The scientific community continues to face unprecedented challenges as the Trump Administration attempts to fundamentally change the way research is supported and conducted in the U.S. The latest threat—to eliminate the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate (SBE)—which the agency has reportedly already initiated without Congressional approval or stakeholder engagement, requires a whole-of-science response. See COSSA’s Save SBE Toolkit for more information.

COSSA is continuing to collect stories from the social and behavioral science community on how recent Executive Actions are affecting or have the potential to affect research and the scientific workforce. These stories may be specific to the SBE issue OR other Executive Actions taken since January 2025. Your contributions will help the COSSA team as we share real-world, timely information with policymakers (e.g., Congress and federal agencies) about the impact these actions are having across the country. 

Your responses will remain confidential, and any stories used by COSSA will be anonymized and used anecdotally. You may provide your name and contact information in the survey, which would only be used by COSSA staff to follow up with you about your story. You may also submit your story anonymously.

This activity is not limited to COSSA members. However, if your institution is not currently a COSSA member and you are interested in learning how to join and support COSSA’s efforts, email Wendy Naus at wnaus@cossa.org.