In 2009, Mont Hubbard, Ronald A. Hess, Dale L. Peterson, and I were awarded $300K for a two year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study how people are able to balance on bicycles. We completed the work in September 2012 after an additional one year no-cost extension. This resulted in numerous research products that have been well cited since the completion of the work.

In 2011, US Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a report entitled "The National Science Foundation: Under the Microscope" with the intention to expose wasteful spending of US tax dollars by the NSF. The grant we were awarded was listed as one of the examples of "silly research". This received a fair amount of media attention and we were interviewed for a number of publications to comment on this report, e.g. in IEEE Spectrum.

Then again in 2014, US Assemblyman Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chair of the House's Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, launched an investigation into NSF's wasteful spending, also bringing our grant and work back into the spotlight.

My colleagues and I have responded to various media inquiries but never developed a statement in our own words that reflects our opinion on this matter. Now 4.5 years later, this past week a journalist contacted us with this question:

Hi Professor Hubbard, I'm a reporter with <redacted> writing on the implications of the Scientific Research in the National Interest Act (HR 3293). I'm highlighting interesting research that lawmakers decried as a misuse of federal funds and came upon your NSF-funded research about how people ride bikes. I was wondering if you knew of any instances of your findings from that study being used in a meaningful way, perhaps by cities to decongest roads and increase bike ridership or something along those lines. I'd love to include it in my piece. Thanks for your time! Best, <redacted>

This request prompted us to formulate some responses. In particular, I finally found a moment to put some thoughts to paper. The letter below is my and Mont's response to this journalist that we believe summarizes our opinion on the continued attacks by some Congress members on the NSF: