And not everyone is leaving. Many scientists are choosing to stay, searching for new sources of research funding or pivoting to jobs in industry.
But the erosion of reputation and the talent drain may not be over. The Trump administration has cut or frozen up to $174 billion in federal grants since the president’s second term began, according to a tracking tool released by the States United Democracy Center and the organization Grant Witness. And a proposed rule from the Office of Management and Budget could give political appointees more control over what future projects are funded. A resolution approved by Congress has delayed a final decision on the rule until December.
Scientists who have moved away and those still in the U.S. are worried about what’s left behind. They say the next generation of scientists may struggle with fewer graduate programs, money and mentorship — and it could take a decade or longer for the U.S. scientific enterprise to truly feel those effects.
Major research institutions accepted 15% fewer applicants for fall 2026 doctoral programs compared to last year, according to admissions data collected by the Association of American Universities. One of the students impacted was a mentee of Smith’s.
Young women need to get out of the US
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump is “ending waste” and is “committed to keeping America the world leader in scientific innovation, and that means funding real science.”
“Real science” means whatever bullshit the few, “strong,” “superior” men at the top decide it means. Because that’s how they want facts and reality to be determined: through a forceful, rigid hierarchy of dominance. Research, experimentation, data collection and analysis? That’s for betas in lab coats. In America, might makes right. And being educated and informed isn’t just incongruous with their vision of hyper masculine dominance hierarchies, it’s completely antithetical to it. Intelligence and intellect are weakness, to be strong you MUST be ignorant.
thing is to that funding was already down since pretty much bush jr. we are being hollowed out as a country.
But by god, billionaires can have a jumping car. USA! USA!
You think Elon stole this research money?
It’s priorities, Einsteen.
I’m getting a bit sick of this trope.
The entire planet spent about $60B a year on biomedical research. $38B was spent in the US. After than was gutted, G7 did nothing to fill the gap.
So, sorry, the idea that scientists will move away to do research is just ignorant. Research takes money, and most countries are funding research proposals with 10% success rates or less. To industry? VC has also dried up.
Plenty of billions for submarines and tanks.
Agreed. Many Research 1 schools are all standing and have cut costs to accommodate, but there was never a ton of money in academia anyway-- at least, not without strings attached. Tenured faculty usually get classes bought out with research funding, but without it, they can still be retained with teaching a full schedule (that does screw people who normally fill those, though, like graduate students and adjuncts!).
On the upside, at least most researchers I know are used to working on a shoestring budget. That said, I mourn the death of NCES, and other research arms of the department of education, since they made up a big part of the educational research I’ve done before myself. That’s longitudinal work lost that can’t be fixed with a new administration.
Everyone on Lemmy who left the USA in the last 10 years raise a hand. ✋
✋
🤚
Who would say no free brain drain from the US or Russia or Iran or whatever.
Researchers don’t like ugah ugah so they can come to Europe as long as things are normal here. Admittedly it’s written in the stars how long before we degenerate here as well.
as long as things are normal here
Next year will definitely be interesting.
I don’t want interesting! I want boring, same old but a bit better every year!
They can come over to my house and we can do research together. I have a couch and microwaveable gluten free corndogs.
…
Okay, full disclosure, I don’t have a couch. But I could get one!
And I love smart people nerding out over stuff. And like, a bunch of Styrofoam cups and markers and poster boards and stuff.
Sure you could do your results in a PowerPoint presentation, but wouldn’t big block letters with glitter be so much better?
