‘Stupid Move’: Fury as Trump Fires Entire Science Board with no Warning or Explanation
Princess Vimentin, PHD President Donald Trump abruptly dismissed members of the National Science Board (NSB) on Friday, sending boilerplate emails from the Presidential Personnel Office that said recipients’ positions were “terminated, effective immediately,” The Washington Post reported. The abrupt notices offered no explanation or prior warning and affected a significant portion of the board that […] The post ‘Stupid Move’: Fury as Trump Fires Entire Science Board with no Warning or Explanation first appeared on Upscale Magazine.
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President Donald Trump abruptly dismissed members of the National Science Board (NSB) on Friday, sending boilerplate emails from the Presidential Personnel Office that said recipients’ positions were “terminated, effective immediately,” The Washington Post reported. The abrupt notices offered no explanation or prior warning and affected a significant portion of the board that helps govern the $9 billion National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency that supports basic research and critical scientific infrastructure.
The NSB provides independent oversight and advises both the president and Congress on NSF priorities. The foundation funds Antarctic research stations, major telescopes, research vessels, and fundamental science that underpins technologies such as MRIs, cellphones, and LASIK eye surgery. The firings came as President Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposes deep cuts to NSF funding; the NSB has been actively advising Congress on the agency’s importance and previously helped defeat a proposed 55 percent cut last year.
Board members described the removals as sudden and disruptive. Keivan Stassun, a physicist at Vanderbilt University and an NSB member, confirmed that about a third of the board had received termination emails. Marvi Matos Rodriguez, another NSB member, said she had been reviewing an 80-page report as part of her board duties just days before being fired, emphasizing that members were actively engaged in oversight and advisory work when dismissed.
The action drew swift condemnation from lawmakers and scientific leaders who framed it as politicizing an apolitical advisory body and undermining oversight of federal science. Observers warned that removing board members without explanation risks destabilizing governance at a time when the NSF’s budget and strategic direction are under debate, potentially impairing long-term research programs and institutional planning.
Voices from current and former board members and the scientific community expressed alarm and frustration, noting the NSB’s statutory role in advising the government on science policy since its establishment under the National Science Foundation Act of 1950. Several former members and researchers took to social media to criticize the move and to argue that meaningful oversight of the NSF had already been weakened prior to the firings.
- “This is the latest stupid move made by a president who continues to harm science and American innovation,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said. “The NSB is apolitical. It advises the president on the future of NSF. It unfortunately is no surprise a president who has attacked NSF from day one would seek to destroy the board that helps guide the foundation.”
- Alondra Nelson wrote on Bluesky that she resigned from the National Science Board in May after seeing “meaningful oversight became untenable,” and added that today’s news clarifies that “an erosion of oversight and function has become open elimination of the Board itself.”
- Princess Vimentin, a cancer biologist, wrote on Bluesky, “We are seeing more destruction of science. Trump fired the entirety of the National Science Board (NSB). The purpose of the NSB is to advise Congress & President on on NSF. The NSB was established in the National Science
The post ‘Stupid Move’: Fury as Trump Fires Entire Science Board with no Warning or Explanation first appeared on Upscale Magazine.
