The responses have begun. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/ecologists-protest-sudden-end-nsf-dissertation-grants ESA is figuring out how they will respond (there WILL be a response), and SysEB and ECN are looking at a smaller but cooperative statement as well. Just keeping everyone aware. Thanks to Sydney for making me aware that the article was posted. It came up at yesterday's ESA Science Policy Committee meeting so I was aware it was being written, but not aware that it was out. As I've mentioned to several of you that have reached out to me off-list...arguing the importance of the program is not an issue. They understand the importance. It's the workload required to process them relative to the value of the grants themselves (high number, low $ value) so any response we give needs to focus not on convincing them that they are important but on providing cost-effective and low-staff solutions to help with the review and processing side of the equation. Have a good weekend, all! Floyd --------------------------------------------------------- Floyd W. Shockley, Ph.D., F.R.E.S. Collections Manager Department of Entomology National Museum of Natural History Smithsonian Institution P.O. Box 37012, MRC 165 Washington, DC 20013-7012 Tel (office): 202-633-0982 Fax (office): 202-786-2894 Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Staff Website: http://entomology.si.edu/StaffPages/ShockleyF.html