Science Under Threat in the US

Science is under attack in the US. The new administration is terminating existing grants, preventing the review of new grant applications, and threatening to cut the "indirect costs" paid to universities for research. It is also firing staff at the National Institutes of Health and other agencies, reversing efforts to make the scientific workforce more diverse and inclusive, pulling out of international bodies such as the World Health Organization, and seeking to exert greater control over universities by threatening to withdraw federal funding for research.

The articles in this collection make clear that the actions of the Trump administration are already damaging science in the US, and are likely to have an adverse impact on the American biomedical workforce in the long-term. The articles also call on individual researchers and university leaders to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large, and for universities to do their best to support ongoing research projects, and to only stop recruiting new PhD students as a last resort.

Image:LivingBetterThroughChemistry, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Collection

1. Science Under Threat in the United States: Research turns hope into reality

   Anna C Greene, Casey S Greene

   Two scientists describe how an acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis underscores the need for continued federal support for research and access to care.

2. Science Under Threat in the United States: How to make science more efficient

   Stuart Buck

   DOGE needs to completely rethink its efforts to increase the efficiency of the federal agencies that fund research in the US.

3. Science Under Threat in the United States: The NIH is a sound investment for the US taxpayer

   Nicholas W Gilpin

   Research funded by the National Institutes of Health is essential for improving the health of Americans and developing new drugs and treatments for a wide range of diseases.

4. Science Under Threat in the United States: Campaigning for science and scientists

   Adriana Bankston

   A Congressional Science & Technology policy fellow outlines some options available for responding to the blatant attacks on science and the scientific workforce in the US.

5. Science Under Threat in the United States: Feeling abandoned but energized

   Vaughn S Cooper

   Many individual researchers are frustrated by the response - or the lack of a response - from universities to a growing crisis.

6. Science Under Threat in the United States: How scientists and institutions should respond

   Ran Blekhman

   Individual researchers and university leaders need to make the case for science to their elected representatives and to the public at large.

7. Science Under Threat in the United States: The impact on undergraduate students

   Reenie Tian, Kamna Kalkunte ... Mayank Chugh

   Anti-science policies, funding cuts, scientific censorship and the US withdrawing from international commitments are worrying members of the ReForm Lab at the College of William & Mary.