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Katie Wilkinson

@drkwilkinson.bsky.social
1.1K followers 2.1K following 386 posts

Neurophysiologist | wilkinsonneuro.com | Past Chair of the American Physiological Society's Science Policy Committee | she/hers

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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Laminariales @kelpkelpkelp.bsky.social · 15h
"Despite these gains, we find little evidence that firms increase software output or reduce employment. Instead, the productivity gains are absorbed by downstream constraints in the production process."
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Generative Al has garnered significant attention in the software context, yet relatively little is known about how improvements in individual productivity translate into firm-level outcomes. Using novel data from an engineering analytics platform, we study the effects of firm adoption of Al coding assistants and agents on software production. We find that both technologies increase coding productivity, with larger effects for Al agents. Despite these gains, we find little evidence that firms increase software output or reduce employment. Instead, the productivity gains are absorbed by downstream constraints in the production process.
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Butlerian Jihadist of House Dornick @shimminykricket.blacksky.app · 16h
Harvard just dropped a study AI productivity in software engineering and it found the average increase in productivity from using Claude code is.....zero and for exactly the reasons you'd think fion.ac/jellyfish.pdf
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Coalition for Life Sciences @c4lifesciences.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
$1.4 billion in research funding was redirected from the NSF in the latest move by the Trump administration to reshape how federal research dollars are allocated. Use the link below to share the importance of science funding!
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Earlier this year the scientific community successfully fought back on dramatic changes in Federal funding proposed by the Trump Administration.Now another RFI is proposing substantial changes that would damage peer review. This letter from SDB President Helen McNeill lays out the issue clearly 1/n
Dear SDB Members,
 
I am writing you now to ask everyone to respond to a proposed change to the way that grant review information at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is communicated to grant applicants, institutions, and NIH program staff. This is your opportunity to provide feedback on the process that selects our grants for funding.
 
The proposed change means that individuals, institutes and NIH staff will no longer receive the final overall impact score or percentile score that reflects the scientific opinion of a panel of experts. Currently, three reviewers provide their detailed opinion of a grant, and then the entire panel asks questions, can examine figures, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a grant, and then members all independently score. The final overall impact score reflects this discussion and careful consideration of the entire scientific panel.
 
The proposed change is to now simply divide the scored grants into three categories: Scored applications would be grouped into three broad categories - “Most Competitive (top 25%),” “Competitive (26%-50%),” and “Not Discussed”. The motivation for the change is that decisions would now focus on the comments of reviewers, not the score of the grant to determine which grants to support. However, the current mechanism allows for scores and comments to be considered. Thus, removing the score component from NIH staff makes selection of which grants to fund more burdensome for NIH staff.The loss of detailed scores will also make it more difficult for researchers to assess how competitive an application was and determine whether to revise and resubmit it. An application ranked top 2% and one ranked 24th% would receive the same label, even if the scientific panel viewed them quite differently. Meanwhile, applications ranked 25th%and 26th% would be placed in different categories because of a tiny difference that NIH itself says should not be treated as meaningful. The proposal would erase potentially important differences while creating arbitrary new dividing lines.
 
This is a dramatic loss of transparency in the scientific review process. Under the new plan, principal investigator(s), applicant institutions, NIH program staff, ICO leadership, and the relevant NIH Advisory Council will no longer have access to the final overall score.
 
NIH is explicitly asking for input on this particular question.
 
This is a Request for Information (RFI), not simply an announcement of a policy that has already been finalized. NIH says comments will be used to inform the final recommendation, including implementation and communication.
 
Please comment here: https://rfi.grants.nih.gov/?s=6a2b1c22c3fcfda46e0badd2
 
Deadline for response receipt is October 13, 2026, 11:59 PM ET.
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Elizabeth Anne, PhD @lacksauthority.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
never the wrong time for this classic
Screenshot of a tweet by @RobbtKraft reading “scientist: "does everyone here know what Watson and Crick discovered?" 
me from back of room: "Rosalind Franklin's notes"”
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Nick Pettigrew @nick-pettigrew.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
I'm convinced AI is our generation's radium - a discovery with genuinely useful applications in specific, controlled circumstances that we stupidly put in everything from kid's toys to toothpaste until we realised the harm far too late where future generations will ask if we were out of our minds.
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I'm liking that in solidarity, although there is nothing to like about highly scored unfunded grants! (and yes I know this happens every year, but I have to imagine it is especially bad this year)
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
As someone with a grant that was rated high priority (top bin) that wasn't funded this year, I'm appalled that NSF withheld 1/5th of their budget. @liccardo.house.gov @lofgren.house.gov
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Rep. Zoe Lofgren @lofgren.house.gov · 03/10/2026
🔍🚨NEW from @nytimes.com: Agency Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress It’s a dramatic attack on the science enterprise that has served us very well since World War II. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NIH’s shift to multiyear funding reduced the number of awards across a range of research areas. Grants reviewed by NIH panels that had "cancer" or "oncology" in their title dipped to around 1,590 in 2026, compared with 1,920 in 2024. Fewer grants funded means fewer shots on goal, fewer wins
The agency's shift to fully funding more grants upfront appears to have reduced the number of awards across a range of research areas. Grants reviewed by NIH panels that had "cancer" or "oncology" in their title dipped to around 1,590 in 2026, compared with 1,920 in 2024. Similarly, awards reviewed by vaccine-focused study sections dropped after steady year-to-year increases between 2018 and 2024, with 269 such grants awarded this year compared with 297 in 2024.
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Society for Neuroscience @sfn.org · 30/09/2026
The changes to peer review reporting proposed by the NIH could limit transparency and weaken scientific judgment in funding decisions. Join fellow #NeuroAdvocates in speaking up for science. Submit a public comment by October 13. 🔗 vist.ly/5kfud #neurosky #neuroskyence
Advocacy Action Alert, Make your voice heard.
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If these stories feel incessant, and overwhelming… it is because they are. These stories are a drumbeat, telling you, telling America, telling the world that our government is being destroyed. This is indistinguishable from a foreign attack on our country. But the attack is coming from within.
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
LMAO gotta love peer review: ”But outside experts said that the Anthropic researchers have yet to do the research required to confirm that they’ve found something new.” 🧪 www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/s...
nytimes.com
Anthropic’s A.I. Is Teaching Itself Biology. Now It’s Made Its First Discovery. (Gift Article)
Scientists at the company announced their first finding: a group of enzymes whose function is unknown.
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Most people have no idea how much international students are the lifeblood of higher education. But they’re about to learn. Sigh.
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Jenna Norton @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
As you call members of Congress to raise concern about a Vought-led grant review panel, encourage them to sign onto proposed legislation that could help: 1) Follow the Science Act by @degette.house.gov would remove political appointees from the grant-making process: www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
congress.gov
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Cassandra Paul @cassandrapaul.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
@djphysicswebb.bsky.social, Mary Chessey and I have a newly accepted paper on uncollected test item responses on open-ended physics exam questions! Blank responses on exams are missing data, not measurements of physics knowledge or skills. Read on for details... Preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2606.05473
arxiv.org
Missing Data on Physics Exams: Demographic Patterns, Course-Level Predictions, and Implications for Equity
In a previous quantitative retrospective study we showed that different demographic groups of students leave different numbers of problems blank on physics exams, leading to inequities in course outco...
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Action Alert: Write to Your Lawmakers About the Proposed OMB Grants Rule www.congressweb.com/AIBS/9?frame...
congressweb.com
Action Alert: Write to Your Lawmakers About the Proposed OMB Grants Rule
The public comment period on the Office of Management and Budget’s proposed Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/29/2026-10817/regulation-for-...
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I have to do mine this year too and it is even more ridiculous. Narrative plus CV plus course reviews plus papers etc uploaded. Dept RTP has to review & write a summary and RTP chair supposed to meet plus mtg w chair & dean. No potential raise or really any stick. Just make work for lots of people.
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Jason GRIZZLED Bittel @bittelmethis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
BREAKING NEWS: New cat species just dropped! 🧪 What is a tilcayo, exactly? Well, it's a small wild cat in the genus Leopardus and a member of the tiger cat species complex, but it is NOT a tigrina, oncilla, kodkod, Geoffroy's cat... www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
Meet the First New Cat Species Discovered in 100 years
A small, spotted tiger cat from Bolivia may just be the beginning of a wave of new small cat species.
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Ed Yong is offline @edyong209.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Briefly popping my head back in to unveil the cover of my upcoming book, LIFE BEYOND MEASURE: Nature's Hidden Wonders at Every Scale. It’ll be out on April 6 in the U.S. and April 29 in the U.K. and you can pre-order it right now! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757705... 1/
A book cover featuring a beautiful closely cropped portrait of an Anna's hummingbird. The cover says LIFE BEYOND MEASURE: Nature's Hidden Wonders at Every Scale, by Ed Yong. The image also says US: 4/06/27 and UK: 4/29/27
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 15/09/2026
Colleges could subsidize books for students rather than paying for premium versions of ChatGPT
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 15/09/2026
This is a little mean but I also think the idea that “AI must be taught in college” is an older generation projecting their own tech incompetency and anxiety onto a younger one. It sounds interchangeable from saying “TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat should be taught in college,“ which is just lame.
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anil oza @aniloza.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Breaking: Federal judge hits pause on Trump admin's plan to limit visa length for grad students & postdocs on the day before the policy was supposed to go into effect this quote, from the temporary ruling, is quite something (from a George W. Bush appointee, I will add)
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Katherine Stiles @katherinestiles.org · 14/09/2026
“Who owns academic materials used to develop AI systems? Can algorithmic analysis influence faculty evaluations? If AI makes academic work faster, who benefits from the time saved? If supervising AI creates new work, where does that labour appear in workload calculations?”
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I have been showing this video in Intro Bio for the last 9 or 10 yrs to many gasps. Then follow it up with the Beatrice the Biologist cartoon.
Two-panel comic strip uses Halloween humor to explain antibiotic resistance, with warm orange-and-yellow backgrounds and speech bubbles. A child dressed as an unfinished course of antibiotics confronts a gray ghostlike figure, then threatens to lead it to antibiotic resistance; caption notes Beatrice never gets invited to Halloween parties.
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Reposted by Katie Wilkinson
Costa Samaras @costasamaras.com · 13/09/2026
This will be bad for: - the students - the research progress - the universities - the towns the universities are in - the companies hiring students - the states the universities are in - the national economy - national security - the country - the world
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Motor control w/o sensory feedback is so much harder and less effective!
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I love that a key insight here is that preserving some proprioception/sense of limb position w better amputation procedures is necessary for more natural movements. This also allows people to feel like the prosthetic limb is part of their body and decreases phantom limb pain.
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Dr. Jens Foell @jensfoell.de · 12/09/2026
An absolutely incredible development here. This leg would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago. (Original post by @science.org on instagram)
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 11/09/2026
I also find it hilarious how universities are justifying these expenditures using the language of 'equity.'"If we don't buy these tools for everyone, then only the rich kids will be able to afford them, and that's unfair." But you don't buy books assigned by profs for anyone? Why not subsidize that!
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Rebecca @rebeccakell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I've been arguing that the left should pitch their morally superior policies as economically superior policies. They're almost always both. SNAP generates $1.54 in GDP per $. Head Start is $4. NIH is $2.5. Free Child Care $4.25.
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Katie Wilkinson @drkwilkinson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
I was in college in Pgh at the time and my roommate’s Arabic class had a police escort for the rest of the semester due to threats and pretty much every non-white friend was harassed on the street. Also greeted by armed police leaving my dorm and told to run down the street bc of an anthrax threat.
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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Pedagogy is not some new, unsolved problem awaiting its Silicon Valley disruptor. If you want good teaching in any given subject, it’s there to be had. If you just don’t want to pay for it, then all we’re really talking about is how much you want something for nothing. That’s nothing new, either.
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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
THIS It's incredible and I do truly believe that given time and freedom to do so, trans medicine will lead to even bigger advances that will help trans AND cis people alike, and yet!
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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
DoD has its own research agency DARPA, which receives -5 billion in funding. A ten year contract to shift NIH funds to DoD is simply a budget cut to NIH. It’s also another example of how this Admin does policymaking by other means.
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 05/09/2026
Not The Onion.
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Chris Rowan @allochthonous.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We all know this inevitably ends with “agent just makes up data for months after instrument breaks and no-one notices”, right?
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
When California faced reductions in herd immunity because of decreased vaccination rates, modifying state law to limit vaccine exemptions was the correct response. Want access to public services? People need to uphold and contribute to public health and safety
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Tory Wegerski @producertory.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Yesterday KDKA-TV reported on a study Penn State researchers are running with Aliquippa's HS football team, using high-tech mouthguards to track how often these kids take hits to the head. Pilot results last season: 160+ times.
cbsnews.com
How high-tech mouthguards at Aliquippa High School are gathering data about head impacts in football
At Aliquippa High School, a Penn State University researcher is studying head impacts to keep players safer.
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Instead of spending money on the tech that steals our work, makes our students dumber and serves no purpose at all, they could instead use it to hire more actual instructors.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The politicization & illegal cancellation of federal research funding is an existential crisis for every research university in the country, especially flagship R1 publics. Again, you would think university presidents would speak up, loudly & collectively, about this. Alas. bsky.app/profile/mcop...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
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Rachel Ernst @rachelernst.myatproto.social · 20/08/2026
I cannot begin to count the amount of technology tools I have been told in the last 20 years that I need to teach my students how to use because they were the future. 95% of them are gone. A tool is a tool.
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Jamie @late2stuff.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
"AI adoption raises homework scores by 18% and reduces completion time by 30%, but lowers monthly exam scores by 20% within six months." papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
The Generative AI Learning Penalty: Evidence from Chinese Secondary Education
Using 30 months of panel data on 26,811 Chinese students in grades 7-12, we study how generative AI affects homework productivity and learning. The data combine
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
This is such a disturbing article but also a potent reminder that Gajdusek’s extractive and racist approach to advancing science, producing so much harm to the people and communities of Papua New Guinea and to the boys he brought to America and abused, were what DEI in science was meant to confront
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
“the idea that any numeric score would be generated and then not shared with the people who would find it most useful (i.e. the people making the funding decisions and the people who wrote the application and need to decide whether to revise and resubmit it) is ludicrous.”
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Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Presenter: [The argument was put that DEI advanced people not on merit] Woolley: "There are 975 Professors at Cambridge. How many do you think are black? Paddy O'Connell: "Its a fair question you're asking me. So I am going to say 30%" Woolley: "I tell you: less than half a per cent"
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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Would Newton be able to submit his travel receipts for reimbursement through Concur?
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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Another devastating blow to American science as an ecosystem drawing in brilliant people from everywhere in the world
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
The President of the United States is going to kill people
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