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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Dear Postdocs,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">This is a reminder about the rally tomorrow early afternoon 12-4pm at the Massachusetts State House.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">You can get there by taking the red line from Kendall to Park Street or alternatively meet before noon at
<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/42.361586/-71.089313&layers=N">Hockfield Court</a> and walk to the State House together with other members of the MIT community.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Spread the word among your departments, labs and students. Have as many people join you as possible. Every voice is needed to stand up for science!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Hoping to see you all tomorrow at the
<a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/42.357612/-71.063508">State House/Boston Common</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Bettina<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none">From:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;mso-ligatures:none"> Bettina Schmerl
<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, February 24, 2025 8:40 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> mit-postdocs <mit-postdocs@mit.edu><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Stand up for science: March 7th 12-4 pm at the Massachusetts State House
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">Dear Postdocs, <span 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">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 lang="DE"><a href="https://standupforscience2025.org/boston-ma/"><span lang="EN-US">https://standupforscience2025.org/boston-ma/</span></a></span>).
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></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">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 lang="DE" style="color:blue"><a href="https://standupforscience2025.org/boston-ma/"><span lang="EN-US">https://standupforscience2025.org</span></a></span><span style="color:blue">. </span>The
fight for science and education is everyone’s fight for a better future. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="DE" style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-fareast-language:DE">_________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="DE" 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 style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black;mso-fareast-language:DE">(she/her/hers)</span></b><span 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 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 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 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"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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