This talk examines how the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which was long seen as essential for U.S. leadership and economic competitiveness, has become increasingly subject to political dictates under the Trump-Vance administration. The multi-pronged attacks happened across various institutional levels, putting under pressure long-established procedures, priorities, and values and draining the agency of expertise through Reduction of Force initiatives and forced resignations and retirements. Dr. Leuenberger will show how the NSF – an independent agency that traditionally had bipartisan support - has become subject to political interventions. At the same time, she highlights how program directors and staffers continue to support the scientific community and try to sustain the funding of impactful research.

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Dr. Christine Leuenberger is a Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellow at the Rockefeller Institute of Government (Albany, NY) and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University. She served as Program Director in the Office of the Director and the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) (2022-2025). She has been a Fulbright Scholar and a Fulbright Specialist, and has served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Department of State and at the U.S. Agency for International Development (2016-2017). Her current research interests include the politics of maps, borders, and migration, and how to bring science to policy and strengthen the scientific enterprise in uncertain times.