The TOI correspondent from Washington: A prime US scientist of Indian-origin resigned because the Director of the Nationwide Science Basis (NSF), whose $ 9 billion price range funds life-changing analysis in America, amid allegations that the MAGA-infused Trump administration is gutting science and analysis within the nation.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, an alumnus of IIT, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, resigned with 16 months to go earlier than the tip of his six-year time period, saying “I consider I’ve completed all I can to advance the mission of the company and really feel that it’s time for me to move the baton to new management.”
“Panch” as he’s popularly recognized amongst colleagues, didn’t delve into causes for his departure, however the broad take-away in scientific circles from his all-staff memo is that he give up attributable to frustration over White Home stress to chop NSF’s $9 billion annual price range and cull the company’s 1,700-person workers.
“This can be a pivotal second for our nation when it comes to international competitiveness. NSF is an especially vital funding to make US scientific dominance a actuality. We should not lose our aggressive edge,” Dr Panchanathan urged within the memo, even because the Trump/Musk DOGE hatchet hacked at what they take into account to be bloated expenditure that funds DEI priorities and non-essential analysis.
The NSF has deep ties with Indian establishments such because the Division of Science and Expertise and plenty of universities, collaborating in areas like communications, semiconductors, cyberinfrastructure, safe computing, and inexperienced expertise, directing thousands and thousands of {dollars} to joint analysis. Though NSF doesn’t immediately fund Indian researchers or establishments, it channels grants to US researchers collaborating with Indian counterparts.
Panchanathan was a key driver of 2023 US-India Initiative on Crucial and Rising Applied sciences that was signed within the White Home. Though he was appointed to the put up by President Trump throughout his first time period, the NSF, like many storied American establishments, is operating aground because the Trump-Musk credo of eliminating “waste and fraud” is drying up funding.
As with many establishments, together with its companion Nationwide Institute of Well being (NIH), DOGE groups of younger whippersnappers are stated to have bodily infiltrated into the NSF headquarters earlier this month, demanding accountability from senior management who they consider have lengthy had a “free run.”
Based on one account, the NSF was directed to terminate over $1 billion in grants and halt new awards that conflicted with President Trump’s government orders regarding range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI), clashing immediately, given his personal background, with Panchanathan’s priorities akin to rising range in analysis.
Born and raised in Chennai, Dr Panchanathan accomplished his B.SC in Vivekananda Faculty and MSc and MTech at IISC and IIT respectively earlier than coming to Canada for his PhD and later shifting to US the place he has rose quickly in scientific, successful reward for his work in assistive and rehabilitative applied sciences, ubiquitous computing environments for people with disabilities, haptic person interfaces, and face/gait evaluation and recognition. Among the many start-ups he co-founded are MotionEase Inc. and RehabDev LLC, each targeted on rehabilitative applied sciences.