Science education. Outrage greets NSF decision to end STEM fellows program.

Researchers are shocked and upset by a decision by the U.S. National Science Foundation to cancel a high-profile and successful fellowship program that has brought more than 10,000 graduate students into elementary and secondary schools around the country. A recent evaluation says the Graduate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fellows in K–12 Education program, begun in 1999, brings science to life for students, improves the skills of their teachers, and offers graduate students valuable training in the classroom. So participants don9t understand why the president9s 2012 budget request would abandon a $55-million-a-year program that addresses key aspects of the Obama Administration9s push to improve U.S. science and math education.