January 11, 2019

MLML's Dr. Alison Stimpert talks about how the government shut down is affecting scientists in this NPR article.

Excerpt:

“Alison Stimpert, a marine biologist with California State University, writes, "Even though I am continuing to work, many of my collaborators (USGS, NOAA) are furloughed and projects we are working on together cannot move forward." She says that means "project planning meetings are being delayed, as well as permit applications for upcoming work."

Stimpert studies bioacoustics — "acoustic behavior and effects of noise on marine species," she explains — in waters off of California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Alaska and Antarctica. She says that in some cases, the shutdown means she may have to reorganize some travel or wait to start a phase of research until collaborators can work. In other areas, it might have more serious implications: "We might miss an opportunity to deploy an instrument, which makes us miss collecting an entire season of data." And Stimpert says that if she or her collaborators have future federal funding delays, it could mean that "I can't purchase an instrument that I need, but might (and I am not alone in this) mean my other funding runs out and I can no longer fund my position, making me lose my benefits."