Lauren McPhillips
@lmcp.bsky.social
Assistant Prof @ Penn State; into water, soils, infrastructure, nature-based solutions, sustainability, biking, looking at the bright side. mom of 2 energetic humans. Alum of Cornell/ USGS/ ASU. she/her. https://sites.psu.edu/lmcphillips/
The taste of early summer ☀️ 🍓
June 11, 2025 at 11:24 PM
The taste of early summer ☀️ 🍓
"The grid operators in MI and PA said they hadn’t asked for the orders and hadn’t planned on using the plants this summer.
The costs to keep the plants open, which could total TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, ARE EXPECTED TO FALL ON CONSUMERS."
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/c...
The costs to keep the plants open, which could total TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, ARE EXPECTED TO FALL ON CONSUMERS."
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/c...
Coal and Gas Plants Were Closing. Then Trump Ordered Them to Keep Running.
www.nytimes.com
June 8, 2025 at 3:34 PM
"The grid operators in MI and PA said they hadn’t asked for the orders and hadn’t planned on using the plants this summer.
The costs to keep the plants open, which could total TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, ARE EXPECTED TO FALL ON CONSUMERS."
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/c...
The costs to keep the plants open, which could total TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, ARE EXPECTED TO FALL ON CONSUMERS."
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/06/c...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
They're terminating OPT.
Today the nominee to head USCIS stated directly: he will end Optional Practical Training, the single largest channel for high-skill immigrants to work in the US.
6 weeks ago I warned about this & summarized the research on impacts of this drastic action—> @piie.com
Today the nominee to head USCIS stated directly: he will end Optional Practical Training, the single largest channel for high-skill immigrants to work in the US.
6 weeks ago I warned about this & summarized the research on impacts of this drastic action—> @piie.com
Skilled immigration on the chopping block? Effects of eliminating "Optional Practical Training" in the US
The White House has taken numerous steps to sharply reduce the number of immigrant workers, with or without legal status, in the US economy. These policies, so far, typically target immigrants with le...
www.piie.com
May 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
They're terminating OPT.
Today the nominee to head USCIS stated directly: he will end Optional Practical Training, the single largest channel for high-skill immigrants to work in the US.
6 weeks ago I warned about this & summarized the research on impacts of this drastic action—> @piie.com
Today the nominee to head USCIS stated directly: he will end Optional Practical Training, the single largest channel for high-skill immigrants to work in the US.
6 weeks ago I warned about this & summarized the research on impacts of this drastic action—> @piie.com
Just a plug that the UMD Integration and Application Network (IAN) has some absolutely stellar scientific graphics- mostly Chesapeake Bay watershed & enviro sci related, but also lots of other work beyond as well ian.umces.edu/media-librar...
Media Library | Integration and Application Network
The IAN symbol libraries currently contain 3075 custom made vector symbols designed specifically for enhancing science communication products with diagrammatic representations of complex processes. Yo...
ian.umces.edu
May 21, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Just a plug that the UMD Integration and Application Network (IAN) has some absolutely stellar scientific graphics- mostly Chesapeake Bay watershed & enviro sci related, but also lots of other work beyond as well ian.umces.edu/media-librar...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
On a day when all research grants at Harvard were terminated, and in a context where Congress seems to broadly accept the notion that destroying science and health research in the US is fine, it’s worth noting that this is not what the public wants.
The American public is broadly supportive of maintaining federal science and medical research funding, and against punishing universities by taking their funding away, according to a new poll:
Few support punitive funding cuts to colleges and universities - AP-NORC
Most of the public believes that colleges and universities make significant contributions to scientific and technological advancement and think their federal research funding should be maintained.
apnorc.org
May 15, 2025 at 9:54 PM
On a day when all research grants at Harvard were terminated, and in a context where Congress seems to broadly accept the notion that destroying science and health research in the US is fine, it’s worth noting that this is not what the public wants.
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
www.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Nature reports that the National Science Foundation has stopped awarding new grants and allotting funds to existing ones. All of them. @colincarlson.bsky.social says that unless the freeze is lifted, it “is going to destroy people's labs.” 2/10
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
🚨 Another major round of #NSF terminations today 😞. Please report and encourage your colleagues to as well! We need this info to shed light on the damage caused, and to organize and advocate for science that includes and benefits all. airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni... 🧪
🚨Report your NSF grant terminations! 🚨
We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
We are starting to collect information on NSF grant terminations to create a shared resource as we have for NIH. The more information we collect, the more we can organize, advocate, and fight back! Please share widely!
airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...
April 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
🚨 Another major round of #NSF terminations today 😞. Please report and encourage your colleagues to as well! We need this info to shed light on the damage caused, and to organize and advocate for science that includes and benefits all. airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni... 🧪
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
Buy books. But not from Amazon. Buy them from Bookshop.org, the independent site. This move by Amazon is shameful.
Here is a link to my book on Bookshop.org.
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Here is a link to my book on Bookshop.org.
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
April 25, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Buy books. But not from Amazon. Buy them from Bookshop.org, the independent site. This move by Amazon is shameful.
Here is a link to my book on Bookshop.org.
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Here is a link to my book on Bookshop.org.
bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
Exclusive: The director of the National Science Foundation announced his resignation today, 16 months before his 6-year term ends, in a letter to staff obtained by Science. scim.ag/42vc3fn
Exclusive: ‘I have done all I can’: NSF director announces he is resigning
Sethuraman Panchanathan, a Trump appointee who has led the agency since 2020, leaves amid mass firings and grant terminations
scim.ag
April 24, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Exclusive: The director of the National Science Foundation announced his resignation today, 16 months before his 6-year term ends, in a letter to staff obtained by Science. scim.ag/42vc3fn
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
You know I’ve liked paying less for water and am still enjoying my showers. If the ‘water barely comes out’ you might have a plumbing problem www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Makes America’s Showers Great Again
UNDOING THE LEFT’S WAR ON WATER PRESSURE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure and make
www.whitehouse.gov
April 10, 2025 at 12:03 AM
You know I’ve liked paying less for water and am still enjoying my showers. If the ‘water barely comes out’ you might have a plumbing problem www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
Intriguing trends in grey vs green stormwater infra strategies in the new ASCE infra report card. "Although green infrastructure is critical in addressing localized drainage and water quality, these systems cannot provide sufficient capacity to manage large-scale stormwater events."
March 31, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Intriguing trends in grey vs green stormwater infra strategies in the new ASCE infra report card. "Although green infrastructure is critical in addressing localized drainage and water quality, these systems cannot provide sufficient capacity to manage large-scale stormwater events."
Penn State is hosting the regional American Soc of Civil Engineers Student Symposium. Day 1 is in the books! So much energy and creativity in these student competitions ❤️
March 29, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Penn State is hosting the regional American Soc of Civil Engineers Student Symposium. Day 1 is in the books! So much energy and creativity in these student competitions ❤️
Happy vernal equinox! Every year I am amazed again at nature's rebirth, the ability of plants to push through the depths of soil to grow again 🌱
March 20, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Happy vernal equinox! Every year I am amazed again at nature's rebirth, the ability of plants to push through the depths of soil to grow again 🌱
New review paper out on fluvial flood reduction 🌊 from nature-based solutions (NBS) 🏞 🌳led by Marina Howarth w/ Alfonso Mejía & @drericasmithwick.bsky.social
#flooding #ecosystemservices #naturebasedsolutions
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#flooding #ecosystemservices #naturebasedsolutions
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Scaling Nature‐Based Solutions for Fluvial Floods: A Worldwide Systematic Review
Studying nature-based solutions ability to mitigate fluvial floods and provide co-benefits by systematically reviewing 131 papers, with 1076 case studies, and grouping them based on Ecosystem Focus T....
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
March 17, 2025 at 3:34 PM
New review paper out on fluvial flood reduction 🌊 from nature-based solutions (NBS) 🏞 🌳led by Marina Howarth w/ Alfonso Mejía & @drericasmithwick.bsky.social
#flooding #ecosystemservices #naturebasedsolutions
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#flooding #ecosystemservices #naturebasedsolutions
wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
No, the mission of the EPA should not be "to make it cheaper to buy cars, heat homes and run businesses." ...unless we're actually achieving the triple bottom line (planet, people, & profit) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/c...
E.P.A. Targets Dozens of Environmental Rules as It Reframes Its Purpose
Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, said the agency’s mission was to make it cheaper to buy cars, heat homes and run businesses.
www.nytimes.com
March 13, 2025 at 11:58 AM
No, the mission of the EPA should not be "to make it cheaper to buy cars, heat homes and run businesses." ...unless we're actually achieving the triple bottom line (planet, people, & profit) www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/c...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
The USGS plays a critical role in monitoring rivers nationally. As scientists we rely on the data to understand, for example, how streams that had historic flooding during Hurricane Helene are recovering (& the people who rely on them). Ask your reps to keep them open! ww2.aip.org/fyi/usgs-fac...
USGS Faces Potential Office Closures
At least 30 USGS buildings appear to be on the Trump administration’s chopping block.
ww2.aip.org
March 12, 2025 at 8:15 PM
The USGS plays a critical role in monitoring rivers nationally. As scientists we rely on the data to understand, for example, how streams that had historic flooding during Hurricane Helene are recovering (& the people who rely on them). Ask your reps to keep them open! ww2.aip.org/fyi/usgs-fac...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
“This communicative aspect, now embodied in the science communication movement, must become a formal technical frontier of the scientific enterprise, and not patronizingly summarized as ‘outreach’ or ‘activism.’”
"No one is coming out of the sky to give you your grant money. Your citation portfolio won’t survive this market crash. Your credentials mean nothing. Everything is going to change."
New for @undark.org
undark.org/2025/03/06/o...
New for @undark.org
undark.org/2025/03/06/o...
How Science Can Adapt to a New Normal
Opinion | In the wake of attacks on the research enterprise, scientists need to focus on protecting its fragile infrastructure.
undark.org
March 9, 2025 at 2:02 AM
“This communicative aspect, now embodied in the science communication movement, must become a formal technical frontier of the scientific enterprise, and not patronizingly summarized as ‘outreach’ or ‘activism.’”
Is this the Onion? 🤯 www.epa.gov/newsreleases...
EPA Press Office Fact Checks the Washington Post’s Coverage of Waste & Abuse of Taxpayer Dollars | US EPA
EPA News Release: EPA Press Office Fact Checks the Washington Post’s Coverage of Waste & Abuse of Taxpayer Dollars
www.epa.gov
March 7, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Is this the Onion? 🤯 www.epa.gov/newsreleases...
🔬 🧪 🌄 #StandUpForScience2025 is tomorrow, in DC and around the US/world.
I benefit from science everyday as a human, a parent, and a scientist & engineer.
standupforscience2025.org
I benefit from science everyday as a human, a parent, and a scientist & engineer.
standupforscience2025.org
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE
March 7, 2025. Washington DC and nationwide. Because science is for everyone.
standupforscience2025.org
March 6, 2025 at 3:44 PM
🔬 🧪 🌄 #StandUpForScience2025 is tomorrow, in DC and around the US/world.
I benefit from science everyday as a human, a parent, and a scientist & engineer.
standupforscience2025.org
I benefit from science everyday as a human, a parent, and a scientist & engineer.
standupforscience2025.org
New Supreme Court ruling on US Clean Water Act interpretation regarding wastewater treatment- apnews.com/article/supr...
Supreme Court makes it harder for EPA to police sewage discharges
The Supreme Court has made it harder for environmental regulators to limit water pollution, ruling for San Francisco in a case about the discharge of raw sewage that sometimes occurs during heavy rain...
apnews.com
March 4, 2025 at 7:55 PM
New Supreme Court ruling on US Clean Water Act interpretation regarding wastewater treatment- apnews.com/article/supr...
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!?
Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one!
#standupforscience2025
Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one!
#standupforscience2025
March 2, 2025 at 2:04 AM
WHERE WILL YOU BE ON MARCH 7TH!?
Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one!
#standupforscience2025
Head to www.standupforscience2025.org/local-event-information/ or the link in our bio to find your closest event—or add one if you're hosting one!
#standupforscience2025
Reposted by Lauren McPhillips
To be clear: If there were to be large staffing reductions at NOAA and NWS—at appears is now indeed underway, with credible reports of larger further cuts on horizon—there will be people who die in extreme weather events & related disasters who would not have otherwise.
10/11
10/11
February 28, 2025 at 12:28 AM
To be clear: If there were to be large staffing reductions at NOAA and NWS—at appears is now indeed underway, with credible reports of larger further cuts on horizon—there will be people who die in extreme weather events & related disasters who would not have otherwise.
10/11
10/11