CLIMATEWIRE | Scientists across the country are in turmoil as President Donald Trump wages an assault on U.S. research.
They’re worried about their funding and job security. They’re censoring their language around topics like climate change and diversity. And they’re wondering what kinds of science they’ll be allowed to conduct in a rapidly shifting U.S. research landscape.
The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in funding, paused grant reviews, cut critical support for institutional science and released sweeping executive orders to reshape the federal government. Much of the uncertainty in the research world stems from Trump’s executive order on DEI, which calls for the federal government to eliminate programs and grants related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
On supporting science journalism
If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The order’s language is so broad that universities and research institutions still don’t understand its full scope, leaving researchers worried that projects involving any mention of gender, race or equity — even in the name of science — might be on the chopping block. At least one university is advising researchers to not use words like biodiversity to avoid being flagged by AI-based grant review systems.
“It’s clear that you can’t be a researcher or scientist in the U.S. anymore, especially if focused on science equity, climate, etc.,” said one university researcher in a message to POLITICO’s E&E News.
Researchers who spoke with E&E News expressed fears that the U.S. is losing its status as a global science leader. Most declined to be named, citing concerns about loss of funding and professional retaliation.
These aren’t just scientists who work for the federal government, where billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to gut agencies from NOAA to EPA have thrown federal research into limbo. The turmoil extends to the country’s vast network of universities and other research institutes, where the threats to federal funding awards — which provide much of their research support — are raising existential questions about the future of U.S. science.
“There is no question that the financial implications are significant,” said University of Hawaii President Wendy Hensel in a special address to the institution’s campuses on Feb. 6. “Notably, however, the executive orders do not define what DEIA or ‘environmental justice’ means, and this fact has been noted in several lawsuits that have been filed.”
One of the biggest blows to research universities came in the form of a Feb. 7 announcement from the National Institutes of Health indicating that the agency would cut billions of dollars in funding for research-related administrative costs, which experts have described as critical support for institutional science including medical research.
Twenty-two state attorneys general have since sued the Trump administration, followed by a second lawsuit brought by a group of universities. A district judge in Boston has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the cuts.
“Contrary to the hysteria, redirecting billions of allocated NIH spending away from opaque administrative expenses means there will be more money and resources available for legitimate scientific research, not less,” said Kush Desai, White House deputy press secretary, in an email to E&E News.
But if the cuts are upheld in court, they will “blow a huge hole in the financial ecosystem for research universities,” John Aubrey Douglass, a senior research fellow at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an email.
It’s likely that other science-supporting agencies, like the National Science Foundation or the Department of Energy, would then follow suit with major funding cuts of their own, he added.
“If those shoes drop, the future of U.S. science would take a big hit,” he said.
‘Higher ed is not safe’
Federal courts have tried to stymie some of Trump’s efforts. After the Office of Management and Budget announced a sweeping freeze on federal aid, federal courts ordered the administration to lift the freeze.
But states, nonprofits and other organizations have accused the administration of continuing to freeze some grants in defiance of the court orders.
Trump has also issued an executive order that calls for the termination of the “Green New Deal” and aims to boost fossil fuels. It directs agencies to pause funding from the 2022 climate law, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, and the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, as well as review other grants and loans to ensure they comply with the order.
Last month, science agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, temporarily paused the review panels they use to evaluate grant proposals from researchers, citing the need to ensure compliance with the new administration’s orders.
Reviews have since resumed at both agencies, but NSF employees have reported new instructions to flag and review grants containing language related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Most recently, scientists across the country were alarmed to find their research projects listed in a database released last week by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) identifying more than 3,400 NSF-funded grants he described as “questionable projects that promoted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) or advanced neo-Marxist class warfare propaganda.”
The spreadsheet broadly groups the grants into five categories based on their subject matter, comprising gender; race; environmental justice; social justice; and “status,” which refers to grants focusing on underrepresented or disadvantaged populations.
The same database underpinned an October report released by Cruz suggesting that the NSF “has increasingly funded research and programs that color scientific investigation and engagement projects through the lens of political ideology.”
The list has raised new worries among scientists that NSF and other agencies may curtail or reject projects en masse based on broad subject-matter categories, like gender and race.
Meanwhile, the combination of proposed funding cuts and grant reviews has caused widespread confusion and alarm among university researchers and leadership alike.
Scientists who spoke with E&E News described fears that their funding agencies may order them to halt ongoing projects, as well as concerns about whether they’ll be eligible for future grants. Some indicated that their own institutions had provided vague or inconsistent guidance on how to proceed, leaving researchers unsure of their next steps.
“Universities’ response has been pathetic,” said one researcher whose work focuses on broadening access and participation opportunities for underrepresented students in STEM. The researcher has become politically active in a local Democratic Party in response to the recent events and is considering transitioning to a career in primary or secondary education.
“I had other aspirations for myself when I got my doctorate,” the researcher said. “But higher ed is not safe.”
Self-censorship grows
Some large research universities across the country have issued general recommendations to their faculty in response to Trump’s executive orders, with many advising researchers to continue with their projects unless their funding agencies order them to stop.
Yet some have also urged caution when interpreting the scope of the orders.
“Until we have a formal definition of the meaning of ‘DEI’ and ‘DEIA’ as referenced in the presidential executive order(s), it is recommended that DEI and DEIA be interpreted broadly,” the University of Colorado, Boulder, suggested in an early recommendation to faculty posted on its website.
The university has since updated its guidance to note that courts have blocked the federal spending freeze and to advise that “all researchers, faculty, and staff continue working on their grants as normal.”
At the same time, some universities have confirmed that researchers have received stop work orders, even after federal courts ordered the Trump administration to resume its disbursement of grant funds.
“As of today, many agencies have resumed funding pending the outcome of litigation,” Hensel, the president of the University of Hawaii, said in her Feb. 6 address. “Other agencies, however, continue to issue ‘stop work’ orders to some researchers at UH requiring them to assert compliance with the executive orders in order to receive additional funding.”
A spokesperson at Arizona State University confirmed in an email to E&E News that several federal agencies have sent notices indicating that they plan to “discontinue funding certain projects at the university,” adding that some faculty could face furloughs as a result.
Faced with threats to ongoing projects, some university supervisors have begun quietly advising faculty to censor their research proposals, publications and public-facing documents to comply with Trump’s orders.
Earth science researchers at one large U.S. university were recently advised to use synonyms for diversity, equity and inclusion to avoid being flagged by AI-based grant review systems, according to a document obtained by E&E News. Faculty were advised that even terms like “biodiversity,” which refers to the natural variety of all life on Earth, might be flagged.
A professor at a different U.S. university, who was granted anonymity out of fears of reprisal, was recently advised by supervisors to remove terms including “climate change” and “greenhouse gas emissions” from research papers and other public documents.
The censorship makes it difficult to even report basic research findings in clear terms, said the professor, whose work — funded by the Department of Transportation — involves the intersection of urban planning and climate change.
“This is really like a giant wrecking ball on the entire higher education system in the U.S.,” the researcher said. “Universities, the central administration, are at a loss — they don’t know what to do.”
Brain drain?
The wide-ranging scope of Trump’s orders has the potential to limit entire fields of independent science in the U.S., the researcher added.
“I don’t know how our institutions are going to function if the federal government is banning research on one of the existential threats to our civilization,” the researcher said. “Many disciplines cannot do their work without referencing climate change.”
Other higher education experts have echoed those concerns.
“Like so much of the Trump agenda, there is little thought about the ramifications of quickly formulated draconian cuts,” said Douglass, the UC Berkeley research fellow.
“The future science and tech capabilities of the U.S. are not even an afterthought” in the Trump administration’s recent activities, he added.
New administrations typically come in with their own new priorities for research, said Matt Owens, president of the Council on Government Relations, an association of academic research institutions. Previous administrations have championed everything from nanotechnology to cancer research to advanced manufacturing.
But these priorities are typically additive, not aimed at restricting research in other areas, he said. The Trump administration is taking a different approach — one that “will have long-term harmful consequences,” Owens said.
“One of our strengths as a nation is the federal government has invested across the board in curiosity-driven research, because over time this pays dividends,” he said. “So an erosion of broad federal support for all areas of research will damage our ability to remain the global science and innovation leader.”
The U.S. has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s most research-friendly countries, scientists say — flush with funding and rich with both private- and public-sector science jobs. Many are now concerned that the world’s brightest minds will start seeking their opportunities elsewhere.
“The U.S. is the best place in the world to be a scientist right now,” one U.S. researcher said in a message to E&E News, “and these actions taken on DEI and funding will change that.”
Reprinted from E&E News with permission from POLITICO, LLC. Copyright 2025. E&E News provides essential news for energy and environment professionals.
