President Donald Trump has tabbed Jim O'Neill to lead the National Science Foundation, a move met with outcry from the research community as O'Neill has none of the traditional qualifications or extensive academic background that typical NSF heads have possessed. Science groups are clamoring for a public hearing on O'Neill's nomination and Lane, a former NSF director, believes O'Neill faces significant likelihood of failure if chosen to lead the organization.
President Donald Trump has tabbed James O'Neill to lead the National Science Foundation, but the U.S. science population is calling for a confirmation hearing to better assess O'Neill's ability to lead the $9 billion agency, as O'Neill lacks an advanced science degree and research experience. Former NSF director Neal Lane comments on the difficulties of preparing for a confirmation hearing, one that researchers have deemed necessary for the first time in more than 3 decades.
Some 1,500 members of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering on Monday denounced the White House’s dismissal of the National Science Board (NSB) longstanding expert board that oversees the National Science Foundation (NSF).
"NSF has become the model for other nations around the globe, including China, but the Trump administration has been destroying that edifice in a mere 18 months," Lane says.
NASA is making a push to rebuild in-house expertise, an initiative met with cautious support from Evans. Evans believes it would improve oversight and safety, but he questions whether budget uncertainty and recent workforce instability will undermine the agency’s ability to recruit and sustain the talent needed to make it work.
The National Science Foundation's (NSF) future is in limbo, as the Trump Administration is pushing to slash the organization's budget by more than 50 percent. As a result, former directors and national leaders in science expressed concern about the trajectory of the agency and its independence as the administration shifts its funding priorities.
“The Trump administration, as far as I’m concerned, destroyed the old NSF and tried to create a new organization,” said Lane, who served as NSF director from 1993 to 1998. “It’s unrecognizable... The point I really want to emphasize is it’s really losing independence. It’s not being treated as an independent agency. It’s just being treated by some kind of new entity to fund things the president wants to see funded.”