Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.

Panch has been conveniently absent throughout this whole time,” said an internal email an NSF worker sent to fellow colleagues, referring to Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF’s director.

The National Science Foundation fired 168 workers to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, the latest in a series of layoffs throughout the US government as the Trump administration seeks to shrink federal agencies.