1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

Sometimes contacting you feels like such an exercise in futility as I watch my country and everything I’ve worked for for the past 20 years be dismantled. We’re trying get pregnant and a lot of days now I think maybe we should give up because of the direction our country is moving. I have spent months begging you to do something, anything to stop all of this. I don’t know what else to do. (1) The Institute of Library and Museum Services is being dismantled. I strongly oppose this. (2) They want to get rid of the Department of Education. This is illegal. This is the purview of Congress not the President. Education in this country is our biggest strength. (3) we learned yesterday that the entire group that maintains atomic line lists at NIST was fired. These line lists form the basis for so much work done by astronomers, chemists, and physicists all of the world. (4) My French colleague tried to attend a conference in Houston last week and was denied entry at the border because a search of his phone revealed anti-Trump sentiments related to the way this administration has been treating scientists. International collaboration is fundamental to good science and our international colleagues are increasingly indicating they will not be traveling to the US until this regime is over. (5) I worry about NASA all day every day. I worry about everything I’ve worked to build for the last 20 years. I worry about my students who will be looking for jobs soon. I worry about our students who are trying to finish their degrees. I worry about the safety of our trans students. Please help us.