President Donald Trump triggered outrage when he fired what House Science Committee Democratic staff described as the entirety of the independent board overseeing the nation's premier basic science funding agency on Friday, sending boilerplate termination emails that offered no explanation and no warning.
Members of the National Science Board, which helps govern the $9 billion National Science Foundation, received messages from the Presidential Personnel Office simply stating their positions were "terminated, effective immediately," The Washington Post reported Saturday. The foundation funds Antarctic research stations, telescopes, research vessels, and the basic science behind MRIs, cellphones, and LASIK eye surgery.
"This is the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said. "The NSB is apolitical. It advises the president on the future of NSF. It unfortunately is no surprise a president who has attacked NSF from day one would seek to destroy the board that helps guide the foundation."
Board member Keivan Stassun, a physicist at Vanderbilt University, confirmed that a third of the board had received the termination emails. Fellow member Marvi Matos Rodriguez said she had been reviewing an 80-page report as part of her board work just days before being fired.
Trump's fiscal year 2027 budget proposes deep cuts to NSF, and the board has been actively advising Congress on the agency's importance, helping beat back a proposed 55 percent budget cut last year.
Alondra Nelsonwrote on Bluesky that she resigned from the National Science Board in May after seeing "meaningful oversight became untenable."
"I respect colleagues who stayed to serve the NSB's mission. Today's news clarifies that was an erosion of oversight and function has become open elimination of the Board itself," said Nelson.
Princess Vimentin, a cancer biologist, wrote on Bluesky, "We are seeing more destruction of science. Trump fired the entirety of the National Science Board (NSB). The purpose of the NSB is to advise Congress & President on on NSF. The NSB was established in the National Science Foundation Act of 1950."
