Other cancelled grants included nearly two dozen projects devoted to disinformation research, election security, cyber-physical systems protection and the CyberCorps scholarship program, according to a spreadsheet obtained by Nextgov/FCW.
In total, around $328 million worth of grants, many of them issued to major American universities, were canceled. The mass cancellation and realignment of NSF’s grant priorities coincided with the arrival of officials from the Department of Government Efficiency, who have been present at the agency since April 14, according to six people familiar with the matter.
The grounds for their terminations hinged on the research subject. Many of the grants were centered on improving STEM education and access for minority and underserved students, among a myriad of other topics that dovetail into diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which have been vilified by the Trump White House.
NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said last week that the science and engineering research agency would no longer “support research with the goal of combating ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation’ that could be used to infringe on the constitutionally protected speech rights” of Americans.
The reconfiguration also follows concerted efforts at agencies like the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to reassess the role that the government should play in flagging false information online.
Multiple people told Nextgov/FCW that DOGE's presence at NSF was the driving force behind the en mas ..
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