Benjamin Gill

🚨Jobs Alert 🚨‼️ Multiple #geology positions with the US Bureau of Land Management. Including Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon, Winnemucca, Nevada ⚒️ www.usajobs.gov/job/889070100 www.usajobs.gov/job/889068800

Re‐Evaluating the Thermogenic Decarbonation During Large Igneous Provinces Emplacement Using Temperature‐Dependent Thermal Properties Wang, Yang, Deng et al. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026gc013028 #stableisotopes

We (Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech) are #hiring TWO tenure-track Molecular Microbiology professors! Review of applications starts 1 Nov. I'm happy to answer questions about the department, VT, life in Blacksburg, etc.! More info / to apply: jobs.apply.vt.edu/jobs/assista... 🧪👩‍🔬🦠 #academicjobs

"Keivan Stassun, a member of the board that oversaw NSF before Trump ousted all its members in April, told Inside Higher Ed that 'fundamentally, what’s going on is the agency has been decapitated.'"

Hello Geoscience folks ⚒️ We are advertising again for a new colleague at the TT level in structural geology. Start date of August 2027. www.geosociety.org/jobs (FYI, the last search resulted few applicants, so please encourage colleagues and students to apply this round)

NSF GEO webinar summary: we have reduced programs from 15 down to 3, we have no deadlines, we have no guidelines on project size, duration or budget, we have no money

"For many U.S. scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the agency they know and loved died on 10 September."

There's A LOT of ways the Trump admin is currently attacking & decimating American science. Here's a breakdown of what they are doing, and what you can do about it. 🧵

So very stupid

Hmm, okay, I guess I'm supposed to have opinions or something? #MinCup26 #calcite In the negligent absence of a good photomicrograph of an echinoid spine under crossed polars, I guess I've gotts go mollusk.

#TeamCalcite always and forever. Here's a small taste of calcite's beauty with a look at my personal calcite collection.

It's hard watching an organization that did a lot of good, inspired and supported generations of scientists, and made the United States a global destination for science be dismantled and twisted. Was it perfect, no, but NSF and we don't deserve whatever this is.

Got to go with #calcite. Its utility for understanding past environments where it forms has kept me enthralled since I first started working in a lab. #MinCup26

Its pretty clear that this framework is just using the facade of funding science to funnel public money toward private entities owned by benefactors of politicians. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-lea...

The National Science Foundation has not had a director since April 2025, but is undertaking very significant structural changes in how it funds US science. No permanent leadership appears anywhere in sight.

Let your elected officials hear from you. Push back. It’s the option right now.

I started translating the announcement into plain English, but got too depressed to continue before I even reached the most pernicious parts in the "full letter" linked.

I've been grateful to receive NSF funding in the past. I don't think this announcement has anything to do with science. "Our new Office of Metascience will rigorously assess the effectiveness of new initiatives" is a red flag. www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-lea...

Ultimately, this letter from NSF is an announcement that universities will be funded a lot less and politically-connected industry will be funded a lot more. Fancy words around old-fashioned corruption.

Grantmaking has leveled off, so it looks like NSF will make around 6,200 new grants—down from an average of ~11,000. That's a historic low, not seen since the 1980s, when NSF was a far smaller organization. Left was our projection three weeks ago, right is the current data.

If you care about Earth science in the US, please sign up for the NSF GEO virtual office hour Sept 15 with GEO directorate head Joydip Kundu! NSF leadership needs to hear directly that people care and are concerned about GEO. Maxxing out their Zoom tier sends a message. www.nsf.gov/events/nsf-g...

🚨 The NIH is moving to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in infectious-disease research projects to the DOD under a secret 10-year pact. Here’s what’s happening inside “Operation Prevailing Edge” 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 5 It's a fiery match of vibrant red #Cuprite and just as saturated orange #Orpiment battle for your votes! VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...

Wonderful world of cephalopod evolution in deep time... " Here we provide an overview of some exciting fields in cephalopod research, where (in our biased opinion) the most impressive advances have been made." 🧪⚒️ #Geology #Paleobio #EvoBio www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Was slumming it on fb and ig to see reactions to the Academy of Natural Sciences closing. It’s heartening that people are pissed. But it’s astonishing/enlightening how little understanding there is of what *any* museum is, who runs them, and how they’re funded. 🧵with dinosaur pics for attention

As director of our graduate program, I got tasked with developing department guidelines for the use of AI in writing dissertation and theses. I polled the faculty about acceptable AI use and I expected it was going to be a snake pit of opinions... but man was it ever A SNAKE PIT OF OPINIONS.

Have you seen the @sfchronicle.com article “New calculations raise the odds of a major Bay Area earthquake”? Here’s my hot take. 🔥 Article 👉 www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

I've campaigned to have #Skutterudite in the cup for several years. Now is the time. Lets go! ⚒️ 🧪

#MinCup26 Round 1 Match 2: Flowery pink #Erythrite is against shiny silver #Skutterudite in this match of cobalt minerals. Will you pick the weathering product or the mineral it comes from? VOTE: www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re... RESULTS www.mineralcup.org/2026/vote-re...

For the first match of #MinCup26, I give to you this lovely, old school display that show how staining carbonate minerals with different chemicals can be used to ID them. #Smithsonite makes an appearance here, but #Azurite is missing because its easy to ID... no stain required

BREAKING: OMB PROPOSED RULE IS PAUSED UNTIL DEC 11th. This is a direct result of OUR ACTIVISM! It's a critical step in the right direction AND the fight continues. NOW, it's time to revoke the rule. Email here: fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/rev... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

The House has now passed (370–48) the Senate's version of the continuing resolution, so the government will remain funded until Dec. 11 and the OMB rule will remain on ice until then as well.

I don't condone carbonate-on-carbonate violence. ⚒️ 🧪#MinCup26

Alcott, L.J., Mills, B.J.W., Bekker, A. et al. A nutrient control on oxygenation dynamics during Earth’s Great Oxidation Episode. #stableisotopes Nat Commun (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Dodd, M.S., Li, C., Cheng, M. et al. Reversed marine phosphorus gradient in the Ediacaran Ocean. #stableisotopes Nat Commun (2026). doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Now with alt text! 23% drop in student visas to US in 2025 57% drop from India alone catastrophic for research and learning, here and abroad www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

it's pretty unnerving seeing in real-time everything you see in the geologic record from ancient episodes of rapid warming, from jökulhlaups and flood deposits to carbon cycle feedbacks from wildfires and permafrost, to polar amplification of warming, to ocean deoxygenation...

Was looking at Grant Witness and got to thinking... How does American geoscience survive *next* fiscal year given NSF's stated goals for the geoscience directorate and the collapse of other federal funding? What's left?

I did and I know you can too. Make your voice heard and leave you comment.

I just submitted my comment in opposition to the NSF procedure changes. You can do so here: www.regulations.gov/document/NSF... Don't forgot to submit your comment today before 11:59 PM EST. I also wrote all my congressional representatives letting them know how it will hurt our state. 🧪