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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-US">Dear Postdocs, </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-ligatures:none;mso-fareast-language:DE"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-US">Please consider joining an upcoming rally in support of science, to be held at the Massachusetts State House on March 7th from 12-4 pm (</span><a href="https://standupforscience2025.org/boston-ma/"><span lang="EN-US">https://standupforscience2025.org/boston-ma/</span></a><span lang="EN-US">).
This event will be part of a series of nationwide demonstrations that has been publicized in the Boston Globe and Science magazine. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-US">The current administration has slashed budgets for agencies that support critical research, such as the NIH, NSF, CDC, FDA, and NOA, sacking leadership at these
agencies and laying off hundreds of scientists. Cuts to indirect costs at universities and research institutions further tear into resources for science education and research. Together with the cancelation of grant review panels and delays in payment of previously
funded grants, the administration’s actions place the entire scientific enterprise at risk.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-US">Science, more than any other endeavor, has been the engine of America’s success since WWII. Other nations envy our research community and send their best and
brightest to train in our universities. It is important that we convey the value of our work in a way that is likewise clear to our own elected leaders as well as to voters and taxpayers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-US">At this time of existential threat to the survival of science as we know it in the US, it is time to stand up. Please pass this message to your colleagues, friends,
and family, and post on social media. If they are not in Massachusetts, they can look up their closest gathering site at </span><span style="color:blue"><a href="https://standupforscience2025.org/boston-ma/"><span lang="EN-US">https://standupforscience2025.org</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:blue">. </span><span lang="EN-US">The
fight for science and education is everyone’s fight for a better future. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-language:DE">_________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE">Bettina Schmerl, Dr. rer. nat.
</span></b><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE">(she/her/hers)</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE"><br>
Postdoctoral Fellow<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE">President of the MIT Postdoctoral Association<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE">Picower Institute for Learning and Memory<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE">Massachusetts Institute of Technology<br>
43 Vassar St.<br>
Building 46, Room 3225<br>
Cambridge, MA 02139<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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