Laura Lautz
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llautz.bsky.social
Laura Lautz
@llautz.bsky.social
760 followers 420 following 22 posts
Hydrogeologist and Program Director for Water, Landscape, and Critical Zone Processes (WaLCZ) at the National Science Foundation. Views are my own, not NSF’s.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Laura Lautz
alexandriabrief.com
The U.S. National Science Foundation will relocate to the Randolph Building at 401 Dulany Street in early 2026.
NSF to move to Carlyle Innovation Campus after HUD displacement
Agency will co-locate with USPTO at Randolph Building in early 2026
open.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
llautz.bsky.social
Making my voice heard.
September 9, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
ljrissler.bsky.social
“More than 140 employees of the National Science Foundation have signed a letter denouncing what they described as efforts to undermine one of the country’s main science funding agencies. … Out of fear of retaliation, all but one of the employees’ signatures are redacted.”
Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent
www.nytimes.com
July 22, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/s...
Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent
www.nytimes.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
volcanojw.bsky.social
US Earth Science people: Our June webinar felt so good, we’re making it a series. Join us next Tuesday 7/15 (and again in Aug & Sept) to hear from NSF staff and to get (most of?) your questions answered. www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-d...
NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar
www.nsf.gov
July 10, 2025 at 1:29 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
bobkopp.net
They are kicking the National Science Foundation out of their 8-year-old HQ building, with no alternative plan for housing staff, in order to make a gym for Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Scott Turner and his family.
June 25, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
dangaristo.bsky.social
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years.

NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
June 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
National Science Foundation Surprise: Employees Being Relocated to
Accommodate Secretary of HUD’s Palatial New Office

www.afge.org/contentasset...
www.afge.org
June 25, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
volcanojw.bsky.social
US Earth Scientists: We know you have questions, come get them answered directly from NSF/EAR POs! Tuesday, June 17, 2p Eastern. Register here: www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-d...
NSF Division of Earth Sciences Informational Webinar
www.nsf.gov
June 9, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
volcanojw.bsky.social
This proposed budget is a policy statement, not an appropriation.
There are still a lot of steps and potential changes ahead before it becomes one. This is not a time to sit quietly, team. Let's go.
May 31, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
joshuasweitz.bsky.social
How bad will it be? Catastrophic.

Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come.

But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget.

Speak up now before it is too late.

(inflation adjusted $-s below)
NSF, NASA and NIH budgets per year, inflation adjusted from 2000-2025 along with the proposed cuts. NSF includes research component only. Massive cuts across all sectors, well below support spanning 25 years.
May 31, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
socialmedialab.ca
The NSF cuts are nothing short of a scorched-earth attack on US science, orchestrated w/political cynicism & total disregard for US scientific leadership. A 7% success rate doesn’t incentivize innovation; it tells researchers to take their talent elsewhere.
nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...
May 30, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social
The National Science Foundation budget proposal would be a devastating blow to American science. 240,000 fewer people would be involved in federally-funded science in fiscal year 2026, according to estimates in the document.

nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF...
May 30, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
thirstygecko.bsky.social
Trump administration cuts to NSF will result in more than 200,000 FEWER people per year involved in basic science, training, and education - what should have been the next generation of US scientists. This isn't even eating your seed corn, it is setting your seed corn on fire and salting the earth.
May 30, 2025 at 9:32 PM
llautz.bsky.social
An amazing group of dedicated federal workers celebrating 75 years of NSF supporting science. What a joy to be a part of! www.science.org/content/arti...
Is a photo subversive? NSF staff overcome obstacles to 75th anniversary portrait
Management tried to quash outpouring of support for beleaguered agency
www.science.org
May 22, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
ampolter.bsky.social
I am thinking a lot today about how heavy things feel in my world of faculty doing scientific research. There's the immediate chaos and panic about our ability to pay people and continue our research. But there's also a deeper grief at watching everything get bulldozed for no reason
May 15, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
NSF’s entire Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EDU/EES), which “aims to provide opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to actively participate and excel in STEM disciplines” and some of it congressionally mandated, was just notified they will be RIFed. www.nsf.gov/edu/ees/about
About EES
The NSF Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM (EES) aims to provide opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds, especially those historically underrepresented in science and engineering.
www.nsf.gov
May 9, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
science.org
Exclusive: National Science Foundation staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced.
Exclusive: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions
Changes seen as a response to presidential directives on what research to fund
scim.ag
May 8, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
davidimiller.bsky.social
I am so heartened to this seriously AWESOME #SaveNSF website go up today!!!!

Has a take action toolkit with:

1. Press outreach templates
2. Social media toolkit
3. Elected official outreach
4. Talking points

Check it out and share widely!!!! Likely more to come.

www.savensf.com
Welcome to Save The U.S. National Science Foundation A Girl Looking at a Physics Model TAKE ACTION Save NSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the U.S. National Science Foundation. Our mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation in various scientific fields. NSF funding is critical to this work. Join us in our endeavor to ensure a sustainable future for scientific exploration and discovery.
May 2, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
ljrissler.bsky.social
SaveNSF is a coalition of concerned scientists and allies who are working to save funding for scientific grants through the NSF.

The mission is to support and advocate for the continuation of vital research and innovation.

Join: www.savensf.com
Home | Savensf
www.savensf.com
May 3, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
dangaristo.bsky.social
NEW: Starting May 5, NSF will implement an across-the-board 15% indirect cost rate (mirroring policies at DOE, NIH)

Also, NSF staff expect 341 additional terminations today, bringing the total number of terminations to ~1,380.
Effective May 5, 2025, NSF will apply a standard indirect cost rate not to exceed 15% to all grants and cooperative agreements awarded to IHEs for which indirect costs are allowable.1 The awardee is authorized to determine the appropriate rate up to this limit.
May 2, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
nature.com
Staff members at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) were told on 30 April to “stop awarding all funding actions until further notice,” according to an email seen by Nature.

https://go.nature.com/44Ugf9V
Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones
US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.
go.nature.com
May 1, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
volcanojw.bsky.social
Science friends, I’ll be honest: We have no idea yet what any of this will mean. But I can tell you that I work alongside some of the best humans around and that we are fighters. www.science.org/content/arti...
April 25, 2025 at 12:06 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
lvulis.bsky.social
NSF PD Raleigh Martin out with another statement on the NSF grant freezes. 🧪 ⚒️ #climatesky
(NOTE: These are my own personal views and do not reflect an official position of the federal government.) This past Friday, my federal agency (the National Science Foundation) announced that hundreds of active scientific grants would be terminated because they are no longer aligned with NSF's priorities. First, I am devastated to think about the hundreds of scientists (along with thousands of supporting students, researchers, and other staff) who have suddenly and arbitrarily had their grant funding yanked away. These are scientists who did everything right: undertaking years of grueling education, spending months thoughtfully preparing grant proposals (often multiple times after previous unsuccessful attempts), waiting further months for their proposals to be rigorously and competitively reviewed, diligently managing their awarded projects, submitting annual reports, and carefully adhering to NSF rules regarding allowable expenditures and grant activities. Despite following all the rules, these scientists will now be forced to throw away years of hard work, end student projects, and lay off staff, disrupting and even ending many scientific careers along the way. Second, I am troubled by the arbitrariness of these grant termination actions which go against established law, procedure, and precedent. As a federal agency, NSF is bound by laws enacted by Congress, as well as federal regulations regarding allowable grant activities. Specific funding opportunities are then informed by expert scientific staff closely attuned to their respective scientific fields and guided by external input including outside Advisory Committees (though these were also mostly terminated last week). All funding opportunities go through rigorous programmatic, managerial, and policy review before they are approved to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and agency priorities. NSF priorities do change over time, and this is reflected in the evolution of funding opportunities that apply prospectively to new proposals and grants. But now is different. Now, existing NSF grants are experiencing a bait-and-switch: having been awarded based on one set of priorities, they are now being ended through a sudden and capricious change in these priorities. And in many cases, these awards are being terminated despite doing exactly what Congress explicitly intended: expanding participation of women and individuals from underrepresented groups in STEM. Finally, I am worried for the broader scientific enterprise. Until recently, America's scientific ecosystem has been the envy of the world: supported by a stable base of public investment, open to talent from across the globe, and built on a productive ecosystem of universities, research labs, and academic-industry partnerships. Unfortunately, these pillars of American innovation seem to be quickly crumbling, causing irreversible harm to our economic success and cultural dynamism.
April 22, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Reposted by Laura Lautz
What a roller coaster. I am grateful for and in awe of our wide NSF community. Reinstatement of fired staff is the right outcome of the first fight.

www.axios.com/2025/03/03/n...
National Science Foundation is reinstating fired probationary employees
The NSF said probationary employees help it remain a "global leader in scientific discovery and innovation."
www.axios.com
March 4, 2025 at 12:24 AM