America's Brightest Minds Will Walk Away

Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the US.

- Neel V. Patel

America is at risk of losing a generation of scientists. Amid sweeping cuts to federal research funding by the Trump administration, job opportunities for young scientists are being rescinded, postdoctoral positions eliminated, and fellowships folded as labs struggle to afford new researchers.

As countless scientific projects come to a halt, the researchers who will suffer the most are those just beginning their careers. Times Opinion has heard from more than 100 readers who have shared stories of how they've been affected.

Ms. Kristen Gram is a 22-year-old graduate student researching the type of materials and hardware that might one day help reduce the enormous amount of energy new computer processing technologies use to function. Her adviser recently warned her that federal funding cuts made it unlikely she'd secure a fellowship she needed to finish her degree.

Ms. Melanie Reuter is a 29-year-old graduate student whose work focuses on how the gut microbiome shapes human health and chronic diseases like Type 2 diabetes. She wants to find more effective ways to treat diseases, with fewer side effects. She hoped to secure federal funding to cover her education and provide a liveable stipend so she could concentrate on her research. But her application for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant meant to support diverse candidates was pulled, without explanation, in February, just days before it was scheduled for review.

Ms. Francesca Walsh, 28, is in the last six months of earning her PhD in neuroscience and behavior. She wants to study how the brain functions when making economic decisions, in an effort to protect economic markets and consumers from financial harm. The postdoctoral jobs she planned to apply for have suddenly disappeared. "I felt the door of an entire sector of jobs, including federal research jobs, slam overnight," she said. "It's very disheartening, and sometimes I wish I just became an accountant."