Elon Musk likens DOGE and federal grants to ‘saving baby pandas’
DOGE head, Elon Musk, likened federal grants to ‘saving baby pandas’ during an interview on Fox News.
WASHINGTON – The National Science Foundation canceled dozens of additional grants on May 9 as the Department of Government Efficiency continues winnowing the agency’s projects, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the changes.
The agency also announced in a staff memo obtained by USA TODAY that it eliminated its Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM team. The memo says the agency is laying off around 70 employees. The agency plans to eliminate around 300 additional temporary positions. And employees who have worked remotely for years will need to begin working out of NSF’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, by June 16.
The Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM promoted “diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM by removing barriers and supporting the full participation of underrepresented groups in science and engineering fields,” according to a webpage removed from the NSF website May 9.
The grant cancellations mark the third wave of terminations to upend the agency in recent weeks. In total, the NSF has stopped more than 1,400 projects worth more than $1 billion, according to a public list of canceled grants maintained by researchers at science nonprofit rOpenSci and Harvard University.
Many of the terminated grants have been touted by the Department of Government Efficiency as “wasteful DEI” funding and several align with a 2024 report published by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz identifying projects he argued had been “politicized.”
In addition to the grant changes, the agency’s director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, abruptly resigned from his position late last month. Panchanathan was appointed to the lead the agency that funds nonmedical scientific research during Trump’s first term.
In late April, DOGE staffers showed up at the NSF headquarters, multiple NSF employees told USA TODAY. A few days later, the agency announced it would adjust its priorities to eliminate awards “with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics,” including those related to “diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and misinformation/disinformation.”