Panch has been conveniently absent throughout this whole time,” said an internal email an NSF worker sent to fellow colleagues, referring to Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF’s director.

Nearly 170 employees at the National Science Foundation (NSF) who were still on probation were fired by the Trump administration on Tuesday, union officials told The Hill. The cuts at the agency responsible for funding scientific research hit more than 10 percent of their staff,