Since President Donald Trump’s return to office one year ago, an estimated $20.4 million in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education grants for women and girls have been cut by the National Science Foundation (NSF), according to an UltraViolet analysis of the Grant Witness database. Grant Witness is an online database that has been tracking the termination of funds for scientific research at NSF and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Trump administration.
According to Noam Ross, a computational researcher who helped create Grant Witness, many scientists expressed concern about their terminated research projects at the end of February last year. At first, Scott Delaney, Ross’ colleague, created a Google Sheets file for scientists to input the terminated grants. Ross, who has an extensive data science background, began gathering data from government databases and accounting records. Together, along with other scientists, volunteers and university administrations, they created Grant Witness. By continuously updating the data, they track which projects have been defunded or modified. Ross explained the profound impact the site has had thus far.
“We have been able to raise awareness to help journalists do their work and have contributed to a number of lawsuits against the administration,” Ross said. “We are suing over these terminations because they are discriminatory or arbitrary.”
Research in health equity has been most significantly suppressed. Additionally, programs broadening education across diverse communities, such as increasing the participation of girls or people of color in STEM, have had their resources cut.
“When [funding cuts] reached the National Science Foundation, which has the biggest science education portfolio in the government, there was a very heavy cutting of the education division, and particularly the division of equity and excellence in STEM,” Ross said.
Mally Shan, a data scientist working at Grant Witness, described the effect of the stigmatization of certain rhetoric on projects across the scientific community.
“Using words that are related to DEI, like diversity, equity or inclusion, just talking about women’s health or people of color’s health, was all of a sudden politicized,” Shan said. “A lot of the projects I would have been interested in were already losing funding. A lot of the labs were reducing their size.”
An analysis of hundreds of entries in the Grant Witness database by The UltraViolet found that an estimated $6.2 million of STEM education grants for girls’ programs were terminated. Some impacted programs include artificial intelligence projects for Black girls from ages 9 to 14 at Arizona State University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Texas at Arlington, which lost an estimated total of $4 million in funds. Other impacted programs include projects to boost girls’ interest in computer and data science, drone technology, astrophysics and the 4D printing of robotic materials.
Further analysis by The UltraViolet shows an estimated $14.2 million supporting STEM education programs for women were also cut. A program at the Society of Women Engineers in Illinois supporting women of color in engineering lost an estimated $3.1 million, while a project at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York for mentoring underrepresented graduate and undergraduate women students in STEM lost an estimated $145,275.
Additionally, Ross explained that funding in past years has only been cut in imperative circumstances, such as alleged espionage, fraud or the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s almost completely incomparable in the sense that this has never been how science research has worked,” Ross said.“Historically, there have been maybe two to five grants terminated a year at the NIH. Programs don’t just get terminated because the administration changed their mind.”
After hundreds of grants were cut, NSF stated on their website, “Awards that are not aligned with program goals or agency priorities have been terminated, including but not limited to those on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), environmental justice, and misinformation/disinformation.”
Abrupt defunding has left researchers and educators without jobs or futures for their developed projects. Ross explained the disheartening effect this has had on the science community.
“It’s very scary, and it’s very dispiriting for much of the scientific enterprise in the U.S.,” Ross said. “You certainly see younger researchers putting a lot more consideration into taking jobs abroad or leaving scientific research as their field.”
Although the budget cuts have resulted in millions redirected from research projects and STEM programs, organizations still have a desire to execute their missions by underscoring the importance of equity within the STEM field. The National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) organizes their own work to empower and inspire youth, predominantly girls, to pursue fields in STEM. They have worked with over 30 million children through their STEM database, local collaborations and summer STEM programs for high school students. As the government funding has been cut, they have shifted to prioritize telling the stories of organizations that have had their budgets cut and the emotion that comes with that.
The NGCP recently released their Voices from the Field project, an in-depth survey of 143 professionals in the STEM field, to assess the impact of funding and policy changes. The survey concluded that 41% of respondents felt somewhat or very insecure about their current programs in place that promote equity within STEM. Brenda Britsch, the director of research and evaluation at NGCP, wanted to better support their network and to amplify what other programs have to say both to advocate and lift them up to potential funders, as these unprecedented times offer limited opportunities for women in STEM following the cuts.
“When you look at future funding streams, it seems there will be a lot less federal funding for STEM education, and the NSF are taking out the requirement within grants,” Britsch said. “Previously, they had particular grants to support girls or people of color or people who are typically underrepresented and now you can’t support that because of the cuts.”
According to the Department of Labor, the loss of financial support for girls’ and women’s STEM education programs comes at a time when women make up only 26% of the STEM workforce as of 2023. However, in the midst of the defunding, Britsch believes there is still reason to be optimistic regarding girls’ future participation in STEM.
“The field is embracing the need to broaden participation, so I have faith people participating will continue to focus on girls and youth, but it’s going to be much more difficult given the current funding and policy constraints,” Britsch said. “There are going to be new innovative ways to fund STEM in the future.”
The budget cuts have indirectly impacted Marlborough students, faculty, alumni and specialized programs. The Leonetti/O’Connell Honors Research Program at Marlborough works to connect students who seek to conduct real-world research with mentors. Many of the mentors are professors from higher education institutions. Thus, the budget cuts make it harder for possible mentors who might have originally said yes to take on more responsibilities.
Nina ’26, the captain of Curiosity robotics team at Marlborough, conducts research on social robotics and has seen firsthand how grant cuts have impacted robotics teams outside of Marlborough.
“I definitely see the pressure as a community member in terms of funding for other robotics teams and STEM in general,” Nina said. “During today’s political landscape, many robotics teams — specifically all-females robotics teams — aren’t getting substantial funding anymore.”
Marlborough alumni who are pursuing STEM-related majors are directly experiencing the effects when applying for jobs and research opportunities. Julianne Hannon ’22, who currently attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), says a big part of her college and educational experience at MIT is the solar car team, a student group under the MIT Edgerton Center that is responsible for designing and manufacturing a solar-powered vehicle biennially. However, cuts have led to less funding for STEM-related projects for student groups, such as her solar car team. Additionally, Hannon noted that the job application process is being altered, where female students are afraid to use certain buzzwords that might deter potential employers.
“I’ve had friends tell me that they made sure the word ‘woman,’ among other words, was not included in personal statements for applications to federally funded fellowships, like NSF, out of fear that it would get their applications automatically rejected,” Hannon said.
Leonetti/O’Connell Honors Research in Science Program Head Allison Ponzio, however, encouraged students to continue pursuing STEM-related interests.
“Anytime you engage in learning about this, participating in Honors Research, doing a Capstone or getting an internship, it can only continue to show the people who don’t want to fund these organizations that the interest is there and your generation wants to make an impact in those areas,” Ponzio said.
