, many times how underfunded unglamorous, but vital scientific research infrastructure is: One of the ridiculous things about many depictions of science in TV and movies is the notion that there’s this huge infrastructure: shiny labs (which … Continue reading →

Posted in Museums etc., NSF | 1 Comment

Subpoena Envy: Are GOP House Staffers Leaking Confidential Grant Proposal Reports?

Posted on October 27, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

In a Vox story about Republican investigations into NSF grants with funny titles (really, I’m not exaggerating), we come across this from a letter by a Democrat who thinks the investigating Republicans are suffering from subpoena envy (pdf; boldface mine): … Continue reading →

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Surprisingly, A GOP Bill Claims One Thing and Then Does the Opposite: The COMPETES Act Edition

Posted on May 20, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Consider the NSF is a government agency, this is pretty harsh language about the COMPETES Act (boldface mine; emphasis original): H.R. 1806 (Section 102) recognizes that “the Foundation has made major contributions for more than 60 years to strengthen and … Continue reading →

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All of Open Access Publishing’s Gall Can Be Divided Into Three Parts

Posted on January 2, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

There has been a recent spate of discussion about open access publishing, much of which seems to ignore a key element, money. For publishing in general, there are three models*: 1) authors pay the costs of publishing, open access or … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH, NSF, Publishing | 1 Comment

University Science As Shopping Mall?

Posted on March 24, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Despite government-funded academic science having far more economic activity than the major U.S. sports leagues combined, Paula Stephan is one of the few (perhaps only) economists to look at that economic sector. Recently, Stephan has argued that government-funded academic science … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Jobs, NIH, NSF | 1 Comment