AMS President Communications
AMS Presidents Kra and Vakil Write to NSF Director
January 31, 2025
The Honorable Sethuraman Panchanathan
Director, National Science Foundation
2415 Eisenhower Avenue
Alexandria, VA 22314
Dear Director Panchanathan,
As leadership of the American Mathematical Society, we write on behalf of the mathematics community regarding the crisis caused by the sudden changes in National Science Foundation policy. We are sure that you are inundated with requests and would not write unless it were urgent: we are receiving nonstop requests for help.
We fully understand the need to comply with the executive orders and to make sure that all funding is in compliance with updated regulations. However, the changes and the timeline for their implementation have had immediate implications for individuals and for nationally funded institutes.
- Many postdoctoral fellows have received notification that they will not be paid. They represent the future of US mathematics, and rely on their fellowship stipends for rent and food.
- Mathematics institutes can not draw disbursements and these disbursements are used to directly pay individuals. This is having an immediate impact on the ability of organizations to stay open, and on the livelihoods of postdocs and long-term visitors at these institutes.
We understand that the freezes are temporary with reviews underway. However, the immediate impacts will have long-term consequences for American mathematics, research, and development. Most vulnerable are the junior researchers who are now scrambling to ensure their basic needs are met, instead of focusing on basic research.
