Astronomy, Materials Science Awards Plummet at NSF

The National Science Foundation has so far issued over 40% fewer research grants this year compared to recent years. But not all fields are feeling the losses equally.

Less than one month from the end of the fiscal year, the number of awards within NSF’s Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) is at its lowest since the 1980s, according to an analysis of historical data by Physics Today. Astronomical sciences grants are down by half and materials research grants by more than 40% compared to the average in years 2021 to 2024, mirroring the dramatic overall drop. Chemistry and mathematical sciences also saw drops of more than 30%. But the number of physics grants this year appears more commensurate with previous years, falling by about 13%.

Marcel Agüeros, president of the American Astronomical Society, said the low number of grants “doesn’t surprise me, even as it may dismay me.” He pointed out that despite the near-level number of physics grants, the total amount of physics funding has dropped further, indicating that the amount per award is lower. (AAS is an AIP Member Society.)

“I don’t think there’s any reason here for physicists to take a victory lap,” Agüeros said. “I suspect many of them are looking at their grants and thinking, “Well, how are we going to scale our ambitions to meet this new fiscal reality?”

NSF declined to comment on the change in awards in physics or the other MPS fields. The fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, giving the agency three weeks to issue additional grants. But even compared to grants issued by this time in previous years, NSF is lagging. Nature reported that the agency plans to issue 46% fewer grants in fiscal year 2026 compared to the average in years 2021 to 2024, mainly because the White House is withholding $1 billion of NSF’s budget for its Grand Research Challenges project.

Looking at the low award counts, Agüeros said, “I take from this that the NSF is still, in the best-case scenario, finding its feet after what’s been a really difficult year for it. But in the meantime, those of us outside of the NSF should be yelling and screaming about the issues that we’re seeing here with the overall levels of investment in in the scientific enterprise.”

Democrats on the House Science Committee have pressed NSF and White House Office of Science and Technology Policy officials on the slowdown of grantmaking and its connection to the Grand Research Challenges. Committee Republicans said at a June hearing that the total amount of funding NSF has issued this year is “very commensurate” with previous years.

Looking ahead

NSF’s research solicitations for fiscal year 2027, released last month, appear to double down on the cuts to MPS grants. The agency plans for more than a 30% decrease in the number of grants for all MPS fields other than physics, which would see a 10% decrease. The solicitations note that estimates are subject to appropriations.

Even if the low funding proves temporary, the uncertainty makes it more difficult for researchers to cope, said Joshua Rosenbloom, a professor at Iowa State University who studies the economics of science. “If people view what’s changing as a temporary deviation, then they have more capability to bridge various things, because they understand that stability is important,” Rosenbloom said. “But in a world where what you have done is create a degree of uncertainty — is this a one-off or is this a true change in direction, and what is the destination? — then it becomes harder for people to justify digging into their pockets and spending some of what they have squirreled away as rainy-day money.”

Agüeros said the changes largely affect the next generation of researchers, including students, postdocs, and junior faculty members. “If you’re just talking about the run-of-the-mill research grant that goes into the National Science Foundation, what is it for? It’s primarily to pay junior researchers to work on projects,” Agüeros said. “What you are doing is shrinking the pool of people, qualified people, that you can continue to train to lead the field in the future.”