Grant cuts may cause many graduate students to continue their studies abroad, putting future cures and scientific discoveries in jeopardy, one University of Maryland professor says.
Anne Simon, a professor whose grant to study a disease killing citrus trees across the country has been paused, said some of the college seniors she teaches have had their graduate school acceptances rescinded.
Many don’t know what to do next, she said, and some may consider looking at overseas programs, “and they’re not going to be coming back. It’s devastating for science.”
The Department of Government Efficiency, a commission President Donald Trump created in his second term tasked with slashing federal spending, has spearheaded changes to the federal workforce that have also come with pauses or cancellations for grants and cuts to the programs that they pay for.
Research grants fund graduate students, Simon said, so when there’s a pause or cancellation tied to research funding, “especially in the medical fields, we are not going to be training the students of the future, who are going to be the people working at biotech companies, working in other industries, faculty at universities. And right now, we’re literally stopping the training of these students.”
As a result, Simon said people are “looking abroad right now,” and there aren’t ongoing searches to fill faculty positions.
Students from around the world attend American colleges and universities with the hope of advancing research and unlocking new discoveries, but Simon said there may not be funding for those roles, so “now those students won’t be coming, and instead, it’s going to be exactly the opposite.”
The cuts, Simon said, are “devastating for graduate education,” because graduate programs
“can only take maybe 25% of the students we would normally take.”
A postdoctoral researcher she works with, who’s from India, was offered a job at USDA, Simon said. His wife was offered one too, and they bought a house, eager to start in their new roles.
“They were thrilled and then they were fired. … It’s almost impossible for these people to find jobs, because there’s so many people who’ve been let go,” she said.
“We’re losing this amazing brain drain right now, because if we can’t find jobs here in the U.S., people are going to go overseas and they’re not going to come back,” Simon added.
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