A protest against the firing of federal government employees outside of the Boulder office of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, on March 3.
Photographer: Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post/Getty ImagesTrump’s Science Cuts Have Thrown the Research World Into Chaos
Firing federal workers and freezing grants are upending a world-class system the US has built since World War II.
Harvard University is imposing a temporary freeze on hiring faculty. Columbia University is grappling with cuts to $400 million in federal funding. California Institute of Technology is leaving postdoctoral positions unfilled. A University of Washington researcher is wondering about a climate and health grant after a government site was taken offline.
These are just some of the disruptions that resulted from President Donald Trump’s sweeping changes to the federal government. Though the private sector has historically provided more funding for research and development in the US, experts say, Trump’s mass firings and freezing of billions of dollars appropriated by Congress could have ripple effects on the US scientific enterprise for years to come.