When the US government was partially shut down for 35 days starting December 22, work at several government agencies ground to a halt, with a total of 800,000 federal employees furloughed. The National Science Foundation, one of the sidelined science agencies, is now addressing all that went undone during that time, NSF officials told reporters this morning (February 1).
During the shutdown, 111 review panels to award grant money were canceled. The panels convened again starting on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, said Erwin Gianchandani, the deputy assistant director for NSF’s computer and information science and engineering division. Some of the rescheduled panels will meet in person and others by teleconference, including those to assess submissions for the Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Another priority is to pay out money previously awarded to grantees, said Gianchandani. On the first day back, grantees filed requests for about $220 million spread out over 16,000 awards. On a typical day, the amount the NSF gives out is closer to $20 million, he said.
