For more than a year, Courtney Gibbons was focused on exploring the mathematical foundations of artificial intelligence — the kind of arcane research that can sometimes be overlooked until it helps pave the way for the next ChatGPT.But in February, Gibbons was one of 170 employees fired at the National Science Foundation, a federal agency that has long been a linchpin of domestic technology research and investment. Many of these were probationary staffers and part-time experts like Gibbons who h...