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Trump fires NSF's oversight board

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Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#161
post #78

Trying to find a silver lining and think positively... Will a future administration have an opportunity to build something new and better from scratch which would not have been possible due to institutional resistance before it was all burnt down?

That’s the best case scenario - requires a lot of people currently involved in this to be jailed or executed before we can even begin to move on though. I’m not super optimistic.

Let us not say executed.

It's a harsher punishment that they live to see the rebuild of what they turned to ash.

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#162

This should feel personal to a lot of us. I have hopes of applying to the Small Business Innovation Research fund ( https://seedfund.nsf.gov ), a program that gives small companies a good chunk of money without taking equity, in order to encourage development of technologies deemed of national importance. I’d be curious if anyone here has tried applying in the last 18 months.

[deleted]

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#164
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but is anything really that important in the long run? We’re all just weird monkeys who are all going to die eventually. If President Trump really wants to do something, why not just let him do it and stop complaining? Do you really want to make President Trump sad?

Is this a serious comment? > why not just let him do it and stop complaining? Because I have to live on this planet for a few more decades. I feel like I'm being trolled?

Okay yes I am joking.

There, I added an extra sentence to make it approximately 20% funnier.

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#165
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the kind of scientific research which companies don't generally pay for because it doesn't have direct commercial application, but that companies and the economy benefit from enormously because you can use the results of that science to build a great deal of useful commercial things.

> This is the kind of scientific research which companies don't generally pay for because it doesn't have direct commercial application Tom over at the Explosions&Fire channel (and Extractions&Ire channel) just published a video[1] about his academic career. In it he noted that in Australia where he's located, the defense companies were an exception to that general rule, and did indeed sponsor a fair bit of basic res…

Even so, Australia still has the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) so there's that funding and research too, which actually has, per capita, about a similar funding (equivalent of US$9B adjusted), though they generally do most of that research 'in house' versus funding it externally.

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#166

This should feel personal to a lot of us. I have hopes of applying to the Small Business Innovation Research fund ( https://seedfund.nsf.gov ), a program that gives small companies a good chunk of money without taking equity, in order to encourage development of technologies deemed of national importance. I’d be curious if anyone here has tried applying in the last 18 months.

SBIRs have been mucked up since last fall. The program lapsed and it just got reauthorized for certain departments. Without that reauth only those who had phase 1's could apply for phase 2's.

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#167

What are the equivalent institutions in China? Do they do open houses?

It would be quite amazing if people in the US realized how much brain went to China in the last 16 months. I am a govie (contractor) and just what I know alone is …

What do you know?

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's just own-goal after owl-goal with this administration. The presumes that "Trump Administration" and "United States of America" are the same thing. The reality is that a Venn diagram of them would be two circles that barely touch. Is it really an "own goal" if you gravely injure your victim while you rob them?

No. They are 100% overlapping because democracy. Even if you didn't vote for Trump, you are part of the United States of America that voted for the Trump Administration to represent it. Until the Trump Administration is replaced, the "Trump Administration" _is_ The United States of America. It's certainly not what an increasing amount of the population want to be true, but facts can be sticky like that.

Here's hoping that democracy continues...

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#169

This should feel personal to a lot of us. I have hopes of applying to the Small Business Innovation Research fund ( https://seedfund.nsf.gov ), a program that gives small companies a good chunk of money without taking equity, in order to encourage development of technologies deemed of national importance. I’d be curious if anyone here has tried applying in the last 18 months.

I know several people who have. They cannot even get awarded funds right now. All funding is being directed to grant mills.

Re: Trump fires NSF's oversight board

#170

This should feel personal to a lot of us. I have hopes of applying to the Small Business Innovation Research fund ( https://seedfund.nsf.gov ), a program that gives small companies a good chunk of money without taking equity, in order to encourage development of technologies deemed of national importance. I’d be curious if anyone here has tried applying in the last 18 months.

I was helping some people working on their phase I SBIR throughout the first year of Trump, and they often didn't know who to report to, as the firings were so relentless and pointless and completely disorganized. They got the highest possible rating upon completion, but have not been able to apply for Phase 2, so the project is effectively dead as they pursued other opportunities. It's hard to imaging a more wastefu…

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