NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?

1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile for a collective follow-up with the House Science commitee and NSF leadership

Details and template at https://grant-witness.us/grfp-letter

Update: A new round of these RWRs appear to have been sent out today (Feb 4). Keep those letters coming!

#NSF #GRFP

🧪 Were you one of the many thousands of STEM students and mentors impacted by the sudden change in #NSF #GRFP eligibility last week?

We created a petition to NSF leadership and Congress to reverse the changes— please sign and share your stories here, and spread the word to other affected folks

https://laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/

#science #USpolitics #petition

#NSF slashes prestigious #PhD #fellowship awards by half
#US National #Science Foundation announces lowest number of Graduate Research Fellowship Programme (#GRFP) recipients in 15 years. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01098-9

Who needs another generation of #scientists? </s>

Some food for thought:

Each year #NSF gives out at least 2500 #GRFP awards, each worth $159k, for a total of $400M.

Each year about 40,000 people receive a Ph.D. in a #STEM field in the US.

One year's GRFP budget would cover an award of about $10,000 for each Ph.D. recipient in the US.

shameless self promotion:
I got the @NSF #GRFP !

huge thanks to my advisor Dr. Hyungbae Kwon & to @dr_alexharris & Dr. Tim Spellman for their supportive mentorship (and persuasive letter writing :)