Acknowledging Federal Support: A Small Act with Big Impact

The need to educate the public about science and astronomy has never been greater. The federal agencies that sustain our research, including NASA, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), are facing serious and ongoing challenges to their budgets. We are already seeing the effects, with terminated grants and canceled programs for early-career scientists.

Before serving as Division Director for Astronomy at the NSF, my public talks focused entirely on the science itself. But during my time there, I came to appreciate a sobering reality. Federal agencies are prohibited from advocating for their own budgets or asking others to do so. We in the scientific community are the only ones who can remind the public how vital these agencies are to scientific discovery and innovation. For most people, the federal funding of science is invisible. And if the public does not understand that NSF and other federal agencies support so much of American science, why would they care when those budgets are cut in half?

One simple and powerful way to help is to acknowledge our federal support, not only in publications but also in public talks, classroom presentations, outreach events, press releases, and media interviews. When we describe our work, we can also tell the story of who makes that work possible. We can share how that support has advanced our careers and trained the next generation of scientists. These small gestures remind the public that their tax dollars are building the future of science.

Let us make federal support visible. It is one of the simplest and most effective ways to sustain the next generation of discovery.