Starting on April 18, the National Science Foundation has canceled hundreds of project grants at universities, including at least five at Northwestern.
The latest slew of terminations comes amid the NSF’s reviews of its grant-making process in the past few months. Driving the restructuring are the Trump administration’s efforts to rid the country of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
An NSF spokesperson wrote to The Daily that the NSF “began terminating awards that are not aligned with agency priorities” a few weeks ago.
A U.S. Senate Commerce Committee database released in February by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) office identified a list of NSF grants it deemed promoted DEI and “neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.” The system singled out about $15 million in grants and 20 projects from NU alone.
The Daily compiled a list of all terminated NSF project grants at NU. Some of them were originally listed on the database issued by Cruz’s office.
One grant funds projects providing STEM educational resources for the Black community in Evanston. Another stricken project looks at how Latine students assess their decisions to enter graduate school and engineering careers.
About 700 NSF grants were also cancelled Friday, a day after NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan abruptly resigned.
Besides the NSF, the National Institutes of Health has also issued hundreds of grant terminations to universities nationwide. The earliest grant cuts extend back to February, but now apply to at least 12 cases at NU. The Daily also followed those cancelled project grants.
Officials have insisted they’ve only cancelled projects that don’t fall in line with the agency’s agenda. At NU, projects dealing with LBGTQ+ health research have been targeted.
Email: [email protected]
X: @jerrwu
Related Stories:
— NIH nixes at least 10 NU research projects related to LGBTQ+ health issues
— New NIH policy cuts indirect costs to 15% rate, concerning NU staff and students
