Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan
Dear Commons Community,
Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, the scientist Donald Trump chose during his first term to lead the National Science Foundation (NSF) resigned last week after apparently being unable to stomach the massive changes Trump has imposed on the agency during the first 100 days of his second administration. As reported by Science.
“I believe that I have done all I can to advance the mission of the agency and feel that it is time to pass the baton to new leadership,” Panchanathan wrote on April 24th in a letter to the staff. Panchanathan, a computer scientist whom the Senate confirmed to lead NSF in August 2020, leaves 16 months short of the end of the 6-year term.
“I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been trying to protect the NSF, its programs and staff, and the U.S. research community from White House directives and actions that are in conflict with NSF’s mission, decades of congressional appropriations, and the law,” says Rice University physicist Neal Lane, who led NSF under former President Bill Clinton.
Panchanathan didn’t give a reason for his sudden departure, but he could not have been happy with orders from the White House to accept what could be a 55% cut to the agency’s $9 billion budget next year and to draw up plans to halve its 1700-person staff. But his resignation letter was the first public indication of his unhappiness. “While NSF has always been an efficient agency,” he wrote, “we still took [on] the challenge of identifying other possible efficiencies and reducing our commitments to serve the scientific community even better.”
The last straw may have been a decision in mid-April by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to terminate up to $2 billion in existing NSF grants. The list appears to have been drawn from a report last fall by Senator Ted Cruz (R–TX) identifying what he said were 3483 “woke science” grants NSF had made to increase diversity in science, foster environmental justice, and study the spread of misinformation on social media. As Science went to press, researchers had reported the termination of some 550 awards since the agency’s 18 April announcement it would begin to cancel grants.
Before leading NSF, Panchanathan had spent 20 years as a faculty member and then senior research administrator at Arizona State University. When nominated he was also serving on the National Science Board, NSF’s presidentially appointed oversight body. His achievements included creating NSF’s first new directorate in 30 years, for technology, innovation, and partnerships, and launching 10 regional “engines” that seek to spur economic development.
During his 5-year tenure, Panchanathan worked to build bipartisan ties to congressional leaders, who reciprocated in statements reacting to his resignation. ” thank Dr. Panchanathan for his vision, integrity, and unwavering commitment to U.S. scientific innovation,” said Representative Brian Babin (R–TX), who leads the science panel in the House of Representatives.
The top Democrat on the Senate panel that Cruz chairs praised Panchanathan but also pointed a partisan finger at the Trump administration. Its proposal to cut NSF’s budget represents “a deliberate dismemberment of America’s innovation engine by DOGE” and the head of the White House budget office, Russell Vought, said Senator Maria Cantwell (WA). “Don’t blame Panch for stepping down.”
Brian Stone, who joined NSF in 2000 as a facilities manager and has spent the past decade as chief of staff to the director, is now acting director.
What a tragic loss for science research!
Tony
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