Trump is dismantling science in America. Time to push back, Washington | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Trump's executive orders slash federal science funding and halt active projects.
- Thousands of research jobs vanish amid canceled grants and student visa cuts.
- Lost funding erodes future U.S. innovation in health, technology and engineering.
For US scientists like myself, the months since President Donald Trump’s inauguration have been an onslaught of chaos.
Trump’s executive orders and DOGE have consistently targeted scientific institutions — through multi-pronged attacks on universities, research funding and government scientists. As a result, U.S. scientists are facing an unprecedented loss of job opportunities and any semblance of career stability, not just for a few months, but for decades.
Research job cuts are already widespread, with resulting impacts on state and local economies across all 50 states, in urban and rural areas. For most scientists, the personal devastation is compounded by recognition of the long-term, permanent damage to US research, innovation and technology development.
As scientists and Americans, our job is to speak out and make these costs unmistakable to the public. Although science and technology are integrated into every moment of our lives, the work that goes into them is often invisible: successful medical treatments are based on decades of plodding bench research and trials, and engineering innovations get commercialized by companies after years of initial development in universities.
Scientific discoveries — especially those that benefit the public — are largely nurtured in universities, supported by federal funding. The most promising eventually find their way out, through university partnerships with government, non-profits, and industry.
In fewer than five months, Trump’s executive orders and DOGE have attacked every aspect of science and research: revoking funding overnight, politicizing scientific peer review, attacking universities, terminating tens of thousands of active projects, mass firing of federal scientists and revoking international student visas.
Many executive orders and actions impacting scientific fields have been legally challenged. However, eventual court rulings on legality will mean little for the hundreds of thousands of scientists who have lost jobs, research and student programs already cut, and projects that have had to cancel experiments and data collection.
In practical terms, much long-term damage is already done.
Terminations of research grants alone have resulted in widespread devastation. Across just two agencies, the number of canceled contracts is staggering: 2,100 National Institute of Health projects ($1.9B in lost funding), and 1,700 projects funded by the National Science Foundation ($1.4B in lost funding).
Most people don’t realize it, but scientists that get federal grants have invested years — often unpaid — gaining specialized expertise that allows them to be competitive for these grants. These canceled projects represent several generations of America’s best innovation — in medicine, environment, public health and engineering.
Losses of federal government scientists, who are among the most experienced in their disciplines, are another existential blow to US innovation and research.
On June 14, Trump will spend $60 million in taxpayer dollars on a birthday parade for himself. As a scientist, what I see is $60 million in lost science, lost engineering, lost innovation.
If you don’t already have a reason to join a #NoKings protest on June 14, please get out in support of US science and scientists!
We want to do great work: unraveling mysteries, making lives better and powering the future economy.