associate professor of psychology and social neuroscientist at columbia | person perception and social cognition | data equity | 🏳️🌈
Excellent reporting by @dangaristo.bsky.social on the NSF SBE situation, and what appears to be its de facto dismantling—funding virtually no awards since October—against the clear intent of Congress
Dan GaristoNEW: NSF has been funding research at a fraction of its historic rate. Last week, the agency finally began distributing money to its directorates and is now likely to pick up the grantmaking pace. But these allocations also amount to substantial cuts across the sciences. My reporting:
🚨 NSF is already quietly eliminating the SBE Directorate, despite Congress’ mandate that NSF support the behavioral & social sciences. Steps to counter this are in motion. If you - have an SBE proposal under review - serve on an SBE grant panel You can help! Fill out this form: shorturl.at/xuKw2
Share Your Story: Impacts of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF)Following the release of the President's Budget Request (PBR) on April 3rd, NSF quickly and quietly took steps to begin to dismantle the SBE Directorate. The Federation of Associations in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences (FABBS) wants to hear about how the SBE Directorate at NSF has supported your research and career. Your stories help FABBS communicate to policymakers and the public what’s at stake when the federal government fails to fund critical sciences. We may follow up for clarification, but we will not share your name or institution publicly without your permission.shorturl.atDemocracy Forward & I filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Census Bureau, seeking the release of data from its testing of sexual orientation & gender identity questions in the nation's most important annual demographic survey, key to upholding LGBTQ+ rights. democracyforward.org/updates/sogi... (1/4)
Democracy ForwardWe’re suing the Census Bureau to force the release of critical LGBTQ+ data. Failing to release the data = failing to include LGBTQ+ people from policy decisions impacting health care, housing, employment, education, and more resources. So we're demanding accountability.
New findings from my lab in Nature Communications suggest that racial stereotypes can lead the brain's perceptual system to temporarily "see" weapons where they don't exist. Led by: @dongwonoh.bsky.social Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/6)
In a TiCS paper, @chujunlin.bsky.social & I propose a high-dimensional model of social impressions. Existing models focus on 2–4 latent dimensions (e.g. trustworthy/warm), but they often fall apart across different contexts, cultures, & perceivers. We need a paradigm shift. shorturl.at/7GD1n (1/8)
A high-dimensional model of social impressionsPeople form social impressions from visual cues such as faces, which are argued by
various models to arise from some limited set of fixed dimensions (e.g., trustworthiness
and dominance). We argue tha...www.cell.comWant your NIH and NSF program officers and division directors to be fired and turned into political appointees? Deadline extended: 3 days left! Already 33,000+ public comments Comments can tank a proposed rule in court. 📣 Oppose the rule with a brief comment: shorturl.at/WKuBj
Jon Freeman🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday 📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
So thrilled @youngkihong.bsky.social will be starting up at UC Boulder!
Youngki HongExcited to share that I’ll be joining the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at @colorado.edu as an Assistant Professor this fall! My lab will study social cognition, focusing on the cognitive and neural bases of stereotyping and bias interventions.
Thrilled that @chujunlin.bsky.social is joining us this July!
Chujun Lin🥳Excited to share that I am joining Columbia July 2025 @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Looking for🚨lab managers🚨postdocs🚨grad students! Pls REPOST🙏 We study⭐️person perception⭐️social cognition using experimental, cross-cultural, & computational methods! App👉shorturl.at/5UVPl More👉shorturl.at/q18GM
🚨 A new rule would let career scientists like NSF/NIH program officers be replaced by political appointees Already 14,000+ public comments, deadline is Friday 📣 Comments can be short. Courts consider them—and scientists with NSF/NIH experience are especially impactful Speak up! shorturl.at/WKuBj
New NSF FAQ is posted. The 5 new priorities presumably don’t demolish science-wide funding. Good news-ish. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Job alert 🚨 We’re hiring a full-time research staff assistant at Columbia starting Fall 2025! The position will focus on several topics in the lab, including the cognitive & neural mechanisms underlying dynamic social perception using fMRI & natural language processing. Link: freemanlab.org/ra2025
As expected, NSF is cutting gender and sexual orientation data on U.S. STEM workforce surveys (on shaky legal ground). I'm grateful that following my request (shorturl.at/9rFMW) OMB required NSF to post an official rationale, which will be crucial to how we'll restore these questions in the future.
David MalakoffNEW: Sexual orientation, gender options cut from U.S. Ph.D. graduate survey | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF may be rolling back data collection on gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation in its national surveys of the US scientific workforce - undermining transparency and an accurate picture of STEM. In a letter last week, I argue these actions likely violate federal law. shorturl.at/IsiWm
Excited to announce that Columbia's Department of Psychology is hiring a tenure-track faculty member! Emphasis on multi-method expertise and research programs that complement current strengths in the Department. Come join us! Review begins Nov. 1: apply.interfolio.com/157376