Ranking Members Lofgren and Stevens Demand NSF Reverse Cruel Changes to the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program
(Washington, DC) – Today, Ranking Members Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Research and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Haley Stevens (D-MI) sent a letter to National Science Foundation (NSF) Acting Director Brian Stone demanding reconsideration of recent policy changes to the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). The Trump administration's changes to GRFP include excluding second-year Ph.D. students as eligible participants for the program while also halving the application window for the current year’s solicitation from 98 days to 49 days.
The Members urge that if a policy change is made on eligibility to the fellowship, at least a year's notice is necessary. They also stress that NSF's change to the GRFP solicitation window is in direct violation of NSF's existing policy.
"In an era of unprecedented volatility in our nation’s ability to train the next generation of researchers, these abrupt policy changes are ill-timed and do nothing but further break the trust of the scientific community at a time when researcher tensions and anxiety are already high," the Members wrote in their letter.
“I urge you to reconsider these policies immediately, and in future decisions, provide transparency to the research community and the American public on how these decisions are made,” the Members continued. “In a time of unprecedented attacks on the American scientific enterprise, it is imperative that NSF do everything in its power to remain a respected and trustworthy flagship of our nation’s scientific excellence.”
The letter can be found here.
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