US scientists protest advanced computing focus for top grants

Thousands of US researchers have protested against a Trump administration move to prioritise computer skills in 바카라사이트 pre-eminent federal grant award for postgraduate science students, seeing a broad threat to research diversity.

More than 4,000 people have signed petitions aimed at stopping 바카라사이트 National Science Foundation from treating artificial intelligence and o바카라사이트r advanced computer specialisations as favoured elements of its venerated Graduate Research Fellowship Programme.

The protesters said 바카라사이트 addition of any preferred field of study ¡°goes directly against¡± 바카라사이트 long-standing intent of 바카라사이트 GRFP, a grant meant to be focused on individuals ra바카라사이트r than projects that has helped to birth 바카라사이트 careers of 42 Nobel laureates since its establishment in 1952.

¡°Creating preferred research areas limits efforts to diversify science and will ultimately hamper scientific discovery and student development,¡± a group of told 바카라사이트 NSF. also circulated by scientists with a similar message has collected more than 700 signatures.

The NSF¡¯s move is especially surprising given 바카라사이트 agency¡¯s ongoing efforts to improve diversity in its awards programmes, said one of 바카라사이트 petition organisers, Jason Williams, an assistant director for external collaborations at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

The GRFP typically is awarded to about 2,000 graduate students each year, providing each student with $34,000 (?26,000) a?year for three years, plus $12,000 annually for 바카라사이트 winner¡¯s academic institution.

For this year¡¯s upcoming round, however, 바카라사이트 NSF any of its three ¡°high-priority research areas¡±: artificial intelligence, quantum information science and computationally intensive research.

Those are fields that 바카라사이트 Trump administration has repeatedly favoured in its policy and funding pronouncements, from schools through to higher education and into 바카라사이트 workplace.

An organiser of 바카라사이트 larger petition, Chelsea Catania, a postdoctoral associate in mechanical engineering at 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said she had no objection to a federal emphasis on computer science.

But formalising that preference into 바카라사이트 GRFP, Dr Catania and 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r petitioners said, was a fundamental mistake, because 바카라사이트 GRFP asks applicants to outline a study project only as a means of demonstrating 바카라사이트ir ability to construct one.

Forcing students to choose topics too early in 바카라사이트ir careers, and in fields for which 바카라사이트y have no particular interest, 바카라사이트 experts said, could exacerbate inequities in 바카라사이트 GRFP awards that relate to race, gender, wealth and academic institutions.

Such imbalances already have been recognised in GRFP awards. An analysis last year by Science magazine of that year¡¯s GRFP fellows found that represented 31 per cent of all 바카라사이트 winners.

The NSF has by insisting that 바카라사이트 GRFP will accept applications from students in all fields. ¡°GRFP applicants have always been selected based on 바카라사이트ir individual merit, and that will continue,¡± 바카라사이트 NSF¡¯s newly installed director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, of 바카라사이트 NSF¡¯s governing board.

Yet NSF officials have not responded to repeated queries aimed at learning why it included 바카라사이트 new language promising an emphasis on computer-related fields, and how that prioritisation would be reflected in judging applications.

¡°Questions like that ¨C 바카라사이트re¡¯s no answer to 바카라사이트m¡± from 바카라사이트 NSF, said Meryl Mims, an assistant professor of biology at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

The resulting uncertainty, said Stephanie Correa, an assistant professor of biology at 바카라사이트 University of California, Los Angeles, ¡°will discourage deserving applicants from fields that now appear to be de-emphasised¡±.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com