On Tuesday, the Trump administration implemented a workforce reduction of over 10 percent at the National Science Foundation, an independent agency that funds innovative scientific research, furthering the sweeping dismissal of federal employees with probationary status that commenced last week.
Michael England, a spokesperson for the foundation, stated in a press release that the agency let go of 168 probationary staff members, noting that it “had around 1,450 career employees before the layoffs.”
“We express our gratitude to these employees for their dedication to the N.S.F. and their efforts in promoting the agency’s mission,” he added.
Last week, the Trump administration instructed agencies to dismiss a majority of the approximately 200,000 government employees on probation, leading to widespread firings across the federal government, with some departments terminating over a thousand employees simultaneously. Other agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, are preparing to initiate further layoffs this week.
During the weekend, efforts targeting scientists and public health officials surged through the civil service. Approximately 1,200 employees at the National Institutes of Health, the country’s leading biomedical research agency, have already been let go. Staff at the N.S.F. were informed earlier this month that they should anticipate a total workforce reduction of 25 to 50 percent, according to a source familiar with the situation who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information.
Probationary employees lack the same protections afforded to many other federal workers. Generally, probationary periods last for a year, although they may extend beyond that for specific roles.
The N.S.F. and the N.I.H. represent the two fundamental pillars of public research funding in the United States. While the N.S.F. is dedicated to non-medical scientific inquiry, it finances advanced research in fields like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, space exploration, and the development of new materials for electronics.
The achievements made possible through N.S.F. funding are vast, including transformative inventions such as the internet, smartphones, M.R.I. machines, LASIK surgery, 3-D printing, kidney transplants, lithium-ion batteries, radar technology, LED lights, and even the language learning app Duolingo.
Reporting contributed by Coral Davenport.
