Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

National Science Foundation grant funding through May 21

10-year average

$2 billion

The National Science Foundation, which funds much of the fundamental scientific research at American universities, is awarding new grants at the slowest pace in at least 35 years.

The funding decreases touch virtually every area of science — extending far beyond the diversity programs and other “woke” targets that the Trump administration says it wants to cut.

Grants funded by the National Science Foundation through May 21 ↓ 51%

2015-2024 average $2 billion In 2025 $989 million

Math, physics and chemistry

$432m

The chart shows the intended funding amount for new grants awarded by the N.S.F. during the 2025 calendar year through May 21, compared with the average funding for the same ******* from 2015 to 2024. In 2025 dollars.

Source:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

That means less support for early-stage research that underpins future technological advancements —

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

— in areas like computer science and engineering; physics and chemistry; climate science and weather forecasting; and materials and manufacturing innovations.

It also means less money for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and early-career professors — potentially disrupting the nation’s future scientific work force.

Economists have warned that cutting federal funding for scientific research could, in the long run, damage the U.S. economy by an amount equivalent to a major recession.

“These cuts are the height of self-inflicted harm,” said

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, the president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan science and technology policy research institute. The foundation has argued that China probably already

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

than the United States.

“If they succeed in these cuts, the result will be slower economic growth, less innovation and new tech startups, and even more diminished competitiveness vis-à-vis China,” he added.

The lag in this year’s funding, more than $1 billion below the 10-year average, is for new research grants, but the Trump administration has gone further. It has also terminated more than 1,600 active grants for existing research projects, together worth roughly $1.5 billion (of which at least 40 percent has already been spent).

And it

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

nearly $5 billion of the agency’s $9 billion budget for next year, cutting spending on “climate; clean energy; woke social, behavioral and economic sciences,” and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Among the in-progress grants that have been terminated, those focused on education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, accounted for the vast majority of the canceled funding. Many of these grants focused on broadening participation in science and engineering among underrepresented student groups.

Canceled funding from in-progress grants

STEM education	-$656 mil.
Math, physics, chem.	-$61 mil.
Geosciences	-$53 mil.
Computer science	-$47 mil.
Social sciences	-$46 mil.
Technology	-$38 mil.
Engineering	-$36 mil.
Biology	-$28 mil.

The chart shows the total cut in intended award funding for terminated grants grouped by N.S.F. directorate after excluding money that has already been spent.

Source:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

But in contrast with the canceled grants, the slowdown in issuing new grants is broader, representing an across-the-board hit to American science.

Decline in new grant funding in 2025

Math, physics, chem.	-$289 mil.
STEM education	-$223 mil.
Biology	-$156 mil.
Engineering	-$127 mil.
Geosciences	-$101 mil.
Computer science	-$85 mil.
Technology	-$18 mil.
Social sciences	-$16 mil.

The N.S.F. said in a statement that while it will focus on the Trump administration’s priorities — like artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology and nuclear energy — it remains “committed to awarding grants and funding all areas of science and engineering.”

Yet the data shows the agency’s funding of new grants at its lowest level since at least 1990, around when the N.S.F.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

into its modern structure. The funding has slowed even further since April 30, when agency employees were told to stop awarding funds entirely, according to an email reviewed by The New York Times.

Cumulative grant funding by the National Science Foundation, 1990-2025

Shows the cumulative total intended award for all grants funded by the N.S.F. from Jan. 1 to May 21 of each year in 2025 dollars. Spikes reflect large multi-year grants.

Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, the top Democrat on the House science committee, said the Trump administration was denying funding that had already been approved by Congress.

“What they’re doing is not only ********, but it’s also very damaging to the science enterprise and, ultimately, to the economy of the United States,” she said.

The N.S.F.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

it is canceling awards that are not in line with its priorities, including those focused on D.E.I., environmental justice, misinformation and disinformation. The cancellations have been cheered by Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, who in February published a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

identifying more than a third of the grants that have been terminated.

“My Commerce Committee investigation exposed how the Biden administration corrupted the N.S.F. grantmaking process with a divisive fixation on identity politics,” Mr. Cruz said in a statement. “This kind of politicization erodes public trust in science. The N.S.F. must spend taxpayer dollars responsibly and prioritize objectivity and scientific rigor.”

House Democrats on the science committee

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

the cancellations themselves are “based on hard-right political ideology and not scientific or research expertise,” and have

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, like associating the term “biodiversity” with D.E.I.

N.S.F. officials interviewed for this article said many grants that have already gone through the agency’s rigorous review process and were recommended for funding have been in limbo for months. After the April 30 email freezing new awards, which was first reported by

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, another email on May 13 allowed for some new funding but kept a freeze in place for higher education institutions.

A spokesman for the N.S.F. said it was still “making awards to higher education institutions.”

Either way, the N.S.F.’s directorate for STEM education has had one of the steepest shortfalls in new grants. Its award funding has declined by around 80 percent this year.

Funding through May 21 for …

STEM education ↓ 80%

2015-2024 average $280 million In 2025 $56 million

Undergrad. education

$135m

Equity for excellence in STEM

$46m

Research on learning

$77m

The N.S.F. says that it directly supported

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

researchers, teachers and students last year alone. It supports over

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, more than any other federal agency except the National Institutes of Health, which funds medical research and has also awarded far fewer grants this year.

Within its education branch, the N.S.F. has moved to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, which promotes D.E.I. and supports students who are underrepresented in science and engineering. The closure has been put on hold

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

The N.S.F.’s division of graduate education, which funds graduate student research, typically approves $21 million in grants by this point of the year, but has awarded none so far. It announced

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

this year, down from over 2,000 in prior years, as reported last month by

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

Ms. Lofgren said these education programs are required by law and were adopted with bipartisan support.

“You can’t have science without scientists,” she said.

Here’s how the shortfall in grant awards this year has affected other areas of science:

Math, physics and chemistry ↓ 67%

2015-2024 average $432 million In 2025 $143 million

N.S.F. grant funding for core scientific disciplines like math, physics, chemistry and material sciences has dropped by two-thirds this year.

The N.S.F. funds “basic” research in these areas: fundamental or unexpected discoveries that may be decades away from practical applications. That includes research on ultrafast lasers in the 1990s that eventually resulted in bladeless

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, or radar technology in the 1960s that

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

three decades later.

Curiosity-driven research lays the foundation for private sector investments and leads to breakthroughs that can be commercialized, said

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, the president of the

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, a nonpartisan organization composed of chief executives, university presidents and heads of national laboratories.

The N.S.F. has also funded major astronomical observatories that have made groundbreaking discoveries such as capturing the first images of ****** holes or detecting gravitational waves.

In 2023, the N.S.F. funded

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of all federally supported basic research in math and statistics in American colleges. So far this year, math and statistics grant funding is lagging behind previous years by 72 percent.

Funding for physics grants this year has fallen by 85 percent, and funding for materials research grants has dropped by 63 percent.

Engineering ↓ 57%

2015-2024 average $221 million In 2025 $94 million

N.S.F. grant funding for core engineering disciplines has dropped by 57 percent this year. These divisions fund areas like robotics, manufacturing innovations and semiconductor research.

Funding for grants related to chemical, bioengineering, environmental and transport systems has fallen by 71 percent this year, while funding for grants related to civil and mechanical engineering and manufacturing innovation has fallen by 48 percent.

Biology ↓ 52%

2015-2024 average $303 million In 2025 $147 million

Biological infrastructure

$99m

Most federal funding for biology research comes from the National Institutes of Health, but the N.S.F. also supports the field. Its grant funding for biology is at half of its previous 10-year average. There were fewer funds awarded for research in biotechnology and environmental biology, and less money for the tools, facilities and people that support biological research.

Computer science ↓ 31%

2015-2024 average $277 million In 2025 $192 million

Information & intelligent systems

$68m

Advanced cyberinfrastructure

$39m

Computing foundations

$74m

Computer science divisions that have supported research in topics like artificial intelligence, data science, computer security and emerging computing technologies have awarded fewer funds this year.

But the office of advanced cyberinfrastructure has awarded twice the funding that is typical by this time of year, including a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

for generative A.I. tools and a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to “advance American leadership in artificial intelligence.”

In 2023, the N.S.F. provided

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of federal funds for foundational computer science research at colleges and universities.

The agency provided early funding that led to recent developments in artificial intelligence. For example, the researchers who received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in artificial neural networks — technologies that underlie tools like ChatGPT — received

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, long before their work had widespread applications.

The funds also support the careers of graduate students, a large share of whom eventually work in the technology industry, said Greg Hager, the former head of the N.S.F.’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate, who

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

this month.

“It’s going to impact progress today, but it’s going to have profound impacts for years to come,” he said of the reductions in funding for computer science.

Geosciences ↓ 33%

2015-2024 average $305 million In 2025 $204 million

In 2023, the N.S.F. supported

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

of all federally funded basic geosciences research in American universities.

This year, the agency has fired workers at the Office of Polar Programs, which coordinates research in the Arctic and the Antarctic. The polar office has awarded 88 percent less money in grants this year.

But the ocean sciences division has awarded more funding than typical this year, including a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to establish an office that will manage a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and an

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to Columbia University to support a research vessel.

Social and behavioral sciences ↓ 20%

2015-2024 average $78 million In 2025 $62 million

Social science & economics

$31m

Behavioral & cognitive sciences

$32m

There has been a 96 percent decrease in grant funding for multidisciplinary research, which spans biology, physics and engineering. Previously funded projects have included using cells as sensors to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, creating

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, and engineering fungi to

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

The behavioral and cognitive sciences division has awarded 30 percent more grant funding this year compared with the past decade’s average — despite the Trump administration’s targeting of “woke social, behavioral and economic sciences.” That included funding research on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, how

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and a

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

that lists the average rents in a neighborhood.

Technology, innovation and partnerships ↓ 17%

2015-2024 average $110 million In 2025 $92 million

Translational impacts

$86m

The CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan law enacted during the Biden administration in 2022, created the N.S.F.’s Directorate of Technology, Innovation and Partnerships. Last year it funded projects for

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

,

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

and

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.

This branch’s grant funding has decreased by 17 percent, a moderate reduction compared with the decreases in other areas.

Here are all the changes so far:

Changes in N.S.F. grant funding

Show less detail

Directorate	2015-2024 avg. funding	2025 funding	Change
Education	$280 mil.	$56 mil.	-80%

Graduate education $21 mil. $0 -100%

Equity for excellence in STEM $46 mil. $1 mil. -97%

Research on learning in formal and informal settings $77 mil. $16 mil. -79%

Undergraduate education $135 mil. $39 mil. -71%

Math, physics and chemistry $432 mil. $143 mil. -67%

Strategic initiatives $6k $0 -100%

Physics $72 mil. $11 mil. -85%

Mathematical sciences $113 mil. $32 mil. -72%

Materials research $118 mil. $43 mil. -63%

Chemistry $103 mil. $44 mil. -57%

Astronomical sciences $26 mil. $12 mil. -53%

Engineering $221 mil. $94 mil. -57%

Emerging frontiers in research and innovation $2 mil. $42k -98%

Chemical, bioengineering, environmental and transport systems $75 mil. $22 mil. -71%

Engineering education and centers $27 mil. $12 mil. -56%

Civil, mechanical, and manufacturing innovation $80 mil. $42 mil. -48%

Electrical, communications and cyber systems $36 mil. $19 mil. -48%

Biology $303 mil. $147 mil. -52%

Biological infrastructure $99 mil. $32 mil. -68%

Integrative organismal systems $88 mil. $34 mil. -61%

Environmental biology $75 mil. $39 mil. -49%

Molecular and cellular biosciences $40 mil. $37 mil. -9%

Emerging frontiers $801k $5 mil. +521%

Geosciences $305 mil. $204 mil. -33%

Office of polar programs $51 mil. $6 mil. -88%

Earth sciences $78 mil. $16 mil. -80%

Research, innovation, synergies and education (RISE) $11 mil. $6 mil. -47%

Atmospheric and geospace sciences $63 mil. $40 mil. -36%

Ocean sciences $103 mil. $136 mil. +33%

Computer science $277 mil. $192 mil. -31%

Information & intelligent systems $68 mil. $27 mil. -60%

Computer and network systems $96 mil. $42 mil. -57%

Computing and communication foundations $74 mil. $43 mil. -41%

Office of advanced cyberinfrastructure $39 mil. $80 mil. +102%

Social sciences $78 mil. $62 mil. -20%

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics $2 mil. $0 -100%

Multidisciplinary activities $11 mil. $401k -96%

Social and economic sciences $31 mil. $20 mil. -37%

Behavioral and cognitive sciences $32 mil. $42 mil. +30%

Technology $110 mil. $92 mil. -17%

Technology frontiers $9k $0 -100%

Translational impacts $86 mil. $44 mil. -48%

Innovation and technology ecosystems $24 mil. $47 mil. +95%

Other $65 mil. $47 mil. -29%

Total $2.1 bil. $1 bil. -50%

Shows the cumulative total intended award for new grants funded by the N.S.F. from Jan. 1 to May 21 of each year.

‘Total confusion’

The National Science Foundation has usually awarded half of its funds for the fiscal year by early July. In theory, this year’s funding levels could still catch up to former levels if the agency accelerates its pace of making awards over the summer.

But officials described an agency that has been thrown into chaos as it tries to navigate a new political landscape under President Trump. The agency is in the midst of a major

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to eliminate its 37 divisions. It has also conducted layoffs and placed

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

. (The restructuring and termination of employees has been paused by a court order

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

.)

Many N.S.F. divisions do not know how much they can spend this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and this uncertainty may also be contributing to this year’s funding lag.

“There’s total confusion,” said one employee who has worked at the N.S.F. for more than a decade and is involved in determining which grants are recommended for funding. The employee, who did not want to be named out of fear of retaliation for speaking to the news media, said that the N.S.F.’s rigorous review process had been disassembled, and that political mandates had taken precedence over scientific merits when assessing grant proposals.

“There’s confusion on how much money we can spend,” the employee said. “And then there’s confusion because the processes are basically paralyzed.”

About the data

Using the N.S.F.’s awards

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

, we tabulated the intended award amounts for all projects funded between Jan. 1 and May 21 of each year. The award date is determined by the initial amendment date, which typically precedes the start date of the project. Intended awards reflect the amount that the N.S.F. intends to fund over the entire life of a project, which may extend multiple years beyond the year the project was awarded. All award amounts are inflation-adjusted to March 2025 dollars by using the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Trump #Cut #Science #Funding #Lowest #Level #Decades

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up