Opinion: Cuts in federal funding hammer STEM students and San Diego region

This year’s federal funding cuts are severely impacting STEM research and education, threatening the future of innovation and our nation’s health and technological advancement. These cuts have not only led to the termination of research and training grants, but have also impacted graduate student admissions for aspiring new scientists and reduced undergraduate research experiences. Dedicated instructors, postdocs and staff have been laid off, jeopardizing the training of the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and math professionals, including scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses, pharmacists and teachers.

Universities in San Diego County have been particularly hard hit, with more than 150 research grants at UC San Diego, worth tens of millions of dollars, subjected to termination, stop-work orders or delays.

Many of these grants were crucial for training future scientists and broadening the STEM workforce to include historically underrepresented groups. Some of these grants have recently been restored due to a court order, but the damage to STEM training has already occurred and future threats loom large.

Indeed, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the National Institutes of Health to cancel the reinstated grants. Further, the rate of new federal research grant awards has nearly halved, stalling new studies and preventing budding scientists from being paid for their work.

UC San Diego has seen a reduction in new graduate student offers, with many offers contingent on available funds, raising concerns about students’ abilities to start and/or complete their STEM education.

These funding cuts also mean larger class sizes, fewer instructional assistants and reduced library staff for undergraduate students, along with a decrease in available research labs for hands-on experience. Furthermore, current immigration policies are hindering international students from contributing to our STEM workforce.

This dire situation is creating a gaping hole in the pipeline of future scientists, engineers and health care providers, potentially leading to the loss of an entire generation of scientific thinkers. This directly impacts San Diego’s established leadership in biotech and in burgeoning sectors including cleantech, as federally funded STEM education trains industry professionals and supports foundational discoveries.

In this period of crisis and turmoil, voicing support for higher education and science is vital! Efforts in California have already proved successful, as advocates joined with allies in the California state Legislature to block a proposed 8% funding cut to the University of California and California State University systems. While this helps cushion the blow, it is not enough to counteract the proposed federal funding cuts to research, training and the scientific infrastructure that supports universities.

Congress is currently considering discretionary federal funding for STEM research and training for next year. Recent polls highlight that STEM research and education still enjoy widespread support.

We encourage all San Diegans to contact our federal representatives and urge them to oppose the massive proposed cuts to agencies like the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation since it will harm science and health care training at all levels.

We also encourage friends and family in other states to do the same. Let’s stand up for science education together and ensure the future of our nation’s scientific prowess.

Eyler, Ph.D., is a professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine and directs the Center for Empathy and Compassion Training in Medical Education in the Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. She lives in Clairemont. Mouchka, Ph.D., is education coordinator and program manager for an NIH-sponsored postdoctoral training program at UC San Diego and lives in La Mesa. Mishra, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego School of Medicine, where she founded the Neural Engineering and Translation Labs, and lives in Pacific Beach.