trump’s government shutdown, now at 29 days and counting, means no paychecks for over 800,000 federal employees and for thousands of contractors and research scientists. For many groups and individuals working in science-related areas, including academic researchers, postdocs and graduate students that depend on government research funding, it also means no experiments, no reviews of grant applications, no access to government computing resources or data, no data collection or dissemination, no conferences, no meetings and no science.
According to www.sciencemag.org/…, more than a half-dozen agencies that fund or conduct research, including NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have been partly paralyzed since 22 December 2018. The shutdown could soon paralyze federally funded scientific facilities and research centers that have been insulated from the pain because they are operated by contractors who get paid in advance, often on a quarterly basis.
The shutdown affects not just individuals and families that perform services for the government, but also affects millions nationwide that depend on these services.
Please take a look at the articles linked in the tweets below for how the shutdown is affecting agencies that provide research funding, the researchers that depend on the funding, the careers being damaged and the science and talent being lost. According to experts, the damage to the nation and to the world will be felt for years if not decades.
A perspective on space programs that are getting affected because of the shuttering of NASA -
The longer the shutdown, the greater its consequences. From our wheelhouse in space science and exploration, public employees are missing scientific conferences, are losing data collection opportunities, and are facing ever-increasing financial pressure from missed paychecks. Celestial mechanics do not take into account political stalemates; the brief launch opportunities to Mars do not take into account time for shutdowns. Scientists are out of action and cannot provide support for active missions.
The effects on science and scientists —
From the article linked above at www.nature.com/...
Friends who work in the federal government are trying to figure out how long they can last before they have to find a new job. They love their work, and are proud to serve the American public and the greater good. This pride makes it even harder to cope with the disrespect and economic hardship they are experiencing.
Students tell me that they are rethinking their career plans. They no longer see federal science jobs as a dependable choice. Graduate-school positions may be harder to attain, because programmes lack funds that would normally have been awarded by now.
Back-pay won’t replenish the loss of human capital: talent that leaves or stays away from government jobs will weaken US science for decades.
Already, the short-term effects are plain. Collaborations and on-going projects grind to a halt, funding gets delayed, research sites and data become inaccessible, conference sessions have empty panels, and public lands and water get degraded.
The damage goes far beyond scientists and researchers -
The loss of science and the wasted tax-dollars -
The fight against clear and present dangers is on hold -
Some agencies and employees are performing their work without pay — but not everyone can go far without pay.
NOAA is mostly shut down -
Research is not done in a vacuum, but it will die in one -
Follow #scienceshutdown for stories from scientists and researchers all around the nation.
Even agencies that have funding are being affected.
At NIH, for example, officials have been scrambling to comply with a rule that requires them to publish notice of upcoming proposal review meetings in the Federal Register, the public notice publication for federal agencies. But the agency that publishes the Federal Register is closed, threatening NIH’s grantmaking process.
Young scientists are having second thoughts about working for the government -
Take a look at the twitter chain below for the long-term impact on attracting the brightest minds to the U.S.
Shutdown stalemate spurs fears of exodus from NASA Ames -
Protests at NASA Ames -
A shade from China -
Take action — Protest, Resist, Write to Congress.
A helpful site with more info -
We are living in times where the president understands little of science or how science gets done. But other leaders in academia, business and government are not so blind and ignorant. Who seriously (besides the Kremlin and its stooges here) wants America to fall behind in science and technology? Let’s keep putting pressure on our leaders to bring an end to this hostage-taking situation, open the government and work out their differences like adults in the halls of Congress and in public discourse.
Are any of you directly affected by this shutdown? What are you doing about it? How about your friends and family?