NSF fires roughly 170 employees after reclassifying hundreds of workers as probationary

The National Science Foundation, which awards roughly $9 billion in research grants annually, fired approximately 170 employees after the Trump administration reclassified a large portion of its workforce as probationary, a designation that strips workers of appeal rights and makes dismissal far easier. Congressman Don Beyer of Virginia, whose district includes many NSF employees, first disclosed the scope of the firings publicly. NSF manages peer review for basic research across physics, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, and engineering. The affected workers included program officers who oversee grant portfolios and administrative staff who coordinate the review process. Losing experienced program staff disrupts the continuity of multi-year research grants and makes it harder for universities and research institutes to plan long-term scientific programs. The NSF firings came as part of a coordinated reduction-in-force campaign across science agencies driven by the Department of Government Efficiency.