NSF Continues Implementation of Executive Orders, Terminates Grants and Committees

By: Yvette Seger
Thursday, April 24, 2025
Last week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) made organizational changes and terminated over 400 grants as part of continuing efforts to implement recent executive orders pertaining to reducing the size of the federal government and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

At the beginning of the week, 12 federal advisory committees across the scientific disciplines represented by NSF’s directorates were disbanded, effective April 15, 2025. Five additional committees – all required by statute – will continue to advise NSF leadership per the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

As the week progressed, NSF froze grant awards while staff conducted a secondary review for compliance with the administration’s executive order on DEI. By the end of the week, over 400 grants, including many cited in the October 2024 report issued by Senator Ted Cruz, that promote DEI were terminated. In conjunction with the individual termination letters distributed to grantees, NSF launched a webpage with updated guidance on NSF priorities. This included a statement from NSF Director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, PhD, that clarified that, “NSF will continue to support research with the goal of understanding or addressing participation in STEM, in accordance with all applicable statues and mandates, with the core goal of creating opportunities for all Americans,” while clarifying that “research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities.”