The following is a letter written by private-sector company executives, startups founders, chamber of commerce presidents, and venture capitalists in support of the National Science Foundation as a cornerstone of U.S. competitiveness.
Dear Chairman Cole, Chairwoman Collins, Ranking Member DeLauro, and Vice Chairwoman Murray,
As founders of private sector companies and startups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and business leaders, we write to urge Congress to sustain funding for the National Science Foundation as a cornerstone of U.S. competitiveness. The agency’s investments are vital for maintaining American scientific leadership – and in many instances have proven critical for our own success as innovators, investors, and job creators.
Public investment in basic science has been key to our nation’s success since World War II: It has helped drive business productivity, enabled the creation of a highly skilled workforce, and yielded immense economic growth. In the American system of innovation, federal funding connects universities and businesses and allows ideas and talent to flow freely between the two. University-industry partnerships have benefited all Americans, and few entities have forged more successful linkages than the NSF.
For example, NSF investments in neural networks and cognitive science helped drive the development of modern-day AI. The NSF seeded the internet by investing in its own precursor, NSFNET, which built on the Department of Defense’s “ARPANET,” and by investing in research into digital networks and information; it also funded the graduate students who went on to found Google. And the NSF played an important role in the development of additive manufacturing through its investments in foundational research into materials science, mechanical engineering, and computational workflows. The sectors built around NSF-supported fields have added trillions of dollars to the U.S. economy, reflecting massive returns on federal investment.
As it happens, the areas of science and engineering in which the NSF has most excelled are exactly those domains in which China is now ascendant, thanks to its own long-term investments. China is now a clear technological rival in fields as diverse as robotics, materials, quantum communications, AI, and many others.
Though its mission continues to focus on basic science, the NSF does not operate in a vacuum. It proactively seeks to engage with industry through initiatives such as the Regional Innovation Engines program and the Engineering Research Centers, which have yielded hundreds of spinoff companies, supported students, and added more than $50 billion in economic value. Other programs like the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer SBIR / STTR have boosted scientific and commercial outcomes achieved by entrepreneurial firms while seeding industry players like Qualcomm and Symantec (now Gen Digital).
Lastly, the NSF is also important for its role in developing a skilled workforce. NSF research and educational awards provide substantial support for undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. The skills they develop while working on NSF- funded projects make them attractive hires and productive employees at the most innovative businesses and start-up companies.
If the United States wishes to sustain its ability to compete globally while continuing to reap the rewards proffered by innovation in the long run, it needs a strong and thriving NSF. We, as founders of private sector companies and startups, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and business leaders, urge you to ensure NSF’s funding is sustained in FY26.
Sincerely,
The individuals listed here are signing as individuals, not as formal representatives of their respective companies or organizations. Affiliations are included for identification purposes only.
Rose Wang, Founder & CEO, 1104Health (MD)
Kate Dineen, President & CEO, A Better City (MA)
Jerome Wolf, Former Deputy Chief Credit Officer, ABN/AMRO North America, Inc. and LaSalle National Bank (IL)
Jenny Herbach, CEO & Co-Founder, Adventris Pharmaceuticals (MD)
Jonathan Hurst, Chief Robot Officer, Agility Robotics (OR)
Klaus Mueller, CEO, Akai Kaeru LLC (NY)
Jackie Erickson, Senior Director, Government Affairs, Allegheny Conference on Community Development (PA)
Cynthia L. Bristow, CEO, Alpha-1 Biologics (NY)
Christopher Mussey, President, American Refrigerants (FL)
Adam Gilbert, Principal, AMG Consulting (CT)
Patrick Gouhin, CEO, Angel Capital Association (KS)
Michael Guarnieri Animalgesics Laboratories (MD)
Mary Ann Przybylski, President/CEO, Apache Junction Area Chamber of Commerce (AZ)
Grace Appelbe, Director, Policy & Government Affairs, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry (AZ)
Steven G. Zylstra, President & CEO, Arizona Technology Council (AZ)
Marina Despotopoulou, R&D Director, Arkema Inc. (PA)
Christine O'Brien, Chief Scientific Officer, Armor Medical Inc. (GA)
Brooke Thomson, President and CEO, Associated Industries of Massachusetts (MA)
Anuj Purohit, CEO, Atlantic Sea Solutions DBA Atlas (CT)
John R. Selby, Managing Partner, AZ-VC (AZ)
Geoffrey Lynn, Chief Scientific Officer, Barinthus Biotherapeutics (MD)
Kirsten Hoffman, General Counsel, Beacon Capital Partners, LLC (MA)
Laura McGovern, PE, Chief Process and Innovation Officer, Benesch (IL)
Lisa Johnson, CEO, BioForward Wisconsin (WI)
Ian McLaughlin, Vice President, Government Affairs, BioNJ (NJ)
Wayne Sternberger, CEO, Co-Founder, BLOCKsynop, Inc. (MD)
Kord Jablonski, Executive Director, Boston Building Resources (MA)
Paul Bierden, President/CEO, Boston Micromachines Corporation (MA)
Deena A. Berton, CEO, Cambridge Computer Services, Inc. (MA)
Stephen Bloch, General Partner, Canaan Partners (CT)
Thomas J. O'Connor, Vice President, Government Relations, Capital Region Chamber (NY)
Trevor Nicks, PhD, Founder & CEO, Caravel Bio (OR)
John R. Dearie, President, Center for American Entrepreneurship (VA)
Hilary Chebra, Director, Government Affairs, Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey (NJ)
Terri Kimble, President/CEO, Chandler Chamber of Commerce (AZ)
Steve Harrill, CEO, Chiller Services Refrigerants Recovery and Reclamation (CA)
Wes Mathews, President & CEO, Choose New Jersey (NJ)
Chris Stone, PE, F.NSPE, F.ASCE, CEO, Retired, Clark Nexsen, Architecture & Engineering (VA)
Amy Booth, Professor, COG Learning (TN)
Perry Hoffmeister, Managing Partner, Colter Lewis Investment Partners (CT)
Therese Canares, CEO, CurieDx, Inc (MD)
Lori Foster, President & CEO, Downtown Tempe Authority (AZ)
Stephen Cheung, President & CEO, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) | World Trade Center Los Angeles (WTCLA) (CA)
Deborah Hemingway, Managing Partner, Ecphora Capital (MD)
Brian Toll, CEO, EDAC Labs (MD)
Johannes Pollanen, CSO, EeroQ Corp. (IL)
Jean Summerton, CEO, EndoRel Biosciences (OR)
Jamie Fuhrman, Director, EY-Parthenon (IL)
Susan Gerenstein, Vice President, Professional Development, FullBloom (PA)
Dr. David Farrell, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Gamma Diagnostics, Inc. (OR)
Mary Hannes, Associate Director, Golden Angels Investors (WI)
Taylor Landin, Executive Vice President, Greater Houston Partnership (TX)
Mark Blaze, President & CEO, Greater Nashville Technology Council (TN)
Todd Sanders, President & CEO, Greater Phoenix Chamber (AZ)
Thomas Maynard, CEO, Interim, Greater Phoenix Economic Council (AZ)
Neil Giuliano, President & CEO, Greater Phoenix Leadership (AZ)
Bob Duffy, President/CEO, Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce (NY)
Dr. Bel Mekonnen, Founder, CEO & President, Hager Biosciences (PA)
Steve Issenman, Senior Vice President - Federal and External Affairs, HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) (NJ)
Patti White, President and CEO, Hemex Health, Inc. (OR)
Poolad Imany, CEO, Icarus Quantum (CO)
Jonathan Cohen, Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Idealab Arizona (AZ)
Lou Sandoval, President & CEO, Illinois Chamber of Commerce (IL)
Christy George, President & CEO, Illinois Economic Development Corporation (IL)
Mark Denzler, President & CEO, Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IL)
Kate Calabra, CEO, Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (IL)
Dalfoni Banerjee, Founder & CEO, ImmuNovX Biotech (PA)
Stephen T. Meyers, CEO, Inpria Corporation (OR)
Paul Denslow, CEO, Intus Bio (CT)
Patricia Glaza, Managing Director, Invest Detroit Ventures (MI)
Vinton Cerf, Internet Pioneer, IPNGROUP (VA)
Dan Lin, Professor, iPrivacy Lab Co. (TN)
Michael Abdelmessih, Operations Manager, Ithaca Clean Energy (MA)
Dr. Samantha Scott, CEO, JuneBrain Inc. (MD)
Alex Andrianopoulos, Chief R&D Officer, Kairos Ventures (CA)
Marshall Cox, CEO, Kelvin (NY)
Beth O'Neill Maloney, Executive Director, Kendall Square Association (MA)
Olu Ibrahim, CEO, Kids in Tech (MA)
Bailey Surtees, CEO, Kubanda Cryotherapy (MD)
Ian Dickinson, CEO, LongPath Technologies (CO)
Jacqueline Iniguez, Policy Manager, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce (CA)
Cian Cavooris, Founder/CEO, Magnet Launch, LLC (NY)
Tyler Evans, Co-Founder, CEO, Mana Battery, Inc. (CO)
Grason Wiggins, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs, Maryland Chamber of Commerce (MD)
Kendalle Burlin O'Connell, CEO & President, MassBio (MA)
Colin Harmer, CEO, Materic (MD)
Scott Daniel, CEO, Materium Technologies Inc. (NJ)
David B Singer, Managing Partner, Maverick Ventures (CA)
Mark W. Wingate, Founder, Maxivolt Corporation (TX)
Sally Harrison, President & CEO, Mesa Chamber of Commerce (AZ)
Dave Williams, Chief Policy Officer, Metro Atlanta Chamber (GA)
Haven Allen, Chief Executive Officer, mHUB (IL)
Stephen Rapundalo, PhD, President and CEO, Michigan Biosciences Industry Association (MichBio) (MI)
Ara Topouzian, Executive Director, Michigan Venture Capital Association (MI)
Kurtis Miller, Owner, Micro Evaluation Group, LLC (TX)
Robert Morton, PhD, Head of Security Assurance for National Clouds, Microsoft (WA)
Baining Guo, Technical Fellow, Microsoft Corporation (WA)
Laura Kroeger, Executive Director, Mile High Flood District (CO)
Tamara Small, CEO, NAIOP Massachusetts, The Commercial Real Estate Development Association (MA)
Simon P. Selwood, CEO and Co-Founder, Neuros Biotechnology Inc (MD)
Michele N. Siekerka, President & CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJ)
Tom Bracken, President/CEO, New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce (NJ)
David Arfin, CEO and Co-Founder, NineDot Energy (NY)
Ryan Berger, Assistant Executive Director, NJ SEED (NJ)
Thierry Klein, President, Bell Labs Solutions Research, Nokia Bell Labs (NJ)
Peter Vetter, President of Bell Labs Core Research, Nokia Bell Labs (NJ)
Richard Douglas, Chairman and Director, Novavax, MaxCyte, Aldeyra Therapeutics (FL)
Benjamin Yu, Founder, Nuoli Health (OR)
Christopher Stoeger, President, OcuCell, Inc. (OR)
Richard A. Stoff, Founding and Former President and CEO, Ohio Business Roundtable (OH)
James Atwood, Chief Executive Officer, Opentrons Labworks, Inc. (NY)
Yacoub Habib, Ph.D., MBA, CEO, Ophidion, Inc. (PA)
Heather Ellis, Executive Director, Oregon Bioscience Incubator (OR)
Gordon Hoffman, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Oregon Bioscience Incubator (OR)
Cara Turano, President & Executive Director, Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OR)
Timothy O'Reilly, Founder and CEO, O'Reilly Media (CA)
Jeffrey Jensen, CEO, OryGyn Medical Devices, LLC (OR)
Kirsten Leute, Partner, University Relations, Osage University Partners (PA)
Chris Erickson, Partner, Pangaea Ventures (AZ)
Dan Fennell, Director - HPC/AI & Storage Sales, PIER Group (IN)
Chad Williams, President, PIER Group LLC (IN)
Kevin Ohashi, Managing Partner, Pond Capital (MA)
Hal English, President/CEO, Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce (NJ)
Alexander Trick, CEO, Co-Founder, Prompt Diagnostics (MD)
Raymond Smets, President & CEO, Quantum Circuits, Inc. (CT)
Mowaffak Midani, Head of Solutions Architecture and Strategic Relations, Quantum Circuits, Inc. (QCI) (CT)
Alfred Chuang, Founding & Managing Partner, Race Capital (CA)
Tom Klaff, CEO, Revolution Cooking, LLC (MA)
John Harkness, CEO, Rewire AI (OR)
Robert V Chimenti, Director/Owner, RVC Photonics LLC (NJ)
Anil Kumar, CEO, RxHomeTest (OR)
Matthew Stein, CEO, Salient Predictions, Inc. (MA)
Doug Erickson, Executive Director, Santa Cruz Works, Inc. (CA)
Paul Nelson, Managing Partner, Saoradh Enterprise Partners (CO)
Chris Ramezanpour, President, Secure Food Solutions (TN)
Daniel Saragnese, CEO & Co-Founder, SereNeuro Therapeutics (MD)
Terrence Hayes, President, Siena Construction Corporation (MA)
David Palter, VP, Civic Impact, Silicon Valley Leadership Group (CA)
Jessica Paolini, Manager of Economic Development, Somerset County, Office of Economic Development (NJ)
John Hennessy, Professor (Stanford) and Chair of the Board (Alphabet), Stanford/Alphabet (CA)
Robert Williams, PhD, Co-Founder, State 4 Therapeutics, Inc. (CT)
Maria Thompson, Retired CEO/Founder, T/J Technologies (MI)
Pat Hanrahan, Co-Founder and CTO / Professor, Tableau Software / Stanford University (WA)
Skip Newberry, President & CEO, Technology Association of Oregon (OR)
Robin Arredondo-Savage, President/CEO, Tempe Chamber of Commerce (AZ)
James Hanley, CEO, TeraFiber, LLC (CA)
Andy Lombard, CEO, TESORO VC (AZ)
Gabriela Perdichizzi, VP, Government Relations, Texas Association of Business (TX)
Crystal Griffith, Director, Workforce Development, The Business Council of New York State, Inc. (NY)
Molly Rafelson, Program Director, The Clean Fight (NY)
Carol Corrado, Distinguished Principal Research Fellow in Economics (retired), The Conference Board (NY)
Ben Downing, Chief Growth Officer, The Engine (MA)
Thomas Blum, Cleantech Investor, The New York Angels (NY)
Craig Serio, CEO, Thread Bioscience Inc (PA)
Eileen McCullough, CEO, Tiller Therapeutics, Inc. (CA)
Connor Barth, Co-Founder & CEO, Trace Biosciences (OR)
Kelly Beck, CEO, Trench Therapeutics, Inc. (CA)
Stuart Waldman, President, Valley Industry and Commerce Association (CA)
Laura Boccanfuso, CEO, Van Robotics, Inc (SC)
Bob Kocher, Partner, Venrock (CA)
Bryan Roberts, Partner, Venrock (CA)
Racquel Bracken, Partner, Venrock (CA)
Siobhan Nolan Mangini, Partner, Venrock (CA)
Jenna Fernandes, Co-Founder, Venture University (CA)
Phil Weilerstein, President & CEO, VentureWell (MA)
Doug Falk, CEO, Vita Therapeutics (MD)
Lewis H. Motion, Founder and CEO, WEAV3D Inc. (GA)
Marc Margulies, President, Wharf District Council (MA)
Rand Whillock, Owner, Whillock Visions (MN)
Thomas W. Still, President, Wisconsin Technology Council (WI)
Jim Cassetta, President, WORK, Inc/FM&M (MA)
CC:
Chair Jerry Moran, Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee
Chair Hal Rogers, House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee
Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee
Ranking Member Grace Meng, House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee