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Leslie Rissler

@ljrissler.bsky.social
3.3K followers 1.3K following 142 posts

Higher Ed administration | Fighter for Science and Scientists | Go Griz! | Former @NSF, Prof of Bio @Univ AL, Postdoc @UC Berkeley, PhD @UVA | More than just science, but science is my love (views always my own)

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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
If they’re saying this out loud about NIH, you can bet it’s the same intent for the National Science Foundation.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
"Getting the budget deal done was crucial. But that was then. The red light is now flashing. All hands, report to stations." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Welcome to the resistance, Dr. Thorp.
science.org
Another red alert for American science
Although research has bipartisan support in the US Congress, and trust in science is above 75% across the country, the Trump administration seems as determined as ever to mortally wound the nation’s s...
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Scoop: NSF has been quietly blocking new funds and grants to four top universities: Duke, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. Dozens of proposals from PIs at these universities—and their collaborators—have been stuck at the Office of Award Management awaiting finalization for months.
nature.com
Exclusive: NSF puts new research grants to top universities on hold
US science funder once again restricts awards to Harvard University and other research institutions.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...
simonsfoundation.org
Simons Graduate Fellowships in Ecology and Evolution
The purpose of these awards is to provide support for students entering U.S.-based Ph.D. programs with a plan to perform research in ecology and evolution. While we will consider all projects in ecolo...
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.” OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.) NSF at -42%!
Washington Post article on STEM cuts at federal agencies. NSF tops it at -42%!
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
I am shocked to see this language from the NSF. “The U.S. National Science Foundation's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request reflects a strategic alignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment while eliminating woke and weaponized grant programs that previously funded radical DEI projects.”
nsf.gov
Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request to Congress
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Excited to share a new paper written by a AAAS Policy Fellow I mentor, Dr. Lisa Walsh. “This review synthesizes literature on fieldwork safety across scientific disciplines, highlighting four facets of safety for leaders and researchers to address: physical, social, financial, and psychological.”
science.org
Enabling Fieldwork for All (EFFA) Framework: Supporting physical, social, financial, and psychological safety in the field
Comprehensive review of fieldwork safety literature across disciplines yields synthesized recommendations.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
“At NSF, the net reduction of 205 STEM Ph.D.s between 1 January and 30 November constituted 40% of its total pre-Trump Ph.D. workforce of 517, by far the largest percentage at any agency. STEM Ph.D.s also make up a larger percentage of the total workforce at NSF than at any other agency…”.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
NSF building on Eisenhower Av. HUD now owns. Destroying the NSF mural in the foyer. Of the Eisenhower building.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
News to me: “The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado," Russ Vought, … said in a statement to USA TODAY. "This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country.”
usatoday.com
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
NSF - Forced reorg - POs down ~ 40% (DRP, most rotators not renewed, retirements) - Forced move (and we have to pack and clean) to a building with no furniture, little to no conference space for panels, inadequate 🛜, …) I personally love the boxes they gave us for packing. “Details matter” 🙃
Boxing up the NSF at Eisenhower Av for the forced relocation. Boxes have “Details Matter” signage.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
One bright light of 2025 - Cyrus, our new addition. He joins Asa, my beloved golden who was diagnosed with cancer in June. Isn’t he a cutie?
Golden Retriever puppy in owner’s lap.Golden Retriever puppy
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
All federal employees took an oath to the constitution. I’ve worked with many leaders across multiple agencies, including the military. It’s our duty and an honor to defend the constitution. We believe in America and the principles that made this country special. The oath demands we protect it.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
NSF is open again! A few comments: *Please be patient. During a shutdown NSF employees cannot open computers or respond to emails. *Merit review will continue. However panels won’t resume until after Dec 8th. *POs remain excited and committed to advancing science and the scientific workforce.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 10/11/2025
As one of those federal employees, I couldn’t agree more. “Preventing authoritarian consolidation is the most harm-reducing move.”
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Way to go, Virginia! Spanberger wins!
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 28/10/2025
“So basically, we swear we’re going to follow Trump’s policies, which is ridiculous,” the HHS employee, who was granted anonymity, told the outlet.
rawstory.com
Federal workers must now 'clearly' show support for Trump on year-end reviews: report
The Trump administration has added a new requirement to its performance reviews this year that requires workers in the Department of Health and Human Services to produce evidence that they “clearly an...
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Old Town Alexandria
Alexandria VA No Kings! SignAmphifa sign
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
NSF’s doors will be closed at 1:30 pm today. While you may be able to submit things, there will be no staff to process anything. In fact it is illegal for us to even open our work computers or email during a shutdown. A very few rotators may be able to communicate, so check out of office responses.
raskin.house.gov
Navigating A Government Shutdown: One-Stop Resource Page
As of 12:01 AM on October 1, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have shut down the government.
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget. Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide. Report: osf.io/e8rnc a 🧵
Economic loss from the White House's NSF FY 2026 Proposed Budget
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
My quote of the day
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.

Isaac Asimov
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Kaitlin Is Just Getting Started @gothamgirlblue.com · 03/09/2025
If there’s one thing that I have learned from engaging with primary sources, it is that people in the past weren’t smarter or more principled than we are today they just weren’t drowned in omnipresent propaganda and/or prosperous enough to be detached from material conditions
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
“This Executive Order is nothing short of obscene," said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). "In what world does Donald Trump think that Americans want political appointees – who, need I remind the President, are unelected bureaucrats – making decisions on what science gets funded?”
democrats-science.house.gov
Ranking Member Lofgren Calls Trump Out for Corrupt Executive Order Requiring Political Appointees to Approve Federal Grants | House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
“Federal workers can hold prayer circles with members of the public and tell colleagues to rethink their religious beliefs, according to new guidance the Trump administration released...” 🤯 Well as long as I can tell people to rethink their religious beliefs, I’m good. Thanks for the reminder.
govexec.com
Trump administration reminds federal employees they can proselytize in the office
Supervisors can solicit employees to attend their church, OPM says in new guidance.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
NSF’s Union President epitomizes moral leadership. I’m proud to have him as a colleague and friend.
english.elpais.com
Jesús Soriano, union leader in the scientific rebellion against Trump: ‘You’ll go to a restaurant and won’t know if the meat is contaminated or not’
The Spanish doctor, of the US National Science Foundation, is the only employee to put his full name to a letter against the dismantling of the government agency
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
The best week of my summers is spent doing this grant workshop, sometimes in VA and sometimes in CO. It’s always filled with amazing people, and I am inspired by you!
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Letter to Representative Lofgren - Appeal to Defend Civil Service Protections and the Mission of the NSF
democrats-science.house.gov
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
“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.”
nytimes.com
Amid Fear of Retaliation, N.S.F. Workers Sign Letter of Dissent
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Today!
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Started the day by reading the Declaration of Independence. Happy 4th - the original No Kings Day 🇺🇸
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Another day testing the limits of resilience. The Alexandria NSF building was designed for the NSF merit review process (gold standard), complete with a floor devoted to panels. Now we aren’t allowed to have in person panels. The loss of US science leadership will haunt this country for decades.
nbcwashington.com
‘This is bull——”: National Science Foundation employees protest HUD's takeover
Dozens of National Science Foundation employees crowded the agency’s headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, Wednesday to protest the news that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, w...
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
HUD has been touring the building for months. NSF says nothing…”nothing to see here”. I’m quite sick of gaslighting, bullying, and lack of respect for science and academia. It’s getting harder and harder to take.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
Join NSF-DOE Vera C.Rubin Observatory team at 11 am EST to see first images from world’s most powerful survey telescope! youtube.com/live/Zv22_Am...
youtube.com
First Images from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory | #RubinFirstLook
YouTube video by Rubin Observatory
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
“The humiliation and censorship of the world's leading scientists and doctors, destroying research grants on a completely arbitrary collection of buzzwords linked to an imagined ‘woke mind virus,’ is a pathetically childish temper tantrum with utterly criminal impacts on the nation ...”.
open.substack.com
Jay Bhattacharya is Not the NIH Director
Seventy-Five Days of Embarrassing Ineptitude
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
It sickens me that the Trump administration is using antisemitism as a pretext for so much destructive behavior. This is cynical and disingenuous. Don't fall for it. /fin
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Old Town Alexandria, VA No Kings!
Biking on Mount Vernon trail to Old TownNo Kings! Old Town Alexandria, VA
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
“…we need federal leadership that supports, not dismantles, the U.S. science enterprise and whose actions follow a bold positive vision for the future of science. …we must defend scientific integrity not just as a professional obligation, but as a cornerstone of democracy…” (STAT - 3 free articles)
statnews.com
Trump’s ‘gold standard’ order is a blueprint for politicizing science
The Trump executive order is not a pathway to a “gold standard” — it is a blueprint for politicizing science and marginalizing expertise, write Jacob Carter and Gretchen Goldman.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
👏🏻👏🏻
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500 Women Scientists @500womensci.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
In case it wasn't clear: this administration is not interested in cutting costs & deficits, just dismantling knowledge and resistance
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Big Biology | A Science Podcast @bigbiology.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
In our most recent episode we talk with Bill Zamer and Sam Scheiner, two former BIO program officers at the NSF, about the recently proposed 56% budget cut to the NSF. 🎙️Listen now: bigbiology.substack.com/p/savensf-ep... #scicomm #science #sciencecommunication #SaveNSF #NSF
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
You have 2 days left to comment (by May 23 at 11:59 pm)! Go to the link if you don’t want your NSF or NIH program officers who took an oath to the constitution (not a political party) to instead be subject to the whims of a president and fired if they don’t “conform”.
regulations.gov
Regulations.gov
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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
🧪😲☝️ New data insight: A DOGE-fueled National Science Foundation has now terminated at least dozens of awards for **especially** bogus reasons. Who this applies to: Terminated NSF grants first awarded BEFORE Nov 12, 2020. This gets a bit wonky, but this is important, so let me explain. 🧵
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
“The entire landscape of American science, research, and engineering are under heavy attack,” the employee says. “It’s really critical that we all speak against it and be unified in our opposition.”
cen.acs.org
NSF employees brace for major restructuring
Although paused by a court order, reorganization plan creates concern about the agency’s future
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
Back from a glorious few days in TCI. Didn’t take my phone. Now back to DC and its mind-melting delirium. Bet I missed some things at work.
Turks and Caicos beach on Grace Bay.
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Society for the Study of Evolution @sse-evolution.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Join us in the evolution tri-societies Week of Action for NSF! Call/write congress, engage with colleagues, friends and family about the importance of NSF funding! Scan the QR code on the attached image for instructions and scripts. We must make noise! Pls RT!!!! #WithoutNSF #SaveNSF #SupportNSF
SSE, SSB, and ASN logos. Text: Tri-societies Week of Action for NSF. Science under siege: Over 1000 NSF grants have been terminated by political appointees- threatening the foundation of American innovation and education, and more cuts loom; entire research programs are being erased without explanation. What’s at stake? STEM education for K-12 students, jobs and infrastructure in rural communities, support for veterans in research and education, cybersecurity and national defense innovation, global leadership in science and technology. Join the week of action: Contact Congress: Switchboard: (202) 224-3121, tell them to protect NSF. Share your story: Post on social media #WithoutNSF #SupportNSF #SaveNSF, engage local media; use our media tool to reach out to local reporters and newspapers; engage others: communicate the importance of NSF to colleagues, friends, and family.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
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
savensf.com
Home | Savensf
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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
The plan is to break the parks, claim they must be privatized, take them from the American people and give them to their friends.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
“Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.” … www.whitehouse.gov/omb/informat...
whitehouse.gov
The President’s FY 2026 Discretionary Budget Request
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
About NSF’s new(est) bulletin - 15% indirect cost rates will kill universities. Apparently that’s the point. I am sick.
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Leslie Rissler @ljrissler.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Why is the U.S. National Science Foundation important? Please share your stories! Use the hashtags #WithoutNSF or #WithoutScience
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