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Melissa Berke

@melissaberke.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.2K following 90 posts

Associate Professor, Paleoclimatology and organic biogeochemistry, University of Notre Dame, she/her

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Reposted by Melissa Berke
Paul Kingsley @paulkingsley7.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🧪 “The National Science Foundation, one of the biggest sources of federal research funding, withheld $1.4 billion that Congress had intended for research over the course of the past year, according to internal data reviewed by The New York Times.” www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)
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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Prof Helen Bostock @oceanhelen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
We are looking for a graduate director (level C - senior lecturer) for our new centre of excellence “our future oceans” 🌊 the role will involve working with me to run training and mentoring for phd and Early career tesearchers in the centre. But also opportunities to do research on ocean science.
jobs.unsw.edu.au
Jobs - Recent Jobs
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Reposted by Melissa Berke
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Unless Congress reclaims its power, this will just become the new normal. A good first step would be to impeach Vought. 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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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
If you are part of an academic society or a professor of any kind, public statements that you do not condone Drexel cutting off the academy of natural sciences from the public of Philadelphia is very important right now. We need your voices. Urgently.
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
All sorts of illegal shit. The taxpayers should be furious. 🧪
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
They are targeting Universities specifically and showing how little they value education in general. Eliminate funding, break Universities. It’s always been about working to kneecap Universities….
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
It is true that this has major implications for research, but my point—and IMO people miss this bigger picture because they're focused on the research—is that for OMB the issue is about the money and who the money is going to. (e.g. other major funding disruptions to Dem-led states)
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
OMB's focus on NIH and NSF, which has confused a lot of folks, pretty much boils down to stopping money going to universities.
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Josh Cook @joshthelibromancer.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Reminder: perhaps the easiest & cheapest way to tell Bezos to fuck off is by linking to Bookshop or (even better) an indie bookstore WHENEVER you talk about a book online. W/o a link people will just google it & that will lead to Amazon. W a link you can send a sale to a good business
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
One additional 'quick fact': if your name is John, the Nobel committee is twice as likely to award you the Prize for Physics, compared to scientists who are female - Number of physics prizes to a John: 10 - Number of female physics Nobel laureates: 5 Best wishes to all the John-hopefuls this yr 👩‍🔬⚛️
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Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I became a biologist because of a museum exhibit. Real artifacts tell stories that are more powerful than anything we can get from scrolling. They are part of our engine for training the next generation of scientists. 🧪 scienceforeveryone.science/the-awesomen...
scienceforeveryone.science
The awesomeness of museums
Genuine artifacts tell the richest stories that fill our souls. And they fuel the scientific enterprise.
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Got a fave museum story from childhood (or adulthood)? Tell it! Tell them museums improve communities and make them places people *want* to live in!
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Barbara Kaskosz @kaskosz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The slow pace of federal research funding under Trump, coupled with his administration’s mass cancellations of existing grants, have led to severe underfunding of research. As another fiscal year under Trump comes to a close on September 30, NOAA, AHRQ, NSF are far behind in money awarded.
insidehighered.com
NSF Over Billion Behind on Grants; IES Says Will Give Funds
As the fiscal year’s end looms Sept. 30, the National Science Foundation has awarded significantly fewer grants than usual, and a judge has ordered an update from the Institute of Education Sciences o...
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I would like to see more foram sculpture parks!
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Chris Nagano @charliesaito22.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Trump has gutted & crippled the GOV’s highly trained professional firefighter personnel in the Forest Service & other Federal land agencies Many American’s will pay w/their lives & property for Trump & DOGE‘s willy nilly brainless impulse driven management style www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘We’re near a breaking point:’ firefighters say US government is failing them amid intense wildfire season
US grapples with federal firefighter shortage as crews say they’re spread thin and lack resources during unrelenting year of fire
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 17/09/2026
The Trump admin has decimated American science budgets, taking away life saving opportunities, and the potential for groundbreaking discoveries. This is how you destroy American innovation. apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com
Trump administration has cut or frozen $177 billion in grants across every state, analysis shows
An analysis finds that the Trump administration has cut or frozen up to $177 billion in federal grants since the president took office for his second term.
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U.S. Scientific Ocean Drilling @us-sciod.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Request a speaker from the AGU Distinguished Lecturer series! 2026-27 speakers include Tim Druitt, IODP Expedition 398 co-chief, with a talk on understanding volcanic activity using IODP and other data. Learn more: connect.agu.org/collegeoffellows/committees/speakerseries/meet-the-lecturers
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"stores and tracks faculty CVs and productivity" in the hands of private equity can't go wrong can it
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
My anonymous questions on this here zoom are pretty spicy. Does he realize how exhausting it is to be a US scientist on this timeline?
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Scripps Institution of Oceanography @scrippsocean.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🚢 #NowHiring: Scripps Oceanography is hiring an Oceanographic Instrumentation Engineer to provide technical support in the calibration, maintenance, repair, deployment, & more of specialized shipboard oceanographic instrumentation systems. Apply by 10/1: bit.ly/4xnhOb6
Two ships out at sea with "Join Our Team" text overlay
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NPR @npr.org · 15/09/2026
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months. n.pr/3SK34oz
n.pr
NASA rushed engineers out of their labs. They say it risks future space missions
NASA employees say they've lost vital equipment and staff needed to make sophisticated spacecraft amid the agency's abrupt relocations over the past several months.
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Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array @globaloceanbgc.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NSF has funded over 80% of the world's BGC-Argo floats via GO-BGC, which ends in October 2026, so the global array will start shrinking. NSF is asking US researchers to weigh in on future ocean observing priorities: www.go-bgc.org/nsf/nsf-requ...
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I also recommend writing emails to J. Kundu and B. Stone if you didn’t like what you saw in this (www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-lea...). Tell them what you see in this doc that will not lead to advancements in science. Expressing your concerns to those high up is the only way to change things right now.
nsf.gov
NSF leadership in a new golden age of science
The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. The science and technology ecosystem around it has...
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Dan Garisto @dangaristo.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Scoop: This afternoon NSF will formally announce its four 'Frontier Initiatives', and a suite of other changes in a public letter. These Frontier Initiatives (left) are identical to OSTP's 'Grand Research Challenges' that we have been reporting on (right). www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 10/09/2026
I started translating the announcement into plain English, but got too depressed to continue before I even reached the most pernicious parts in the "full letter" linked.
Dear Colleagues,
The U.S. National Science Foundation was established in 1950 to keep American discovery at the frontier. That mission has not changed. But the political landscape has. So it all ends. Now.
We've heard this message clearly from researchers across disciplines and settings. Science today is no longer a straight line from laboratory to application. We aim to cause maximal harm to universities by diverting funds elsewhere. Rather than investing public funding to generate massive positive externalities, we prefer allowing billionaires to set the scientific rese agenda . Someone—you’ll never guess who—convinced us to pour what money we do spend into AI.
To meet this moment, NSF is embracing a portfolio approach, where much more of our funding can be diverted to industry. We are expanding who carries out NSF-supported work and how, to enable ambitious, multidisciplinary inquiry at the scientific frontier, where frontier is defined as what we want to fund. We will find and support exceptional students and early-career researchers, at the stage when research creativity is high, so long as they US citizens of the right kind. Our new Office of Metascience will implement unproven methods to make a show of assessing the effectiveness of new initiatives, and more importantly will leverage that Gold Standard Science bullshit to eliminate programs in geosciences, basic biology, all aspects of social science, and anything else that makes the Christian right uncomfortable.  
We’e already pretty much gutted the entire agency. Funding is at a near stand-still, and the agency has become unresponsive to researchers to a degree that was unimaginable only two years ago. We know none of this succeeds without you, NSF's staff, reviewers, awardees, students, and partners across academia and industry. NSF's role is to create conditions for exceptional science to happen more often and more frequently. We are redoubling our commitment to do so through these efforts.
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Let your elected officials hear from you. Push back. It’s the option right now.
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LCV – League of Conservation Voters 🌎 @lcv.org · 10/09/2026
"There are going to be countless issues and challenges involving park funding, travel and other logistics — this will waste taxpayer dollars and further contribute to the chaos that already exists." Make no mistake: Trump is doing everything he can to degrade our public lands and national parks.
notus.org
Trump Is Quietly Planning to Majorly Change How National Parks Are Run
All Interior Department bureaus are considering major shake-ups under an edict from leadership.
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Chris Nagano @charliesaito22.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Per Trump’s SOP, this will end up disastrously for the American People, our National Parks, end up costing The Long Suffering American Taxpayer (=YOU) $$$ billions, & take years, decades to fix, if his NPS fiasco can even be fixed www.rawstory.com/national-par...
rawstory.com
Chaos looms as Trump’s ‘very hush-hush’ plans for national parks leak: report
The Trump administration is planning to enact “major” changes to the National Park Service that advocates say could spark “chaos,” according to internal Interior Department documents obtained and repo...
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Benjamin Gill @sedgeochem.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I know there is a lot going on (that's likely the point) and just to echo what is already been passed around here, but in 2026, National Science Foundation research awards will be at a 40 year low. grantwitness.org/nsf/analyses...
grantwitness.org
Agency Pulse: Grantmaking at NSF
An independent, up-to-date, grant-level record of federal science funding disruptions in the United States.
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Reposted by Melissa Berke
Daniel S Helman, PhD @helmandaniel.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
NSF is consolidating its geoscience research grants into a new program, GEOcore and reducing annual grants to $110 million total in 200-350 awards. Typical was about $300 million in 1,200 awards. Not including institutional grants ($1.3 billion/yr) and those may be gone. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
nsf.gov
Geosciences Core Research: Atmospheric, Geospace, Earth and Ocean Sciences (GEO Core)
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Please let your reps know how you feel about Russ Vogt's leadership, which includes an ongoing pillaging of Congressionally appropriate funds to support public science. And this is as much an attack on higher education as it is public science funding.
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 07/09/2026
The OMB Proposal will stop scientists from fighting against Trump's policies that fuel the climate crisis. We need the proposal permanently revoked. Visit the link to contact your MoC's and tell them to #RevoketheRule: tr.ee/QyLCZm #news #politics #AmericanPolitics #Trump
The graphic contains a photo of the CNN logo, Donald Trump, the red Stand Up for Science logo, and the recent tragic landslide in Nepal. The graphic displays a headline from CNN reading: "The Trump administration cut funds for natural hazards monitoring in Nepal." All following graphics in this thread contain the photo of the Nepal landslide in the background and the red Stand Up for Science logo.
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Goodnews @goodnews.computer · 04/09/2026
Take a break from being depressed that everything you love is being destroyed by slop for a moment and let me tell you about the beautiful symbiotic relationship between graffiti writers, train yard workers, and model train enthusiasts.
A hand holding a model train with a replica of the same graffiti on the full scale train car behind it.A model train with two graffiti pieces on opposite sides.
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Ugh
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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Attention Philadelphia! We're hosting a rally to demand that Drexel University maintain The Academy of Natural Sciences Museum open to the public. Join us on Tuesday morning at 10am in front of the academy. Please spread the word, we need all hands on deck! RSVP here: luma.com/1qwnrqz2
A dinosaur on a white background with the text SAve the academy of Natural sciences museum rally Tuesday Sept 8 10am in front of the academy 1900 ben Franklin Parkway. "Tell Drexel University "Keep the museum open!" with the logos for Philly Science Action, Skype a Scientist, and Green Philly
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Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · 28/08/2026
Texas A&M Atmospheric Sciences @tamuatmo.bsky.social is searching for a new mid/senior faculty position. Feel free to reach out to me if you have questions. apply.interfolio.com/191450
The Department of Atmospheric Sciences in the College of Arts & Sciences at Texas A&M University invites applications for a full-time faculty position at the Associate or Full Professor level in the field of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. Applicants will be considered for either tenure-track or tenured Associate Professor or tenured Professor, depending on qualifications. This is a full-time, 9-month position with an anticipated start date during the 2027-2028 academic year.

The successful candidate will teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels and supervise graduate students. This individual will be expected to lead a research and outreach program in areas germane to high-impact weather in Texas, supporting the land grant mission of the university. In addition to service to the department and college, the appointee's service duties will also include facilitating research interactions with other departments, colleges, and institutions and agencies across the state.

Texas A&M University is a land‐, sea‐, and space‐grant university, within a dynamic and international community. The Department of Atmospheric Sciences has a broad research and teaching program with 23 faculty members, 139 undergraduate and 49 graduate students. The department is also affiliated with the Office of the State Climatologist, the Southern Regional Climate Center, the Texas Center for Extreme Weather, and the Center for Atmospheric Chemistry and the Environment. More information about the department can be found at: https://atmo.tamu.edu/.

Teaching and research facilities in the department include two undergraduate computer laboratories, a micropulse lidar, the Houston Lightning Mapping Array, the Weather Center, the Rapid Onsite Atmospheric Measurement Van, automated surface weather stations, and radiosonde systems. The department is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, which offers an array of degree programs and educational facilities.
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Joe Levy @colddirt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Even if you're not a person focused on climate over time, check out our "how to apply" page to get some insights into what selective liberal arts colleges (SLACs) might be looking for in faculty applications: www.colgate.edu/academics/de...
colgate.edu
Faculty Position: Assistant Professor in Paleoclimate | Colgate University
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Anna Kramer @annackramer.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
SCOOP: Trump officials are pressuring the National Park Service to find a way to give a small piece of Yosemite to a private developer. The land would be used for a road, to give the developer rare private access to the heart of the park.
notus.org
Trump’s Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer
The National Park Service is under pressure to make an unprecedented deal that cedes a quarter-mile strip of the park.
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Matt Johnson @matthewjohnson.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
You don't realize the power of water until you watch it casually roll a boulder the size of a house down a valley in Nepal.
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Trump is escalating a trade war with Canada for his own vanity. Even before this new round, Canadian tariffs were costing Michigan families an additional $3,200 a year. It’s going to get much worse.
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Jacquelyn Gill @jacquelyngill.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Hey folks, this hasn’t gotten much attention, but remember those proposed OMB rule changes we all commented on recently? There’s a new attempt to sneak them just for NSF. We have three days to comment. Please don’t sleep on this!
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Leah @leah.myatproto.social · 20/08/2026
Ain't nobody home at NSF, NIH, CDC, FDA. And their money jar is empty and shattered on the ground. Were they the victim of a violent home invasion? In short, yes. 🧪 #ScienceSky
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Melissa Berke @melissaberke.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Things are bleak and not set to improve any time soon. Anyone wanna call their reps? Because this is NOT what they voted for.
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Mike Levin @mikelevin.org · 19/08/2026
Wrecking a 73-to-1 investment and sending the bill to fishermen, farmers, and families. Just crazy. www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...
forbes.com
DOGE Broke America’s Weather Machine. Now Fishermen, Insurers And Farmers Are Paying For It
Elon Musk’s DOGE gutted staffing and budgets at NOAA and the National Weather Service early last year. It left fishing fleets, farmers and insurers exposed to the fallout
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Congress needs to reassert authority here as soon as possible and ensure that American science continues to operate in the American public interest. Demand a qualified director. Demand the outside governing board be reestablished. Demand the National Science Foundation complies with federal law.
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The National Science Foundation has had director for 16 months. Its outside oversight and governing board no longer exists. Its spending is matching the rejected presidential budget request rather than the congressionally approved budget. End this charade.
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
🌊 Central role of Labrador Sea convection for transport of oxygen into the deep North Atlantic Ocean www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Central role of Labrador Sea convection for transport of oxygen into the deep North Atlantic Ocean - Nature Geoscience
The Labrador Sea plays a crucial role in transporting oxygen into the deep limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, despite its limited contribution to density transformation, accordin...
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Meade Krosby @meadekrosby.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Administration: building roads will lower wildfire risk. Reality: wildfire ignitions in national forests are highest in lands within 50m of roads (7.99 fires/1000 ha), lowest in wilderness areas (1.75 fires/1000 ha) and designated roadless areas (1.97 fires/1000 ha). Roads = people. People = fire.
link.springer.com
Three-decade record of contiguous-U.S. national forest wildfires indicates increased density of ignitions near roads - Fire Ecology
Background Roads play an important role in managing fire on the national forests. But roads also are known to increase ignitions and damage ecosystems. Roads may limit the size of wildfires, which may...
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
DON'T GET ALL EXCITED AND ASSUME GOOD WILL. This is an effort to rebrand already appropriated dollars and already developed programs before the midterms so they have something they can use against being called anti-science. THIS IS NOT NEW INVESTMENT. THESE ARE NOT NEW DOLLARS FOR SCIENCE.
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