Research, Science, and Technology

22 June
Here Is All the Science at Risk in Trump’s Clash With Harvard
By Emily Badger, Aatish Bhatia and Ethan Singer
The reporters analyzed terminated grants worth $2.6 billion and interviewed 23 Harvard researchers.
(NYT) The federal government annually spends billions funding research at Harvard, part of a decades-old system that is little understood by the public but essential to American science.
This spring, nearly every dollar of that payment was cut off by the Trump administration, endangering much of the university’s research.

21 June
Judge blocks the Trump administration’s National Science Foundation research funding cuts
(AP) — A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump ‘s administration from making drastic cuts to research funding provided by the National Science Foundation.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston struck down on Friday a policy change that could have stripped universities of tens of millions of dollars in research funding. The universities argued the move threatened critical work in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, semiconductors and other technology fields.
Talwani said the change, announced by the NSF in May, was arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.
The U.S. is cutting billions from science. Canadian researchers say it’s time to step up
Some Canadian programs are under threat because of recent funding cuts by the Trump administration

10 June
Democrats Grill N.I.H. Leader on Cuts: Who Is Calling the Shots?
Senators criticized the head of the National Institutes of Health for not taking responsibility for Trump administration cuts to research funding.

22 May
The mystery of Trump’s science cuts
By Derek Robertson, a reporter for Digital Future Daily and a contributor to Politico Magazine
What’s really behind the Trump administration’s massive cutbacks in research funding?
Since January, agency after agency has seen massive spending cuts — adding up to a historic slashing of the globally dominant American research apparatus. The White House’s proposed budget would cut National Science Foundation funding by more than half. A Senate minority staff report cited a $2.7 billion drop in funding commitments to the National Institutes of Health through March compared to last year.
In states spanning the political spectrum — purple Virginia, red Texas, blue Massachusetts — the White House has canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants.
Why? In a major speech this week, top White House science official Michael Kratsios laid out the rationale for the cuts: He framed them as part of a larger project to get American science on a more efficient, innovative track by de-emphasizing research perceived as overly ideological or non-scientific.
20 May
A Trump official pitches innovation by subtraction
The Trump administration’s apostle of cutting-edge science laid out a sweeping vision this week for blending the White House’s ongoing conservative culture war with continued American technological dominance.
“Science cannot be subject to ideology, nor should scientists march blindly in lockstep,” Office of Science and Technology Policy director Michael Kratsios told the National Academy of Sciences Monday. “Blindly trusting in The Science, with a capital T and capital S, is inimical to free inquiry and open debate and is thus the enemy of scientific progress. The beginning of knowledge is the knowledge of ignorance … It is convention, dogma, and intellectual fad that resist revision and correction.” …

2 May
Scientists reel as turmoil roils National Science Foundation
(NPR) The Trump administration is sharpening its attacks on the National Science Foundation, the government agency that is a major funder of basic science, math and engineering, especially at colleges and universities across the United States.
The latest salvo: a preliminary budget request from the White House that would cut $4.7 billion, or more than half the agency’s $9 billion budget.
The proposal landed the same day the NSF said 344 previously approved grants had been terminated as they “were not aligned with agency priorities,” according to an email to NPR. This follows two previous waves of cancellations, in April, that terminated over a thousand awards.

30 April
US set to close office responsible for global science and technology deals
As Trump marks his first 100 days, the Office of Science and Technology Cooperation is set for elimination, the latest in a whirlwind month for US science
By David Matthews and Richard L. Hudson
Cuts at the US Department of State could eliminate the office that negotiates science and technology agreements, including with Europe, throwing into confusion the future of global research cooperation with Washington and access for US scientists to international facilities.
Three people who work for the State Department have told Science|Business that the office, which oversees nearly 60 agreements and more than 2,000 sub agreements, is set to be eliminated.
“No other office can negotiate these science and technology agreements,” said one official, who wished to remain anonymous. If the office does close, “it puts the US at a huge disadvantage when it comes to international research and development.”
The cuts are the latest in a fusillade that Donald Trump has fired against the country’s scientific and academic establishments in his first 100 days in office – on the theory that these institutions are wasteful, un-American and “woke”. At present, it’s impossible to say how many of these budget cuts, grant suspensions and firings will actually withstand ongoing court challenges and Congressional review. But already, science advocates say, the damage has been considerable – especially in biomedical research.
It’s unclear what will happen to the agreements if there is no one on the US side to maintain and update them. They cover areas like data practices and intellectual property rules during collaboration, and also give US scientists access to foreign research infrastructures.
“This office maintains thousands of arrangements with countries around the world that grant US scientists access to international facilities, like CERN, monitor volcanos and earthquakes, and provide essential data used in weather forecast models,” said Cole Donovan, a former State Department official, specialising in global research relations.
Any lapse in the agreements could mean “severe disruptions” for US scientists using global research infrastructure, he said.

24 April
Trump science cuts target bird feeder research, AI literacy work and more
… More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in China and Iran and a project consulting with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region. One computer scientist was studying how artificial intelligence tools could mitigate bias in medical information, and others were trying to help people detect AI-generated deepfakes. A number of terminated grants sought to broaden the diversity of people studying science, technology and engineering.
NSF, founded in 1950, has a $9 billion budget that can be a lifeline for resource-strapped professors and the younger researchers they recruit to their teams. It has shifted priorities over time but it is highly unusual to terminate so many midstream grants.