New NDSEG website not secure?

[Entangled Phantoms]

10 hours ago, NeoOzymandias said:

"Don't criticize us or the program will get shut down."

Very professional.

 

https://twitter.com/NDSEGF/status/985914904598204416

Someone took a screenshot of this, right? Have a feeling someone might have second thoughts about leaving this up.

[DiscoTech]

6 hours ago, crystal1712 said:

Well if DoD cut the program from 200 to 69 they're probably already looking at cutting the program all together. I don't think it has anything to do with STI-TEC I actually think they're trying to make sure the program stays in tact. In regards to them failing miserably they're new at it and everyone/company makes mistakes they said they were taking all comments into consideration so I think everyone should chill on the comments and give them a chance its their first year and people were upset with ASEE as well so a new contractor isn't always the best option because there will just be another year of this. 

Looks like STI-TEC setup a sock puppet account. Don't blame them. Professors Spokoyny and Armani are blasting them on Twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/ArmaniLab/status/985630862631780352). Spokoyny linked to gradcafe!

[Eigen]

I highly doubt STI set up a sock account on this forum. 

[DiscoTech]

7 hours ago, Eigen said:

I highly doubt STI set up a sock account on this forum. 

That was partly sarcasm. I say partly because Spokoyny called out STI-TEC on twitter and linked to this thread in his criticism. It is really weird that someone joined Gradcafe and immediately put up a post defending STI-TEC and did nothing else. I mean, I get seeing STI-TEC's point of view but it is just weird for that to be triggering event to create an account here.

[citrullination]

On 4/16/2018 at 9:18 AM, NeoOzymandias said:

"Don't criticize us or the program will get shut down."

Very professional.

 

https://twitter.com/NDSEGF/status/985914904598204416

did anyone screenshot this / remember what it said? It's deleted now, but I'm just curious.

[citrullination]

Actually, someone on Twitter took a screenshot:

https://mobile.twitter.com/organomimetic/status/985559345298419712

Also, Sarah Reisman has joined the conversation as well: https://mobile.twitter.com/sarah_reisman/status/985645455051665408

[NeoOzymandias]

4 hours ago, citrullination said:

did anyone screenshot this / remember what it said? It's deleted now, but I'm just curious.

Holy cow, they actually deleted it?  Can a government contractor do that (that is, remove information related to a public program)?

 

Well, here's the text image they shared for future reference.  And a transcription:

"Thank you for your feedback, we are taking it all into consideration as we prepare for the upcoming year.  STI was awarded the management of this contract in late August, and as with transitioning any existing contract there are growing pains.  Please keep in mind continuous negative comments can lead to the program's loss of funding and we are doing our best to ensure this program remains available for aspiring researchers.  We appreciate your patience."

Emphasis added by me.

[Entangled Phantoms]

4 hours ago, NeoOzymandias said:

Holy cow, they actually deleted it?  Can a government contractor do that (that is, remove information related to a public program)?

 

Well, here's the text image they shared for future reference.  And a transcription:

"Thank you for your feedback, we are taking it all into consideration as we prepare for the upcoming year.  STI was awarded the management of this contract in late August, and as with transitioning any existing contract there are growing pains.  Please keep in mind continuous negative comments can lead to the program's loss of funding and we are doing our best to ensure this program remains available for aspiring researchers.  We appreciate your patience."

Emphasis added by me.

LOL. Called it!

[blobbyblob]

Reached out to the government affairs office at my school and received an updated email yesterday that they have reached out to the DoD Basic Research Office that oversees the program and it seemed like there might have been some error or miscommunication that came out, and apparently there have not been any budget cuts to the program, and are working on a new letter through senior DoD level offices that should be sent soon.

Not very hopeful as to what that means, but very interesting that the 2018 awardees link was removed from the website also.

[fredrogers3]

2 hours ago, blobbyblob said:

Reached out to the government affairs office at my school and received an updated email yesterday that they have reached out to the DoD Basic Research Office that oversees the program and it seemed like there might have been some error or miscommunication that came out, and apparently there have not been any budget cuts to the program, and are working on a new letter through senior DoD level offices that should be sent soon.

Not very hopeful as to what that means, but very interesting that the 2018 awardees link was removed from the website also.

Somewhat encouraging news for those that were waitlisted, thanks for pursuing this 

Edited April 27, 2018 by fredrogers3

[Entangled Phantoms]

5 hours ago, blobbyblob said:

Reached out to the government affairs office at my school and received an updated email yesterday that they have reached out to the DoD Basic Research Office that oversees the program and it seemed like there might have been some error or miscommunication that came out, and apparently there have not been any budget cuts to the program, and are working on a new letter through senior DoD level offices that should be sent soon.

Not very hopeful as to what that means, but very interesting that the 2018 awardees link was removed from the website also.

No budget cuts but the number of fellowships reduced by over 50%?

[NeoOzymandias]

On 4/27/2018 at 11:23 AM, blobbyblob said:

Not very hopeful as to what that means, but very interesting that the 2018 awardees link was removed from the website also.

 

According to the Wayback Machine, this occurred between 04/20 and 04/27, so that comports with your timeline.  At this point, I not even daring to hope of being pulled off of the alternates list, though.

[NeoOzymandias]

Just received the following email:

Dear 2018 NDSEG Fellowship Applicants,

 We are writing to you today to retract a part of our statement regarding the selection of the 2018 Fellowship class. In our email, we reported budget cuts as the basis for the number of fellowships awarded. We would like to provide clarification on the allocation of funding for the program.

We incorrectly reported that the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) program has experienced budget cuts; however, the Department of Defense (DoD) increased the spending on the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship program compared to the previous fiscal year. In an effort to ensure that the program remains competitive with similar fellowships, the Department made programmatic changes to the FY17 NDSEG program that increased the cost per student.  This increase in costs per fellow has, in turn, reduced the number of fellowships available. Moving forward, the Department intends to review the programmatic changes instituted during the FY17 fellowship class to properly balance the competitiveness of the program against the overall number of students that are trained in areas of defense relevance

We apologize for any confusion that our statement may have caused. We appreciate your understanding and your support of the program.

-The NDSEG Fellowship Team

[Entangled Phantoms]

On 5/17/2018 at 6:06 PM, NeoOzymandias said:

Just received the following email:

Dear 2018 NDSEG Fellowship Applicants,

 We are writing to you today to retract a part of our statement regarding the selection of the 2018 Fellowship class. In our email, we reported budget cuts as the basis for the number of fellowships awarded. We would like to provide clarification on the allocation of funding for the program.

We incorrectly reported that the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) program has experienced budget cuts; however, the Department of Defense (DoD) increased the spending on the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) fellowship program compared to the previous fiscal year. In an effort to ensure that the program remains competitive with similar fellowships, the Department made programmatic changes to the FY17 NDSEG program that increased the cost per student.  This increase in costs per fellow has, in turn, reduced the number of fellowships available. Moving forward, the Department intends to review the programmatic changes instituted during the FY17 fellowship class to properly balance the competitiveness of the program against the overall number of students that are trained in areas of defense relevance

We apologize for any confusion that our statement may have caused. We appreciate your understanding and your support of the program.

-The NDSEG Fellowship Team

I love how the cost per student went up so much that the number of awarded fellowships fell by close to a factor of 3. STI-TEC probably found create ways to line their pocket when raising the cost per student on DoD. New outreach programs? Social media department for $5M? If DoD ever audits these guys, I would love to read the report.