By Kritika Agarwal
In a press conference on Wednesday, June 25, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it will be moving into the headquarters of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Alexandria, Virginia. The move will effectively displace more than 1,800 NSF employees over the course of the next two years. It is currently unclear as to where NSF employees will be relocated.
Employees at the NSF learned about the relocation early Wednesday when they received a memo noting that the General Services Administration is allowing the move because NSF is not “fully using the office space and other areas currently allocated” to it.
During the press conference, GSA Commissioner Michael Peters stopped short of promising that the NSF will remain in Virginia but noted that the GSA will help the agency identify an alternative space. “If I were a betting man, I would bet they will end up in Virginia,” he said, continuing: “But that is not a promise.”
The move threatens to disrupt crucial research at the National Science Foundation, which is the nation’s cornerstone federal research agency; NSF investments were crucial in the development of the internet, smartphones, MRIs, CRISPR gene editing, LASIK eye surgery, 3D printing, breakthroughs in semiconductor technology and artificial intelligence, and more.
Just recently, the NSF’s Vera C. Rubin Observatory – dubbed the world’s “largest digital camera” – released its first scans of the universe. Researchers will use the telescope to unlock secrets of our solar system (including asteroids that could threaten the Earth) and of the elusive dark matter and dark energy.
AAU President Barbara R. Snyder issued a statement on Wednesday calling HUD’s takeover of the NSF headquarters “deeply misguided.” She said: “This sudden decision – which was not coordinated in any way with NSF officials – would seem to leave the NSF without a home and sends the message that America no longer values science or its scientific workforce.”
In a statement, American Federation of Government Employees Local 3403, which represents NSF employees, noted that HUD will be making several luxury upgrades to the NSF building to accommodate HUD Secretary Scott Turner. However, Turned denied the allegations during the press conference, calling them “ridiculous.” GSA Commissioner Peters emphasized that the move is a “transformative investment in the future of HUD” that would save taxpayers millions of dollars.
Virginia Senator Mark Warner (D), however, expressed skepticism about the alleged taxpayer savings on Thursday. During a press call, Warner said that he has “not seen any cost evaluation yet” and would “demand a full accounting.” He said: “You gotta factor in the costs of moving NSF, and where are they going to locate?”
Viriginia Congressman Don Beyer (D) also issued a statement noting that the “proposed move raises serious concerns about the future of NSF, the over 1,800 employees who work in the building, and the broader integrity of American science.” Beyer emphasized that the NSF headquarters must remain in Alexandria, “where it belongs.”
As President Snyder said in her statement, the decision to move the NSF will “destabilize the U.S. research ecosystem, which is already under strain because of ongoing funding uncertainties, halted and disrupted science work at federal agencies, and budget cuts.”
She continued: “It threatens the continuity of the Gold Standard Science to which the Trump administration has committed, and which NSF employees conduct on behalf of all Americans to keep our nation ahead of competitors such as China.”
Kritika Agarwal is assistant vice president for communications at AAU.