Global Physics Summit: Town hall remarks on recent executive actions

During two town hall-style sessions at the APS Global Physics Summit in Anaheim, California, APS leaders invited attendees to share questions and concerns about ongoing executive actions impacting science, and delivered brief remarks. Below are those remarks from the second town hall, lightly edited for concision.

Remarks by Jonathan Bagger, APS CEO

Welcome to the second town hall at the Global Physics Summit. We have this opportunity to discuss the concerns we all share about the recent actions of the U.S. federal government.

APS is a nonpartisan organization, but no matter what our political or personal views, we all care about the future of physics, the future of research, and the future of our field. APS exists to advance physics, to foster discovery, innovation, and collaboration. In short, we stand for science.

Our mission at APS is to foster a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society. Each word of that mission is important, and fulfilling that mission depends on a strong scientific community — one that's supported by sound policies and stable funding.

This town hall offers the opportunity to discuss how APS is responding to policies that could jeopardize scientific research and the careers of current and future colleagues, both here in the United States and abroad. Physics is a global field, and so what affects one of us, affects us all. Today, during this town hall, we'll do our best to describe what's at stake. And we'll share the steps that APS is taking, and let you know what you can do to protect the future of science.

Remarks by John Doyle, APS President

Good morning, colleagues. It's an honor and privilege to be with you here today as president of the American Physical Society. Standing here at the Global Physics Summit, I feel both a deep sense of responsibility and immense excitement for the scientific opportunities ahead.

Any incoming APS president would expect these two things, especially in the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and at our biggest scientific meeting, where new results and new questions abound. At the same time, I feel the weight of the challenges now facing our community from the developing actions taken by the executive branch of our government.

A major focus of APS is on supporting and navigating our community through an unprecedented targeting of the American scientific enterprise, and here at the Global Physics Summit, we are cognizant of the global impact such actions can have.

It is ironic that this year, the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, coincides with the recent challenges we face. Quantum science and technology have undoubtedly made major contributions to national security and the economic wealth of the American people and all global citizens.

To nurture quantum science and all of physics, we must — along with the major focus of IYQ activities, educating the public — explain the best we can to elected officials not only the enriching wonder of science and discovery, but also the economic power the scientific enterprise brings, and how our collective scientific activities actually function.

An important part of that functionality is two forces working together. The first is raw curiosity of how the physical world works. Many of us are driven by fascination with a mathematical understanding of the world and the need to comprehend in detail a certain piece of physics. The second is the application of that knowledge to create tangible benefits to society, whether through new materials, transformative technologies, or systems with commercial potential.

These two forces, discovery and application, reinforce each other. This dynamic is what fuels progress. By supporting both pure, curiosity-driven research and basic physics research with an eye towards future applications, either scientific or commercial, we ensure that science continues to advance knowledge and drive the innovation needed to build a better, healthier, and more sustainable future for our global society.

We need Congress to hear this. We need the executive branch and its advisors to hear this. We need the public to hear this.

So far, the flotsam of actions concerning the physics enterprise coming out of D.C. has been unsettling, eaten up emotional and intellectual bandwidth, and greatly affected the lives of many. This situation may become much, much more challenging for physicists in the future. Make no mistake about that. Truth is under attack. APS needs to promote physics and physicists need, as always, to tell the truth — even when uncomfortable. Truth is our major currency among the public. It is our superpower. As we have, over the past two years, worked so hard at APS to focus our approach on messaging and advocacy, we will continue to carefully prepare our boat to face what is currently a squall, but which has the potential to become a hurricane.

Our APS mission and vision didn't change because Calvin Coolidge, Eisenhower, or Clinton was elected, and it didn't change when Trump was elected. We are all aware — and it didn't take a flurry of executive actions to make us so — of the pressures facing our community, from funding constraints to the erosion of public trust in science.

But as leaders, we know that every challenge is an opportunity, and the same skills that drive our research - teamwork, innovation, and problem-solving - can guide us in addressing these pressing issues.

Remarks by Francis Slakey, Chief External Affairs Officer

I'd like to start by talking directly to staff at the federal science agencies. Many of you are joining us at this meeting virtually — you couldn't join us in person because of federal budget issues and federal travel suspensions.

I've spoken with staff at the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Department of Energy. You have told me how challenging and dispiriting it is at your agencies right now. Some of you have said you feel abandoned by the government. 

But you are not abandoned by us. This is your community, the physics community, APS — all of us here. And whether you are at NSF or DOE or NASA or NIST or NOAA, or any of the federal science agencies, I want to thank you for the work you do. You are the backbone of U.S. science.

But while that demonstration of appreciation is important, it's not enough. So APS is waiving membership fees for members who are facing financial hardships. We're allowing virtual access to meetings. We're providing career services and benefits. 

And on March 11, APS filed a legal brief on behalf of employees at federal science agencies who are suing the federal government to get their jobs back. From our perspective, the government has provided no evidence that the firings address their stated goals of increasing efficiency or reducing waste, fraud, and abuse.

So when I say that we are standing with our staff at federal science agencies, these are not just words from the stage. We are in the courts directly supporting the agencies and the staff who work for them.

That's not the only issue we have to address right now. Numerous executive actions are affecting APS members and the physics community. There are proposed cuts to the federal science budget by 20% to as much as 50%. There have been caps on indirect costs, rollback or elimination of climate change policies and regulations, increasing barriers to immigration, and suspension of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

These executive actions touch all of us — whether you are a student worried about your future, a PI wondering about your next grant, an international scientist who wants to come here to collaborate or even just attend this meeting, or a scientist in industry wondering about the federal government’s commitment to the Chips and Science Act.

I want to tell you how APS is responding to a few of these issues.

Let’s start with the science budget. Recently, every federal science agency had to provide the administration with a proposal to reduce their staff by as much as 50%. And soon, the president is going to propose a FY ‘26 budget for the government. We expect significant cuts to science — the 20-50% cuts I mentioned.

There's only one way to stop that from happening. Congress has to reject proposals to slash science. How do we get Congress to do that? Members of Congress have told us how. As Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican from North Carolina, said recently: “I will find out what any proposed cuts are. I will find out what the impact is on my district, and if they hurt people in my district, I will vote against those cuts.”

To get members of Congress to reject budget proposals that slash science, we have to meet with them and their staff in the states, speak up at town halls and talk about the impacts of cuts, and share our message with the media.

So that's what we're doing. As APS members, you've already received emails from us, including one asking you for stories. We're using these stories to build our ground game, so that when the president drops his budget proposal, we are prepared to run a 50-state, nationwide, grassroots campaign.

Meanwhile, we will pay close attention to a particular handful of states — states in which we are already building and training teams of APS members. Maybe some of you are already participating. The moment the budget drops, we'll be scheduling meetings in those states so those teams can meet with their members of Congress and staff in local state offices. We'll be providing schedules of town halls where they can speak up about the impact of the cuts. We'll be helping with op-eds and letters to the editors, so these teams can share the impacts of those cuts in local media.

In other words, we’re building a member-driven, locally tuned, state-based grassroots campaign. That’s how we’re preparing to respond to proposed cuts to the federal science budget.

I want to talk about one more issue: the executive actions around diversity, equity, and inclusion. Maybe you've gotten a sense for this from what Jon Bagger and John Doyle said — from what I've said. But APS work is based on our values, and our values have not changed. You can go to our website and see them, right alongside our mission.

Those values and that mission are not going to change because of the executive actions of an administration — not this administration, not the last administration, not the next administration.

APS statements, which represent the application of our values to particular issues, will not change either. I encourage you to read our APS statements, particularly the APS statement on diversity in physics. That statement encourages a work environment that fosters equity and inclusion. It reads, “APS recognizes that the health of the physics discipline is best served by addressing the equally important goals of improving access to opportunities in physics to the betterment of all people, while also engaging the vast intellectual potential that resides in groups underrepresented in physics.”

“Access to opportunities” — I hope that is something we can all agree to. In fact, I know the majority of you agree, because that statement was sent to every APS member for review and comment, and we received overwhelming support from our membership and from your elected Council and Board.

No executive order has changed a single word in that statement. No executive order will change a single word in our values. No executive order will change a single word of our mission.

We're also maintaining our commitment to our programs — our national mentoring program; our Bridge Program, which helps students transition from undergraduate to graduate school; our Step Up program, which helps students, young women in particular, stay in physics; and our Conference for Undergraduate Women and Gender Minorities in Physics.

We stand behind these programs. Each one of them is open to all. Each one of them provides access to opportunities. Each one of them recognizes that different communities have unique needs.

I encourage you to go to the website, to read about those programs and the stories of the hundreds of students who have benefited from them. I hope, when you come away from reading, you'll understand why we do this. Those programs enable the physics community, the full physics community, to grow and to thrive. We broaden, we grow, we thrive.

I know that there are institutions across the country that are folding up their programs. APS is not.

I know that there are organizations across the country that are scrubbing, editing, or archiving their formal statements, mission, or values. APS is not.

I want to share something I heard a couple of weeks ago. Jeremy Young, a director at PEN America, works with institutions across the country, counseling them on how to maintain their inclusion-related activities in light of executive actions. He’s discovered that it helps to share an example of an organization that's standing on its values and retaining its programs. The example he gives is APS.

It’s nice to be an example of an organization that stands on its values. But I'm most proud of the actions we're taking. We are working with you to fight for science in every state in this country. We are in the courts supporting our federal science agencies and the staff that work for them, and we are providing access to opportunities and maintaining our programs.

I'll close with one reminder. When there's all this political fury, it’s useful to not lose sight of what APS is and what APS is not. APS is not a blue-state organization. APS is not a red-state organization. APS is a physics organization. Everything that we're doing — all the actions we're taking — are good for physics, not for a political party.

I know that many of us are stirred up by the politics of the moment. I get that. But look to other organizations to channel your partisan views. Look to APS to champion physics.

Thank you.