Comment on FR Doc # 2026-12725 from Jeff Velten
AnonymousOpposeIndividual
Summary: The commenter opposes the proposed changes to the NSF grant review mechanisms, arguing that they prioritize personal opinion and political bias over scientific merit. They claim these changes would undermine the U.S. research system, harm the economy, and stifle future scientific discoveries.
The proposed changes to the mechanisms for NSF grant review are designed to actively divert the process from one in which facts, data, and scientific insight are the primary determinants for funding approval. The changes being suggested would replace scientific assessment with personal opinion, political bias, and theories un-supported by any form of scientific analysis. If these changes were put in place, the research system that has kept the United States at the forefront of scientific and technological advancement over many decades would quickly evaporate and this critically important underpinning of the US economy would be irretrievably lost. The negative economic consequences would be bad enough, but could actually pale in the light of the long-term loss of currently un-anticipated discoveries that have historically been the outcome of the open and competitive market of ideas currently supported by the existing NSF grant approval system. The proposed NSF rule changes CANNOT be approved and implemented if our country is to continue as a leader in the global scientific community!